Chapter XVIII – Wherein is related the situation of our hero and Rabanowicz after the ordeal.

Rabanowicz and Watanabe quickly retreated from the premises of the fight, going for a good distance before ending up in the poorer edges of Brasscirom. Having decided that no evangelists or guards would come after them, Rabanowicz decided to enter a smaller inn that occupied the city’s outer rim.

Watanabe followed her inside the mostly deserted in as Rabanowicz quickly took a seat. She had gotten off much worse after previous chapter’s ordeal, while she hadn’t been visibly or permanently injured, saying that she wasn’t in the best of moods would be an understatement.

“Make you a pay a tax just to get you beat up, those fewelkakteh Brassicans are stingy aren’t they.” muttered Rabanowicz. She took her seat at the nearest stool she found. Her usual deadpan expression showed hints of anger, her brows were slightly scrunched downward and her lips bent ever so slightly downwards.

“Doctor, are you like, fine?” asked Watanabe, who was confused by the nonchalant Rabanowicz. I did a heroic thing back there; shouldn’t you be thanking the protagonist right about now? This is supposed to be my moment to shine, thought Watanabe ever so arrogantly.

“…There have been times where I have been finer than right now.” replied Rabanowicz with a heavy dose of the sardonic. “I’d be much finer if I had some turpentine for the wounds. I’d really appreciate it if you could ask the proprietor of the inn; it’s not a good idea for me to walk needlessly with an injured knee.”

Bosses are always like this; they never thank you after anything, continued Watanabe in his arrogance as he looked around the place, trying to find anyone to help him find whatever a “turpentine” was. Him looking around the place in confusion caught the attention of an employee, a young boy, who ran up to Watanabe to ask what was wrong.

Watanabe told the boy that they needed some “turpentine”, whatever it was, and the boy quickly went to ask the owners of the inn who were his parents. After a few minutes the whole family of six came out to see the unusual man and the less unusual man, creating a commotion. The parents quickly dismissed their kids as to not disturb the guests, and the father quickly brought over the turpentine.

“Sir, are you injured?” exclaimed the father with the jar of turpentine.

“Firstly, I am not a sir of any kind but a woman named Rabanowicz, secondly, yes, I am very much injured. We’d be very grateful if you could graciously extend your hospitality to us.” replied Rabanowicz. She handed over four seeds, officially as a gesture of good will and also as a bribe to receive good treatment.

Receiving their unofficial payment, the family relocated Rabanowicz and Watanabe to a more private guest room, outside of the for-rent communal bedroom of the inn. She borrowed some of the turpentine from the family as well, to use as medicine for her newly acquired wounds. The beds were made out of straw, which was probably worse than the beds they would have found at the last inn, but sleeping on straw beat having to meet with more evangelists.

“Alright, monsieur, if you could avert your eyes and turn around for a few minutes.” said Rabanowicz as she opened the jar of turpentine and the smell of resin filled the room.

Watanabe couldn’t see much in the dark guest room anyways, but he still turned around as dictated by the rules of common decency. Watanabe heard a few brief cries of pain as Rabanowicz applied the turpentine on her wounds. Yet, our hero was concerned with something else at that moment.

You have already broken conventions of the genre enough, Rabanowicz! First you do not fall in love with me at first sight, then you steal the attention of that beautiful girl called Sto-something, and now you don’t bother to thank me or anything after I’ve committed an action so heroic as to save you!

He was on the 18th chapter of his story, and every passing day, Watanabe was becoming more and more impatient with the deuteragonist, no, he was getting more impatient with the world in general. You aren’t even a jade-beauty, why am I even following you? I should’ve abandoned you in the last chapter!

His ego had been only slightly deflated by the two encounters with the ghost-woman, now that he had beat up one man, Watanabe felt like he deserved more. His ego was at an all-time high. Yet, the events of the last few days were poking at this inflated ego like needles poking a balloon.

Nothing made sense for him. On the first day he had received no cheat skills and he had learned that there were no systems. On the second he was forced to drink lye water after passing out from what he thought was a ghost. On the third he had been beaten by just one enemy. Where the average protagonist would have found the main girl and maybe even a second girl to add to the harem, our protagonist had found nothing.

Zilch, nada, null. This world was slowly driving him insane.

He thought of the possibility that this was supposed to be an isekai where the character was an outcast but no, he wasn’t hated enough to be considered an outcast. Plus, even an outcast character would have a special cheat ability that he could use to humiliate his enemies who underestimated him.

All Watanabe had in terms of power was a cheap sword that he didn’t even know how to use.

Had he come all this way, suffered all that time in the office, just for his otherworldly life to turn out as lame as his previous life?

