Chapter 3

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[My Encounter with a Young Girl]

I cautiously walked through the cave that was lit by the red light emitted by the sword.

From the surroundings, you could hear the sound of a beast like *gyaagyaa*, though nothing seemed to be approaching close to here…… I think.

“In the first place, I’m sure not many people could read the air” (1)

Generally, if a Japanese were to say “I can read the air”, they would immediately be stared by warm gazes. (1)

So, of course, there were only a handful of people who would train such a skill. I was not an exception.

“I have a weapon as well as light. I should be able to handle myself if I get into a fight……”

To inspire myself, I let out a loud affirming voice.

Currently, I was equipped with a longsword that activated a fire attribute magic [Meteor Crush] and [Mist freeze] through auto cast. I also equipped a Robe that continuously had an aria.

I also had on a set; a cloak and boots that dramatically increased attack speed.

With these, you were able to put in seven or more attacks per second.

“Magicstone Rune……I can’t resupply it so isn’t it wasteful to use?”

The magic knight’s biggest weakness was its endurance in the battlefield.

The profession had the greatest attack power when it used several types of Magicstone Runes, but there was a limit on how many Magicstone Runes you could carry. They had repulsive properties and if you were to use one past its limits, they would explode and result in instant death.

While an increase in game level was an essential item for endurance, you could only sustain your maximum power for a short while.

This was one of the reasons why Magic Knight’s became so unpopular.

Before the downward revision, the offensive power was attractive enough to offset its disadvantages.

“If I could only open the warehouse somehow…… oh, is that?”

A warehouse was a support system that allowed you to deposit items.

You had to pay in-game currency, but it allowed you to deposit more than 1,500 items.

It could be said that it was an essential feature of MGO as it was possible to store items from recovery all the way to food.

As I was complaining and walking, an iron door came into view.

It was massive and had the appearance of a steel door. It had two sturdy doors that had a sphere embedded at the center of it.

It was possible that the room on the other side was small.

“If this was a tabletop game, I would have a thief investigate the room for traps…… I don’t have that kind of skill set”

In MGO, there was a Bandit Thief class, but it didn’t have the ability to destroy traps.

In that game, it was apparent that it mainly focused on combat.

I timidly reached out towards the door, but I suddenly felt something and reflexively took back my hand.

“Whaa!?”

As I leaped backwards, I couldn’t help but think of how much of a coward I was- but it wasn’t a problem since I was being careful.

I held up my sword for several seconds, but nothing changed…… Er, did the color of the sphere darkened a little?

Pushing that thought aside, when I started to think about reaching for it again,

*Gogon*

The door opened with a heavy noise.

For several seconds, I kept an eye out for anything, but nothing seemed to be coming out from within.

Since there was no light, it was impossible to see inside the room. However, the sound of *chorochoro* and water was reverberating- a child’s cry leaked out.

I went on my stomach and peered into the darkness. I put in my sword into the room to see if I could see what was in there.

Even though it was a small room, it was 10 meters wide in all directions and was 5 meters high.

The floor was different, it had been swept clean since dust couldn’t be seen anywhere and at the back a fountain had been installed to the wall.

On the wall itself, there was a fine statue of David, also called ‘Kakuya,’ that had water leaking out from its crotch irregularly like the Manneken Pis. (2)

However, no matter how you looked at it, it was a model of a young boy. Moreover, unlike the Manneken Pis, the elephant-san from its crotch heroically stood up and pierced the sky. Also, from there, water would irregularly spurt out…… in other words, it was that. It reminded you of something that was designated for adults.

“Tte, who is it, who would design such a thing!”

“Hii!?”

I couldn’t help but shout at the sight of the statue.

The one who reacted to my voice was a child atop a pedestal which was placed within the fountain.

For some reason, there was a little girl who sat naked on the pedestal. A thin film was stretched around the surrounding area, perhaps to prevent the girl from moving.

“Oh, umm…… Are… you alright?

“Ah, uhn. Onee-san, who are you?

“-Uh”

I was at a loss for words when I was asked for my name.

When I was in Japan, my name was clearly that of a man’s so it would be uncomfortable to call myself that in this form…… probably.

