WM – Chapter 59: Sasaki Aya is guided in the city of Makkaren

Hey guys, Reigokai here, friking back! 

Whew, the world really is a mess right now. Trying to deal with the new clunky systems they have placed to deal with all of this can prove to be a whole new nightmare of its own. But hey, I am done (for now) and have gotten a bit of breathing room. 

Thank you for all the words of encouragement and the support you guys have shown. You don’t know just how much strength that actually gave me. It is you guys that makes it worth me choosing to translate, thanks.

We will now be back to schedule! 

Enjoy!

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-Sasaki Aya POV-

“So this is the city that Takatsuki-kun lives in.” (Aya)

I was looking around restlessly in curiosity.

What a beautiful city!

“This is the water city of Makkaren. For now, let’s go to the Adventurer Guild.” (Makoto)

“There’s waterways running around the city, huh. How dreamy.” (Aya)

“Aya, if you move so much, you are going to bump into someone, you know.” (Lucy)

Just as Lucy-san warned, I was about to bump into a passerby, and just as I thought ‘Ah!’, I avoided them.

Once I was about to bump into someone else, I would avoid again, and again. 

So fun!

This is my first time in a normal human city since coming to this world!

I moved in between the crowd of people as if sewing through them, and looked around like a kid.

“That’s impressive reflexes.” (Makoto)

“So that’s someone who was raised in Laberintos, huh.” (Lucy)

I heard the voice of Takatsuki-kun and Lucy-san from behind.

Ah? They are bemused at me?

◇◇

“Makoto-kun! I so wanted to see you again~!” 

The moment we entered the Adventurer Guild, a blonde pretty lady hugged Takatsuki-kun!

“L-Lucy-san…who is that?” (Aya)

“Mary. The guild receptionist that’s aiming for Makoto”, she says displeased.

“Oh, is that so.” (Aya)

Hmm…

Takatsuki-kun is popular in this world, huh.

“Oh my, who is that girl there?” (Mary)

“I am Sasaki Aya. Nice to meet you.” (Aya)

“I am an employee of the Makkaren Adventurer Guild, Mary. Nice to meet you, too. Are you going to be registering here for the first time?” (Mary)

He separated from Takatsuki-kun and entered her work mode face.

What a mature person.

“Mary-san, Sa-san has already finished registering herself as an adventurer in the Labyrinth City. She is in the same party as Lucy and I. We came here to report that.” (Makoto)

“Is that so? I will register your party then. Can you please show me your adventurer card?” (Mary)

“Yes, here.” (Aya)

I gave the adventurer card that Fujiwara-kun made for me.

“Sasaki Aya-san. An otherworldler like Makoto-kun, huh… No achievements as an adventurer. Stone rank, then. .There’s no particular proble—-eh?” (Mary)

Mary-san’s eyes open wide.

Oh no! Did she discover that I am a monster? 

But that wasn’t the case.

The calm Takatsuki-kun unexpectedly skeeted his way to Mary-san and said: “The Stats of Sa-san are incredible, right?”

“…These Stats slightly surpass that of a Gold Rank adventurer. If you were free, there would be more than 20 parties who would want you in their party.” (Mary)

Takatsuki-kun and Mary-san were whispering to each other with their faces really close.

Aren’t they a bit too close?

“By the way! So you actually did bring a girl back from Laberintos. Makoto-kun, you liar!” (Mary)

“No, I didn’t promise anything.” (Makoto)

“Shut up! I’m not letting you sleep tonight! Show up at night in the guild.” (Mary)

Mary-san does a headlock on Takatsuki-kun.

Isn’t his head pushing against her breasts like that…?

“Lucy! You were back?” 

When I look back, there’s a girl with brown hair and comfortable clothes moving towards Lucy-san.

“Emily. I came back just now. You are not adventuring today?” (Lucy)

“I am helping out the church today. There’s a lot of people getting injured lately from monster attacks. By the way, if you have time, tell me stories about your time in Laberintos.” (Emily)

“Okay. I will let you listen to my great achievements!” (Lucy)

“You must have caused problems for Makoto all the time, right?” (Emily)

“That’s not true! I will shock you with the story about my new magic, [Meteor Shower]!” (Lucy)

They are getting lively there.

