CH 81

[Misplaced Jealousy]

I slightly lower my hips and instantly pull out my sword.

Just like doing an iai, I release an upward slash from diagonally below at Amanai without hesitation.

However, the attack only cuts the air because Amanai reflexively averts his body.

“Just what are you doing out of the blue!” (Amanai)

“What, you want to become stronger, right?” (Sakurai)

Amanai – who’s wearing gauntlets and armor formed of magic power, probably coming from God’s Sacred Raiment – asks me why attack him.

To not get killed by the surprise attack just now, he’s quite troublesome… with that in mind, I decide to carry the sword that I swung on my shoulder and answer Amanai’s question,

“You naturally have to get stronger to beat Julia, and I want my cooperator to be strong, too. However, if you ask me to make you strong overnight, I’m afraid I can’t help you.” (Sakurai)

How can you become stronger in this world?

The answer is to simply raise your level, but while that is the case, leveling requires time and place.

In the game era, even I had to keep playing for about two days in order to reach the required level where I could start Julia’s event in May when there were few places to go.

When it comes to this real world, it would take more time because such things as travel time and stamina come into play.

Let alone now, we are in the middle of the academy festival.

The nearest place, that is the academy dungeon, is closed, and if we were to go to a dungeon outside the academy, we would have to abandon the academy festival, putting the cart before the horse.

There is a method, that is to enter the dungeon through the loophole, but I don’t want to disseminate information that there are routes other than the ones that existed in the game in this world, which is something I discovered by myself. It is in humans’ nature to want to monopolize the information to gives them an advantage in leveling.

“You can upgrade your equipment to some extent, but I know for sure that the things obtainable in the academy won’t be enough to cover the gap between you. The dungeon is closed too, so even if you’re going to raise your level by training, the time is not at all enough.” (Sakurai)

That’s right, time. The problem is time.

Assuming that he will directly confront her in the round-robin tournament in 3 days at the latest, it’s very doubtful whether or not there will be a result even if he doesn’t participate in the competitions until then and devote himself to muscle training or combat training.

Even if he heads to a dungeon outside the academy, even if he heads to a place where he can efficiently farm experience points, it’d come to the same conclusion as long as travel time enters the equation.

“That’s why I wanna have you die. Well, I actually just wanna make you to be in a near-death state, though. You can’t go to the Netherworld without doing at least that much, don’t you think?” (Sakurai)

“Netherworld… I see, because time flows differently there.” (Amanai)

“You can extend one day to one month, and with the tower, you can raise your level all you want. It’s the perfect place given the situation——right!” (Sakurai)

So, die already! I release a thrust with that feeling, but it is avoided again.

Hey, Amanai-kun, why do you avoid it? If you don’t die soon, won’t Iris and the others come running and see me pointing my sword at you?

“Wait, wait, wait a second! I get I don’t have time, and I get going to the Netherworld would solve the problem, but there should be another way to go there, right!?” (Amanai)

“No way there’s one! The only way I know is for one to be in a near-death state! So, you have no choice but to die, right!” (Sakurai)

“Since Iris Niflheim’s here, you should’ve gotten a pass ticket, right!? Aren’t you able to go the Netherworld if you use it!?” (Amanai)

Eh?

……Ah, come to think of it, even in the game era, I could go to the Netherworld by using the pass ticket in the hospital room where the protagonist was treated.

……………Well, yes. Un.

“Still, die!” (Sakurai)

“Why!?” (Amanai)

Shut up!! Because unreasonableness after unreasonableness overlapped, I had to go to the Netherworld, moreover, fighting that DV shitty bastard was though af!!

It would be unfair for a lump of talent with a level limit of 100 from the moment he was born to go to the Netherworld without dying! Know my hardships even a bit, and hand me some of your level limit!!

I shed tears and scream while slashing at Amanai, but the sword I poured all my feelings into just slashes the air and doesn’t connect at all.

Then I get stopped by Iris and the others who came in response to us fighting, so I decide to seiza and explain the situation, just like usual.

By the way, we find out that the pass ticket to the Netherworld given personally to me and Higaki can’t be used to take along Amanai and the others, after all, so I give up on making him go to the Netherworld.

In the process, it became necessary to tell Akano and Ethel about the background of Iris and what kind of place the Netherworld is, so I tried to explain it, but then Iris said “As the niece of God Anubis, the lord of Netherworld. I have to be the one explaining so that there is no mistake.” So I gave her the honor.

“So, among those who have lost their souls due to death or similar conditions in the world of the living, there are times when people with particularly strong regrets flow to the Netherworld. That was how Sakurai-san and Higaki-san arrived at the Netherworld, and their achievements in resolving the turmoil in the Netherworld allowed them to revive to the world of the living.” (Iris)

“Hey, in that case, shouldn’t there be quite a few people having revived to this world? If so, I don’t think it would be strange for stories about Netherworld to be widespread already, but I’ve never heard of it, y’know? How about you, Reika?” (Ethel)

“I’ve never heard of it, too… Have you, Hayato?” (Reika)

“No, I just heard about it from Sakurai. As you’d expect, I couldn’t believe it, so I had been avoiding his attacks until a while ago.” (Amanai)

Oh yeah, this guy hasn’t told his friends that he’s a reincarnated person, has he? Can’t be helped, let’s match his story.

“Ussu! Myself, have definitely said that -ssu! Really -ssu!” (Sakurai)

“What’s with the change of character?” (Ethel)

“Originally, people should forget about the Netherworld when they revived. That’s the principle. However, Sakurai-san has some special circumstances.” (Iris)

“Well, that’s a private topic, so let’s give it a rest here. Everyone’s here, so let’s immediately get down to business, shall we?” (Sakurai)

I stop Iris’s talk from the side. We don’t have enough time, so we can’t have a long leisure talk.

After sheathing my sword, I share the proposal of cooperation offered by Amanai to the others.

Hearing the story, Iris flash a troubled smile, “Ahh, when it comes to things like that, Sakurai-san would definitely be willing to.” Akano and Ethel looks puzzled at her words, but Amanai summarizes the story well, so they consent.

The protagonist of the original game, and as that protagonist he was reborn, the reincarnated person, ‘Amanai Hayato’.

Amanai’s childhood friend and one of the heroines, the sorceress, ‘Akano Reika’.

One of the heroines and Amanai’s comrade, the money grubbing and miserly blonde elf sister, ‘Ethel Tyner’.

The heroine of the additional content, Netherworld arc, the girl entrusted to me by Anubis, ‘Iris Niflheim’.

And a mob character no one knows and never depicted in the game, that is me, ‘Sakurai Tōru’.

Counting in Higaki, who will be forced to cooperate anyway— I leak a smile at the composition of the dream team (excluding me).

Fuhahahaha, princess or whatever, with the main characters on my side, the competitions are already in the bag! Wait for me, Fool’s Necklace! I’ll destroy all the seven hardships and eight sufferings and be sure to get you in my hands!

“Alright then, let’s do something about the equipment first! I’m gonna have your uniforms remodeled so that you can hold more items, so for now, take off your clothes and let me measure your three sizes!” (Sakurai)

The girls give me a cold look to the proposal I brought up for everyone’s sake.

Since it’ll seem unnatural for me to know the three sizes of the heroines, I prepared such a natural flow in consideration of Amanai who hasn’t confessed about being a reincarnated person, and yet, everyone looks at me with a gaze that seems to say, “Is this guy got a screw loose in his head?”

However, I realize that even if I were to try to explain myself, my favorability as a human being would only decline, so I give up on remodeling their uniforms.