*drip*

I can feel a drip of blood on my cheek.

In front my face, I see the face of a fierce wolf. My short sword which is already enchanted by Light Sabre magic is stabbing through that wolf's throat. I was lucky that the monster impaled itself when I turned around my body upwards.

The wolf's body is pinning me down but its fangs cannot reach me because my weapon digs deeper into the its throat.

"Haaah haaah...!"

I can feel my heart pulse rising.

The monster is still living. The moment I let my guard down, it will use that opening to sink its fangs into my face and eat me.

Then I will die again. Die helplessly just like in my previous world.

Then my vision changes. The world become pitch black except that there is a person floating above while looking me.

That person... is my father from previous world. I can't really see his eyes since it's covered by his hair.

The same father who became a robber and killed me.

As he slowly raise his hand, I can see a gun is pointed at me.

I felt the same despair at the time after I got shot. In front of a power that can kill me on the spot, this weak me cannot do anything against it.

I don't want to die... not like this...

Then I see him about to pull the trigger which finally pushes me to my emotion's breaking point.

"*gasp* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"

With every ounce of my strength, I raise my short sword upwards which cut through the wolf's throat in the process.

Ignoring the wolf's blood that is splattering to my face, I move my hands solely out of fear.

*ZRAAAAAASH!!*

While screaming, I manage to cut through the wolf's throat together with it's head.

The wolf died and fell at my right side.

"Haaaa.... haaaa..."

My body almost lost all its strength. I tried to get up my body but all I can do is move my body a bit without being able to get up. The moment I let my guard down, I will definitely lose consciousness out of tiredness and relief.

"Shion!!"

I can see someone coming at me. It's most likely Ean. I am not sure because I can't see her clearly from my blurry vision.

.....

....

...

"For the mighty adventurer who saved our lives, Shion, CHEERS!!"

"CHEEEEEERS!!"

The goblin kids gather around a big boiling hotpot at night and raise their wooden cup filled with sugar water (literally just a mix of white sugar and plain water).

Apparently sugar water is goblin's privilege drinks for special occasions.

And here I am sitting on the ground looking at the goblin kids partying.

After I killed the wolf, Ean and his younger brother brought me back to their village. I recovered some of my stamina on the way there so I walked by myself few minutes before I reached the village.

The other kids from the village were surprised about the fact that someone like me can kill the Sword Wolf, but they believed it since Ean was the one who explained what happened.

I wanted to go home immediately but they insisted in asking me to stay back and join their celebration.

I take a sip at sugar water. The taste is nothing special for me.

"Here you go. I hope it suits your taste."

Ean came to me and give me a bowl of edible grass and fruits cooked with hot water. The fruits are the sour ones that I found back when I was looking for food right after I was just teleported to this continent.

Might as well eat dinner here to save money. I took a sip of soup(hot water).

"How is it?" Ean asked for my impression.

".... delicious."

The taste is simple but delicious. Or maybe because of my hunger that even the simplest edible food become tasty on my tongue.

But the most important thing is...

I look up at smiling Ean. Seeing my face, Ean said something with a smile.

"Thank goodness. Please eat more."

... it's warm.

So warm that I said something that has been weighing my mind.

"You guys are strong huh..."

"Huh?"

Ean becomes dumbfounded by my reply. But I continue to speak out my mind.

"Unfortunate things happened to you guys recently, and you guys still have the strength to smile like that."

I look at the partying kids playing around as if the sufferings that I heard from their story is a lie.

Ean becomes silent for a moment and then asks me whether she can sit besides me.

After I gave my permission, she sits besides me and starts talking.

"Rather than CAN smile... we HAVE TO smile."

"... what do you mean?"

Her tone suggests that I have misunderstood something about them. Ean speaks again.

"You know that living outside of town is extremely tough, right?"

"... because of monsters?"

That's the first reason that comes to my mind. Ean nodded in response.

"Seeing our kind died is just a monthly kind of thing. Whether we got eaten by monsters, killed by other races or even involved in an accident."

I listen while I drink the soup.

"We tried to ask for permission to live in town. But no town would take us in. Because our race is regarded as a filthy race."

Then Ean look at the playing kids.

"But, my father once said... everything would be over if we succumb to despair. Always thinking about negative things will only tire our mind and body. And eventually, we will even give up on living itself."

Ean finishes her sugar water drink before continuing.

"However, if we never give up, good things will come from time to time. That's why... we will always try to be happy whenever we have the chance. So that we can be strong enough to withstand the next bad thing that will eventually come to us."

.....

....

...

"That's why... we are not as strong as you think."

I remember Ean's last sentence before the party was over.

