The noisy prelude is over, so it’s time for lunch.
Soon enough, I won’t even have the energy to eat.
The cherry blossom festival has now ended.
After lunch in the afternoon,
we decided to proceed with the main event of the day, the boat ride.
The duck and ferry boats on the lake, famous at Inokashira Park.
Both boats are two-seaters, so there could have been an embarrassing fight between Olivia and Rin at the dock, but it didn’t actually happen.
“Hehehe, I knew you would choose me.”
The lunchbox battle during lunchtime.
It was already decided that the victorious Olivia would take the ferry boat with me.
It’s amazing that a mere lunchbox could completely prevent embarrassment; the world is indeed a kind place.
The lake scenery I’ve seen in animations unfolds before my eyes.
Duck and ferry boats float gently on the lakeside, draped in pink cherry blossoms.
Couples, families, and friends chat and take photos on the lake.
‘Now I see why boating is the highlight of this park.’
The scenery is ridiculously good.
Compared to the park, loud and filled with tourists, the calm lake feels like heaven.
Now I feel like I’m actually out for a day trip.
Yes, this is cherry blossom viewing.
Click.
I take a picture of the lake view with my phone.
The landscape of cherry blossoms and the lake is captured in the photo.
It’s a view that won’t last long anyway, but I should enjoy it while I can.
After all, you have to eat before climbing Mount Kumgang.
Still, it feels good to be out after a long time.
“Let’s head to the center of the lake.”
I say to Olivia, sitting right in front of me as the lake breeze hits us.
The opening to the gate is right below the center of the lake.
With both hands on the oars, Olivia’s hands start to tremble.
“I don’t mind anything else, but why am I, the noble princess of France, rowing a boat?! Seriously, you fool with no respect for ladies! Idiot! Sea cucumber! Sea squirt! Sea anemone!!”
Olivia, having hit her tsundere button, shouts with a flushed face.
Fortunately, there aren’t many people around to hear her, probably because we’re on the lake.
The unpredictable tsundere remarks are still hard to get used to.
I’m the one embarrassed.
“Stop whining.”
I don’t want to row the boat; that’s just annoying.
There’s a super ace for that kind of labor, so I don’t need to.
Naturally, it’s right for Olivia to do it.
And what lady?
A hero candidate already possesses strength far beyond that of an average person.
The level far exceeds ordinary.
It might be annoying, but whining about just rowing is a total drama queen move.
“Uggghhh…”
Olivia groans.
“F-Fine. It can’t be helped. I am your personal maid after all! It’s part of my maid duties…”
Olivia murmurs as she rows.
The small boat floating on the lake moves towards the center.
Her rowing skills are quite decent, and they quickly reach their destination.
Olivia lets go of the oars with both hands.
“What the worst, the most abysmal mood is, is that it’s clueless dumb…”
She pouts.
Rustle.
She pulls out a dango she bought earlier from the stall in front of the dock from the paper bag in her hand.
A skewer with round dumplings covered in brown sauce is in her hand.
Because of Rin going on and on about how sakura viewing requires matcha and dango, I tried matcha on the lawn earlier, but honestly, it wasn’t my taste.
Bitter and astringent.
I don’t understand drinking bitter tea or coffee.
If I’m going to eat, isn’t sweet the way to go?
“Here, eat this.”
I hand a dango to Olivia.
Her eyes widen.
“This, are you giving this to me right now?”
“Yeah.”
It feels a bit awkward to eat by myself while we’re on the boat together.
This little snack doesn’t cost much.
Perfect for a little show-off.
Plus, that gimbap I had earlier was pretty tasty.
Olivia snatches the dango out of my hand.
“If you thought I would ever be moved by such a, such a measly snack, you’re completely mistaken!”
She blushes and shouts back.
I knew she’d say something like that.
Ignoring Olivia, I grab my share of dango from the bag.
I always wondered what it tasted like whenever I saw it in cartoons.
I pop a dumpling coated with the brown sauce into my mouth.
The sweet and salty sauce blends perfectly with the chewy dumpling.
