Chapter 2: The Name of That Emotion is "Jealousy"

I simply continued heading east. If I had been alone, I probably would have gotten too bored and just started running right away. But right now, I had Meal. While playing around with Meal, I occasionally tossed delicious-looking fruits growing on the trees into my mouth as we moved forward. Of course, I picked some from other trees for Meal’s share, too.

“…Delicious.” Man, this fruit is really good. Actually, it’s too good. I had been giving Meal normal, tasty-looking fruits, but the ones I was eating had venomous-looking colors and were covered in spikes, practically screaming, “I am toxic and dangerous!” Yet, to me, those were the ones that tasted incredibly delicious. This was probably the influence of my “Extreme Eater” skill. Of course, it was precisely because I had the “Status Ailments Almost Nullified” skill that I could eat such things without worrying about it.

However, even though I felt like I had walked quite a bit, I just couldn’t seem to make it out of the forest. Was it really okay to head in this direction? Well, it’s too late to worry about that now, and I figured I’d end up somewhere eventually.

Come to think of it, just how long was I in that mountain and forest, anyway? It felt like about two years had passed, but… …Wait. I don’t know the exact number of days, but I can check if two years have actually passed. With that thought, I took out my guild card, let a drop of blood fall onto it as usual, and checked. Just as I suspected, the age section had changed to “17 years old.” Since I ran away from home right when I turned fifteen, that meant two years had definitely passed.

I see… I was up there for two whole years. It felt like it passed in the blink of an eye, but quite a bit of time had actually gone by. Earlier, when I ran into Shiro, I was able to handle it because it was sudden and he was alone, but once I get to a village or town, there will be a lot of people. Thinking about that started making me nervous… Just the thought that I might be going to a place where people gather for the first time in a while was making my heart pound. Will I be okay? Will I be able to talk normally?

No, no, I can’t have that kind of mindset. A guy who’s planning to build a harem can’t be this timid. Besides, I need to earn money. I definitely can’t survive on just a dozen silver coins. Well, I guess that part isn’t really something to worry about. After all, I have this ridiculous strength. I’ll have plenty of ways to earn money as an adventurer. The only issue left is my appearance, but… there’s really nothing I can do about that. I could use the money I earn to buy expensive clothes, but that kind of thing just doesn’t suit me. Well, even before that, there’s the fact that my looks are completely plain… I had at least sharpened some monster bones to make a knife and used it to cut my hair regularly to keep myself clean, but… I can’t do anything about my base features.

Can a guy with such average looks really build a harem? Well, I might as well give it my best shot. Even if it’s just one person, I want to find someone who will stay by my side. In a sense, I already have one person—or rather, one dragon—though.

I gently stroked Meal, who was slacking off and yawning on top of my head as usual. As I was walking while feeling grateful for Meal’s presence, something came flying toward us from far away. It was an arrow. Furthermore, the trajectory of its tip was angled to pass right over the top of my head—meaning, if it kept going, it would have hit Meal.

Before the arrow could hit Meal, I effortlessly snatched it out of the air and snapped it in half. As I broke the arrow, I felt a surge of pure rage welling up inside me, and I couldn’t help but raise my voice.

“Who the hell did that?! You’ve got some nerve shooting an arrow at my Meal! I’ll completely destroy you!”

Clenching my fists tightly, I instantly flooded my body with power. Perhaps sensing that aura, the ground began to crack and splinter, the trees rustled violently, and birds and beasts scattered at top speed. All of that happened, but it didn’t matter to me. Following where my anger pointed, I dashed straight toward the direction the arrow had come from.

At the place I sprinted to, a group of men and women were in the middle of a conflict. It seemed the arrow fired during this scuffle had coincidentally flown my way.

“Let go of that child!” “If you don’t want this brat to get hurt, you’re the ones who need to drop your weapons and surrender quietly!”

When I arrived at the source of those voices, I saw a dirty-looking man holding a knife to a small child he had taken hostage. He was surrounded by a group of about six people, and facing off against this group were three men and women. There were people with bows in the group of six, but no one in the trio had a bow. In other words, that arrow had come from the larger group.

But this is… hmm, I wonder if this situation is exactly what it looks like? No, no, perhaps this dirty-looking group was also being forced by someone to do this— “Hah? What’s with this brat? He has a small dragon on his head… perfect, let’s sell that dragon off too! A white dragon is rare, so it should fetch a high price!” —Or so I thought, but it didn’t seem like they were being forced at all. They were clearly doing this of their own free will. Yup. The larger group was definitely the bad guys here.

Wait, did they just say they were going to sell Meal? At that very moment, they completely became my enemies.

Still, man… If this had been the me from two years ago, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do anything and would have lost. But in my current state, I honestly felt like I could handle them however I wanted. Hmm… moreover, I wasn’t scared in the slightest. Those guys were glaring at me, probably trying to intimidate me, but after encountering the monsters on the mountain and the top-tiers like Ragnir… they seriously lacked impact. I found myself thinking, ‘You guys need to try a little harder.’

“What’s with this brat… I was keeping my guard up thinking he might be a dragon tamer since he has a small dragon on his head, but he’s just standing there like an idiot!” “Heh, he’s probably just paralyzed with fear of us!” “You said it! You said it!”

The group interpreted my reaction however they pleased and burst into loud laughter.

That pissed me off! What the hell are these guys even saying?

Or rather, what is a group of people taking a child hostage with a knife doing acting so high and mighty, talking down to me like that?

