“Ahh…?”
Isaac saw a boy yell and push his way into his battle with the skeleton horse, and let out a sound of confusion that matched his expression, as he was unable to understand what was happening.
The red-headed boy… Yuugo Clay, spread his arms, and stood in front of the monster as if protecting it, while pleading with Isaac.
“Please! It’s not bad! Can you let me handle this?”
“…Are you stupid? Do you know what you’re saying? You’re telling me to let a monster go? I can’t believe this.”
“Yes, this is a monster, but it’s also my friend that saved me yesterday. I can’t just ignore a friend in trouble. So please, put your swords away, for me.”
“Friend…? Haha! Of all things, this guy is saying…!!”
Isaac laughed scornfully at the one pleading to him with his head lowered.
As a solo player, the way Yuugo placed such a big importance on a friend sounded weird to him, but… Even aside from that, there were some things that Yuugo said that sounded like complete nonsense to him.
Like the game character Yuugo speaking about friendship, and the idea of people being friends with monsters. It all sounded weird to Isaac, and he had a scornful smile on his face as he looked at Yuugo.
(Did they reach some sort of understanding as fellow villains? Well, in any case, I have zero intention of listening to what this guy has to say!)
He thought it was funny seeing Yuugo bow, but that did not make him want to listen to him. It seemed obvious to him to ignore the wishes of scum he hated in the first place, and he was also not going to give up on the drop item he could get by defeating this monster.
If Yuugo was going to get in his way, he just had to cut him down.
His fate changed due to Zenon ignoring the scenario, but there shouldn’t be any problem if Isaac made him leave it here… He thought, but right after, something happened that made him change his mind.
“Big brother! Big brother!!”
“What are you doing Yuugo!? That’s dangerous!”
“Hn…? I-is that…!?”
He turned towards the voices desperately yelling their way, and his expression changed once he saw who they came from.
There was Yuugo’s little brother Phi, Melt, a popular character in Luminous History that could not join Isaac’s party due to Zenon’s needless meddling, and a beautiful orange-haired girl wearing a jumpsuit.
Angel Amber, the magic item technician that Isaac longed to encounter.
He was happy about finally meeting her, but at the same time, questions arose inside him about her being with two people that were basically in Yuugo’s party.
More questions crossed his mind as they ran closer and he saw a silver bracelet in Angel’s hand, and Isaac started thinking again about what he should do.
(I don’t know why, but it looks like Angel is Yuugo’s friend. Then if I gain favorability with Yuugo, will I gain favorability with Angel at the same time…?)
He did not care at all about the idea of Yuugo liking him, and did not intend to heed his wish and let the skeleton horse go, but… Now that Angel was behind him, that changed everything.
If he ignored Yuugo and took down the skeleton horse, it might displease her. And then it was possible his wish of getting her to be his exclusive technician would not materialize.
But if he did the opposite, and gained favor with Yuugo, he might be able to use that to get Angel to work for him.
It was not like he really had to take down the skeleton horse to get the item he wanted. He just had to clear the quest.
He thought it would be more effective to do it by taking the skeleton horse down, but the arrival of Angel changed that chart.
It changed the situation from getting the item, to getting the item while gaining her favorability.
“…All right, fine. I’ll retreat from this fight.”
“R-really!?”
“Yes. That monster isn’t attacking us, even though we’re talking and you’re wide open for attack. I’ll leave it with you for now.”
“Thanks! Thanks a lot!”
Isaac decided to do what Yuugo wanted, and left the skeleton horse to him.
He dealt with Yuugo in a half-hearted way as he took his hand and thanked him, and then approached Angel, who was watching this all unfold. And as he passed by her, he tapped her shoulder and spoke.
“I’m glad I got to meet you, An. If possible, let’s talk without hurry. Later.”
He put on a little mysterious air to him, as he said that and left.
From his point of view, he was a mysterious great swordsman, and aimed to pique Angel’s interest, but…
“…That guy’s weirdly overly-familiar. Calling someone by their first name the first time we met…”
His plan splendidly backfired, as An seemed a little creeped out.
She had suspicions about Isaac’s behavior, who spoke not to Yuugo or even Melt, but went straight to her, but decided to let that go for now. She instead spoke to Yuugo, who attempted to communicate with Skull.
“I came here to deliver Blaster but… What’s going on here? Doing this without your magic item is crazy, Yuugo.”
“That’s right! I know you have your reasons, but stepping in front of a monster without a weapon is too dangerous!”
“…No, I have to appear in front of it without a weapon. I need to show with my actions, and not just words, that I’m your friend and I trust you.”
“…”
As he heard Angel and Melt, Yuugo continued looking at Skull, who unlike the previous night, was once again a skeleton, fitting of its name.
Skull heard and saw Yuugo, and continued looking back at him without moving.
“Come with me, Skull. Let’s talk back at the farm. Don’t worry, I’ve already talked to them over there.”
“…Hihih.”
Skull neighed quietly, seemingly agreeing, and followed Yuugo.
Yuugo’s friends and little brother were left looking at each other with surprise, but decided to follow Yuugo back to the farm as well.
◇ ◇ ◇
“…H-hum, captain? It looks like the fight started and resolved itself without us…”
“H-hn…?”
Meanwhile, the guards watched all of this silently, and were bewildered by how the students progressed this situation.
They were completely thrown off by the appearance of Isaac, and unable to understand what was going on, with the captain aware that they were completely left in the dust. He groaned in response to his subordinate, and gave them instructions to keep up appearances.
“A-anyway, keep that monster and the students under watch. Everyone else, be ready to take action if anything happens! Got it!?”
He said, and nodded as his subordinates moved out, but… Unfortunately for him, the mob captain was clearly assigned the role of comedic relief in this scenario.
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Even the narration is calling out his cringe behaviour. He didn’t just call someone he met for the first time by their first name, he went straight to calling her nickname.
They really should realize it’s no longer a game