Chapter 2 (1/2)

Nagare, Transformed

「Nevertheless, it is great that Young La.s.s is unharmed」

Among the acc.u.mulated goblin corpses, two people stood.

One of the two, Nagare turned to the Girl and gave her a kind, warm smile.

But, for some reason, the Girl seemed visibly upset. Placing her left hand on her hips, she thrusted her right index finger at Nagare.

「Hold on! It’s true that I’m thankful to you for saving me, but you keep on saying “young la.s.s” “young la.s.s” like that…… You, you’re age is not much different from mine isn’t it! Don’t you think you’re being a bit rude?」

In a huff, the Girl voiced her complaint. Although, that action was quite cute in itself.

However, Nagare simply placed his finger against his chin. “As I thought,” he mumbled to himself.

「If you would be so kind, Can you inform me how old do I look to you?」(Nagare)

「Haa? Fine by me, but aren’t you around 15 or 16 years old?」

To that answer, Nagare pulled back his chin. It wasn’t because he was particularly surprised.

That is because Nagare was a man who could understand everything from a single piece.

When he arrived in this world, from the sensations that he felt, he knew clear as day that his body had been rejuvenated.

In other words, even before the battle with the goblins he knew that the structure of his body was now different, and he figured that he would need extra time to cope with the adjustments.

However, why did this happen? Nagare was not particularly perplexed by this.

The “thing” that Nagare felt back in j.a.pan, he understood that it was likely something like a drifting thread in s.p.a.ce-time.

Once he pulled on that thread in order to reach this other world, he was exposed to the waves of s.p.a.ce-time. The cells in his revitalized to the extreme, and he instantaneously became young again.

According to the Girl’s words, his body likely went back about 70 years.

In other words, Nagare was now 15 years of age――No wonder why his skin was all slick and glossy.

「Why are you nodding to yourself for?」

「Fumu, well, it is a bit of a personal matter」(Nagare)

The Girl tilted her head as if she was looking at a very strange creature, but she quickly regained her composure and continued offering her grat.i.tude.

「Whatever the case may be, I offer you my thanks for saving me, I really am grateful. But, I was surprised, to think a STAFF can be used as a WEAPON like that! Something like that is completely unheard. It’s impressive that you thought of it, did ya know?」

In response to this Nagare was a bit speechless.

In this world the notion of using a staff to fight was a completely unthinkable action, but in j.a.pan where Nagare came from, let alone using a staff as a weapon, there were even martial arts that focused on using staves to fight.

Therefore, incidents like an old man using his cane to defend himself against some hoodlums was an everyday occurrence.

With that in mind, the concept that a staff cannot be used to fight, as expected it caused Nagare to feel an irrepressible sense of discomfort.

However, Nagare was a veteran at dealing with this feeling. Determining that this was a natural concept for this other world, it took him only 0.0000003 seconds to recollect his thoughts.

「Now that I think about it, I haven’t introduced myself huh. My name is Peach, enough with the “young la.s.s” okay」

「I am Nagare. A pleasure to meet you」

The Girl reached out her hand so Nagare grabbed hold of it.

It appears that handshakes were also used as a form of greeting in this world.

Peach’s hand was small and soft, but since Nagare’s hand also became smaller with his age, their hands were perfectly suited for each other.

However, Nagare felt that his vitality had risen to close to the strength of his golden ages.

「”Nagare” that’s a bit of a strange name huh. By the way, are you perhaps a really amazing adventurer or something like that?」(Peach)

「No, although I am a martial artist, I am not an adventurer」(Nagare)

「A “Dancing Family”[1]? What is that? Some kind of joke?」(Peach)

Based on her intonation Nagare could tell that Peach was under some kind of misunderstanding, but he didn’t want to make things unnecessarily complicated so it let it slide.

「In any case, along with that outfit of yours, you’re pretty weird huh. I’ve never seen anything like that you know. Where exactly did you come from?」(Peach)

「I suppose so. As my name suggests, I am just a wanderer who goes around aimlessly. Things like my homeland, I’ve already forgotten about stuff like that」(Nagare)

「……I see, umm, sorry for asking. Even though you are so young you’ve gone through quite a lot huh」

It seems that she misunderstood and came to some strange conclusion.

Something like his home village was attacked by bandits and he lost my family, wanting revenge he set out on a journey, seems like she came up with some wild delusion. However, that was something she did on her own so there was no real need to correct her.