Chapter XIV – Of the incident wherein our hero engaged in ferocious combat with a familiar figure.

As has been common the last few chapters, it was late at night and our hero was outdoors as usual. He and Rabanowicz had geared up for their quest to ambush the ghost and help a poor shopkeeper recover his lost stock. Watanabe had geared up for combat by borrowing a mattress from Hans, and Rabanowicz had brought over a mattress as well. They’d need to stay comfortable, for they couldn’t fight at full power if their precious backs hurt from a lack of bedding.

With a mattress in his hands and courage in his heart, which admittedly wasn’t much courage but that was all our hero could muster at night, Watanabe followed Rabanowicz as she made her way to the book stall. The pair greeted the shopkeeper and, Watanabe was most delighted when he saw her, the daughter of the shopkeeper.

Unlike Rabanowicz, whose description had left the readers who read about her and Watanabe which actually saw her very much disappointed, the daughter of the shopkeeper was actually a deuteragonist-candidate that, if put on the cover, would bait readers to give this story a try.

The young woman actually looked to be around the same age as Watanabe, her hair actually had some care put into it, she was wearing something resembling a dress and in general looked a whole lot more marketable compared to our deuteragonist-incumbent. The author would give a longer and more detailed description of this woman, but a character like her will probably be the one on the cover of this story, so you can just look there.

Finally, I have found a jade-beauty to replace the jaded-beauty, thought Watanabe with much glee. Unfortunately for the doctor, it seems that my story is one where the character that joined the harem first gets overshadowed by new characters

Finally, this serious isekai harem story is slowly building up to a place that’d satisfy our readers who have desperately waited for a harem to form.

Just think of what can happen in future chapters including this new woman! The readers might finally get to see some fanservice, the author might get to pour their repressed fantasies onto paper through the vehicle of this character, what joy! This, I assure you dear reader, is the point where we shall begin quickly progressing forwards towards pure isekai joy.

“You are Sir Watanabe, if I have heard correctly, and you are…?” asked the shopkeeper’s daughter as she gazed over to Rabanowicz.

“I’m Doctor Rabanowicz of Kelm.” replied Rabanowicz.

“Rabanowicz… A doctor? Anyways, I always come to listen to what you have written, your works are the finest ones that I have heard up until now! Though, I was unfortunately so busy today that I couldn’t come.” replied the woman as she forgot about the forgettable Watanabe. “I am Stoyanka, by the way, nice to meet you La- Doctor Rabanowicz.”

“Well, we have nothing more than free time tonight Madame Stoyanka, I’d have no problem relating the Saga of Egilhard for a pulchritudinous lady like you.” said Rabanowicz in a most charming manner, as if she was inviting Stoyanka out on a romantic date.

“Oh! That’d be great Doctor Rabanowicz!” exclaimed Stoyanka as she and Rabanowicz retreated into a corner to spend some time alone.

…There goes my plan to beguile the daughter of the shopkeeper tonight, thought Watanabe as he witnessed his harem-candidate being stolen by the supposed deuteragonist. I’m supposed to be the one charming maidens at first sight, not you!

The author too was gravely disappointed due to losing a marketable character to put on the cover of this story.

Having had his dreams crushed for the day, Watanabe laid down on the mattress he brought and closed his eyes. He had already been tired after having marched the last few days, and he desperately needed sleep after the extreme study session he endured. After an hour of internal lamenting and jealousy, which the author has graciously omitted his whiny monologue, Watanabe finally slipped into dreamland.

Or, he would have slipped into dreamland if he hadn’t heard something or someone walking behind him.

Crunch, crunch… Thump. Crunch, crunch…

He heard the sound of grass being trampled coming closer to him; Watanabe was frozen out of fright. He was shaking like a newborn babe and his heart was ready to give up at any moment.

W-Wh-What the hell do I do now, he thought as he slowly peeked behind him. In line with his worst nightmares, the one he saw was the ghost-woman.

