CH 102

We went down the stairs. Next was……yep, I knew it. An area of ice and snow. I immediately cast my heat insulation spell.

“Thanks, that’s a big help. …Still, this makes any snowball fightin’ obsolete, damn it…”

Just when I thought he was praising me, he started to complain.

“While we’re at it, I’ve got new toys.”

“Oh, I’ll gladly take ’em. Thanks!” He held out both hands.

“It’s a drawback that you can only see the visible light spectrum, right? There are times when it’s better to see the other light spectra too, even if you might have many years of experience, so I made tools for that.” I dropped them into his hands. “Those are glasses. They allow you to also perceive visual information outside the visible light spectrum. It might make you feel slightly dizzy, if you’re not used to it. And this one is the goggle version of the glasses. It comes with a wider visual field and makes it easier to see underwater than the glasses. Both cut off the light in case the visible light becomes too powerful. So far as it goes, I’ve added a function to turn them off. If you touch the rim of the right lens, you can turn them on or off.”

He immediately put the glasses on, turning into a bespectacled, young man.

“Hee! So that’s how your visual field feels like. …Or rather, ain’t everything in plain sight!? The hell’s this!? I’m totally handycapped here, am I not!?”

“That’s why I don’t understand how you won at the shooting game.”

It remains a mystery to this very day. To the point of me wondering whether the Ryokus might have somehow messed up the point tallying.

After tampering around with the glasses in various ways, Sword took them off.

“If I get used to these, it’ll be really dangerous when shit hits the fan.”

Or so he said.

“I actually gave them to you because I want you to grow accustomed to them for critical moments…”

One’s plain eyes aren’t of much use in this blizzard, are they? The wind’s howling is quite loud too. Wouldn’t it be quite a disadvantage if one couldn’t rely on their senses of hearing and sight?

If it’s already like this on our current floor, I’m sure the storms are going to get much worse the lower we go… Or is Sword planning to spot enemies with what’s commonly referred to as “sixth sense?”

“If things get really hairy, I can put it on. Besides, I’ve also got your wristband. So things will work out one way or ‘nother.”

……Sword is quite the amazing guy, isn’t he?

＊

Now then, speaking for ice and snow areas…

Yeti! Snowmen! Copper Blangonga! 1

All of them talk about the same…oh wait, I guess the last one is another type. …Either way, I’m talking about swarms of such big, furry apes roaming the plains. Moreover, mobs similar to wolves might be around as well.

“…Why would apes and dogs be together?”

“Huh? Is it wrong for ’em to team up?”

I mean, isn’t the relationship between dogs and monkeys usually like that of cats and dogs? The common sense of this world is totally messed up!

＊

――Sword is amazing after all.

How can he tell enemies apart in this blizzard where you can’t really hear much because of all the noise and see beyond your own hands because of the bad visibility (on top of him only being able to see the visible spectrum of light in the first place)!?

What? Does something like detection magic exist? Even then, he’d be plain incredible, no?

After finishing off enemies in a whiff, we took a break in a cave that seemed to be a safe zone.

“Sword, you’ve earned my respect.”

Sword stared at me with a super suspicious look, however.

“…What kind of joke are you pullin’?”

“It’s no joke! …How can you find the enemies!? The Ryokus and I 『see』 them. I mean, if I feel like hearing a sound, I can pick it up while shutting out the wind’s howling, okay? That’s why I can tell, but you’re fighting enemies after detecting them while being unable to rely on your hearing or sight, aren’t you!? Don’t you understand just how amazing this ability is!?”

“Hmm…”

He suddenly became cheerful, apparently happy over my praise.

“Now that you mention it, I just know where the enemies are. Somehow I simply get it through intuition.”

“Oh! There it is! The infamous “sixth sense”!”

“The heck’s that?”

“Humans possess five senses. Vision, hearing, taste, touch, and olfaction. However, you spot and destroy enemies without using any of those, correct? This act of sensing information outside the five senses is called sixth sense.”

“Hee, sounds awesome.”

I’m talking about you!!

When I intensely glared at him, Sword laughed, “Well, I’ve got my fair share of combat experience. As I was workin’ alone over long periods of time, I was liable to run into dangerous situations at any moment. At one time I also happened to fight ‘gainst a pack of wolves inside a blizzard like this, you know? Though I s’pose this time it’s at least better in regards to me not feelin’ cold.”

Whoa, it’s his usual hard mode.

Then he muttered in admiration, “I see. So your limited in various ways just as your capable of various things, huh?”

“It’s only natural to be limited by things you can’t do, no? Aren’t you actually much weirder than I am!?”

I seem to be perceived as superwoman by my surroundings, but even so, I’m just manipulating magic elements based on my knowledge, so I’m doing something very normal here!

In the first place, I think the combat experience Sword is talking about and regular combat experience are two completely different things. Usually you’d follow the theory of learning the enemy’s attack patterns and ways to take them down, right? But Sword said that he mastered his ultra-super-duper-intuition while fighting, didn’t he?

From which manga did he get something like that!?

＊

Sword laughed again.

