On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

"Pfft.... Ha-Ha-Ha! Did you seriously say that? That was really unexpected of you."

"S-stop reminding me about it. I was also embarrassed, you know!?"

"Well, you could have not done that."

"I thought it was a good idea...I mean men are easy, are they not? It worked anyway, so I wasn't wrong! ... Besides, Layland also praised me."

"...."

Roughly twenty minutes have passed since Lunea's embarrassing moment. Millonia and Winerva joined us five minutes ago; Millonia had immediately asked why Lunea was so flustered and being the good girl she was, Lunea told her.

Millonia finds it very funny and unexpected that the pure-looking girl Lunea has that kind of thought in her mind, so she can't stop laughing. Lunea's face turns even redder but she is still lucky because Winerva is on her side.

"You have gotten closer," I remark.

"Well, not actually. We still don't know much about the other party but the barrier that stood before us had been destroyed, so interacting with each other has become easier," Millonia retorts, earning a nod from the girls.

"Was it because you spent half an hour sleeping in the same room together?" I wonder.

"It is probably because we fought and bled together. Didn't you see how well-coordinated we were considering the fact that we never trained together before?"

"Ah, indeed. That can also strengthen camaraderie."

When the food comes, I let the girls enjoy their meal and go to the counter to pay for everything. They charge me 20 Peculia or 40$ for everything, which is insanely cheap considering their service.

"Here you go," I say as I give the girl standing behind the counter 100 Peculia. "Ah, can you please call the waitress that served me?"

"This is...distinguished customer, this is too much...." The girl seems pretty shocked by the appearance of 100 Peculia, which is not that much, but still does what I asked. "Please, wait here for a couple of seconds. I will bring you Lativa."

'Oh? That is a beautiful name,' I think. I don't know what it means and it is my first time hearing it but I still think it is a beautiful name.

Fifteen seconds later, the girl behind the counter returns with Lativa, the waitress that served me. Said waitress is flustered if her blushing face is any indication; she can't also meet me in the eyes.

"D-Did I happen to d-disappoint you, sir?" Lativa stammers.

"No, you didn't; in fact, I called you because I was pleased by your service." I wave my hand lightly and then take out a pouch filled with 500 Peculia. "I know how hard you work and, for that, I commend you. Here is a little reward for your hard work."

Lativa receives the pouch with a surprised look and then weighs it. I think the people of this world are generally smarter than humans on earth since they can count by feeling.

"500 Peculia...this is...!" she mutters in disbelief. "Sir, isn't this a little bit...?"

Lativa offers to return the pouch to me but I put up my hand to stop her. She widens her eyes and then bows deeply, which is highly surprising because she does that for only 500 Peculia, which is nothing considering the amount of money I have.

'Oh, wait.... It is 1000$, huh? Well, that is a bit overboard for a tip but meh...'

Turning around after the matter is settled, I am met by the strangely cold gaze of the girls. Their meals are entirely forgotten as they pin me with their gaze.

I can tell they are accusing me of being an accursed Casanova or something but I ignore them and head outside. I don't want to spend my time clearing such a stupid misunderstanding.

Clink-clank!

As the door closes behind me, upon being outside the inn, my attention is stolen by a guy who is plastering a piece of paper on the wall of the building he can see. I scrutinize the piece of paper and figure out that it is a wanted poster...of me and the girls.

Walking toward the wanted poster so I don't have to look at it from afar like a weirdo, I can't help a snicker as soon as I look at the illustration. Whoever managed to catch the glimpse of us must have been blind since the three people drawn on the poster don't look like us at all.

"Who the hell is this slender man? I may be tall but I am not slender--couldn't the fucker who saw me see the muscles that my clothes barely hide?" I grumble softly for some stupid reason. "Well, at least, the girls are depicted as repulsive witches," I snicker.

Bounty hunters will never be able to catch us--I guarantee--as long as we are still depicted as a slender man and three ugly witches. I know the illustration will get better but...by that time, all of the Heroes will have died.

Moving away from the poster, I walk to the market of the Barony. I have no reason for coming here but I am interested in what people talk about.

"As expected, another war is about to occur, huh?"

"Hush! Don't talk about something as depressing as that. We already lost a lot of people--we can't afford to lose anymore."

"We have the Heroes already. It is time to put them to good use."

Many people see my movement as an omen of the next war. They are not that far from the truth but they are looking too deep into the matter.

I can't help noting the apparent distress the people have. For them to immediately think of the worst-case scenario whenever something happens means they never believe in the people who protect them, which is something I can't blame them for.

The royalty and the nobles suck. They are too selfish to think about them, after all.

When I get out of the market, it turns out an hour has passed. The time within the market seems to move so slow that I don't even notice it.

I encounter Millonia, Winerva and Lunea when I am heading to the town hall and they immediately come up to me. Millonia looks at me with a scrunched-up nose as she complains about how fast I disappeared from their view.

"Where have you been? We have been looking for you!"

"I was gathering some information. Also, don't say that to me while you are carrying bags of food and clothes."

"You can't blame us, can you? You were the one who left us after all."

"Ah, I won't blame you." I nod my head. "I just wanted to let the three of you have some fun before our departure. Did you have fun?"

"...yeah, I guess," Millonia answers after a few seconds of silence. "Oh, by the way, have you seen the wanted poster?" She can't help a snicker even though she hasn't talked about the peculiarity of the poster yet.

I nod my head in confirmation and she immediately laughs as she hits my arm a couple of times. She teases me about how weird I look on the poster, uncaring of how repulsive she is depicted in the poster.

I let her have her laugh and then smack her head for hitting my arm relentlessly when she has had enough laughs. The rest of the girls merely watch from the sidelines; only when I tell them it is time to depart do they enter our zone.

We get out of the Barony and head to the forest nearby. Genelos immediately assumes his true form as soon as we reach the center of the forest and then takes us to Avaria County, which is where my next targets are.

....

Averia County is located on the east of Anades Barony. It is roughly 170 Absitan from the Barony, so we reach it in 3 hours of slow flying.

Technically, we haven't reached the County yet since we have to land in the nearest forest to it, which is 2 Absitan from it. From there, we have to walk to the County.

Although Genelos could have just flown invisibly, we will still encounter trouble when we land. People will question us when we suddenly appear out of thin air and suspect us of hiding something since they won't be able to detect any sign of [Teleportation].

Due to that reason, we will always find a forest whenever we want to land.

"I think you should consider establishing a Contract with a Summon," Millonia remarks as soon as we arrive before the County gate. "It is really annoying to walk when you can ride on something."

"You know that I can only have a Summon from Hell, don't you? What will people think if I ride on Cerberus?"

"Meh, you won't be able to establish a Contract with such a powerful creature," Millonia retorts nonchalantly.

"I guess only time will tell."

"... I was only joking. You don't plan to feed me to Cerberus later, do you?"

"Only time will tell."

As my turn to enter the County comes, the guards immediately ask me about a lot of things. I stay silent the entire time and give him a piece of gold, which is equivalent to 500 Peculia, by the time he finished talking.

"They are with me," I gesture to the girls behind me.

"Ah, yes, you may through, kind sir. Have a good time in our Barony!"

Corruption leads to failure. Because human nature is prone to corruption, humanity is doomed to destruction. I think a lot about this. With how easy it is to destroy them internally, humans are really lucky to have survived this long.