Then, should I give my in-game name instead?

“I- I’m called Ymir. You?” (3)

I felt uncomfortable with that pronoun.

However, it felt strange to say “watashi”, so lets make a compromise on “boku” here. Today is the birth of “boku” me.

Though, normally, I was able to say “watashi” back in the office.

“…… Alicia”

“Alicia-chan? What a nice name”

I was relieved that the answer was in Japanese.

To be frank, Alicia was not a Japanese person with her blond hair and blue eyes. No, to begin with, was I even speaking in Japanese at all?

Anyhow, my words seemed to be understood as Alicia smiled from the compliment.

“Ehehe, Thank you”

“Can Alicia come over here?”

“…… No. The sparkling thing stops me”

“Wait a minute”

I took out a dagger from the item inventory. This dagger had the effect of recovering a certain amount of MP when hit by an attack, so I brought it in for emergency recovery.

I didn’t know how hard the film was, but if I used a longsword to hit it then Alicia may get scared.

When I put my hand in the water and confirmed that it was safe and was not an irritant, I stepped into the fountain.

I thought about putting my hand on it gently and brandishing the dagger…… but, when I touched it, the thin film popped like a soap bubble and disappeared.

“Woah!?”

“Kya!”

I thought that I would be supported if I used my entire body weight on it, so I lost my balance and ended up pitching forward.

Since my posture collapsed, my dagger’s strike changed course and was headed straight towards Alicia.

I instantly twisted my body and threw the dagger away, though I still ended up falling into the water fountain.

“Wa-*oof*!”

With a *splosh* sound, I couldn’t help but feel depressed as I saw Alicia’s puzzled look.

I was sure she didn’t know the danger she was in at that moment in time.

She saw me covered with water starting from the head, pointed at me and gave a hearty laugh.

“Pfft… ahahahahaha! Ymir onee-chan’s clumsy!”

“Whaaa! Why you, take this!”

“Kya!”

It was upsetting to get laughed at, so I retaliated by splashing water from the fountain. You may think it was childish, but this kind of communication should be acceptable.

When I splashed her with water, Alicia jumped off of the pedestal and started to splash me back.

After a few minutes, the two of us were soaked like soggy wet rats.

The water was irregularly flowing out of the sculpture, but since it was abundant, I decided to use the water fountain to wash away the sweat.

Alicia also decided to wash her body together with me.

Since naked socialization tended to loosen one’s mouth, it was a part of information gathering.

Fortunately, I was able to tightly close the entrance door and immediately barred it shut with a sheathe.

With this, we shouldn’t be attacked by suspicious animals.

“Where did you come from Alicia? How’s your mother?”

“I don’t know. I found myself here. Mother… there’s none”

“I see. I’m sorry for asking, I hope that you can forgive me?”

“Uun” (4)

Was Alicia about five years old? She was your traditional beautiful young girl with long blond hair that spilled to her back.

Since her skin was white and her limbs were flawless, was it possible that she was a child who grew up in a well off place?

Using the first robe I had worn, we used it as a towel to wash each other’s back.

I looked at the surface of the water to see myself and as I thought, I had become Ymir.

“Do you know when you got here?”

“I don’t know, it’s been a while since I lost track of time”

“Right… there’s no clock”

“Yeah”

“…… ne, does Alicia know where this place is?”

I said that with a look filled with expectations. This was the first thing that I wanted to hear right now.

This type of terrain didn’t exist in Japan and in my memories, a sprawling map like this never existed in MGO.

This meant that this was neither Japan nor MGO, but another place.

“…no, I don’t know. I can’t remember anything”

“You don’t remember…… It couldn’t possibly be memory loss”

I jokingly said such a thing, but Alicia smiled in agreement.

“Uhn, yeah. Onee-chan’s smart”

“Huh, really!?”

“Really, I don’t remember anything, just my name?” (5)

“No way…”

I washed our bodies to wash away the feeling of despair from my mind.

A child would have started to cry if water was poured on their head, but Alicia was fine.

I wasn’t sure, but she may be a patient child.

