"Lighter?"
"Check."
"Sword?"
"Check."
"Food in case you starve on the way and want to make a pistol?"
"Check– Oh my God, you're not my bloody mother!"
Resisting the urge to smack Natvin into pieces, Natsuki took the large backpack that was being offered to him, shoving it to the back of Knoxis' 'Truck'...
Though it looked like one of those generic trucks that usually isekaied people back home, with its flat fender and smudgy windows, it was anything but ordinary:
Inside contained a miniature world, filled with all sorts of memorabilia and artifacts. He did not know how big, but as far as the eye can see, he saw rooms upon rooms, so many rooms that steam could be seen coming from his thick skull. "H-how isn't possible? How do you have a whole world inside one measly truck!? Tell me your secrets–"
"Kid, after all you've seen, this is the one thing that knocks your jaw onto the ground? We literally send people to other worlds, not to mention the fact that you've seen Natvin, a fully autonomous robot. And this is the only thing that made you crap your pants!? Man do kids these days have such lovely wonder..."
Tutting, Knoxis turned his focus back to the MPS system, deciding to ignore the bashful Natsuki. "Kid, hand on tight. Oh, and whatever happens...
Do not lose the card Natvin gave you..."
Curious, Natsuki wanted to ask why, but the answer revealed itself to him sooner than expected.
And boy did his jaw fall far
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"The fuck was that for!? I'm not some 'illegal alien' that's coming to rob and steal your jobs!"
Fuming at the way that the tentacled alien gave him the stink eye, Natsuki was furious at how he was thought to be a criminal. Seeing this, Vylara couldn't help but chuckle, remembering how Natsuki was 'violated', making her be reminded of some of the +18 comics she's read.
"Now, now kid, don't be ruffled by this. Did you honestly believe that every agent must come from a world where they've been abandoned? Nope! Aside from the 'Accidentalists' that come here every so often, most of the times the agents come from one of the Core Worlds we have. Sure, this gives them an unfair advantage on getting the cushier jobs, but like all hot-blooded men (and women, can't have the feminists calling me sexist and all that) like to show themselves off, and the most romantic one is being a Collector. Sure, we travel around the multiverse, but it's not all looks and giggles. If we don't have a a certain level of power, we'd be chow for those infernal cunts who wander around the Void– What, thought we were the native beings here? Oh no, no, no, we're just the current users. Those who came before, well, we don't know..."
"What?"
Shaking his head, Scaramond continued, ignoring Natsuki's dazed look. "Yeah, I was the same. I mean, what kind of civilisation must have conquered this land before us, but somehow, there seems to be no records detailing anything about the previous owners. All we know is that, at one time, they ruled the entire multiverse, but seemingly got destroyed in a cataclysmic war eons ago..."
As Natsuki ruminated over Scaramond's story, he failed to realise that, in the front seat, a certain old man, driving the van, gripped the wheel tighter than ever, expression hidden in the dark.
The only thing that revealed his feelings was a single tear drop, falling slowly down his cheeks, which disappeared after they entered the large, glowing portal...