Thank you for the good reviews of the first chapter of the story. Also, keep in mind that I am open to criticism. Enjoy!

Side note: Speacial thanks to Transcended Potato for editing.

Chapter 2

King is a hardcore gamer

The Strongest Man On Earth, the Hero of Heroes, the Pinnacle Of Heroism was in deep thought.

How could he even describe the events that happened barely a few minutes ago?

He was summoned to a parallel world... where one's life depended on games.

And they were in the middle of a forest that was probably home to many unknown creatures.

Not to mention, this world looked completely different from the other 'Isekai' worlds he read in mangas before, so he wouldn't be familiar with the place in any way, shape, or form. Though hoping for this world to be the same as one of the fictional ones created by manga authors was just wishful thinking. What would the odds even be?

"Huh... this world seems interesting," Saitama said, looking around. "I wonder if there are any strong beings to fight here."

"What the hell are you talking about?!" King asked Saitama, exasperated. "A FREAKING DRAGON FLEW OVER US JUST 30 SECONDS AGO!"

"Oh, wait, there was?" Saitama said in a tone of surprise. "I didn't even notice one."

King couldn't take it anymore and fell on all fours. Transported to a new world by some kid God that had fantasy creatures- the first one they see being a DRAGON of all things? What next, animal-people? Giants? A whole race of Gods?

...King felt as though he jinxed himself, but he didn't want to entertain that thought any longer. If one thought of a jinx, the longer one entertained it, the more likely it was to happen.

Getting back up, King looked at his surroundings. He and Saitama were in a dense forest, and he could see various flora he wasn't familiar with. Damn, he really was in a new world.

"Hmm... If we're in this world, then we might need to stay here for a while, huh?" Saitama said, a hand on his chin. "I wonder what we can eat here..."

But then, Saitama's face suddenly went from his original, dopey and relaxed look, to one of complete seriousness.

"S-Saitama?" King asked, almost worried about Saitama. If he knew his friend, then the only thing that would get him to react like this was...

"TODAY'S BARGAIN DAY AT THE SUPERMARKET!" Saitama started yelling all of a sudden, shocking King. "Why'd it have to be today, of all days?! I even prepared my coupons a week before! I even did some odd jobs around town to get some money for this, dammit!"

Saitama then punched the ground, causing a deep crater. "THERE'S A 80% DISCOUNT ON SEAFOOD AND BEEF TODAY! THERE'S NO DAMN WAY I'LL BE MISSING IT!"

"Woah, Saitama, calm down," King said, attempting to calm his friend down. "Let's not get too hasty, now..."

"Crap, this might get dangerous." King thought. The reason why it might be dangerous was not that he was stuck in a world new to him and surrounded by mythological creatures, and it also wasn't because he would probably never see his home again. Well, there was definitely danger in those points, but the main thing was... if Saitama went crazy... the whole world's survival possibility would be zero. Though he knew Saitama as a reasonable person, if bargain sales were involved, then he couldn't tell what he would do.

Still, even he wouldn't be that unreasonable, right?

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

"DAMN IT! I'm gonna find that kid, and get him to bring us back home!" Saitama said with a crazy facial expression. "I've worked too hard for this sale! Too hard!"

"Whoa, whoa! No need to be in such a rush! I mean, what if that kid couldn't bring us back to our original world, anyway?" King said. "And what if he didn't want to? He called himself a God!"

"What?! No way! If he brought us here, he can bring us back! If he's strong enough to pull us from our original world into his world, he can bring us back no problem!" Saitama said, which surprised King. Despite seeming completely unreasonable, his rationale was strangely still intact.

"Also, so what if he's a God? That doesn't give him the right to make me miss a sale I worked so hard for!" Saitama punched a tree, destroying the rest of the forest behind it. "I'll look for him, and when I find him, I'll make him bring us back, and give him a good spanking if he doesn't want to! That'll teach that kid to mess with adults!"

All of sudden, Saitama took a starting position. "I saw a town in the distance earlier." Saitama pointed at a small village far away from their current position. "If by chance I can't find that kid, I'll see you there in the evening."

King understood what Saitama was about to do. "Wait, Saitama-" Unfortunately, it was too late.

"I'M COMING FOR YOU, YOU SHITTY BRAT!" Those were the last words King heard before Saitama disappeared from his view.

