Yeah, Yeah, Another World, Another World
The sudden move by Rio this time seems to have reasons beyond just trying to distance herself from harassment.
Rio originally belonged to an adventurer party and made a living exploring the dungeon in this town. However, one day, she heard that her childhood friend, Apra, had come to this town and started working as a staff member at the adventurer’s guild.
After gathering rumors and conducting interviews, it seemed that Apra had become involved in a situation where she could no longer stay at her family home and had to start working alone in this town.
However, Apra was raised in a relatively well-off family, and although she didn’t look down on people while working at the guild, she made no effort to correct her aristocratic manner of speaking or behavior.
As a result, she naturally stood out among the guild staff. At first, it was just some mild teasing, but over time, the harassment escalated to an extreme level.
One day, while Rio was visiting the guild as an adventurer, she happened to witness Apra being harassed at the reception counter and became enraged. After Apra finished work that day and left the guild, Rio confronted her and questioned her about it, only for Apra to say, “Don’t worry about that kind of harassment.”
When asked why she was so determined to stay at the guild, Apra replied, “The adventurer’s guild pays well, and I need money to achieve my dream.”
Upon hearing that, Rio couldn’t force Apra to quit the guild. Instead, Rio decided to also become a guild staff member herself.
Having decided to leave her adventurer party, Rio began preparing for the transition to new party members while studying hard for the guild staff recruitment exam.
Her efforts paid off, and Rio passed the exam. She left her adventurer party, joined the guild staff, and tried to protect Apra from harassment. However, now both Rio and Apra became targets of harassment.
Furthermore, Rio, who had become a guild employee, learned for the first time that the harassment wasn’t limited to the guild but was also happening in the women’s dormitory.
In order to distance Apra, who refused to quit the adventurer’s guild, from the harassment, Rio came up with the idea of moving out of the women’s dormitory.
Coincidentally, at that time, a promising young adventurer party looking for a new base consulted Rio, and Rio decided to take advantage of the opportunity.
She introduced them to a high-quality property located near a district where industries unpopular with typical women were concentrated. The building had many individual rooms. Rio ingratiated herself with the group by proving her usefulness, and once trust was established, Rio planned to invite Apra to live there as well.
However, when Rio suddenly began moving today, Apra was utterly confused. Wanting to know at least the destination of the move, Apra approached Junpei. Upon learning that the destination was the new base of a skilled party Junpei had recently mentioned, Apra thought deeply.
Realizing it would be too painful to live apart from Rio and return to the malicious women at the guild, Apra decided to ask to move into Rio’s room instead.
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“That’s quite a long story,” Rocco accidentally blurted out from behind them.
“Eh?! But… I figured everyone would find out eventually…”
Rio briefly flinched upon noticing Rocco.
“Well, I understand the general situation. So, Apra-san, you should move to our base starting now.”
“Are you sure it’s okay to decide that all of a sudden? You just met Apra, right?”
Rio asked worriedly.
“It’s fine. We have plenty of rooms. If Rio went so far as to change jobs to protect her, then she must be trustworthy. Apra-san, you can bring all your stuff from your dorm room. If it’s okay for us guys to enter the girls’ dorm, we’ll help carry your things.”
“Ah… um… yes.”
Apra was clearly confused. It seemed she had just realized what Rio had been doing and thinking for her until now.
“You probably want to talk to Rio about various things, Apra-san? You can do that anytime after the move is done.”
With that, Rio urged Apra to hurry with the moving preparations.
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The move to the brothel was mostly complete.
The moment Apra was introduced to the building, she shouted, “You scoundrel! Forcing Rio-san into such side work, what a despicable act!” However, Rio quickly cleared up the misunderstanding.
The first-floor dining area had been expanded. Originally, there was a section functioning as a tavern, and another area reserved for customers seeking services without food or drink. By removing the partition separating the two areas, the dining space expanded significantly, revealing a hidden bar counter along the wall. The place transformed into something resembling a pub even more.
They might discard or repurpose the space later, but currently, the tavern area had five four-person tables and four two-person tables, with eight chairs placed at the bar counter.
It was a normal tavern setup.
Everything was ready to dominate this otherworldly realm with mayonnaise dishes and distilled spirits.
“If we get this tavern running, we can use mayonnaise to…”
Okuda beside her seemed to be thinking along similar lines.
