Should I prostrate myself on the ground and beg for forgiveness for whatever I did? I felt like this wasn’t the time or place to wonder if doing something like that was too pathetic or humiliating. Random violence against middle-aged men might have happened every so often back on Earth, but I certainly hadn’t been expecting it here.
As I’ve said, there was never any violence in my life, so I had no clue how to handle a situation like this. I couldn’t even think of a possible solution. All I could do was let myself go with the flow.
The man shifted his grip from my shoulder to my arm and started walking, dragging me, silent and frozen, behind him.
“How ’bout we take this outside?”
His lackeys smirked nastily. I thought about asking for help, but I didn’t want to inconvenience strangers. I, for one, didn’t want anyone getting hurt on my account.
So he dragged me all the way outside, and down a back alley.
“Um, I’m really sorry for whatever I did to upset you,” I said, “so please forgive me. I can’t compensate you, because I don’t have much money on me…”
“I’m sure you can find another way to repay me for putting me in a bad mood.”
Confusion was the first emotion I felt when he reached out toward my chest. Why do people keep wanting to touch my chest? On the heels of that thought came another one, like it was coming from someone else. I’ve been groped quite a few times today. Then the sense of danger finally hit me.
Ahhh, I’m an idiot. I completely forgot I’m in the body of a beautiful woman. I quickly realized the kind of danger I was really in, and I did not want to think about that. But I did want to give myself a little pat on the back for figuring things out before his hands made contact.
Taking a step back instead of smacking his hands away, I balled my hands into fists.
“Excuse me, but if you don’t stop, I’ll have no choice but to resist.”
The man and his flunkies looked at each other, then burst out laughing, as if saying, “Go on, do your best. Show us what a newbie can do.” It was true that no matter how skilled a new adventurer might be, there was only so much they could accomplish. In the eyes of experienced veterans who risked their lives every day to do their jobs, novices probably seemed like children. And in my current situation, I was outnumbered, too, so their dismissive reaction was warranted. Four men, each of them muscled and extremely manly in appearance, probably thought they had no reason to quake in terror in front of a new adventurer who also happened to be a petite woman.
While they cackled and taunted me, I tried to think of a way to break through this stalemate without injuring them. Water Ball. During my practice on the training grounds, I’d thought the spell was a bit iffy because it didn’t have much force behind it, even when it collided with a target. It was likely effective against enemies that cloaked themselves in flames or creatures that melted on contact with water, which effectively meant it had very few practical uses.
But right then and there, I came up with an idea to make it a little more useful. If it worked, I could settle things relatively peacefully.
“Orb of water, arise, multiply, gather.”
The men laughed even harder when I started reciting my Water Ball incantation. They doubled over, clutching at their stomachs and positively howling in their amusement.
“Bahahaha! Gonna give us a cold by splashing us with water?! Oooh, I’m so scared!”
“Go on, hit us with as many as you want! Hahahaha!”
I continued chanting the words clearly and carefully. If they were just going to wait for me to finish, who was I to look a gift horse in the mouth?
“Soar, strike, stay where I command you.”
Globes of water formed in front of me, floating happily in the air. There were four of them, all slightly larger than a human head. Nice work, I thought to myself.
Facing the still-guffawing men, I flicked my hand like I was shaking off water and uttered the final words.
“Shoot, Water Ball.”
The globes raced through the air toward their targets, and when they arrived, they wrapped themselves around the men’s heads—without exploding. The men were caught completely by surprise. Arms and legs flailing, they frantically tried to peel the water from their faces, but they couldn’t get a grip on it.
Generally, magic disappears as soon as it hits an object and causes an effect. Just like a line of code performs based on what’s written, magic is meant to work exactly as chanted. My idea was that if I changed the incantation a little, the spell might have a different effect. So I had envisioned the number of water balls increasing and ordered them to stay in place without exploding. That was all, but I was glad it had worked.
How long can someone hold his breath underwater? The answer was playing out right before my eyes. And while it was definitely unpleasant to see the men’s suffering, I was afraid that if I let my guard down, they’d exact vengeance on me right away.
A short thirty seconds later, the men tumbled to the ground, clawing at their faces. Then, they finally stopped moving. I was worried I’d end up killing them if I let the water stay wrapped around their heads any longer, so I allowed the spell to dissipate. A sigh of relief escaped me at the realization that I’d overcome this hurdle, but it was almost instantly followed by self-loathing. I had just deliberately attacked others. I felt sick about it.
Unease spread through my chest as I watched the fallen, unmoving men. If I had handled things just a bit differently, I could have killed four people. It had only been a little magical experiment. Something to try when I was in trouble. In hindsight, though, that felt like poor justification given what could have happened.
“Haruka, are you all right?! Wait? Did you kill them?”
I heard Ellie’s voice, but I struggled to understand what she was saying. I was too overwhelmed. It sounded like there was a radio blaring somewhere very far away, and I could only vaguely make out the words. This was something that happened whenever I was really nervous or angry. Things would seem smaller, sounds would seem further away…
“H-Hold on! What’s wrong?!” Ellie was calling out. “You don’t look so good, Haruka! Did they do something to you?! Was I too late?!”
She was shouting now as she aggressively shook me by my shoulders. Seeing her panicked expression made me realize I needed to calm down, and I managed to regain some measure of composure. I pointed at the men lying on the ground. My finger shook a bit, but otherwise my body obeyed me.
“Um, they’re alive, right?” I asked shakily. “I didn’t kill them?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, they’re fine. Just unconscious. Forget them, Haruka. Come with me, right now!”
After double-checking that she was right about the men, Ellie immediately returned to my side and took my hand. Just like how the men had dragged me out here in the first place, she now dragged me away. All I could do was follow.