This is way better than the astringent matcha I was forced to drink because of Rin earlier.
“It’s delicious.”
Next time, I should try apple candy too.
I’m curious about the snacks like dangu and jeonbyeong that are common in martial arts novels, but since we’re in Japan, it’s a different story.
“It’s not bad. N-Not that I’m saying it’s delicious just because you bought it! Don’t get the wrong idea!”
Olivia quickly turns her gaze away.
Doesn’t she get tired of acting like this every day?
I spin the skewer with the leftover stick from the dango in my hand.
The surface of the water remains calm.
I see our party nearby, on a duck boat and a rowboat.
On the duck boat are Han Seo-Jin and Bella, while on the rowboat are Ishihara and the protagonist, and Rin, who is reluctantly rowing alone like a punishment, tagging along nearby.
It seems like she doesn’t even bother to hide her tailing anymore; I can see Nishizawa Eri, wearing a fedora, sunglasses, a mask, and a overcoat, circling around us in the rowboat.
“Excuse me.”
I hear Olivia’s voice.
“…How did you find the lunch box I made?”
She asks me.
Rating her bento.
To be honest, the one Han Seo-Jin packed was the most delicious.
Do they teach cooking at the National Intelligence Service nowadays?
Rin’s Japanese-style lunch looked tasty in the anime, but it wasn’t that great in reality.
Especially, I don’t get why that sour umeboshi on top of the rice is so overwhelmingly sour.
In the anime, everyone ate it without complaint.
But for a picnic, there’s nothing better than…
“It reminded me of old times.”
Gimbap and inari sushi.
The taste is quite different, but it brought back memories of the lunch my mom made when I was a kid.
I felt nostalgic thinking about the lunch my mom made for me when I was little.
“And that’s what I liked.”
A memory I couldn’t feel as an adult but missed even more.
I never thought I could taste a memory in this unfamiliar world.
I can at least compliment that one thing.
“Good job.”
“W-what…?”
Olivia’s face turns bright red.
She turns her head away.
“T-the kind of obvious compliment, I don’t feel anything about it!! Hmph!”
After I sincerely complimented her.
I sigh.
“…I always think this, but you’re too blunt, and that’s always the problem!”
And here comes the nagging.
She shakes her head disapprovingly.
Well, it’s not like it’s the first time Olivia has spouted nonsense.
Since the mood is nice now, there’s no need to ruin it.
Anyway, soon enough, we won’t be able to enjoy it anymore.
I toss the empty wooden stick I was holding into the lake.
“Hey, you! Littering is a crime!!”
Olivia shouts with a flushed face.
What button did I accidentally press this time?
That’s a bit absurd.
Just as I was about to say something ridiculous due to the sheer absurdity.
Bubbling, bubbling.
Bubbles start to rise to the surface nearby.
“What is that?”
Olivia’s eyebrows twitch.
Rustle.
I crumple the paper bag I was holding into a ball and channel magic into it.
Whoom.
The magic core in my chest and the black stone resonate, pouring out double the magic energy.
Feeling the thrill of double magic flowing through the circuit, I throw the magically infused, blackened paper bag into the bubbling surface.
[Kyaaaaaaaaa!!]
Splash!
The otherworldly creature reacts to the magic and leaps above the surface with a scream.
A large, impressive alligator snout, a humanoid B-rank aquatic otherworldly creature.
The Alligator Man.
“Otherworldly creature? How the hell…!”
Olivia is flustered.
[Grgrgrgr!]
[Kyaaaaaaaaaak!]
The Alligator Man emerges, roaring on the surface.
People witnessing the scene start to murmur.
Click.
They take pictures with their phones.
Immediately sending the photos to the Association President, Ichiro.
[Otherworldly creature sighting in Inokashira Park]
[Suspected gate occurrence]
[Issuing an emergency bulletin and requesting support troops. Please grant me temporary command at the scene.]
With this much done, that sinister guy should have understood well enough.
The content from the original story reflexively comes to mind.
In the original, Yuji jumps into the lake, driven by a sense of responsibility to protect everyone without reporting or requesting support.
