Chapter 2
A Sudden Turn
"Don't be so nervous. Relax."
"Y-yes!"
The place I'd come to was a café called 'Alf.'
I was led into a room in the back, where the café's master gestured for me to sit down.
But before sitting, I straightened my back and introduced myself.
"I'm Yahiro Kota! N-nice to meet you!"
...I stumbled over my words.
The tip of my tongue hurt. My ears were burning, and I knew my cheeks had turned red without even looking in a mirror.
The master stared blankly for a moment, then gave a small chuckle. It wasn't mocking; it was the relaxed laugh of an adult.
In short, she found me 'adorable.' That only made it more embarrassing.
"Yes. It's nice to meet you too."
"Y-yes... excuse me."
I slowly lowered myself into the chair. It was a comfortable wooden chair.
The room resembled a study, with the master sitting across the desk from me.
She had dark skin and emerald eyes. Her long silver hair was tied together at the nape of her neck and swept forward over her left shoulder.
She was a woman with a slender build and features far removed from those of a Japanese person. Her beauty was enough to draw a sigh, and her figure was captivating.
But what caught my eye most of all were her long, pointed ears.
This master was a 'Dark Elf.'
Since that broadcast—the time people came to call the 'Day of Return'—people who had changed Race began appearing.
Putting that aside, my nervousness had sent my thoughts wandering to irrelevant things.
"Then I suppose I'll introduce myself this time. I'm Inoue Mizuki. I'm the manager of this café, Café Alf, and the clan master of the 'Alf' clan."
She placed a hand over her chest as she introduced herself.
A clan was an organization where adventurers gathered. Adventurers couldn't enter dungeons unless they belonged to a clan. An individual adventurer's credibility wasn't particularly high.
That's what I'd learned in the adventurer course I took during spring break.
This place was both a café and the headquarters of the 'Alf' clan.
"Now, may I ask why you want to become an adventurer, Yahiro-kun?"
"Yes. Since the 'Day of Return,' monster attacks have caused great damage all over the world. After hearing on television about the people suffering from spiritual disasters, I decided to become an adventurer so I could help society, even if only a little."
Since it was an answer I'd prepared beforehand, I managed to say it without stumbling. I quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
"...Hmm."
However, Inoue-san, the master, looked at me with a troubled expression.
"Yahiro-kun. I think that's a very admirable way of thinking."
"Y-yes. I'm honored...!"
"But... is that your only reason?"
A great deal of sweat suddenly poured out of me.
As I said nothing and let my eyes wander, Inoue-san gave me a wry smile.
"Don't take it so seriously. I'm not blaming you or anything. I just want to know how you really feel. Some people become adventurers for money or just for fun. So relax a little more... okay?"
"Y-yes..."
Hearing Inoue-san's gentle voice, I gave a small nod.
After taking one deep breath, I resolved to tell her the truth.
"Well... I've always admired adventurers. Not anyone in particular, but the profession itself."
"Yes, yes. It's a profession full of dreams, after all. I understand."
"And, well... I thought it would be nice if I could become someone like the protagonist of a manga..."
"I see."
After nodding for a while, Inoue-san smiled brightly.
"Thank you for telling me. Admiration is a very important feeling. Your motivation is something you can be proud of."
"Y-yes!"
Thank goodness... I hadn't been scolded for having 'such a stupid reason.'
"Now, could you tell me about your 'Gift'?"
As she said that, Inoue-san put on her glasses and looked down at the documents I'd submitted beforehand.
Huh. I'd heard elves generally had exceptionally keen senses, but...
She seemed to notice my question immediately and bashfully stroked the arm of her glasses.
"These? Before I became Gifted, I used reading glasses. I can't settle down without them. They're non-prescription, though."
Inoue-san's bashful smile made my heart skip a beat.
...Apparently, she's actually quite old, so wasn't this basically fraud?
Inoue-san looked about twenty. But elves were said to have long lifespans, just as they did in stories. People who changed Race often had a physical age that differed from their actual age.
I knew that better than ordinary people did.
"S-sorry. Right, your Gift."