Saitama ran at such a speed that the part of the forest behind him was utterly flattened, causing dust to fly everywhere. A small crater had formed where Saitama started running, a blast area forming in the area behind where Saitama was. As the dust settled, King managed to only spot a glimpse of his friend running in the distance. In less than 2 seconds, an explosion occurred somewhere in the distance, informing him that the sound barrier had been exceeded.

King sat on the ground, his face bleached white.

"Let's evaluate the situation." King thought, trying to calm himself down, thinking of the next best course of action.

He was currently in a forest that was completely foreign to him. That was not a problem, since it was noon. And if he was lucky, he could get out of the forest before nightfall. So, this wasn't a problem.

A more pressing matter right now... was his hunger.

The last time he ate something was 6 hours ago. And now, he was hungry. Very hungry. Immediately after arriving, he already vomited out the little bit of breakfast he had this morning, and his stomach was feeling the aftereffects.

For the last few minutes, he barely stood conscious, though that was mostly brought from falling from a height normally reserved for commercial airplanes, and vomiting his guts out. King was not hungry often, as he wasn't an active man. And when he was hungry, he would usually just eat junk food while playing, or instant ramen when his stomach demanded some sort of tangible input. Maybe some fruits when he felt thirsty.

But now, he was teleported to another world, almost immediately after training. The only thing he brought from his and Saitama's original world was the latest model smartphone, financed by the Heroes Association, and his game console. Though their battery wouldn't last for more than a day, it didn't matter, seeing as in this particular case, he just needed to survive.

Okay, if he forgot about his current hunger, then he would be fine. That town in the distance that Saitama spotted in the distance probably had some sort of food, and if what that 'God' kid, Tet, said was true, then he could just play a game with someone for some money.

Saitama left him a few seconds ago. Okay, that wasn't a problem either. Saitama could take care of himself. Also, according to Tet, to kill or rob someone was forbidden, so he is safe, too. At least, that was assuming that the people of this world followed those rules.

So everything was fine, right? Right?

"Who the hell am I kidding!?" King felt like his head was going to explode, shouting towards the sky.

He did not know how big the forest was, nor did he know what dangers he would face on the road. Even if those rules were to be absolute and immutable, then what about wild animals? They definitely had to keep their 'eat or be eaten' mindset, otherwise other than intelligent beings, the only other thing that would live in this world were plants, and herbivorous animals. He just couldn't see a wolf playing with a rabbit for the lives of their families.

Thought that would indeed be an optimistic outlook, things were often the other way around for him. If everything went like how his usual day would, he'd encounter some wild bear or a pack of wolves on the way to the town, then get mauled to death, as his title as an S-Class Hero meant absolutely nothing in this new world.

Even if he could leave the forest, he had no place to stay. He could play some games for some money and get some food as well as a temporary place to stay, but if things were more permanent... then needing to earn enough money to buy a house for him to stay... he'd need to constantly bet all his money on a game, and not lose a match. The not losing part wouldn't be hard, but getting enough people to still bet against him while he's won every game would be more than difficult. No one would be stupid enough to continue playing against those odds, right?

Still, King tried to calm down himself. Panicking and mulling over the negative outcomes was useless in this situation. After recovering a bit, he remembered Saitama pointed out a town in the distance before running off to find that Tet boy- or God. If he could just make it there, then the issue of survival was settled.

He started moving in the direction of the town far off into the distance, but suddenly his whole body froze. 'The Strongest Man On Earth' felt like numerous eyes were looking at him from all sides. Presumably, those gazes were just as- if not more horrible as the dragon he had just seen a few minutes ago. And he lost hope... again.

"What would others do in a situation like this ?" King made full use of all his brain cells. He already thinking of all possible situations, and all possible outcomes, as well as how to get away, surviving all the way.

"Faced with the overwhelming power of an invading hornet wave, bees will unleash whatever little power they have in their stingers; skunks and hedgehogs can overcome physical disparities using their special evolved traits, yet here I am, challenging nature with my weak, frail human body."

"If it's was him... if it was Saitama-bro… what would he do ?" He thought pensively, sitting down on a rock. Though Saitama in question was already incredibly strong, what would Saitama do if he was still weak?

*Wind blows*

[Flashback...]

In the completely abandoned sector of City Z, aptly named the City Z Ghost Town, a deep voice could be heard from someone in an abandoned building, in the only room where lights were on.

"Limits, you say? But who decides one's limits? And based on what, exactly? You said that you worked as hard as you could? Well, then maybe you just need to work a little harder. Is this really the limit of your strength, or could tomorrow's you beat today's you? Instead of giving in, just keep pushing onwards."

