A stunning beautiful girl with orange twin tails.
The title heroine of volume 3, Nishizawa Eri.
I catch a glimpse of her.
‘3rd in entrance exam scores, A-rank compatibility, single-parent family background, school idol, supposedly the hottest girl in this world…’
Her character setting rushes into my mind.
‘…And a character with a fear of men.’
The classic trope where a heroine hates all men until she’s saved by the protagonist and miraculously overcomes her fear.
True to her setting as the top-ranked beautiful girl in the prefecture, she’s indeed the prettiest among everyone I’ve seen throughout my past and present life.
Our eyes meet.
She gasps in surprise and quickly looks away with a frown.
“Mr. Kim. You should introduce yourself.”
Mayuzumi-sensei whispers in my ear.
Under her insistence, I reluctantly start.
“I’m Kim Deok-Sung from Korea. Well, it seems like everyone here already has a rough idea of who I am…”
I glance around the classroom.
“No need to waste breath on a long introduction, right?”
I close my mouth.
An awkward silence falls.
“Is that it?”
Mayuzumi-sensei breaks the silence.
I nod.
This isn’t a company interview or anything.
Most of the key characters already know each other, and there’s no need to impress any extras.
Mayuzumi-sensei awkwardly laughs and claps.
“Mr. Kim seems a bit, um, shy. Everyone, let’s give him a round of applause!”
Clap, clap, clap, clap.
The classroom fills with applause.
“Mr. Kim, you can sit in that empty spot over there.”
Mayuzumi-sensei points to a corner of the classroom.
She’s pointing to, of all places, next to Nishizawa Eri.
Silently, I walk to the assigned spot and take my seat.
“Hi.”
I try to make conversation.
Nishizawa Eri’s expression crumples.
“…Don’t talk to me.”
Screech.
With a disdainful expression, she pushes her desk a bit further away from mine.
Even her sulky face is annoyingly beautiful.
The phrase “award-winning looks” didn’t come about for nothing.
“If you want.”
Not that I was expecting anything.
I pull out my textbook from my bag.
The school bell rings, and the class begins in earnest.
*
The first class was intense.
I took notes like my arm would break, yet keeping up with the class was tough.
Here I am, studying hard in this fantasy world, totally not in my wheelhouse.
I feel pent-up frustration.
“Guess I have no choice.”
I can’t afford to fail.
At my mumbling, the platinum-haired beauty Olivia beside me reacts.
“What do you mean, you have no choice?!”
“When did you learn Korean?”
She just spoke in Korean, right?
“I don’t really have much interest in Korea, you know? I’m just dabbling a bit in the basics as a hobby…”
Olivia rambles again with her nonsensical talk.
It’s that classic reaction when someone feels embarrassed.
“Really? Good job.”
Such a hollow compliment.
I step forward, throwing out a meaningless praise in Korean.
“Honestly, I’m not particularly thrilled to be praised by you… Wait, this isn’t the time for talking about this!”
She follows me closely.
“Why exactly is our destination Ground Zero after you asked me to go out with you after class?!”
As Olivia said, we are indeed at Ground Zero.
This is the site where the first Gate opened thirty years ago, marking the beginning of the great disaster and the invasion of another world, a place that has been turned into a wasteland due to dimensional erosion.
“Seriously, your manners are terrible!”
Olivia grumbles as she slices through the green vines blocking our path with her Flamberge.
In front of us lies a densely packed primeval forest that’s simply unbelievable.
Ground Zero, being Japan’s largest area of erosion, is both a practical training ground for the Shuo Hero Academy and a hub for hunters gathering from all over Japan to hunt dimensional creatures. That’s the setting, after all.
It’s also the backdrop for several episodes of the original story.
“I need to find the ruins.”
“Ruins?”
Olivia’s eyes widen.
Ruins.
The remnants of a fallen otherworldly civilization found inside a dimensional extension or Gate.
A place where you can obtain artifacts and lost technologies from another world, potentially a life-changing discovery.
The new era’s strategic weapons, even bio-engineered soldiers, were created based on blueprints excavated from these ruins.