She didn’t harm me the last time, should I just ignore her again, thought Watanabe as he seriously considered just closing his eyes and hoping the ghost went away again. But, then I’ll fail the quest if I do so… I’ve already missed my chance at speaking with Stoyanka, failing this quest might mean I’ll still be left mostly maidenless!

Watanabe took a few deep breaths. This was it. His do-or-die moment. You’re a protagonist, Watanabe. You have been sent here to be God’s or the gods, whatever they may be, gift for this planet. You are a blessing on this wonderful world. You have started life in a different world from zero, and you shall rise as a hero if you put in enough work. Yours is not a jobless reincarnation, for you have acquired a job, nor are you a misfit in another world, you have established an outbreak company selling crackers that shall penetrate this otherworldly market, your current starting situation is better than many other protagonists. Your abilities may be average in your next life, and you might be a cautious hero, but if I’m a bit of a coward, so what? Every protagonist needs to fight against their flaws in the first few chapters before the author forgets about those flaws and the protagonist gets overpowered! If I want to talk about that time I got reincarnated as a hero, then I need to rise above and beyond and conquer my fear! Once I achieve this quest, and other quests that I shall similarly achieve in the future, then they’ll surely talk about how the world’s finest salaryman got reincarnated in another world as a hero!

After having gathered courage by the way of an overly long monologue like usual, our hero closed his eyes, invoking the name of every hallowed thing he knew of that existed in this otherworld starting from Brassicus Prima and ending with Vasily.

Now having the power of the god(s) and plot-armor on his side, our brave hero jumped from his mattress and screamed “Stop right there, criminal scum! You have committed crimes against wherever-we-are and her people!”

Watanabe then re-enacted the Charge of the Light Brigade, going for a frontal assault against the ghost-woman who had been alerted to him thanks to his battle cry. Before Watanabe could raise his own fist for a punch, the woman responded to the wanton charge of our hero with a well-placed kick on our hero’s chest that knocked him out.

As our hero hit the ground, unconscious, Rabanowicz and the others had already woken up due to Watanabe shouting something about a “criminal scum”. Rabanowicz noticed Watanabe laid on the ground, who looked as dead as a carcass but was still alive, along with the woman who looked like she was about to run away.

“Shelmiy Bocze, fewelkakteh shecze-kögel feckeh ta!” quickly cursed Rabanowicz as she saw the scene unfold, thankfully nobody could understand her so this story didn’t need to get tagged for “profanity” on RoyalRoad. Rabanowicz quickly caught the woman and, unlike Watanabe, didn’t get knocked out instantly.

An impromptu yet intense wrestling match ensued between the two women, but after a few minutes Rabanowicz ran out of stamina as she was left breathless. Seeing her opponent beginning to falter, the ghost woman shoved aside Rabanowicz as she dropped onto the ground with a loud thud.

Defeating her opponent, the ghost-woman spoke for the first time in this entire story. “Thou art tough, my dame. I’d have no problems disporting further with thee, but I think I need to leave before ye alarm the camp.” The woman then quickly took off to Brassicus-knows where as she disappeared into the night.

“Lady Rabanowicz, you don’t need to worry yourself too much.” said the shopkeeper as he watched the so-called thief get away. “As I said before those books are not-”

“Father, those books are back! Look, they’re arranged neatly on the stall!” pointed out Stoyanka.

Rabanowicz quickly came over to the stall out of disbelief, only to find that there were more books than they had started the night with. She was also happy to see that the book she wanted to read, “The Secrets of Nature and the Arts; or the Most Extensive Encyclopedia of Men’s Knowledge” was back on the stall too.

“But, why would the thief bring back the books?” wondered the shopkeeper.

“Yeah, I wonder why a ghost would care about the rule of law.” asked Watanabe as he slowly recovered himself from the devastating kick he had endured earlier. The thief gave the books back, I just got humiliated for nothing!

