Chapter 8

0905 Revised

0916 Revised

1117 Revised

This isn't the world of Retro Fantasy Chronicle that we know.

From the beginning, there were various things that felt off.

The existence of a village in the desert that we didn't know about.

The story from Armit that the elves and dark elves, which we knew as existing races, had already gone extinct.

But the decisive factor was the village chief's words.

We had somehow ended up in a world that was a continuation of the Retro Fantasy Chronicle we knew.

In a sense, this is the future.

"......"

"Sir Adventurer?"

"It's nothing."

When the village chief called me with a puzzled look, I waved my hand lightly to indicate it was nothing.

But in reality, it was far from nothing.

I had thought that if this was the world of Retro Fantasy Chronicle, we might still be able to manage. As players of the game, we understood this world as a game. With the knowledge we had, we might be able to survive here. Fortunately, both Isato and I were high-level players. With our knowledge and power, we thought we could make it.

But if this was a different world from our Retro Fantasy Chronicle... we couldn't say that anymore.

This was a different world from modern Japan, where monsters existed, adventures were commonplace, and an unfamiliar culture thrived.

We didn't know what pitfalls awaited us.

We might die from something trivial, something that seemed insignificant.

The illusion that I was standing on thin ice made my brow furrow.

And then,

"Hey, Akiyoshi. Was it so moving that it left a taste in your mouth?"

Isato appeared, casually making a rude comment.

I turned to explain the situation to Isato... and was taken aback.

The color of the ample fabric of the lower garment was white. The hem was puffed out, but it narrowed at the ankles, giving it a distinctly Arabian look. The top was a black, fairly tight-fitting short-sleeved shirt. Over that, a dark red cloth was draped diagonally, which was probably my mantle. On the right wrist, a large ribbon of a calm olive color was tied loosely. It must be some kind of equipment, too large to be an accessory.

I stared at Isato for more than three seconds, and Isato happily spun around to show me.

"How about it? Does it suit me?"

The hem of the ribbon fluttered as if following Isato's movements.

The exotic attire suited Isato's brown skin very well. If a photo were taken with the desert as the background, it could be used as a poster or something.

The grim predictions I had just made were suddenly irrelevant.

Men are weak for beauty, after all.

"Yeah, it suits you well."

"......"

Despite my compliment, Isato made a slightly strange face.

And the corners of Isato's eyes turned slightly red.

"I get embarrassed when you praise me so seriously."

Isato was thoroughly an entertainer.

Basically, our appearances in this world were the same as they were in our original world.

Isato seemed to have inherited the characteristics of a dark elf and the color scheme of the game character, but that was probably just the color of the clothing and the long, pointed ears.

Thinking about it, Isato's beauty must have been inherent... so I would have thought Isato was used to being complimented.

But Isato fidgeted as if sitting uncomfortably.

Then,

"Here, Sir Isato!"

"Ah, thank you."

At just the right moment, as if to help Isato, Armit handed over a bowl of thin soup.

After Isato took the bowl, I shared the information I had learned from the village chief while waiting for Isato.

The village had to be abandoned because there was no spare adobe and no time to make new ones.

Food supplies were already running low.

This world was far off the timeline of the RFC we knew.

And the story of the man we encountered last night, who had vanished without a trace.

I felt a lingering sense of guilt, so I omitted the part about slashing the man from behind. Even without that fact, I thought the message would get across if I mentioned that the man had withstood my blow with a wooden stick and inflicted a slight damage on me.

Isato, sipping the soup, only responded with a light "I see" to the shocking information I had received.

"Shouldn't you be more shaken up?"

"Hmm, being transported to a different world is already a pretty crazy story, right? I guess it's better to have some prior knowledge, even a little."

"Prior knowledge, huh."

"Isn't Akiyoshi the type who doesn't read much of those adventure novels, the so-called light novels?"

"Um... I don't really read them that much. But I know that being summoned to another world is a common trope."

"In those stories, the protagonist is suddenly thrown into an unknown world and struggles. They might be mistaken for a monster and hunted down because they're wearing modern clothes, or targeted by thieves because they're wearing nice clothes. As a Japanese person who knows nothing about the world's common sense, they might be deceived by the world's villains and end up as a slave."

