"Hero! My mother wants to extend her gratitude for helping us deal with that river monster. What you did is truly remarkable! Stop by our house later, okay? We'll be waiting for you, Hero!"
Hiroki looked at the woman before her. Her eyes were clear and bright as she faced Hiroki. She was wearing a simple dress and a straw hat on the top of her head which, if Hiroki could remember, was one of the things he had retrieved earlier from the turtle-monkey monster living in the river.
"You're the only one who was able to deal with that creature. Ah, this makes me feel my old age is worth it! Such an amazing experience to see a brave and powerful young man like you. You truly are one of a kind, Hero!" An old man exclaimed on the side.
More and more townspeople began to praise Hiroki, all thanking him for his heroic deed yet again. It was especially for the fact that Hiroki had once again proved his heroism when he fought with the river monster.
The creature was about three standing average humans in height and weight and had an appearance of a mixed animal, bearing a face of a monkey and a body of a turtle, and a special trait of an empty hairless circular spot on the top of its head. In this world, there were only a few of them that existed as it was said that they could only survive in a well-balanced river - somewhere that neither felt too cool nor too hot to live in. This creature actually used to live in silence, but for some unknown reason, one day, it started pestering people with its unfunny tricks.
Whenever someone tried to cross or get near the river, this turtle monkey would appear and scare them by stealing their possessions and splashing water on them. A little splash wouldn't hurt or annoy people but a wave of water surely would, especially when one's items, including the treasures they had recently obtained, were washed away because of it.
Nevertheless, the monster was actually harmless if left alone.
Until one day, more and more possessions of the townspeople started to disappear, even outside the river's premises.
A group of guards scouting the borders said they saw a huge animal creature with a terrifying shadow of a turtle body lurking in the area. The townspeople quickly put two and two together. In the end, they concluded it was the work of the same turtle monkey monster and asked the hero Hiroki to come and help them deal with it.
Without wasting any time, Hiroki went straight to the river and quickly found the monster. He stood tall and brave, bearing the Fountain Of The God's essence in his entire body as he came face to came with the gigantic river creature.
"And then, what happened next, Hiro-kun?" Shizuku asked.
Hiroki glanced at the little girl on his side. Her name was Shizuku Itou, age 12, the youngest daughter of Moriko Itou. She was the girl whom Hiroki thought was an elf when he woke up. That proved to be wrong because the little girl was a full-blooded human.
Her hairstyle was one that caught Hiroki's attention the most. It was the first time he had seen such hair - tied up in two separate tails and with a cloth that added more color to her look. Hiroki thought it looked strange but not bad.
Moriko's daughters were named Shizuku and Asami. They came just a little while before dinner. Hiroki was actually slightly amused. Because when he saw them, it was like seeing Moriko in different bodies. Her daughters extremely looked like her...
One bat of an eye and one would actually think they were all clones just bearing different skins and aptitudes.
In other words, Hiroki simple-mindedly thought like this:
Moriko was the level 5 Moriko.
Asami was the level 3 Moriko.
Shizuku was the level 1 Moriko.
Hiroki somehow found it good, thinking it would be easy to find them when the situation called for it. Having similar faces, this Itou family was easy to recognize and remember at one glance.
But for some reason, the level 3 Moriko daughter named Asami didn't want to join them. When Moriko asked Asami to eat with them, she just looked coldly at Hiroki, seemingly upset, and then turned around and headed straight to what seemed to be her room.
Hiroki wondered if Asami encountered an unpleasant event on her way to this abode. He couldn't exactly point it out but Asami's expression slightly brought him back to that time he faced the turtle monkey monster that lived in a river near a town.
The way her eyes glint was just like how the monster did towards Hiroki at their first meeting back then.
Meanwhile, Shizuku was the opposite of Asami. Her lips were tugged up into a wide grin the entire time she faced and spoke with Hiroki. It extremely reminded Hiroki of the young elves he had met in the elf realm.
When Moriko told them to stay in the living room, Shizuku began to ask him questions. It was then Hiroki recalled that Hiroki Itou was recently adopted by the Itou family. It would only be normal for the house owners to interrogate a stranger like him. As such, Hiroki answered every question of Shizuku.
