Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Irrational Adaptation Period (2)
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Half a day earlier.
Sylvia just couldn’t stop fussing, nagging the two men relentlessly right in front of her.
“You get it, right? Absolutely no causing trouble. No assaulting anyone, no taking them down. Got it?”
“What if we’re attacked?”
“Run away.”
“Warriors don’t run.”
“Don’t lie. You ran away with us plenty of times.”
“...Can’t argue with that.”
After shutting down Valian’s protests, Sylvia turned her gaze to Leon.
“...Leon.”
“Yeah?”
“Please! Please...! Don’t meddle in other people’s business. You got it?”
“...”
“Answer me, Leon.”
“...Yeah. Got it.”
Leon finally nodded vigorously under Sylvia’s persistent stare, which had gone from begging to outright praying.
Even after that, Sylvia kept up her barrage of advice that bordered on outright scolding. It wasn’t until Mirni piped up, whining that she needed to cut it out already, that the two men finally escaped her clutches.
“Never thought the day would come when I’d feel grateful to Mirni...”
“Same here. Thought we were stuck for good.”
“We’re not kids or anything...”
“...That’s harsh.”
“I’m pretty good at listening, though?”
“...You for real?”
“Dead serious.”
“Man, I almost feel bad for Sylvia.”
“That’s not for you to say, Ari...si... uh?”
“...Huh?”
The two men froze, their expressions hardening as they stood there like statues encased in ice.
Leon went pale as a ghost. Valian reacted a beat faster.
“Why are you here?”
“I followed you.”
“...”
“What the...?!”
The fact that she’d tailed them in secret or that they hadn’t sensed her presence until now wasn’t all that surprising.
Elves were born assassins and rangers.
Hiding their presence came more naturally to them than breathing. And for the rare high elf? Their stealth capabilities rivaled modern stealth fighters—even without mana, it was downright miraculous.
But the real issue was that this high elf with her godlike stealth had followed them.
“A-Alicia! Why’d you follow us?!”
Alicia Moon Night.
People often tossed around the phrase “blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty,” but hers was an overwhelming allure that defied the term “common.”
Her golden hair gleamed like threads of pure gold. Her blue eyes sparkled like jewels, mystical and profound. And her skin—flawless, poreless, transparently perfect—embodied the ideal image of feminine beauty straight out of a man’s dreams.
You’d think seeing that face every day would make you numb to it, but today, it stunned them for an entirely different reason.
Leon swallowed hard and forced out the words.
“...What the hell are you doing, Alicia? Why are you even here?!”
“Don’t give me that look. I was curious about this world too. I just wanted to go out. Valian just beat me to the punch today. I’d planned to head out first originally.”
“Even so! What were you gonna say to Luke...!”
Flinch!
Luke’s name made a wrinkle crease her otherwise smooth, porcelain forehead. But she quickly masked her fluster and shot back defiantly.
“Oh? Didn’t Luke say it himself today? He’s not gonna control us. If we wanna see the world on our own terms, he welcomes it. I’m just following his words.”
“...That your excuse...?!”
“Hmph! Since when do you listen to Luke so well that you get to yell at me?”
“Alicia, this isn’t the time to get stubborn...!”
“Calm down, Leon.”
“...”
“She’s right. Sure, she didn’t follow orders, but Alicia’s a one-woman army, and her street smarts are top-notch. She didn’t just wander out clueless.”
“...Well.”
“Hmph. Didn’t expect a brute barbarian like you to say something smart.”
“Of course, her personality’s a problem.”
“Y-You...!”
Valian and Alicia were at each other’s throats in seconds. Leon stood awkwardly in the middle, at a total loss.
“Out of the way!”
“...?”
It was pure coincidence.
A burly guy had shoved at him roughly with a meaty hand. Behind him stood a middle-aged woman with tears welling in her eyes.
In that split-second slow-motion blur, Leon made his judgment.
Thud.
A simple trip.
But the aftermath was anything but simple.
“Guhhh...!”
Like a bad movie stunt, the guy tumbled forward in a heap, collapsing on the spot and writhing in agony.
