The First Tower (1)
A month had already passed since I returned to Earth.
It felt as though several months had gone by, and I could hardly believe only one had slipped past.
Perhaps it was because of how many changes I'd undergone—outwardly and inwardly both.
Thanks to the gender that had flipped on me after my return, the whole month had been a whirlwind, and I'd thrown myself into training to shore up every shortcoming.
From early morning I climbed and descended ten floors over and over, or looped the settlement several times, building my stamina. By day, until the sun went down, I swung my sword—correcting my form to fit this new body, drilling every stance from first to last again and again.
And at night? Well, if you could call it rest, I rested.
Once I'd learned about the radio channels, every evening after dinner until I fell asleep I listened to various stations while training with my holy power.
As an apostle of Partruna—Goddess of Love and also Goddess of Purification—the holy power I carried flowed as a warm current within me and manifested outwardly as flame.
That was why I so often shaped it into fireballs and hurled them, the way I had when I took down that Demon Wolf.
Back when I was a man, even making five orbs of Holy Fire the size of soccer balls would nearly empty my holy power and leave me exhausted. I'd poured enormous effort into shrinking them to baseball size just so I could keep throwing.
But now, in this woman's body that resembled Partruna's, I could form them larger than soccer balls and launch dozens without so much as a wobble.
The purity of my holy power had become a difference of heaven and earth compared to then, and so had its destructive force, its reinforcement, and its healing.
"I should be happy I've gotten stronger than when I was a man… so why does it feel like I've lost to something I can't even name?"
Anyway! At night I listened to the radio channels while working my holy power, creating Holy Fire to gauge how much I had left. Because I pushed myself nearly to the limit every day, the reservoir kept growing, until I could use as much as I had on the day I killed that mature Demon Wolf and still feel fine.
Then I'd send each Holy Fire skyward and finish the day by bursting them like fireworks.
Tonight, once it passed, it would be time to leave this place behind as well.
"I guess it's because I've grown attached. Leaving really does feel bittersweet."
Looking around the space I'd lived in all this time, I felt a strange ache that almost brought tears to my eyes.
If this counted as a change, it was one—becoming a woman seemed to have made me far more sentimental.
Not that it was bad, but I could feel the man I used to be fading little by little.
Or was that it? I'd heard men grow quite sentimental in middle age too. Maybe that was all it was.
At my original age, that would make sense.
Of course, if anyone asked, introducing myself as a girl who'd just turned twenty would be better all around.
"Alright! Everything I need is packed, the food I left is the kind that keeps so it'll be easy to eat, the bottles are filled with water, and the clothes and under…wear… are all packed. Perfect!"
I'd gotten used to it, but underwear still made me look away.
Well, compared to the beginning, I'm used to it now…
I shouldered the bag, opened the front door, and stepped out.
"Destination: that tower right in front of me!"
About ten minutes after leaving the building, a deep rumbling—kugugugung—made me look back.
The building I'd been living in was collapsing.
Which meant it was collapsing toward me!
"What the—! There's a limit to how ridiculous this gets!"
I poured holy power into the rosary at once and summoned my armor.
The thin black jersey, T-shirt, and shorts I'd been wearing vanished, replaced by a dark red buff coat, rounded pauldrons, gauntlets, metal boots integrated with greaves, and a breastplate that wrapped my neck and protected me from chest to waist.
Over all of it I wore a long robe that reached my ankles, so that anyone who saw me would take me for someone in rags.
Fortunately the robe formed by channeling holy power through the rosary, while not armor itself, was quite sturdy and absorbed impact—enough to protect the bag on my back.
After running for a while, the collapsing sounds stopped. Only clouds of dust swirled in the air.
"If I'd tried to stay even a little longer—ugh. Just thinking about it gives me chills."
The moment I opened my mouth to catch my breath, I felt a presence coming toward me from the forest surrounding the tower I'd been aiming for.
Given how far the tower was, and how close the presence had already drawn, it was approaching at tremendous speed.
