TLN: Hey guys, Reigokai here!
This is a new story I am translating now. If you want to get a brief idea of this story and my thoughts about it, you can check this:
Anyways, enjoy the chapter and journey to this new isekai!
——
The sky was covered in the darkness of the night and snow was falling. The snow stretched its hand towards the office buildings lined up on the ground and gradually piled up.
But there was a place different from your normal office building. A lot of office workers can be found where there are a lot of clean buildings, but this group of buildings was in a different spectrum.
Calling them office buildings sounds nice, but that group of buildings were all deteriorated and in tatters. Outer walls being dirty and cracked are on the better side. There were even high buildings that had half of their outer wall crumbled, rebars dirty with rust were exposed, and those with only the window frames left.
The faint sound of creaking rusted emergency stairs lead to believe they might come off at any moment, and the broken electric signs would light up every now and then as if they remembered their job, providing occasional illumination.
This zone with high buildings towering in rows could only be described as ruins no matter who sees it.
All buildings already had no window panes, and even if you peek inside, you will only see worn concrete, without a single desk and locker.
Abandoned buildings that should have no people visiting and should have already lost their function, the snow dyeing them white within the solitude of the night.
—-That’s how it should have been.
But that day was different.
At the first floor in one of those abandoned buildings that is especially bigger in size, once belonging to a top tier enterprise and was constructed to have multiple facilities in it, the voices of many people echoed in the expansive hall that one could play soccer in.
It is the angry shouts of ruffians, and the voices of joy and excitement from people who don’t hesitate to resort to violence.
“Get him, Tsuyoshi! Let him eat a knuckle sandwich!”
“Come on, crush the face of that guy that has been acting all high and mighty!”
“You can defeat him with one more hit! You can totally beat him!”
Scorn and mockery showed up in the faces of many, together with glee. The people in the hall were standing in a circle, and were shouting towards the center.
There are two men standing at the center.
One of them is two meters tall like a bear, wearing a tank top, and his muscles were emphasized. A man that you would clearly be able to tell at a glance that he uses his own body as a weapon.
He is taking a stance with massive fists and a fierce scary face that suits his body frame, looking at the man he is facing with a grin on his face.
The other is a thin man wearing an aloha shirt. He is 1.80 meters tall in contrast to the bear-like man, but his physique is clearly meager compared to him. His face is average, but his bad glare and his timid warped smile gave the impression of being sly.
“Hehe, what’s the matter, Lanpeach-san? What happened with those muscles you are so proud of? I heard about it. It seems like you have become weak after drinking some weird drug or were cursed by something.”
The bear-like man must be sure of his victory already, he had a sardonic smile, and swayed his fists as if to show them off to the feeble-looking man.
“What, if you knew about it, hold back. But I don’t do drugs and this has nothing to do with drugs and curses. It is not like we are affluent people who can get their hands on something like that, Tsuyoshi.” (Lanpeach)
The man called Lanpeach talked smack, but his cheeks were swollen, and the face of the man called Tsuyoshi was almost unscathed in contrast. Even his lips were cut and it was painful to look at.
It was clear who was the one who was on the verge of losing here.
“So you have the leeway to talk smack, huh. But this is the end!” (Tsuyoshi)
Tsuyoshi took a powerful step and unleashed a full power straight.
His right fist roared and landed cleanly on the cheek of the man called Lanpeach with as much power as those muscles represent.
Lanpeach vomited blood from his mouth and twitched on the ground while sliding back on the concrete floor pathetically.
“Ha! We were scared of a guy like this? What’s that about being an explorer? Forget being a failed explorer, you are below even a random hoodlum. Come on, you rascals, listen well! I am the boss of this place now. Remember that.” (Tsuyoshi)
He raised his arms and declared himself the winner, and the people around cheered.
“You are awesome, Tsuyoshi. You are the boss now!”
“This is now your era…no, your boss era.”
“Our team has nothing to worry about now.”
Tsuyoshi was feeling good here, basked by the cheers of admiration, and loosened up.
There were a lot of people within them who feared Tsuyoshi and were making fake smiles. Only a minority were celebrating from the bottom of their hearts, but he didn’t mind that.
Showing off his power and controlling the team with fear. Tsuyoshi thought that’s the law of the team after all.
That is correct in a sense, and the people could guess what kind of end awaited them from looking at the downed man there, but Tsuyoshi didn’t mind it since he is confident of his own strength.
“Alright, we are celebrating today. Is there anyone who knows the hidden stash of this former boss? With that cash, I will…hm? What’s the matter?” (Tsuyoshi)
The cheers turned into confusion. Tsuyoshi noticed that this ruckus and confusion was directed at his back, so he turned around and laughed mockingly.
“What, you still have the strength to stand? Still wanna go? Haah?” (Tsuyoshi)
The one there was Lanpeach, wiping his bleeding nose with his sleeve.
Tsuyoshi laughed at the fool, thinking ‘Even though there’s already no chance of winning’, however, he thought of something and decided to ask him.
“Hey, could it be that you want to become my subordinate? Then cough up the cash you have hidden. If you don’t want to become my subordinate, it can’t be helped; you will die like the trash you are.” (Tsuyoshi)
‘If you don’t say you want to become my subordinate, I will kill you. If you don’t tell me where you hide your cash, I will kill you’ -is what he was implying here.
He threw a safety net in case he didn’t find the hidden stash of Lanpeach.
He was planning on saying that if he were to give him his hidden stash, but he is not letting that show at all.
Tsuyoshi thought that Lanpeach would either plead for his life in tears or grovel while begging to not touch his hidden stash, but Lanpeach simply cracked his neck and directed a cold gaze at him.
