I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 13 Read online

  “I’ll be careful from now on.”

  “You should at least have a weapon and armor prepared if you’re gonna go out,” Yorun continued.

  She went on to give us all kinds of useful advice about this world. The monsters around the village were relatively weak, but not weak enough that they could be defeated barehanded. Weapons would be absolute necessities. Even if someone used magic, they’d still at least need to buy a tome. Kinawa Village was a small town, but it still had an armor shop and a weapon shop. And so on. That was all good to know, of course. But I still had one more question.

  “What do we have to do to make money?” I asked.

  “Well, there are lots of self-sufficient people in this village. If you don’t have any connections, you’re probably stuck slaying monsters or trying to trade items in the shops.”

  Yeah, that sounded pretty in line with this kind of video game. In other words, if we were going to stay in this world... the only way for us to make gold was to farm it.

  “...”

  Just then, Tokiwa started mumbling something in her usual inaudible voice.

  “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” President Momone replied with a nod before turning to our new companion. “Yorun, we’d like to ask a favor of you.”

  “Hmm?”

  Yorun dug in to breakfast as she listened to President Momone’s request.

  ▽

  That afternoon, the group of us journeyed out into the forest once more.

  “It’s spawned!”

  When Yorun called out, we each readied the weapons we’d bought. The monster that appeared from the shadows of the trees was the same as yesterday—a slime.

  “Here I go!” shouted Iris.

  She was the first to jump out at the enemy. She had leather knuckles on her fists today. They were still only basic gear, but...

  “Hiyah!”

  The sound of the punch she threw was clearly different than yesterday, and it sent the slime flying.

  “All right! Looks like we’re actually doing some damage this time.”

  But we still couldn’t let our guard down. All the strengths we’d learned to rely on in the real world had been zeroed out here. Other than the equipment we’d just gotten, we were all just helpless level-one characters.

  “Satsuki! Rosalind! Support Iris!” I called.

  “Okay!”

  “I know!”

  After giving the girls orders, I took off running. We were currently practicing our teamwork against weaker monsters. Earlier, President Momone had asked Yorun to help us pick out gear and come up with a plan of attack for combat. Yorun had kindly agreed, and she was now observing our fight from a safe distance. The trees in the forest were getting in the way, so we had to adjust our formation even with just the four of us.

  “Fire!”

  Satsuki made the next move and used a basic spell to crisp up the slime a little.

  “Hah!”

  Next, Rosalind ran her rapier through its singed, globular body. She hadn’t really liked the range of weapons available at the armory and had complained plenty about it, but the sight of her wielding it was simply elegant. I knew she would be a natural with it.

  “Hyaah!”

  Finally, I brought my longsword down on the slime’s head (?). The stereotypical RPG weapon was enough to make the slime shriek... but it wasn’t enough to finish it off.

  “Come on! Don’t falter now!”

  “Shall I lend you a hand?”

  “You’ll get your turn, Momone. Too many people in combat brings the risk of friendly fire.”

  “...”

  And so, with Yorun, President Momone, and Tokiwa watching over us—Tokiwa still a little sleepy—we somehow managed to defeat the slime.

  “Hahh... Hahh... Are you sure slimes are actually weak enemies, Yorun?”

  Now that we were properly geared up, the slime didn’t pose any real danger anymore. But it still took an awfully long time to take it down with the four of us.

  “Well, you guys are still level one, you know? Everybody’s gotta start somewhere.”

  Apparently, Yorun thought this was all normal. But seriously... Wasn’t the difficulty set a little too high? At any rate, we continued to switch out party members and strategies for a little while as we honed our techniques hunting slimes. The afternoon quickly faded into evening, and right about the time we’d finally picked up enough coins to afford a couple more nights at the inn...

  Doot doot doot doo, doot doot doot doo!

  A strangely cheerful tune rang out from seemingly nowhere.

  “What was that?”

