Chapter 8
I just stared, dumbfounded, my slowly rising anger and shame were quickly held by just because I knew how strong they were and I couldn’t fight back if they decided to just become hostile.
But maybe I was judging her too badly, they were purposely coming from the front and no weapons were out either so at least that helped lowered my wariness once more. Still though, of all the things she could have said, I gave a cursory glance around us, the ground around where Yafumi was lying down before I came was just a tad blackened, and behind it the grasses were smocking, burnt. And there also was the dead body near us, horribly burned. And maybe they also saw the other one’s dead body.
Okay.. maybe her reaction was kind of.. acceptable. But she could have demonstrated it differently, like, read the room. I was glad Yafumi managed to soothe my emotion already, otherwise I wouldn’t know how I would react to them, or her words. And It would have ended badly for me.
“why are you here?” I said to them.
Mihiro sighed, I noticed shortly why, apparently I couldn’t hold the little wary tone, and she stepped forward, motioned with her hands forward she showed her palms, telling me to calm down, most likely.
“Hello again, John, you remember me, right?”
“Yesterday,” I nodded, “though you look different now,”
“Oh, that was just a disguise. To walk among the mundane,” she replied vaguely.
“More importantly, we noticed the barrier so we came as fast as we could-“
“Not fast enough,” I replied angrily, I was throwing a tantrum, so I quickly reined it down. “sorry, it’s just.. been a long day,”
Her face softened, “I know, and we’re sorry.” I just nodded absentmindedly.
“You’re a brave young man, John. you shouldn’t feel bad for what you HAD to do, you survived, and saved a friend,” she smiled reassuringly.
“I just killed people,” I answered, my voice strained.
“Bad people,” she corrected immediately.
“How would You know that?” I asked weakly. Mihiro kneeled next to me.
"We can talk about this on the way,” she nodded toward Yafumi, “your friend seems like she could use some help,”
Oh yeah, I looked at the said person,
“And maybe you too,” she continued as she heard a crack that came from my left forearm, lodging itself in place after having been twisted by that bloodhound mook. Huh didn’t even feel that, I guess Gamer’s Body worked.
~
Mihiro helped me clean Yafumi’s wound while she talked a little about the supernatural world, she didn’t say much. Most of it I already knew, the supernatural exist, much of their business was done inside barriers, they were a divided people, there was no Japan the country in the Abyss(which was what the supernatural world called), most of them were in guilds, which the majority seemed to at first stem from families, that gradually accepted more members to bolster their number, for diverse reasons, she didn’t specify. At this point, Ueki came and handed me a badly torn Jacket, I was confused at first, but then he said it was Yafumi’s, we clothed her as best as we could and finally exit.
We exited the barrier together as Mihiro explained they were from a guild called Yuki and that this was their territory, though that didn’t explain much really. And that little voice at the back of my head blamed them for this whole thing because they couldn’t manage their territory properly, but I shook it away quickly.
~
We walked briefly more until I noticed a big white van, that was our ride apparently, big enough to fit all of us together.
I stopped beside it, still carrying Yafumi in a princess carry, I didn’t want to hand her over, though why I also didn’t know. “where are we going?” I asked curiously, comfortable enough not to feel suspicion towards them. “To get you kids treatment of course,” said Harumi confusedly, which I confirmed that, yes, she was Ueki’s sister.
I entered first, “I know, but where?”
She gave me a deadpan look. “you’ll see,” she continued her tone turned to amusement, and the others entered after her. I shrugged my shoulder and decided to just relax in the van.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
~
We were on our way, so I decided to talk with Mihiro again about the Abyss, nothing important, the most shocking thing that I found was when I asked why the supernatural was hiding from the mundane, and her answer shocked me. She said it was the Goddess’s, capital G, will that if any Abyssal showed themselves to the mundane side, they would get punished, small little things like bad luck, or as bad as being erased from existence if what you did in the real world was noticeable enough by the mundane. I was glad I never tried to teleport outside. And it might be also the reason why Gamer’s Body description said it didn’t work while in the real world, because if Gamer’s Body worked like its name suggested, then I could have maybe grown a severed arm or something, and that wouldn’t be a good idea to show in the real world, unless I specifically wanted to get smote by Gaia, of course. Convenient game power as always.
There was a lull in the conversation after that.
~
We arrived in front of a hospital, I looked toward the sign that said ‘National Hakone Hospital’. Slightly disappointed that it was just a normal hospital.
“I thought we are going to a magical hospital, or something,” I said, unenthusiastically.