Probably because it had sensed the building collapse.
"What I'm sensing is about one creature? Or one person? Still—I can't let my guard down."
I drew Durandal at once, gripped it, set the hilt near my waist, and angled the tip upward toward the opponent—a stance ready to thrust immediately.
A few minutes passed.
From ahead came the crack of snapping branches and the crush of grass underfoot, and someone burst out.
"Hmm? I came because of the building collapsing, and here I find a little lady."
A low, thick, resonant voice. A fairly long scar marked his cheek, and his hair held a good deal of gray, as if keeping the marks of the years.
In contrast, his body was solidly muscled.
The leather vest he wore and the T-shirt beneath it strained so tight the muscle nearly burst through. Even through the worn holes in his jeans, muscle showed.
"How about we put that dangerous thing away and talk?"
"And how am I supposed to trust that? A frail girl like me couldn't possibly stop a muscular adult man carrying a huge axe on his back, could she?"
A frail girl—ha. To think I'd say that about myself to someone else. Looking like this, though, it's exactly right. Not wrong at all. Yeah… no argument there.
When I asked that, the man looked at a loss and muttered, "Well, that's true," shaking his head.
"But little lady, putting the sword away and getting out of here fast is still the right call. I may not look it, but I'm being chased."
He scratched his head as he spoke, but even if it were true, how was I supposed to believe him?
In an age like this, judging purely by outward appearance, lowering my sword here was out of the question.
But from everything I'd experienced so far, I at least didn't feel he was lying. So rather than sheathing the blade, I angled it down and kept a stance that would let me slash upward at once if anything went wrong, then asked him:
"What's chasing you?"
"Five Giant Orcs. Two of them got lured off by the rest of my people, thankfully—but even so, three is way more than the two of us can handle. I don't know how strong you are, little lady, but that's the situation."
Giant Orcs. True to the orc name, their intelligence was low, but they had the strength to rip trees their own size out by the roots, tough hides, and thick flesh that made them hard to bring down. Even one ranked as a Medium Grade monster.
Of course, as I was now, I could beat them easily—
"Just about right for a warm-up before I climb the tower."
The man looked aghast.
"What are you talking about?! I don't know what kind of ability you've got, but those things—even for me, a B-rank on a tower assault team—two is already my limit! This is no time for jokes!"
He shouted loud enough to ring in my ears.
I could tell how he saw me, but did he really need to yell like that?
Look—already, hearing the noise, the sound of trees shattering was racing closer. They were coming.
"You're the one who should keep quiet when you don't even know, mister. Look! They already heard you and they're here."
"Th-this…! No choice, then. Little lady, run—don't look back. I'll buy you time."
He turned his back toward the direction the Giant Orcs were approaching from, drew his axe, and said that.
"And what about you, mister? You said you can't even handle them. You at least need to stay alive and go back to your family."
At my words he turned his head slightly toward me.
"Unfortunately, the family I could go back to doesn't exist anymore. So you at least should run, little lady."
His unexpected answer left me speechless.
No—if he puts it like that, I look like the bad guy…
Even between strangers, the way he offered to buy time was… pretty cool, honestly.
"Haa. Well, then I guess there's no choice."
I stepped up beside him and raised Durandal to head height, held horizontal—a stance that could convert instantly into a thrust or a slash.
"Little lady, have you lost your mind?"
"Stop yelling and get ready. Even if I run, they'll catch me right away—and two of us have a better chance of surviving than one, don't we?"
"You little—?!"
He stared at me with an incredulous look, then quickly took his stance.
Should've done that from the start.
"And don't call me 'little one' or 'little lady.' Call me Charlotte."
"Haha! Well, sorry about that! Then don't just call me mister—call me Uncle Ho Dunsik."
"Yes, I'll do that. Uncle Ho Dunsik."
I lifted the corner of my mouth in a small smile, and the man called Ho Dunsik laughed heartily as well—and charged toward the Giant Orcs right in front of us.
But seriously—what kind of name is Ho Dunsik…?