“I see, I see, so in your eyes I’m an incredible guy, eh?”

“I think anyone would consider you incredible, though. Or is that normal to the people of this world?”

Nothing less of a fantasy world. For an ultra-super-duper-intuition to be commonplace… I wonder whether I’ll be able to learn it at some point as well.

Ah, but, it sounds like it’d make me painful to look at. I mean, that would be a perfect trigger for starting to say stuff like, “My right eye throbs.”

When I pondered about such things, he scowled at me, but why?

“…Aren’t you thinkin’ somethin’ rude ‘gain?”

I violently shook my head many times over.

“I’ve got no clue whether everyone’s capable of it. I was acting alone for a long time. …But, you can’t do it, huh?”

“Of course not.”

Or rather, I think those incapable of that make up the majority…

When I was looking blankly, Sword smiled gently, and stroked my head.

“As I got you to prepare and build all kinds of things for me, I started to think that your an almighty god. It ain’t Ben’s line, but most people of this world would think of lettin’ ice rain from the sky or makin’ lightnin’ strike from up there as divine works. I see, your eager ’bout givin’ detailed explanations for everythin’, but I don’t wanna hear any of those!”

I had my mouth blocked just when I was about to explain.

“I know. You ain’t no almighty god. If you say there’s a theory behind it all, so be it. But, we don’t get those theories, and I suspect we wouldn’t be able to understand ’em either. That’s also why the name Allrounder fits you perfectly. …Or so I thought, but there’s stuff I can do and you can’t. And probably I’m the only one capable of it. …When I grasped that, I was a bit happy.”

……

I looked up to Sword, “When I teach you songs, you’re able to sing them without missing a tone or making any mistakes with lyrics that use a language you don’t understand. You immediately grasped how to drive Char and Bronko. And when I taught you how to use guns, you even got a higher score than me. …Ah, just thinking of it grates on my nerves.”

So upsetting～

At once my head was ruffled.

“…So you were devastated over having things you can’t do yourself, huh?”

“I guess. It’s because I’ve become slightly conceited. I was sure no one would be able to be better…, no, to be at my level. No one saw the same views I saw. No one experienced the same sensations I did. That’s why I thought I’d always be alone.”

It doesn’t seem like we’ve got the same senses. I mean, I don’t have a sixth sense, okay? Isn’t it just Sword alone?

Ah, but I’ve become “someone possessing the same senses as him” by relying on science.

“And then you lined yourself up next to me. I thought you were equal to me or a little bit behind. But, as you learned new things and absorbed them, you overtook me by leaps n’ bounds. Your growth rate is much higher than mine. I got panicked, thinkin’ that you’d leave me in the lurk at this rate.”

……Pardon?

“…Look, I won’t grow anymore, you know?”

“Haah?”

Sword became dumbfounded.

“I’m a woman. Let me tell you once more just to make sure: I am a wo-man! The growth period of women comes much earlier than that of men. I’ve already reached its peak. At most it’ll last until the age of 15, I guess. Or, if I’m unlucky, it’s already stopped at my current age.”

“……” Sword looked very doubtful.

Did he forget about me being a woman? …No, he obviously forgot, didn’t he!?

I thrust a finger right at his face.

“Now listen! I am a woman! My growth has already stopped! I won’t grow any further!” My voice became louder towards the end. “――Except for my chest!”, I added with an even louder voice. “EXCEPT FOR MY CHEST!!!”

Important things have to be said twice.

However, Sword looked at me with a fed-up expression.

“……Isn’t your chest the part that’s stopped growin’?”

What was that!?!?

“It hasn’t stopped! A woman’s chest…my chest, you see, is something that will grow all life long! It was the same in the other world!”

When I was on the verge of tears, Sword took me into his arms and stroked me.

“Right, right. …Come to think of it, you were a woman, weren’t you? Your chest…let’s see…it becomin’ big sooner or later…sure would be nice.”

What’s with his stuttering!?

“…Men are different from women. Their real growth begins after 15. The growth period lasts until around 20, and afterwards it begins to slow down, but it slows down a lot faster for women. If you say that one can grow by just training themselves, unrelated to gender and age, it not only applies to me, but you as well. The gap between us shouldn’t be filled that easily.”

“I see. Makes sense in a way.”

Just when I thought he was praising my knowledge, he put his arms under my armpits and lifted me up.

…Am I a cat to you, or what?

“Your a smart girl.”

“…What’s with that cute talk as if you’re speaking to a pet?”

“Reared creatures? Are you talkin’ ’bout tamed monsters?”

It’s different, but I guess the people of this world don’t understand the concept of buying small animals to care for them as pets.

“Don’t talk to a 13-years-old, beautiful girl while lifting her up by her armpits. I’m no little girl for heaven’s sake.”

Sword burst into laughter.

“Sorry. …Somehow I can’t rid myself from viewin’ you as the lil’ runt you were when we met for the first time.”

Isn’t that the reason why you’re like a Dad? No, old man, I suppose.

In the next second I was dropped on the ground again, although I didn’t say anything.