That Unique Monster Who Just Got the 'Consciousness' Passive Skill
Chapter 70 Haruto (3)

But now, she had dared say that again. She already said it, when we were first teleported to this place, all of a sudden. Now, she said it again, and I really snapped this time. My face reddened with a glare. "No harm will be done to us, dare you say?! What about the two girls here? They're precious friends! Do they seem well to you?! What have you done to us?!"

"H-Hey, Haruto. Want some udon?" The monkey was being dumb again, but I knew that, in his own dumb way, Kimon was only trying to calm me down. I nodded at the brother, sucked in a fresh thread of udon, and briefly smiled at him before I calmed down.

"Our friends here, Princess. They've collapsed. Why is it so? How is it that we can't even approach them? This… weird doom thingy around us… we can't… we… Aaah. See, Princess, politely, what the hell have you done to us? …Provide us with some real information, maybe? And I insist, even I can see you don't mean us any harm—as a matter of fact, the two priest-looking individuals who you just sent, with their… argh, should I call that magic?... seem to be relieving the two girls of their pain—but still, will they be all right? Who are you people? What's the situation here? Can you be trusted?" Along with these, there was still a steadfast flow of questions running through my mind. As much as I wanted to ask about them all, I needed to stop. To both catch my breath and let the princess person speak. Quickly.

The glare I gave the princess turned to a simple stare, not so full of animosity anymore. Right into the woman's eyes, my eyes plunged. As I addressed her, naturally, she held her gaze firmly on me, too. So, when would my answer come? Surprisingly, instead of the lady's lips and tongue, her eyes spoke an answer to the hero.

In defeat, her gaze dropped down. That was my answer. Her pained expression became tenser. The princess ostensibly was saddened by whatever she thought about. What about my questions, though? Won't you answer at least one of them? Wait, was I going too hard on her? My head shook as I was confident I wasn't. Given our situation, I might have been a little too soft with her, actually. But anyway, the dramatic princess finally spoke.

"Heroes… Truly, I am sorry," she managed, her eyes still pinned down, and a slight frown on her face. "The truth of the matter is, while we understand you are distressed by the… very surprising, let's say, situation you replace yourselves in, we simply…" And she trailed off. Taking her gaze back up to me, as if gathering back her will to speak, the woman clarified the girls' situation and eased my worries.

When she explained that, despite the summoners' great efforts to make the heroes' traveling through the worlds in the smoothest way possible, apparently, the two female heroes hadn't borne the inevitable mighty weariness of the voyage as easily as the two male heroes. Mumbling some stuff about their ability being not so high, the woman sought to reassure me more, dramatically assuring me they were only passed out. What was more, with the healing of the two white-robed people, who were called priests, the two girls would for sure be safe.

"Still, you are obviously distressed, heroes. Be aware—I understand your qualms. And I must apologize: for your worrying, I am failing as one of the King's heirs. Such failure cannot easily be forgotten, let alone forgiven. I trust you heroes will—"

"Wait. It's… nothing. I'm sorry myself. Maybe I was being too hostile. Please, don't apologize so much."

"But I have to—"

"Please, no. I insist. You would only make me grow more uncomfortable."

"I… I thank you, hero."

"Now… if you would answer my questions? Where are we? Who are you people? Do you know of Japan?"

By that time, I had to admit to what I refused to believe. I, Kimon, and two other Japanese highschool girls (who neither I nor my friend actually knew) weren't going through something so simple as a prank or anything of the sort. The overly extravagantly wide and broad setting, all these suspicious-looking people, the fact that it definitely was nighttime here, and any other clues I gathered so far, were partly what made me change my mind about the nature of our predicament.

About the other part of my new convictions, well, maybe I just wanted to believe it. Maybe I wanted to believe all of this was actually possible. Maybe I wanted to believe that, in this world, as a hero, a powerful hero, I could make things different, have an impact on the world, and shape it to my will. Yes, now that I think about it, it indeed felt like I'd always been waiting for the day I was shoved into that world and granted the power to make a difference to come, and that, at last, I'd been served. I was right. I had been served.

In a month or so, I'd meet 'that' monster boy, who so happened to magically appear in the world, being granted a life for himself, too, and who also just happened to want to make a difference.

