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Inside darkness.

Lanpeach was looking at his own body, swaying as if being cradled by waves, with a hazy mind.

(I finished washing my face and was about to have breakfast. It is the me from my previous world. I was thinking about surfing the internet with my smartphone, putting a bit more effort in my meals since it is a Saturday, and began that with the way I would make my french toast.)

Lanpeach could tell that,a with how he is, he would go buy the things he didn’t have enough of from the supermarket, would shift into buying the ingredients for dinner, skip lunch, and use his time to cook a meal.

(Just make whatever. If I don’t, that important free day will be wasted with just cooking food.)

He smiled wryly as he spoke.

He has experienced that before. He would surely snap back from his senses once dinner arrives and regret it.

Let’s wake up.

It is time to wake up from this dream.

He could wrap his near death experiences as just being a nightmare. That he had a boring dream.

He would surely forget that he became Lanpeach in the blink of an eye.

He stretched out his hand, thinking about stopping himself and…he slowly opened his eyes.

An unfamiliar sooty concrete ceiling.

The uncomfortable creaking pipe bed, and a raggedy blanket with stains all over and was pretty much like a scrap of cloth.

The room was cold and there’s no stove or air conditioning.

Lanpeach’s body shook, and he sighed in sadness.

“When…When am I waking up from this dream…?” (Lanpeach)

His body hurt terribly, and his face warped as if squeezing tears out…

An unending nightmare. A dangerous death game where you have to dance with monsters.

There’s no developers, just death flags that can appear from anywhere.

It is all stuff that a normal old man wouldn’t be able to endure.

He was about to be killed by a Rat Man that’s supposed to be a small fry in the game.

He had Dry, who had the strongest build, moreover, is level 3 as a party member.

His hands trembled and his heart creaked…to a degree where it was hard to maintain sanity.

[Ah, you woke up. Are you okay, Soldier?]

A cute girl with silver twin tails popped up within his vision and peeked at his face.

A beautiful girl in shrine maiden clothes that your average idol wouldn’t be able to match.

“Libra, huh. Good morning.” (Lanpeach)

[Good morning. I am worried, Soldier. To think you would have such weak mental strength that you would collapse from such a scratch. Are you okay? You haven’t broken?] (Libra)

“You weren’t worried about my body? I am okay. I am still sane. Still. But what are you doing?” (Lanpeach)

[I was worried about you from the bottom of my heart. Do you not get it? Geez~.] (Libra)

Libra was slurping noodles.

She chewed and her face loosened in true bliss as she enjoyed the warm steaming cup ramen.

“You ain’t worried. Good grief. I told you not to show yourself around. How did you get warm water?” (Lanpeach)

The dark feeling of before disappeared with that gleeful appearance of hers, and he returned to his usual face as he glared at her.

Libra is out there in a lot of ways, so he wanted to keep her a secret, but she is a support character that doesn’t listen to him at all.

She ignored his glare as if it were just passing wind, snickered, and puffed her chest out.

“It is okay. I asked this child here to bring me warm water secretly. She properly put warm water inside a plastic bottle. She is a very good child.” (Libra)

There was a little girl at the place she pointed at. The courageous girl that rode on a Spider Artificial Spirit and played around.

She is sitting on the concrete floor and eating cup ramen.

Once she noticed the gaze of Lanpeach, she directed a shy smile while going ‘ehehe’, grabbed the chopsticks as if it were a rod, and scooped out the noodles to enjoy them with glee.

“This ramen is tasty~.”

“That’s great to hear. Come on, the concrete floor is cold, right? Sit on top of the bed and eat. Here, cover yourself with a blanket.” (Lanpeach)

He picked up the eating little girl and had her sit on top of the bed.

She is wearing thin small clothes despite it being winter, and her body is skinny and light.

Lanpeach covered her in a blanket, feeling sad.

“It is warm and comfy! Want shom ramen?”

“I am full, so it is okay. Come on, eat it all.” (Lanpeach)

“Kay!”

The little girl went back to chowing down her ramen in glee, and Lanpeach’s face darkened up even more.

[What’s the matter, Soldier? It is a heartwarming scene, right?] (Libra)

The carefree Libra thought this was a heartwarming scene between the little girl and Lanpeach.

The reality is that it would be a heartwarming scene in the game. But in real life, it would be a scene that would have police called over and the old man apprehended.

But Lanpeach couldn’t ignore this situation.

Libra is thinking about this with the common sense of this world, but Lanpeach has his Japanese common sense from peaceful Japan.

“Listen here, look at this little girl. She is this thin, and just how old is she? 4, 5? She would die! It will be negoshieto** at this rate. I can’t endure seeing a famished little girl eating ramen as if it were the most delicious thing in the world!” (Lanpeach) <Said in Japanglish>

[It is neglect, Soldier. Negotiate is what you would have to do with the reaper to not get killed.] (Libra)

“That. Neglect.” (Lanpeach)

The little girl was eating her meal in glee and was happy about how warm the raggedy blanket was.

That sight of such a young child wasn’t heartwarming, but brought pain to his heart.

Lanpeach, who is a good natured normal man, couldn’t endure such a sight.

The children he saw in the news starving and suffering from violence was something he didn’t want to watch, so he didn’t want to get involved in it. He would want to save them if he got involved after all.

[Haah, you have a conscience huh, Soldier. You have a paternal side? You are like a papa.] (Libra)

Libra tilted her cup ramen and drank the remaining soup as she made a slightly surprised face.

She did have a faint feeling about it, but he is a pretty good person. She had no idea how he ended up in the slums.

She thought it mysterious, and didn’t know how he could access the Space Library either. Libra was looking with interest at Lanpeach.

Libra was smiling while thinking he is an interesting person. The little girl reacted to the word ‘papa’ and approached him.

