Chapter 4

By the time they ended their trip around town, the sun had begun to set. Thanks to the town’s size, they completed their trip in less than forty minutes. Besides, the sawmills already took up half of the town, so it didn't have many attractions.

“I wonder what the people here do when they’re bored,” Kakashi murmured. The two of them had returned to the inn. They now waited in the reception room for Astill and Syorin.

“Beats me.”

This wasn’t the first time Neila had come here, although it had been years since her last visit. Back then, she came with her family. Now, she returned with her party. It was a business trip, and there weren’t a lot of fun things to do. She said that things were tense back then, although she didn’t elaborate on why.

“If this is your world, would you start playing with that device by now?”

Kakashi had told the girls about mobile phones, including their functions outside of calling and text messaging. This included features like gaming and social media.

“Yep. If I’m waiting for just ten minutes, I’ll probably open social media.”

“Why not do the other thing… What did you call it again? Gaming?”

“I game when the wait times are longer.”

A lot of games require dedicated time. This depends on the games, but a lot of the games he played took a while to load anyway. Half of his ten minutes would be wasted on loading, hence why he didn’t play games when waiting for a short while.

“I think being able to send pictures so easily sounds cool, honestly. Maybe I’ll trade our ability to send thoughts through magic for that.”

“Even if it's slightly less convenient?”

“Well… now that I think about it, your system has some undeniable strengths."

Photocopying did exist in this world, albeit in a much more basic form than back on Earth. For one, the color in the result would be much paler compared to the real thing, and the picture ended up slightly more blurry. He couldn’t help but wonder how much money he could make if he brought some items with him. Maybe he could sell picture books or manga, something that wasn’t possible, or at least, not easy with this world’s current technology.

“Oh, you’re here already.” A voice came from the stairs. Syorin greeted them with a smile.

“Rest well?” Neila asked.

“Yes, how about you two?”

“We went for a walk.”

Syorin tilted her head. “Is there anything interesting around here?”

Neila shook her head. “Nope. It feels like nothing has changed since my last visit. Although I didn't get to explore back then.”

Syorin sat down on the sofa across from them. Seeing her sit on the sofa reminded Neila of one of the attractions the town had to offer.

“Well, you can watch live demonstrations by the carpenters.”

Syorin knitted her eyebrows. “That doesn’t sound fun?”

“Really? I think it’s pretty interesting watching a block of wood slowly be transformed into a beautiful carving. You would be surprised at how much effort goes into making these carvings.” Neila tapped on the sofa’s hand rest, which had a bit of carving on its wooden base.

“Slow things are unsuitable for a meathead.” Astill appeared from the stairs, her hair messy and her eyes drowsy.

“Welp, looks like someone just woke up.”

“Huh?”

Neila pulled out a mirror from her jacket and gave it to Astill. Astill eyes widened in shock, and she quickly tidied up her hair. For her eyes, she formed water in her hands and splashed it on her face. Neila gave her a piece of cloth, which also appeared from her jacket. Astill wiped her face with it and returned the items.

“Just what is in that jacket…” Kakashi murmured.

“This? This is a jacket with storage magic.”

“That sounds convenient.”

“Neila is like our treasure box. She has everything,” Syorin said.

“Sometimes the contents are rather questionable.”

“Like?”

“A post office stamp and a sword that she never uses.”

“A sword…?”

When he looked through her abilities, there was nothing that suggested anything to do with a sword. Maybe it didn't appear because she didn't have it equipped?

“It’s just a random post office stamp and a random sword I found during my journey.” Neila smiled sheepishly. “Anyway, should we get going?”

They once again set off. This time, their destination was a tavern near the center of town. Neila entered first, and Astill followed after her. Before Kakashi could step in, he felt a tug on his sleeves.

Syorin approached him and whispered in his ear, “No matter what you do, don’t give Neila alcohol.”

“Huh, why?”

“You don’t want to know.”

“I’ll… try my best.”

Syorin made sure that he had gotten the memo and went in. Neila and Astill already sat at a table, a waiter standing by their side. The two of them stared at the menu in front of them.

“Have you ordered?” Syorin asked, taking a seat next to Astill. Kakashi sat down next to Syorin, Neila on his left.

“I won’t be staring at the menu if I have,” Astill retorted.

“I’ll take one cream fried chicken, one bee-”

“No alcohol.”

“No drinking.”

Astill and Syorin said at the same time.

“Eh? Why?”

“Come on, Kakashi, order something.” Syorin yanked the menu from in front of Neila and practically threw it over to Kakashi.

