by J. J. Pavlov
That's basically an adventurer from a role-playing game setting, and this is an adventurer party. If I had been reincarnated in the typical setting, I would have been in Rolan's position. Then again, I would have still been a baby, as only a few weeks have passed since I've been born into this world.
A Crawling Chaos grows up fast, huh?
We're in the only tavern in this tiny village, with the interior only being the size of a living room. The village brewer repurposed his house and added a second floor to it, turning it into an inn for the rare traveler who passes through here.
That brewer-slash-innkeeper is also eyeing me with a blank look of astonishment. Must be because I'm eating away a lot of his stored food. He then shrugs, most likely thinking that as long as he gets paid, it doesn't really matter.
"You must have been really starving, missy." The giant guy with a needlessly booming voice comments with a laugh. He's one of Rolan's companions, a towering bald man with a magnificent mustache, and an equally towering shield strapped to his back. His body is built like a brick house, and I wouldn't be surprised if he could lift me with one hand.
I guess this is the tank of the group.
"Leave her be, Gram. The young lady must have lived through a terrible experience." The guy with the needlessly flowery language stops the giant man from patting me on my back.
What's up with the name Gram? He looks more like he weighs a ton!
This other guy is carrying a lute, wears light brown robes and a wide-brimmed hat adorned with long feathers. He's giving off the stereotypical vibes of a bard. The only thing missing for him would be to speak in sing-song.
Still, a bard in this day and age? Well, this is technically a fantasy world, so I'm sure his existence has a justification here.
"Hm, are you perchance falling for my charms, fair lady?" He gives me a smile that would surely melt any other girl's heart. Too bad for him that I don't swing that way. I would consider him good-looking, with a body one size smaller and slimmer than Rolan's, but his behavior is plain annoying to me. Maybe it works for people in this world, though.
I ignore him and turn my gaze to the fourth member of their party.
"What, do I have something on my face?" She practically spits this into my face coldly.
How unfriendly!
It's a beautiful girl with long, light blond hair and sapphire blue eyes. She wears a cloak and carries a staff with crystals inlaid into their tip. I assume she's a mage. By the usual pattern, she's also in love with Rolan, who's oblivious to her feelings. I glance at the man in question and then back to her. She stares at me in bewilderment, and I smirk in realization.
"If you have something to say, just out with it!" She clenches her staff, shaken by the fact that I figured it out so quickly.
In either case, we have the whole clichéd adventurer party together. They have a swordsman as the leader, a tank, a mage and a bard for support. Actually, I don't think a bard is really necessary, and he should be replaced with a ranger, but I'm sure his existence has a justification here.
Hm, I think I just repeated myself there.
"What a hot gaze, you must be really interested in my humble self." I think I'm about to throw up. A pitiful and doubtful gaze appears to be filled with affection in his eyes, huh? This guy must be the densest of them all.
"Now that you had your fill, I'll introduce everyone." What do you mean, had my fill? I could eat ten times this amount. But Rolan is quite forceful in his statement, as he places the money down on the table to pay before I can ask for more. I must be hurting his wallet with my seemingly endless hunger. The leader then begins. "The big man is Gram Vestegard, he drinks a lot, but can be quite reliable when the situation calls for it."
The big man in question lifts his jug of what I think is beer, smiling at me
"The flirty guy is Sigurd Nurmi. Don't pay it any mind. He does that with all girls."
"Hey, that is not true. I only flirt with the most beautiful ones." Tossing a charming wink towards me, the bard gives me a smile meant to melt my heart. It only serves to make me lose my appetite. Good thing I already stopped eating.
"... the one with the attitude is Runa Sigint, she's the only one who knows magic in our group." He ignores the bard's interjection and continues. This tells me volumes about their group dynamics in regards to the latter's behavior.
"What do you mean, attitude?" She glares at Rolan's introduction of her, proving him right. But Luna? That's such a common fantasy name, especially for a mage.