"Hiro-kun! Hiro-kun! I heard you used to live in the province. Did you use to collect bugs too? Did you have a collection of bugs?" Shizuku asked.
Bugs? Hiroki thought back, trying to find Hiroki Itou's memory of collecting bugs. For some reason, he couldn't find any. So he turned to Shizuku and told her simply, "No. There was no bug."
Shizuku pouted, a disappointed sigh escaping her lips. "Eh... That's boring. Have you had any encounters with any creature at all? Like forest deities or river monsters?"
Hiroki thought back. Before he racked Hiroki Itou's memory, he had already straightforwardly responded, "I did."
It was then Shizuku's eyes brightened up. She excitedly asked, "Tell me! Tell me! I want to hear what happened!!"
And so, Hiroki retold what transpired in his quest of slaying the turtle monkey monster. Without leaving any single detail, Hiroki relived the past event and Shizuku listened, her eyes deeply focused and sparkling the entire time Hiroki talked.
"Whoa!" Shizuku exclaimed as she rose up to her feet and stomped, mimicking the giant monster in the story. "You're so amazing, Hiro-kun! Trying to fight with a huge monster like that! Say, say, did you slay the beast? Or did you tame it?"
"Shizuku, that's enough storytelling for today! Come and take a bath now, you!" Moriko's voice came from a near distance.
Shizuku pouted, "Ehh~ But I still want to play with Hiro-kun! Mom, he said he defeated a Kappa! A giant and scary Kappa living in a river!"
"Okay, I hear you. Come here and brush your teeth now, Shizuku!" Moriko's voice turned louder.
Shizuku huffed out in annoyance, saying, "Gee, mom. Okay, okay, I'm coming~" As she stood up and left Hiroki while waving a hand as if Hiroki was a real playmate for her.
Hiroki waved back, mirroring Shizuku's movement. Brushing teeth... It must be something important.
Walking back to his room, Hiroki paused for a while, glancing over the door where Asami headed in earlier. He wondered if she felt unwell. But then he remembered God's words, saying among all worlds, this planet contained the least physical pain.
Not saying and doing anything, Hiroki continued to walk and silently entered his room.
Alone inside as he sat on the chair and looked outside the window, Hiroki's gaze turned solemn, seemingly drifting to a far place. Now that he thought about it... Did he really slay that creature back then? He remembered he stood tall and direct, facing that giant monster, his sword leaving the scabbard as he jumped to confront the monster.
At that time, he was only doing what the people asked him to do.
That turtle monkey was a river monster that caused unnecessary trouble and frustration to the townspeople after all.
As a hero, it was Hiroki's job to eradicate such nuisances in people's lives.
To make the town a safer and better place... To make the people live in peace...
Hiroki's eyes slowly closed. Somehow, he felt his body start to feel soft. And bit by bit, for an unknown reason, he began to feel sleepy.
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The hero stood in front of the giant turtle monkey, bringing its sword as he jumped straight to it. Cold and piercing as ice, his eyes intensely watched the giant's movement as it suddenly turned to him. Its eyes glinted angrily as soon as it saw Hiroki, its arm flinging up, heading toward Hiroki with a loud and deep roar.
Hiroki swiftly jumped off the monster's leg, dodging its attack. A wind of leaves with pointed, spiky edges circled his sword as Hiroki directed his mana to the weapon. He then threw it up into the air, aiming it straight at the center of the monster's body.
Hiroki's sword traveled fast and fierce, containing a large amount of power and magic that dispersed quickly into pieces as it shot through the monster's chest and spread throughout its body and shell, locking his entirety in a huge block of ice - one of the core elements of Hiroki's power.
He then retrieved the sword, covering it with an even larger set of bladed-edged leaves. Like a spiral of wind, drifting round and round as it floated up in the air with Hiroki, just above the monster's head.
Then in a quick and swift motion, Hiroki held the sword and went straight down to the monster that pestered the townspeople.
Just then, the monster looked up, its weary and old eyes meeting Hiroki's piercing cold ones.
Hiroki stopped.
In an instant, he landed on the side of the river, his cold expression slightly breaking into a faint expression of surprise.
This creature...