Hazure Skill ‘Mapping’ wo Te ni Shita Ore wa, Saikyou Party to Tomo ni Dungeon ni Idomu - LightNovelsOnl.com
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Chapter 21
Chapter 21 – Puriff Beach Translator: Mana A single expanse of blue spread out in front of me. The boundary between the endless blue sky and the vast sea was indistinguishable, blurring together into one whole. The smell of the tide wafted through the air, combining with the heat of the bright sun to make one forget that this was the inside of a dungeon. Yes, this was the fourth floor of the Dungeon of Puriff. Also known as the ‘Floor of the Great Sea’. Despite being inside a dungeon, the sun reached high in the endless sky of the floor like it was the real thing. There were even islands faintly visible along the horizon of the vast ocean. The sight of the sea that was exactly the same as the real thing made me realise that this dungeon truly was outside the logic of this world. Apparently, the goal of this floor was to pa.s.s between the islands and cross the sea in order to reach the door to the fifth floor.
We currently stood at the island with teleport crystal for the fourth floor. The sandy sh.o.r.e that surrounded us on this island was well-known in the town of Puriff as the famous ‘Puriff Beach’. The main feature of this island was that no monsters sp.a.w.ned on it. There were no traps either. For these reasons, this beach had become a kind of tourist attraction of the town. There were swimsuit-clad people scattered all over the place, playing and lazing around in a way unthinkable for adventurers. That was a given, though. The town of Puriff was landlocked, far from any real ocean. That was why non-adventurer citizens came to play at this beach too. There was a reason why they could reach this floor of the dangerous dungeon. Lifts. A lift was the act of accompanying an adventurer to reach the teleport crystal of the destination floor. Once a teleport crystal has been reached it can be teleported to at any time from the teleport crystal at the entrance, so as long as you had been lifted once you could come and go from the completely safe beach with no problems. Of course, for regular citizens to receive a lift from adventurers, they needed money. Because of that, the only people who visited this beach were adventurers and the wealthy. It was a top-cla.s.s, picturesque beach with no overcrowding of commoners. “Why the long face, Note?” “Eh… well…” Jin stood next to me and initiated a conversation. Dressed in black board shorts, his toned body was covered in scars, leaving no doubt that he was a first-cla.s.s a.s.sa.s.sin. In contrast, I was also in board shorts, but… “I don’t think this is the time to be playing around…” Yes, the ‘Arrivers’ had come to this Puriff Beach for a dip in the ocean. Regardless of the fact we should’ve been working towards clearing the dungeon as soon as possible. And the reason for that was— “This is a man’s paradise! A treasure box packed with beautiful women in swimsuits! I’m so glad I continued being a dungeon adventurer!” The man prancing and frolicking in the sand. The leader of this party, Force, had suggested this. Originally, the immediate goal of the ‘Arrivers’ was to lift Roslia and me up to the highest floor of the rest of the party—the 16th floor. The Dungeon of Puriff was said to have 30 floors, with the current progress of the party at the 16th floor being exactly in the middle. If you thought that this number of explored floors was small in comparison to the dungeon specialist parties in the town of Puriff, you would be mistaken. It was the opposite. It was top-cla.s.s progress. In the first place, there was no party in this country that had progressed past the 19th floor, and according to past logs the highest anyone had ever reached was the 25th floor. It was the 16th floor in a situation like that. The further you went, the higher the difficulty of the dungeon jumped, making the journey between this record and the complete domination of the dungeon seem endless. That was why we had no time to waste taking it easy. Especially since we spent quite a lot of time training me and searching for party members. “But it was decided through a group discussion… And I think taking breaks like this is also important…” Jin chided my impatience to stop playing and continue as fast as possible. On the other hand, this rest stop was voted for within the party so I couldn’t complain even if I didn’t like it. Roslia was the first one to immediately agree to Force’s idea of playing at the sea. With her rose-tinted view of the world and a head full of romantic ideas, there was no way Roslia would turn down a beach trip. In the first place, she was a regular patron of Puriff Beach, as it was the very reason why her highest floor of the Dungeon of Puriff was the fourth floor. She probably ensnared many men here. I wasn’t about to be fooled by her saying ‘I want to see Note in a swimsuit!’. Neme was also unexpectedly in favour with Force’s suggestion, enthusiastically declaring, ‘Neme will enchant all the men at the beach with her swimsuit figure…!’