Chapter 38 :

Episode 9 : Repay (2)

After that sudden ambush, Raiden went and grabbed the scythe. 

He tightened his grip on the weapon before asking. "What would the Captain think of us if we reported back to him?" 

"First of all, he won't be mean toward us-..!" Mirai was talking normally until she spotted a small portal appear above Raiden's head. 

A hand poked out, touching Raiden's head before it went inside the portal.

"Huh?!" Raiden was a bit startled by the touch which made him drop the scythe. 

The falling scythe was caught by the enemy using a portal again. 

"You're not going anywhere!" Mirai exclaimed, releasing her strings into the portal.

Her strings seemed to hit something from the other side of the portal before it was shut closed, cutting off her strings entirely. 

Mirai pouted. "Kuso! I can't believe it!" 

Raiden scratched his head, looking up at the sky. "It's almost night." 

"Does that mean we can go now?!" Mirai, who was angry a moment ago, switched to an excited mood. 

"Do you want to go back empty-handed?" 

Mirai fidgeted with her fingers. "W-Well.. Captain won't be mad at us.." 

"Then shall we prepare the ingredients?" Raiden chuckled. 

Mirai came closer to Raiden with her cute face being far too close to Raiden's. "That's much better! Good idea, Rai!" 

"A-Ah. Well.." Raiden blushed, looking away from Mirai's sparkling face.

"Ikuzo!" Mirai quickly ran. 

( ‹Ikuzo›, Japanese word for ‘Let's go’. )

"Mimi! Where are you going?! Captain's whereabouts are that way!" 

"Oh..!" Mirai changed her direction to run where Raiden was pointing. She was quite embarrassed. 

"Seriously. Haha!" 

Raiden dashed toward Mirai before she transformed into her spider form at the right timing. Then she landed on his shoulder perfectly without a scratch. 

"Let's do the usual tactic." Raiden suggested.

"If you say so." Mirai observed the surroundings while Raiden was sprinting to Captain's location. 

Whenever Mirai spotted a beast, she stabbed her strings inside that beast, immobilizing it not to move. Then wrapped her strings around that beast to trap it alive inside a cocoon. 

The more beasts she sees, the bigger the cocoon gets. And that cocoon was now floating on top of Raiden and Mirai like a giant balloon.

———

I was leaning on the wall next to the door with my arms crossed, planning on what to do in the next stages.

"How long do we have to wait?" Alaine grumbled. 

"Could you be quiet? It has been only a few minutes since I told you about my comrades coming here." 

"But I hate waiting.." 

I facepalmed. "Have some patience, will you?" 

Knock.. knock.. 

A knocking on the door was heard..

"Captain! We're here!" A voice came from behind that door.

I knew very well who it was. So I opened the door to let them in. "I'm glad you're all saf-"

I was speechless when I noticed a big cocoon beside Mirai. ‘They only do this when they don't want to come back empty-handed.’

Afterwards, I sighed and told them. "You know you don't have to do that."

Mirai pouted, mumbling. "But I don't want to come back with nothing.." 

"By the way Captain, who are those two?" Raiden's eyes were staring at the resting man on the bed and the girl standing behind me.

"I'll let them introduce themselves." I looked over to HwanGi-ssi before looking back at Mirai. "Anyways, Mirai. Could you do me a favor and heal that man over there?"

"What's the problem?" 

"He has been withered."

With no further explanation, Mirai swiftly went and checked on HwanGi-ssi's condition. 

I watched her do her work before stepping out of the room.

But I stopped when I heard Raiden said. "Sensei, where are you going?" 

"Didn't you bring these for me to cook?" I patted the cocoon. 

"Oh. That's right!" 

"Then watch over Mirai while I go and cook for all of you." 

"Arigato, Sensei." Raiden bowed, thanking me with a happy tone of voice. 

[Hidden Skill, ‘Simulation’ has activated.]

I suddenly had a gut feeling and looked at Raiden's head. 

Raiden seemed to wonder what I was doing. "Sensei?" 

"Tell Mirai to check on you as well." 

After that, I dragged the cocoon downstairs, leaving Raiden a bit puzzled from my words.

The moment when I arrived downstairs, the people there were shocked by what they were seeing. Due to this, there were a lot of eyes staring at me with curiosity.

On the other hand, I just ignored them and went on to speak with the owner. "Can I borrow your kitchen for a bit?" 

[You activated the hidden skill, ‘Skill Imitation’ Lv. 3.]

[What do you want to imitate?]

If I don't want a troublesome conversation, I'll just have to use tricks. ‘Favorability’

[The Hidden Skill, ‘Favorability’ has been selected.] 

[Imitation level is Lv. 3.]

[Former level is at level 2.]

[Imitation of ‘Favorability’ Lv. 2 has activated.]

[You have 15 minutes before the imitation ends.]

The owner, affected by the skill, nicely offered me his kitchen. "Of course, young man."

I entered the kitchen and the owner appeared to ponder what I was cooking. Because the owner questioned me. "Young man, what are you about to cook?"

"You'll see when I'm done." I stabbed the cocoon using Lucifer who shapeshifted to a katana. 

‘Switch imitation to ‘Fast Leveling’.." I mused.

[Imitation of ‘Fast Leveling’ Lv. 3 has activated.]

Since I knew full well that Mirai didn't kill the beasts inside this cocoon. I had to use this as an advantage to level up. 

[You leveled up!]

However, after killing the beasts, I could only level up once. I expected it as such since I was at level 46. Obviously, just a few beasts couldn't just let me level up to Lv. 50 that easily. 

‘I'm level 47 now. I just need 3 more levels to get that ‘achievement’.’ I thought, planning out the future’s events.

After that moment, I tore open the cocoon to grab the beasts out, placing them on the counter. Even the owner was surprised to see this as well as the customers. 

Knowing that my every move was being watched by these people, annoyed me very much. 

Despite this, I kept ignoring them and began cooking up the dishes for my comrades, Alaine and HwanGi-ssi.