Adaptation (3)

The first battle after my return went more easily than I'd expected.

Not that I meant I'd won it easily—only that the losses had been light.

Honestly, moving around in this soft, delicate girl's body still felt awkward, and more than once I'd nearly tripped over myself. Being shorter didn't help either; the change in eye level made everything feel slightly off.

Anyway, after the fight I dragged my exhausted body up ten flights of stairs, collapsing onto the steps several times along the way to catch my breath before forcing myself back up again. And then—finally!—I made it.

"Haa… I'm so tired…"

Even opening the slightly rusted front door took more effort than usual. I kicked my shoes off, flinging them aside, and headed for the bathroom to wash the sweat and dried blood from my sticky face.

I turned on the faucet, let the water run, and paused for a moment to catch my breath—only to catch sight of myself in the mirror.

My hair was plastered to my face with blood and sweat. My white short-sleeved T-shirt was filthy with blood and dust I didn't even remember getting on me. Worse, I'd clearly sweated ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so much that the fabric had gone nearly transparent, the outline of my undergarments showing right through.

Which is to say—

"I look ridiculously sexy. Walking around like this with everything showing—what am I, some kind of shameless exhibitionist…?"

The way the clothes clung to me, soaked through as if I'd been working out for hours, combined with eyes half-lidded from sheer exhaustion, gave off a decadent, almost alluring ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠quality. Anyone who saw me like this could have called me a female in heat and I wouldn't have had much of a defense.

"A female in heat, huh… Ugh. Why do I keep thinking things like that on my own…?"

I shoved my head under the running water, cooling my flushed face as I rinsed away the dust and blood.

"Wash first, think later. Tonight I'm soaking in the tub until I melt."

I turned on the bathwater and headed for the washing machine to strip off my clothes—and that was when my legs gave out completely.

I went down with a solid thud, so absurd I just lay there on the floor.

"Ack! What now?! Ugh, nothing works the way it should…"

The cold floor against my skin felt strangely soothing on my worn-out body, and little by little my eyes began to close.

The sound of water cascading over the rim of the tub—and a wash of warm steam against my back—made me blink my eyes open.

"Nngh… what… when did I fall asleep…? Ah—right! The bath!"

I sprang up off the floor and bolted into the bathroom, shut off the water, and promptly sat right down in it. A wet slap sounded as my dolphin shorts soaked through, clinging to my thighs and hips in a sensation I could have done without.

"…Might as well get in properly."

I left the bloodstained clothes soaking in the sink, tossed the rest—including my undergarments—into the washing machine, and sank into the steaming tub with a soft splash.

"Haaaah… Nothing beats a hot bath when you're this wiped out."

I stretched, letting the water cover me up to my neck, and tipped my head back against the warm liquid blanket of it.

That first battle had been… surprisingly fun. There were plenty of rough edges, sure, but the experience I'd built up in the other world was still there, and I'd managed to fight well enough.

"First things first—I need to build up my basic stamina, and rework the way I handle a sword to fit this body…"

Even with divine power reinforcing me, shortfalls were still shortfalls. I couldn't just leave them alone.

"And that stone. I should look into that too—and do a more thorough sweep of the area."

If there hadn't been a fight, I would have scouted farther around the residence. But in this state, I didn't have the strength. And if I ran into a new enemy like this, I'd just end up as someone's next meal. If it was a band of outlaws instead… well, that would end even worse.

"At least there was no one around—person or monster. If there had been, who knows what shape I'd be in by now…"

Only five of them—well, one leader-class and four others—so not quite the same as five ordinary monsters. Still, if even that much left me this drained, then whatever else I might run into out there would be at least as strong, if not stronger.

I was just resolving to pair proper scouting with real physical training when a low gurgle rolled up from my stomach.

"Right. After all that, of course I'm starving. What should I eat tonight?"

There was fresh pork in the fridge, along with vegetables and mushrooms. After a day of moving this hard, I needed something substantial to keep my strength up. I pushed myself up out of the water—my body finally a little looser—and finished washing.

I dried off quickly with a towel, still not used to the body I was looking at. I shook my head hard a few times to keep any stray thoughts from forming, pulled underwear and clothes from the wardrobe, got dressed, and headed for the kitchen.

"Whew. It's been a while since I worked up a real sweat and soaked in a hot bath like that. Feels good. Really good."

I had no idea how other people were living these days, but I doubted many of them had it this comfortable. The world was ending; infrastructure had mostly collapsed, and shortages of food and daily necessities were a given.

"So I should enjoy it while I can. All right—time to grill some meat!"