Ah, she turned her attention to me. Did my thoughts show on my face?
"Last but not least, and once more, I'm Rolan Helt. I'm the one holding this ragtag bunch together." Rolan finishes up the round of introductions. "So, what's your name?"
"Ku-..." I was about to say my real name out of habit. In this world I'm Chaos. "Ch-"
Wait, these are very clearly humans, and I feel like Chaos is a demon name. Even I, with my bad English grades, know the meaning of the word 'chaos'.
"Kuroe Makoto." No harm in giving my real Japanese name from my previous life anyway. I can't come up with a random fantasy-sounding name on the spot, I'm sorry.
"Chloe Marcott?" Gram asks with a raised eyebrow, scratching his bare chin questioningly.
Ah, of course, they pronounce it wrong. But I'm not going to correct them since that sounds like a name that could fit into this world.
"That is a strange name." Luna snorts disparagingly.
Leave my name alone, oi! You're really rude, you know?
"Maybe it's from the Mineva Republic?" The bard begins to speculate in regards to where that name may come from. He mentions a place called the Mineva Republic, and it gives me a glimpse into humanity of this world.
It makes sense that they would have various countries with distinct cultures, where people's names are different. Many fantasy settings just have humans as a monolithic entity fighting against the evil demons - who are also monolithic and follow the demon lord without question. Even when faced with a common enemy that could cause their annihilation, I don't think that humanity uniting unconditionally is very likely.
"Were you traveling alone?" Rolan asks me. I was, but I can't really say that, or else they'll think I'm either actually really strong or plain stupid.
"I was with my parents, but they..." Are still alive and well in the world I came from, or so I hope. But to me, who is now bound to this world here, they may as well be dead. It's quite depressing to think about the fact that I'll most likely never meet them again, but at least it'll bring out the proper emotions in me for this act.
"I see... I'm sorry." The leader looks empathetic. "What were you doing in these parts? If you're from the Mineva Republic, you're really far from home." I never said I was from this place called the Mineva Republic, but at least now I know that it's far away.
Actually, I'd like to see a map of the world before I start making any claims about where I'm from. But I can't just go and ask them to show me a map right here.
Hm, maybe I can act like an aristocrat's sheltered daughter who doesn't know about the world. But for that my table manners weren't good enough, I think.
Don't sweat the small stuff. The setting is that I almost starved to death and I can always explain my lack of manners by saying that I was always a rebellious and tomboyish child - just the way I really am.
And I was actually quite hungry.
"We were on a journey. My parents wanted to show me the world, but then..." I leave the rest to their imagination once again. That's always more effective than explicitly stating the facts. A construct of lies works best when a large part of it is provided by the person you want to lie to.
I didn't say that I was from the Mineva Republic, but I also didn't deny it. They will now think I'm from wherever that is, but I can always change that part of my background story later. That will depend on where the republic is in relation to the Dominion so that I could maybe get directions there.
"You poo
r girl..." Gram says with a compassionate sigh. He's been the friendliest one among these guys and seems to be a gentle giant, despite his powerful appearance. I would have avoided him if I saw him on the streets in my world. But here, he seems like someone you can depend on. "What shall we do with her? We can't just leave her be."
"Why don't we bring her along to Hovsgaerden? The guild might be able to help her." The bard interjects with this suggestion. I assume that 'the guild' refers to the adventurer guild they're signed up with.
"I object." Of course, Luna doesn't want me to come along. She fears for her monopoly on Rolan as the only female in the party. Now, let's hear her reasoning. "She will only drag us down when a battle breaks out."
Well, if I could show my full power, you all would most likely be dragging me down. But I can't very well do that when I'm acting like a weak aristocratic daughter who barely escaped from a bandit attack in which her parents were killed. I need to keep up appearances, as long as I don't know how strong human can be.