No ukemi technique, no bracing—he’d slammed into the ground and couldn’t even get up.
“...What the?”
Valian glanced at the now-resolved scene and turned to Leon, who scratched his head.
“That lady looked like she was in trouble, so...”
“Hmm...”
“...Leon!”
The two shot him accusatory glares like they’d never been fighting. Leon shrank back like a scolded turtle...
“Oh dear, foreign fella! If you hadn’t been here, that thief would’ve cleaned out my rent money.”
“Eh?”
“Thanks, kid.”
“...?”
Why did she keep calling him “kid”? What did that even mean?
Before he could ponder, the woman stuffed some bills into his hand.
“It ain’t much, but let me show my thanks somehow.”
“N-No, I didn’t do it for a reward...”
“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt...”
“...”
“You’ll need to come with us as a witness. Can you spare some time...?”
“...”
Ten minutes into his first outing, Leon found himself at the police station after nabbing a pickpocket.
What should’ve been over an hour as a witness got cut short. With his refugee status and no proper ID, the cops couldn’t process him properly, so they just waved him off.
“Uh... yeah, you can go now.”
“...”
He shot them a look like, Why drag me here then? But whatever—cops gonna cop.
The two waiting outside bombarded him the second he emerged.
“Didn’t Sylvia just beg you not to meddle in anything?”
“Your brain’s gotta be more muscle than that barbarian’s. How do you tangle with the law not even ten minutes out?”
Leon tried to defend himself amid the machine-gun nagging.
“B-But I helped someone, right? That’s gotta count for something. Plus, look—I even got reward money. Boosts our activity funds.”
“...That part’s good, yeah.”
“Good? What’s good about it?!”
“I’ll buy you ice cream with it.”
“...”
Alicia froze.
Ice cream was the one thing the fashion- and culture-indifferent high elf obsessed over.
Midgard had ice cream too, sure. But this world’s...
“...That place with thirty-one flavors, right?”
“Obviously.”
“I’ll keep it secret from Sylvia and Luke. Just for you.”
Alicia sealed the deal before the siren call of flavors far beyond Midgard’s measly five.
Then she bumped into Valian again.
“Saw this tomahawk steak on home shopping.”
“...”
Valian was a home shopping junkie.
They’d planned to hit the library, tourist spots—the classics. But Alicia’s surprise appearance and the police detour meant late lunch instead.
...Or more like a gluttony expedition?
“Home shopping made the steaks look way bigger.”
“Says the guy who scarfed four already.”
“And you—how long you planning to keep going? That’s five already...”
“Ice cream doesn’t make you fat!”
“Sure, ice cream won’t. You will.”
“Grrr...!!”
The barbarian mastering modern comebacks, and the high elf polishing off two more scoops before calling it quits.
A peculiar sight, if ever there was one.
Twitch!
“...Why’s it so rowdy?”
“Streets are always rowdy.”
“Feels extra loud here, though. Everywhere else is dead quiet.”
Leon was spot on.
The square they were in felt unusually bustling—especially around them.
Some kind of festival going on?
As they cocked their heads, Aram timidly chimed in.
“Huh?”
“Us?”
“Hmph, you know we’re hot.”
“...”
They wanted to deny it... but couldn’t.
Her long, rabbit-like elf ears were hidden by divine blessing, but no magic could conceal a high elf’s peerless beauty.
Aram’s voice was low enough that Alicia couldn’t hear.
Scanning her database, Aram figured people this visually striking and distinctive were rare.
Handsome faces aside, Leon and Valian exuded a unique charisma that pulled people in—opposites in appeal.
Leon’s knightly upbringing shone through in his refined grace and poise, making him look noble with every step.
Valian towered over two meters, his thick, rock-hard frame impossible to fully hide under baggy clothes, radiating lion-like menace.
These two stood out in ways different from Alicia—enough to unwittingly gather a crowd.
They looked primed to cause trouble just standing there.
And one already had...
An AI sensing bad vibes? Impressive, in a way.
“...I am human, though?”
“That’s just what Luke said...”
Leon couldn’t even get treated like a human.