Chapter 23: Reunion with the Child of the World, Jima Yosuke

"Your name is Nan Yecheng? That's a really strange name... But anyway, that's not important. Can you answer my earlier question first?"

The elven girl was genuinely curious about the "magic" Yecheng had used earlier. She wasn't exactly inexperienced, but not a single one of the techniques Yecheng had displayed resembled any kind of magic she had seen before.

Even her own magical barrier had been corroded by the Poison Dragon's toxic mist—yet the magic Yecheng used had completely blocked it. No, it was only now that she realized... even without any magical protection, Yecheng stood within the poisonous mist and remained completely unaffected!

"The magic I use… should be considered a rather unique type of system. You could call it Kido.

As of now, I'm probably the only one in this world who has mastered this kind of magic. You can think of it as a kind of secret technique.

As for why I'm unaffected by the Poison Dragon's mist—it's because I have the ability called Magic Immunity.

No matter how powerful the mist is, it's still a construct made of magic, right? So it's perfectly natural that it doesn't affect me."

When the elven girl heard him say he had something as ridiculously overpowered as Magic Immunity, she found it hard to believe. After all, in this world, nearly everyone could use magic.

If Yecheng really did have Magic Immunity, wouldn't that make him nearly invincible in a world like this?

"Don't lie! When you were facing the Poison Dragon's toxic breath earlier, you clearly used that secret technique of yours to defend yourself!"

Obviously, she was referring to the moment when Yecheng had used the Kido spell Danku to block the poisonous breath at close range.

"Oh, that? Well, while I may be immune to magic, my clothes aren't.

That breath had seriously strong corrosive effects. If I took that head-on, I'd probably end up looking... well, about the same as you right now."

The moment he brought it up again, the elven girl's face flushed red all the way to her ears.

But just as she opened her mouth to respond, a third party suddenly appeared!

This was supposed to be a remote, deserted place—especially with the Poison Dragon making it its territory. The nearby villages had long since marked the area as off-limits. There should be no one else here.

Yet, as Yecheng and the elven girl turned cautiously toward the silhouette growing clearer through the toxic mist, their guarded expressions soon turned into something else entirely.

Yecheng: "(￣￣) Jima Yosuke?"

Elven Girl: "(_; Orc?!"

That's right. The person who stepped through the mist... was none other than the fellow otherworlder Yecheng had parted ways with more than a week ago—Jima Yosuke.

He was now wearing a ragged white tracksuit, with a tattered red cloth wrapped around his neck like a scarf.

But even though only a little more than a week had passed, Yecheng's tone was full of disbelief—because Jima Yosuke's appearance had changed drastically in that short time.

Back when they first arrived in this world—filled with beautiful people—Yosuke had been extremely average in terms of looks. Just your run-of-the-mill guy.

But now? He was skin and bones, his cheekbones sunken, looking like he had aged at least twenty years!

If Yecheng hadn't remembered him so clearly, he might not have even recognized the guy standing in front of him.

"Yecheng! I can't believe you're here too! Looks like you beat the boss before me, huh?

And this lady is... ah, sorry. Looks like I'm interrupting something. I'll just head out."

Yosuke was genuinely happy to see Yecheng again after ten days. As fellow otherworlders, he saw Yecheng as a sort of hometown friend.

He had originally planned to catch up, maybe even brag a little about how he had managed to survive and finally make some progress.

But then... he saw the golden triangular crystal formation, and inside it, a barely-dressed elven girl standing beside Yecheng.

In that instant, Yosuke's expression shifted to one of knowing understanding. Without another word, he turned to leave.

He might not know a lot about these kinds of things, but as a healthy young man, it wasn't hard to guess what was going on.

To him, it looked like classic game logic—defeat the evil dragon, rescue the princess, and then… live happily ever after.

He'd seen plenty of games like this, especially from Sega. So this didn't feel out of place at all.

"Hold it right there! I think you've got the wrong idea! There's absolutely nothing going on between me and this guy!"

"Yosuke, don't be in such a rush. I was actually planning to head to the city after this mission to check on you.

But now that I see you… you've changed quite a bit since ten days ago."

The first line was shouted by the elven girl—she was clearly panicking. If she didn't clear up this misunderstanding now, her reputation would be ruined.

The second line, said with casual indifference, came from Yecheng. From his perspective, nothing had actually happened, so he didn't feel the need to explain anything. And besides, he figured someone like Yosuke—an absolute game nerd—wouldn't even care.

Having quickly changed into a new outfit from her storage space, the elven girl marched up to Yosuke, stuck out her hand, and pointed at him with a stern look.

"Listen, orc—I mean, you. I'm telling you, I have nothing to do with that greedy bastard.

Yes, he did save me, but we definitely didn't do anything you're imagining!

And just so we're clear—he's a total gold-digger and an opportunist. Sure, he's handsome and strong, but I'd never fall for someone like him."

Yosuke didn't look convinced. In fact, his expression turned a little unhappy.

"Miss, I think that's going a bit too far.

No matter what, Yecheng saved your life, didn't he? Even if you don't like him, calling him a greedy opportunist seems kind of unfair.

In games, clearing a mission means you get rewards—money, equipment, whatever. That's totally normal, right?

Besides, I think Yecheng is a good guy. He saved me once too, and even gave me half of the little money he had left."

The elven girl was clearly a classic tsundere.

But in Yosuke's version of modern society, the whole "tsundere" trope hadn't really become mainstream yet.

So right now, he just thought she was being completely unreasonable.