Thanks to Transcended Potato for editing.
Chapter 3
Shine under the sun! Gamer Baldy!
...
"King, open the door!" Saitama said, writhing in agony.
"No, I can't! I haven't finished yet!" Came King's pained reply.
The bald man was in pain.
It was almost unbearable- the pain was the worst pain he had ever felt since the start of his training, and if he was careless for even a second, he felt as though it would be over for him.
*GRUMBLE*
"Gurk!"
The Strongest Hero covered his stomach with his hands in an attempt to ease the pain.
*HEAVY GRUMBLING*
[The day before...]
"I guess we need to find someplace to stay," King said, looking at the huge city before him. After passing the village for a while, the capital city could be immediately seen, thus King and Saitama simply headed straight towards the capital city, ignoring the small village they passed through.
"Yeah, then let's go." Saitama started walking towards to city, completely carefree.
"Uh, Saitama-bro, I think we'd better move forward as inconspicuously as possible, for now. We still have limited knowledge about this world." King said.
"Well, we basically know next-to-nothing anyway, so we may as well get there and then collect some information," Saitama remarked. "No point sitting out here wasting time."
"What do you mean? We do know some things about this world." King said, to which Saitama arched his eyebrow in response. "We know about the Ten Pledges. That 'Tet' kid told us about it while we were falling, remember? Also, I managed to collect a little bit of information from some people while you were off looking for that kid- or God."
"Ah, right..." Saitama said, putting his hand on his chin. "But something bothers me. What were the Ten Pledges again?" Saitama looked at King with his usual derpy look, King being unable to tell if he was joking with him or being serious, though his gut told him it was the latter.
"The fact that you don't even remember them amazes me." King thought. "Weren't you listening to it, as well? You ignored me while we were falling to listen to that kid, after all." King said, not forgetting what happened while they were falling.
"Ah, right. Sorry about that." Saitama said. "Though, no. I was listening, but it was getting a bit long. I only got the gist of it, though I'm not sure if I got them right."
"The 10 Pledges are the rules that all sentient races in this world must obey. As far as I know, they're absolute, and all of the races of this world cannot go against them."
"Sentient races? What other sentient races are there?" Saitama asked, intrigued. Were they like the elves and dwarves in those mangas he read before?
"Oh, right. I forgot to mention them. In this world, there are 16 races that are sentient and have their own cultures and whatnot. But the difference is that they can use magic." King explained. "It's basically like in those fantasy worlds in those mangas that I borrowed you some time ago."
"Magic? I wonder if it can harm me. Now that might be interesting." Saitama said, a serious look growing on his face. For once, the bizarreness of the situation and the fact that they were in another world... it rekindled Saitama's hope for a satisfying battle.
"You're still trying to fight, even in this world?" King couldn't do anything but sigh. "You can't fight them, since they won't be able to pick a fight with you, anyway. Fighting's against the Ten Pledges."
"Ah, right. That brat did say something about that." Saitama remembered the brief explanation that Tet gave them while they were falling. "But technically, the first rule just said 'no murder, war and robbery', right? They never said anything about fighting without killing, robbing, or going to war." Saitama reasoned.
"I mean, what you said does make sense, but we'd better not risk it. I think the only way you can fight against anything in this world is if you play a game with them, which has the fighting as the main focus." King said.
"But to be safe, I think I'd better explain about the Ten Pledges again," King said. "Wouldn't want you to accidentally break them."
"Now listen carefully, I'll try to explain the Ten Pledges..." King said.
"One: All murder, war, and..."
[Five minutes later...]
"That was the last pledge. Now, do you remember all of them?" King asked.
"Well, yeah... I get it about the same as I did the last time, seeing as you just repeated whatever that kid said. In shorter version, no killing, no going to war, no robbing, and everything's about games in this world. Basically, No Game No Life." Saitama summarized.
"I mean, that's about it, but the part about the games is a bit more complicated than that." King sweatdropped. "You basically explained the first pledge and then condensed the following seven pledges into 'everything's about games'."
"Really, do you actually get it? I mean, the last time you skimmed something, you almost made me, Genos, Bang, and yourself submit to the Blizzard Group by not reading the contract." King said, an invisible spike metaphorically piercing Saitama. "We don't want a repeat of that, so I'll try to explain the Pledges again, but more in-depth."
"One: All murder, war and..."
[An additional five minutes later...]
"... and that's why you'll have to learn about games. Do you get it now?" King asked, hoping his explanation was detailed yet short enough to the point that his friend would be able to understand the Ten Pledges fully, but not fall asleep due to boredom.
"…Yes. But, just in case, could you sum it up in twenty words or less? I was not listening for the most part."
A brief facepalm later, King sighed. "All that time, wasted."