“We are,” Mihiro answered, “just follow us inside, the supernatural wing is through here,”
“Oh..”
~
So I followed them, going through what I assumed was an emergency department, then entering a non-descript door, going through corridors, I wasn’t sure I knew the way back,
“You’re pretty tough for a newbie,” Harumi murmured suddenly. Her brother already wandered off somewhere else at this point.
“I was.. lucky,” I said, unsure.
“So what? A win is still a win,”
“I didn’t even know what I’m doing honestly,” I laughed nervously.
“And you still managed to beat 2 people!” she said a little excitedly, I didn’t answer, still didn’t feel good about killing people.
She noticed it, “hey don’t be like that!” she followed immediately, “just think about it like this, it was you or them. Besides you just saved more people by killing them!”
I nodded unsurely, “those guys are bad I tell ya, no one just attacks random abyssals just like that! I’ll be bold with you, they were going either to sell you as a slave, or stick you in a mana factory! And you don’t want that” she continued.
“Wait, what? Mana factory? What’s that?” I did remember that guy saying something about a factory.
“Oh, you know, apparently people’s purified mana is good for powering a lot of things, or making mana batteries. They stick you into these devices that suck mana out of you,” she answered casually while she shrugged her shoulders, “Oh! I heard it was painful too! and you couldn’t escape easily after they stick you to it, it was a painful existence, that,” she continued, her body shivered animatedly, and meanwhile I was looking at her horrified.
I heard a sigh, “you’re doing the opposite thing, Harumi,” Mihiro said, then I realized I stopped walking, my mouth agape. I closed it and continued to walk after them.
“Well, oopsie?” she laughed unrepentantly, like she didn’t just tell me the shittiest and rotten act in the world. I remember how I felt earlier, I felt lethargic, and my head hurt. To constantly felt like that.. and be painful on top. That was just.. heartless.
But in the end I did recognize what her purpose in saying all that was after I thought about it, she wasn’t trying to comfort me, she was trying to say that, I did not need to feel bad about killing that kind of people.
We continued to walk in silence, until we stopped in front of a room. I didn’t realize a doctor-looking guy was guiding us til Mihiro gestured me inside the room, and a normal looking hospital room greeted me, and that doctor, huh.
“Just rest for a while, we’ll talk again after you’re well and recovered,” she said, as a nurse guided me to place Yafumi on a bed carefully. I located a chair and just sat there. “you don’t have to worry about school, I’ll inform them,” oh yeah, I had.. school huh, that notion seemed.. mundane now.
“Are you sure you’re alright, John?”
“Oh! Yeah, I’m.. quite alright,”
“Your hand?”
I reflexively tried to hide it. “Yeah it’s fine, I could move them just fine,” she frowned, but didn’t comment anything more.
“See you till then,” she nodded and left the room with Harumi in tow.
“Bye kiddo! Let’s spar sometime! I wanna see what you’re made of!” I could only wave and then smile wryly at her while I nodded.
I didn’t manage to stay awake to watch as they treated Yafumi, but I did took a peek and saw their glowing hands near her body, healing her I hoped, as soon as I relaxed in the chair, I felt really tired and couldn’t fight back the sleepiness.
~
I was awakened by a ‘ding’ sound inside my head, it was dark outside, as I looked at the windows. I was still in my chair, where I slept, but someone had put a blanket around me.
More importantly, there was a status screen waiting for my attention so I focused on it.
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Observe X
Focus on a person or object to get their information.
You can use mana to show more than basic information of the target.
Mp : variable
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It changed, just like that, without me having to do anything, why though? I sighed, at least it showed me the change.
I got up intending to wash my self a little bit in the bathroom, but I decided to check on Yafumi first, I walked forward and opened the curtain that separated us.
“oh..” I said intelligently.
“Hi there,” I melodic voice greeted me, though there was something behind that tone of voice that I couldn’t quite place. The voice, it belonged to a.. lady, she was beautiful too(like every abyssal I knew so far), she also looked kind of familiar. Her face was so calm, tranquil, her posture collected. She sat beside the bed, her own hand holding Yafumi’s one, there was a slight tremor on the former’s hand, I noticed idly. I used Observe, already a habit at this point.
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Name : Izumi Takanashi
Age : 51
Guild : None
Level : 37
Relationship : 75
Hp : 350/750
Mp : ?/440
Mood : remorse, contempt, joy, sadness
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Takanashi.. yup, that meant-
“Thank you for saving my daughter,” she said while bowing her head toward me.
“Oh.. um,”