Chapter 68 - The Former Woman, The Current Woman
What should I do.
Should I head straight for the Saito Household and act as a guard?
If so, I should probably run at full speed.
I can move far faster than a car; with these legs, it should be enough.
And this time, I will save her. Before Rio is snatched away by goblins. Before the girl's life is ruined.
Elsa possessed wonderful potential. She was a woman far wiser than someone like me.
And yet, she was taken away by goblins at a young age, and various possibilities were plucked away from her.
She even struggled to learn how to read and write, and she struggled with the pronunciation of human language until the very end.
If she had surely received a proper education, she would have lived as a brilliant woman.
But, it's okay now. This time, I will properly save Elsa. Before things happen, I will finish everything.
From now on, I can redo my encounter with Elsa.
With an Elsa who suffered no damage. With an Elsa who has become brand new.
Rio. My new Elsa. My next Elsa.
Elsa?
Which one do I want to save, Rio or Elsa?
Even though the two are different people who just happen to look alike.
Moreover, one of them has long since died.
"Ah, damn it."
What on earth am I getting so worked up about? I take a deep breath.
This isn't good. The combination of Rio and goblins seems to rob me of my composure.
I will think through each thing calmly.
In the first place, I don't even know the location of the Saito Household. First, I need to contact Rio and get her address.
I'll go back to the car. I'll use my smartphone inside the car. Yes, the car. That's best.
My body should be covered in a foul stench right now from exploring that trash house that looked like a landfill.
Even if I apply Concealment, I can't negate the smell.
In that case, it would be less conspicuous to move in a van, which is a moving closed room.
I trot toward the car.
Just as I put my hand on the door, it occurs to me that I haven't dealt with the goblin corpses.
Should I go back to the mansion and burn them?
No.
It doesn't matter if I leave them as they are. It might even be better to leave them for someone else to find.
The problem is having the public recognize me as a superhuman who surpasses modern weaponry; there is no particular need to conceal the existence of monsters.
Rather, it would be worse if the country remained unguarded while something like that is mixing into society.
If I can instill a sense of crisis in people using the remains of those small goblins, that would be more convenient.
Just before I cast the Sleep magic, the hostage saw my face... but it's no problem. As long as the combat with the goblins wasn't seen, nothing else matters.
It has to be this way.
I feel my usual self gradually returning.
I softly open the door and return to the interior of the car.
"Are you alright?"
Angelica peeks in with a worried expression.
"Were there goblins?"
"Quite a few."
I take my smartphone out of my back pocket and launch the SNS app.
"More importantly, you shouldn't get too close to me. I'll smell."
"Ah, I was trying not to say that out of consideration for you."
"...For a while, please breathe through your mouth."
"Roger!" Angelica replies energetically. She's an honest girl.
Even though such a good girl admires me, my head is filled with a woman from the past.
A middle-aged man trying to heal old wounds by overlapping a dead woman onto another girl.
Just how far am I going to fall?
Rio. Tell me where your house is. I'm coming there now.
While falling into self-loathing, I send the message.
I wait for a reply, suppressing my impatience.
Usually, it would be marked as read within a few seconds, but time passes while it remains unread.
Could she be sleeping? Or has she already been attacked?
Bad imaginations make me feel like I'm going crazy.
After waiting for about five minutes, a reply arrives from Rio.
Did something happen?
With a feeling of frustration, I type the characters.
Quickly, quickly, quickly.
In my haste, I make typos many times and desperately retype them.
You met the small goblin disguised as Fujimoto at the arcade, right? I found out that their gang is planning to attack your house. I want to head there to intercept them.
Understood.
The address of the Saito Household is sent. It's just a string of numbers and letters. It's blunt information, with no emojis or heart marks.
As if to explain what I was wondering about, she sent the characteristics of her home a little later.
There's a huge three-story mansion in the neighborhood, but the super shabby house next to it is my place. It's dirty, so you'll know right away. It's not that we're messy, but the building is so old that no matter what you do, it stays dirty.
It's better that there's no trash. I was just in a place that was fully equipped with that.
What do you mean?
Anyway, I tell her to make sure to lock the doors tightly.
Yeah. I'll be waiting.
Since the communication is finished, next I access a search engine on the internet.
When I type in the Saito Household's address, a map is displayed in an instant.
The power of modern civilization is tremendous. It can easily replicate an otherworldly Mapping skill.
On top of that, the benefits of technology can be received equally by the good or the evil.
Even if the opponent is a goblin, equally.
I imagined a scene where green-skinned small goblins were driving a large vehicle with smartphones in their hands.
The way their short legs would press the accelerator and ram into the Saito Household.
I must hurry.
When I arrive at the Saito Household, Tanaka says, "Shall I wait outside?"
He had a hesitant, considerate expression.
"It seems like it will be quite difficult, so I will watch over the young people inside from here. You might have another chance to use the car."
"Is that alright?"
"I'm already in this boat. Besides, while Nakamoto-san was in the trash house, I talked a bit with Angelica-san over there."
"With Ange?"
"International Marriage is wonderful, isn't it? It's dreamy. I, too, had a period where I burned with love."
I wonder what kind of explanation Angelica gave.
"But two-timing is not good... If you're going to settle things, you should do it quickly."
"What did you hear to come up with such a story?"
"This is the house of the affair partner, and you're about to go in to initiate a breakup, right? You mustn't do that; after all the trouble of welcoming a cute foreigner as your bride, to go and make a Japanese mistress. Certainly, I understand that after looking at blonde hair and blue eyes for a long time, one misses the Yamato Nadeshiko. It's like tea over rice after Western food. But you have chosen a life of eating steak for the rest of your life. No matter how much indigestion you get, you must continue to eat Angelica-san."
Why am I being lectured by this useless old man?
"I may have overstepped. But as a senior in life, I simply couldn't help but say..."
"...I'll take it as grateful advice."
"I pray for your consideration. Make sure to give her a proper settlement fee."
It seems he has misunderstood magnificently, but since correcting him every single time is a hassle, I won't.
I got out of the car along with Angelica, who had a face like a cat caught playing a prank.
I headed toward the old single-family house just as Rio had described and pressed the intercom.
Footsteps could be heard from deep within the entrance. A little later,
"Yeeees."
A voice. It was the greeting from Rio, the "tea over rice woman."