"Basically, no killing, robbing, or going to war."
"I already got that part." Saitama deadpanned. That part was the easiest to get of the rules.
"I know. I just said it for posterity." King sighed. "Anyway, solve all your problems with games, bet anything of equal worth, bet and play whatever you'd like as long as both parties are okay with it, the challenged gets to decide the rules, no running from your bets, groups settle their problems through representatives, and getting caught cheating means you instantly lose."
"Huh? But it is still more 20 words!" Saitama thought, although he now understood all the rules.
"Well, that's okay, then," Saitama said. "Much easier to understand than earlier."
"I tried." King groaned. "Well, whatever. The last two rules are basically 'don't change the Pledges' and 'have fun', but that's not important."
King then passed Saitama a cloak.
"What's this for?" Saitama asked.
"Some people challenged me to a game just before you found me. It's not the cleanest of clothing, nor the most inconspicuous of covers, but it'll do."
"And why do I have to wear them?" Saitama questioned.
"Because we should just get in without attracting attention. Our clothes are likely to attract a lot of attention if we don't cover them." King replied. "Also there's a chance you might be mistaken for a pervert with that outfit."
"What? Why?" Saitama questioned, unable to correlate the two points.
"It's a different world. Not just our clothing, their sense of fashion might be different from ours. I mean, think about it. In a different world where everyone still dresses like the people from medieval ages, what would they think if people walked into town in modern clothing and strange fashion?"
"Even in our old world, walking around with a hoodie that has the picture of boobs and the words 'OPPAI' directly below the picture is a little..." King didn't continue the statement.
"Hey, it's my favorite hoodie. It's comfortable." Saitama complained. "Oh, well. It's just a cloak, anyway." He muttered with dissatisfaction. First he found himself in world where he cannot fight and sale coupons are completely useless. Now he had to wear this weird cloak.
As soon as Saitama covered his clothes with the cloak, they started to search for an inn. But it was difficult to differentiate the buildings from each other because everything was, well... medieval. Yes, literally everything gave off a medieval feel. If it weren't for the rainbow sky and the towering chess pieces in the distance, King would've thought that they traveled back in time.
"Hey, look, I think we can stay there." Saitama pointed at a building in front of them.
King looked at the building that Saitama pointed at. It had a different structure compared to the other buildings, and it was relatively bigger. Also, there was a large sign on the outside, which would generally mean that it was available to the public. On the other hand, it could also be a different building. However, they had enough of wandering about, finding an inn. They may as well try entering. The worst that could happen was that it wasn't an inn. Even then, they could ask for directions.
"Let's go in and check, then," King said, but Saitama was already walking into the building. "Hey, wait for me!" He caught up to Saitama.
"By the way, Saitama-bro, you can just call me 'King' like you usually do if you want, but try not to use it so often. The last thing we need is us offending the rulers of this place as soon as we got here."
"Ok." Saitama shrugged. He didn't care enough at the moment.
"Also, leave most of the conversation to me."
"I thought you were a NEET that spent most of his time at home? Your social skills might be worse than mine." Saitama reminded him of the sad truth. He was an otaku with little-to-zero conversational skills.
"True, but I have enough to at least request for a few nights' stay," King said. "I still do go out to buy games and go to cafes to relax, you know."
"Not to mention, we're currently in a fantasy-like world where everything depends on games. I'm more familiar with the basic tropes here, so I'll do the talking."
"Well, I see your point. I think I'll just leave this to you, then." Saitama accepted his way of thinking. In the end, King was more familiar with the situation. He knew more about the 'pledges' or whatever they were called in this world, and he'd be less likely to be scammed.
Finally, they entered the inn. Looking around, it definitely fitted the description of an inn. He didn't need to worry about it being an 'adventurer's guild' or whatever, seeing as this world didn't need adventurers in the first place.
"Hey, how many nights can I stay for this?" King asked, placing the gold coin that he won from the thieves on the counter.
The owner of the place briefly looked at King, before looking away again, and stating his price.
"Two nights."
"No, no, no. I'm not asking for the price you normally use to fool your easy targets. I'm asking how long I can actually stay with that gold coin." King laid his arm on the table, his expression tired. He's gotten used to the norm in video games, where the owner of the place scams you with a much higher price than usual. Usually, he'd humor him a little, bargain here and there, but he wasn't in the mood right now.
"Tch, three nights."
"...Look. I don't have a lot of time. Today was not the best of days, and we just want to catch a break."
"I know you want to gouge some fools for easy profits. I understand where you're coming from, I really do."
"But let me ask again. How. Many. Nights. Can. We. Stay?" King asked in a tone that left no room for argument. Though the Ten Pledges were immutable, something told the innkeeper... that if he didn't serve the man in front of him right now properly... he'd regret it deeply.