Nevertheless, my long awaited bath…… I had a beautiful girl’s body, but I didn’t really have the time to enjoy it.

“…… Well, I can always enjoy it later. Plus, Alicia’s here now”

“Hmm?”

As one would expect, even with the light from the magic sword, it still felt cold to bathe in a dark cave.

The food I brought like fish, mochi, ice cream and potions couldn’t possibly warm our bodies. I had alcohol but it was in the warehouse.

Well, it was natural that there was no hot food. While you could eat it in a battle, if it was hot then it would be hard to eat.

“Ah, that’s right-”

Since there was no warm food, what about equipment?

I replaced my headgear from the inventory.

The headgear, a burning laurel crown, illuminates the surrounding area without damaging its wearer.

The leaves, which spewed out fire, lightly warmed the surroundings and it was a godsend as it didn’t damage me, the owner.

“Tadah, the Crown of Sacred Flames”

“Wa, It’s cool! Really cool!”

“With this…… Take this!”

I faced the water fountain and reached out my hand.

The Crown of Sacred Flames increased offensive power and resistance of the fire attribute while it decreased your resistance to the water attribute. And above all else…… the [Fireball] skill could be used.

From the skill window, you could activate additional skills when the Crown of Sacred Flames was equipped.

“[Fireball]!”

A magic circle, with detailed patterns, projected itself from my palm and developed underneath my feet.

It took a second for the pattern to complete and a fireball came flying out from my palm.

“Woah!?”

Generally speaking, this was the first time I’ve ever used in-game magic, so I couldn’t help but leak out a surprised voice.

The fireball that was shot out hit the water’s surface and exploded.

*Splash*

Water was thrown everywhere.

Furthermore, the water was boiled in one go which created steam that covered the place like a sauna.

“Waaaaa! It’s so cool! Onee-chan’s amazing!”

Since the clothes weren’t dry, the naked Alicia was jumping around in excitement.

Damn it! I should have done this at the beginning of the bath.

“Well, after all that. Ha… ha ha ha…… “

I thought it would be nice to have the room temperature rise like a hot spring, but it turned into a sauna instead.

It may take several hours for the wet clothes to dry at this humidity.

“-Ah!”

I suddenly thought of something and instantly took off the Crown of Sacred Flames.

As I said earlier, the headgear had an effect where the laurel crown was burning but the flames did no damage to its owner.

But what about everything else?

I cut off the hem of the robe I wore in my early days, placed the crown on the floor and hung the piece above it.

The cloth burned out in an instant.

“Ah, that’s”

“Yeah, we can use this as a spark”

I didn’t really understand the rules of which things could get burned, but this was convenient.

A lighter substitute…… or rather, it’s like I was carrying a really expensive bonfire.

I opened the inventory and took out some armor, placed the clothes on top of it and placed it near the crown.

The clothes should dry out after a short while.

The room temperature had also increased so it was unlikely for me to catch a cold, so no problem at all!

“Alicia. Let’s leave this place when our clothes dry out”

“Un!”

In this way, this was how I met her.

______________________________________________________________________________

Author Corner:

I will update again in the evening.

Translator Corner:

(1) Original translation actually says “I can read the presence” but that sounded weird with the context, so I thought “I can read the air” was more appropriate since it can mean being able to read the mood/atmosphere/tension/presence etc…

(2) Manneken Pis: Dutch for “Little Pissing Man” and it’s a bronze sculpture that could be seen in the centre of Brussels. Basically shows a kid statue urinating into a fountain basin.

(3) She says I (Ore) before switching to I (Boku). Ore is mostly a guy’s way of saying I while Boku is a much more gender neutral way of saying I. As for watashi, both genders can use it but it’s mostly a feminine way of saying I……. I think.

(4) Uun means no, but it’s more of an accepting no. In this case, it’s like Alicia is saying ‘please don’t mind it’ towards Ymir who is asking for pardon.

(5) Question mark implies Alicia’s feelings at the moment. Basically, she didn’t understand why Ymir seemed desperate to know where they were.

Please click ->here<- for news regarding this translation. I will discuss here what I’m planning to do for the story.

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