How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 1

A giant snake appeared suddenly before the adventurers. The snake was ten meters long and thick enough to wrap one’s arms around. It raised its head, hissing menacingly at the adventurers. Immediately, Dece and Musashibo moved up.

“We’ll handle the front line! Everyone else, support us from the rear!”

“…” (Little Musashibo gave a thumbs up.)

In the next moment, the giant snake struck. It went for Dece. From there on, the snake ignored Little Musashibo for some reason, only trying to attack Dece.

“Wait, why’s it only going for me?!” Dece cried.

“?!” (Little Musashibo was confused.)

Allow me to explain. Because snakes search for their prey by detecting their body heat, it could not detect anything from Little Musashibo, which was just a kigurumi.

Dece took a tail slap from the giant snake and, while he did manage to block it with his shield, was thrown off balance. Taking advantage of the opening, the snake slithered between the two of them, attacking the three people in back. The first to be targeted was Iuno, who had been acting as support in the middle guard.

“Whoa, why’s it ignoring that kigurumi and coming at me?! I–I can’t stand snaaaaakes!”

It seemed that the sudden snake attack had made Iuno’s legs give out. With her falling on her rump and unable to move, the snake opened its mouth wide and came at Iuno. At that moment, just when she was sure she was going to die…

Slash!

Just as the snake was about to sink its fangs into Iuno, Little Musashibo used his naginata to cut it clean in two from behind. With a cut in the middle severing its head from its tail, both halves of the snake continued to thrash about for a while before eventually falling silent.

Little Musashibo swung his naginata to clean the blood from it.

Having regained her senses, Iuno shyly said to Little Musashibo, “Th-Thanks…”

“…” (Little Musashibo gave her a thumbs up and then patted Iuno on the head.)

When she saw Little Musashibo not boasting, but showing concern for her instead, Iuno brought a hand to her chest. She must have been terribly frightened, she thought, because her heart was racing for some strange reason.

H-He’s a weirdo… but he’s not a bad guy, it seems.

Having reevaluated her opinion of the man (?), Iuno chased after the rest of the party.

The party continued their exploration. When they entered the second level, the attacks by giant creatures only became more intense. Now they weren’t only facing single enemies; some attacked in packs.

“…” (Little Musashibo cut down a swarm of giant bats with a whirlwind attack.)

“Oh, you’re pretty good.”

“…” (Little Musashibo gave Dece a thumbs up.)

“…Hm? Hey, pal…”

“…” (Little Musashibo tilted his head to the side, as if to say, “What?”)

“There’re a number of little bats hanging off your back, you know…” Dece said.

“?!” (Little Musashibo flailed around.)

“Yeesh… Here, I’ll get them for you,” said Dece.

Allow me to explain. Little Musashibo had no sense of pain, and therefore hadn’t noticed he was getting bitten.

— A few minutes later.

Splish, splash.

“…” (Little Musashibo had fallen into a hole full of water and was thrashing around.)

Splish, splash.

“…” (“Hurry, help me,” he appealed to the party members.)

The sight made Julia and Febral feel warm and fuzzy inside.

“He looks like he’s playing around…” said Julia.

“He does,” Febral agreed.

“Hey, let’s hurry and help him!” Iuno said. “Come on, you too. Grab a hold already.”

Iuno reached out, pulling Little Musashibo up. Having been rescued, Little Musashibo bowed to Iuno again and again.

“…” (“Thank you so much! I will never forget your kindness!” he was saying.)

“Y-You don’t need to thank me,” Iuno stammered. “I owed you for before. It’s only natural for comrades to help one another.”

“…” (“You’re willing to recognize me as a comrade?!” He was overcome with emotion.)

“Wh-Who cares! Come on, let’s go already.”

“…” (“Ah, wait for me!” He chased after Iuno.)

Little Musashibo’s slow, easy footsteps faded into the distance. The remaining members of the party were dumbfounded.

“Iuno… Was she just talking with that kigurumi?” Dece asked.

“That was what it looked like to me,” Febral nodded. “The kigurumi didn’t say anything, though.”

Julia giggled. “If she was, it may have been the power of love…”

““Love?!”” The two men’s simultaneous response echoed through the dark tunnel.

— A few more hours later, the adventurers finally reached the third level.

Perhaps it had been built to be spacious, because the ceilings looked to be twenty meters high, and the paths were wide. This third level was the lowest in these underground passages. Though there had been some little mishaps along the way, their progress down here had been nothing if not smooth.

“This is no challenge,” Iuno said. “I can see why they said it was beginner level.”

“…” (Little Musashibo cocked his head to the side as if to say, “Really?”)