"F-Five nights! Take it, or leave." The man stuttered out, trying to keep his composure as he threw the keys to King. "Your room's upstairs, the fourth row, the second last from the right."
"Finally. Let's go, Saitama-bro." King said, finally relieved that the innkeeper wasn't trying to scam him this time.
"Woah, talk about skillful. You intimidated that guy into giving us a better price." Saitama said, giving a thumbs-up to King.
"No, I just didn't care enough. I just want somewhere to lie down after all this." King said, letting out a tired sigh.
King opened their room door. It was spacey, and it wasn't too bad. There was enough space for both of them, and for five nights? Those gold coins were worth quite a bit. That or housing prices were exceedingly cheap in this world. "So, this is where we'll be staying for the foreseeable future... It's not a modern apartment, but it definitely beats staying outside."
"Well, now that we've found a place to say for the time being, what should we do? I can't even be a hero here, seeing as there's no need for one." Saitama said, bored. "I mean, it's nice and all, not needing to worry about being mugged or killed by others, but still, I don't really have anything to do, now. "
"I'm not too sure on that end, either," King said. "All that 'Tet' kid did was ask if I wanted to live in his world through an email, I stupidly said yes without thinking, and now we're stuck here."
"So basically that kid just wanted to bring you, and I happened to just be there at the time?" Saitama asked.
"I think so, yeah."
"Sigh... just my luck."
"Anyway, we should at least get some income. And to do that, we'll have to learn to play games." King said. "Well, there's that option, or you could just be a physical worker. Aside from every conflict in this world being settled by games, I assume this world should still have fair wages for the work you do. You could be a laborer or a construction worker, with your physical strength."
"Hmm... seeing as I'm already in this world where everything's decided by games, as that kid said, I may as well try the gaming bit of it," Saitama said nonchalantly. "If that doesn't work out, then yeah. I'll switch to physical work."
"Alright, then. But before you go out and maybe lose everything you own in a game, I need to make sure of something." King said. "What games do you know about? Anything will do. Chess? Checkers? Shogi? Hell, even Rock-Paper-Scissors counts."
"Aside from Shogi and Rock-Paper-Scissors, I've never played the other games before," Saitama said with a blank expression. "Everyone knows about Rock-Paper-Scissors, and I once entered a Shogi tournament because my middle school homeroom teacher forced me to."
"I think we will be here all day," King said. As he expected Saitama was an utterly lost cause.
"Hey why are you talking like I'm a hopeless case?!"
King ignored him. Well, even if he knew nothing, there was still a type of 'game' he could play. He'd always win, that's for sure. Anything that depended on strength, like running, arm-wrestling, and the like... well, Saitama wouldn't lose, that's for sure. "I don't think I've seen anything that looks like Shogi in this world, but I think everywhere in this world has a chessboard."
"What makes you think that?"
"The fact that there are literal giant chess pieces in the distance and world which everything depends on games?"
"You got me there."
"Chess is a little like Shogi, but the pieces and rules vary a little bit. Nothing too crazy, so it should be easy to get the rules down." King said, opening a wardrobe in their rented room to see if he was right.
"Ah, there's a chessboard here. I'll teach you the basics…"
[ One eternity(roughly 6 hours) later...]
After few hours, a lot shorter than King expected to take, Saitama finally understood the gist of how the game worked. The rules and how each piece moved barely took King 15 minutes to explain but getting Saitama to actually be decent in a match was... eh. The bare minimum was; if any random fellow challenged Saitama, he'd at least not lose terribly.
"Well, that's about it. You won't lose terribly against someone, at least. Well, if they weren't professionals, that is." King said. Still, he was surprised. He didn't know that Saitama could pay attention to anything he taught, really. Anything he said, any advice he gave on how to beat him in the games they played always flew over his head. Stuff like type-advantages, best moves, rare creatures... Saitama would always use the same tactic. Use strong-looking creatures to battle him, and use strong-sounding moves.
"I got how the rules work already. The movements of the pieces were easy to understand. Promotions work like in Shogi, just that the pawn can turn into any piece he wants except for the king. Special moves like castling and err... what was it called?"
"En passant?"
"Yeah, that. Those special moves I can understand, as well."
"Now those tactics you told me about, the gambits, traps, counters..." As Saitama mentioned that, King could see the metaphorical smoke rising from Saitama's ears.
"You should take a break. To be honest, just learning about the rules should be enough for today. I just wanted to stuff in some basic chess skills while I was here." King shrugged.
"Anyway, I'm going out. You coming with?" King asked when he was about to leave the room.
Saitama waved his hand, slumping onto his bed. "No. Learning how to play chess was more than tiring for me. I'm gonna take a short nap."
