A skeleton charged towards me.

It swung its half-rotted, tattered longsword downward without hesitation.

I calmly parried the blade, stepped into its personal space, and thrust my hand through the gaps of its hollow ribcage to snatch the Magic Core directly.

In that instant, the skeleton lost the ability to maintain its form and vanished into a spray of glowing particles. It was a sort of secret finishing move usable only against monsters with exposed magic cores.

"Splendid, Jirou-sama. Very few veteran warriors can pull off a 'Core Steal' that vividly. Everyone feels at least some degree of fear when facing a monster, after all."

Hetty-san clapped her hands in high praise.

"It's only because you're such a good teacher, Hetty-san."

"I haven't particularly taught you anything. If you had a good teacher, it was likely the guidance of Becky or Shello Roth. Whether or not one can triumph over fear is the greatest watershed moment in determining if someone can truly become a warrior."

"Is that so?"

I had this image that because people in this world had Vocations, they wouldn't really have to worry about aptitude in that sense. I figured having a Vocation was equivalent to having talent, no questions asked.

"Just having a Vocation doesn't necessarily mean you can fight in actual combat. Whether or not you can step onto a real battlefield and return alive - that is when your aptitude as a warrior is truly questioned in the truest sense. Even in the mercenary group I led, many died because they lacked that aptitude. Even those blessed with great Vocations."

"Is that how it works...? In that sense, I might not have much aptitude. Even if I'm prepared for the possibility of my own death, to be honest, I don't think I have the resolve to kill another person."

"Fufu... You'll be fine, Jirou-sama. By my estimation, you are the type who can kill without hesitation if you or your comrades are in a situation where you might be killed. Though, you do seem to shrink back in one-sided situations, like that time with Uncle Dida."

"You think so?"

She might have been right. I could fight monsters without any problems, and I didn't hesitate to kill them. Well, part of that was because they weren't "living" creatures.

However, I had fought living magic beasts before. Huge boars roamed this area, and I've hunted them for both training and practical benefit. Even then, while I felt a little sorry for them, I was able to take a life normally. Or rather, I actually enjoyed it. Maybe the rumors that hunting is a human instinct are true.

"Even so, the monster spawn rate has really increased."

"The Awazesuki has already begun, after all. The pace will increase even more from here."

"I see... but considering that, there doesn't seem to be any reinforcement coming from the Hunter's Guild."

Normally, in the process of Shello-san and the government officials moving forward with Hitotsuzuki countermeasures, a necessary number of warriors should have been stationed here.

Despite that, absolutely no one had been sent in. Well, we had members of the Knight Order (or rather, the former mercenaries) stationed here around the clock, so a few monsters spawning wasn't a problem, but still.

"It is indeed a bit strange... We're an irregular force, and you weren't formally requested by the mayor either, Jiro-sama, correct? Normally, preparations are nearly complete by the time Awasezuki begins..."

"Hm..."

Schello-san had been away quite often lately, too.

I wondered if some problem had occurred.

* * *

The next day, I decided to meet up with Mugen-san.

He seemed to have a fair amount of free time on his hands; despite the short notice, he readily agreed to meet and pulled up in his car as usual.

"Hi, Michael."

Mugen-san leaned his head out of the driver's side window, greeting me with a smirking face.

"Michael...? Also, that's a different car again."

It was a black foreign car, plain compared to the Countach. I felt like I'd seen it somewhere before...

"No way... That unenthusiastic reaction... Are you for real... You don't know Knight Rider...?"

"Night Rider? Ah, some old American movie? The one with the lines 'Remember him when you look at the night sky'?"

"Wrong! This car is a replica of the super machine 'KITT' from the American TV drama 'Knight Rider' that aired starting in 1987! There are only a few dozen of these cars in Japan... Sigh, If I was going for a joke, maybe a DeLorean would have been better..."

"Ah, sorry. I didn't recognize it... But it looks cool!"

"That pity follow-up hurts even more."

I mean, honestly... I did think it was cool. It was black and shiny. I didn't hate the toy-like feel of the interior, but I guess the charm was halved if you didn't know the source material. Apparently, the base car was an American model called a Pontiac Trans Am.

I hopped into the passenger seat, and we set off. In a way, it drew even more stares than the Countach had. This was clearly Mugen-san's hobby.

On the way, he told me all about how interesting the drama was, but I wasn't particularly intrigued. It was over thirty years old, after all... If I had the time, I might watch it, but I wondered if they even had it on rental DVD. I figured if I asked him that, he'd say, "I'll lend you the DVDs!" so I kept my comments vague.

This man was much more of an Earthling than I was.

"So, what's on your mind today?"

"Well, there were a few things I wanted to discuss, but first, here's a souvenir."

"A souvenir? Wait—Whoa! Is that Lily-arum? Man, talk about nostalgic..."

