*****
Tsk! You need to learn how to lie better!
The only reason I stopped was because I realized she had more ways to defend herself and I couldn't keep wasting energy, so I pretended to be intimidated and waited for her to let her guard down.
"Oh! But more importantly, I have another anomalous event. Ah, no, even more important—how much time... Ah! Only seconds left."
It was an exciting fight with a surprise thrown in, but now that it was all over, I realized how little time I had left.
Luck or not, the woman was running toward the store.
In fact, I could already see it, and if I run as fast as I can, I think I might make it to—
".!!!"
Suddenly, a strong warning shot through my body.
Even without understanding what it was, I turned around, and there was a hooded figure just like me.
He was a long way off—or so I thought—but moving so fast my eyes couldn't keep up with him.
He was already about ten meters away from me.
That put me on high alert.
My instincts told me this man was much stronger and something I couldn't handle at all.
He was moving so fast that—
Slash!
Before I could even process what had happened, I was already leaning backward... and right above me, I saw my reflection—it was my reflection in a sharp dagger.
I had dodged an attack aimed at my neck by just a few centimeters.
The man was too fast and didn't beat around the bush. At that moment, in addition to seeing the blade of his weapon, I caught a glimpse of his face and his surprised expression.
And it wasn't just because of my dodge, but because my hand had already swung the axe, and it was now pointed at him in a counterattack.
This guy wanted to kill me, and even if he succeeds, I'll make sure he doesn't get off scot-free.
Even so, he didn't back down.
Although surprised, he didn't seem to think my attack was worth dodging; instead, with a deft movement of his hands, he changed the direction of his attack and the angle of the dagger.
And now, with a downward thrust, he aimed directly at my eye, intending to pierce my head.
That brief moment seemed to stretch out, and it looked as though both strikes were inevitably going to connect.
Unfortunately, I'll probably die, and he'll only be wounded at best.
Hhaah~… I shouldn't have come out. I wonder if we'll be reincarnated with all our memories.
Perhaps because it was right before my second death, I started thinking about what would come next.
But just as the dagger was about to pierce my eye, everything changed, and the next moment, I was back inside the shop.
[Free time ended. Forcibly extracting users... 100 Myrr have been deducted.]
My free time had come to an end.
"Damn, that was close."
I'm really surprised.
I already knew there were only a few seconds left, but I didn't know how fast the system would be in forcibly bringing us back; I thought that, at best, the process would take a few seconds—a few seconds that I didn't have.
It was truly a surprise that it happened so instantly.
Even so, I didn't waste any time. I went down to the ground floor and peeked through the door.
I assessed the situation, and there was the man. As if he didn't understand what had happened, he was looking all around, and finally his gaze fell on me.
For a split second, I felt our eyes meet, and when I saw him running toward me, I braced myself.
Now that the odds were even, the next battle would be intense—and hopefully just as exciting as the last one.
"Our encounter will be legendary."
I was more than ready for action. Who knows, maybe I could score some good loot from him.
He approached the venue at high speed, heading straight for me… or so I thought.
Because, before he got all the way there, he changed course and went off in another direction.
"..."
For some reason, that felt anticlimactic and left me with a strange sense of emptiness.
I kept watching.
The minutes passed, and I watched as he kept moving around the area.
Every now and then, he'd flash past the storefront.
I even saw him go into some of the nearby buildings, but he ignored ours as if it didn't exist.
Obviously, by this point it was clear that he couldn't see me, even though the store's glass door was transparent and I was leaning out.
I really wanted him to come inside so we could even the score, finish him off, and leave no loose ends.
With the odds even, I was sure I could beat him...
But since he didn't find me and didn't come in, it's better for things to end this way.
Besides, I saw more people start to arrive and examine the bodies.
After a while, some of them seemed to be doing strange things, like casting spells on the bodies. The bodies glowed briefly, but then nothing happened.
When they saw this, the people who seemed to have cast the spell shook their heads.
Finally, as if they'd given up on something, they gathered up the bodies and everyone left.
Including the man, who kept prowling around and searching until the very end, as if he knew we were nearby but couldn't pinpoint our whereabouts.
"Whew..."
Sssffs...
..
"Ugh... We really got ourselves into something we didn't need to."
The fusion with Iris was over, and even though I felt a little nauseous, I couldn't help but complain.
It really is such bad luck that our first outing ended that way.
"Phew! That was really close. I saw my life flash before my eyes! My heart's still racing… It was thrilling. Let's do it again, honey!"
"..."
In contrast, Iris seemed to have had a great experience—fun and exciting. She even wanted to do it again.
"They were really strong. It's a shame there's no EXP here. Oh! Although my strength and dexterity went up by one point. System-chan, is this what you meant by getting stronger through real combat?"
[That's correct.]
"Awesome! So it's like EXP. If we find more next time, we can level up, huehue~... Huh? Honey, why are you looking at me like that?"
"눈_눈... I'm thinking about giving you another good scolding."
