After witnessing Jhin's series of spectacularly questionable maneuvers, Pecorine and Kokkoro arrived at the exact same silent verdict at the exact same moment.
It was probably a good thing that Jhin (Master) had given up on being the Hero.
"Well, well — good fortune puts a spring in your step! Who'd have thought we'd fill our guild's headcount this fast? We don't even need to recruit anyone else now."
"But Master, this Miss Megumi hasn't actually agreed to join us yet, has she?"
Jhin smirked. "With that recording in hand, she's not going anywhere. She'll be a good girl and do as she's told."
"Uwah... you're sounding more like a Demon King's general by the second."
"I've read plenty of manga and light novels — pulling this stuff off is a piece of cake."
Jhin launched into an enthusiastic rundown of every villainous scheme he'd ever seen a manga antagonist pull.
I'm trying to tell you your methods are a little... questionable, you know.
Pecorine opened her mouth, then closed it again without saying a word. Jhin's current behavior was erratic — worlds apart from the considerate, gentle person she'd first met — yet she chose to trust him anyway. He had to have his reasons.
If she hears all this, I wonder what that little black cat will decide to do.
If she had some ulterior motive — toward him, or toward Pecorine and Kokkoro — then using the guild invitation as a pretext to stay close to them was the smartest play available. It wouldn't even arouse suspicion.
If that cat-eared girl really was thinking along those lines, she'd been eavesdropping for quite a while now, and Jhin was curious what approach she'd use to make her entrance.
He hadn't forgotten why he'd come to this world. With no concrete leads on [What Marches Toward Death], all he could do for now was stay alert to anything unusual — and the cat-eared girl surveilling them was the most pressing thing demanding his attention.
As a viral program, [What Marches Toward Death] couldn't achieve a perfect disguise even after assimilating with a native organism of this world. Which meant the cat-eared girl might be a spy dispatched by whatever host it had already taken over.
What he couldn't figure out, though, was how they'd located him with such pinpoint precision.
If they already knew where he'd landed, why not strike when he was at his most vulnerable?
Unless... the cat-eared girl isn't here watching me at all. She's here watching Pecorine.
Jhin flicked a glance at Pecorine — who was, inevitably, eating again — and decided that theory was considerably more likely. Normal people didn't wander around wearing three high-powered pieces of equipment all at once, with a move called [Princess Assault] in their arsenal.
But since she clearly intended to keep it hidden, Jhin had no intention of digging for answers. He and Pecorine weren't close enough yet for him to go prying into something like that. Knowing when to keep your distance was, in its own way, how you brought people closer.
He shelved the notion of immediately going after [What Marches Toward Death] — the ultimate final boss — for the time being.
Even if you're dealt a perfect opening hand, you don't flip your cards face-up for your opponent to see. Even if you're holding nothing but bombs and straights.
That was just how Jhin operated. In RPGs, he'd grind himself into a full set of divine gear before marching up to the Demon King for a righteous beatdown.
Hot-blooded one-on-one duels were something he reserved for fighting games — specifically, for playing against Gabriel.
The group had just stepped out of the forest when a figure burst onto the green, wave-like plains ahead of them, screaming for help. It was a beastman. The corner of Jhin's mouth curled upward, and he murmured quietly:
"Right on schedule."
"Ahhhh! Adventurers, over there — please, save me!"
Pecorine didn't need to be asked twice. The moment she saw the monster attack, she drew her sword and charged. Kokkoro cast a Haste spell on her, then tightened her grip on her spear and took a guarded stance beside Jhin.
Jhin watched the moment Pecorine came barreling toward her — the little black cat's expression shifted unmistakably. That confirmed it. She was here for Pecorine.
Facing a pack of Fang-Blue Wolves — a common threat on the open plains — Pecorine went straight for the big guns.
"Princess Assault!"
Where Jhin's attacks were sharp and clean, fast enough that they seemed to cut through space itself, Pecorine's [Princess Assault] was something else entirely — she launched herself like a living cannon.
A pillar of light tore into the center of the wolf pack and detonated with a thunderous boom. Pecorine stood at the epicenter of the explosion, completely unscathed, and flashed Jhin a peace sign with a grin.
A threat at this level didn't normally call for an all-out technique, but she'd spotted the beastman mage about to be bowled over by the monsters — and, truthfully, she'd also been craving grilled deep-forest boar, which may have influenced her decision somewhat.
The shockwave from the explosion caught one of the Fang-Blue Wolves and sent it flying directly into the cat-eared mage, the impact knocking her clean out. Pecorine noticed, and when Jhin and Kokkoro rushed over, she stuck out her tongue with a sheepish grin. "Heh~ ...I think I might've overdone it."
Jhin lifted the Fang-Blue Wolf off the unconscious cat-eared mage and hoisted their new "prize" over his shoulder.
New party member acquired: Mage +1.
"Since you overdid it, no grilled meat for you tonight. We'll sort it out when we get back."
Pecorine's stomach and her voice wailed in perfect unison. "Jhin, you can't be that cruel!"
"Fine, fine — it's almost mealtime anyway. Let's find a decent spot and make camp." Jhin gave in with a helpless sigh.
"I knew you couldn't bear to let me starve!" Pecorine laughed and caught up with them, humming a little tune of her own composition under her breath: "Grilled meat, big bites~ mouth full of meat~ sprinkle the spices~ la la la la la~"
Jhin and Kokkoro listened to her proudly food-obsessed lyrics, exchanged a glance, and finally couldn't hold back their laughter.
"So? What do you think of my song?"
"Very on-brand for you."
"It'd be even better with some fruit thrown in."
"Fruit! That's a great idea — actually, maybe I'll write a whole new verse about fruit!"
"That absolute scoundrel!" The first words out of Megumi's mouth when she came to were exactly that. She still couldn't believe the nerve of that man — using a magic recording device to capture her most embarrassing moment, then playing it back right in her face as a taunt.
"What scoundrel? Come on, spill the details!" The person beside her was clearly dying to know what had happened.
"He had the audacity to provoke me to my face, and he recorded my slip of the tongue with a magic device. Unforgivable."
"Oh?" The other person sounded even more intrigued, their voice tinged with eagerness. "And what exactly was this slip of the tongue?"
"Hmph. A-A slip of the tongue is a slip of the tongue. The details don't matter."
Jhin settled down right beside Megumi as if they were old friends, pulled up his personal terminal, and played the recording again.
"Even if you're pretty handsome and technically my type, don't you dare think for one second that I'd ever marry you!"
"Was it something like that?"
Megumi stared at the boy sitting next to her — genuinely good-looking, personality utterly rotten, grinning so wide his smile was practically reaching his ears — and every last shred of her sanity was incinerated on the spot by a towering blaze of pure rage.
"I'm going to kill you, you scheming, two-faced scoundrel!" Megumi howled and lunged straight at Jhin.
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Samsara Game: Starting with Shirogane Kei
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone