Akatsuki Translations

I had reached the maximum level attainable from defeating Red Goblins. Level 10. No matter how many more Red Goblins I defeated, my level wouldn’t increase further. And level 10 was also the limit for charm points.

To increase charm points beyond this, I’d need to reach level 500. That was still a distant goal for us. Even so, after spending a few days on the third floor, we had reached our first milestone as explorers. I was happy to have reached the maximum level where charm could increase.

“We’ve made it this far somehow,” Misuzu said. “Yuuta, how do I look?”

“Yeah, you’ve become incredibly beautiful. Almost too good for me,” I replied.

I felt like I could now claim Misuzu as my own. Something seemed to have changed within me after the incident with Ikemoto.

Evie chimed in, “My charm only increased by one point each time, so it’s a bit underwhelming.”

Under the scorching sun, we had all finished leveling up. An incredibly beautiful woman, the likes of which I’d never even seen on TV, was calling herself “underwhelming.” Evie was already stunningly beautiful before, so I couldn’t understand what she was saying.

“If your charm had increased by two or three points at a time, Evie, that would be scary,” I said. “Besides, you’ve really become beautiful.”

“R-really?” Evie stammered. “Well, if you say so, Yuuta, that’s fine. But wait, your charm increased by 80… that’s an amazing increase, isn’t it?”

Evie began touching my face, peering at me closely. When she did things like this, I glanced at Misuzu, worried about her reaction. However, she didn’t seem to mind much. I think Misuzu had calmed down after we made progress in that cheap hotel.

She didn’t react as excessively to Evie as before. Perhaps that night had given her a lot of reassurance. Just remembering it brought up various emotions. We were doing things as a couple that I couldn’t have imagined two months ago.

I had done almost the same things with Imari. Would I do the same things with Evie in the dungeon? Because of the broken promise. I thought Evie’s feelings for me might have cooled, but looking at her now, that didn’t seem to be the case.

It all seemed so capricious, making me think that understanding women was difficult.

“Is this face really more beautiful than mine?” Evie asked, pouting.

Even though it was just one point higher, Evie seemed quite bothered by it.

“In terms of charm points, yes,” I said. “It’s like having plastic surgery. As if my appearance has been artificially enhanced.”

I said this, believing it from the bottom of my heart.

Evie frowned. “Yuuta, can’t you do something about that habit of putting yourself down?”

“But this face… it’s like I’m a different person,” I protested.

“Different person or not, you’ve become this beautiful. It’s amazing,” Evie insisted. “At the very least, no human-made alterations could make someone this beautiful. If the face we’re born with is given by God, then this face is also a gift from God. You should be confident. This is how you’re meant to be.”

“You think so?” I asked, uncertainly.

Hearing it from Evie made me feel like it might be true.

Misuzu added, “But Yuuta, it’s incredible that your charm is higher than Evie’s. Looking at you, how should I put it… even though you’re a man, you’re bewitchingly, almost frighteningly beautiful.”

“It’s strange,” Evie mused. “I can tell Yuuta is more beautiful than me, even though it’s just a one-point difference.”

Evie then started examining not just my face, but my entire body.

“Even the shape of your buttocks is beautiful,” she exclaimed. “The way your back muscles are defined is ideal. Your nails are perfect. The length of your arms and legs. The definition of your abs is great. Your navel is so cute I want to lick it. That’s ideal too. Open your mouth. Wow. Even your tongue is beautiful. Yuuta, I’ll strip too, so you can check me out as well.”

“W-w-wait, calm down, Evie,” I stammered. “Stripping is not okay! Definitely not okay!”

“Oh, oh right. I’m sorry,” Evie apologized, looking sheepish.

Evie’s charm was 79, and Misuzu’s was 67. Both had become beauties the likes of which I’d never seen before. And apparently, my charm had become the highest of all.

“Have I really changed that much?” I asked, still incredulous.

“It’s like… you’ve become a work of art,” Misuzu said, looking dumbfounded as she handed me a mirror.

“…”

I stared into the mirror, speechless. The face looking back at me was that of an impossibly handsome man, beyond human understanding. My heart raced as I studied my reflection. Large, clear eyes. A high, alluring nose. Lips so perfectly shaped they seemed almost cold. Even my ears were beautifully formed.