That’s why countless hunters, mages, heroes, and defense corporations are eagerly hunting for ruins even now.
To put it simply, it’s like a hidden dungeon from a hunter story.
“How did you know about the existence of the ruins?”
Olivia asks, looking serious.
The potential value of ruins is enormous.
It’s not the kind of information an ordinary student should know.
Moreover, Ground Zero is a field that has been assessed thoroughly, being used even as a training site for hero candidates.
There’s hardly a chance of new ruins being discovered.
Even a French princess with her head in the clouds should grasp that much.
“It’s information found by our country’s intelligence agency, the National Intelligence Service. It’s high-level information acquired secretly with the full effort of my homeland.”
No need to mention that I saw this in volume 3 of the original novel.
Once again, I’m leveraging the name of the National Intelligence Service.
“I see. Information revealed from your home country…”
Olivia falls into thought with a serious expression.
She bites her lip.
“Alright. I’ll help you! Ruin exploration! After all, I’m your personal maid! Just leave it to me!”
Olivia exclaims confidently.
I’m losing my mind.
Thank goodness there aren’t any other hunters around.
If someone saw this, I might just die of embarrassment.
“Stop your nonsense and take the lead.”
That’s exactly why I brought her along in the first place.
I don’t have a status window.
Even if I kill monsters, or rather, dimensional creatures, my level doesn’t go up.
But there’s no need to tussle with those creatures.
I have a guaranteed performance upgrade slave right here.
Slave, Olivia pouts.
“Honestly, I’m offering to help you with all my heart. You really don’t have any manners or mood, do you?”
“Here, it’s polite for you to take the lead.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Olivia whines as she swings the Flamberge.
Fwoosh.
A wave-shaped blade infused with platinum flames shoots forward.
The lush greenery that blocked her path instantly turns to ashes.
“Let’s see… It should be coming out soon.”
She manipulates a hunter holographic watch on her wrist, bringing up a holographic map.
Her position is marked as a red dot alongside the surrounding terrain.
She steps over the burnt ashes, moving forward.
The landscape begins to resemble what she’d seen in the animation.
Sparks fly from her hunter watch as the hologram shuts off.
An ominous unease lingers over her.
‘We’ve reached the ruins.’
Just like in the original story.
A signal that she’s gotten close to the ruins.
“Umm… Where are we?”
Olivia looks around, puzzled.
The dense primeval forest has vanished, replaced by barren wasteland and an endless horizon.
There’s no need to mention that this is because they’ve entered the protective barrier of the ruins.
Instead, she continues to move.
Amidst the desolate land and beneath the blue sky, a brown rock stands tall like a pillar.
“Olivia, destroy that rock in battle mode.”
“Huh? What do you mean suddenly…”
“We need it to open the entrance to the ruins, so just do as I say without complaining.”
Olivia bites her lower lip and responds seriously.
“Okay…”
Fwoosh.
The platinum flames enveloping the Flamberge engulf her completely.
A full-body suit that accentuates her glamorous curves appears, and a magical field wraps around her.
Olivia, now in battle mode, swings the Flamberge.
The platinum aura rushes through the air to strike the rock.
With a flash and a booming sound, the rock shatters into pieces.
Beneath it, a staircase descending into the dark underground reveals itself.
“I found it.”
The core stage of Volume 3.
The ruins known as the “Baptismal Sanctuary” finally materialize.
What in the world…
The Baptismal Sanctuary.
The main stage from Volume 3.
In the Ground Zero practical training, the protagonist Yuji gets lost and stumbles into the ruins due to the heroine Nishizawa Eri’s male phobia, which is a typical start.
‘At that time, the ruins were already open.’
The culprit who opened the ruins was the B-rank villain Mad Hatter.
He operated the relic deep within the ruins to gain powers beyond human comprehension, and he succeeded.
He awakened a Gift.
‘That was the first moment a post-acquisition Gift user appeared in this work.’
Gift.
If we localize it in the way of Korean web novels, it translates to powers.
