Chapter 189: When I was a child and Dungeon with Origami-san (1/2)

My parents weren’t the type that played with their children, so me, Celica, and Karen utilized the internet from a pretty young age.

Celica and Karen now utilize the net better than even their own limbs, but they of course didn’t have that ability from the beginning.

At first -when they were around 3 years old- the most they did was watch videos in their game console.

In all of that, the one we watched the most often was the Worigami Channel.

My little sisters were 3 years apart from me, so I ended up watching after them most of the time, but I was saved quite a bit by his daily videos.

The influence of Worigami-san was big, and the game that Celica and Karen got into at first was Minecraft. Most of the reason why those 2 -especially Karen- got that good with computers was because they learned while playing minecraft.

I would watch the Worigami Channel with them pretty often.

I also watched the origami videos he uploaded in his early days, and we siblings learned how to do a variety of origami.

For me who didn’t have that many good memories of my elementary school days, the always cheerful and smiling Worigami-san was one of the few good memories I can remember clearly.

The me at that time was, how to say it…straying from the right path a bit.

Things like ‘why do I have to look after my little sisters?’, ‘why do I have to do the house chores?’, ‘why am I the only one who is getting scolded?’.

…If only my little sisters weren’t here.

Now that I look back on it, it is embarrassing how childish I was, but I did think in that way.

The more my little sisters got attached to me, the stronger that feeling got, and as an elementary schooler, I had no means to control my own emotions, so there’s no doubt it showed in my attitude too.

At the very least, it should have been transmitted to Celica. So by the time she was 2nd year in elementary school, she would take the initiative to do the things in the house together with me. There’s no doubt it had something to do with my attitude.

Karen still went at her own pace though.

It is not like we didn’t get along.

My 3 years younger little sisters would get loved by my family no questions asked, and they were so young they didn’t even have the distinction between good or bad.

No matter how intelligent they are, there’s no doubt they were still infants, and I, who was an actual big child…saw those two as thoughtless. I felt like my little sisters, who I couldn’t even compare to in brains at all, were an hindrance, and even despised them.

Mother would say ‘You two are not like your Onii-chan’ as if it were a habit, and maybe the two understood that that was the case, they would answer cheerfully with a ‘yes~’. That darkened my mood even further.

I have never spoken about those times to the two out of fear.

By the time I got to middle school, the two of them could already do everything by themselves. There would be times when I would get tossed about by them, but I had stopped taking a weird attitude with them.

I had become an adult.

That’s what it must have meant.

Or maybe I held pity towards the 2 who were shouldering way too excessive expectations from our mother.

When I was a child, I didn’t understand: ‘Why me?’.

But I knew at that time, those way too special girls are the ones who were saying ‘why me?’ in the truest meaning; always living while feeling in this way.

That’s why, by the time I was taking the exams for high school, I had decided that my plan for the future would be: graduate from high school, find a job, stay in the house, take care of my parents, and have my 2 little sisters escape…

I am the only one who can tear away those girls from our parents.

I actually wanted to escape myself.

My father only thought of himself, and my mother was extremely cold to me.

Living together with them was only suffocating. It is only because my little sisters and Nanami were there that I somehow managed by using every trick in the book.

But I had decided.

By the time I enrolled in high school, my parents already barely worked, and the house was running with the money Celica and Karen earned. If I run away, Celica and Karen won’t be able to get away from my parents ever.

Of course, I should respect the will of the people themselves.

If those 2 say that they want to live with our parents, I don’t mind that. But I know that’s not the case.

I have heard a number of times their secret talks about how to escape from that house after all.

I want to support that as their brother.

…I wanted to.

With how things are currently, that has all turned into bubbles and fizzled out though.

Anyways, that’s how it was at our house, but I had peace of mind when I was watching the videos of Worigami-san. At those days, I didn’t have much free time, and I didn’t have many friends, so his videos really helped me out.

That Worigami-san is in front of me right now.

I thought all naturally that if there’s anything I can help with, I want to.

“Are you going to stay in this city for a while?” (Hikaru)

“Hmm~, right… Leveling up in a dungeon seems to be efficient, so I was thinking about doing my best! Battle! Combat where blood is shed and flesh dances!” (Worigami)

After he clenched his fist and said this, he added in a whisper ‘it doesn’t suit me though’.

It is true that leveling is important.

You get stronger and your endurance increases. Most of all, your ability to deal with outside threats improves as well. If you get attacked by bandits in a wasteland, the chances of you getting out of it increase if your level is high. That goes the same for wild animals.

“Do you have battle experience?” (Hikaru)

“I do have a little bit, but it was against wild animals, and my legs went weak…” (Worigami)

“Yeah, wild animals are scary. The corpses also remain once you defeat them.” (Hikaru)

Rifreya told me before that creatures living outside are in principle not monsters.

The difference between monsters and wild animals is the way they are born. Strictly speaking, all living beings born from the collection of Spirits are monsters. How complicated.

Monsters and wild animals leave behind carcasses when you defeat them…in other words, their corpses remain. Only the Spirit Stone is left behind in the dungeon, so it is clean in a way. The hurdle is lower in that point too.

“Do you have any advice?” (Worigami)

“Uhm…let’s see. Jeanne knows more about this than me, but I think what’s important here really is how you allocated your Points. Did you take Physical Strength Up?” (Hikaru)

“I did, I did! Only level 1 though.” (Worigami)

“Then, I don’t think you will have any problems in the 1st Floor.” (Hikaru)