Misha Greenwood (2)
“Why… are you occupying someone else’s body? You’re so unbalanced. I couldn’t help but stare.”
I couldn’t believe it.
This elf named Misha had seen straight through to my true identity.
At a single glance, no less.
How was that even possible?
Some special ability unique to elves?
I had no idea… but my feelings were mixed. The shock of having my secret exposed tangled with a strange sense of relief.
“Hah… well, you’ve already figured it out, so there’s no point hiding it. Yeah. I’m not Jack Slave. I’m a third party who ended up inside his body. Want to know my original name?”
“I’m not curious about that. What I want to know is why you entered someone else’s body.”
“That… I don’t really know myself. I was reading a novel, and the next thing I knew, I’d possessed Jack’s body.”
“What? That’s… impossible.”
“What’s so impossible about it?”
“That sounds exactly like the First Hero. He was also someone who got possessed while reading a novel in another world… Are you trying to imitate the First Hero?”
“It’s nothing like that. I’m no hero. I’m just… someone who wants to live quietly.”
“…That’ll be difficult.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re clearly someone who will get swept up in chaos. I can see it.”
“Do elves tell fortunes or something?”
“No. We can see karma. But only when it’s extremely strong. You were born carrying a truly vicious burden of karma. I’m afraid your dream of living a quiet, peaceful life will be hard to achieve.”
“…Is that so?”
“I can see a great danger looming over you. It wouldn’t be strange if you died before long… Yes. I’m telling you this because you helped me. Normally we aren’t supposed to say such things to humans. Once they know their future, they start doing foolish things.”
“Oh, is that right? So? Are you going to grant my request or not?”
“You mean the request to pretend to be your girlfriend? No. I can’t.”
“Reason?”
“Because it would be a lie. We elves are different from humans. We do not lie. Humans start lying the moment things get inconvenient… but we don’t. No matter the situation, we choose the truth. I cannot cooperate with a false pretense of being your girlfriend.”
“That so? Then I guess we’re done here.”
I stood up. This elf didn’t seem particularly useful. I had no desire to force her either. Parting ways was the only option.
“Bye-bye.”
“Huh? Wait… where are you going?”
“Do I have to tell you that too? We’re free to go our separate ways now, right?”
“Ugh… then… what about buying me earlier? Weren’t you planning to become my master? And once you had that power, weren’t you going to toy with me however you liked? You womanizing Jack!”
“What? You knew the rumors about me too?”
“You’re famous! Among the girls!”
“Hmm… well, I never had any intention of that. I only saved you so you’d pretend to be my girlfriend. If you don’t want to, there’s no reason for us to stay involved.”
“Wait… you don’t seem to understand. Elves all need an owner! If we wander alone we’re labeled runaway elves and become targets for capture!”
“But if you run well enough, you could gain your freedom, couldn’t you? Join up with other elves, form a group, and humans would have a hard time doing anything about it. From there it’s up to your own ability. Whether you escape successfully or get caught again isn’t something I need to worry about.”
“…Are you saying you’ll give me freedom?”
“Don’t make it sound so grand. I’m not interested in keeping slaves. That just means more mouths to feed. Anyway, this is as far as we go. Let’s just say bye-bye. I’m off.”
“…………..”
I turned my back on Misha, who still looked like she had more to say. The fish I’d brought had already been completely eaten by her, and the barter had ended in failure. It had been a bad idea from the start. I needed cash. And… Misha’s words kept nagging at me.
You could die at any moment and it wouldn’t be strange. You’re wrapped in that kind of karma.
Was that true? Elves didn’t lie, she’d said.
“At this rate… it might be dangerous.”
Jack Slave had only one skill. After-school Tea Time—a completely useless trash skill that helped with nothing.
“I thought I just had to avoid Walpurgis Night, but thinking about it more carefully, I could die just from running into bandits, right? Bears and monsters living in the mountains are dangerous too. Yeah… this won’t work. I hated the idea of stealing the protagonist’s share, but… I’m going to take the rune.”