The protagonist Yuji’s Gift is Amplification, and Olivia’s Gift is Flame Control.
Although it’s noted that these powers are rare special abilities only possessed by geniuses, like many Japanese battle stories, by mid-story, power inflation turns them into specs that even the neighborhood mutt can have.
But Kim Deok-Sung is an extra character with no national specs at all.
So, that means I need to secure a Gift.
For my survival.
“Ugh, it feels dank and wet.”
Olivia grumbles as she walks.
Drip, drip.
Water droplets fall from the ceiling.
Luminescent stones glowing faintly are embedded in the stone walls, illuminating the passageway.
Just as she said, the ruins’ interior is gloomy and damp.
“Well, the magical field will block all the moisture, so it doesn’t matter.”
“There’s such a thing as feelings!”
Olivia retorts.
Fwoosh.
Whoosh.
The platinum fireball hovering in front of her illuminates the surroundings.
There’s no need for a human flashlight.
I definitely made the right choice bringing Olivia along.
Just as I was thinking that.
[An alien monster has been detected.]
A mechanical voice rings in my ears.
Durandal, in combat mode, detected the alien monster through its radar.
“Olivia.”
“I know.”
She raises Flamberge.
Whoosh.
The fireball circling around Olivia is shot forward, leaving a long tail behind.
Boom!
The fireball strikes directly, creating a loud explosion.
[Bark! Bark! Bark!]
The barking of a dog echoes.
“Another Blood Wolf, huh.”
Blood Wolf.
A C-rank alien monster that has been annoyingly sliced apart since we entered the ruins.
A Blood Wolf engulfed in platinum flames leaps toward us.
[Grrrrrrrr! Aaaaargh!]
As the giant red wolf lets out a pained howl, it tries to pounce on Olivia.
Olivia’s Flamberge traces a slender, platinum line in the dark air.
Whoosh.
A flash erupts, and a wave of flames brightens the darkness like the sun, engulfing the red wolf.
[Kyiiiiiiiiiik!!]
The sorrowful cries of the Blood Wolf fill the passageway.
Boom.
The massive body of the alien monster collapses onto the floor of the ruins.
“It’s over.”
With an utterly unfazed expression, Olivia smiles and snaps her fingers.
The fireball, which had been acting as our lantern, rises again to illuminate the surroundings.
“I really made the right choice bringing you.”
I truly mean it.
Olivia’s abilities exceeded my expectations.
Her figure, leading the way as she burns the numerous alien monsters crowding the ruins, reminded me of a bulldozer.
Thanks to that, since entering the ruins, I’ve been able to enjoy her fiery show comfortably behind her without lifting a finger.
After all, it’s the bear that does the trick, while the human reaps the rewards.
“I’m not exactly thrilled to hear that from you, you know? Did you think I’d be touched by such a natural comment?”
Olivia mutters, pouting.
Her tsundere behavior is nothing new.
At this point, I don’t really care anymore.
Besides, it lacks credibility when she keeps showing signs of feeling good from the praise while saying she hates it.
I can use compliments for free to manage the main heroine.
That’s cost-effective.
“There’s not much left now.”
Picking up a sparkling mana stone from the charred remains of the Blood Wolf, I speak to her.
I store the mana stone in the quantum storage attached to Durandal, essentially my inventory.
“I’m really tired of these ruins now. Seriously…”
Olivia grumbles.
“I totally agree this time.”
I nod.
In volume 3, the Mad Hatter, who attacked the ruins first, set traps throughout the place, leading to a completely different scenario.
In the process of dismantling the traps of the ruins, the protagonist grows closer to Nishizawa Eri through a lucky pervy episode and learns her secret during the confrontation with the Mad Hatter.
‘The truth is that the Mad Hatter is the father who abused Nishizawa Eri when she was a child and then ran away from home.’
The Mad Hatter intentionally lures his daughter into the ruins to corrupt her into a villain and reveals the secret.
After that, the developments are predictable.
A villain facing off against a heroine who’s gone berserk with rage, effortlessly subduing her.
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