  “Hey, congrats! Sounds like you leveled up, Rekka,” Yorun said, clapping her hands.

  “So, what? That was the level-up jingle?”

  “Yup, that’s right.”

  Because I was often left dealing the finishing blow, it seemed I’d pulled ahead of the others in terms of experience.

  “You should be able to handle a slime by yourself now, Rekka.”

  “Really? Even though we’ve been struggling to do it with four people?”

  “Yup. One level difference makes all the difference.”

  “That seems a little extreme.”

  I decided to test it out and tried fighting a slime by myself. And just like Yorun said, I made quick work of it. Like, way quicker work than four of us had been able to pull off together. It seemed the game got exponentially easier as you leveled up and threw all your stat points into strength. Typical.

  Anyway, we decided this was as good a time as any to call it a day and headed back to Kinawa Village.

  “Hahaha, wow! I didn’t think you’d level up in a single day. That’s pretty impressive!” Yorun laughed heartily as she ate dinner.

  We’d offered to treat her to a meal as thanks for helping us out, but at the rate she was going, she was threatening to eat us out of our profits for the day.

  “So what now? Are you going to hunt more slimes tomorrow? I reckon you won’t need me around with you this strong now,” Yorun turned and asked me.

  She had a grain of rice stuck to her cheek, so I leaned over and plucked it off in lieu of responding.

  “Oh, thanks.”

  “Wah!”

  She then happily closed her mouth around my finger to make sure she didn’t miss a single bite of her dinner. But it wasn’t even her table manners I was concerned about... It was the glares I was getting that really hurt my feelings.

  “So, what are you gonna do?” she asked again unabashedly.

  I cleared my throat with a cough before pulling myself together and looking at everyone.

  “I’m thinking of heading to the next village tomorrow.”

  “The next village?” asked Satsuki.

  “Yeah. We can’t just stay here forever. In order to gather new information, we have to keep moving to new places.”

  In this case, I was referring to information on how to get the heck out of this world. Unfortunately, we hadn’t learned anything useful in Kinawa Village in that regard. To be precise, none of the villagers besides Yorun had said anything to us other than, “Welcome to Kinawa Village.” We wouldn’t have learned jack here if it weren’t for her.

  According to Yorun, Kinawa Village was also called the Furthest Reaches since barely anyone ever came out all this way. Honestly speaking, I couldn’t see us making any progress by staying here.

  “Hmm, I think that’s a bad idea, though,” Yorun protested with a conflicted expression.

  “How come?” I asked.

  “Sure, you can handle a slime by yourself now, but the road between Kinawa Village and Goshi Town sometimes spawns some pretty high-level monsters. There’s no guarantee you’ll make it there safely.”

  “Ugh, really...?”

  If that was the case, then the trip would indeed be dangerous. I was honestly shaking in my boots a little, but we were kind of in a pickle. We didn’t know where else to start, and we didn’t even have a clue as to how much t
ime was passing back in the real world.

  “Hm, well, I don’t really get it, but it seems like you guys are pretty serious about this,” Yorun said with an understanding nod. Then she grinned. “So how about I escort you to the next town over? I’ll make sure you get there in one piece.”

  “Really?! I mean, are you sure?”

  “Don’t sweat it. It’s not like I’m busy or anything. We should help each other out when we can, you know?”

  “Thank you, Yorun. Thank you.”

  I was more than happy to accept her offer.

  ▽

  The next day, we bought all the food and items we’d need for the trip before leaving Kinawa Village.

  “You sure aren’t carrying much, Rekka. Looks like you’ve just got your items and your weapon there.”

  “The same goes for you, Yorun. Besides your hammer, all I see is that knapsack.”

  “That’s all I need. It’s carrying something important for me.”

  “Huh...?”

  “Now, let’s get going!”