I pulled the pork from the fridge, unwrapped it, and was about to drop my usual portion into the pan when I remembered how little this body could actually eat. I cut the amount in half and bulked the meal up with extra vegetables instead. Pork, carrots, mushrooms—I stir-fried it all, plated it, and carried it to the table with a bowl of warm rice.

The moment I sat down and picked up my chopsticks, my stomach growled again. Embarrassed for no good reason, I immediately piled meat onto a bite of rice and started eating, while my free hand worked the Watch, searching for information on the stone.

"So that stone is called a Magic Stone, huh? No idea whose head that name came out of, but it's… fine, I guess. Pretty standard. Someone's been reading novels."

The old currency couldn't be minted anymore, so people just collected it, or so the notes said.

I chewed through meat, rice, then vegetables wrapped in more meat, and the entire dinner vanished in what felt like seconds. I filled the sink with water, drank a glass while I was at it, and kept reading.

I hadn't noticed last time, but something like community sites seemed to have sprung up. I only planned to look—I had no intention of signing up or posting anything. It wasn't like the old gallery boards or the blue-bird site; it felt more like settlements exchanging information with each other. There were trades for needed supplies, commission requests, even recruitment posts for people to clear the Towers together.

"What's this? Isn't the usual cliché that people try to clear Towers on their own?"

Here, though, a lot of them seemed to be helping each other through it. Inside the Towers, the creatures were called Magic Beasts—or just monsters. Whoever coined the terms, they were ordinary enough names.

I climbed onto the bed, flopped onto my stomach, and hugged a pillow while I kept searching. Looking for a monster bestiary, I found one—and of course the entries looked exactly like things out of games and novels.

"Hmm~ So the ones I killed are called Demon Wolves? The small ones were still pups, and the one that looked like the leader was a fully grown adult?"

Demon Wolves were listed as Medium Grade. Just like the pack I'd fought, they often traveled as several small pups with one or two large adults, which ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was why they rated Medium Grade overall. The pups alone counted as Lower Grade, but the adults were strong enough to push the whole group up.

Adult males had horns on their heads—the shape varying by individual. Specimens with longer, sharper fangs, like the one I'd fought, were females. And if two adults were traveling with a litter of pups, the pack was classified as Upper Grade.

"Huh… Lucky me. At least the composition I ran into was only Medium Grade. Two full adults would have been way too much for me right now…"

It was interesting enough, and knowing was half of surviving, so I kept reading. Everything was sorted under a bestiary tab.

Under Lower Grade: Goblins, Kobolds, Lone Fires—walking plants shaped like roses—Horned Rabbits, and other small creatures. Most of them moved in packs, and depending on the terrain they could get nasty; some region-specific notes bumped them up to Medium Grade locally.

Under Medium Grade: Demon Wolves, the Skeleton series—lumped together because there were so many kinds—Ghouls, Orcs, Ogres, and other large or weapon-using types. Undead like Skeletons and Ghouls kept moving even after you took their heads off. They'd pick the head back up and reattach it, so you had to smash the severed head to put them down for good. Two of them were especially dangerous: as long as one head remained, the headless one would thrash around wildly. Basically, if an even-numbered group was left with an odd number of heads, the whole even-numbered pack kept functioning.

"Well. For people who can use divine power like me, it says it's not much of a problem. So I don't have to worry too hard about that."

Under Upper Grade: Volcanic Vipers, Wraiths, Harpies, Sirens, Vampires, Gargoyles, Golems—creatures that only appeared in very specific terrain, or that were just plain hard to deal with. Harpies and Sirens were individually weak but came in enormous flocks, and they only showed up in places that favored them, inside Towers or out, which made them a real pain.

"Wow, there are so many kinds. And some still don't have any researched countermeasures… plus there are ones marked Special Grade / Out of Rank."

I was about to dismiss the hologram when I noticed something labeled LIVE and tapped it. A screen that looked like an audio-frequency display appeared.

"Huh? Wait—is this actually a radio?"

I'd assumed the internet wouldn't work in an apocalypse like this, but with the gods' help, Watches had spread ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠widely enough that connectivity wasn't an issue. Still, I hadn't expected recreational things like radio to be up and running.

"Well then~ that changes things. I might actually get a decent night's sleep."

I flipped through a few channels until a calm woman's voice drifted out, and I settled in to listen, stretching out comfortably on the bed.

From the voice alone I'd pictured a fairly young woman, but the actual content painted someone much older—dizzyingly so—with nothing but pride to show for it.

"Still… hearing someone's voice like this is… really… nice…"

The moon was unusually bright that night, and the breeze blew at just the right temperature.