. Sorry, Neme… I think enchanting with a body like that might be difficult… The only thing you would enchant would be lolicons, so be careful… Since neither Erin nor Jin voiced any objections, I was the only one who held a stance of denial during the discussions. If we had time to play in the ocean, I wanted to progress through the dungeon as quickly as possible and practice ‘Stealth’ instead. I also wanted to face Jin to evade his attacks. Surprisingly, Jin was disapproving of that idea. ‘I can understand why you want to press forward and refine your techniques… but isn’t there another problem to solve before that…?’ Jin had whispered to me secretively. And when I asked him what that problem was— ‘The distance between Roslia and the rest of this party. While Roslia has certainly opened her heart to Note… she doesn’t really talk to anyone else, right? Setting aside Force, since he keeps persistently trying to chat her up… Erin and Neme don’t seem too friendly with her… and it seems like she’s trying to keep her distance from me too, don’t you think?’ Now that he mentioned it, it was exactly as Jin said. It was hard to say whether Roslia and I were on close terms, but we could at least have interesting conversations. Perhaps it was because she was keeping her promise with me, but her att.i.tude towards Force was blunt, and she never approached Jin. I had tried asking the reason once but only received a joking response that ‘Jin… always has his guard up… it feels like I would be killed instantly if I approached him carelessly…’ in return. She was probably avoiding the answer. Of course, Jin had never shown any intention of a.s.sa.s.sinating Roslia. He talked to her in a very friendly way. The other girls’ opinion of Roslia was the absolute lowest, and she seemed to know it as she never tried to talk to them herself. As a result, Roslia kept approaching me out of her boredom. It was true that if I kept flirting around with Roslia like this even I would end up falling like Force. In order to avoid such troubles, it was necessary to eliminate the distance between Roslia and the other party members. I reluctantly decided to accept Jin’s persuasion. Getting back on topic, to right now. We were waiting for the ladies to finish changing. Dressed lightly, the men had finished changing first and were waiting on the beach. Force was excitedly jumping around. “Did you wait long? Note.” A soothing voice sounded out from behind me unexpectedly. I turned and came face-to-face with Roslia’s pure white swimsuit and skin. Although I said it was unexpected, I had ‘Enemy Search’ constantly activated so I knew she was there. But I was still caught off guard. In that instant when I turned and saw that figure. I realised I had been caught unawares. By that beauty. “How do I look? In a swimsuit…?” Roslia asked shyly as she turned on the spot to show every corner of her body. It was extremely cunning. How should I put it… when someone spins… their chest tends to bounce… Only idiotic thoughts like that pa.s.sed through my mind. “What are you drooling over… how pathetic…” A very rude remark suddenly flew at me from the side. It was Erin. She wore a hooded jacket over a light blue swimsuit— I guess normal people don’t bounce even when they spin… I was able to confirm such common sense in that moment. “You were just thinking something rude right now, weren’t you?” Could Erin use ‘Mind Reading’? Obviously, there was no spell in this world that allowed people to read the minds of others. There were only skills. Since I knew the composition of Erin’s skills, that wasn’t possible. Putting aside my own ridiculous delusions, I vaguely answered her words. That was when Neme finished changing too. “Well? This is Neme’s s.e.xy figure!” she said, holding her right hand to her head and her left hand to her hips while swaying. It was a sight that could be more accurately described as ‘secksy’ rather than ‘s.e.xy’. A snug, navy-coloured swimsuit that was connected from the chest area to the crotch in one piece. It emphasised Neme’s young body even more. “Yeah… it’s very cute…” It was hard to admit the truth when Neme was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence, so I avoided eye contact and muttered a perfunctory compliment. Spurred on by my reply, Neme continued making weird poses until Roslia grew tired of watching her and approached me with a sly smile on her face instead. “Could it be… is Note actually a lolicon? That ‘Girl Abductor’ nickname… was real…?” “No way!” If this is not Binbogami WordPress then it is stolen! “Then do you prefer stylish mature ladies more?” “Well… if I had to pick, yeah…?” “Then how about me?” Roslia suddenly hugged me. What…? Was that a crude pickup line…? “What a perverted face you have right now… Note…” Erin was looking this way coldly. But it wasn’t like I could help it. Her chest was touching me. Have a little mercy on my facial expression. The girls showed no sign of getting along with Roslia at all. Surprisingly, even Jin’s plans could fail sometimes… how unexpected. The sun moved even within the dungeon, so judging from its current position overhead, it was roughly early afternoon. I was watching a group of people playing with a ball on the beach from afar. By myself. Of course, those people were the members of the same party as me. From an outsider’s perspective, I was a total loner, but this was what I wanted. No, really. “If I’m there, Roslia won’t talk to anyone else…” I muttered to myself with half an eye open. Something I realised while playing on this beach in the morning was that Roslia barely talked to anyone other than me. Moreover, she was strangely clingy with me, leaving a not so favourable impression on the other girls. As a result, it felt like playing in the sea would only make their relations.h.i.