Enzo’s hand begins to glow, wrapping Seiya in a blinding light. The light eventually fades, revealing Seiya in a bizarre costume reminiscent of a street performer.
“All right, all done. Starting today, you’re a Jolly Piper and Earth Mage.”
“A-ack! He really changed classes! H-hey, it isn’t too late to change back, Seiya. Are you sure you don’t still have a touch of amnesia?”
Seiya shoots me a reproachful glance.
“Can you stop talking for one second? Go take a nap or something.”
“No! I’m worried about you!”
“I don’t need you worrying about me.”
“What?! What’s wrong with worrying about my party member?!”
“Who ever said you were my party member? I never planned on taking you with me.”
“Excuse me?!”
“You’re useless, and you’d just slow me down. Now be a good girl and wait here.”
“I—I admit it was my fault you didn’t get to prepare long enough in the spirit world! But that’s exactly why I want to help you!”
I desperately try to convey how passionate I am, but Seiya turns a distant gaze on me.
“Bunogeos can use Chain Destruction. In other words, all monsters in Ixphoria can kill you. I’m not confident I can protect you like I did in Gaeabrande.”
“That’s fine! I can take care of myself!”
“So you don’t care if you die?”
“I’m willing to risk my life!”
After a few moments of silence, Seiya mutters:
“Knock yourself out.”
I nod with a solemn expression, but I’m gloating on the inside.
Heh-heh-heh! How do you like that! I’m willing to put everything on the line! I bet my love rating has gone way up now! We’re in this together, after all! Come! Let us save the world of Ixphoria with the power of our love!
Brimming with anticipation, I use Appraise on Seiya.
RISTA’S LOVE APPRAISAL
-Your love rating with Seiya:
1 point
-Seiya thinks you’re:
a stubborn parasitic weed.
-A tidbit of advice:
Even though he told you not to come, you won’t listen, which seems to have really annoyed him. He wishes he could just roll you up into a ball and throw you away!
What the…?! Not only did our love rating lower, but now he wants to throw me away?! What kind of garbage is this?!
Seiya begins to walk off as I droop my head in despair. I chase after him until we reach the item salesman sitting behind his mat. Lowering my voice so the shopkeeper doesn’t hear, I whisper to Seiya:
“Hey, Seiya… This guy basically only sells farm equipment. None of this is gonna help you on your journey.”
“That’s not necessarily true.”
Seiya picks up an iron cylinder from the mat, snatches the pouch of money Ishtar gave me, and pays.
“I should be able to make a flute out of this with little effort.”
“You seriously plan on playing the flute…?”
“I am a Jolly Piper, after all. But I didn’t come here only to buy a flute… Hey, shopkeeper. I’ll take a thousand glowstones as well.”
“You’ve got it, sir. Thank you very much for your pat— One thousand?! What are you going to do with a thousand?!”
I’m used to Seiya’s ridiculous purchases, but the shopkeeper is taken aback. While I’m not surprised, I still realize we don’t have enough money and won’t be able to carry that many anyway. Plus, I can see where the shopkeeper is coming from. What would he need that many glowstones for? I somehow manage to talk Seiya down to fifty.
Seiya buys a huge sack and stuffs it full of glowstones, but it doesn’t end there. He points to something on the mat that looks like jarred pickles.
“I’ll take those emergency rations and that canteen of drinking water as well. In fact, give me all of them.”
“Um… If you take all of them, we won’t have anything to eat or drink…”
“I-I’m so sorry! Just sell us as many as you can, please!”
Seiya places the food and water he bought in another sack before handing it to me. It’s like we’re preparing to descend into a dungeon or something. After shopping, Seiya mutters:
“I need some equipment. Even though I’m a piper, I should at least have a sword. It’s a shame Bunogeos stole the platinum one.”
“That’s fine, but there aren’t any weapon or armor shops here.”
“What are you talking about? There are plenty of weapons and armor.”