It is different from what he expected.
Not only that, Lanpeach looked carefree despite having lost which invited unrest in him.
He had a bad feeling.
Tsuyoshi has lived in a world of violence, so he decided to ignore his unrest and confusion with his innate resolve and by reminiscing the scene of him overwhelming Lanpeach a moment ago.
“Come on, say something!” (Tsuyoshi)
Tsuyoshi warped his face as if trying to put on a brave face and threatened Lanpeach, but he simply sighed and waved his hand.
“I am glad this is not a fight with guns and magic. I would have groveled and ran away if that were the case. Fighting is the best. I can obtain this much regardless of the winner after all.” (Lanpeach)
“Ah? Obtain what? As in your life being spared?” (Tsuyoshi)
Tsuyoshi provoked Lanpeach by showing the leeway of the strong that’s at an overwhelming advantage, but Lanpeach mumbled…
“The difference in experience points.” (Lanpeach)
It was brief and in a low voice, so Tsuyoshi couldn’t hear it, but a scornful smile appeared on the face of Lanpeach along with that mutter, annoying Tsuyoshi and making him ready his fists.
“Are you looking down on me, you bastard?!” (Tsuyoshi)
Tsuyoshi unleashed a jab in a boxing style.
He has simply seen boxing before, so the way he made his fist was random beyond belief, but he has been trained by a decent number of fights, allowing him to bring out strength that forcefully draws out the power of his big frame to defeat his opponents.
A pro would snort at this and avoid it, but this punch that has enough power in a fight between hoodlums was approaching the face of Lanpeach and…
A dry sound rang and it was repelled.
Lanpeach showed in an easy to understand manner that he had deflected the jab by swaying his palm.
“Huh?”
Tsuyoshi was dumbstruck.
It worked until just now.
He was desperately moving around, trying to avoid his jabs.
“T-That was a fluke!” (Tsuyoshi)
Tsuyoshi repeatedly threw jabs.
Dry sounds rang of palm striking fist and deflecting them.
Sweat flowed down from the forehead of Tsuyoshi, his breathing began to get rough, and confusion assailed him.
This looked like boxing training from an outsider’s perspective.
“W-Why? This was working until a moment ago.” (Tsuyoshi)
“Right. That was on purpose. I got hit on purpose.” (Lanpeach)
“Acting? Are you saying you were acting? D-D-Don’t lie! That looked serious. Your cheeks are swollen and your nose is still bleeding!” (Tsuyoshi)
Tsuyoshi stumbled on his words, unable to hide his agitation, at the mocking tone as if he were playing around.
‘His eyes had fear mixed in them, unable to avoid my punches…’ -he remembered the fight again, and his jab stopped cold.
Thinking back on it, he certainly had a face plastered in fear.
He looked like he was in pain when he was punched.
He remembered how he was feeling somewhat annoyed that Lanpeach’s eyes were cold and looked as if he were confirming something.
“L-Lies. You must be lying. You were acting?” (Tsuyoshi)
Tsuyoshi didn’t want to believe it.
He noticed this and his face visibly warped at the punches that were not landing at all.
The cheers around grew subdued at some point in time, and silence ruled the place.
All the people who were mocking Lanpeach a moment ago and cheering for Tsuyoshi were gone.
Lanpeach sighed and snorted at this.
“That’s right. It is a lie. I became strong. Do you know what [Parry] is? It is a technique you can learn with [Physical Combat Level 1].” (Lanpeach)
“I know what parrying is! I-It is a boxing technique, right? Saying nonsense for your reason to have become strong! You are making fun of me, aren’t you?!” (Tsuyoshi)
“No, I simply wanted to economize my EXP as much as possible, so I slowly raised from level 1, and…sorry, forget that. That must have been confusing.” (Lanpeach)
Lanpeach tightened his fist with a wry smile and…
*Pah*
A dull sound rang and Tsuyoshi’s vision turned pitch black.
He felt extreme pain in his face and he fell hard onto the ground.
“Geh! W-What happened?” (Tsuyoshi)
He got punched.
He understood this, but couldn’t see it at all. He couldn’t even see the moment he swung his fist.
It was as if the process was omitted and only the result happened.
Tsuyoshi got hit clean by the punch of Lanpeach.
Lanpeach was standing there with a punching pose.
He looked down at Tsuyoshi as if bored, as if pitying him.
Tsuyoshi’s nose hurt and his back hurt from falling onto the ground.
But he can still fight if he gets up. He still has enough stamina to do that.
But looking up at the gaze of Lanpeach, Tsuyoshi felt Lanpeach’s absolute confidence and a thick wall he couldn’t ever overcome, and decided to close his eyes and feign as if he fainted, forfeiting the battle.
He can’t win. His heart broke. Anyone could tell he was acting as if he fainted because his body was trembling, but he already lost his will to fight.
Lanpeach didn’t deal the finishing blow even when seeing this and just held his nose and frowned.
“Actually, I was just putting on an act, using my body to check how many are loyal to me. Now then, how many were worried about me, I wonder.” (Lanpeach)
A number of people who were worried had their eyes shine, but most of them had pale faces.
Lanpeach muttered this while looking at this.
“Aaah, I wanted to keep this stuff within the game though.” (Lanpeach)
Lanpeach languidly scratched his head while wiping his bleeding nose.
His shoulders drooped, remembering that these surging waves of experiences happened just an hour ago.
He looked at his comrades who were making happy faces as if they didn’t expect something like this to happen, and was fed up with this.
“When am I going to wake up from this dream? I am starting to get tired of it.” (Lanpeach)
No one heard this mumble.