"Eh! But why? What did I do wrong this time? Ah!... Was it because I didn't wear a helmet?"
"That's exactly why. You're thinking of what just happened as if it were a sport. No, actually, it's even worse—you see it as some kind of video game."
"Um… I…"
This was a topic I knew I'd eventually have to bring up. I just hadn't found the right opportunity, but I guess the moment has finally come.
"Haah~, love, I get it. We were brought here unexpectedly. We've only been here a little over two days, and everything is so fantastical, so unreal, and so many things seem to be so conveniently aligned that it's not surprising you think that way, but you have to understand that we're not in a game."
"..."
Perhaps noticing my tone, Iris fell silent, and I continued.
"Yes, it was self-defense. They had bad intentions toward us, but taking a life isn't something we should take lightly… no matter what. And don't get me wrong—even now, I don't regret what just happened, because it was what had to be done."
"..."
"But I know that what I did wasn't just killing an NPC or something like that. I know that each of those people had a life of their own, even a family, and no matter how much scum they might have been, maybe they had someone who cared about them—someone for whom one of those people was just as important as you are to me."
"...Honey."
I really wanted to emphasize to Iris how important it was not to view taking other people's lives as something trivial.
"I know you know what I did to Rose's pursuers, and now this. It's more than obvious that this world isn't as kind as our previous one was, and in the future, we'll likely and inevitably have to take more lives."
"..."
"But I want you to understand, too, that they're other people—they're our equals, not NPCs or mere cannon fodder. Each one is a person with their own life, their own background, their own loved ones and connections."
"..."
I noticed something, both this time and the last: I realized that I really have no qualms about taking a life, and I feel almost no guilt afterward.
And, even more regrettable, is that I didn't sense it in Iris either.
"I'm telling you this because I think it's always best to understand and be aware of what we've done, so we can avoid a situation that might cause you regret later."
I really hope it's because she was treating this like a game and didn't fully understand the implications of our actions.
But, in case that's not the case and she's just like me, it's even more important to keep this in mind.
Because if we continue with this indifference, at some point we'll be no different from monsters—monsters who won't hesitate to take lives even for no reason at all.
So this isn't just for Iris—it's a reminder for myself, too. Even if I don't feel anything, I really need to understand the gravity of that action and its consequences as well.
"Yeah /_ \...Sorry I got carried away... You're right. They aren't a source of EXP... It's wrong to want to go after more when they haven't done anything to us yet."
At least I think this is a good start. She still doesn't seem bothered by eliminating someone, but at least I think she now understands that they weren't NPCs.
Hmm… I wonder if that could be part of the reason they specifically chose us.
It's a question that popped into my head.
Iris and I have a mindset that's very different from everyone else's, and lately that's become clearer than ever.
There are also a few other things that make me come up with multiple hypotheses… well, obviously leaving out that nonsense about Iris's MILF detector.
Certainly, when I think about what made us special enough to be chosen, many things come to mind, and that very fact means there really isn't a clear answer.
It's a shame the letter didn't mention a single thing about it.
"Haah~… Well, I'm glad you understand. Haah… well, I'm going to take a bath. I'm still really on edge and need to relax."
Yeah, maybe I didn't feel anything when I took out that group, but I definitely did when my neck was about to be slit and then my head was about to be impaled.
"Oh! I want to, too. Let's take a bath together. Leave it to me, honey. I'll get everything ready."
"...Okay."
I watched Iris run up the stairs excitedly. Her mood had quickly shifted from being downcast just a moment ago because of what I'd said.
Well, as long as she keeps in mind what I told her, it's fine.
Anyway, while she was getting the shower ready, I looked at what had appeared at the end of the battle with the woman.
[Anomaly Event registered.]
[Statistical conditions exceeded.]
[Title granted: The Scion of Battle and Victory]
[Compensation issued:
Unique Ascension Card
Heart of Berserker - Heart of Jester]
"System—"
[Another customer detected. New mission received]
Just as I was about to start asking the system a series of questions to understand the scope of what we'd achieved...
The system spoke to me first, announcing a customer along with an annoying mission.
"Honey!, a customer's coming."
Iris, who had recently gone upstairs to run the shower, came back down.
"Haah~ yeah, I can see it."
"Oh, yeah, honey! I think I've figured out the problem, and I already have a solution to combat that corrective force that's been bothering us."
"...Could you explain what you're talking about right now?"
"It's about our private time—"
Creak.
Iris was about to say something, but there wasn't time, as the door opened, signaling the arrival of a new client.
Anyway, what she was about to say didn't seem like anything really serious, so it could wait for later; now it was time to deal with a new client who, as always, arrived at an inopportune moment.
"?"
When I turned to look at the client and figure out how to handle her, I was taken aback because what had walked in was something I really hadn't expected.
"Honey! Since when do you have those kinds of tastes? Don't you think it's a little eccentric?... Hmm, but I support you anyway."
What had walked in was definitely not a woman, and, considering what the letter said, Iris immediately blamed me.