As I glared at the group in annoyance, one of the men approached me, probably with the intent to capture me. The man had scars all over his body; it was painful just to look at him. But, I wonder what it is… looking at his appearance now, rather than feeling intimidated, I just thought he looked weak. Thinking about how he must have been beaten up enough to be covered in scars like that, I felt like, well, he must have had a really hard time. Though, it’s not like it brings tears to my eyes or makes me sympathize with him; it’s just my honest impression.

The scarred man approached with a smirking smile and tried to grab Meal without a hint of hesitation. So, to intercept him, I casually threw a punch—but right then, I suddenly had a thought.

Wait? I threw a punch casually, but is this really okay? I mean, after my life on the mountain, I don’t have any hesitation about killing an opponent anymore, but is it really okay to show a person exploding in front of a child? Well, if this guy in front of me was as sturdy as Ragnir, there would be absolutely no problem. At most, he would just cave in a bit and faint. But there’s no way he’s definitely that sturdy. He certainly doesn’t look like it.

As expected, I can’t show such a gory scene in front of a child, so I rapidly pulled back the power I had put into my fist. However, I couldn’t stop the momentum, and my fist inevitably collided with the scarred man. The moment it hit, the scarred man was blown away with tremendous force, mowing down several trees with his body before completely disappearing from sight.

…Sorry. I misjudged my strength a little. Thinking about it carefully, this is the first time I’ve used stats this high against a human opponent. Well… it’s my first time, and everyone makes mistakes. I’ll be careful from now on.

“You bastard! What the hell did you just do?!”

As I was gazing in the direction the scarred man had flown, an angry yell directed at me reached my ears. Turning my gaze toward it, I saw the man holding the knife to the child yelling and spitting, his face harboring absolute fear.

So annoying… This is getting troublesome, so maybe I’ll just use this group as test subjects to see exactly how much I need to hold back against humans.

I moved instantly at a speed that no one here could possibly track, appearing right in front of the knife-wielding man. First, I have to save the child.

“Here we go.” Snap! Crack! I broke the knife-wielding man’s arms.

“Gyaaaaaaahhh!”

While the man screamed in agony with both his arm bones broken, I scooped up the freed child and temporarily retreated from the spot. I moved over to the three people facing off against the group, who were likely acquaintances. Just as I was about to speak to them to hand over the child, I realized something. That’s when I noticed.

These three… aren’t their ears pointed? Which means… they’re elves. Wait, looking closely, this child’s ears are pointed too, so they’re an elf as well.

In other words, this group intended to capture these elves, sell them off, and turn them into money? Oh my, this is the kind of thing that would make Ruto the Erof fly into a furious rage. Should I tattle on them? Well, I suppose I’ll just punish them in Ruto’s place for now.

“Here, please take care of this child.” I briefly told them that, handed the child over to the three, and headed back toward the group.

“Kill him! Kill this brat!”

Perhaps still unable to recover from the events that had happened in the blink of an eye, the group fell into a slight panic as I approached. They hastily readied their weapons—swords, bows, and the like—but it was meaningless against me. Paying no mind to their weapons—or rather, there was no way they could hit me anyway—I went ahead and experimented with holding back against humans.

Well, the first three or so met the same fate as the scarred man, but for the next guy—the one who had the knife—I managed to hold back properly and keep him in place. Though, his life did end right there. Well, the moment they tried to lay a hand on Meal, this was their just deserts.

And the last one was trying to attack the elves while I was busy dealing with the others. Oops… I’m not letting you get away.

I spun my body around and tried to deliver the finishing blow to the last one, but my action ended up being a misfire. What reflected in my vision was the sight of one of the three elves courageously leaping forward. That elf spun words with a dignified voice.

“May my enemies hear the timbre of the wind that calls for death.”

With a high-pitched, instantaneous clink sound, a wind acting like a sharp blade blew out. The last man, having taken that blade of wind, was sliced cleanly in half at the torso.

Ooh! It’s magic. Come to think of it, Neil the Necromancer had taught me about magic since I couldn’t use it. If I recall, you put magical power into words and arbitrarily manipulate phenomena? Was that it? The strength fluctuates depending on the user’s magic level and the amount of magical power used, and different races have different aptitudes for it. I think he mentioned that among them, elves have a high affinity for wind magic.

Still, magic really is nice… Since I can’t use it myself, I admire it all the more. Oops, the coolness of the magic inadvertently made me recall all sorts of things.

Over where the elves were, the child and the two other elves were clapping their hands and rejoicing over their safety. Relieved that everything ended safely without any injuries, I patted my chest in relief and stroked Meal to calm down.

I mean, even with all that moving around, Meal was still perfectly perched on top of my head, currently yawning carelessly and looking sleepy. What a big-shot vibe. I’ll say, as expected of the Dragon King’s child.

While continuing to pet Meal, I followed the movements of the elves with my eyes. The elf who had cast the magic joined them. She hugged the child once, checked to see if they were hurt anywhere, and upon confirming they were completely fine, she rejoiced and hugged them again.

Then, the elf let go of the child, stood up, and turned around to face me. The other two and the elf child also turned to face me.

“Thank you, unknown human. Thanks to you, this child was safely rescued.” Saying so, the elf who cast the magic bowed her head, and the other elves followed suit and bowed as well.

I was watching them, but my gaze was fixated on one single point. The elf who had cast the magic was a woman, and unlike the blonde hair of the other three, her hair was a radiant silver. My eyes were completely captivated by her beautifully shining silver hair, marveling that a person with such gorgeous hair actually existed.