“Monsieur, I think we are not dealing with a ghost or the supernatural here. She was definitely corporeal, as I and you could clearly feel.” said Rabanowicz as she began to think like a detective.

“But no human can have white hair and red eyes!” objected Watanabe. I’ve seen a distinct lack of crazy hair colors in this setting, people here just have hair colored somewhere between black to blond. White hair is definitely not normal unless we are dealing with a senior citizen, and red eyes are just not possible! Unless we are talking about a vampire, maybe we’re dealing with a vampire here?

“As far as we know, that is true. But, monsieur, I implore you to consider the realm of the as-of-yet unknown.” replied Rabanowicz. “While I have personally never seen a person having hair and eyes like the woman we just saw, I want to emphasize that I have never personally seen such a person. As for what I have not seen personally…” Rabanowicz looked at the shopkeeper and Stoyanka. “…we need to have a private chat, monsieur.”

Rabanowicz quickly pulled Watanabe aside to a spot far away from anyone else, much to the confusion of Stoyanka and her father. “Sorry, monsieur, but those Brassicans might have gotten a bit upset if they heard what I was about to say.” she whispered.

“Worry not, I am already worried about this ghost, you don’t need to worry about me being worried.” replied Watanabe as if he was reciting a tongue-twister.

“I already said, the woman in question is corporeal, she is as corporeal as you and me.” said Rabanowicz before continuing on with what she was going to talk about. “Anyways, you know about someone named Vasily, right?”

“Vasily? Right, he is the most disappointing demon-lord I have ever heard about.” replied Watanabe.

“Well, demon-or-not, he only slaid the so-called prophet of the Brassicans so I have no quarrels with this him.” said Rabanowicz. “My non-existent quarrels with him notwithstanding, what interests me about that fellow is the depictions of him I have seen and read, along with the interesting legends that surround him.” Rabanowicz paused for a second to think about specific examples. “Depictions of him vary like any other ancient figure, sometimes he has a beard sometimes he has a mustache for example. Most importantly though, the only feature that he is constantly depicted with is having white hair and red eyes.”

“Or, since no one has seen this ancient man, one rumor about him became accepted as fact. Plus, we are dealing with a living woman here, not a man who has been dead for hundreds of years.” replied Watanabe.

“I was getting to that point. For you see, according to those Brassicans over here, the traces of Vasily still linger this earth. I have heard many rumors about children born with a similar white hair and red eye combo, and beyond hearing, I have also personally seen an example of white and red combo back in Éirois.”

“But-” blurted out Watanabe before being intercepted by Rabanowicz. “Before you say that what I just said contradicts what I said about not seeing any person with such a condition, let me remind you that I said I had never seen a person. But, back in the capital of Éirois where I went to university, I sometimes saw animals at the market who had a similar coloration with white fur and red eyes. Combining all I have just said, I have a hypothesis that shall answer all your questions and bring to light the truth behind the mystery of this ‘ghost-woman’.” Rabanowicz assumed a slightly smug smile as she began wrapping up her quarter-a-chapter-long deduction. “Rumors about supposedly cursed babies born with white hair and red eyes need to be stemming from some distorted version of truth, nor could depictions of Vasily be so consistent in these two traits if he didn’t actually have them. Having seen other living beings exhibit these traits, I think we can safely conclude that there is some sort of shared condition that causes this change in color. I propose that the woman we just fought earlier is not a ghost, but a person like you and I, who has been affected by this condition, which I shall temporarily refer to as hypopigmentation as it makes one lose the color of their hair. Her community, being Brassicans, must have exiled her due to thinking she is cursed. Unable to reenter civilization without putting herself at great risk, this woman has had to resort to criminal activity. Unable to even borrow a book to read, she borrowed the books without permission and brought them back after having finished taking a look at them. She has not followed to haunt you, but has only followed this company that you happened to be in so that she could sustain herself from the pockets of the soldiers and the camp followers. Thus, I have connected all these seemingly unconnected matters in a way that should be most logical, monsieur.”