Seiya points at Braht. Noticing Seiya approaching, he yells:
“What do you want?!”
Braht tightly knits his eyebrows when…
Whack!
“Hrblbrbl…?”
Once again, Braht begins foaming at the mouth before collapsing.
“…?! Seiya?! Why did you hit him again?!”
Seiya swipes the sword off the unconscious leader’s body, then casually equips it as if he’s done nothing wrong.
“Guess I’ll take his armor while I’m at it.”
He strips Braht of his armor, then passes it to me.
“Perfect. Now I’ve got a steel sword and some steel armor.”
“Y-you’re terrible!”
Furthermore, his eyes fall on one of Braht’s friends, who was watching in the distance.
“Hmm… I could use a few spares as well.”
“Eek?! Please…! No…!”
Seiya chases the man down, beats him unconscious, and robs him of everything he has… Common sense tells me this definitely isn’t something a good person would do. But after considering the fact that we have to save the world and need resources to do so, I decide to keep my mouth shut.
W-we don’t have any other choice. This is the only way we can get the items we need…
As I try to justify what we’re doing, I feel a sharp pain on the top of my head.
“Owwwww!”
Rip, rip, rip! Seiya tears out handfuls of my hair without so much as asking!
“Wh-wh-what the hell are you doing?! Seiyaaaaaa!”
“Stop complaining. It’s for synthesizing platinum swords.”
“You could have at least said something first!”
“…Well, now that we’re stocked up on items and equipment, what should we do next?” I ask while rubbing my head.
“We leave tomorrow morning. Today, we’ll stay at the inn and rest. I need to examine my new magic and characteristics.”
“Wait! What?! We’re leaving tomorrow?! Shouldn’t we take our time?!”
I figured Seiya would have wanted to train here for a while!
“Don’t worry. I have a plan.”
“R-really? Well, if you say so… More importantly, there doesn’t seem to be an inn here…”
“We can just make someone host us at their place.”
“I don’t know… I mean, not many people really like us here.”
“I don’t care. We’re going to find a place.”
Seiya surveys the area until he spots a lanky, timid-looking young man. He approaches him.
“Hey, you. What’s your name?”
“Huh? C-Caron. Why?”
“Okay, Caron. Provide us with shelter for the night.”
“What?! Do you mean my house?! I—I can’t! It’s too small! Plus, it’s dirty!”
“I don’t mind. Where is it?”
“I-it’s really, really dirty… It’s a terrible place to sleep…”
“Caron, if you are really that dissatisfied with your house, then leave.”
“…?! Wh-what?!”
“From now on, it’s my house.”
I wrap an arm around the young man’s shoulder as he starts to cry.
“C-Caron, don’t worry! It’s just for one night! After that, we’ll be gone!”
“Mn… Sniffle! Does that mean…I can still live in my house…?”
“Of course! I mean, it’s your house!
You have every right to live there!”
“Thank goodness! I’ve grown…so attached…to that house! I’m so…happy…!”
And just like that, we force a young man we just met to let us stay the night.
The next morning, we pick up our sacks of belongings and leave Caron’s house.
“All right, ready to head out?”
“Y-yep…”
We take our leave of Little Light, but only after causing a lot of trouble for the townspeople. Needless to say, nobody comes to see us off.
CHAPTER 9
Jolly Piper
Glowstones dimly illuminate the long staircase as we climb toward the outside world. But when the floorboard to the old house finally comes into view, Seiya suddenly stops and places his left hand on the dirt wall.
“Hmm? What are you doing?”
A massive cavern thereupon appears behind the wall without even making a sound! I stand back in shock, but Seiya steps inside.
“S-Seiya?! Wait!”
I shortly follow after him. Seiya illuminates the cavern using a glowstone from the item pouch. It’s a very mysterious enclosure. Although the narrow cavity can hardly fit us, a new cavern forms whenever Seiya approaches a wall. Moreover, whenever we continue down a new path, the way we came closes off and disappears. It feels more like the space is moving for us, rather than us digging holes and moving the dirt ourselves.
