*splash*

The sound of water ripple echoes the bathing room. It is an extravagant bathroom made of marble, filled with steam coming up from the large pool in the center. At the end of the room, there is a lion statue where the hot water is pouring out. Inside that luxury bath, two girls and a cat are submerging themselves in the hot water.

“Phew, it feels like years since I last took a bath.” Makoto relaxes as she massages her own shoulder.

“Hm” Yuuko nods in agreement. Being able to relax in the current carefree manner reminds her of the journey these past few days. She is surprised at herself for being able to adapt to the wild lifestyle so easily without a single complaint. They had traveled in the forest for several days without taking any bath. To add to that, they had to constantly fight monsters on the way, making the blood and sweat stuck on their bodies for a long time. She could not believe that she and her friend who were city girls until a few days ago could tolerate such a harsh living state for a long time. As expected, the change from awakening is also reflected on the subconscious level.

*splash**splash**splash*

Replying with the sound of water is the final member of the party, Lexar, a black cat. In the middle of the pool, the cat is spinning his tail with a very fast speed, propelling himself through the water surface like a boat. A surreal but interesting ability for a cat, and he is enjoying exploring his newfound ability to the fullest. Despite the cat body, he does not find himself hating water at all. That’s why while enjoying a hot clean bath, he also tries to understand more about his body by moving around. He discovered that he can even dive and move freely underwater for more than 5 minutes straight. It’s not just only physical strength but also his adaptability to different environments is good to the point of a superman, no, a super cat.

“As expected of a VIP treatment, I did not think that we could get such a luxurious bath for ourselves. It looks like that our status as disciples from a mysterious master who stays away from the society has more impact than we thought.” Makoto says.

“It can’t be helped. Otherwise, we could not explain why we have such good sets of equipment and skills while having no identification. There are others identities we can use such as travelers or adventurers who lost the identifications, but we had no idea how people in this world check their records. Rather than making up fake identities that could be checked then gotten suspicious, it is better to use mysterious ones without ability to confirm.” Lexar explains while approaching with his tail propeller.

“But doesn’t this identity make us stand out too much? We are getting more attention and suspicion than normal.” Yuuko says.

“That’s also the reason why we need to use it. Firstly, we need to make a name to make ourselves known so that we can meet with important people and get the information in an official way. Our objective is to find the information about the hero summoning ritual. Based on the story of the cultivator hero legend, we already confirm that there is such a thing called summoning people from the other world here. Furthermore, based on the story, it is likely that the royalty knows some secrets about it.”

“But in case the royalty knows about it, will they just simply tell us everything we need to know when we meet them? It is a very important ritual, because it had decided the fate of this whole world a long time ago, after all. They may try to seal everything about it to prevent another hero from being summoned. They may even lie that they do not know anything about it. And there is actually a high probability that they really do not know about it.”

“…….” (Lexar)

“…….” (Makoto)

“Hey, why are you two staying silent? Don’t tell me you two did not take those scenarios into account?” Yuuko is startled.

“No, we actually took into account how to get the information. We will not ask for it directly but conduct a roundabout investigation. It will be a long time until we can get to meet the royalty. Until that time, we can find more information on our own. The breakpoint may not necessarily lie within the royalty. Do you know what I mean?”

“The cultivator inheritance, right?”

“Yeah, the royalty may be an important key, or maybe not. In fact, to know more about the secret of this world, the cultivator inheritances are much more direct keys to get hold of necessary information. However, finding one is difficult, not to mention overcoming the trial to obtain them. Our plan is to learn more about these treasures in the first place, using our identity to gather intel from reliable and official sources, then attempt to challenge the trial and get it. Once we gain reputation and credibility, our access to more protected information will increase, and we can learn more about the summoning ritual through any kind of clue possible.” Makoto explains the plan, but her face becomes grim as she speaks. “But we have missed an important thing in our assumption.”

“Right, the knowledge about the ritual might be lost during the hero’s time, a thousand years ago. We made a mistake assuming that as long as we actively search for them, we can find some clue about it. However, the situation may turn out worse than we expected. We may not be able to go home.” Lexar grimly says.

“What do you mean?”

“What you said reminds me of how the people in this world react to the existence called summoned hero. Even though she is still called hero now, there is no doubt that she is still considered as a taboo or an omen in the eyes of the ruling class. If we think about how the cultivator inheritances exist there for the people to excavate, it is highly that the cultivators are well aware of which treasure and knowledge can be passed down, which ones cannot, and regulate their existence to the people. Anything related to the summoning is definitely important and be sealed away, out of reach of any force in this world. Even if we manage to excavate all the available inheritances, we may not be able to find any clue on the ritual.”

“No way. Then what are we supposed to do?”

“We still stick to the original plan. Assumption is only assumption, not fact. We have to keep moving on to know more about this world and adjust the plan to the situation. If we don’t do anything because of a problem in the plan, we will not make any progress at all.” Lexar says.

The two girls nod to his words. That is the only thing they can do to achieve their goal: to return to Earth and reunite with everyone there.

After the intense discussion, the trio feel the heat reaching their heads. They have submerged in the hot water for nearly an hour already. It is time for them to get out of the bath.

As the girls wear the light dress that the mansion maids prepared for them, Yuuko calls out to Makoto.

“By the way, I haven’t asked before. How did you manage to speak this world language so suddenly? And why did you agree to bring him along?”

“Ah, you mean Johno. Don’t you think that it will help us a lot with him around? We need a guide in this world, after all.”