After being introduced to her, it seems she is a priest called Emily-san.

She apparently has adventured together with Takatsuki-kun and Lucy-san.

Lucy-san went together with Emily-san somewhere.

“Then, Sa-san, I will guide you through the city.” (Makoto)

The party registration seems to have finished.

“O-Okay.” (Aya)

Alone with Takatsuki-kun!

Maybe Lucy-san showed me consideration.

It is a date!

I followed after him in high spirits.

 ◇◇

“This is the main street. It is the liveliest place in Makkaren.” (Makoto)

“The food in that establishment is good. Let’s go there later.” (Makoto)

“One street deeper, there’s the food district. It is not as packed right now, but at night, there will be a lot of people in the bars.” (Makoto)

“Let’s go to the store of Fuji-yan later too.” (Makoto)

“That way there is…well, there’s stuff like the night stores.” (Makoto)

Takatsuki-kun guides me through the city with familiar steps.

There’s a lot of fancy stores made of bricks.

There’s an atmosphere to it.

Makkaren has several areas with waterways, and boats were passing by in them.

“We can’t get on those boats?” (Aya)

“If you pay the fare, yeah, but moving with my water magic would be faster.” (Makoto)

Now that Takatsuki-kun mentions it, he does have a spell that lets him move on water.

“Then, what about that big building?” (Aya)

I point at a stone-made building. 

“Aah, that’s where the hot springs are. There’s apparently a source for that close to Makkaren.” (Makoto)

“Ooh! The city is beautiful, and there’s even hot springs. It is a nice place!” (Aya)

“The hot spring inns are apparently the major business in this city. I haven’t gone though.” (Makoto)

‘Didn’t have the luxury to’, is what Takatsuki-kun says with a wry smile.

He is aloof as always.

He looks like he always does, but…

(He doesn’t seem to be too energetic.) (Aya)

That face is…yeah.

It is like that time in middle school when Takatsuki-kun was looking forward to a famous RPG’s sequel that he had reserved a few months before, and ended up becoming a board-like game because of lack of budget…and got depressed.

Well, it seems like it was decently fun after he tried it out though.

What happened, I wonder.

Takatsuki-kun has been a friend of mine since middle school and has become a benefactor of mine.

If he is worrying about something, I want to encourage him.

“Hey, since we are already here, how about we go to the hot springs?” (Aya)

I brave on and try inviting him.

“If you want to go, I am fine too.” (Makoto)

“It says there’s also mixed baths!” (Aya)

It is embarrassing but I try to endure.

“…………….Eh?” (Makoto)

Takatsuki-kun who made the face of a shocked chihuahua was a sight to see.

◇◇

 -Takatsuki Makoto POV-

This is strange.

What’s with this situation?

“Aah, what a nice bath.” 

Sa-san with a loose and relaxed expression was by my side.

A classmate was bucknaked.

No, that’s not true. 

She has a bath towel wrapped around her body.

But!

She is naked below that!

…Calm down.

[Clear Mind], lend me your strength!

‘There’s also mixed baths’, is what was written, but that was apparently something called a family bath.

We could reserve a small open air bath.

Of course, it is a bit pricey, but with defeating the Minotaur and the Harpy Queen, our pockets have gotten a bit of leeway.

I wanted to listen to the request of Sa-san.

“Aah~, it really brings me back to life.” (Aya)

“Aah…yeah…” (Makoto)

Sa-san went ‘Uungh~’ as she stretched, and her bath towel was on the verge of falling off…

So I tried not to look and faced upwards instead.

“A city with hot springs is nice.” (Aya)

“Were you a hot spring lover, Sa-san?” (Makoto)

“There weren’t baths in Laberintos, so we always went to the underground lake to bath in cold water. There was no knowing when a monster would attack us, so we couldn’t let our guards down.” (Aya)

That does sound unrelaxing.

We continued chatting for a while.

“By the way, Sa-san, you are using your Change Skill to take that form, right?” (Makoto)

“Yeah. My skin color was bluish before, but now it is human-like, right?” (Aya)

Saying this, she shows me her upper arm.

No, you don’t need to show me in that way, you know.

I cough.