“This is amazing! Is this earth magic?”
In a lowered voice, Seiya explains:
“Cave Along. It’s essentially a mobile cavern that allows you to freely walk through soil.”
He then slows down his pace.
“We’re currently around one meter underground outside the shack.”
Right when I’m about to ask him why he randomly decided to use this move, he suddenly stops in his tracks and silently shakes his head. From there, he points up. I gaze at the earthen ceiling faintly illuminated by the glowstone and hear a muffled voice.
“Is the Hero really gonna come out of this shack?”
“Yeah. We’ve been getting eyewitness reports of humans disappearing near this place for a while now.”
I don’t even have to think about it. It’s beastkin talking. We listen carefully with bated breath.
“But they already thoroughly searched it and didn’t find any humans, right?”
“According to Bunogeos, there’s a human who can use earth magic, and a few humans are hiding deep underground. The entrance apparently only opens when a human’s nearby.”
“And that’s where the Hero is, too?”
“We’ve already checked everywhere on the surface. It’s the only place left.”
The beastkin lets out a vile chuckle.
“I can’t wait to rip him in half!”
“Yeah, let’s kill us a Hero!”
After listening to their conversation, Seiya stealthily moves forward without saying a word. We walk for a short while until he looks back at me and silently nods. It seems it’s okay to talk now.
“S-Seiya! They’re looking for us!”
“It’s no surprise. We ran away in the middle of battle, so no doubt Bunogeos is fuming. It makes sense he would be doing everything he can to find us.”
“But it sounded like they were talking about Eich’s earth magic and how the entrance to the settlement works…”
“And…?”
“And it means they’ve already marked the deserted house, so we can’t use it to go back anymore!”
“I expected this to happen. That’s why I bought the food and glowstones.”
“What?! So we’re going to live in caves you make from now on?!”
“Essentially, yes. Just to reiterate, while we may be underground, they’re still beastkin. Some of them may even have hearing far superior to humans’, so don’t make any noise.”
“O-okay.”
I nervously reply in a whisper, but my heart is racing for an entirely different reason.
So, wait! Does this mean we’re gonna be in this dim, narrow space together?! Just the two of us?! N-never mind fixing our love rating! Something even hotter and steamier might be waiting for us in here! Hff! Hff! Hff! Hff!
In the midst of my excitement, Seiya places a hand on the earthen wall.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m checking to see if there are any beastkin nearby.”
Seiya then quietly stares at me.
“Rista, you said you wanted to help me, right?”
“Y-yeah, of course! But…”
Out of nowhere, Seiya crouches and grabs my ankles! His face is right next to my crotch!
Wh-what’s going on?! What is he going to do to me?! Wait… N-no! Stop! We can’t! That would be far too lewd! But…on second thought, I actually wouldn’t mind! If anything, I want him to do it! Yes, Seiya! Take me! Rip these panties right off!
But before I even realize it, I’m soaring.
“…Huh?”
The Hero tightly holds on to my ankles with his extraordinary strength as he lifts me into the air like a parent with their newborn. Naturally, my face is getting closer to the earthen ceiling!
Eeeeeek!
But I don’t feel the impact I’m expecting. Surprisingly, it’s a rather gentle feeling, as if my face were being pushed into water. And then…
When I open my eyes, all I can see is the purple sky and a desolate town! In the distance, I can also see the dog and cat beastkin! Only my head is on the surface! Ahhhhhh! Wh-what the helllll…?!
Moments before I freak out, my head slips back through the ground!
“Ahhhhh!”
Despite the fact that I’m shivering in fear, Seiya coldheartedly asks:
“So? What did you see? Were there any beastkin nearby?”
“Th-there weren’t any nearby, but I saw two over there… Wait, no! I am not a periscope!! What were you gonna do if someone saw me?!”