While I did make short work of malnourished peasant soldiers and ill-equipped nobles in the Blood Pits of Rodens, I have no experience in fighting well-fed adventurers who are used to deal with monsters, after all.
"And she possesses no money. If she always eats so much, we will run out of funds really quickly." She continues and points at the remains of my meal. Alright, that's a point I can't deny, I do eat a lot of food. And I have nothing of any value on me, including the things inside my body.
"Umm, if you could point me in the direction of Hovsgaerden, I can go there myself." I'm not sure I got the name right, but I can chalk it up to being unfamiliar with the local language. After all, to them, I must have a noticeable accent, just as they do for me.
Really though, being surrounded by people I can't show my true self to will be quite tiring in the long run.
"No, we cannot let a defenseless lady fend for herself in the harsh wilderness. She was lucky to have escaped the grasp of bandits. Now you want to send her out there on her own again?" The bard shoots down my suggestion and turns to argue against Luna's sentiment. Oh well, then I'll just keep quiet and watch this unfold.
"So are you telling us we should babysit her?" The blonde mage gestures at me, not caring about appearances. She really doesn't like me, does she?
"You're too harsh, Runa." That Rolan finally speaks up, and it earns him a glare. Yep, he's the dense type. "We found her, so we will have to see things through to the end."
That's a very commendable attitude, but it feels like you'll be wasting a lot of your time in life if you do this every time you find a damsel in distress. Although the way he refers to me makes it sound like he's talking about a pet.
"You found her. I did not want anything to do with it. In the first place, you always..." Luna raises her voice in anger.
I stop listening. This is a lover's quarrel if I've ever seen one. Both Gram and the bard are staying out of it and look at me with apologetic expressions. I don't really mind; I just would have liked not to be the spark that ignited this argument, without actually doing anything in the first place. I'm sure it was a long time coming, too.
"Just do as you like!" Luna stands up abruptly and slams her hands on the table, before storming off. The stack of wooden soup bowls in front of me topples over, but Gram, the bard and I barely catch the ones that roll off the table.
"What's with her?" Rolan turns to us and frowns. He actually has the audacity to ask that!
Ugh, I can't watch this.
"You don't understand a woman's heart at all, Sir Rolan! Follow her! " I know I'm meddling, but I'm a girl, too. I can understand her frustration to a degree. Confused, the leader is taken aback by my outspokenness. He's still not moving, though.
"What-"
"GO!" I stand up and shout. He finally reacts by jumping up from his seat, before running out of the tavern, to go after Luna.
I sigh and sit back down.
"There they go again... let's do some drinking down here tonight." The bard suggests to Gram. It seems there is something they know about that I don't.
What?
"Yeah, I don't want to be anywhere near their room tonight." Gram responds with a knowing nod.
What, what?
Don't tell me these two are already an item and I was just pointlessly meddling? Even I'm not dense enough to misunderstand what these two mean by that short exchange. Rolan and Luna are going to have make-up sex tonight, and it's going to be loud.
And I really didn't need to imagine it...
How much of this was an act on his part to make her jealous? How much was it an act on her part of being jealous for no good reason?
Ahhh, normies should just explode...
I'm not that socially inept, and I've received my fair share of confessions - from girls, that is - so I shouldn't be one to use the term 'normie'. But those who get all lovey-dovey in a way that bothers people are so annoying. I would never make it a public thing.
Well, I've never been in a relationship, so I can't make a definite statement about that. Now that I've become a monster, I don't think my chances have improved in that regard.
In either case, I don't want to be anywhere near them tonight. Maybe I should have a drink with these two. I never had alcohol before, since it's limited to those of twenty years and up in Japan. But this isn't Japan, and I'm not a human being, so those rules don't apply to me.
Alright, it's decided then. I'll just drown my sorrows of being single in alcohol tonight.
"Let me join you..." I turn to the big man and the bard, feeling tired. Huh, why do they look so surprised? Ah, I guess the image of me being an aristocrat's daughter is crumbling away. How do I save this? Nothing good comes to mind.