The more I listened, the heavier my heart became.

"The readers feel the romance in the protagonist's struggle to rise from that point... but compared to that, I think I'm quite fortunate."

"Because this is a future world of RFC, where we have some prior knowledge?"

"That's part of it... but more importantly, Akiyoshi is here."

"......"

Isato's words made me catch my breath.

Isato said those words without any pretense or embarrassment.

If Isato weren't here and I were alone, it would be far heavier than the struggles of the protagonists in the stories Isato mentioned. Most of all, I could feel Isato's full trust in me.

Isato believed in me and relied on me.

As a man, it was only natural to be pleased when a woman said such things to me.

I wanted to remind myself that Isato is an older man, but I knew that was wrong.

Isato wasn't an older man pretending to be a beautiful woman, but a beautiful woman pretending to be an older man. So there was no problem if I accidentally felt a romantic attraction.

There shouldn't be a problem... but I still wanted to remind myself that "Isato is an older man" because Isato was a friend I had been fooling around with as a fellow man.

Ah, damn, it's complicated.

"I'll be careful about that creepy man... but we need to find a way to get back to our original world, right?"

"Yeah."

Isato's lack of urgency probably stemmed from not having encountered the man directly. I would have dismissed the story as a mere thief if I hadn't met him myself.

Sipping the bland soup carefully, we discussed our next steps.

"If getting back to our original world is the goal, what should we do from here?"

"We don't know how far into the future this world is from the RFC we know. We should gather information in a big city. Also, we don't know how long we'll be in this world, so we need to secure a base of living."

"Shouldn't our combined wealth be enough for that?"

We both owned a considerable amount of Eshil. I alone had a sum that was close to a billion.

"Hmm. Fortunately, the money we have seems to be usable here, so I'm not too worried about that... but to gather information, we need to integrate into the society here, not just survive on our own."

"Ah, that's true."

We could probably survive on our own with just money, without interacting with anyone. In a rough sense, Isato and I had the strength to survive even without money.

But that wouldn't allow us to gather the information we needed.

To gather information from the people living in this world, we needed to integrate into their lives.

Standing out too much could also bring unnecessary trouble.

"The easiest cover would be 'adventurers from a distant foreign land.'"

"Yeah. Should we register at the Adventurer's Guild?"

"Probably. Although we were adventurers in the RFC setting, I don't think that will work here."

"We don't have any proof."

"Right."

In RFC, players registered as adventurers during the tutorial, but no certificate or proof was given. It was just a title added to the player's information.

After choosing a job, the title would change from "adventurer" to something like "knight" or "summoner."

"Adventurer" was the basic and initial title for players.

In the game, we could check a person's name and title by opening their information from the UI, but that wasn't possible here.

I had tried to open the status screen with some villagers, but it didn't work. The same was true with Isato.

I couldn't even open my own status screen, so it made sense that I couldn't see others'.

...By changing the title in the status screen, we could change jobs, but how was that process handled in this world? When I had time, I would ask Isato to try it.

I could try it myself, but if I changed my job to merchant, my knight equipment might be cast off. I didn't want to be suddenly left in my underwear, so I had to ask Isato, who wore job-unrestricted equipment. But then, I wouldn't know if the job change was successful. I would try it in a room when I had time.

While thinking about this, I returned to the topic.

"Then, let's head for the city of Elria and see if we can register as adventurers there."

"That's probably the best option. There should be an Adventurer's Guild in Elria."

"Right."

With that, we had decided on our initial course of action.

We each held an empty bowl.

The soup alone didn't make us feel full, but breakfast was over.

We were ready to head for Elria.

But neither Isato nor I said it out loud.

Looking up, I saw the crumbling adobe houses.

Armit, with a worried look, was rubbing his thin stomach and sighing, gazing at the sky.

The exhausted villagers, worn out from last night's commotion, were sitting listlessly.

"......"

"......"

Without words, I knew what Isato was thinking.

And I was sure Isato knew what I was thinking.

"Isn't it wrong to get involved halfway and not see it through?"

"Short-term charity is just self-satisfaction... as they often say."

We muttered to ourselves, as if trying to convince ourselves.