As soon as King received his reply, he went out of the room and went downstairs to the public area of the inn. It was already night and still he did not ate anything- only eating jerky would do that. He needed some actual, tangible substance to eat. Though as he went downstairs, it seemed to be more crowded than usual. There were almost three times as many people compared to a few hours ago when they checked in. Instead of it being rush hour, everyone simply sat down on the tables, playing various games with each other.
King then approached the innkeeper that seemed to be watching the event with an impassive expression.
"Excuse me, can you tell me what's happening here?" He asked him.
"You're not from these parts, are you? I should have known, just judging from your looks. Once a month, people gather here and play among themselves. It's extremely risky to play against a good majority of them, but if you're lucky, you can win large amounts of money. It's a bit like a tournament, but it's also like a free-for-all in the way that you can challenge whoever and whenever you want, as long as it doesn't interrupt an ongoing game." The owner of the place summarized.
"I see. I'll try it out, then." After hearing that he could challenge whoever and whenever he wanted as long as there wasn't a game underway, King could smell potential profits in the air. But before he got any closer, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was the innkeeper.
"I wouldn't recommend it. All of them are professionals, and some of them started coming here decades ago. Saying that you have a slim chance of winning is putting it lightly."
"Ah, you don't need to worry about me," King said with a small smile on his face. "Instead... you should be worrying if you'll even get any more customers after this."
[30 minutes later...]
King sat alone at a table, with literal bags of gold by his side. Everyone in the inn stared at him, almost everyone's jaws were wide open. A lot of people were whispering with each other about the newcomer.
"Who is that person?"
"I've never seen or heard of him before."
"Only Blank can do something like that!"
Everyone looking at King as though he wasn't from this world; which he wasn't. He just started playing and immediately beat everyone, regardless of the game they played. The only game he didn't play was anything that was strength-based. Though even then, there weren't any challenges in that department in the first place. Though violence was prohibited for the last 6,000 years under the Ten Pledges, it seemed as though he'd actually PREFER violence. Those three scars on his left eye... people shuddered to think what could have caused it. And that pressure he exuded... he was no ordinary human, that was for sure.
After his 100th win, no one else had the courage to challenge him anymore. After all, no one was stupid enough to quite literally hand him their money on a silver platter. No one could beat him after 100 tries, it would be the peak of foolishness to try any longer.
Though immediately after, he declared that he would bet all the money he had, no matter what the opponent's bet was. Those who were stupid enough to fall into his trap, or came too late to witness his 100 wins returned home empty-handed.
"Fools. Did you actually think I wouldn't notice your cheating? Even an amateur dealer would be able to notice them." King said disdainfully. These were professionals? If this was the level of 'professionals' in this world, then he might not find a challenge at all.
...Well, now he was sounding like Saitama. Not having a challenge was nice, at least. There was no need to worry about anything, and he could just breeze through any games without effort.
If he was feeling generous, he'd not call them out on their cheating and would counter with cheating of his own. If he didn't feel like it, he'd immediately call out the opponent's cheating, which was grounds for an instant loss.
Barely 30 minutes in, and he probably had more money than what the inn he was in was worth. Hell, he might even have more money than some banks of his old world. Then again, these were gold coins, which had different values when brought into his old world. Still, the point was that he now had a lot of money.
"I went a little too far..." King thought. "I'm gonna need Saitama's help."
Unworried that anyone would try to steal his possessions from the first Pledge of the Ten Pledges, King left the bags of gold on the floor, as he went back to the room that he and Saitama rented.
Entering the room, Saitama seemed to be dead asleep, and King moved to wake him up. Though he might be grouchy for waking him up, his mood should increase when he understood that he was going to carry massive bags of gold.
Though suddenly, Saitama woke up on his own, surprising King.
"I ALREADY SAID THIS BEFORE! DON'T PLAY ROCK-PAPER-SCISSORS WITH A BOOGER ON YOUR FINGER!" Saitama screamed out loud. Thankfully, King had closed the room door beforehand, so there wasn't a lot of noise exiting the room.
King didn't get how Saitama immediately got a dream like that and woke up barely 30 minutes after he took a nap, but that didn't matter. For now, he needed Saitama's help. Though he was training his body, he still wasn't strong enough to carry such massive bags of gold.
[2 minutes later...]
"King, if we weren't in this world where everything was ruled by games, I would have thought you robbed a bank or something," Saitama said, looking at the massive amounts of wealth King accrued in their room. After waking up from his dream and helping King take the bags of gold up to their room, only then did he realize what exactly he was carrying for King.