Kimon joined my side and decided to ask a question of his own. "What about my udon, Princess? Wanna dig in, too?" He was blatantly ignored, though. After a moment's thought, the princess nodded at me.

Joining her hands on her breasts, she waved to three of the black-hooded people. "Enough with these two. Their transitions don't require any more help from your spatial magic. Heroes, you'll forgive me… but brace yourselves again. You might feel a bit of hardship again." All three men let out a sharp "Yes, ma'am!" before they retreated.

Our doom, mine and Kimon's, faded away. At once, a strong wave of energy assaulted my whole body, I felt a tingling sensation in my lungs, and my whole body twitched a little like it was pierced by a thousand needles or more. The princess, worried, said our body unfortunately still needed a moment to fully adapt to Mana.

Placing a hand on my heart, I frowned at the tingling sensation running all across my limbs and body. Breathing more, the burning sensation of my lungs quickly stopped. Tightly shutting my eyes, I then extended my arms around, and let all the energy—did she call it Mana?—replace its home inside of me. And clenching my fists, I then felt like I'd finally woken up after a whole seventeen years of slumber. In a few words, I felt great.

Next to me, Kimon stood up, too, but when Mana washed over himself, he had to kneel, obviously pained by the reaction in his body. I was confused to see him react so painfully. After he dropped to his knees, he placed not only one, but two hands on his chest, clutched it, and groaned in agony. Rushing to his side, I manage to save the last bowl of udon he'd probably ever have before it fell off his hands. Had I been left off easy, though? The princess had warned us: we might feel a little pain after the protective veil was lifted—that's just what I felt. A little pain. Still, the lady seemed genuinely impressed at how well I had withstood the wave of magical energy.

Widening her eyes at my sight, she took a few steps back, before she blinked twice. Mumbling, she might have said I was a hero among heroes, but I didn't quite catch what she said, so I didn't know. Now that Kimon seemed to be all right, I lifted myself back up and faced the princess. She, too, faced me.

I then noticed the blatant surprise carved on her face. With eagerness and desire, it was as if the first time she really looked at me, devouring every bit of my silhouette with full eyes. Suddenly, she breathed a deep sigh of relief. Throwing one energetic leg in front of the other, under her flapping long, refined dress, the princess strode to the hero.

The ceremonial chant of her heels echoed throughout the whole world, and with alacrity, she seized both my hands with hers. Warmth spread through my whole body as she pleaded her case to me. "Please, heroes…" For some reason, she addressed me using the plural of hero. Heroes, eh? Or was I worth that many all by myself? Just kidding. I was a true Japanese person, so I wouldn't dare get full of myself. The princess spoke to me, but also addressed all her summoned warriors.

"Please, heroes. You earlier asked me whether I and my kingdom should be trusted… Well, trust us." Clumsily pressing my hands on her heart, as if I was supposed to only feel her strong heartbeat and not also the soft warmth of her voluptuous breasts, her eyes dived into mine. "Trust us and save our kingdom." She clearly was trying to seduce her hero, wasn't she? I frowned at the noble lady's depravity but didn't break away from her. "Follow the way of the heroes who came before you… and to whom mighty powers and blessings were granted by Mana itself. Follow the way of the last heroes and save our kingdom from what is imperiling the safety of itself. Find it in yourself—I know you noble heroes will—and save us from the evil that is awaiting but weakness and cowardice from ourselves. Heroes, I trust and believe you shan't let us be wasted!"

To save her kingdom. Roerden's Kingdom. There probably were enemies. So would we be part of some military force or something? Should we fight demons or similar creatures? Would I have to... 'kill'? If so, I would need to make it right. To only slay the people of wrongdoing. To rescue her people. If there are lives to save, I will brace myself. This time, I will make a difference. The world back home didn't need me. In this world, this time, maybe I could make a difference.

And as I said, in a month or so, I'd be meeting that unique monster boy. By his side, I'd get to have the difference I sought. But together, as opposed to saving this Kingdom and its royalty, we probably were the ones responsible for its destruction.

Well, my name is Haruto, I'm a Japanese person, and I had just been teleported to this World.