*

We're almost there.

　Mako woke up at the sound of Christine's voice.
　Christine was sitting in front of him and Yuka was sitting next to him.
　The light shining through the window was slightly yellowish.
　Apparently, she had fallen asleep while being rocked by the boxcarriage.

'How can you sleep?'
It's a businessman's job. I'm trained to sleep anywhere.
Is that how it works?
That's just the way it is.

　Hmm, Yuka nodded disinterestedly.

'What do you guys plan to do when we reach the city?
Anyway, I'll go to church I'll eat a lot of food and get a lot of sleep and then I'll think about it.
Hmm, okay.

　Christine nodded with a sense of reluctance.
　It's written on her face that she needs help, but I don't want to get involved in the mess by carelessly undertaking it.

'Don't look at me like that. I'm thinking of working in Rockwell for a while.'
Mm-hm, yeah.
What?　Aren't you going to King's Landing?
I don't see any reason to go.
Do you think you can help us and get us back to where we belong?
It's your old world. There's no reason for you to want to go back, is there?

　Mako scratched her head.
　He didn't want to see his family, and he didn't have a girlfriend.
　I don't care about the company I worked for.

''Well if you don't have a reason to, you can help me.
I need to do this alone for a while.

　Yuka's lips quirk up in a sulky way, but Makoto refuses with a good reason.
　The reason is the same as Christine's.
　Or rather, as far as she is concerned, neither the king nor Kouki-kun and the like can be trusted.
　When I was thinking about this, my vision faded.

'Don't worry, there's nothing to worry about. It's just that the walls have made it darker.
Is that meant to be a fortified city?
Well, it's not safe outside the city. Even the outlying villages have fences.
It's a frontier village.

　Slow life in an idyllic country town isn't bad.
　As I was thinking about this, my vision went dark.
　I was probably going through a tunnel, or perhaps a gate.
　After a while, my vision brightened.
　From the window, I could see the stone streets.
　Perhaps because the site area is limited due to the fact that it is surrounded by walls, there are many multi-story buildings.
　It seems that many of them are three or four stories as far as I see at a glance.
　It seems to be prospering in its own way, and there are many people on the street.
　There are a variety of races, including humans, elves with pointed ears, dwarves with barrel-like builds, and beastmen with beast ears and tails.
　Most of them are wearing normal clothes, but there are a fair amount of people wearing armor as well.

''........Medieval Europe?''
You're way past the middle ages, by all accounts.
Which part?
There's no such thing as windowpanes in the Middle Ages.

　Yuka's tone of voice is as if to say that he doesn't understand such things.
　If you ask me, every building has window panes.

'But hey, it doesn't feel like it's beyond the Middle Ages, does it?
Okay, just a medieval European fantasy then.

　They are forcibly dismissed from the conversation.
　I hope he's willing to go along with me since he's the one who initiated the conversation.

'At any rate, it doesn't look like you're throwing feces and urine out the window.
Where in the world are you from?
'I read on the internet that medieval Europe was the Dark Ages, throwing feces and urine out the window, grabbing food by the hand, and not taking a bath...'
Terrible. You live in a dark age, don't you?

　Christine's voice quivered.

'Does that mean you have developed a sense of hygiene?
First of all, explain to me why it's hundreds of years old.
Mm, it's been hundreds of years, hasn't it?
I can't tell you how long ago that was.

　Well, Christine patted her chest.
　She must have thought that the world of Mako and the others was still throwing manure out the window.
　The speed of the boxcarriage slowed down with a thud.
　They were getting close to their destination.

'I'll miss it, but I guess this is goodbye.
If you have to say 'see you later' at a time like this.
See you later... bye!

　Christine said shyly, and the box carriage stopped in front of a large building - perhaps this was the church.
　A warm breeze blew in as she opened the door.
　I wondered if the appetizing smell was because it was dinner time.
　When Makoto got off the boxcarriage, Yuka followed suit.

''........Makoto-sama!

　I looked at the direction the voice came from and saw Laura was about to approach us.
　She stopped in front of Makoto and held out a dagger.
　It is a beautifully crafted dagger.