"Well, those were words I said to that guy, haha," Saitama said in his normal voice, laughing cheerfully while Genos and King were listening to him in admiration. "I almost missed the sale after, too."

"Woah, you're a pretty good motivator, Saitama." King praised, though listening intently to Saitama's story, was still beating Saitama's character black and blue. "So, did he end up working harder after?"

"I don't know. I only told him what I felt needed to be said to him- ah, King! You're beating me while I was distracted! This match doesn't count!" Saitama said, furious that while he was earnestly telling King and Genos that story where he saved that one guy that reminded him of himself, King managed to listen closely to his story- and still beat his ass in the video game.

"Ah, I was moving on instinct, sorry about that, Saitama," King said, not even noticing that in that short span, he managed to deplete all of Saitama's lives, not even losing a single one of his own.

"Grr, a rematch!" Saitama said, hopping up, fired up to beat King. If his tactic of distracting King while they were gaming didn't work, then he was going to pull out his ultimate move! He's been perfecting his Consecutive Low Kicks to the limit! There was no way King could get out unscathed!

Still, some of his words did get to King. Though he was as simple as a neanderthal when it came to games, he was pretty insightful when it came to heroic advice.

Keep pushing onwards, huh...

[The Present...]

"Just push onwards? This should be easy for Saitama, but for me?" The Strongest Man was calculating his best move. If he pushed forward, he still needed an actual plan.

"I guess I have no other choice." King exhaled, not even realizing that he had been holding his breath. He stood calmly and started walking towards the village he saw earlier. While all this was happening, he didn't realize that he was being watched by someone.

[10 minutes later]

The forest was filled with the sounds of wailing. No, it wasn't King. It was the naked trio sitting under the tree.

"Why does this always happen to us?" Said the one who was sitting in front. He seemed older than the other two and was probably their leader, as well. "The people we challenged the first time round defeated us and took everything we had. And now the same thing happened again! First, Imanity's future king and queen, now, an unfathomable person we didn't think of meeting, even in our dreams!" The leader of thieves hit the ground with his fist after finishing his monologue.

[Flashback...]

"It's surprising that you're even crying like that after trying to use 'steal'." The man who beat them spoke in an emotionless voice. The thieves stopped their crying immediately. They didn't want to annoy the man in front of them any more than they already did. Every fiber of his being screamed 'power'. A power beyond comprehension and imagination, a power that made the thieves' skin crawl. A power that seemed utterly unfair.

Not to mention the strange sound echoing everywhere, originating from that man. Although it sounded like heartbeats, for them at the moment, it sounded like a voice from the deepest part of hell. A voice that promised hellish pain beyond mortal limits. With every passing second, this person's overwhelming presence increased, like they were slowly sinking into an ocean of lead. It felt as though he would kill them in the worst possible way. It made them feel like even the 10 pledges weren't able to prevent him from annihilating them. There was no way this guy was human.

That person- no, that monster in human skin seemed utterly uninterested in them in the first place, until he decided their fates.

"Get lost."

[The Present...]

While continuing his journey towards the village he saw, King tried to understand the sequence of events that occurred but a few minutes ago.

After he started to walk towards the village he saw, King realized that he had a red juice box in his jacket's pocket. He couldn't understand how he didn't notice that earlier, though it was probably because of the stress of falling from the sky. Wanting to quench his thirst and hunger, King started drinking the juice. But luck was never on his side (at least, he felt that it wasn't), since barely 5 seconds since he started drinking, he tripped on a small rock and fell. The entire upper part of his body was painted in a thin red coat because of the remaining juice in the box. He sighed and continued on his way, discarding the juice box on the ground.

As King continued walking, his heart was pumping harder from fatigue, though it didn't reach the point where his 'King Engine' was audible yet. He had barely taken a few steps before he started to hear some rustling in the forest. King kept his optimism up and hoped that it was just some rabbit. Though just after the rustling stopped, 3 men jumped right in front of him.

"Do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?" A member of the trio said in a prominent self-righteous expression.

"Huh?" King looked at them in confusion.

"So, the hard way, then! We challenge you! If you lose, everything you own is ours." King finally understood what was happening. The ones in front of him were some bandits- well, more like thieves- who wanted to challenge him in some games. At first, he was afraid that they were basic brigands, but he was relieved to know that they weren't attacking him.

Well, he supposed those Ten Pledges that the 'Tet' kid explained earlier was absolute after all.

"Now then, decide what to play." After hearing this, King remembered one of the pledges that Tet explained.

