[22 — Map?]

When I saw Ruru starting her whole ritual of braiding and tying ribbons into Sera's hair, I knew it was time to get out of the kitchen. I thanked her for the food and locked myself inside my room. After all, I had urgent business to take care of, and nothing could get in the way of my brilliance.

"Alright… time to check the materials."

On the desk were some crumpled yellow papers. Old job postings the landlady was about to toss out, but I begged her to let me use them.

Sure, it was trash, but the backs were still blank, and it felt like a good way to save money.

I reached into my pocket for the pen and almost stabbed myself. Ruru had lent it to me, but apparently forgot to put the cap back on this thing.

"Ah… okay, got everything here."

Before I forgot, I needed to put everything down on paper. It was time to move forward with the map project.

I spread eight sheets across the desk and gave the pen a shake. I could feel the weight of the ink inside shifting from side to side. The cartridge was full.

I pressed the fine tip to the page and started sketching everything I could remember. First came a giant circle spanning across all the sheets.

I remembered some drawing tutorials I'd seen online and used my whole arm to stabilize the curve. Something about using the body's natural arc to get a perfect stroke…

"Ugh… well, didn't expect to nail it on the first try."

I tossed the failures aside and started over, this time adding an extra factor: speed. By doing it in one go, the line would be smooth, with no detours.

"…"

Okay… the circle didn't have to be perfect anyway. It's not like I had a compass or the proper tools for this.

"This'll work."

Using the inn as the center, I drew a few lines on the page: dotted for alleys, solid for main roads. I thought about marking the dead-ends too, but then I tripped on some clothes scattered near the desk and smeared the ink.

"Damn it! Who left that— oh, wait… right, that was me."

… I gathered the clothes off the floor and dumped them in the basket, then started again.

Where was I? Ah, right… I marked all the dead-ends, which—by the way—were a lot. What kind of idiot designed this city? The number of alleys almost outnumbered the actual streets.

It took me a while, but I finally finished laying out the base of the city. Now I could start adding the points of interest.

Starting from the inn, I placed the shops I remembered. Stars for the ones I'd already visited, empty circles for the ones I still planned to check out. Just to keep track of space, I marked an X on the ones that didn't catch my interest. As much as I wanted to see them all, I needed to prioritize my time.

"Hm… now let's add the landmarks."

Besides the central church and the inn, I added Toni's restaurant, Cjorn's forge three streets back (which honestly looked more like a backyard locksmith), the two training grounds, and a tavern right behind them. No matter the night, that place was always packed.

Probably where the whole population was hiding. Definitely a good spot to gather intel later.

"Heh… didn't know I had such a knack for perspective drawing," I murmured, resting the pen on my cheek. My work looked like a highly detailed 3D model.

Right, couldn't forget the obaachan's variety shop. No way I'd leave that one out.

With all that, the city's layout was taking shape.

Still, it felt like something crucial was missing.

Didn't expect to find an adventurers' guild here, but I was sure there had to be some kind of mercenary hub. Since I hadn't explored the far side of the city yet, I assumed it'd be there. Not that I was ready to check it out.

"Hmm… don't remember seeing a library either."

This was one of the places I absolutely had to check out. I knew that—given the censorship of the Dark Age—there was a high chance I wouldn't find anything useful. Still, if I managed to uncover even a fragment of this world's context, it would be a huge advantage. Maybe I could even grasp things like the lore and the main events. And who knows? I might even stumble across clues about my true identity.

Well… that would have to wait.

With most of the sheets filled, it was time to number them and add the legends. But not before admiring my masterpiece.

"I don't usually praise my own work, but this… this is perfect," I muttered.

"Oh? So this is what you needed the pen for, Destroyer-sama?"

"Exactly, Ruru, this is— wait, how did you get in here?"

…Didn't I lock the door?

"I-incredible… you reused old pamphlets to draw this…"

Ha! Even she couldn't deny my genius.

"And all of it on the first try." I nudged the crumpled sheets under the desk with my foot.

