A Quiet Departure, Unbeknownst to All; A Quiet Encounter, Guided by Fate (2)

...My head hurts.

By the time I woke up, it was evening. I was on the run—what on earth was I doing...? The only reason the mine guards hadn't found me by then was pure luck. There was no question that I shouldn't be conducting experiments like this right now...

Still, I had learned something.

The difference between 【Wind Magic】 and 【Fire Magic】 was whether I had seen them before or after acquiring 【World Ruler】. I couldn't use the 【Wind Magic】 I'd seen before acquiring it, but I could use the 【Fire Magic】 I'd seen afterward.

But the fatigue I felt while using 【Orb Removal】 was completely different from what I felt when activating 【Fire Magic】. The former left my body utterly limp, while the latter felt like all my strength was draining away. You know what I mean? No? I don't really understand it either.

This is probably what they call magic power. There are even Skills like 【Magic Power Enhancement★】, after all.

"Well... More importantly, what am I going to do now?"

I planned to somehow sneak into the mining town and change my clothes first. I was now considered a "runaway slave," so being caught by anyone—not just the mine guards—would be bad. Still, as long as no one saw through me and realized I was a slave, they wouldn't check my identity. And even if they did, I could insist I was a freed slave.

So the biggest problem was my clothes. They were crude clothes that clearly marked me as a slave. There was also the tattoo on my left arm, but it wouldn't be visible if I wore long sleeves, so I didn't need to deal with that quite as urgently.

"Hmm. I have a bad feeling about this."

The town nearest the mine was probably where the mine guards were stationed, making it the first place they'd be on alert. In fact, there had to be plenty of runaway slaves thinking the same way I was, so it was probably best to assume that fighting had already broken out in town several times.

"...Should I skip this town and head for the next one? But then I'd have to figure out how to spend the night. Ah, damn it, I shouldn't have been testing Skills!"

Of course I couldn't help testing it. I had no money or stamina, and the only thing I could rely on for now was 【World Ruler】. Maybe I should start calling it World Ruler-sama, or even World Ruler-sensei.

After much deliberation, I decided to spend the night here, at least for now. Since I had slept soundly during the day without the mine guards discovering me, they probably weren't paying much attention to the area between the town and the mine. (I mean, who would expect someone to be sleeping right next to town?)

Wild dogs probably wouldn't come this close to town, either... That wasn't merely wishful thinking on my part; even World Ruler-sama seemed to be saying, "Maybe."

Morning came. In short, nothing had happened.

"..."

I climbed down from the tree and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. It was true that nothing had happened... but I'd heard dogs howling from all around.

The forest was much darker than I'd expected, too. I had chosen a spot only a little way into the forest, thinking, "I guess I shouldn't sleep somewhere visible from town," and I couldn't count how many times I'd wanted to punch myself for it.

I'd only gone a little way into the forest, but there was nothing but darkness and more darkness. It was too dark to change locations, either. Still, it was helpful that 【World Ruler】 told me things like, "That howl is just calling for companions," and, "That rustling is a small animal." I never wanted to do this again.

In the darkness, I remembered my time in the mine. My memories felt as though they were shrouded in mist, but I still remembered a great deal.

The tunnels I'd explored with Lark. The various things Old Man Hinga had taught me.

"Lark... I wonder if they're all right."

Even after gaining a powerful Skill, Lark was still a child like me. Since I had experience in Japan, I might understand some things better than Lark did.

"Now I'm worrying about myself, huh?"

I circled around the town's outskirts while keeping my distance, then moved until I could see the main road. A merchant caravan traveling in horse-drawn wagons came into view, and I figured this had to be the main road. Were the people riding in the wagons adventurers? I couldn't tell from this distance... As I wondered, one of the adventurers looked my way. Even though I was hiding in the grass, they kept staring at me. A cold sweat broke out, but no one did anything, and the caravan moved on. Did that mean, "If they don't make a move, we won't make one either"?

Could that have been a Skill for sensing presences? Or did they simply have good eyesight?

"...If that was a Skill, could I copy it with 【World Ruler】?"

I stared intently at a tree growing in the distance. Then—

"I can see it!?"

Was this some kind of enhanced vision? Amazing! I could see every single leaf in crisp detail!

"—Ah!"

I'd forgotten about the fatigue backlash from using 【World Ruler】! I braced myself, but no backlash came. Apparently, things that enhanced my physical abilities caused no backlash.

That was a relief, but I'd managed this much simply by imitating what I'd seen.

"That adventurer must have been able to see much more clearly than I could..."

I decided I needed to be careful.

As I walked across the grassland beside the main road, I tried various things. Skills in the 【Swordsmanship】 family should have been on display during the battles between slaves and mine guards, but I didn't feel as though I could use them. That must have been because I hadn't properly observed them with my own eyes. "Observing" was an essential element of 【World Ruler】. It made sense—when 【Fire Magic】 was used, whether or not the wall collapsed was a matter of life and death, so I had watched it closely.

And although 【World Ruler】 really did produce an inferior copy of the original, it had the tremendous advantage that it didn't consume any Skill slots. According to Old Man Hinga, there were masters of "swordsmanship" who didn't possess the 【Swordsmanship】 Skill, and some people could learn to use "fire magic" without possessing a Skill like 【Fire Magic】. Skills were merely "shortcuts to becoming capable"; human beings naturally possessed unlimited potential.

So through 【World Ruler】, I could learn those abilities. If the "distorted lens" that was me became a "precision lens," perhaps I would be able to learn more effectively. That was only a hypothesis, though.

"Even if I can't perfectly copy Skills at this stage... Isn't 【World Ruler】 an utterly insane Skill?"

Even as I felt a faint dread at the possibilities held by a ten-star Skill,

...More importantly, I need to think about surviving right now."

I steeled myself.