"Five: The challenged party has the right to decide the rules of the game."

"Look, I have nothing much with me right now. But if you want, I can bet everything on me, even my life." With a grin on his face, King said as he moved towards them. Even he himself could not believe what he said right now; but when it came to games, he had full confidence in winning.

"What's wrong with this guy? He bets his life out of nowhere and acts as if it's nothing." The thieves thought quietly. Something was off about this man.

"So, I have the right to decide the game, right? This will be piece of cake." Immediately after the sentences formed in his mind, King tripped- and the reason was the same. A small stone in the way.

"How much worse can it get today!? I feel like destroying the whole world already!" King shouted with anger as he stood back up.

Directing his anger towards the stone, he picked it up and threw it into an unseen part of the forest with all his might. Turning back to face the three thieves-

BOOM!

A mountain behind him- in the general direction of him throwing the stone had exploded and collapsed. Immediately shattering upon impact, the topography of the area was changed permanently.

"Wuh- What?" Was all thieves' could think. Who was the person in front of them? They immediately looked at the stranger with a frightened expression. Did he just destroy a mountain with a simple stone throw?

But unknown to them, King was even more frightened. What just happened? Did he do that? There were tens of kilometers between him and the mountain! No, that couldn't be! Were exploding mountains the norm around here? For a fantasy world, even that would be too much! Chances were, it was either some super powerful being that just woke up in the mountain, or Saitama had something to do with it. But the latter seemed impossible. What were the chances?

Although he tried to look as unfazed as possible, his heart started to beat and the thrum of the legendary 'King Engine' echoed throughout the forest, heard by everyone in the vicinity.

Although the thieves were afraid, they were sure that he couldn't hurt them as long as the 10 Pledges were still upheld by Tet, the One True God. However, in the next moment, something caught their attention. The man was covered in blood and had three scars on his left eye. How was this possible?! He couldn't have killed someone, the Ten Pledges wouldn't allow him to! But even if they assumed that it wasn't blood, that didn't explain the scar. Unless... The souls of the trio nearly came out of their bodies. Unless this man was older than 6000 years old- before the Ten Pledges were implemented. So he wasn't human? That would explain how strong he was.

The sound echoing around them seemed to answer their question. A human couldn't make a sound like that. But what was he? A Dragonia in human form? A Phantasma? Or...

An Old Deus?

No matter how much their imaginations ran wild, it was already too late to surrender. They had bet everything they had.

Seeing that the trio simply remained silent, King decided to ignore what just happened and took the game consoles he brought to this world out of his pocket.

{Capital city of Elkia...}

It was a beautiful day. The blazing midday sun shone relentlessly on the citizens, and the blue sky was dotted with fluffy white clouds that drifted lazily in the gentle breeze.

But even on such a beautiful day, Elkia's new rulers chose to stay in their rooms and play games.

Despite this, there was a certain red-haired girl who was bothering them, trying to get them to do some work.

"Hey, you two!" As soon as she opened the door, Stephania Dola started yelling. "You two should be dealing with the nobility right now!"

A tall and lean young man with spiky black hair (Sora) and a pale-skinned girl with long, messy white hair (Shiro) didn't seem to care about her yelling and seemed to treat her like air.

"Nah, I don't care," Sora said, without taking his eyes off the game he was playing.

"You can do this, Steph. Good Steph." Shiro said while treating Stephanie like a dog.

"Aaaaah! I'm sick of you two! I swear, if the two of you don't fulfill your responsibilities as Imanity's rulers anymore, I'll topple the entire kingdom and flip it over your heads!" Stephanie tearfully shouted, the entire scene looking comical.

Sora wanted to open his mouth to say something when suddenly-

BOOM!

The entire castle started to tremble as a result of the shockwave from an explosion. The walls started crumbling and it seemed as though it would only take a second, even smaller vibration for the entire castle to come collapsing down.

Trying to maintain his balance, Sora grabbed Steph's collar.

"Are you doing this?!" Sora asked in a shaking voice. "This isn't funny! Destroying the castle because you thought we didn't do any duties is just overreacting!"

"Of course not! How could I do that?! This castle belonged to my grandfather, how could I destroy it?! I just said it as a joke!" Stephanie said, obviously denying that she had anything to do with it. She wouldn't, in the first place. She lived here her whole life, there was no way she'd destroy it on a whim!

"Then what is this? Divine justice?" Sora asked, theorizing what happened.