Then, understanding creeps onto the bard's face. What? What did he understand?
"Alright. But before then, there is a task we have to complete." He stands up with a nonchalant shrug.
"Miss Marcott, please remain in this village until we return. You'll be safe here." Gram is trying to reassure me, but I feel like I'll be missing out on something if I don't go along with them now.
"Where are you going?" I try asking, not actually expecting an answer. For all I know, they could be going on some secret quest given by the adventurer guild, which outsiders shouldn't know about.
"We're going to fulfill the request we came here for. Recently a rogue wulfar has been attacking livestock in this area, and the people fear that it may turn to humans eventually. Our job's to find and kill it." The big man explains, meaning that it's not a secret.
That name though, it sounds like a wolf. Can't be the local name for the vularen now, can it? Well, this 'request' does seem like a fairly low-level one. It can't be more than a two-star quest to slay or catch a boss-phenotype of some mob monster.
"I want to come along and see how you do it." I know that I may sound like a selfish child, but I'm really curious. If it's a vularen, it can be used to assess the capabilities of this party of adventurers.
Through this, I may be able to gauge the strength of humans in their natural habitat. Especially Luna's powers as a mage is a big mystery to me. I've only seen Maou-mama and Mithra cast magic so far, but they must be on an exceptionally high level.
"Now look here... this is a dangerous beast that requires all four of us to fight. We won't be able to protect you, Miss Marcott." Scratching his head, Gram seems to be at a loss. He doesn't want to deny me outright, but he also can't just agree.
I don't need protection!
But I also can't let him know that!
Uguu...
"I won't get in your way, I promise!" I look at the bard with upturned eyes. I can tell that he's the type to fall for such things.
"It should be alright if she stays near me. Your protection is flawless either way, big man."And sure enough, he replies as I expect he would and turns to Gram. I can see the latter's resistance fading at the flattery.
So, he's weak to flattery, huh? This serves as a
useful reference for the future.
Ah damn, I'm doing it again. Why am I so calculating? It really must be this body affecting my mental state. I wasn't such a cold-hearted person in my previous life. Well, I don't even have a real heart at all with this body.
Well, I know that this is in part the result of Maou-mama's training, which contained more situations similar to the test I took on my first day in this world. While I haven't become a monster that attacks humans on sight, I also value their lives about as much as animals. And all animals are my food when the situation calls for it.
"Let's go find the two lovebirds..." Gram sighs. It's clear that he looks forward to it as little as I do, but since Rolan is the leader, he can't just leave on the quest without him.
Since this is only a collection of a few houses, it should be quite easy to find someone here. Especially people who stand out as much as a quarreling couple. Or so it should have been. Instead, we find them embracing each other and kissing behind a barn.
Ugh, just explode already...
When they notice us, they quickly separate and act as if nothing happened. Either they're consciously putting up an act, or really think they're getting away with keeping their relationship a secret. Whichever it is, both are equally annoying to me.
"Wh-what is it?" Luna asks with a flushed face. She tries - and fails - to secretly wipe her lips on the tip of her cloak while putting up a strong front.
But we already saw it, dammit!
"We should get moving." Gram says while acting as if he didn't see. So he's the one who's been enabling them!
"Yes, we should." Rolan, more composed than his sweetheart, quickly takes the opportunity to divert attention from Luna.
I'm standing next to the bard, just behind Gram, so that I'm out of sight. They will be the ones to tell their leader about me wanting to come along, so I better not initiate the issue with my obvious presence.
"Miss Marcott wishes to join us on this request. She is too scared to remain alone in the village. After all, she only knows us, here." I didn't expect the big man to be able to make such an excellent argument. Usually, you'd think the tanks are those with muscle for brains. But reality doesn't have min-maxing stats, so it makes sense that he isn't just pure strength with only starting intelligence.