“Stop joking around. He is only a kid. How long can he be useful as a guide to us? We can learn common sense in this world as we live in this town. If we need a guide, we can ask the Sir Brian a more reliable and capable guide. Tell me your real reason to bring him along.”

“……” A silence comes between them, then Makoto answers.

“Rather than we need him, it’s more like I need him. He is also a key to understand more about this world.”

“Does he have such a special quality that makes you pay attention that much?”

“No, he does not have any outstanding quality at all. Rather, he is only a mediocre human of this world.”

“Then why?”

“I need to observe how a human in this world develops while interacting with the system. Because we are not from here, the system does not work the way it should be with us. The question marks in the status table prove that, and such phenomenon is a bug. Therefore, I need a reference from someone who is native in this world, one that the system works correctly on. That way, we can observe better how the system works, analyze it with more accuracy. Then we can fully take advantage of what the system gives and figure out how to extract it from our bodies without any negative side effect. To answer your previous question, the reason I can speak this world's language is because I have extracted part of Johnno's experience and analyzed it, during his sleep.”

“*gasp*”

“Just simply observing and analyzing a person once will not work. It’s not a simple task that can be done with a quick glance and I can figure it all out. I need to carefully scrutinize, constantly check and rethink my theories many times. For that, one person needs to be with us all the time, someone that we know well and receives influence from the environment that we are aware of. For example, after defeating a monster, leveling up and getting a new class. Analyzing that person while under those events will give us a lot of insights on how the system works.

Because of how often he needs to be with us, that person may learn one or two of our secrets. In that case, we’d prefer someone we can trust, someone we are confident with sharing our secret with. Johno is still a child, and he has admiration feeling for you. He is also a good kid with a clean heart. I am sure that we can trust him with keeping some of our secrets if found out.”

“Makoto, are you really treating him as human? Or are you treating him as a lab rat for you? And also, why do you have to resort to extracting a part of him? Do you know how dangerous that move is?” Yuuko looks sharply at her.

“Don't worry, Yuuko. The extraction is not as dangerous as you think. Last time with the goblin is special. I intend to extract everything out of it. But in Johnno's case, I only selectively extracted a small fragment of his memory and ability. After analyzing it, I put it back inside properly and there is no problem. I am properly treating him as human. Besides, it’s not like we are the only one who is benefited from him. He also receives his benefits just by staying with us.”

“How can bringing a defenseless kid on a deadly dangerous journey give him any benefit?”

“First, I need to fix that “defenseless” part. We are all here to protect him, either you, or me, or Lexar. We are not 100% being able to keep him away from danger all the time, but we, or at least me, will prevent him from dying all the cost. And he will only be weak for the first few days. After that, he will have to learn how to defend for himself. That is the first benefit he can get from being with us.”

“You mean we will teach him how to fight?”

“That’s right. Just by being taught by you is already a blessing for him. I have seen the stats of the adventurers and soldiers in this town. Do you know what I found? You and the town mayor, Sir Brian, are the only two people with a master grade skill. Furthermore, you even have higher skill level than him. Can the instructors at the military academy offer a better teaching on fighting than you? Of course not. The instructors are more willing to let you teach them instead.”

“...”

“Second benefit. How much can a homeless kid without any backing from society experience in his life? To add to that, it is a countryside bumpkin kid. His entire lifestyle will be forced to deal with the bland and boring life of interacting with people and rule of society, bound by the four great walls of this town. His life will be bound in this place forever. However, by traveling with us, he can travel to a much further place, free of bound of the border of the town, the village. He can see things in a more open-minded view, witness more exciting events, and gain more profound experience than a normal villager can have. That will greatly benefit him in finding his way of life in the future.”

“But it is a risky pathway, filled with danger. He can lose his life anytime.”

“You don’t understand anything, Yuuko. What child do you think Johno is?”

“He is a strong kid with an unwavering will. He has the determination to overcome the difficulty and achieve his goal in mind, which also makes him quite stubborn with his decision too.”

“So it is his determination that interests you. For me, I see in him his ambition and smartness. He is only an eleven-year-old kid, but what can he do? He actively accompanied his village mates to come to the town and sold he goods, researched the market and found the way to make a profit for his village better. He is only a kid but he knew how to give out his value to convince you to take him with you. What do you make of all of that? He has an ambition, a desire to be free and fly out of the cage of his comfort zone. I don’t think he wants a future that people decide for him.”

“What you are saying makes sense, but I still object him going with us. This is a dangerous world, a place that we can get killed even if we prepare for the worst. Who knows what will happen in the future? When it is the time that we are all busy just only protecting ourselves, who will take care of him?”

“At that time, he has to prepare to accept his fate.”

“What?”

“I said he has to accept his fate. When he decided to journey with us, he should already have enough resolve to face the danger that we cannot even take care of. If he is dead, that is his bad luck. And so as us.”

The two girls stare at each other and do not continue their conversation anymore. That stern silence lasts for a minute before Yuuko start to speak.

“I understand. I will not object that point. He should already be resolved to face the same risk with us. Besides, he promised that he will look for himself and try to stay out of danger. But I will try to talk with him again and emphasize all the dangers on our journey. If he is still willing to go, I will not reject anymore.”

“Un, that is for the best. It’s not like I am forcing him to go with us. I just simply gave him an option to choose. He can take back what he said and choose a different path. If that happens, I will think up another way to investigate the system.” Makoto finishes while adjusting her clothes and heads off to the door.

Yuuko watches her friend’s back until she opens the exit and disappears behind the wall. In her head, she is still thinking deeply about the conversation just now.

(She has changed, changed so much that I can’t recognize her. That cold-heart calculation personality, that’s not the way how she usually thinks about people.)