King smiled proudly. He had just accomplished his greatest success yet. In all honestly, maybe this world wasn't so bad after all. As long as he was in a city and there was no threat of wild animals or beings that didn't need to obey the Ten Pledges, then he was basically invincible. Unless of course, he had to play a game where it was impossible to win. If there was a chance of winning, then he could probably win. Though he wouldn't say that with absolute certainty, that'd be presumptuous of him to say.
"Hey, King, what're these little red things?" Saitama asked, holding some small red fruits in his hand. They looked similar to oil palm fruits.
"They're some fruits from this world, at least, I think so. When one of the people I played with had no money left to win back their original bets, he bet everything else he had, even his clothes, his jewelry, and this dagger." King held up a gold necklace with a pear-shaped sapphire in the middle and an ornate dagger. Why he had a dagger; King had no idea. As far as he knew, those Ten Pledges were in place since a few thousand years ago. He understood that weapons were probably useful for hunting beasts and other animals for food, but this dagger was ornate, decorated with jewels and whatnot. The culture of keeping weapons as decorations should have died out.
"He got so desperate after losing everything, that he left the tavern with his empty pouch and came back with a pouch of fruits, telling me to uphold my promise of 'betting all my money, no matter the opponent's bet'. I then told him that he wasn't able to bet anything else after, and he promptly lost." King said. "Still, I was planning to throw them out later. They could be toxic, for all we know."
"Huh, what?" Saitama said with a mouthful of fruits. He had already eaten half of them.
"What are you doing?! Don't just eat whatever you don't recognize, especially in a world you also don't know!" King scolded. "Even with all your strength, what if they're poisonous?!"
"But I'm fine. Also, it's quite good."
...
...
...
"Wait, really?" King said, skeptical. Was Saitama's digestive system also that strong? He recalled him telling a story about eating monsters when he was desperate. For all he knew, if he could stomach some monsters, foreign fruits might not pose a problem to him, anyway. That might not hold if he were the one to try the fruit, anyway.
"Yeah, you could just try one," Saitama said, handing King a few of the fruits.
Skeptical and wary, King went out of his tavern room and called out a random person.
"Hey, you."
"A-ah, yes?" The person said, not expecting King to call him out of nowhere.
"Eat this," King said, tossing him one of the fruits.
"Err, what is it?" The person asked suspiciously.
"Something which even a local doesn't recognize... I don't have a good feeling about this." King thought.
"If you eat it, I'll pay you a gold coin," King said, holding up a coin which he used to pay for five nights in the tavern.
Barely any time until those words left King's mouth, the person immediately popped the fruit into his mouth.
After some quiet chewing and a swallowing motion later...
"Hey, these are quite good! I've never had these before. What is it?"
"Hmm..." After passing the coin to the random fellow and some thought, King finally ate one of them.
"Juicy." Was all King could remark about it.
[The present...]
"King, please open the door! I can't endure it anymore!" Saitama was almost crying. For once, he could taste agonizing defeat... at the hands of food poisoning.
"I already said that I'm still not done! I told you that we shouldn't eat them in the first place!" King's strained voice came from the toilet. "Look, I can understand your pain. I'm literally going through the same thing as you! But you're going to have to find another toilet- gah!" And after that, King did not respond.
"Argh, what kind of place is this, to only have one toilet in the entire inn?!" Finally defeated, Saitama went out of the inn and started looking around, hoping to find a public toilet somewhere. Yes, this was a medieval fantasy world, but Saitama had no choice but to desperately search for a toilet. And so he ran. and ran. And RAN. But he couldn't find a single damn toilet!
"WHERE THE HELL DOES ONE FIND A TOILET AROUND HERE?!"
{On the other end of Elkia...}
A winged woman was flying through the streets. Everyone that saw her had an obvious fear on their faces.
After all, that was one of the members of the Flügel race flying before them.
But the Flügel didn't seem to care about them. She was currently focused on her mission.
"Jibril, check the city thoroughly for any signs of magical activity and let us know if there's anything abnormal. Something strange is going on here." Jibril remembered Sora's instructions. The collapse of the mountain could have been much more serious than they thought.
Those mountains were old and rock-solid, literally. She had flown over them many times before, and even back during The Great War, the mountain stood without much damage. There was no way that the mountain would suddenly collapse unless a being of great power like herself, a Gigant, a Dragonia or a Phantasma decided to destroy the mountain. And even with that, thinking of a motive for destroying the mountain in the first place, be it Gigant, Dragonia, or Phantasma, she couldn't think of a single one. What was the point of doing so, even?
Extending her senses to the absolute limit, she could notice anything and everything happening within a certain radius from herself. Any minuscule amount of magic being used would be detected. Yet even with that, she could sense no abnormalities. Deep in thought, she was thinking about the possibilities of what would cause the mountain to collapse, as well as the potential culprits.