Two tablecloths had been laid out on the tables brought from the storeroom, and dishes bought by Osato and Luciti were arranged on top. All the necessary utensils had been left behind, making things much easier.
“Then, let’s celebrate the move to our new base at the Water Dawn Bridge!”
“Cheers!!”
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The banquet began with Rocco leading the toast. Alcohol was available, but the children had been instructed not to drink.
“So, Apra-san, why are you clinging to the adventurer’s guild?”
I decided to ask Apra something I’d been wondering about.
“You may call me Apra. As you might’ve guessed from our earlier conversation, my family is a noble house that was stripped of its title, and I’m simply trying to make a significant contribution to restore it.”
“Is that why you refuse to quit your job at the guild?”
Something about this doesn’t add up.
“No, being a staff member isn’t directly related. What I consider a ‘significant contribution’ is inventing creations using magic engineering — things no one has ever made before — and releasing them to the world! To that end, the adventurer’s guild, frequented by various magic catalysts, is convenient.”
“Ah, I see. So the salary isn’t the priority; it’s about having connections to materials from monsters and dungeons.”
“Precisely.”
Indeed, aside from personally diving into dungeons, the position of a guild staff member is ideal for obtaining materials for magical artifacts.
“One thing I’m curious about: Is magic engineering different from magic artifact crafting?”
“Broadly speaking, they’re similar, but let me explain. Please bear with me for a moment.”
With that, Apra fetched paper and a pen from her room.
“For instance, Junpei-sama, since you’re an adventurer, do you have a water flask?”
“You can just call me Junpei. And yes, I have one.”
Apra drew a picture of the water flask on the paper.
“When you activate this flask, water comes out, right? That’s the effect of the magic catalyst embedded within it, representing the entirety of this magical artifact.”
She added an illustration of flowing water.
“But magic engineering involves using the water coming out of the flask to, say, turn a waterwheel if there’s one downstream. This study of secondary effects to accomplish tasks is what constitutes magic engineering.”
She sketched a waterwheel and added a sack of flour at the end.
“I see. So, if we use fire magic to boil water, and then use the steam to power a turbine to perform work, that would also count as something achieved through magic engineering, right?”
“……”
“Sensei, you really are quite careless, don’t you think?”
Okuta pointed this out with a deadpan stare.
“Especially when it comes to beautiful women or girls. You’re incredibly reckless around them.”
Okuta delivered the final blow.
“……Sorry.”
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This time, citing the influence of alcohol, Okuta forgave me, though he warned that if I made a similar slip-up again, there’d be consequences. I’m not entirely sure what those consequences would be, but they sound ominous.
And though it was somewhat roundabout, we gave Rio and Apra a general overview of our situation.
“Today, I intended to discuss the dangers of black-frame glasses, but these facts are even more dangerous and confusing,” Rio said.
On the other hand, Apra remained expressionless, her thoughts unreadable.
“Well, that’s the gist of it. We’re collecting knowledge of this world, including its dungeons, to find a way back to our own world. If you happen to come across any information at the adventurer’s guild that might lead to our return, please let us know. Of course, we’ll pay you for it.”
“Understood. I’ll cooperate.”
That response came from Rio. Apra still hadn’t returned from deep thought.
“Apra?”
Worried, I called out to her.
“Yes… um, could you show me something from your world?”
“Hmm, let me see…”
With that, I pulled out my smartphone, played a video, and showed it to Apra.
“!!!!!!!”
The video showed a cat filmed in front of a convenience store.
When the playback ended, Apra looked up from the phone and began crying.
“Sob… This is it… This is the epicenter. So this is what the true epicenter is like… Sob… Sob… Waaahhh!”
“Wait, wait, wait! Apra! Are you okay!?”
Apra burst into tears, prompting me to rush over.
“Sob… Excuse me… Please give me a moment… Aaaahhh…”
Things were getting serious.
Even Rocco and the others chimed in.
“This is my first time seeing this, but wow… this is incredible…”
“Can we see videos of cooking?”
“The ground color looked strange, didn’t it?”
“Haa…”
Rio sighed deeply.
“Junpei, let’s set some rules now. Continuing like this puts you all in danger.”
Rio, with a serious expression, proposed establishing guidelines.
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