“Papa! Are you Papa-shan?”

[Yup yup, he is papa. This kindness is that of a papa!] (Libra)

This support character doesn’t say anything decent.

“Papa-shan! I am Koume. I also had a Papa-shan!” (Koume)

“Papa…” (Lanpeach)

The eyes of Koume sparkled and she approached with happiness, so Lanpeach was troubled in what to say.

Lanpeach couldn’t respond because she would probably cry if he were to deny this. No, she would most likely cry.

“Papa-shan! My Papa-shan! Koume! I am Koume! I was waiting for you to come back!” (Koume)

Koume heard before from Onii-shan that everyone had a papa. Since then, she has been waiting for her Papa-shan to pick her back up.

She learned that the kind old man that gave her delicious food and put a warm blanket around her was her papa, and was happy about how she really did have a papa.

Koume smacked him playfully with her small hands.

She seemed to be really happy.

(I want to punch that grinning face of Libra who is definitely thinking this is an interesting development. I am still single and have no wife though.) (Lanpeach)

But Lanpeach couldn’t oppose the eyes of Koume that were filled with hope and yielded.

“Aah, yeah, I am papa. Papa’s here.” (Lanpeach)

“Yay! Papa-shan! Huggies! Give me huggies on your lap!” (Koume)

“Yeah yeah.” (Lanpeach)

“Pet my head! Pet my head!” (Koume)

“Kay kay.” (Lanpeach)

Koume got on top of his lap and began to jump merrily.

The strength of Lanpeach’s shoulders left as he saw her happy smile. A smile took over his face, and he brushed her hair gently.

[Congratulations, Soldier. You suit each other as father and child with you both being Transcendentals!] (Libra)

——But what Libra said with an amused tone made his hand stop cold.

“Hah? Koume is a Transcendental?” (Lanpeach)

[Yup, this is her power, Soldier.] (Libra)

[Koume: Level 1. [Transcendental].]

He was flustered by the Status that was shown to him.

A level 1 Extraterrestrial can only tell the level of the other party.

Libra complemented her explanation after seeing the expression of Lanpeach.

[Only Trascendentals can tell. Your body structure is fundamentally different after all. That’s why she managed to survive such a harsh environment, you know? Well, there’s no Transcendentals in the modern era, so you could say it is close to a miracle that there’s one here.] (Libra)

“Aah, I see. She had automatic healing, so she survived. I get it.” (Lanpeach)

Trascendental is an Inherent Skill that’s mainly used to keep yourself healthy.

Mana changes to Psy, and there’s also the Limit Break of Levels, but that’s impossible to use for anyone aside from players.

Lanpeach thought ‘she was lucky’ and petted Koume’s head. Koume was happy like a kitten and pushed her head towards him to urge him for more.

“But even if she has self-regeneration, I am still worried about her health. Gotta improve the environment. Gotta have a warm room for winter at least… Hm? Speaking of which, where are Chihiro and Dry?” (Lanpeach)

He noticed just now but where have they gone off to?

He had hopes that maybe Chihiro and Dry would be worried about him, but his calm side also expected that Chihiro would stay by Lanpeach’s side to raise his affection.

[Hmm, I don’t know. I think they were talking about something. What was it? I didn’t have any interest, so it just went in one ear and out the other.] (Libra)

‘Teehee’ -she said while sticking out her tongue and tilting her head cutely.

What a useless support character.

“……It makes me uneasy when the people that should be here are not. It is at times like this that they would be earning affection points. Just how many people do you think have fallen in love when someone from the opposite gender comes to visit you when you have a cold?” (Lanpeach)

[Ah, then your affection must be going through the roof as I am visiting you here! You will get more than burned if you fall for me, Darling.] (Libra)

“Someone chowing down ramen in front of an injured person lowers the affection instead. Or more like, Darling is already an obsolete word.” (Lanpeach)

Libra puffed her chest out, emphasizing her chest.

If not for her stupid remarks and hopeless personality, Lanpeach certainly would have fallen in love with her.

[Soldier, I think you are being way too harsh with me!] (Libra)

He ignored Libra, who puffed her cheeks and got angry, and began thinking.

He had a bad feeling. An ominous feeling.

It is like the time when they went to explore the basement. As if an evil event has been triggered…

Lanpeach’s face turned grim.

He felt uneasy here, so he put Koume down, and was about to exit the room. He was thinking about asking someone where those two are, but the door was opened with force.

“Peach-oniichan, Chihiro has become a hostage! Enemies coming!” (Dry)

The one who entered the room out of breath was Dry.

Her cheeks were flushed even when it was winter, her breathing was rough, and her forehead was drenched with sweat.

He could tell in one glance that she ran with everything she had all the way here.

“What did you say just now, Dry? Try saying it once more.” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach lowered his voice and glared at Dry.

Dry was a bit scared by his eyes, but she immediately explained it.

He listened to her explanation and his face steadily turned severe.

“Tsuyoshi… Chihiro said that?” (Lanpeach)

“Yes, no doubt. Said Tsuyoshi.” (Dry)

“I see… So a chain event…” (Lanpeach)

Lanpeach said with a dark tone. This overlapped with his saddened heart when he woke up.

“A base with a combat force of zero and has only begun management. A base battle in a condition where we haven’t gotten our footing yet, huh.” (Lanpeach)

Violence in numbers, moreover, with Chihiro as a hostage. Tsuyoshi apparently has a mercenary.

It is overwhelmingly disadvantageous.

It is an event that feels like it is a forced defeat.

“Death flag… Fine. I definitely won’t get killed. I will show you the latent power of Lanpeach Kouza.”

Lanpeach Kouza’s lips warped into a grand dark smile at the quest that has a death flag planted once again.

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