An off-putting cat-eared girl.
That was Yogiri's first impression of the stranger. She was about the same height as Tomochika. With bits of armor here and there, and a sword at her side, she appeared to be a warrior of some sort.
"Wow, your Japanese is so good!"
Tomochika was unreservedly impressed. But there was always that first impression to deal with. Yogiri couldn't help but be on his guard against someone who had singled them out for no apparent reason.
"But of course! The girls here all study Japanese, after all!"
"Why?"
"To get along with the Japanese boys, of course! They have great future prospects and are famously easy to seduce."
"Awfully blunt, aren't we?"
"Why not? Not like it's something worth hiding."
"But isn't that the same for men? Why aren't they as good at Japanese?"
"Japanese girls don't pay much attention to normal folk here. They're always looking at nobility or royalty, so the men are doomed to fail even if they try."
"I don't think that's necessarily the case...although I can understand why it would be."
"So, what do you want?" Yogiri interjected.
"Ah, right. I was wondering if there's anything you needed help with. Just one more step on the path of the husband hunt! Of course, I have no intention of splitting you up from your girlfriend, but making friends like this is the secret to broadening my scope, you know?"
"Oh, I'm not his girlfriend or anything, but I wouldn't try anything with this guy if I were you. He's pretty messed up."
"Is that so? He looks good enough to me."
"What do you mean by 'helping' us?"
"I could give you a tour of the city, that kind of thing? I figure if you've just arrived, you probably don't know your left from your right."
"And all you want in return is to be friends?"
"Yup!"
"Well?" Yogiri asked, looking at Tomochika. In truth, he thought it was highly suspicious, but it didn't seem like she was trying to take advantage of them yet, so he figured he'd leave it up to his companion.
"She's right, we have no idea where anything is around here."
Finding the weapons store so quickly had been sheer luck. If there was somewhere else they needed to go, asking a guide for help would definitely make things easier.
"All right. Could you show us around then?"
"Thank you! My name is Mireiyu. Outside the city, I work in transportation, but inside I'm just looking for marriage options. Can I ask you your names?"
"Yogiri Takatou."
"I'm Tomochika Dannoura. Nice to meet you."
Mireiyu gave a slight nod. "Yogiri and Tomochika. Got it! So, where did you want to go?""I'd like to see a bunch of things before it gets dark..."
"Then I'll start by showing you what's right around here, and we'll go grab dinner afterwards. How does that sound?"
And that's exactly what happened.◇ ◇ ◇
After shopping around at a variety of stores, they ended up at a nice restaurant for dinner.
"It seems so cheerful here, doesn't it? Everyone looks like they have everything they could ever need."
Tomochika had changed into the clothes that she'd bought in the city. She was now wearing a light blue tunic with shorts. It would have stood out quite a bit in Japan, but it seemed to fit with this world's fashion trends.
Yogiri was still wearing the same clothes, although he had removed his blazer. It was a look that stood out in this world, but there were so many different styles of clothing worn by the locals that it didn't draw too much attention.
The city was quite a comfortable place. All the necessities of life seemed to have been put together with Japanese people in mind, but maybe that was to be expected. It almost felt like the two of them could slip into a normal routine practically overnight. Even the food they had eaten wasn't all that different from what they'd have had back home."Well, that's just limited to cities of a certain size, you know? If you go out into the country, things get pretty bad."
"What do you mean?"
"Small villages and those types of places don't have the protection of the Sages. It takes everything they have just to defend themselves against the monsters, so they have no room to grow and develop."
This world, they had learned, was populated by a number of monsters. The regions protected by barriers that the Sages had constructed were safe enough, but anywhere else was fairly dangerous.
"Speaking of Sages, did the two of you not get a Gift from them?"
The Gift was apparently something that could be inherited from others, and it was normally passed on from parent to child. On top of that, while it had a wide range of uses, the Gift given by the Sages was rather unique, and those otherworlders who could use it well were seen as being quite special.
"What makes you think that?"
"Well, of course I can tell. My Discernment skill isn't especially high, but I can assess, generally, how strong someone is. And you two are definitely 'super weak.'"
Hanakawa had told them that it took a high level of Discernment to be able to read others' Statuses, but apparently a low level was enough to determine their overall standing. Yogiri was sure that he would have this conversation more than once while they were there. He would need to come up with a plan to deal with it.
"Ah! Are you aiming for a Gift from a Swordmaster? In that case, I could definitely understand. But finding a Swordmaster without a Gift in the first place will be almost impossible."
Yogiri continued to eat his dinner, content to let Mireiyu fill in the gaps herself.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Hmm, I kind of figured it would end this way."
Shortly after dinner, Yogiri and Tomochika had ended up in a dead end back alley. The exit of said alley was now blocked by a crowd of beastkin. The pair had been following Mireiyu to what was supposed to be a place for them to stay for the night.
"Oh, you did? Sorry! I thought you were such good kids, just following me without a thought after I was a little nice to you."
Tomochika, a little surprised at first, didn't take long to fall into a sulk.
"Well, life just isn't that easy, is it?" Mireiyu said, standing amid the crowd of beastkin like it was the most natural thing in the world.
It was well into the night, but the bright moonlight meant visibility around them wasn't bad. Their would-be assailants were comprised of ten male and female beastkin, as well as one human. All were armed and seemed extremely comfortable with their weapons. Yogiri figured this type of criminal activity was simply business as usual for them.
"Can we talk about this?"
"You seem pretty laid back. What do you wanna talk about?" someone who looked like their leader scoffed, taking a step towards them.
He looked Japanese through and through. Likely in his early thirties, he had a large build and a violent air about him.
"You're after money?" Tomochika asked. Mireiyu had seen them in the weapons shop. She must have noticed how much they were carrying.
"We'll be taking your money, of course, but it's not just that," said the leader. "Our main interest is in powerless otherworlders like you two. Thanks to our kind wreaking havoc on this world, the nobles here have come to hate us. But there's nothing they can do about the strong ones. So powerless interlopers have become quite valuable. They make great punching bags!"
"There really are no good people in this world, are there?"
"You say that, but it sounds like all the bad people here are Japanese!"
Yogiri couldn't help but agree with Tomochika's assessment. "Okay, I get it. I'm just going to kill you all then, is that okay?""Ah, you can relax. It's not like we're gonna kill you or anything. Though you'd probably be happier if you did croak right now!"
The crowd of beastkin laughed along with their leader's sneer.
All right, killing these people definitely won't be much of a weight on my conscience.
Yogiri was relieved.