+p worse. That was why I decided to distance myself from the other members, taking the chance to practice ‘Stealth’ at the same time. The reason I had come to this beach was the deepen the relations between party members, and not to play around. So I would rather practice my arts than mess around in a place like this. “Well… I guess I am a little lonely…” Although I may have chosen this of my own accord, the feeling of alienation still persisted, making me talk to myself more. Just when I was about to shake off such ridiculous thoughts and return to focusing on ‘Stealth’— A girl in a swimsuit with a hooded jacket tied around her waist was walking this way listlessly. It was Erin. Somehow, she seemed unhappy. Thinking she was just on her way to the toilet, I lightly tracked her movement with my eyes while in ‘Stealth’ mode, but she came to a stop next to me. She looked down at me sitting with my knees pulled to my chest, and opened her mouth. “What are you doing… all the way over here…” To block the light from the sun s.h.i.+ning behind Erin’s head, I raised a hand to s.h.i.+eld my face as I looked up. “Why did you walk all the way over here, Erin…” I tried to avoid the inconvenient question by answering with another question. I couldn’t see Erin’s face at all because of the backlight, but I could tell when she sighed. “Seeing such a s.h.i.+tty ‘Stealth’ made me curious…” A s.h.i.+tty ‘Stealth’, huh… My shoulders slumped from the shock, and she sat down nextt o me. “So why is Note sneaking about in a place like this?” “To improve the relations.h.i.+p between Roslia and you guys. If I was there I’d just be a bother, right?” Erin showed no sign of leaving, so I gave up and answered honestly. It would have been nice if she read my intentions and returned to where everyone else was, but it didn’t go that way. Erin also hugged her knees to her chest, then buried her face in them. “I have no intention of getting along with her! We’re just not on the same wavelength…” “That’s true…” Understanding Erin’s reasoning, I nodded my head. But even so, I couldn’t let her excuse pa.s.s through like that, so I turned to look at her in an attempt to persuade her. “I get how you feel. But if Erin’s here, won’t Roslia head this way too? At the very least I’d like her to get along with Neme, so could you go back there? I want to practice ‘Stealth’ here too…” Erin probably came to me out of consideration. I tried to convey the fact that this was unnecessary. Meanwhile, Erin didn’t seem that bothered by my attempted rejection. “If you wanted to prevent Roslia from coming this way, you should just cast ‘Stealth’ on me too. It’d also be practice for using ‘Stealth’ on people other than yourself, right?” Erin directly returned my gaze straight back at me. She probably had no intention of giving in. Reluctantly, I reached for her hand to cast ‘Stealth’ over her too— “What are you trying to hold my hand for?! Gross! You creep!” “Hah? Aren’t you being too unreasonable? I just extended my hand in order to cast ‘Stealth’ through contact!” “You don’t have to go out of your way to touch my hand if you need to contact, do you? Why do I have to hold hands with Note?! Touch my shoulder instead!” “Ugh…” It was vexing, but Erin was right. Why did I try to hold her hand to cast ‘Stealth’…? It was probably that. It was Roslia’s fault. Because Roslia always tried to hold hands. That habit had caused me to lose my resistance towards holding hands with girls… It grated on my nerves to listen to Erin’s orders, but it wasn’t as though I could touch her upper arm or thighs, so I reluctantly reached for her shoulder.My fingertips brushed against the skin. The sensation of her soft and delicate shoulder blade spread across the palm of my hand. My fingertips brushed against the skin. The sensation of her soft and delicate shoulder blade spread across the palm of my hand. Somehow, it felt more erotic than holding hands… As I was taking deep breaths to calm myself, Erin whispered to me. “Your hands are really sweaty… Note…” I hated her. Instantly, my heartbeat slowed down, returning me to my senses. My sweat also faded quickly. “The people in this party are all strange… including you, Erin…” Trying to change the topic, the sight of the members of the ‘Arrivers’ playing caught my eye. I was trying to disperse the awkward tension between us. Without missing a