However, she was roused from her deep thought as she noticed a large abnormality. What roused her from her thoughts weren't abnormalities on the magical plane, no.
What roused her was a sudden, physical discrepancy. Looking up, she saw a cloud of dust approaching from a street in front of her. For the others, it was as if a blur was passing through them, as though there was just a large gust of wind blowing through the city. However, Jibril could see the man in the dust clearly. However, that confused Jibril even more.
"Since when were humans this fast?" She asked herself.
Usually, when Flügels got serious, they wouldn't even need to mention the speed of sound. Thus, the speed at which that man traveled was not really anything to speak of to her. However, even an idiot could tell that humans couldn't move that fast with their physical bodies; though more importantly, he was disturbing other humans.
Normally, she wouldn't care about any of the humans in the first place. But now that she was Blank's servant, she would assist to lighten their responsibilities as much as she could. And taking care of Imanity's serenity was also one of their jobs.
Jibril descended onto the ground and stretched her hand forward. As she expected, he stopped as soon as he reached her.
The man in front of her was looking around with anxiety, though it was as if it wasn't Jibril that bothered him, but something else.
Jibril was slightly irked by this disrespect, though before she could say anything, the unknown person approached her and put his hand on her shoulder.
Suddenly, her entire body tensed up. "What's with this strength? I can't move even inch!" Jibril thought warily. At this distance, she could more than easily die from an attack if she didn't put her guard up. In most cases, she wouldn't even fear such attacks from a human, however, this man's physical strength gave her doubt.
He couldn't be human. That was what she thought. No humans could possibly achieve such physical prowess! Their frail bodies could never house such power!
But what was he then? None of the races below her could possibly be more powerful than her. Even the strongest elves would not be able to match up against the weakest Flügels! Also, this man did not have any features of the races above Flügels. He was too small to be either Gigant, Dragonia, or Phantasma!
However... there was an even more terrifying revelation. Could it... could it be that the man before her was an Old Deus? As far as she knew, only they could easily enter someone else's form. Was this man the reason for the collapse of the mountain the day before?
But the next thing he said almost made her fall down.
"Hey, do you know where's the nearest toilet?" Saitama asked, sweating as he put his other hand on his stomach.
…
…
…
"Pardon?"
"Do you know if there's a toilet nearby?" Saitama repeated. He was starting to lose his patience, mainly because his colon was also starting to lose patience.
"…" Jibril silently put down her guard and pointed her finger towards the west. "There aren't any toilets or any outhouses that I know of in the area, but over there, seven hundred meters from here, there's a forest," Jibril informed.
Right now, to Saitama, the girl in front of him looked downright angelic compared to earlier. He swore he could even see some wings on her back- wait, those were actually there. No matter, he had the information he needed.
Raising his hand as a sign of gratitude, Saitama prepared to leave. "Thanks, I'll pay you back one day, unknown girl." He then started running, leaving behind a baffled Jibril.
It took Jibril a minute or two to process what just happened. First, there was an Old Deus in Elkia disguised as a human. Secondly, she let him go- wait, she let him go? Suddenly, Jibril seemed to wake up from the shock. She had to follow him and understand what was going on. But it was too late. She had been here for a minute and the man was probably already done with his 'business' and left. Well, unless he had diarrhea, but what were the chances?
"Tch. I guess I have no choice but to search the entire city." Immediately after saying this, she started flying at supersonic speeds with an angry expression on her face. She let go of her prey. How humiliating! There was no way that she was going to let him off a second time, Old Deus or not!
{The forest...}
"Ahhh, the pain's gone now." Saitama sighed as the pain that plagued him had disappeared. "I think I'll head back to the inn," Saitama said, as he wiped his backside with some toilet paper or at least whatever it was. He wasn't stupid enough to just take a dump in the forest without toilet paper. Going back to the inn to request some toilet paper and leaving at the speed of sound, he managed to relieve himself in time.
Though if he had thought about it a little more, he would've realized that the toilet was empty and King was done with his business when he went back to the inn at that time, but he didn't notice that.
buzz
Saitama's blood froze. That sound... it could only be 'that thing'.
His senses flared up to their sharpest possible state because of 'that thing'.
'That thing' was an opponent that even he wasn't sure he could defeat.
'That thing' moved with a speed that no other living beings could hope to match.
'That thing' was equipped with a single weapon that could pierce any living being.
It was the most dreadful, terrible, and abhorrent abomination in existence.
'That thing' was…
buzz
"MOSQUITOE!" Saitama inwardly roared with rage.
It was the thing that had caused so much frustration and anger for Saitama in the past.
And now, it was right there, just buzzing in front of him.
The mosquito stared at Saitama, and Saitama glared back at it.
