We Meet

“Hey.”

Having landed behind the boy, I call out to him quietly.

When negotiating, it's important not to let the other side underestimate you.

That said, unleashing 【Intimidation】 on a child from the start would be quite childish.

So, I get behind them.

I act like I've appeared out of nowhere and give them a scare.

That's how I maintain psychological superiority.

Heh, being able to think this calmly makes me feel I've really started to pick up the fine art of communication.

If I didn't have black hair and black eyes, I might have been able to make a living as a merchant in this world.

“Uwah!? There you are, cursed child!”

“That, please.”

My request to the boy, who turns around in surprise, is the same as always.

That fried bread you've got, doesn't it look super tasty?

I want it, I want it, I want to eat it.

Let's trade it for my churros!

“H, hey, cursed child! You, get out of this town!”

......?

But this boy gave me a confusing reply to my peaceful request.

In spite of myself, I tilt my head.

What is this guy talking about?

“That, please.”

“People are scared when you're around! H, hurry up and get out of town!”

Eeeeh?

What's with this guy?

He's not listening......

I'm saying ‘Give me the sweets,’ and he's responding with ‘Get out of town.’

This isn't even a conversation, is it?

I bet he's bad at communicating too, huh?

<Well, he is a child, after all. There are times when they can't communicate well.>

Good grief, he's hopeless.

“Hey! Are you listening!?”

Maybe seeing me chat with Omake-sama made him think I was ignoring him, because the boy raises his voice again.

You're the one not listening, honestly.

Even for a kid, it's so ridiculous that I let out a sigh in spite of myself.

Meanwhile, the boy—maybe because I wasn't acting threatening and he got emboldened—started swinging his wrench around.

“I'm only giving you a kind warning right now! If you don't do as I say, don't blame me for what happens!”

“I'm saying, give me those sweets.”

I convey my demand as kindly and politely as possible, so that even a little kid can understand.

“Y, you'll be sorry!”

But it's no use.

The boy just keeps repeating his cute little threats.

This is getting nowhere.

“Hey, are you stupid? Can't you even hold a conversation?”

Those words just slipped out in spite of myself.

I was starting to get a bit irritated, after all.

I just went and said it.

And apparently, those words made the boy snap in spite of himself.

“DON'T...... MAKE FUN OF MEEEE!”

In the next instant, with his face turning bright red, he screamed that and actually threw the wrench he was holding right at me!

Spinning end over end with a hyunhyun, the metal tool comes flying at my forehead.

He must have lost his temper without thinking.

The boy's face was bright red at first, but he quickly realized the gravity of what he'd done, and his face turned pale.

What happens if a wrench hits you in the face?

Normally, it's a serious injury.

Doing something without thinking that could hurt someone, and going pale over it.

I think it's proof that he has a decent sense of morality.

......But.

I catch the flying wrench between two fingers and glare at the boy.

Suddenly throwing things at someone.

If you don't actually want to kill them, you can't just do things like that.

“Hey.”

“Hie!”

I snap the wrench in two with a bakin, toss it aside, then give him a very light 【Intimidation】.

The boy is terrified by that alone and backs away with a pale face, but I can't just let this slide.

I take a step forward.

“What do you think you're doing, huh?”

I can tell that this boy didn't actually intend to seriously harm me.

But, even if it was without thinking, this guy threw a wrench at me.

To me, it was moving at a speed slow enough to make me yawn.

But what if I only had the physical abilities of an ordinary person?

I would have been seriously injured.

This boy did something he shouldn't have.

Someone has to scold him for it.

That's what I thought.

It'll probably be for his own good in the future; it's what you'd call educational guidance.

And I'm the only one here.

In that case, I'm the one who should do it.

I'm probably a bit older than him, too.

For his sake, I must fulfill my role as a senior in life!

“Wait.”

“U, uwaaaaaaah!!”

Perhaps intimidated by my aura of anger as I gradually approached, the boy—whatever happened to all that bravado from before—immediately turned his back to me and bolted!

The string comes undone, and the cutting board he'd presumably wrapped around his stomach as armor rolls away!

He's in a total panic.

