/
Gusu-oyake asks me a strangequestion just as we’re reaching the town. “Zero-san, would you mind covering yourself with that hood before weenter?”
“ Ahh ?”
Hood?  Oh, she means my parka.  Why’s she want me to do something annoyinglike that?  I bet it’s some sort oftradition, but why’s she saying this now?
“Sure, sounds like there’s somesorta reason for it.  I’ll do it.”
Gusu-oyake gets all happy at myagreeing to her request.  “Thank you verymuch.”
Oi,I’m not so much of a blockhead that I can’t understand logic.
For now, since we’re getting close,I pull on my parka’s hood.  Surroundingthe town is something like a wall while standing guard are some guys in armor.
I say, “Hey, what’s that?”
“ Ah ?  Right, that’s just asmall check in area.  They keep outthings like monsters.  It would beterrible if something like that got in.”
“Okay, yeah, I get it.”
Hm?  Am I going to get treated like amonster?  Well, it’s probably better thanthem getting freaked out
  Actually,thinking about it, what about the chibi? Meh, they’re cute.  They mightjust get a free pass once they’re discovered.
Just like that, we reach thegate.  I walk right behind Gusu-oyake andam completely lost on what I should do. She says to the people there, “Yes, in that case
  Yes, that person is with me.”
Withher?  Well, I guess there’s no helpingit?  Not like she can say I came fromanother world.  Although, those two guardlike people have it completely out for me. The hell did I do?
Gusu-oyake keeps saying to them,“No, that’s why
  Ughh, alright, butplease don’t over react.  Zero-san, wouldyou mind removing your hood?”
I look at the guards from earlierand say, “What, they wanna see my face? Sure.”  I then take it off and tryshowing my goodwill with a friendly smile.
One guard shrieks while putting abit of distance between us.  “ Hii !” The other does the same, but without making any sound.  Both of them are trembling.
Dammit,I’m already used to this, but it still hurts.
Gusu-oyake says, “Huh?  He isn’t a bad person, his eyes are just abit
 No, they’re utterly terrifying. That’s why he was wearing a hood.”
“W- We understand, please come inside.”
“Thank you very much!  Come on, Zero-san!  Let’s enter this town!”
Gusu-oyake is happy, but my hearttook a blow. Shit.
We enter the town and the chibi,just like I expected, get a free pass.
I say, “So, what are we doingfirst?”
“Today I want to look for an innand prepare for the search.  Tomorrow, Ithink we should go look for spirits.”
Isee, good plan.  Let’s start by lookingfor an inn.
Gusu-oyake, without getting lost,immediately leads us to an inn.  It lookslike the dwellings of this town are near the entrance. Gottasay, it’s pretty convenient.
Thisbuilding
 it’s made of wood?  Nice, youdon’t see too many like this back home anymore.
Gusu-oyake is over by counterfeverishly talking with one of the staff. Actually, thinking about it, I’mbroke.
Gusu-oyake says, “Excuse me, thetwo of us would like to stay here for the night.”
“ Hai, hai, will a shared room suffice?”
“No, no,no, no, no!  Tworooms, please!”
“ Ahra , then why are you traveling with a man?  Very well, two rooms, is it?”
“Y- yes.”
Gusu-oyake returns and says, “I gotus a pair of rooms, so let’s go store our luggage.”
“ Ah , hold on.  What about thebill?”
Gusu-oyake covers her mouth with ahand as she chuckles.
Whatthe?  Is telling me a problem?
“Zero-san, are you not mybenefactor?  Please don’t mind somethinglike this.”
“Your benefactor?  Were you really that hungry?”
“Not that!  I’m not talking about food!  Didn’t you save me from those goblins!?”
“Oh yeah, that did happen now thatyou mention it.  You just scarfed down somuch food that I totally forgot about it.”
“Ughh, my stomach is a differentmatter
”
Ahre,that’s weird. Iwas about to praise Gusu-oyake, but then she got upset. Dealingwith women is hard

The rooms we are given are rightnext to each other.  We leave our thingsinside and then leave to go shopping and grab a bite. Guesswe’ll be looking at tools or something like that.
While I walk to a second-hand shopwith Gusu-oyake, I notice something strange. “Hey, Gusu-oyake.”
Gusu-oyake has somewhat gotten usedto speaking with me.  She’s slowlybecoming able to hold a normal conversation with me.  “ Hai,hai, what is the matter?”
Butshe still won’t look me in the eye!
I say, “About that.  Is everyone’s head here colorful?”
“Oh, are you asking about haircolor?  Guess I forgot to mention it.”
Huh?  There’s actually a reason for it?  Everyone isn’t just trying to befashionable?
Gusu-oyake says, “Hair color isinfluenced by magic power.  Take me forexample.  Since my specialty is firemagic, my hair is red.  Those with bluehair have great command over water magic. Zero-san, since your hair is brown, you are probably good at earthmagic?”
“ Ehh, that’s pretty useful.”
Gotit.  So hair color and magic power arerelated?  That’s something.
We continue on our way to the used goodsstore.  Once there, Gusu-oyake explainsall kinds of things to me, but even with that, I still have no idea about whatto get.  All I have to go off of is thebasic explanation she gave me after all.