In a bout of frustration and arrogance, Watanabe decided to forgo common sense and social etiquette.

“Doctor, I have so graciously saved your life, yet you haven’t thanked me. Why?” he asked.

Silence ruled over the room for a moment, followed by the sounds of Rabanowicz quickly dressing herself. Then, the sound of Rabanowicz’s footsteps approaching Watanabe finished with the sound of our hero being slapped right on the face.

“You- I- I have foregone asking the same thing to you, by the Divine I try to keep humble even in times where my patience and humility are tried the hardest!” shouted Rabanowicz. The deadpan expression that she had managed to keep had broken as it had been replaced by an expression of genuine anger. “I am bespectacled, so my sight isn’t perfect, but even a blindfolded blind man could see you make way for the door in a bid to escape! I was down on the ground, clinging to dear life, and even then, you hesitated, only to maybe come back as the tiny bit of sane conscience in you dragged you back! If I had- If I had done the same and abandoned you at the first opportunity, then instead of being here fine enough to kvetch to me, your tenderized corpse would be laying on that very same floor! Nobody would have cared about the death of some foreign man; it would have been much easier for me if I had not aggravated the evangelists and let them grievously harm as they have done so! I, by my nature, keep a stoic expression, do not mistake my outwardly indifference for me not being in utter pain!”

Rabanowicz paused to take a deep breath and calm herself. “I might write chivalric romances, of the type containing characters that are damsels-in-distress, but I am not disconnected from reality enough as to think those books contain a grain of truth in them. If you wish to gloat about saving someone you yourself put in distress, then you are free to do so in your lonesome.” Saying this, Rabanowicz returned to her bed on the opposite side of Watanabe as she went to sleep without saying another word.

Watanabe was too stupefied to say anything himself. He was unable to easily sleep after having had his pride as a protagonist shattered so thoroughly, and he spent most of the night turning in his bed trying to figure out what was going wrong.

Yet, surpassing his many worries trying to keep him awake, sleep eventually defeated Watanabe.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Watanabe’s Great Otherworld Adventure:
I Had a Cheat Skill I So Became the World’s Strongest Adventurer

VOLUME 1 PROLOGUE: Starting My Adventure in Another World with a Beautiful Goddess and My Cheat Skill!

TL: TheLegend27

Editing: oishiichayu, AbeShindazo

…What is with the sudden shift in art style? Everything is so cartoony, so… light novelesque.

“Haruhito Watanabe-san, welcome to the after-afterlife. Unfortunately, you’ve died again. It might’ve been short, but your afterlife is now over.”

Someone suddenly spoke to me in a pure white room.

That someone had beauty that just couldn’t be real on Earth or on whatever that previous setting was named. To me, she looked like a literal goddess.

Yes, there was seriously goddess in front of me, if you could phrase it like that.

<TL Note: Watanabe here uses a pun combining majime (seriously) and megami (goddess). I couldn’t find a pun similar to Watanabe’s majimegami in English.>

She had long, silky smooth golden hair.

She seemed to be about my age as well.

The beauty was staring at me while I tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

Why was I here, what was I doing before I came here?

I had argued with… Who had I argued with? A co-worker from the company?

No, I had died. I haven’t been working in the company for a few days. Then, the person I argued with…

…It was her! That Rabanowicz! Why had we argued?

<TL Note: “Rabanowicz” is probably a mistranslation on my part. No such character appears on the insert.>

What had she done?

Wait, I remember – She had fought with a fanatic group that attacked me, and I had thought of abandoning her so… Yes, I remember now!

Having solved my temporary bout of amnesia, and being calm since this was the second time I died, I asked the beauty before me:

“So uhm… Who is Haruhito Watanabe?”

The beauty looked confused for a second.

“You are Haruhito Watanabe, are you not? You have been chosen to slay the Demon King and receive a cheat skill of your choice to help you on your path. You like stories like that, right? It should be no problem for you to embark on this journey.”

I am Haruto Watanabe, actually. But since the goddess hasn’t noticed, maybe I might be able to sneak in to this new setting.

Cheat skills! Harems! A Demon Lord! All that I want await in the next world! This proposition should be as attractive as the goddess in front of me!

SO WHY DON’T I FEEL HAPPY RIGHT NOW?!

What, is there something or someone I’m going to miss when I abandon that systemless, boring sack-of-crap that was the previous world?

“It’d just not be the right thing to do.”

Why does that quote keep popping up every goddess-damn time I’m thinking?!

What has that woman done for me anyways other than talk to me as an equal, pay me fairly, and save me from death?

…

What have I done for her? Eat her food, spend her money, and complain when she doesn’t thank me.

…Is it too late now?

I hope it isn’t too late.

“Goddess-sama…”