She leaned over the table.

"These lines, these drawings, these symbols…"

…She must be wondering how I came up with such a clever system to distinguish everything. Not that it was that hard. If there was one thing that might confuse her, though, it'd be the writing in modern language.

"Destroyer-sama…"

She must've noticed.

"This is Jap—"

"What's that supposed to be?"

"…"

"H-how can you say 'what's that supposed to be?' It's clearly a map! Look! I even drew the horses in that alley where we parked the wagon when we arrived!"

"H-horses? Pfft— ahaha!"

I felt my face burn red.

Ruru was wiping tears from her eyes from laughing so hard.

"Ahahaha, Destroyer-sama, these squiggles are supposed to be obaachan and Nana-san?"

"...!"

"Wait, wait… and this curved line around the whole city?"

…Damn her, let's see her draw a perfect circle without a compass.

"And thi—"

"Enough, Ruru! How long are you gonna keep mocking me? If you're so good at drawing, then you make a map!" I shoved the pen into her hands.

"Well, no need to draw a map when I already have one." She pulled a folded paper from her pocket.

"What?!"

That was the first time I truly felt the crushing weight of capitalism. More suffocating than I imagined.

"Hah… so that's how it is, huh?" I reached for a clean sheet. "Fine, Ruru. If you like humiliating me so much, here's your next task: draw a new face for the dummy."

"D-draw a face?"

…Let's see how you handle this one, smartass.

She didn't even hesitate. Grabbed the paper from my hand and sat at the desk.

I had no idea where all that confidence came from, but I made sure to step back so I wouldn't ruin the surprise. After all, I needed to savor every second of my revenge.

She took a moment before starting, like she was visualizing the project in her head. As if she could really reproduce anything on paper.

I sat on the bed, watching her in profile. The show was about to start.

She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, then stuck her tongue out a little as she began to sketch. To anyone else, she might've looked like a serious artist. But not me. She wasn't fooling me.

Her effort not to smudge the ink was impressive. Maybe I should've tried that myself… or used a scrap sheet underneath… No, that wasn't the point. All the care in the world wouldn't save her if she didn't have the skill.

"Gulp."

I hated to admit it, but I was starting to feel anxious. The way she held the pen was—

"All done, Destroyer-sama!" Ruru held the page up to the light, looking a little too pleased. "Hm? Something on my face?"

"W-what? No, no. Just… anyway, let's see this so-called art of yours."

I took the paper with my heart in my throat. I knew it'd be bad, but… you never know.

When I opened my eyes, I was floored. That thing…

"Well, I guess it's not tha— Bwahahaha! What is this? Cave painting?! Muahahaha!"

"Y-y-you! Give that back, Destroyer-sama!!!"

*

After all the running around the room and laughing, my voice was nearly gone. If something like a 'laugh box' really existed, I must have broken mine. Still, everything ended peacefully between us.

"I can't believe I had to tie your mouth shut just to stop you from yelling, Destroyer-sama. Do you even realize we have neighbors?"

…And here I thought my fencing training was progressing. Apparently, I still had a long way to go.

"Mmm! Mmm!"

"Oh? You still have all that energy?" Ruru crouched to grab something under the desk.

Wait! Not there—

"What's this?" Ruru pulled out the crumpled sheets.

"MMM! MMM! MMM!" I started thrashing in the chair.

"D-Destroyer-sama! Stop, you'll fall!" She rushed to catch me before I hit the ground.

It was a little humiliating, but at least she didn't get to see what was on the papers.

She began untying me.

"There. And don't make that face. If you think this was unfair, then start putting more effort into your training. Who knows, maybe someday you'll actually manage to overpower me."

That's what she said, but the fact she didn't look me in the eyes told me she was underestimating me. One day she'd regret it.

"Ah, whatever. By the way, Ruru, where's Sera? Weren't you two together?"

She froze at the question.

"She said she… had to go somewhere."

"Somewhere?"

"Y-yeah…"

Hm… that look was suspicious.