beat, Erin replied with her usual insulting comment. “I think you’re weirder than us, though?” “No no, there’s no way! If anything, I’d say me and Jin are the only normal people in the ‘Arrivers’?” “That’s impossible! What’s normal about a guy who sits by himself to watch us play on the beach?” “T-That’s…” I really didn’t want to talk to Erin anymore… Why was she always so aggravating…? Though I guess I was the one who started it in this conversation… “In the first place, I’m only alone because you and Roslia don’t get along, right? What’s so weird about that?” “I never asked you to do anything like that… Rather trying to make us get along better, didn’t you just want to practice ‘Stealth’ instead?” …… It was frustrating to admit it, but it was exactly as Erin said. Rather than solving the issue between Roslia and the others, my desire to practice my own arts was stronger. Erin could sometimes see through my essence with a harsh sharpness. I’ve had my heart stabbed numerous times because of that. Though there were times where I felt having a conversation with Erin was difficult, I have also been saved by this before. Like when my past faults were pointed out to me. That was why the reason why I felt her words were harsh was probably that I didn’t like facing my true self reflected in her words. It wasn’t her that I was bad with, but myself. That was how I was starting to think. With no concern to the self-deprecation going on in my head, Erin continued talking. “In the first place, why are you throwing yourself into learning arts so desperately?” “That’s because I want to change my weak self…” “Then why do you want to change yourself so much that you hurt yourself? Like when you learned to use ‘Enemy Search’ and ‘Trap Detect’ concurrently. And when you tried to tear Force away from Roslia. Why do you always try to sacrifice yourself in order to accomplish something?” Erin’s criticising gaze pierced me. She was probably mad. About today, too. At how I was abandoning the fun I could have with everyone in order to practice my arts like this. But I wouldn’t give in. This was how I did things. Since— “People who are blessed like Erin wouldn’t understand. If people like me with nothing didn’t push themselves to this point, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with chosen people like Erin…” “Note is weird after all…” Erin stood up, brus.h.i.+ng the sand off herself. “Well, do what you like! If that’s your way of doing things.” With those parting words, Erin walked away, her expression rather sad in contrast to her bright words. For some reason, that expression caught in my heart, making it unforgettable.
Chapter 21 – Puriff Beach Translator: Mana A single expanse of blue spread out in front of me. The boundary between the endless blue sky and the vast sea was indistinguishable, blurring together into one whole. The smell of the tide wafted through the air, combining with the heat of the bright sun to make one forget that this was the inside of a dungeon. Yes, this was the fourth floor of the Dungeon of Puriff. Also known as the ‘Floor of the Great Sea’. Despite being inside a dungeon, the sun reached high in the endless sky of the floor like it was the real thing. There were even islands faintly visible along the horizon of the vast ocean. The sight of the sea that was exactly the same as the real thing made me realise that this dungeon truly was outside the logic of this world. Apparently, the goal of this floor was to pa.s.s between the islands and cross the sea in order to reach the door to the fifth floor.
We currently stood at the island with teleport crystal for the fourth floor. The sandy sh.o.r.e that surrounded us on this island was well-known in the town of Puriff as the famous ‘Puriff Beach’. The main feature of this island was that no monsters sp.a.w.ned on it. There were no traps either. For these reasons, this beach had become a kind of tourist attraction of the town. There were swimsuit-clad people scattered all over the place, playing and lazing around in a way unthinkable for adventurers. That was a given, though. The town of Puriff was landlocked, far from any real ocean. That was why non-adventurer citizens came to play at this beach too. There was a reason why they could reach this floor of the dangerous dungeon. Lifts. A lift was the act of accompanying an adventurer to reach the teleport crystal of the destination floor. Once a teleport crystal has been reached it can be teleported to at any time from the teleport crystal at the entrance, so as long as you had been lifted once you could come and go from the completely safe beach with no problems. Of course, for regular citizens to receive a lift from adventurers, they needed money. Because of that, the only people who visited this beach were adventurers and the wealthy. It was a top-cla.s.s, picturesque beach with no overcrowding of commoners. “Why the long face, Note?” “Eh… well…” Jin stood next to me and initiated a conversation. Dressed in black board shorts, his toned body was covered in scars, leaving no doubt that he was a first-cla.s.s