"M-maybe it's an earthquake?" Shiro suggested.

"That's impossible. Elkia is settled in an area free from earthquakes. The last recorded earthquake was 900 years ago!"

The earthquake that seemed to last for an eternity stopped after 5 seconds. Not even a second had passed since the 'earthquake' stopped, and the door slammed opened sharply.

"Masters! Are you okay?!" A woman who looked like an angel instantly asked her masters. The woman had long purplish-pink hair that reached down to her knees and two white wings protruding near her hips. Her pupils were purple surrounded by golden irises, her ears were wing-shaped, and she also had a halo over her head.

"Jibril! is this your doing?!" Sora jumped on Jibril, shaking her vigorously as he asked her.

"No. I would never try doing something like that." Jibril shook off Sora's panicked reaction, showing no signs of discomfort.

"Oh, is that so?" Knowing that Jibril would never lie to him, Sora calmed down. "So, what happened? As your master, I command you to find out what caused this."

"As you wish, my master." Jibril slightly bowed her head. She closed her eyes, and sharpened all her senses with magic, pushing her limits to detect what happened.

When she opened her eyes again, there was a confused expression on her face.

"One of the mountains in the North-West region has collapsed."

...

It was abundantly clear who was the winner. King had completely devastated his opponents. To be honest, the game wasn't even fair. Even a 3-year-old could beat someone who had never seen a game console in his life.

"It's surprising that you're even crying like that after trying to use 'steal'."

Despite being one of- if not the most powerful ability in the game if used correctly, using the 'steal' skill still posed a high risk. If the player could use the ability correctly, then he could seize the opponent's weapon. But this move consumed an enormous amount of AP, and there was also the possibility that something else could be stolen.

In the thieves' case, it was the bomb King was prepared to use. The bomb they stole exploded the second they used the skill, causing King to win the game instantly. In fact, King wasn't sure if they knew what the ability was and how to use it, or they just pressed random buttons. Chances were, it was the latter. For once, luck was on his side.

Suddenly, King remembered about a yearly event in the game that would start about today. Ignoring the crying thieves, he started playing the game. After clearing all the opponents in a short time, he finally reached the last boss. Beating it was child's play, and King sat through the final monologue of the boss. One complaint he had was that the final cutscene was unskippable.

"Gah! I've been defeated. Do what you will to me, you wretch! I'll return again next time!" The final boss's voice said from King's game console, and hearing it over and over every year was utterly boring. Before pressing the button that would send it back to the abyss, King uttered these words in disdain, in a tone so heavy and intimidating it could overshadow a Dragonia's roar.

"Get lost."

And out of nowhere, the trio started running out of away, as if they were running for their lives.

Surprised, King tried to stop them to give them back their clothes (granted, they did bet everything they had), but the rumbling of his stomach cut him off halfway. He couldn't bother with it anymore.

"I'm starving." King put his hand on his stomach. Just as he was about to give up on eating and planned to tough it out, something caught his eye. It was the stuff trio left on the ground, his winnings. He saw some dried jerky among the items.

"Well, I guess life isn't all that bad after all." After that short thought, he opened the small bag and ate the jerky.

While he ate the jerky, he started thinking about the information he had obtained before starting the game with those three earlier.

It seems that this world was ruled by Tet.

The 10 pledges were absolute, probably excluding Tet, as he created it himself. Though he didn't seem like the sort to go against it, being the God of Play, after all. Hell, he probably wanted it. The only way someone could go against the Ten Pledges is if one challenged Tet, took over the title of One True God, and abolished the pledges.

The region which he was in currently was called Elkia, the only human city in this world.

Recently, two young humans named Sora and Shiro were declared king and queen of Imanity. Also, they had recently defeated the Eastern Union and made them join the Commonwealth of Elkia.

"That's impressive. Seeing as this world depends completely on games, they should be pretty good at them, too." King thought. "Hmm... they might pose a challenge." With that thought, a small grin grew on King's face.

There was also the term 'Ixseed' which referred to the 16 sentient races of Disboard whom the Ten Pledges applied to. They were ranked based on their affinity to magic, and Imanity was the lowest-ranked of the races.

The top six races were regarded as 'Life' and 'Living beings', while the other ten races are regarded as 'Creatures' and 'Living things'. He couldn't yet tell what the difference between them was in the first place, but chances were, the disparity might be as great as a Wolf-level threat and a Dragon-level threat.