While we were stopped at a light, I showed him the gift, and the corners of Mugen-san's eyes softened.

No matter how well he had adjusted to Earth, it made sense that he'd miss foods exclusive to the other world. Fruits, in particular, are often similar-yet-different from Earth's, so I had prepared a whole basket of Lily-arum.

"I thought I caught a sweet, nostalgic scent. I'm happy; the wife will love this too."

"I-I'm glad. I'm actually a bit overwhelmed that you're so happy about it. I'll bring more next time. If you have any requests, let me know."

"Oh? Then can you get me some fresh Witchetty? My wife says she gets a craving for them sometimes, but the ones here taste different, apparently. You can't get the real thing in Japan."

"Witchetty... those were the grubs, right? Diana eats those sometimes back home."

"All Elves love 'em."

Well, they were only about 300 yen a pop. I could probably bring about twenty of them in a box of sawdust.

* * *

Chatting about things like that, we pulled into a typical coffee shop.

Mugen-san was a hearty eater; as soon as we sat down, he ordered Neapolitan spaghetti, a sandwich, and coffee. He was an energetic guy.

Once our drinks arrived, I cut to the chase.

"About what you said before—regarding buying Spirit Stones."

"You're willing to sell?"

"Well, yes... I am. Depending on the amount, of course."

Mugen-san had said he'd buy a Spirit Stone for 100 million yen.

100 million is a lot of money. It's a fortune, but Mugen-san seemed to be wealthy beyond imagination, so I couldn't negotiate with a commoner's mindset. I had to feel like I was negotiating with Bill Gates...

Then again, I owed him for fixing the Mirror, so I had no intention of fleecing him. Since there was no "market price" for these things, I just wanted a deal both of us could be happy with.

"As I told you before, I'll buy Spirit Stones for 100 million yen each, regardless of type. I'll handle all the tax processing on this end, so you'll walk away with a clean 100 million in your hand."

"So you were actually serious about that."

"No matter how hard you try, you can't get Spirit Stones in this world. To be honest, 100 million is a steal."

"Is it...?"

They say if you live a modest life, you can live off 100 million for the rest of your days. At this stage, it was already an extraordinary deal. Not just because of the amount, but because of my own lifestyle.

I didn't even have the personal capacity to desire more than that. Of course, if I thought about it, you can never have too much money, and it might increase the range of things I could do. But—

"Alright, let's go with that."

"You sure?"

Mugen-san gave me a slightly skeptical look at my quick acceptance.

"I'm sure. I just have one request."

"What is it?"

"I think there will be times in the future when I'll need help, so I want to be able to ask for it. Not in a financial sense, but regarding things in the other world."

"Is that all? I was planning on doing that from the start."

"Then we have a deal. In this world, we're the only ones who know about that world."

"Then that's enough. After all, we're the only ones in this world who know about that world."

I reached out my hand. A handshake.

Inside a coffee shop, shaking hands with a somewhat flashy foreigner. The other customers were staring, but I didn't care.

Afterward, we wrote up a simple contract for the sale. "A spirit contract would be better," Mugen-san joked, but honestly, even the paperwork wasn't truly necessary. I just had to trust him; if he had intended to betray me, I would have been finished long ago.

I gave him my bank details, and the transaction concluded smoothly. He said 100 million yen would be wired to my account by tomorrow. It felt like a fairy tale.

Mugen-san said he wanted to keep the spirit stone for emergencies, which was why he wanted one even for 100 million. For emergencies—meaning, when family members got sick or injured in ways modern medicine couldn't cure, his wife's spirit magic could handle it.

Aside from that, he said he wouldn't hesitate to use that divine power if he judged that world affairs were heading in a dangerous direction. A private individual interfering like that felt a bit scary, but I suppose I can trust him.

According to Mugen-san, "I am a human designed by humans, so I cannot inherently feel hostility toward humanity, and the same goes for my wife." To me, he was nothing but human, but perhaps he struggled with his own identity because he knew his roots.

"So, how have things been over there lately?"

Once the business was done, Mugen-san spoke up as if making small talk. "Over there" meaning my life in the other world.

"The Hitotsuzuki is coming up soon. It's my first time, so I'm pretty nervous, but I'm planning to participate as part of the fighting force."

"The Hitotsuzuki, huh? That brings back memories."

"You fought in a lot of them, didn't you? I heard you once took down a powerful monster all by yourself."

The man was full of heroic tales. There was no way he was inexperienced with the Hitotsuzuki.

"I wouldn't say 'all by myself.' The Hitotsuzuki is something you tackle with a large group. Though it's true there were a few times when everyone else got wiped out and I was the only one left standing at the end... Do you have enough people?"

"The warriors that were supposed to be provided by the city haven't arrived yet, apparently. Well, my Knight Order is stationed there, so I think we'll be... okay."

"What's the star alignment?"