As I continued to gaze at myself, I saw a bewitchingly beautiful young man who could make anyone fall in love with him.

“I like you,” I whispered to my reflection.

What am I saying to myself?

Only my short, neatly trimmed hair remained as a testament to my old self. By coincidence, my charm was now equal to Nagumo-san’s. If we were to walk side by side, women would surely faint. I could understand why. With a face like this, women would flock to me without any effort on my part.

Even men might be drawn to me. The level of charm was enough to sway even those without such inclinations. I never thought there’d come a day when I’d be scared of my own beauty, but this level of attractiveness was honestly frightening.

Evie, who had become almost as beautiful, seemed more at ease with her appearance. “Beauty can be troublesome, you know,” she chuckled. “There are all sorts of temptations.”

“Misuzu has become really beautiful too,” I commented.

Misuzu blushed. “Y-yes. Not as much as you, Yuuta, but lately, when I look in the mirror, I sometimes think, ‘Is this really me?’”

“I know what you mean. They say you get used to it, though.”

That’s what Sakaki-san had said, but apparently Nagumo-san never got used to it. No wonder. When your appearance changes this drastically, not only are you confused, but everyone around you can’t leave you alone. If I saw someone like this next to me, I’d probably stare non-stop.

Evie changed the subject. “In any case, I’ve never heard of anyone’s charm decreasing once it’s increased. This is who you are now, Yuuta, and who I am too. That’s fine, isn’t it? More importantly…”

We had reached level 10, the limit of what we could achieve by defeating Goblin Riders. From tomorrow, we’d be facing a new enemy: the Goblin Army. Probably the same opponents that nearly killed David-san and his team. In fact, they had lost two of their companions to these enemies.

“They attack in groups of 50 to 100, and their level is higher than the Goblin Riders,” Evie explained.

Misuzu looked at me nervously. “Yuuta, this is it, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “They say it’s even more challenging than the fourth floor in some ways.”

“Let’s do our best not to die,” Evie said matter-of-factly.

We discussed our strategy and decided to get some sleep. As we prepared for bed, I felt a mix of fear and anticipation about facing a new enemy tomorrow. Misuzu moved closer to me, and this time, I took the initiative to embrace her.

Misuzu’s body was as soft as ever, and I found myself less hesitant to confirm this fact. The clock showed midnight. Misuzu fell asleep quickly, probably tired from the day’s events. Then, Evie woke me up, saying she wanted to talk for a bit.

“I’ve been thinking about what we heard, ever since then,” she said.

We moved to the shade of an acacia tree, far enough from where Misuzu was sleeping that our voices wouldn’t reach her, but close enough that we could still see her. As a precaution, I asked Rai and Lean to keep watch. Despite it being midnight, the brightness and heat remained unchanged as we sat side by side.

“I’ve been wondering if I can really reach level 1000,” Evie confessed.

Nagumo-san’s quest revelation had been like a bitter pill. At first, it seemed manageable, but the more we thought about it, the heavier it felt. From now on, we couldn’t afford to get anything less than an S rank in quests. Was that even possible? Part of me almost wished Nagumo-san’s words were a lie.

“I thought about it too,” I admitted. “This world is far harsher than I had imagined.”

“I never thought it would be this difficult,” Evie sighed.

I shared a story about my father, a Tokyo University graduate who passed the bar exam on his second try. Despite being considered brilliant in his hometown, he was only average at Tokyo University. There were incredibly smart people who found the bar exam easy, but even they were just ordinary on a global scale.

“It’s something people around the world are literally killing themselves to achieve,” Evie mused.

“I guess the Twelve Heroes are a group of people who find ‘that’ easy,” I suggested.

Evie’s eyes grew distant. “I was supposed to be one of ‘those’ people. If I hadn’t become an explorer, I would have been unrivaled among models. Well, there were some on my level, but I never thought anyone was better than me. Because I stayed at the top in that world, I didn’t think being an explorer would be that difficult. In America, I never felt this way. I thought everyone older than me was just sloppy.”

“Well, they were models, after all,” I said, immediately regretting my words.

Evie’s eyes flashed. “No, models train their bodies extensively. To walk beautifully. To look beautiful. It’s our job. So everyone had a certain level of confidence. Don’t underestimate us.”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t know much about it,” I apologized.