Ahre?  Am I actually just deadweight?
As we leave the store, I carry asmuch of what we bought as I can.  I eventake Gusu-oyake’s.  “Hey, come here.”
“ Eh ?  Ah, the bags
”
“Leave carrying it all to me.”
“I know you don’t really want tohear it, but thank you very much.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
That’s when I hear some angryvoices.  I take a look and see thatthey’re coming from a buff jii -san, a big guy, and a shrimp.  “Quit making me repeat myself!  I have no interest in making any weapons foryou!”
“What!?  I don’t like your tune, jijii [1] !!”
“Aniki!  He needs an accident!”
Che,there are people like this no matter where you go.
Gusu-oyake is staring straight atthem. Is she thinking about getting involved? I better tell her to just leave it alone.
“Well then, I have work to do!  I’ll be going now!”
“This, jijii!”
The jijii drops after a single kickfrom the big guy.  “ Guh .”
Gusu-oyake can’t stand watching anylonger and says, “Zero-san, please wait here for a bit!”
“You should stand back instead.”
“But!”  I give Gusu-oyake everything I’mholding.  “
Zero-san?”
I then march straight towards themand slam the big guy’s shoulder.
“Huh!?  Bastard, watch where you’re going!  Or do you want some of this too!?”
I don’t waste a second and kickhim.  “ Oraa !”
The huge lump falls over andcrashes against a wall.  “ Gugee !?”
Even just looking at him ispitiful.
“Ba, bababababastarrd!  What did you do to aniki !?”
“Nothing much
 You could say I justfelt like kicking him the same way he did.”
The shrimp flinches before reachingbehind himself to point something at me [2] .  “Qu- quit messing around! Oraa ,you want some of this!?”
I look him the eye.  “ Ahh ?”
The shrimp’s eyes begin to swim intheir sockets.  “ Hiiii !”
Haa,my eyes are actually useful during times like these.  One more push should do it.
I take a deep breath andshout.  “Whaaat’s thaaaat!? Oraa ,you want some of this!!?  Say yourprayers, oraaaaaaaaaaaaa !!”
The shrimp hoists the big guy overa shoulder and takes off.  “I’msooooorrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”
Keh,they’ll never show their faces again. Thechibi pull down their eye lids and stick out their tongues at the two as theyescape. Not a bad idea. I also holdup my middle finger at them.
Right,I should see to the jijii.
I say, “ Oi , jijii, you alright there?”
“Ye- yeah.  Sorry about that young ma
 Hyoo !?”
Che,even if I help them, this happens the second they see my eyes.
However, the jijii then shakes hishead and looks me straight in the eye
 only to turn away.  He says, “No, you saved me, young man.  I’m truly grateful.”
“Yeah, anyway, I’ll see you home.”
“What, you will?  Sorry for the trouble.”
I then help the jijii up.  He doesn’t seem to have been hurt thatbadly. Anyway, I’ve decided to see this guy home, but what about Gusu-oyake?
“Zero-san!?  You just kick that guy out of nowhere!  That you help this man is praiseworthy, butyou cannot just kick people!”
“ Che , don’t get into a fight without getting ready to be hurt.  Honestly, if I really went at it, then they’dbe headed straight for the hospital.”
“That’s no good!?  For real, please stop
  That worries me.”
She’sworried?  About me? Herputting it like that makes me feel lousy. So, now what, should I apologizeor something?
I say, “You’re worried?  My bad. Next time I’ll be serious and properly finish them off.”
“Please don’t finish them off!?”
The jijii smiles as he watchesGusu-oyake and me argue back and forth. Him looking at us like that is completely embarrassing. Well,whatever, let’s just see him home for now.




Manai Zero
Skill: The Person Loved by Spirits
Special Feature: Intimidating Eyes
Item: Stone Ax
Objective: Assist Gusu-Oyake
T/N: Another chapter down.  I’m pretty sure I said this last chapter, but this is starting to get easier.  It makes me quite happy.  Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to finish one of my projects this year.
So, who’s happy to see this today??
~Gandire Alea
[1] Old man/Gramps
[2] ć°ă•ă„ă»ă†ăŻăƒă‚«ăƒŒăƒłăšă—ăŸćŸŒă€äżșă«ă‚Źăƒłă€ă‘ăŠăăŸă€‚
<<5. Ah, right, what’s a spirit?
7. You want a pipe?>>