a.s.sa.s.sin. In contrast, I was also in board shorts, but… “I don’t think this is the time to be playing around…” Yes, the ‘Arrivers’ had come to this Puriff Beach for a dip in the ocean. Regardless of the fact we should’ve been working towards clearing the dungeon as soon as possible. And the reason for that was— “This is a man’s paradise! A treasure box packed with beautiful women in swimsuits! I’m so glad I continued being a dungeon adventurer!” The man prancing and frolicking in the sand. The leader of this party, Force, had suggested this. Originally, the immediate goal of the ‘Arrivers’ was to lift Roslia and me up to the highest floor of the rest of the party—the 16th floor. The Dungeon of Puriff was said to have 30 floors, with the current progress of the party at the 16th floor being exactly in the middle. If you thought that this number of explored floors was small in comparison to the dungeon specialist parties in the town of Puriff, you would be mistaken. It was the opposite. It was top-cla.s.s progress. In the first place, there was no party in this country that had progressed past the 19th floor, and according to past logs the highest anyone had ever reached was the 25th floor. It was the 16th floor in a situation like that. The further you went, the higher the difficulty of the dungeon jumped, making the journey between this record and the complete domination of the dungeon seem endless. That was why we had no time to waste taking it easy. Especially since we spent quite a lot of time training me and searching for party members. “But it was decided through a group discussion… And I think taking breaks like this is also important…” Jin chided my impatience to stop playing and continue as fast as possible. On the other hand, this rest stop was voted for within the party so I couldn’t complain even if I didn’t like it. Roslia was the first one to immediately agree to Force’s idea of playing at the sea. With her rose-tinted view of the world and a head full of romantic ideas, there was no way Roslia would turn down a beach trip. In the first place, she was a regular patron of Puriff Beach, as it was the very reason why her highest floor of the Dungeon of Puriff was the fourth floor. She probably ensnared many men here. I wasn’t about to be fooled by her saying ‘I want to see Note in a swimsuit!’. Neme was also unexpectedly in favour with Force’s suggestion, enthusiastically declaring, ‘Neme will enchant all the men at the beach with her swimsuit figure…!’. Sorry, Neme… I think enchanting with a body like that might be difficult… The only thing you would enchant would be lolicons, so be careful… Since neither Erin nor Jin voiced any objections, I was the only one who held a stance of denial during the discussions. If we had time to play in the ocean, I wanted to progress through the dungeon as quickly as possible and practice ‘Stealth’ instead. I also wanted to face Jin to evade his attacks. Surprisingly, Jin was disapproving of that idea. ‘I can understand why you want to press forward and refine your techniques… but isn’t there another problem to solve before that…?’ Jin had whispered to me secretively. And when I asked him what that problem was— ‘The distance between Roslia and the rest of this party. While Roslia has certainly opened her heart to Note… she doesn’t really talk to anyone else, right? Setting aside Force, since he keeps persistently trying to chat her up… Erin and Neme don’t seem too friendly with her… and it seems like she’s trying to keep her distance from me too, don’t you think?’ Now that he mentioned it, it was exactly as Jin said. It was hard to say whether Roslia and I were on close terms, but we could at least have interesting conversations. Perhaps it was because she was keeping her promise with me, but her att.i.tude towards Force was blunt, and she never approached Jin. I had tried asking the reason once but only received a joking response that ‘Jin… always has his guard up… it feels like I would be killed instantly if I approached him carelessly…’ in return. She was probably avoiding the answer. Of course, Jin had never shown any intention of a.s.sa.s.sinating Roslia. He talked to her in a very friendly way. The other girls’ opinion of Roslia was the absolute lowest, and she seemed to know it as she never tried to talk to them herself. As a result, Roslia kept approaching me out of her boredom. It was true that if I kept flirting around with Roslia like this even I would end up falling like Force. In order to avoid such troubles, it was necessary to eliminate the distance between Roslia and the other party members. I reluctantly decided to accept Jin’s persuasion. Getting back on topic, to right now. We were waiting for the ladies to finish changing. Dressed lightly, the men had finished changing first and were waiting on the beach. Force was excitedly jumping around. “Did you wait long? Note.” A soothing voice sounded out from behind me unexpectedly. I turned and came face-to-face with Roslia’s pure white swimsuit and skin. Although I said it was unexpected, I had ‘Enemy Search’ constantly