I concluded that living in this harsh world with no power at all was too much. In the end, I decided to claim the Rune of Swordsmanship. The Rune of Swordsmanship. With that alone, I could display swordsmanship equal to the First Hero’s.
“Luckily, the Rune of Swordsmanship is the easiest one to obtain.”
The other runes required countless quests to acquire, but the Rune of Swordsmanship was different. As the rune the protagonist obtained early on, all you needed was to stumble across its location by chance. And of course, having read the original, I knew exactly where it was.
“Let’s see… around here…”
The Academy’s back mountain. In other words, a secluded corner of the forest quite far from the cabin where I lived. Somewhere in this place where even beasts never came because there was nothing to eat, a treasure was hidden.
“So… I need to find a cut stump, right?”
In the original, the protagonist, feeling the limits of his own power, sat alone on a tree stump and cried, only to discover the Rune of Swordsmanship by chance. A tree stump. That was the keyword.
“It’s wider than I expected. No choice. I’ll just have to spend the time. Time’s the one thing I’ve got, after all.”
About three hours must have passed. In that time I’d found over a hundred tree stumps, but not a single pattern that looked remotely like a rune. Just as I was starting to tire, I plopped down on a stump that clearly had no rune drawn on it. I was exhausted and worn out.
“Haa… why do I have to go through this kind of hardship? The more I think about it, the more unfair it feels. I didn’t even want to get possessed, yet I have to fear death… Some weird elf scolds me for stealing someone else’s body… This is driving me crazy… Am I going to die like this? Walpurgis Night is a problem, but hearing that karma nonsense makes me too anxious to live… Hah… damn it… wait, are those tears…?”
Worry and anxiety piled on top of each other until I was crying in a way that didn’t suit me at all. The moment a tear fell and touched the growth rings—
“Huh?”
With a low whiiir, the stump began to glow. Startled, I jumped to my feet and saw a clear rune pattern appear on the surface of the stump.
“A rune… so that was it. Tears were the keyword. Haha! Simple enough. Now I just have to put my hand on it and the rune is mi—”
“No!!”
Just as I was about to press my palm down, an elf suddenly appeared and threw herself onto the stump. It was Misha Greenwood. What the hell was this girl doing? Had she followed me?
“I knew it! You… what do you think you’re doing? This is a gift from the First Hero that exists for the true hero! Someone like you has no right to take it! If you steal this, what do you think will happen to the fate of the world?! Are you allowed to put the entire world in danger for your own selfishness?”
“Well now. Looks like we’re bound by some bad fate. Why do you keep interfering with everything I do? You were the one who said I was in danger. Is it wrong for me to try to save myself in my own way?”
“The world is more precious than your own life!”
“It’s the opposite. My life is more important to me. You just keep getting in the way of everything I try to do.”
“Are you really determined to take this rune no matter what?”
“If it raises my chances of survival, then yes.”
“…I understand.”
Misha nodded with the expression of someone who had made a major decision.
“I’ll grant your request.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The request to pretend to be your girlfriend. I’ll do it, so give up this rune.”
“What kind of nonsense is that? Those are two completely different things.”
“When you gain one thing, you should be able to give up another, shouldn’t you? That’s what wisdom is.”
“That’s not entirely wrong. I did need someone to play the role of girlfriend. I’d already told that lie, after all.”
“Humans really do love lying, don’t they?”
“Haa… I don’t want to fight you here either… and even though all this wasted effort is annoying, I’ll accept the deal.”
“Really? No taking it back later!”
“I know. By the way, you should be careful yourself.”
“Careful?”
“That rune. While it’s glowing, if you put your hand on it, the system lets you claim it. You can’t go taking it yourself.”
“My hand?”
“Ah!”
The dense elf Misha Greenwood blankly aligned her hand with the rune pattern. The next instant, a storm-like wind rose up, and a brilliant light enveloped her before vanishing. The tree stump no longer emitted any light. It was just an ordinary stump. Its role as the rune’s storage place was over.
In other words…
“Huh…? Did I… just make a mistake?”
Misha had taken the Rune of Swordsmanship.
“Idiot.”
That was the only word that came out.