CH 22

Now then, this time’s experiment is to verify the train power of Train-chan, also known as Train Mode.

The location is the north prairie that’s close to the town and has the weakest monsters. 

First, we wiped out the monsters around with the both of us and, just in case so that accidents don’t happen, I lent her my mythril armor and had her equip it.

Then, after getting permission from the person herself, I tied her arms and legs up, and preparations were done.

“If something happens, shout really loudly.” (Souma)

“…Okay.” (Train)

Leaving aside Train-chan who still has one super dubious look on her face, I take distance from her to a point where I would be able to hear her when she shouts loudly. 

There’s no monsters nearby and I can clearly see Train-chan tied up.

There should be no issues with my experiment environment. 

The first hour didn’t have any problems and no progress.

The bored Train-chan was rolling around as if bored and would ask me what time it was every now and then.

I would answer Train-chan with the clock that I borrowed from her, and in that time, I would use it all in slashing the torch without end.

Master Torch was healing its wounds the moment it got them with its regeneration ability, and there’s no monster respawns at the vicinity of players.

Peaceful time with nothing happening passed by. 

The change happened after 1 hour and 50 minutes of the experiment beginning. 

Train-chan had gotten bored from rolling around and was lying down without doing anything, but her state was slowly getting stranger. 

She would flap her legs around as if she couldn’t stay put, rolling around in place; she was clearly losing her calm.

And then, at the time when two hours had passed since the experiment began, a decisive abnormality occurred. 

Light particles began to gather 10 or so meters away from Train-chan, and goblins suddenly appeared there.

“A monster spawn!” (Souma)

It is one of the things I was expecting, but I raised my voice at the way too unrealistic sight.

Monster spawn, or since it is an enemy I have defeated already, a monster respawn is basically a phenomenon where monsters would appear.

Weak monsters in the field or dungeon would respawn after a certain amount of time, but players would normally not witness that happening.

The setting is that monsters are a gathering of Element, so it is not strange that monsters would be born from places that at a glance would seem like there’s nothing there. However, they must have judged that showing the sight of monsters just popping out would destroy the fantasy feeling.

As long as it is not a special event, monsters won’t spawn close to the player, especially within line of sight. Monsters not spawning is a system of Nekomimi Neko.

But a happening that goes against that logic is occurring right in front of me.

People have pointed out in the net that Train-chan pulls way too many monsters.

Even in areas where the monsters have been wiped out or the respawn timers are long, she would still appear with a whole ton of enemies in tow, so people have theorized that maybe Train-chan has a ‘Train Mode’ that makes monsters forcefully spawn.

And so, it has been proven here. 

But I notice that this is not the time to be thinking something so carefree.

The goblins are approaching Train-chan with mouth-licking happiness.

There’s the level difference and the mythril armor, so I think she will be okay, but it looks like a sight right out of an ecchi fantasy manga right before ‘that kind of scene’!

I have to hurry and save her! 

I thought this and was about to rush to where Train-chan is but, this time around, I witnessed something unexpected and outrageous.

“Kya kyaaaaaa!!” (Train)

Train-chan screamed after noticing the goblins approaching her and…

“No no, you gotta be kidding me!” (Souma)

And she began to roll on the ground while still tied up.

Moreover, at quite the speed! 

The goblins were eating dust as she rolled into the horizon.

But it couldn’t be helped. 

Goblins are monsters that are considered the wall of beginners, and they are scary to the point that it would be traumatic, especially now that the world has become real.

If I had to describe just how scary it is, it would be as scary as a lizardman.

…Ah, sorry, Reinhardt-san.

Anyways, something like that showed up from empty space, so Train-chan must have been surprised too.

“Wait! Wait a moment!” (Souma)

But the direction she ran off to is bad. 

For some reason, she rolled at full speed in a direction that’s not mine or the town.

It is not to the point where I can’t catch up, but it is abnormal speed.

Maybe a speed modifier was applied to her when entering Train Mode.

(I thought that, even if she entered Train Mode, she wouldn’t be able to move if I tied her up, but did it end up creating the opposite effect? I shouldn’t have just tied up her limbs!) (Souma)

There’s regrets, but it already happened.

She might have panicked even without being tied, so she might have run away faster at that time.

I still don’t know what would have been the right answer.

Anyways, I should chase after her.

What’s problematic here is that, as Train-chan continued on, trash mobs were spawning one after the other. 

Looks like the forced spawning of monsters in Train Mode is still effective when rolling.

The amount of monsters she is pulling is steadily increasing.

I was getting flustered here, but…

“At this rate…ah?” (Souma)

But the movements of Train-chan suddenly dulled.

Even though she was that fast before, she suddenly got slow.

I soon understood what’s going on.

“Of course she would get dizzy from rolling that much.” (Souma)

It is a miracle that she held up for this long.

Are her semicircular canals strong?

But the situation has become simple now.

Goblins may be ugly and scary, but they are slow.