''Please take this.''
I don't want the bounty.

　Laura doesn't move as she holds out her dagger.
　I look up to the heavens, wondering what's going on.

'Why don't you keep it?'
Isn't this one of the most important ones?
If you don't take it, it's never going to stop.
Okay.

　I had no choice but to accept the dagger.

''Thank you!''
No, that's my line. Well, I'm not selling it, I'm keeping it, so if you want it back, just look me up.
'Yes, of course!'

　Laura bowed her head vigorously and returned to the guru's seat.
　A few moments later, the box carriage began to move and Christine stared out the window at us as if she was missing something.
　The box carriage disappeared from view and Mako let out a sigh.

'Do you think this dagger means anything?'
I know I'm in love with you. I'm sure he's in love with you because of your different status, so he's playing along like he wants you to at least have a dagger.
...for real?

　I stared at the dagger without thinking.
　The weight seemed to have increased mindlessly.
　But I can't help what I've received.
　I insert the dagger into my belt and look up at the church.

'Awesome.'
Your vocabulary is still so poor.
Shut up!

　It looks more like the cathedral I saw on TV than a church.
　The steeple supports the building from both sides, if you can call it symmetry.
　The door is open as if it were business hours.

Shall we go?
I guess there's no point in doing nothing.

　As I walked through the door, there was a receptionist's desk and a bulletin board set up next to it.
　On the bulletin board are several sheets of paper written in characters I've never seen before.
　I've never seen those letters before, but--

'Guards?　Herb gathering?　How can you read normally?
The messenger has served you well so you won't have to.
I'd appreciate that.

　I appreciate the fact that you gave me the ability to communicate and cheat, but I'd like to see a better tutorial.

'Well, I guess I can't complain about that.
Yeah.
How do I receive my reward?
The bounty is being handled by the priest.

　It wasn't Yuka who answered, but a strange girl.
　She was wearing what looked like a loose-fitting robe.

'Where are you, priest, Lord?'
Over there.

　The girl pointed with the palm of her hand to an altar.
　It was a simple altar with only a cross surrounded by a circle - a holy symbol.
　A woman stood in front of it.
　She was dressed in layers of veiled clothing, perhaps a type of robe.
　Mako walked out in silence.
　He passed through a hall where long chairs were neatly arranged and went up only a few steps.
　Then a woman - a priest - opened her mouth.

''Welcome, messenger of the seven evils.

　The soft alto voice hits my earbuds.
　His tone is inflectionless, but has a tangled hue to it.

'Seven evils?'
'We call them the spirits of the spirit,'
It's a name that tickles my kitchen, but makes me a little nervous.

　Makoto cowered his shoulders.
　After all, he had been called evil by a global organization.
　I'm afraid I'm going to be treated as an enemy of the world.
　As if that feeling was understood, the priest covered his mouth with the sleeve of his robe and chuckled.

''It's nothing to worry about. The Seven Evils are spirits with unparalleled power, but they can be controlled just like any other spirit.''
So it's up to me. I don't know.

　I scratched my head with my raggedy head, and I could feel a hint of agitation coming from next to me.

'As long as you say you're not confident, you'll be fine.
That's about it.
That's just the way it is.

　The priest replied quietly.
　When it's said in a manner that doesn't show a shred of caution, I feel like it's something like that.
　''Hey,'' said Yuka, tapping Makoto's arm with the back of her hand.

'.........about the bounty for defeating the undead.
Okay, give me your left hand.
Yeah.

　He did as he was told and held out his left hand, and the priest gently laid it on top of his own.

'O Periolis the Imperishable!
"-Oh!

　The next moment the priest whispered, a sharp pain ran through his left hand.
　However, it was only for a moment.
　The pain disappeared as if it were a lie.

''The account has now been opened and the bounty transferred.
...to open an account and transfer the reward money.

　I'd like to see some more fantastic terminology used.

'How do you do a balance inquiry?'
"Touch your left hand and say display.
"...display.