"Alignment? ...Oh, they said it was hard to tell this time."

"Hard to tell? The Alignment phase has already started, right...? This might be bad."

Mugen-san's face tensed up. With that handsome look of his, he had the undivided attention of the waitress.

Incidentally, she had come by to refill his water five times already... Too many.

"Bad... how?"

"Do you know that Hitotsuzuki has grades depending on the star alignment?"

"Yes, the strength of the monsters that appear differs, right?"

"Exactly. That's why star observation is a major deal for the people of that world. And yet, if the grade hasn't been identified yet, it's either an unknown Hitotsuzuki, or—"

"Or?"

"There's a possibility it's a Globe-Trotter (Shigan-Meguri)."

"Is that bad?"

"It's bad."

Mugen-san said it with absolute certainty.

Bad, huh...

That was information I didn't want to hear... No, actually, it was good that I heard it. I could prepare in advance.

"The Globe-Trotter type is the third hardest among the predefined Hitotsuzuki events."

Mugen-san said he had received something like a strategy guide for Emes-Palette in his past life. He either read it there or heard about it over there.

"Oh, it's only the third?"

"Don't be an idiot. The first and second difficulty types were things that were barely cleared back when there were mountains of players. Even at third place, it should be a massive threat in that world where there are no players."

"Isn't that bad!?"

"That's what I've been saying."

Apparently, the Hitotsuzuki was originally an event for all the players to clear together in the game.

The maximum difficulty was the Inferno (Hachidai Jigoku) Hitotsuzuki.

And the next hardest was the Heaven (Gokuraku Joudo) Hitotsuzuki.

...Just the names alone gave me a strong feeling that I didn't want anything to do with them. Compared to those, "Globe-Trotter" probably sounded cute... but...

"...Um, there's no chance of it becoming 'Inferno' or 'Heaven'... right?"

"You're safe there. Those two are special events; the movements of the stars and moons become completely abnormal. I saw it once when I was over there. Before 'Heaven,' the sky turns pure white; before 'Inferno,' it turns pitch black. There's no Alignment period, either. Besides, the Great Spirits make an announcement before it starts."

"That's completely like an official game event."

"Exactly. The players used to go wild because you could earn a ton in 'Heaven' or 'Hell.' Those guys were cheats since they could just respawn if they died."

Uwaaah... The difference in perspective between the players and the locals is brutal.

"I helped out a bit, but the monsters in the 'Heaven' Hitotsuzuki were literally a massive army of angels. 'Hell' had everything from ogres to demons to fallen angels. If those two types happened in the current Emes-Palette, humanity would definitely be wiped out."

"That's beyond 'bad'..."

But well, it seemed certain that this time would be a "Globe-Trotter." At any rate, I needed to prepare thoroughly.

"But why can't they tell if it's a Globe-Trotter?"

"Because there's not enough data. It only happened three times while I was over there. Plus, the star alignment is different every time."

"Then wouldn't that make it obvious it's a Globe-Trotter?"

If the other types always had the same alignment, it would be easy to identify by process of elimination.

"The other types often have misaligned stars, too. You think it's a 'Pendulum Fall' and it turns out to be 'Dusk in Twilight'."

"Then it might be one of those this time too, right?"

"Of course, it might be. However... the grade of the Hitotsuzuki seems to be determined by the level of human military strength at the time. I experienced 'Globe-Trotter' exactly once. It happened right when my abilities and mana were at their peak, and I was blessed with great comrades... Maybe it's the same this time? You've got a lot of talent gathering at your place, don't you? And you yourself are the first 'player' that world has seen in a thousand years. I'd say that's more than enough reason for Mother to get fired up."

Hearing that, it made too much sense; I started to feel like it couldn't be anything but a Globe-Trotter.

Mugen-san said that since extremely powerful monsters would appear, I should do everything I possibly could. He said that large weapons and magic weapons are effective against these monsters, and that normal attacks wouldn't be enough.

Indeed, the powerful monsters I'd fought so far—like bears or cyclopes—were the kind of things that were easier to deal with if you just fired a missile at them.

"...But well, you'll manage. Players grow at a different speed. You've trained quite a bit, haven't you?"

He said this while stuffing a large pancake into his mouth.

"I've trained, but does being a player matter?"

"Yeah. It was a bit of a shock when I found out, but that five-fold growth rate? That's player-only. The locals... the NPCs... probably get two or three-fold at best."

"Are you serious?"

Shello-san did mention that I was growing too fast... Players really get a lot of perks, huh.

* * *

After that, we chatted about nothing for a while and parted ways.

We even promised to go on a trip somewhere far away after the Hitotsuzuki was over.

He offered to introduce me to his "grandchildren," but I politely declined... Mugen-san and his wife are one thing, but if his grandkids (who are older than me) are added to the mix, I'll definitely exceed my social capacity!