It goes without saying that the weaklings among weaklings, the slimes and rural slimes as well.

When I easily pass them, I pick up Train-chan.

I could fight them, but it wouldn’t be the best idea to fight while carrying the groggy Train-chan.

I escape from the goblins while carrying Train-chan.

I have a person’s worth on me but, aside from fast monsters like mad hounds, there’s no way I would be caught by goblins who are slow. 

Since the moment I picked Train-chan up, there hasn’t been any new monster spawns.

So her Train Mode really only shows effect when alone.

“I would say it is about fine now.” (Souma)

Confirming that the monsters chasing after us were now specks in the distance, I speak to Train-chan.

“Oi, Train-chan, are you awake? You okay?” (Souma)

Train-chan opened her eyes wide at my voice.

“E-Eh? Uhm, this is…eeeh?!” (Train)

She made a nice reaction right as she came back to her senses.

I chuckle as I put her down on the ground and cut off the rope.

“I am sorry for making you tag along with my weird experiment. I should have told you what might happen beforehand.” (Souma)

“N-No, that’s…Souma-san!!” (Train)

I look back wondering why the stiffness in her voice increased and…

“Geh!” (Souma)

The monsters that I thought we shook off were chasing after us persistently.

Looks like the monsters that Train-chan encounters in Train Mode don’t lose aggro.

What an ill-natured system in every corner of it. 

I thought for a bit about it and…

“Sorry, I am going to pick you up.” (Souma)

“Eh, ah!” (Train)

I once again picked up Train-chan who seems to not have regained her strength yet. 

“Ah, uhm, I can move on my own…” (Train)

“It is okay! This is part of the experiment!” (Souma)

Train-chan was about to decline politely, but I stopped her with forced logic.

(Hmm, I really can’t relax like this.) (Souma)

I really would like the denseness of a harem protagonist here.

They would easily princess carry girls and won’t notice that the girls have fallen in love with them, but when I actually do it, it is pretty embarrassing.

It would be one thing if it had been like before when she wasn’t really clear on her senses yet, but in this situation where there’s no real sense of danger, my attention gets shifted onto me touching a girl.

That said, I can’t just take my time here doing a love-comedy.

“I will be slipping past the side of the enemies, so grab on tight!” (Souma)

I said this and began returning from where we came.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Train-chan to get dizzy, so she didn’t pull that many monsters.

I ran right in front of them and avoided the goblins that were at the front first.

The rural slimes that were left were easy to deal with.

The difference in speed is too big, so there’s no need to even pay it any mind to begin with.

I slip past them without any effort.

We went back from the path where we came and headed to the entrance of the town.

Even with that, they were still chasing us, but…

(Knew it.) (Souma)

The instant we took one step into the town, the monsters spread out as if they had lost interest in us and returned to their respective areas.

“One worry gone now… Are you okay?” (Souma)

When I asked this, Train-chan nodded heavely.

“Y-Yes, there’s no problem at all. I myself was surprised and lost my composure there…” (Train)

“No, that’s fine…” (Souma)

Could it be that she is still bothered by the matter of me carrying her while running away? Our conversation is a bit awkward here.

“Uhm, is it okay to ask?” (Train)

“Y-Yeah, of course.” (Souma)

Train-chan looks at me with a far more serious look than expected.

Is her question going to be about the monster spawning? 

That certainly was abnormal.

Or maybe at the time when she was escaping from the goblins…is what I was bracing myself for, but she didn’t ask about any of those things.

“W-Was I properly useful for you?” (Train)

“Eh?” (Souma)

I was bewildered by the way too unexpected question.

I don’t know what she thought of my reaction, but Train-chan desperately added more.

“A lot of weird things happened and I panicked and ran away all of a sudden, so I was wondering that maybe you didn’t manage to do your experiment properly because of me, Souma-san…” (Train)

Seeing the uneasy Train-chan, I ended up understanding.

For Train-chan, what’s far more important than the abnormal phenomenon, the unreasonable treatment, and the circumstances of her running away, is whether her newly made comrade has succeeded in what he wanted. Whether she was of use to him. 

I do feel like she is worrying too much here, but she has been alone this whole time, so this reaction might be natural.

Because she has been unable to interact with others, she has no confidence of being useful to others.

Hoping that she will get a bit more confidence in herself in the time she is together with me, I answered her as if trying to give her peace of mind.

“Of course, you were a great help. That experiment just now would have been impossible without you.” (Souma)

“R-Really?!” (Train)

Train-chan’s face grew brighter as if a flower bloomed at my words.

Her gloomy look of before made a complete turn into a shining face brimming with energy and motivation, and she grabbed both of my hands tightly.

“U-Uhm, please keep bringing up experiments or anything you want! I will do anything I can!!” (Train)

I made a wry smile at that energy of hers and said energetically as if to answer that spirit of hers.

“Then, next, let’s try bungee jumping without a rope!” (Souma)

“Excuse me?” (Train)