“Eh?”

“Well, for my order-”

“I’ll go with cream fried chicken as well, orange juice,” Astill cut her off.

“Well, if everyone’s trying that, then I’ll go for that as well,” Syorin said.

“Me-”

Realizing Neila was about to speak, Syorin lightly kicked Kakashi’s leg, prompting him to cut her off. “I’ll go with fried chicken as well.”

“S- So four cream fried chickens?” the waiter asked, startled by their group dynamics.

“And for dri-”

“For drinks, we’ll all go with orange juice. That's all, and thank you!”

“Ri- Right away.” He rushed back to the kitchen.

“Come on, what’s so bad about a couple of mugs?”

“Sigh… We’re not discussing this again, alright?” Astill said, looking tired.

“Yeah, let’s get to today’s discussion.”

“Discussion?”

“That’s what we do while waiting for our dinner,” Syorin answered. “Basically, at the end of each day, we’ll evaluate what we did, how we performed during battles, and discuss our plans for the next day.”

“I would love to get to discussing some of your faults… but we have something more important to discuss today,” Astill turned to Kakashi. “First, explain your ability and what you did when you interfered with our fight against the dragon earlier.”

All three girls turned to look at him. He couldn’t help but feel tense, prompting a giggle from Syorin.

“Relax, just tell us like how you’re telling us the tales of your world.”

“While I don’t believe them, I can’t deny that they’re slightly interesting.”

“So… My ability… Do you remember what I told you about games in my world?”

The three of them nodded.

“One of the genres is called turn-based RPGs. In this kind of game, the characters and the enemies take turns attacking each other.”

“That makes no sense. Why would the enemy wait for the characters to attack?” Astill asked. It was one of the arguments against the genre, but a lot of people enjoyed the strategy aspect to it.

“I might be wrong… but I think it originated from old card games before video games existed. In old card and board games, players take turns, so turn-based games take inspiration from those games.”

“So while it’s our turn, the enemy can't move?” Syorin asked.

“The dragon was stuck back there,” Neila murmured.

“This sounds so stupid,” Astill sighed. “Can’t believe I’m even entertaining the idea.”

“Well… you felt it yourself. You almost died, Astill.”

Astill gritted her teeth. She couldn’t deny the experience she had.

“So, when you activate your ability, we become your ‘characters’ and do what you want us to do?”

“I assume that’s the case, as long as you’re willing to cooperate.”

Human enemies weren’t uncommon in RPGs, and he would rather they not go against him.

“Yes, and I could see your statistics, or stats, so your strength, agility, those kinds of stuff.”

“... How did you know moves even I don’t know?” Astill asked.

Kakashi shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s just… there.”

“I never used move names when going around, but when you shout your orders, my body moves on its own.”

“Only a meathead would care more about the names rather than the actual attacks themselves.”

“I’m not a meathead.”

“Yeah, yeah, meathead.”

Astill and Syorin began bickering. Neila and Kakashi watched them fight.

“You know… those two had been like that ever since they first met.”

“Did something happen between the two of them?” As Kakashi asked, he noticed that there was a mug in Neila’s hand, and her face was a little bit flushed. He gulped.

When did she grab it!?

He hadn't seen anything at all. She didn't move, she didn't make any sound. All of a sudden, that mug was in her hands. Kakashi processed this information and decided that the best course of action would be to pretend he didn't see anything and look away.

Not long after, the waiter came with their food.

“Ugh, I'm so tired of you.”

“Maybe stop insulting me then.” The two stared daggers at each other, their hands moving to prepare to eat.

“You two… should calm fown a bit… Hic.”

The two slowly turned to Neila, their faces twisting in horror, then they turned to Kakashi.

“... I don't know when she got them.”

The two turned to each other.

“Truce?”

“Truce.”

They stood up and went to Neila’s chair. Astill stood on her left, Syorin on her right.

“... What wis it?”

Syorin began the count. “One, two, three.”

The two grabbed her by each hand, pulling her mug away from her mouth.

“Let me go!” Neila shouted, trying to get the two off her hands.

“Astill, go for it!” Syorin tried holding her right hand, giving Astill an opening to rip the mug away from her, but Neila fought back.

“It's bween days! Lemme have it!”

“No!”

“It's dangerous!”

“Ywouuu!!!”

The three struggled on for a long while, making a mess of their table until Neila lost her strength and fell asleep. Astill, Syorin, and Kakashi apologized profusely to the tavern after that. The tavern employees, horrified by what they had seen, agreed to never bring the event up ever again.