“You said you wanted to help, right? I made sure the area was clear before sending you out, and I would have pulled you back in right away if I needed to… At any rate, let’s carefully head up to the surface.”
After Seiya undoes the Cave Along spell, we gradually float to the surface. He quickly looks around, finds a shadowy area, and trots over to it. From there, he watches the beastkin. I can hear them talking.
“I freakin’ hate this Hero hunt. I’m so pissed right meow. Once I get back home, I’m gonna eat one of my slaves out of spite.”
The dog beastkin raises an eyebrow to the cat beastkin’s assertion.
“Yo, don’t. You know how strict this town is with its ‘no eating humans’ rule.”
“Yeah, yeah. But fur-real, though, I heard that Bunogeos is eating humans himself when nobody’s watching. It’s nothing to worry mewrself over. Besides, we’re in the middle of searching for the Hero. Nobody’d even notice if a slave or two disappeared.”
“You raise a fine point. How about saving half of your slave for me?”
“You’re in fur a treat. Come on—let’s do this.”
I whisper to Seiya:
“S-Seiya! They’re going to kill one of the slaves!”
“Relax.”
Seiya pulls a slender silver object out of his shirt pocket.
“I’m going to play the flute.”
“…?! This is no time to be playing the flute! Someone’s about to be killed!”
But that’s when I notice that the instrument Seiya is using is no ordinary flute. Only the tip and end piece have holes with nothing on the body. Seiya squats and picks up a small handful of dirt. He rolls the soil between his fingers as if he were kneading clay.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“I’m hardening the soil with my magic and giving it an aerodynamic shape to reduce air resistance.”
He creates something narrow and long with a pointed tip in his hands.
I-it reminds me of a bullet from Seiya’s world…but I guess it’s closer to rifle ammo!
Seiya sticks it
on the tip of the flute, then locks a sharp eye on the beastkin a few dozen meters away.
“I lost a lot of abilities when I quit being a Spellblade, but I learned new abilities in exchange. Resilient Lungs, Sustained Fluting—I will integrate all Jolly Piper special abilities into this one blow.”
He brings the silver flute to his lips.
“Take this! Burst Air!”
Bang! A dry sound echoes.
…I have no idea what just happened, but when I look in the direction the flute is pointing, I’m speechless. Although he was happily chatting with his friend up until a few seconds ago, the cat beastkin’s head is now gone!
“Huh…?”
Noticing his friend’s head missing, the dog beastkin foolishly barks:
“H-hey, uh…? Where’d your head g—?”
Bang! Another dry pop.
The dog beastkin’s head instantly vanishes! Black blood flows from their necks before they simultaneously hit the ground.
While trembling at the horrific sight, I think to myself:
Jolly Piper, my ass!
“S-Seiya!! What the hell is that?! I thought that was supposed to be a flute!”
“Calling it a ‘blowpipe’ would be more accurate. I combined the flute with your hair last night and synthesized it just like when making platinum swords, thus creating a platinum blowpipe, which has increased durability and improved noise reduction when firing.”
“A platinum blowpipe…!”
Without even giving me a second to retort, Seiya walks out of the shadows and approaches the two bodies while keeping an eye on his surroundings.
“What are you doing? Somebody might see you.”
“Yes, we shouldn’t stay here for long, but I still need to clean up.”
“B-back to your old ways, huh?! But I’m pretty sure they’re dead!”
“You can’t be so sure. Beastkin might have healing capabilities that far exceed human imagination. Only knowing that they lost their heads worries me. I won’t be able to relax until they’re ash.”
“But you can’t use Hellfire anymore.”
“I know. I’m going to safely and swiftly dispose of their bodies with a new spell.”
“What kind of spell is that?”
“Curious, huh? Then allow me to explain.”
Seiya suddenly places a hand on my head.
The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious, Vol. 3 Page 8