　Mako touched her left hand and muttered, and a window appeared.

'Balance 100,000 A?'
'A is a unit of currency. Brass is 1A, copper is 10A, silver is 100A, and gold is 1000A.
How much is it worth?
A reasonably skilled craftsman can make 100A a day.

　So, 100A is about 10,000 yen, I guess.
　The fact that he has 10 million yen in Japanese yen is reassuring.

Do you have any other questions?
That's a nice use of bonus points.
Bonus points can be spent to expand functionality.
What does it do?
There you go.

　The priest clapped his hands together in front of his chest and slowly let go.
　Then a window appeared between his hands.
　It was supposed to be a fantasy, but it was sci-fi.

'So much for this.'
Well I'd like to open an account with you.
Excuse me. Makoto-sama, may I have your permission?
Yeah, no problem.

　The priest tapped lightly and the window slid to the side.
　Mako stared at the window sullenly.

''Well they're all subtle skills.

　I mutter to myself.
　There are a total of about forty skills, most of which are related to resistance and status enhancement - in the game, they're passive skills.
　What seems to be an active skill is one type of appraisal.
　There are five types whose classification is delicate: mind's eye, detection, night vision, presence detection, and presence blocking.
　There's one other thing I'm curious about.
　It is a little far from poison resistance, paralysis resistance, confusion resistance, and fear resistance, but it has a status abnormalities resistance.
　Normally, acquiring poison resistance and state abnormality resistance should add to the effect, but in this world, I'm afraid that if I acquire state abnormality resistance, the poison resistance is going to be nullified.

''Well you don't have any soul heals.

　He tilts his head while looking at the window.
　In addition, the invalidation doesn't exist, until resistance exists as a skill.
　Yuka had said Soul Heal was a rare skill, and the priest hadn't said it was a skill to acquire, he said it was an extension of functionality.
　In other words, the skills that could be acquired here would only be an extension of human abilities.

'State Abnormalities Resistance, Physical Resistance, Magic Resistance, Night Vision, Detecting Attitude, Improving Healing, Appraisal.......that's 70 points. How are we going to get those skills?

　When you touch the text on the window, it changes color.
　Apparently, this window is a touch screen.
　For now, I'll touch the following items: state anomaly resistance, physical resistance, magic resistance, night vision, presence detection, healing improvement, and appraisal.

''What's next?''

[Do you want to get the skills?

　I was trying to talk to myself, but I heard the angel's voice.

''Yes ... yes.''

　I heard the sound of bells and my whole body stood on a total hair.

[You have spent 70 bonus points to get state resistance, physical resistance, magic resistance, night vision, presence detection, improved healing, and appraisal. I have 30 points left. Do you want to continue acquiring the skills?]

That'll do for now. I'll get the rest again.

　The window disappeared without a sound.

'....Did I fail?'

　It reminds me of the type of RPG where you allocate points to strengthen your character.
　After allocating statuses in full force, it's not too much of a despairing feeling when you find out that pole swinging is the norm.

'Hey!'
What?
I only had 50,000 A in my pocket!

　Yuka said, pointing to a window on her left.

'Isn't that for the Skeleton Lord?'
I helped you!
...you are...

　Makoto grunted with half an eye.
　The bottom line is that he wants me to give him money.
　I'd like to argue that I was in more danger than he was in the dungeon, but he must not be convinced.

'All right. Priest, make sure the balance is even with this guy.
Are you sure?
He does have a point, though.

　Even though he didn't know, it was Mako's fault for not discussing his share.
　Besides, these women will scream endlessly if they don't get their way.
　The next time you fight with this guy, you will discuss your share of the bill.

I understand. Now, you two, left hand.

　The next moment the priest touched Makoto and Yuka's hands, the amount in the window changed to 75,000A.

''Finally, is there an inn around here?''
I'm sorry, sir, I'll have to ask for the receptionist.
All right.

　Mako turned on her heel and quickly turned to the priest.

'What is it yet?'
No, I don't think I've ever thanked you. Thanks.
No, it's just what I do.

　Then the priest smiled lustily.