Catching him and giving him a piece of my mind will be easy.

Since my physical abilities are overwhelmingly superior.

Or so I thought......

<Ah!!>

“Mm!!”

Whether out of panic or on purpose.

The boy threw the fried bread he was holding far away!

“Teyah!!”

In spite of myself, dragged along by instinct, I leap after the fried bread that was thrown in some random direction!

Mogu, mogumogumogu!

D, delicious!

The crisp texture!

The fluffy chew!

The scent of oil lingering in my mouth isn't unpleasant at all, and above all, there's a sweet and sour yellow jam sandwiched inside!

<Ah, wait, Emi! The boy is getting away!>

Gah, shoot!!

When I hurriedly looked back at the fleeing boy, he had just ducked into a winding part of the back alley and vanished from sight.

“Mogumogu, mogumogumogu......”

With my cheeks puffed out, I watched him go.

<What will you do? Will you give up on chasing him?>

No, I'm chasing him, Omake-sama.

I still have to scold him, and as a result, I ended up getting the fried bread too.

I have to give him something in return.

Sunsun, I twitch my nose.

What I need to track is the scent of fried bread on his hands...... and the oily smell of the tool bag he was carrying.

<I wonder why he was carrying a tool bag?>

Who knows?

Considering he threw a wrench at me, maybe he thought it could be used as a weapon.

Well, that doesn't really matter.

I started running through the back alleys to catch the boy before the scent faded.

◇ ◇ ◇

And the tracking itself wasn't particularly difficult.

At a four-way intersection a few corners away.

The boy was there.

But, unexpectedly for me, he wasn't alone.

“I, I made her angry!! I met her...... the cursed child from the rumors!!!”

The boy was clinging to a woman who had fallen on her backside, desperately explaining his current situation.

Judging from the conversation I overheard up until then, the woman was the boy's mother.

Like the boy, she was a youthful woman with refined features.

“............”

They must have spilled from the woman's shopping basket when she fell on her backside.

Round potatoes came rolling and rolling right up to my feet.

“U, UWAAH! IT'S HEREEEEEE!!”

The boy notices me, screams that, and clings to the woman, shaking violently.

Prompted by that, the woman looks my way too.

......Her eyes are wide open, and she looks stunned.

Hmm...... maybe she's so surprised by my beauty that she can't even speak?

<I won't deny that you're beautiful, but more than that, right now your looks are what they are, so if anything............ hm...... hmmm?>

Omake-sama, who was about to insult me yet again, suddenly went silent and let out a thoughtful hum.

Eh, what, what?

What's wrong?

<Um, Emi, it's the same with that boy, but that woman too...... don't you happen to remember seeing her somewhere?>

Hah?

No way, absolutely not.

I haven't met that many people on my journey so far, you know?

So I remember most of their faces.

Backed by that confidence, I'll say it plainly: I'm sure I've never met that boy or his mother.

<No, but, hmmm...... if you haven't met them on your travels...... I have a feeling they look like someone you've met before.>

Hah, what's that supposed to mean?

Now that you mention it, I'm starting to get curious too.

I stare intently at the mother.

As I said before, she's a youthful and beautiful woman.

She's wearing a winter coat and holding a shopping basket filled with food.

Her hair is light brown.

Her hair, which reaches her shoulders and has a loose, fluffy wave to it, is tied back in a high ponytail with a thin ribbon.

Her eyes are upturned.

Small nose.

Oval face.

Hmm......

......Huh?

On my travels, I definitely haven't met anyone like this.

I'm sure I haven't, but......

I feel like I've definitely seen her before?

<Let's see, upturned eyes...... upturned eyes, and a beautiful woman...... hmm.>

Upturned eyes...... a beautiful woman...... speaking of beautiful...... me......

<Geez! Emi, please stop joking around! ............Hm?>

............Huh?

<......Hey, Emi, about that boy and his mother.>

......Just a thought, but.

Omake-sama, the people they resemble......

<............Emi, it's you......>

With that one word Omake-sama murmured.

The memories I had sealed away, the ones I never wanted to remember, come flashing back.

I'm a reincarnator.