The mosquito nonchalantly buzzed around, before slowly flying towards Saitama.
It landed on Saitama's head and latched itself there.
"Phew... calm down, Saitama. Remember what King said..."
[Flashback...]
"Dammit! I lost again!" Saitama said in exasperation, marking the 63rd loss to King.
"Don't worry. Practice a little more, I'm sure you'll win one day." King encouraged.
"Hmm?" Saitama then noticed a certain pest.
buzz
Mosquitoes. Once again, they haunted his apartment.
"Ah, it's a mosquito," King noted, before clapping his hands, killing the mosquito- wait.
King could kill the mosquito so easily? When he had struggled so much?
"Hey, Saitama. You should try getting pitcher plants. They'd immediately lower the number of mosquitoes in your apartment if you get some... err, what're you looking at?"
"Tell me."
"Uh, what?"
"What's your secret to killing mosquitoes?!" Saitama asked intensely, a serious look on his face.
"Oh... that," King said. "Just, you know... kill them? Man, you sound like my uncle. Every time there's mosquitoes around, he'd always get the bug spray. He'd never be able to kill them with his hands."
"Come on, tell me your secret already! I've also never been able to kill them!" Saitama said. He then spotted a mosquito, then attempted to clap it out of the air. The mosquito escaped his palms, proving his point to King. "See?"
"Ah. There's your problem. It's the same as when we play games. You shouldn't just move wildly without a plan. You should get into position, then slowly and surely..." King then saw the mosquito, got into position, and...
clap
"...Get it. See? It's easy." Wiping off the mosquito on his palm, King explained his method to Saitama. "Just do it calmly, and you'll be able to get rid of them as easily as I do."
"Slowly and calmly, huh..." Saitama said to himself, thinking on King's advice.
[The present...]
"Slowly... calmly..." Taking King's advice to heart, he moved slowly but surely, like a praying mantis stalking its prey. Entering the optimum position, Saitama prepared himself to strike as quickly as he could, and...
BAM
He slapped his head with such speed and power that it produced a deafening sound, similar to an explosion.
"Got you!" Saitama thought, confident that he ended that irritating pest's existence.
However…
buzz
The mosquito flew away, unharmed by Saitama's attempt to kill it.
BAM
As it slowly flew around aimlessly, Saitama didn't move an inch until the accursed mosquito was in sight... and clapped his hands exactly where the mosquito was at.
He smiled as he was convinced that he managed to get it this time.
However…
buzz
As if spitting on his efforts, the mosquito safely escaped from his hands…and landed on the back of his right hand.
BAM
Saitama slapped his hand with extreme force and speed. This time, this time for sure…
BUZZ!
Again, the mosquito managed to slip away from his grasp, and it flew away from him, recognizing that this fellow was indeed out to kill it.
Saitama looked at the mosquito flying away from him, and for once... his expression was not of the usual boredom and indifference.
It was…
"...DAMNED MOSQUITOES!"
One of pure rage.
And so, with his mind clouded in anger, Saitama chased after the mosquito, unwilling to let that mosquito live for even a moment longer.
{Jibril's location...}
"Where is he? Where is he?" Jibril repeated in an anxious tone. She didn't like the idea of failing her masters at all.
"GET OVER HERE, YOU DAMN MOSQUITO!" Jibril couldn't believe her ears. But when she looked in the direction of the voice, her face brightened. She was right, that was the voice of the man- or well, the Old Deus from before. And for some reason, he was running noticeably faster than before.
After realizing that if she took any more time, the Old Deus would disappear again, thus Jibril began following him.
"Excuse me, Old Deus, please come with me," Jibril said as soon as she reached Saitama. "I would like to ask you a few questions, and my masters would also like to meet you."
But Saitama hadn't noticed her. In his rage-fueled state, Saitama's only goal was to find that stupid mosquito and wipe its existence off the face of this world.
Still, after a few seconds, the Caped Baldy finally noticed that someone was calling out to him. Without slowing down his pace, Saitama turned his head back to see who was calling him.
"Huh? Oh, you're that girl from earlier. Thanks for the help!" Saitama thanked Jibril for telling him about the forest, though he still didn't slow down his pace. He was still going to find that mosquito.
"Ah, Old Deus, please come with me! I'd like to ask you a few questions! What are you doing here? Did you cause the destruction of that mountain yesterday? What's your purpose of disguising yourself as a human?"
"What is she talking about? Is she some kind of weirdo or cosplay? Also who's Old Deus? Did she mistake me for someone else?" Saitama thought after listening to Jibril. He didn't want to deal with her right now, he had bigger mosquitoes to kill. On the other hand, he didn't want to be rude, either. She helped him earlier, after all. Still, she was also talking about that mountain. Crap, was she a nature conservative? If so, he was in big trouble.