activated so I knew she was there. But I was still caught off guard. In that instant when I turned and saw that figure. I realised I had been caught unawares. By that beauty. “How do I look? In a swimsuit…?” Roslia asked shyly as she turned on the spot to show every corner of her body. It was extremely cunning. How should I put it… when someone spins… their chest tends to bounce… Only idiotic thoughts like that pa.s.sed through my mind. “What are you drooling over… how pathetic…” A very rude remark suddenly flew at me from the side. It was Erin. She wore a hooded jacket over a light blue swimsuit— I guess normal people don’t bounce even when they spin… I was able to confirm such common sense in that moment. “You were just thinking something rude right now, weren’t you?” Could Erin use ‘Mind Reading’? Obviously, there was no spell in this world that allowed people to read the minds of others. There were only skills. Since I knew the composition of Erin’s skills, that wasn’t possible. Putting aside my own ridiculous delusions, I vaguely answered her words. That was when Neme finished changing too. “Well? This is Neme’s s.e.xy figure!” she said, holding her right hand to her head and her left hand to her hips while swaying. It was a sight that could be more accurately described as ‘secksy’ rather than ‘s.e.xy’. A snug, navy-coloured swimsuit that was connected from the chest area to the crotch in one piece. It emphasised Neme’s young body even more. “Yeah… it’s very cute…” It was hard to admit the truth when Neme was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence, so I avoided eye contact and muttered a perfunctory compliment. Spurred on by my reply, Neme continued making weird poses until Roslia grew tired of watching her and approached me with a sly smile on her face instead. “Could it be… is Note actually a lolicon? That ‘Girl Abductor’ nickname… was real…?” “No way!” If this is not Binbogami WordPress then it is stolen! “Then do you prefer stylish mature ladies more?” “Well… if I had to pick, yeah…?” “Then how about me?” Roslia suddenly hugged me. What…? Was that a crude pickup line…? “What a perverted face you have right now… Note…” Erin was looking this way coldly. But it wasn’t like I could help it. Her chest was touching me. Have a little mercy on my facial expression. The girls showed no sign of getting along with Roslia at all. Surprisingly, even Jin’s plans could fail sometimes… how unexpected. The sun moved even within the dungeon, so judging from its current position overhead, it was roughly early afternoon. I was watching a group of people playing with a ball on the beach from afar. By myself. Of course, those people were the members of the same party as me. From an outsider’s perspective, I was a total loner, but this was what I wanted. No, really. “If I’m there, Roslia won’t talk to anyone else…” I muttered to myself with half an eye open. Something I realised while playing on this beach in the morning was that Roslia barely talked to anyone other than me. Moreover, she was strangely clingy with me, leaving a not so favourable impression on the other girls. As a result, it felt like playing in the sea would only make their relations.h.i.+p worse. That was why I decided to distance myself from the other members, taking the chance to practice ‘Stealth’ at the same time. The reason I had come to this beach was the deepen the relations between party members, and not to play around. So I would rather practice my arts than mess around in a place like this. “Well… I guess I am a little lonely…” Although I may have chosen this of my own accord, the feeling of alienation still persisted, making me talk to myself more. Just when I was about to shake off such ridiculous thoughts and return to focusing on ‘Stealth’— A girl in a swimsuit with a hooded jacket tied around her waist was walking this way listlessly. It was Erin. Somehow, she seemed unhappy. Thinking she was just on her way to the toilet, I lightly tracked her movement with my eyes while in ‘Stealth’ mode, but she came to a stop next to me. She looked down at me sitting with my knees pulled to my chest, and opened her mouth. “What are you doing… all the way over here…” To block the light from the sun s.h.i.+ning behind Erin’s head, I raised a hand to s.h.i.+eld my face as I looked up. “Why did you walk all the way over here, Erin…” I tried to avoid the inconvenient question by answering with another question. I couldn’t see Erin’s face at all because of the backlight, but I could tell when she sighed. “Seeing such a s.h.i.+tty ‘Stealth’ made me curious…” A s.h.i.+tty ‘Stealth’, huh… My shoulders slumped from the shock, and she sat down nextt o me. “So why is Note sneaking about in a place like this?” “To improve the relations.h.i.