A 'Gift' was a supernatural power wielded by people known as the Gifted, who could fight monsters.
Gifts were sometimes called psychic powers, but some Gifts were actually 'magic.' The distinction was a little troublesome.
"First, there's 'Scroll Creation.' That's a very useful Skill. It should be good for providing backup."
"Y-yes."
A 'Scroll' was a mysterious piece of parchment that let anyone use magic by channeling mana into it.
The method for making one was already in my head. For some reason, anyone with a magic-related Gift possessed knowledge of it from the very beginning. I had no idea why.
"Well, the laws haven't caught up with person-to-person sales yet, so be careful when trading with other clan members, okay?"
"Yes, of course."
"Next is the 'Foresight Magic Eye.' This is useful too. It's suited to combat."
"Yes... I can only see a few seconds into the future at most, though."
"Even so, that's more than enough. It should be invaluable in battle, and it will help with exploration inside labyrinths too."
"Y-yes...!"
As for the Magic Eye, it was exactly what its name suggested.
I knew it worked because I occasionally avoided crow droppings and dog poop.
...I decided not to mention that.
"And the third Gift. Having three Gifts is rare enough by itself. 'Mistletoe Arrow,' huh? It can be extremely useful depending on the situation, but you'll need to be careful when using it."
"Yes. I'll be careful."
'Mistletoe Arrow.'
Using this Gift allowed me to 'inflict wounds on an opponent that could never be regenerated.' On top of that, it apparently ignored every form of defense except physical durability.
It was also called the Undying Killer Gift. Its name might have come from Norse mythology. Then again, I had no idea who decided the names of these abilities.
The names and powers of Gifts simply appeared in one's mind. There was no way to explain them logically.
In any case, accidentally attacking myself or an ally while this Gift was active would be disastrous.
There was a way to deal with that, but... I didn't really want to test it.
"Finally, your 'Unique Gift.' Honestly, I'm surprised. I never expected someone this amazing to want to join us."
"Uh, yes... th-thank you."
I scratched my head, unsure how to respond.
Ordinary Gifts, whether common or rare, were powers that other Gifted people possessed as well.
Unique Gifts were different. As the name suggested, they were Gifts possessed by only one person. They were generally considered to be extremely powerful.
"'Ochi no Chishio'... blood with the same power as 'Ochimizu' from Japanese mythology, huh?"
'Ochimizu' was a mysterious medicine possessed by the god of the moon.
I'd heard that if a person drank it, they would live long without aging, while sowing it over the land guaranteed a bountiful harvest.
Because of this Gift, ordinary wounds healed instantly, and with a little mana, I could heal other people's injuries as well. Poison, disease, and even curses were no exception. Still, aside from cutting my fingertip on paper, I'd never really experienced the power myself.
If anything, I'd used it for the bountiful harvest part...
As I was thinking that, Inoue-san knitted her brows.
"That's an incredible power. If you wanted to, you could keep someone from aging."
"Y-yes... though only if I used it continuously."
"Even so, it's unbelievable. Before the 'Day of Return,' powerful people all over the world might have hunted you down for it."
"Haha... I think so too."
Why had I revealed such an outrageous Unique Gift so readily?
Simply because both the 'rejuvenation potion' and the 'panacea' had already been discovered.
A certain Gifted person had published those magic potions along with their recipes, about a year after the 'Day of Return.'
Preparing the ingredients, equipment, and everything else was difficult, but their reproducibility had been confirmed. Needless to say, people all over the world were turned upside down by the news.
An era had arrived when people could escape the limits of their lifespans as long as they had money, time, and connections—without needing to kidnap anyone.
I'm no self-proclaimed Demiurge, but this really was like a world from mythology.
"But bad people might try to use it to make money, so be careful, okay? Don't talk about it too much outside, either."
"Ah, yes."
She was right. If this had been an ordinary job interview rather than an interview to become an adventurer, I wouldn't have revealed it so easily, either.
"As far as abilities go, you're more than qualified. You'd be an immediate asset."
"Ah, thank you very much!"
"However..."
