"You're called Minami Yojuro? What a strange name. But that's not important—can you answer my earlier question first?"
The elf girl was truly curious about the "magic" Yojuro had used. She wasn't inexperienced, yet the spells Yojuro cast were unlike anything she had ever seen before.
Even her own magical barrier had been corroded by the Venom Dragon's poison breath. But Yojuro's magic had defended perfectly—no, she now realized something even stranger: even without casting defensive spells, Yojuro, standing in the middle of the poisonous miasma, didn't seem affected at all!
"The magic I use… well, you could say it belongs to a rather special system. You can call it Kido.
As far as I know, in this world, I'm probably the only one who can use this system. You can think of it as a kind of secret art.
As for why the Venom Dragon's poison doesn't affect me—it's because I have the ability called Magic Immunity.
No matter how strong the poison breath is, in the end it's still formed by magic power. So it's only natural it has no effect on me."
When she heard Yojuro claim to have such a broken ability as Magic Immunity, the elf girl's first reaction was disbelief. After all, nearly everyone in this world could use magic.
If what he said was true, then possessing Magic Immunity meant Minami Yojuro was practically untouchable in this world.
"Don't lie. When you faced the dragon's poison breath earlier, you clearly used that secret-art magic of yours to defend yourself."
Obviously, she was referring to the moment Yojuro had blocked the Venom Dragon's breath at close range with the Kido spell Danku.
"Oh, you mean that? That's because while my body is completely immune to magic effects, my clothes aren't.
That dragon's breath had terrifyingly strong corrosive properties. If it had hit me at close range, my situation would've ended up about the same as yours right now."
When he brought that up again, the elf girl's face flushed crimson all the way to her ears.
But just as she was about to say something else—another figure suddenly appeared!
That shouldn't have been possible. This was a desolate wilderness, and with the Venom Dragon nesting here, nearby villagers had long marked the area as forbidden. No one should have been coming here now.
Yet as Yojuro and the elf girl watched the figure emerge more clearly from within the poison mist, their wary expressions shifted into completely different reactions.
Yojuro: "Yosuke?"
Elf Girl: "An orc?"
That's right—suddenly cutting through the poisonous mist and appearing here was none other than the other isekai traveler, Yousuke, who had parted ways with Minami Yojuro more than a week ago.
He now wore a tattered white set of casual clothes, with a strip of red cloth wrapped around his neck like a scarf.
But why did Yojuro speak in such a doubtful tone upon seeing him, when it had only been a little over a week since they last met?
That was entirely because, in Yojuro's eyes, the change in Yousuke's appearance during that short time was simply too drastic!
Originally, in this world filled with handsome men and beautiful women, Yousuke had been considered plain—unremarkable at best.
But now? He was skin and bones, his cheekbones sunken, looking at least twenty years older than before!
If Yojuro didn't already have such a deep impression of him, he might not have even recognized this frail youth from another world as the same person.
"Yojuro! You're here too—so that means you must have beaten that BOSS before me, huh?
And this is… Ah, apologies, it looks like I interrupted something. I'll be taking my leave."
After ten days, Yousuke was genuinely happy to meet Yojuro again. After all, they were both outsiders to this world—practically fellow countrymen.
He had originally wanted to catch up, maybe even boast a little about how he had managed to survive and carve out a start for himself during this time.
But when he saw the golden triangular crystal rising from the toxic fog, and the ragged elf girl within it, Yousuke's face instantly showed an expression of realization before he turned to leave.
Though he didn't know the details, as a healthy young man he naturally understood the "situation."
To him, it was perfectly normal—just like a game's expected storyline.
The player slays the dragon, rescues the princess, and of course, the reward is living happily ever after together.
Even Sega games had storylines like that, so he didn't think it strange at all.
"Wait a second! I think you're misunderstanding something! I don't have that kind of relationship with him!"
"Yousuke, don't be in such a rush. I was planning to check in on you after this mission anyway… but now that I look at you, you've changed a lot since ten days ago… ah."
The first line came from the elf girl, anxious to clear up the misunderstanding—for otherwise, her reputation would be ruined.
The second came from Yojuro, spoken casually and without concern.
From his perspective, nothing had happened that required explanation. And besides, he figured that someone like Yousuke—a total gaming nerd—wouldn't care about such things anyway.
After quickly changing into a fresh set of clothes from her storage space, the elf girl strode up to Yousuke again and stressed, hand extended:
"Half-beast, listen—I'm telling you, I have nothing to do with this money-grubber.
Sure, he saved me, but there's nothing between us like you're imagining.
Besides, he's greedy and opportunistic. Even if he is good-looking and strong, I'd never fall for someone like that!"
Hearing her explanation, Yousuke didn't look convinced at all. Instead, his expression grew discontent as he looked at her.
"Young lady, don't you think your words are a little too harsh?
No matter what, Yojuro saved your life, didn't he? Even if you don't like him, calling him greedy and opportunistic is too much.
In games, you always get rewards after clearing a stage—money, gear, whatever. That's perfectly normal.
And besides, I think Yojuro's a good person. He even saved me once before, and shared half of his meager funds with me."
The elf girl was clearly a tsundere, but Yousuke had crossed over from an era of modern society when the "tsundere" trope hadn't yet become common.
So naturally, he found her attitude incomprehensible.
°°°
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