  Goshi Town was half a day’s walk from Kinawa Village, through the woods and then northwards along the road. Yorun took the lead as we first cleared the slime-ridden forest. Our experience from yesterday paid off. The fighting today didn’t seem as hard, and we were out of the area in no time. As we walked forward, the canopy of leaves thinned, and we stepped out into an open field that stretched as far as the eye could see.

  “That over there’s Goshi Town,” said Yorun, pointing to what was practically a speck on the horizon.

  While it was overwhelming to imagine just walking that far, they say a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step... So we all stepped forward in hopes of getting there sometime today. Nevertheless...

  “Uwah! What the heck is this big-mouthed rabbit?!”

  “The sky! Look to the sky!”

  “I HATE BUGS!”

  “Aah! Not my skirt again! Stop it, you beast!”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to Western-style swords.”

  “...”

  Thus, the journey there was utter chaos. President Momone was the least perturbed, but we were definitely up against tougher foes now. Compared to the slimes, we were missing a lot against the beast-type monsters in the field. It slowed things down a lot, but our defensive teamwork was solid, and we’d brought plenty of healing items, so it wasn’t like we were in any real trouble. Having Yorun there was a huge advantage, too.

  “Yah!”

  Her massive warhammer defeated most of the monsters in a single hit. She’d said level difference made all the difference, so having a high-level character like her around was especially reassuring.

  “Hmm...”

  Come to think of it, who was Yorun really? Kinawa Village had been filled with your typical NPCs—characters who were completely predetermined by their programming—but Yorun seemed to be moving and doing things of her own free will. Tokiwa had suggested she was a friendly NPC designed to help out new players in the beginning, but there was no telling what the truth really was.

  “Huh? What’s wrong, Rekka?”

  “Oh, nothing.”

  “Oh, yeah? I saw you looking at me just now,” Yorun teased, poking my forehead with the handle of her hammer.

  She didn’t seem particularly miffed about me staring at her, but it was mostly out of curiosity. It wasn’t like I could just ask, “Who are you really?” Instead, I decided to try having a normal conversation with her and seeing what I could figure out.

  “So, um, Yorun... What do you normally do?”

  “Me? Well, I sometimes hunt slimes. Sometimes I go on journeys to hunt further away.”

  “Have you always lived in Kinawa Village?”

  “Yup!” she answered with a grin.

  “Then... why were you staying at the inn?”

  “Huh?”

  “You know, if you’ve always lived there, then why are you staying at the inn? Don’t you have a house? Or... did you mean ‘always’ as in since becoming a knight?”

  “Hmm...” Yorun’s expression suddenly clouded over as she trembled a little. “I wonder. It seems I’ve forgotten.”

  “Is that the type of thing you really forget...?”

  “Who knows? All I know is I can’t remember,” Yorun said lightheartedly. “I figure if I’ve forgotten it, then it wasn’t all that important in the first place.”

  “That’s not... Gwuh!”

  I was going to say that couldn’t be true, but Yorun gave me a hearty slap on the back that knocked the wind out of me.

  “More importantly, we’re over halfway there now, so let’s stop for a break.”

  At Yorun’s behest, we decided to take a load off in the shade of some trees by the road. It looked like the start of another forest. After a late lunch, we all inspected our equipment for damage. I said all of us, but it had mostly been President Momone and Yorun doing the fighting. But after lunch and gear checks...

  “All right, ladies! Gather ’round for a sec!” Yorun suddenly declared, huddling the girls over where she was standing.

  “What is it?” Satsuki asked.

  “Psst, psst, psst...”

  In response, Yorun whispered something to her and the other girls. Once she finished telling them whatever it was, she turned to me and waved.

  “Okay, Rekka, we’re gonna go into the forest for a bit!”

  “Huh? What for?”

  “Something nice! Oh, but you can’t come, Rekka. Yell if a monster spawns, though!”

  “Hey, wait a minute...”

  Before I could even try and stop them, Yorun and the girls scurried off into the woods.

  “What was that all about?”

  “Who knows?” R said with a shrug.