“Next time, teach me that transformation skill of yours. I will teach you Evade and Escape.” (Makoto)

“Okay. But, are you going to use a skill like Change?” (Aya)

What are you saying?!

Changing your appearance is the basics of assassin games and ninja games!

“Your gaming brain is going wild again, Takatsuki-kun.” (Aya)

“How rude.” (Makoto)

Won’t deny it though.

“What’s your level, Takatsuki-kun?” (Aya)

“21. I lose to Sa-san by more than 10 levels.” (Makoto)

“Weren’t you the type to increase your level as much as possible?” (Aya)

I am surprised Sa-san remembers even my playstyle.

“In the beginning I did. But my initial stats were way too low, so there’s no increasing them. Even if I raise my level, my stats don’t rise too much.” (Makoto)

“You are sad because of that?” (Aya)

“Eh? No, I don’t mind it anymore. Right now it is fun to increase my Water Proficiency. I will top up my Spirit Magic, too.” (Makoto)

“‘Top up’, that was your favorite phase in the past, wasn’t it, Takatsuki-kun?” (Aya)

She says this as if nostalgic.

Was it?

“Sa-san, increase your level. Your base stats are high unlike me, so it has a lot of growth. Moreover, your Action Game Player gives them 3 times the effect.” (Makoto) 

“I am not good at increasing levels though.” (Aya)

Right.

That’s why Sa-san liked action games.

“Hey, Takatsuki-kun.” (Aya)

“What’s the matter, Sa-san?” (Makoto)

“If you have any worries, tell me.” (Aya)

“…Eh?” (Makoto)

“I can see that you are worrying about something.” (Aya)

“…Really?” (Makoto)

So I really can’t fool the eyes of a friend, huh.

I have to tell Sa-san the details about being the believer of an Evil God.

“Thanks.” (Makoto)

“Don’t mind it.” (Aya)

As I thought, it is easy to speak to an old friend.

◇◇

“Alright! Let’s celebrate the return of Makoto and Lucy to Makkaren!” (Lucas)

Lucas-san gathered the adventurers and opened a drinking party.

“Makoto! Tell us about Laberintos!” (Jean)

The drunk Jean came to me.

“Jean was saying everyday ‘is Makoto okay?’, you know?” (Emily)

Emily says this with a grin.

“O-Oi, Emily, what are you saying?!” (Jean)

“We didn’t really have that big of an adventure.” (Makoto)

“Makoto…that would fall into the category of a lie…” (Lucy)

It was a pain to talk while drunk, but Lucy retorts.

Aah, this feeling, it really tells me that I am back in Makkaren.

I looked to check if Sa-san was having fun, and she was gulping down liquor with glee.

Sa-san is strong to alcohol.

“What did you do today with Aya?”, Lucy asks.

“Let’s see, I had Takatsuki-kun guide me through the city. We went to the store of Fujiwara-kun. Had lunch. And we also went to the hot spring”, Sa-san answers.

“““““Eh?”””””

“A-Aya…U-Uhm, you entered the hot springs separately, right?” (Lucy)

“No, we went together to something called a ‘family bath’. Isn’t that right, Takatsuki-kun?” (Aya)

“Yeah.” (Makoto)

A family bath is normal in this world, right?

There’s a whole lot in the city after all.

“M-Makoto…” (Jean)

Why is Jean looking at me with those eyes of respect?

“…Right in daytime… The worst.” (Emily)

Why is Emily looking at me as if I am trash? 

“…” 

Lucy is frozen in place.

Why?

“N-No way… Even though I planned to be the first woman of Makoto-kun.” (Mary)

“Mary-san, what are you talking about?” (Makoto)

“Well, fine. I will be the second, so let’s go together next time.” (Mary)

Mary-san wraps her arms around mine.

What is this?

Are they misunderstanding something here?

“Ooi, Makoto has become a man! We are celebrating!” (Lucas)

Lucas-san?! 

“Damn it!” “Explode!” “You two-timing bastard!” “A harem party is nice.” 

Even though it has been a while since I came back to home, the adventurers were jeering at me.

Why?! 

—Family baths.

The young men and women who enter there apparently do so with ‘that’ objective in mind without exception.

It is the ‘amusement quarters’ of men and women.

As if I would know such foreign world knowledge!

The Water Temple didn’t teach me that!

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