“Yeah!”
“But why the sudden change? Does it have something to do with your cheat?”
“Exactly! My cheat’s called ‘Constant Vigilance’! If someone weaker than me has hostile intent or lies to me, I can tell!”
I see. That explains why his cheat doesn’t work on me. He must assume I’m weaker than him—but he’s wrong. Since we’re both reincarnators, I figured he’d at least treat me as an equal, even if not as someone stronger. If that’s the case, his cheat skill shouldn’t activate. But thanks to my childlike appearance, he’s already lowered his guard and hasn’t realized his cheat isn’t working.
Considering all that, this Constant Vigilance ability’s kind of flawed. It’s definitely a cheat if you’re doing business or gambling with some commoner below you, but...if you’re up against someone like me—who looks weak but isn’t—it could lead to fatal misjudgments. Honestly, the name fits a little too well. It’s ironic; he’s the one who needs to have “constant vigilance.”
Well, I don’t even know if his explanation is legit, but judging by how flustered the girl looks, it probably is. She probably never imagined he’d be dumb enough to just spill everything.
“So, earlier you said you got special powers from a god,” I said, “but you haven’t conquered a dungeon, have you?”
“Nope! We used to live in a different world.”
So he was a reincarnator.
“And we died in accidents and stuff and were brought to this world by the god.”
“Did you meet the god in person to receive their blessing?”
“That’s right!”
He said it proudly. Apparently, the god that reincarnated him wasn’t the Indeed-Missy I’d met but some old sage-looking grandpa god. In return, the delinquent had been given cheat powers and told to conquer dungeons.
Unlike me, he actually had a mission.
Cheat skills, a mission... He’s way more of a protagonist-type reincarnator than I am.
“You’re like heroes...”
“Now you’re talkin’! That’s right! We’re heroes!”
“R-Right...”
He’s not just easy to flatter—he believes everything I say because he’s convinced I’m not lying.
By the way, the delinquent’s name was Black Dragon Godlord, and the girl was Machina; they’d picked the names themselves.
The guy’s name, though... It’s so him. Once he gets older in this world, he’s gonna be mortified. But hey, he seems proud of it, so whatever.
They said they were sent here about a month ago. Since they just appeared out of nowhere, I thought maybe it was teleportation, but if they died and got new bodies, then I guess you’d call it reincarnation?
“Black hair’s lame,” said Black Dragon Godlord, “but there’s no way to dye it here.”
“Dye it?”
I acted like I didn’t know what that meant, trying to sound like a local. He looked at me with even more condescension than I’d expected.
“Ha! So this backwater culture doesn’t even have hair dye? Lame! Real men go red! Back in my world, I dyed my hair blazing red!”
A red pompadour? Are you trying to become a rooster?
“Are there other cheaters besides you two?” I asked.
“You bet! According to the god, dozens of us have been sent here already.”
Seriously?! There’s dozens of people with weird cheat powers like these two? Considering this dirtbag got reincarnated, personality clearly isn’t part of the selection criteria. There could be even worse scumbags out there with terrifying abilities—like that charm power he mentioned. If I see someone with black hair and dark eyes, I better be careful. The minute we see one, we’re booking it.
“H-Hey, let’s go already,” the girl whispered, tugging on the delinquent’s sleeve. She must’ve thought it’d be a liability to give away more intel.
“Huh? Oh, right.” He turned to me. “You said you got attacked because of me, right? My bad.”
“What? Uh, sure...” An apology was the last thing I was expecting!
So he’s a jerk, but not some evil crook? Maybe just a bit unhinged and full of himself? That alone’s a good enough reason to not get involved with him, but as long as we stay polite, he probably won’t try to kill us out of nowhere. I’m just glad we were able to avoid any further conflict here.
We gave a quick bow and left the area. They didn’t follow us, and we managed to get away clean. Or so I’d thought—
“Myah...”
“Arf...”
“Hmm...”
As we walked in the deep layer, I glanced back. No one was there, but I could definitely feel someone’s presence. Well, not just someone—the black-haired duo.
No matter how fast or slow we walked, whether we zigzagged or stopped for a fake break, they kept tailing us at a fixed distance. I didn’t sense any hostility or malice, but they were definitely stalking us. What are they after? Whenever we entered combat, their presence would waver slightly. Were they trying to steal our kills?
They kept inching toward us, and after about thirty minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore. They were only ten meters behind us now, and I could clearly see them.
“Excuse me! Do you need something?”
“H-Huh?” said the delinquent. “What are you talkin’ about?”
“You’ve been following us this whole time, right? Doesn’t that mean you need something?”
“N-No! I don’t need anything! We’re just heading the same way, that’s all!”
Oh come on, does he really think that excuse’s gonna fly? Now he’s whistling and looking off in a random direction. What is this, a retro sitcom?!
“Well then, we’re gonna take a little break here,” I said. “Feel free to go on ahead.”
“C-Cool.” He then turned to his partner. “Hey, let’s go.”
“Okay.”
The black-haired duo strutted past us. The delinquent puffed out his chest like he was some kind of big shot, while the girl kept bowing.
We waited a bit, long enough that I couldn’t sense them anymore.
But Shiro and Kuro weren’t fooled.
“They’re watching us.”
“They’re still not giving uuup.”
“Figures.”
They’d stopped about a hundred meters ahead, clearly trying to spy on us from the shadows.
I thought for a brief moment. “Let’s head back the way we came.”
“A-okay.”
“Got it.”