Using our strength and possessions, we could help the people in front of us who were in distress.

But this time, it was just a coincidence that we were here.

What about next time?

We had caught the bandits this time. They would be arrested by the constables sent from Elria and receive the world's punishment.

But there might be other bandits lurking in the desert.

When would they be attacked and suffer the same fate again?

There might be a different kind of disaster that would cause food shortages again.

Wouldn't it be better for them to abandon this village and head for Elria?

As outsiders, we couldn't judge whether our intervention would be good for the village in the long run.

That's why we hesitated.

That's why we were afraid.

We were afraid that our well-intentioned actions might lead to bad results.

We were afraid to admit that fear, so we looked for reasons not to act.

We were just passersby who knew nothing about this world.

We didn't know what repercussions our actions would have on this world, or if we could bear the consequences.

Ah, but.

Just being afraid and doing nothing would be boring.

"Hey, Isato."

"......What is it, Akiyoshi?"

"Can you be the villain?"

"......Sure."

Isato's lips curled into a smile fitting for a villain.

It was the perfect smile for the role I had suggested.

"Alright, sure."

"Alright, sure."

We took turns muttering the words.

It was nice that we could understand each other's intentions with just a few words.

We hadn't hung out with an older man for years for nothing.

Isato and I, with our wicked smiles, called over Armit, who was watching us nearby.

"We are the villains."

"We are the villains."

We declared to Amal, the village chief, whom Armit had called over, with our chests puffed out.

"......What?"

The village chief looked completely confused.

Then, a hidden anger appeared on his face.

Given the mountain of tasks the chief had to handle to protect the villagers, being called out and told something so trivial was understandable.

Despite the strained expression, the chief tried to hide his anger, showing his human side.

"I'm very busy as the leader of a dying village."

His voice was clearly irritated, and the sarcastic tone was something we hadn't heard in our private conversation.

To avoid making him angrier and losing the chance to be heard, Isato and I both smiled wryly and apologized.

"Sorry, but we wanted the chief to understand our position the most."

"......What do you mean?"

"We wanted you to understand that what we're about to do isn't out of kindness."

"About to do...?"

As we spoke, the chief's expression grew wary.

"......I don't know what you intend to do... but there's nothing left for you to take from this village. ...You can't be serious."

"No, no, no, no, no."

When the chief glanced at Armit, who had been listening to our conversation nearby, and changed his expression, I quickly waved my hands.

Being mistaken for kidnappers or slave traders was not a joke.

"So, the reason this village is in trouble is that there's not enough adobe to repair the houses and there's no food, right?"

"Yes..."

"We think we can probably fix that."

"......What?"

The chief's eyes widened in surprise again.

"I can't say for sure until we try, but we think the chances of success are high."

"Then why... the talk about being villains?"

"We don't intend to take responsibility."

"We have the power to solve the problems you're facing. But we want you to understand that it's not because we're doing good deeds or being heroes. We just happen to have the means to help you, and we feel like it."

"So, we might not be able to help you again if something else goes wrong."

"We just do what we want to do."

That's it.

That was the 'villain's logic' that Isato and I had come up with.

We weren't saving the village to be heroes.

We weren't doing good deeds to be virtuous.

We were just doing what we wanted to do.

Acting on our desires.

That was our 'villain's logic.'

If something went wrong because of our actions, it wasn't our problem.

After all, we weren't doing it out of 'good intentions.'

We would try to help as much as possible, but there might be things we couldn't handle.

The 'villain's declaration' was our insurance for that.

"So... you're saying you will save this Karat village...?"

The chief, seemingly understanding our point, asked with a trembling voice.

The weariness in his expression had disappeared, replaced by the excitement of seeing a glimmer of hope.

"But only as a hobby."

"Just as a hobby, understand?"

We emphasized that to the chief.

The chief, not taking offense at being treated as a 'hobby,' grabbed my hand firmly.

"I don't care if it's a hobby...! What should I do!?"

I didn't have a hobby of being happy when a man grabbed my hand, but if the chief clung to Isato, it would probably be awkward, so I let the chief do as he pleased.

From the side, Isato leaned in to look at the chief.

"Can you give us permission to be villains?"

And so, the start of Isato and my villainy began.

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