+p between Roslia and you guys. If I was there I’d just be a bother, right?” Erin showed no sign of leaving, so I gave up and answered honestly. It would have been nice if she read my intentions and returned to where everyone else was, but it didn’t go that way. Erin also hugged her knees to her chest, then buried her face in them. “I have no intention of getting along with her! We’re just not on the same wavelength…” “That’s true…” Understanding Erin’s reasoning, I nodded my head. But even so, I couldn’t let her excuse pa.s.s through like that, so I turned to look at her in an attempt to persuade her. “I get how you feel. But if Erin’s here, won’t Roslia head this way too? At the very least I’d like her to get along with Neme, so could you go back there? I want to practice ‘Stealth’ here too…” Erin probably came to me out of consideration. I tried to convey the fact that this was unnecessary. Meanwhile, Erin didn’t seem that bothered by my attempted rejection. “If you wanted to prevent Roslia from coming this way, you should just cast ‘Stealth’ on me too. It’d also be practice for using ‘Stealth’ on people other than yourself, right?” Erin directly returned my gaze straight back at me. She probably had no intention of giving in. Reluctantly, I reached for her hand to cast ‘Stealth’ over her too— “What are you trying to hold my hand for?! Gross! You creep!” “Hah? Aren’t you being too unreasonable? I just extended my hand in order to cast ‘Stealth’ through contact!” “You don’t have to go out of your way to touch my hand if you need to contact, do you? Why do I have to hold hands with Note?! Touch my shoulder instead!” “Ugh…” It was vexing, but Erin was right. Why did I try to hold her hand to cast ‘Stealth’…? It was probably that. It was Roslia’s fault. Because Roslia always tried to hold hands. That habit had caused me to lose my resistance towards holding hands with girls… It grated on my nerves to listen to Erin’s orders, but it wasn’t as though I could touch her upper arm or thighs, so I reluctantly reached for her shoulder.My fingertips brushed against the skin. The sensation of her soft and delicate shoulder blade spread across the palm of my hand. My fingertips brushed against the skin. The sensation of her soft and delicate shoulder blade spread across the palm of my hand. Somehow, it felt more erotic than holding hands… As I was taking deep breaths to calm myself, Erin whispered to me. “Your hands are really sweaty… Note…” I hated her. Instantly, my heartbeat slowed down, returning me to my senses. My sweat also faded quickly. “The people in this party are all strange… including you, Erin…” Trying to change the topic, the sight of the members of the ‘Arrivers’ playing caught my eye. I was trying to disperse the awkward tension between us. Without missing a beat, Erin replied with her usual insulting comment. “I think you’re weirder than us, though?” “No no, there’s no way! If anything, I’d say me and Jin are the only normal people in the ‘Arrivers’?” “That’s impossible! What’s normal about a guy who sits by himself to watch us play on the beach?” “T-That’s…” I really didn’t want to talk to Erin anymore… Why was she always so aggravating…? Though I guess I was the one who started it in this conversation… “In the first place, I’m only alone because you and Roslia don’t get along, right? What’s so weird about that?” “I never asked you to do anything like that… Rather trying to make us get along better, didn’t you just want to practice ‘Stealth’ instead?” …… It was frustrating to admit it, but it was exactly as Erin said. Rather than solving the issue between Roslia and the others, my desire to practice my own arts was stronger. Erin could sometimes see through my essence with a harsh sharpness. I’ve had my heart stabbed numerous times because of that. Though there were times where I felt having a conversation with Erin was difficult, I have also been saved by this before. Like when my past faults were pointed out to me. That was why the reason why I felt her words were harsh was probably that I didn’t like facing my true self reflected in her words. It wasn’t her that I was bad with, but myself. That was how I was starting to think. With no concern to the self-deprecation going on in my head, Erin continued talking. “In the first place, why are you throwing yourself into learning arts so desperately?” “That’s because I want to change my weak self…” “Then why do you want to change yourself so much that you hurt yourself? Like when you learned to use ‘Enemy Search’ and ‘Trap Detect’ concurrently. And when you tried to tear Force away from Roslia. Why do you always try to sacrifice yourself in order to accomplish something?” Erin’s criticising gaze pierced me. She was probably mad. About today, too. At how I was abandoning the fun I could have with everyone in order to practice my arts like this. But I wouldn’t give in. This was how I did things. Since— “People who are blessed like Erin wouldn’t understand. If people like me with nothing didn’t push themselves to this point, they wouldn’t be able to keep up with chosen people like Erin…” “Note is weird after all…” Erin stood up, brus.h.i.+ng the sand off herself. “Well, do what you like! If that’s your way of doing things.” With those parting words, Erin walked away, her expression rather sad in contrast to her bright words. For some reason, that expression caught in my heart, making it unforgettable.