  Well, if Yorun was with them, I knew they’d at least be safe from any weaker monsters. But more importantly... How was it that Yorun didn’t remember anything about her home or her family? Was that just how her back story had been written?

  “I don’t get it...”

  “The way out of this game?”

  “Well, I don’t get that either...”

  Hopefully we’d find something out in the new town up ahead.

  “I’ll be praying for your fast escape from here,” R said while somersaulting in the air.

  That was her favorite thing to do when she was bored. She only wanted to get out of this world because there was no TV here. I felt for her, honestly. I wanted to get us home ASAP for both our sakes.

  “Rekka.”

  “Mm?”

  I looked up when R said my name to spy a big, ugly monster running our way on the other side of the road. It was one we hadn’t seen before.

  “Hey, that one looks kinda strong...”

  Come to think of it, Yorun had said high-level monsters sometimes spawned between Kinawa Village and Goshi Town. If this was one of them, it was bad news. I could take on weaklings by myself with no problem now, but if the opponent was several levels higher than me...

  “Tch! We have to get to Yorun and the others!”

  Rather than yelling to them, it would be better just to go and meet up with them. And so I ran headlong into the forest after the girls. The trees were just dense enough that it made it hard to spot them, but I happened to hear Satsuki’s voice from a distance. I ran towards it and jumped out from the trees as I shouted...

  “Yorun! There’s a monster—”

  “R-Rekka?!”

  Yorun cut me off in shock, just before...

  “KYAAAAAH!”

  All the other girls screamed at once. The reason was instantly clear—everyone was taking their clothes off next to a natural spring. It appeared they were cleaning themselves up, wiping off all the dirt and sweat from our journey so far. Fortunately, no one had stripped further down than their underwear, so the situation wasn’t quite as deadly as it could have been.

  “Hey, nice. Gratz on adding a new cutscene to the library, Rekka.”

  We aren�
�t in that kind of game right now, R!

  “Um, I’m really sorry...”

  I averted my eyes from everyone as they covered themselves with their clothes and armor. I tried to come up with an excuse, but soon remembered now wasn’t really the time for that.

  “Raaghrahrah!”

  The monster from before had already caught up to me.

  “An ogre?! Damn it!” Yorun yelled in a panicked voice.

  Based on her reaction, I could tell this was one of the high-level monsters she’d been worried about. It was bad enough to run into one, but this timing couldn’t have been worse. The girls had all unequipped their gear, meaning they were practically defenseless in their current state.

  “I’ll buy us some time!”

  “Wait! That’s too dangerous, Rekka!”

  Ignoring Yorun’s attempt to stop me, I readied my sword and jumped at the ogre.

  “Raaghrahrah!”

  The ogre swung the club in its hands right at me.

  “Ugh!”

  I took the blow dead to my side and it sent me flying. It hurt like hell, too! If this wasn’t a game, that might have killed me.

  “In that sense, I guess I’m lucky...”

  As I got to my feet, I switched gears to optimism.

  “Raagh!”

  The ogre apparently had its sights set solely on me, as it came right after me again. Fingers crossed I had enough health to take one more hit...

  “Rekka!”

  But just then, Yorun jumped out from behind the ogre and brought her hammer straight down on it.

  “Rrraaaaagh!”

  It roared and thrashed about.

  “Ugh!”

  In its flailing, it managed to smash its club right into Yorun’s side. It knocked her to her knees, giving the ogre a chance to clobber her good this time.

  “Tch... Ugh!”

  “Yorun!”

  She must have run out in a rush, because she wasn’t equipped with anything other than her hammer. She was somehow managing to withstand the ogre’s fierce onslaught with just her weapon to defend herself. But this was a game world. With no armor on, I knew she had no defense power. And based on what she’d told us earlier, the high-level monsters that spawned around here—in other words, these ogres—were around the same level as Yorun. Even if their levels were equal, without any gear, Yorun was at a disadvantage.