From the moment I was born into this world, I had a firm sense of self and accumulated memories.

I don't know about the complicated stuff like brain development.

Anyway, that's the fact.

What I'm trying to say is.

In truth, I remembered that woman's face.

It's just that I didn't want to remember it.

As the haze peculiar to a baby's eyes gradually cleared, I could finally make out that woman's face.

She always looked at me with a hateful expression.

She always looked at me with a disgusted expression.

She always looked at me with a pained expression.

“E...... mi......”

The woman, who now had a stunned expression, whispered my name in a hoarse voice.

......Ah.

......Ah!

......Ah!!

How is this possible!?

What are the odds!?

Of course you know my name!

Because you're the one who gave it to me!!

Which means!

Which means!!

That woman is!!!

Isn't that my mother......!!!

When things were just too hard.

When I had nothing to eat and was starving.

When I was injured and in pain.

When I longed for someone.

I cursed that woman.

On the surface, while fooling around with Omake-sama.

Deep in the muddy depths of my heart.

Asking why she had abandoned me.

If we ever happened to meet again in the future.

I had even gone so far as to think I'd tear her limb from limb and kill her.

......But now that we've actually met, look at me.

I was simply bewildered.

My heart screams to kill her.

But on the other hand, surprisingly, there was a part of me that felt relieved for some reason that this woman was alive.

I couldn't sort out my feelings.

I didn't know what was what anymore.

In the midst of all that, the words I finally managed to squeeze out were these.

“So this is where you were.”

That was it.

My shadow, stretched long, long by the setting sun, had merged with the shadows of the boy and the woman before I knew it, becoming one.

In the back alley that was gradually growing dark.

We stood there, both of us stunned, unable to move an inch.

The silence continued on and on.

............or so it seemed.

But, still!

That silence!

Was shattered by the sudden intrusion of a third party!!

“WOOOOOOOOH!!!”

“““!!?”””

That third party was a man charging toward us at breakneck speed, making a noisy gashagasha sound of clashing metal armor!

The boy, his mother, and I all turned in that direction in spite of ourselves!

“I've fiiinally found yaaa!!”

The guy who slammed on the brakes near us and stopped, gasping for breath, was a stubbly man clad in glittering golden armor!

The moment he saw my face, the man grinned and introduced himself!

“Missy! Your name's Emi-chan, riiight!? My name iiis ‘Golden’ Arcus! A special-grade adventurer, aaand your uncleee! In other words! You! I'm the one who's gonna protect yaaaaaaaaa!!”

Overwhelmed by the momentum of this suddenly appearing golden man, both Omake-sama and I were left gaping!

But......!

This golden man was not the only intruder to burst onto the scene!

“HAAAAAAAAAA!!!”

““““!!?””””

This time, a woman's scream echoed from the opposite direction of where the golden man had come from!

The boy, his mother, the golden man, and I all turned in that direction in spite of ourselves!

“Aaaaaaaaah! Hup!!”

Racing toward us at a speed that surpassed even the golden man, the woman leaped high enough to reach the 2nd floor of a nearby house, spinning in the air before landing softly and silently right in front of me!

Clad in an elegant coat and a wide-brimmed hat, and clutching some kind of mysterious black sphere, the beautiful blonde woman grinned the moment she saw my face and introduced herself!

“Sooo you're Emi-chan, aren't youuu! My name is Lairine! Lairine Rune, that's meee! The Supreme Commander of the Adventurers' Guild, and the woman who's going to be your...... mom, that's meee!!”

Overwhelmed by the momentum of this suddenly appearing blonde woman, both Omake-sama and I were once again left gaping!

I had no idea what was going on!

But, right now, at this moment!

Within this chaotic space!

I wasn't the only one!

Me, the boy, his mother, the golden man, and the blonde woman!

Every single one of us, all alike, had no idea what was going on!

And so, everyone calmed down for a second and looked around, and after a short silence, almost simultaneously, they all muttered almost the same thing!

“““““............What is this situation......!?”””””

Now that the cast has suddenly gathered, the first part of Arc 14 is over.

From the next chapter, the middle part begins.