“Yuuta, did you really not ask Nagumo about Kain?” Evie asked, her beautiful face suddenly serious.

“…I didn’t ask,” I lied. At this point, if I had only asked Nagumo-san for love advice, I would have been a real idiot. In reality, I had asked him everything I wanted to know about the dungeon. There was no way I wouldn’t have asked about summoners.

After all, Evie is a summoner. Nagumo-san had told me:

“I’ve had a few fistfights with Kain, that’s how bad our relationship is.”

“Was it wrong of me to ask?” I had inquired.

“No, that’s why I know quite a bit about him. Summoners are simple. It all depends on their summoned beasts,” he had explained.

“Summoned beasts…” I had repeated.

“Yeah, if the summoned beast is weak, the summoner is weak. If the summoned beast is strong, the summoner is strong. That’s the kind of existence summoners are. Kain’s summoned beasts are ridiculously strong. There are some monsters that can hold their own against me in a one-on-one fight for a while.”

“Is that Bahamut?” I had asked. Bahamut was famous as Kain’s summoned beast. Kain was always riding that monster.

“Ah, that one’s strong too, but it’s for outdoor use. The strongest is Behemoth. The second is Jörmungandr. But no matter how annoyed I get, I don’t let them fight outside the dungeon,” Nagumo-san had replied.

“…I’m starting to feel like the information about the 12 Heroes known to the public is mostly wrong,” I had commented. After all, on the internet, Bahamut was said to be the strongest summoned beast.

“Well, everyone keeps their hands hidden,” he had said.

“Then, is the only way for a summoner to become stronger just to have strong summoned beasts? Is it like winning a gacha game?” I had asked.

“Yes, but no. Summoners are, for better or worse, dependent on their summoned beasts,” he had explained.

Honestly, that information wasn’t something that would help Evie if I told her. And there was no point in telling Rai and Lean either.

“Whether a summoned beast becomes stronger depends on whether it undergoes what’s called species evolution. However, I don’t know under what conditions this happens. It seems to be a rare occurrence. I don’t know any summoner other than Kain who has been able to do it. Kain probably knows how, but he probably wouldn’t tell me.”

“There are things even you don’t know, Nagumo-san,” I had said.

“Of course there are. But well, should I try asking Kain anyway? If I kidnap Bahamut using teleportation, we might be able to figure something out. There’s no doubt that Bahamut is his favorite.”

“N-no, it’s fine. Please, absolutely don’t do that,” I had begged. I don’t know where Nagumo-san’s fondness for me comes from, but if I say too much, he might really start a war. I had pleaded with him many times to drop it.

Coming back to the present, I said to Evie, “Sorry, I should have asked.”

“It’s okay,” Evie replied. She lay down flat on the grassland.

“Sigh, it’s tough to think of yourself as inferior,” she said.

“You’re not inferior,” I reassured her.

“Yes, I am. The Red Goblins always target me first.”

“That’s because you’re a summoner, it can’t be helped.”

If summoners were strong and could do everything, there would be no need for summoned beasts.

“Misuzu said… that she would be okay with you having a relationship with me while she’s asleep. I felt happy about that,” Evie suddenly said.

“Huh? Misuzu said that?” I was surprised that she had acknowledged my relationship with Evie, but wasn’t that a bit too dismissive of Evie?

“Yuuta. It’s the first time I’ve experienced it, but love is troublesome. Right now, I feel irritated because I think Misuzu is looking down on me.”

“…”

“Besides, I hate that you can’t decide everything by yourself in love. You have to consider the other person’s opinion, and they have to like you. Why do we have to be so considerate? Why does the other person’s reaction become so scary? It shouldn’t matter. I want to shout out that I am Evie.”

“I sometimes think it would be much easier to be alone too,” I admitted.

“Yuuta,” she called out.

“What?”

“When I was in America, sometimes I would wake up in the morning and… I’d feel like crying because you weren’t there. I hated that feeling so much that I thought about throwing everything away and staying in America. But I came back. Even though you probably wouldn’t care whether I’m here or not.”

“That’s not true,” I protested.

“Thank you. I’m happy even if it’s a lie,” Evie said, sounding very lonely. I was about to say that it wasn’t like that. But for some reason, I couldn’t deny it. And without waiting for my heart to grow, the night in the dungeon, which had remained bright, began to break into dawn.