I am currently walking alone on the way back to Liasr Town.

Ean's younger brother offered to walk me home but I refused. I'm more concerned about their own safety rather my own.

I left some weapons that Antarea made for them. Except for the short sword that I used to fight Sword Wolf. I forgot to turn off the Light Sabre spell on the sword so by the time I remembered, the blade was completely melted down and become liquid metal on the ground.

"Found you brat!!"

A sudden shout interrupts my thought. In front me, there are 3 bandit-looking human men blocking my way.

... as much as I want to forget them, they are the bandit trio that I met before I was helped by Sylphie.

The shorty of the trio shouted at me.

"Now you're going to give us back our things!"

"Things? I don't know what you are talking about."

I am already tired so I am not in the mood to deal with them.

"What!? How dare you say that after what you've done to us!"

"How dare you? That's my line. How dare you show yourself in front of me again. Looks like someone have a wish of getting his balls crushed that badly huh..."

I glare at the shorty.

"Eek!?"

The shorty becomes scared and guard his crotch in reflex.

Then the tall guy speaks out to encourage the shorty.

"Hang in there boss! It's time for us to show her our ultimate magic!!"

Ultimate magic?

"T- that's right... it won't end up like last time! We'll turn the tide this time!!"

Then the fat baldie looks at me and also speaks.

"Little girl... uhehehe..."

Honestly, is that the only thing that fat baldie ever talks about?

"Prepare yourself! Let's go everyone!!"

Right after saying that, the shorty raises both of his hands. Then the tall one and the fat one bring both of their hands towards a place above the shorty's hands.

I can see mana gathering towards the place where they are pointing their hands to.

There is no formula in this magic. They just continue to amass mana from their bodies.

From what I predict, the only thing that they can accomplish by doing this is to create an explosive mana bomb.

This is their trump card? I never see magic as inefficient as this thing...

Magic formula existed to create a better output using magic while also lessen the mana consumption. I just don't understand how they fall into conclusion that this thing will beat me.

I don't want to get caught in the explosion so I'll try not to get close to them.

As the mass of mana becomes a large ball, the leader starts shouting.

"This is our ultimate magic! Take this! Soul Bomb-"

Right before they try to throw that ball to me, I use Overtake to let it explode itself. It's just a mass of mana after all, stirring up the stream of mana inside it is more than enough to make it explode.

*boom!!"

"GYAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The shorty and the tall guy screamed after getting caught in the explosion and they got thrown away quite far due to the impact from the explosion.

... damn, I just wasted few minutes of my life.

I wanted think more about what Ean told me but those guys makes me feel too tired to even think about that.

I better just quickly go back to inn and report to the guild tomorrow.

I arrived in Liasr Town, there are some bars open this late. I can see people still drinking but I just go straight to my inn.

Before I reach the inn, a voice greets me from behind.

"Welcome back."

"!?"

I quickly turn around out of surprise while preparing my dagger at the same time. Only to find the one-armed slave boy.

"What... it's you huh."

I lower my dagger.

"Sorry if I surprise you."

The slave boy smiles at me. But there is one thing that bothers me and I say it to him.

"What are you doing at this late? Kids shouldn't stay up this late."

"I was worried about you and that goblin so..."

"... look, I appreciate your worry but that doesn't mean that you can just wait here-...."

I wanted to continue talking but I noticed something disturbing.

I didn't notice it earlier because it is still dark right now... but I noticed many bruises on his body that is not there earlier today.

That one-armed slave boy doesn't notice my stare and speaks to me normally.

"Actually, I came here because I wanted to ask you something... what's wrong?"

He notices my stare. I'll just ask him something to confirm my suspicion.

"You... where did you get that bruises from?"

"Bruises....? Ah.."

He looked confused at first but he finally get what I meant.

"This is... uh... because I fell down from stairs today."

Yeah, right. No matter how you look at it, those are bruises from someone hitting him. And the person who is most likely the culprit...

"Panthos Genuma, is it?"

"!?"

The boy's shocked face confirms my suspicion further. That bastard...

"Where is he now? I want to talk to him."

"M- Master does not have anything to do with this."

The boy tries to defend his master. Somehow, this is irritating.

"Never mind, I'll just talk to him tomorrow."

But before I go inside, the boy suddenly raises his voice.

"Master really does not have anything to do with this. So please...!"

His voice sounds like he is about to cry. Geez, now I feel like I am the bad guy here.

"Fine, I won't press this matter further. So? What did you want to ask?"

"! R- right. Actually..."

After remembering his initial plan, he finally ask me the question.

"Have you ever heard of the name "Sweet World"?"