Worried about Yuji, Olivia jumps in with him, and they discover the gate at the bottom of the lake.
It’s the typical light novel cliché of jumping in without thinking about the aftermath.
“So in the end, while catching the boss, you’d probably get betrayed by the villain and miss the chance.”
I click my tongue.
But not this time.
I’ve ensured proper post-processing, so there’s no way for the gate or that villain to escape.
Whoom!
A chilling warning sound goes off, and a message comes to my phone.
[Emergency abnormal phenomenon bulletin]
[Otherworldly creature sighting in Inokashira Park. Suspected gate occurrence.]
[If you’re in Inokashira Park, please remain alert and move to the nearest shelter immediately.]
[Heroes and hunters at the scene, please temporarily follow the command of ‘Kim Deok-Sung,’ first-year student of Shuo Hero Academy.]
“Please temporarily follow the command of the first-year student ‘Kim Deok-Sung’.”
“I’ll provide more details as they come in.”
Association President Ichiro.
I thought that old man, who wanted to verify my abilities, would delegate on-site command, and as expected, it went as planned.
Anyway, in this park, there are only our party and Nishizawa Eri when it comes to heroes and hunters.
“[If you received the urgent report, gather near me. Right now.]”
“[Ishihara, shoot and keep those alligator guys in check.]”
I send a message in the group chat created under the pretense of the cherry blossom festival.
“Did you get the message?”
“Yes, but don’t you feel tense? This is a real situation!”
Olivia’s eyes are trembling.
She turns her head.
Bang! Bang!
Gunshots ring out.
“[Kyaaaa!!]”
The Alligator Men, lifting their heads above the water, tumble over after being hit by Ishihara’s golden bullet.
Gold-tipped sun? That guy listens better than I thought.
“Not really.”
“……Hmph.”
Olivia crosses her arms.
Even in this situation, she’s acting like that.
I ignore her and survey the surroundings.
I spot Nishizawa Eri, a girl in a trench coat with sunglasses and a hat, looking flustered.
“Hey, Nishizawa Eri.”
I shout, infusing magic into my voice.
“I’m, um, not that kind of person! You must have mistaken me for someone else, right?”
Awkward honorifics come out.
Sticking to her concept even in an actual situation is so typical for a light novel world’s flower-brained character.
A sigh escapes me.
“Stop the show and take off the disguise. I knew from the start that you were following me.”
You think wearing a trench coat makes for a perfect disguise? What an idiot.
“W-who is Nishizawa Eri?”
I’m losing my mind.
Holding back the insults rising in my throat, I say, “You got the emergency text, right? Who’s the on-site commander? You know you’ll face disciplinary action from both the association and the academy if you don’t comply?”
That’s why I accepted this command in the first place.
Nishizawa Eri lowers her head.
Her hands are trembling.
“……Weirdo, the worst, the lowest, disgusting.”
With familiar condescension, the hat, sunglasses, and mask come off.
Her distorted expression reveals a disgustingly pretty face.
“How can someone like you, Black-haired, hold on-site command…?”
Nishizawa Eri’s face scrunches up in frustration.
Good grief, she really has an attitude problem.
I don’t like it.
This is on par with Shinozaki Rin’s level.
If you’re so upset, go hang out with the association president.
“Stop talking nonsense and gather here. If you don’t want to face discipline.”
Carrot and stick?
You’re just the stick.
“Trash, weirdo, world’s worst inferior man, pervert, sleazebag…”
Nishizawa Eri incessantly hurls insults as she rows the boat.
This is what power abuse looks like.
I now fully understand why protagonists in hunter stories cry out for power abuse and satisfaction.
Indeed, web novels are the best.
Bang!
In the meantime, gunfire continues to ring out without a break.
It didn’t take long for all the “slaves” to gather.
Nearby my and Olivia’s boat, a small boat and a duck boat crowd together.
“So, what are we going to do now?”
Olivia, arms crossed, asks.
Bang!
Ishihara’s gun barrel emits a golden magical light.