"Sorry, nice unknown girl, but I'm busy right now," Saitama said before disappearing in the blink of an eye. The last thing Jibril heard from his general direction was a loud shout. "I FOUND YOU, YOU DAMN MOSQUITO!"
And following that, she could also hear loud explosions coming from that direction. Though she was confident in her strength, compared to an Old Deus, she was nothing at all. After some time, one last explosion sounded out, and she heard a triumphant shout coming from that direction.
"I FINALLY GOT YOU, YOU PEST FROM HELL! I GOT YOU!"
Jibril flew idly for a few seconds. What just happened? She felt no magical energy when the Old Deus disappeared. So instead of teleporting away or flying with magic, he disappeared from her sight with only pure strength? Although she had fought them 6,000 years ago before the implementation of the Ten Pledges, she remembered the strength of Old Deus very well. Even with a platoon of 200 other Flügels would struggle to match- or even win against one.
Or at least, she thought she could remember their strength, up until a few moments ago. They were much stronger than she remembered. Even in their weakened state following The Great War, did they recover that much of their strength already? Or was this specific Old Deus stronger than the rest? If so, which Old Deus was he? She couldn't recognize him at all, and he had also exuded no magical signatures, so she couldn't recall which Old Deus he was!
As she thought about it, she then realized something else. She let him go a second time on the same day! How would she explain this to her masters?! Granted, he was an Old Deus, but the point was that she failed her masters!
"Argh, what do I do now?!"
[A few days later, the inn...}
If the chaos bald man had caused a few days ago wasn't taken into consideration, everything was going as per normal. Everyone was playing games with each other, now that King wasn't on the scene. The bartender was serving the customers, glad that 'that man' decided not to come down for today. Had he shown his face, all of his current customers would immediately run away. He had built up a reputation for himself, after all.
All of a sudden, the door opened, and a red-haired woman entered the building.
"Excuse me, innkeeper?" She asked the innkeeper.
"Ye- oh, princess! To what do we owe the pleasure to?" The innkeeper asked, not expecting Stephanie Dola, the princess of the Elkia Kingdom- or now known as the Commonwealth of Elkia to visit his establishment.
"Excuse me, I'd like to know where a certain someone is if that's not too much to ask." Stephanie Dola asked the innkeeper.
"Err, if it's the king and queen, I'm afraid they haven't been visiting-"
"No, it's not them. In fact, I'd like to know where 'King' is."
...The entire inn went silent upon mention of that man.
"Look, I don't want to know why the royal family has taken interest in that man, but I suggest you turn back now. He's never lost, and some people were ruined because they bet everything they owned just to match up to his bets." The innkeeper kindly advised. "Whoever challenges him except Blank would not have a good end. He's called 'King' for a reason."
"I understand. However, the king and queen are interested in him and wish to invite him to the royal palace."
"He's upstairs, fourth row, second-last from the right." The innkeeper said sharply.
"E-eh? So quickly?" Stephanie Dola said, not expecting such a sharp and quick response.
"I'll be honest, princess. It'd be a load off my back if you bring him to the castle. Every time he comes downstairs, he chases away my customers. Also I want him to be beaten by someone stronger than him." The innkeeper said, heaving a sigh of relief. "From today onwards, he's not my problem anymore."
"A-alright..." Stephanie Dola then headed towards the room that the innkeeper said 'King' was in.
"Let's see, the fourth row and second last from the right..." Stephanie Dola then reached the room that King had rented.
"Excuse me, is this King? May I speak with you?" Stephanie Dola said, knocking on the door.
"Hm? Give me a moment." A voice sounded out from the other side of the door.
"Alright, just invite him over to the royal palace, nothing more. He should be a pretty skillful gamer, seeing as he's never lost. Still, I wonder how would he fare when compared to Sora and Shiro?" Stephanie Dola thought.
As the door opened...
"Yes?"
Out of all the possible images she had in her mind about King, none of them applied to what she saw before her at the moment. He looked like a battle-hardened warrior that would prefer to settle a problem with his fists, not through games! Also...
"S-scary! What's with this man? It is like he is not even human. S-such a person exists?"
"Um, I'm not accepting challengers today, sorry. If you'd like, come again tomorrow afternoon." King said, closing the door.
"N-no! It isn't about that!" Stephanie Dola suddenly said, regaining her composure.
"Hm? Is there anything you need, then?"
"I-I'm Stephania Dola, from the royal palace. Could you please come with me? Our king and queen would like to meet you." She said, bowing slightly.
...
...
...
"Wuh?"
Editor's Note: To OPMWTF, the guy that reviewed, asking for the author to read The Strongest Shield, not to worry. I'm the editor for that fanfiction, too.