"What a cruel system." As soon as he finished his last piece of jerky, he set out for the city. He was relaxed now, as he had some money from the three that challenged him earlier. At least he had something else to bet in a game, aside from whatever he had on himself at the moment.

"Hey, King! I finally found you." A familiar voice called from his side. Immediately recognizing the voice, King turned to the person in question.

"Hey, Saitama-bro! Where were you? Leaving me in the middle of the forest wasn't exactly nice, you know. Even if that 'Tet' said that no murder, war, or robbery is allowed in this world, what if I ran into a wild animal, or a dragon, like earlier?" King said, not knowing at the time that the dragon he saw was part of the sixteen intelligent races on Disboard, thus not needing to worry about it in the first place.

"Ah, right. Sorry about that." Saitama said with a deadpan face. "I wanted to find that kid as soon as possible, so I didn't think it through.

Though Saitama wasn't really sorry, King couldn't care less at the moment, and sighed. They then started walking together.

"Well, did you end up finding that kid? I hope you didn't hurt anyone." The Strongest Man asked.

The Strongest Hero scratched the top of his head. "No, although I searched the whole country, I couldn't find him. It's like he doesn't even live in this world."

"Dammit, I'm definitely missing the sale today. The next time I see that kid, I'm definitely spanking him; or at least give him a stern talking to!" Saitama said angrily, King not having any words to reply with to the fact that Saitama wanted to spank or scold that kid that introduced himself as a God.

"Also, remind me. While we were falling from the sky, didn't he say he lived in one of those chess pieces we saw in the distance or something?" King asked, pointing at a large king chess piece in the distance.

"...DAMMIT!" Saitama yelled, a vein appearing on his forehead. "I'm not gonna make it in time anyway, so I'm definitely giving him a piece of my mind right now!" Saitama said, cracking his knuckles.

But before he could do anything, King placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Just cool it, Saitama. Finding him right now won't solve anything." King said, attempting to calm Saitama down. He seemed more reasonable than he did a few minutes ago. "Also, how do you plan to get in? Don't tell me you want to punch your way in? How are you going to pay for the damages, then?"

That seemed to do the trick, as Saitama deflated like a balloon. "I should've went there from the start..." King could see Saitama's soul floating out of his mouth. "My 80% discount on beef and seafood..."

"Well, whatever." King heaved a sigh of relief, glad that he calmed Saitama down before he pulled some other crazy stunt. "By the way, you didn't answer my first question. Where'd you go, anyway?"

"Ah, right..."

[Around 10 minutes after Saitama left King to find Tet...]

When seen from the sky, there was a trail left from what seemed to be a white blur, causing damage wherever the trail went and kicking up massive dust clouds as a result.

Said blur of white was Saitama running around like a suit-wearing lizard running away from tax collectors, a frantic expression on his face.

"Where is that brat!? Dammit! I'm already late for the sale!" Saitama was so busy thinking about the sale that he didn't realize he was running on the surface of the lake at the moment. When finally realized it, he was approaching the end of the lake... with the small village he pointed out earlier barely a few hundred meters away from him.

"Aw, crap." Saitama thought, seeing the village at the end of the lake. If he had just passed through at this speed, he would cause as much damage as a hurricane or a flash flood would, and he had no money to pay for the damages. This was probably one of the most difficult situations in his life.

Everything slowed down to a crawl as Saitama started thinking- his brain overclocking to get him out of this mess. He could not maneuver left or right in time because of him running on water. Stopping was not an option either, as the friction of the water was very low, and if he forcefully stopped himself, he'd probably just cause a flood, damaging the village either way.

"I can't go right, I can't go left, and I can't stop, either." Saitama clenched his teeth. "What should I do?"

He abruptly realized what he had to do. The question wasn't 'What should he do?' The question was 'Where should he go?'

"Up! I have to go up." Saitama shouted in an epiphany as he jumped upwards, avoiding the village entirely. However, he made a small mistake. He hadn't calculated where to land. And as a result, he hit a huge mountain at hypersonic speeds and collapsed it.

[The present...]

"Ah, it's nothing important," Saitama said nonchalantly. "I just looked through the entire country until I decided to give up and find you."

"It seems like he's hiding something..." King thought. "Ah, whatever. If Saitama says it's nothing much, it probably isn't anything major, or he's already dealt with it."

Though he'd like to question Saitama more, now wasn't the time for questions.

They had reached the capital city of Elkia.

Editor's Note: It's a bit longer, and I fleshed the dialogue out a little better. I also changed a few things about Saitama and King, though still nothing major.