Inoue-san furrowed her brows, looking a little troubled.
"You seem to be a somewhat unusual Race, but you're fifteen, right? I don't mean that you merely look young."
"Yes. I'm fifteen."
"Um... I'm sorry if this is rude."
She stared intently into my eyes.
Into eyes that had turned red as blood after the 'Day of Return.'
"Does your desire to become an adventurer have something to do with your 'oni blood'?"
"...Yes, I suppose it might. I can't say it has nothing to do with it."
Inoue-san wasn't the only person whose Race had changed since the 'Day of Return.'
Mine and my parents' had changed too.
My father was a half-elf. My mother was a half-oni woman. And I was a 'quarter-elf, quarter-oni, half-human.'
Even I found that confusing when I said it aloud. Back in middle school, my friends used to call me a 'mongrel.'
Race could affect a person's personality and preferences. For oni, several urges were said to grow stronger.
Sexual desire. Appetite. And the urge to fight.
My parents had approved of my becoming an adventurer so that I wouldn't direct that urge to fight at other humans. My mother, being half-oni herself, seemed to have a somewhat difficult time with it too.
Though I was only a quarter-oni.
"But I usually don't feel much influence from my oni blood. I don't particularly like fighting itself."
Even my mother could vent her urges with fighting games and robot games. If that wasn't enough, she apparently sang at karaoke, screaming her songs at the top of her lungs.
In this age, there was no shortage of safe entertainment. Some of it satisfied an oni's urge to fight to a certain degree. The only problem was the expense.
"Then your reason for wanting to become an adventurer really is what you said earlier."
"Yes."
Inoue-san rested her index finger against her lips and thought for a while.
"...Only fifteen... but... an educational environment would be better than sending a fifteen-year-old there..."
Judging by the clock on the wall, she thought for about fifteen seconds.
But it felt much longer to me.
"...I understand. It would be meddlesome of me to force you to stop, wouldn't it?"
When she smiled, I breathed another sigh of relief.
"I'd like to welcome you to 'Alf.' Is there anything else you'd like to tell me or ask me, Yahiro-kun?"
"Y-yes. Um, I wrote this in the documents I gave you beforehand, but my Scrolls are a little unusual..."
About thirty minutes later, the interview ended without incident.
The following week, I would take the final test: clearing a low-difficulty labyrinth with the clan master. In other words, I would be conquering a monster habitat called a 'dungeon.'
＊ ＊ ＊
Haaah...
I let out a long breath. It was probably the umpteenth time since leaving the café.
With the stress of the interview gone, my body felt light as a feather. I'd planned to take the bus, but since I had the time, I decided to walk home instead.
It would take about forty minutes on foot, perhaps? It was a little far, but this body never seemed to tire.
I knew from the bus ride that there was a bookstore along the way. Maybe I could stop there and look for some interesting manga. I liked e-books too, but I was even more fond of paper books.
I walked along with a light step for about twenty minutes.
I passed through a shopping district lined with shuttered shops, then stopped at a traffic light.
On the other side of the crosswalk stood a man in a suit, apparently working despite it being Saturday, along with several boys and girls around middle-school age.
The middle-school group was probably in the same club. They wore matching tracksuits, carried large bags on their backs, and chatted happily.
For some reason, I felt uncomfortable around them and lowered my gaze. I stared pointlessly at the yellow tactile paving.
────Clink.
But I raised my head at the sound. It shouldn't have been loud, yet for some reason it caught my attention.
At that moment, a large truck passed by. Once it had gone, the suited man and the middle-school group stood on the other side.
"Huh...?"
Behind them stood something resembling a human skeletal specimen.
It had no flesh, yet moved as if nothing were amiss. Rags were wrapped around its torso, and it gripped an axe in both hands. An eerie blue flame burned in its empty eye sockets.
My Magic Eye told me what would happen a few seconds from now. I understood what was about to occur.
And yet, my body wouldn't move.
A passenger car passed in front of me, and at the same time, the traffic light turned green.
On the other side of the crosswalk, a red flower bloomed from the shoulder of one of the middle schoolers.