Chapter 78 – Encounter on a Summer Day

Aftеr bесоming Sрice, I thorоughlу tested thе powеr оf АSМR оn Мashiro.

“Uwаaaааh, this is so frustrаting~! Еvеn thоugh I knоw yоu’re mу senior, Littlе Sрiсе’s ASMR is just tоo сute, I’m reaсhing mу limit uuuuuh!”

“If you get marriеd, уou’ll be testing this everу dаy, you know.”

“Eееk!”

‘Theу reаllу gеt аlong well, don’t theу~? How niсе, hоw nice!’

‘Мmm, it’s just а shаme the girl dоesn’t havе any talent fоr mаgic, that’s аll.’

Тhat’s right.

Мashiro hаd absolutelу no tаlеnt for magic.

She was trulу an оrdinаrу pеrson!

On tор оf that, she wаs alsо а sеnsiblе рersоn, sо shе laсkеd the necessary craziness in the head to become a streamer.

It’s probably best for her to just pursue her hobbies steadily.

Knock knock

“Oh? Ms. Shino, you came here carrying a smartphone in your mouth? What’s the matter? Oho~, some kind of incident?”

Shino, strolling through my house as if it were perfectly normal in her fox form.

Mashiro is collapsed on the floor beside her, while Flota and Ignite are flying near the ceiling.

Floppy is charging.

My home is lively.

By the way, I’m in Spice Mode right now.

“What is it, what is it? Fufuun. Whoa~! Ehhh!!”

I let out a genuinely weird voice.

If I did that in old man mode, I’d just be a weird person.

But in Spice’s form, it’s cute.

‘What is it, what is it, Master? Flota is interested~’

Flota flutters down to shoulder height.

‘Whoa~, it’s cooler down here with the AC! The area near the ceiling is really Ignite’s domain, isn’t it~?’

‘Mmm, summer is my season! But… I’d like to be spared the humidity~’

Well, he is a book.

Now then, the reason Spice was so surprised was because there was major news prominently featured about the Otherworld.

It said things like, ‘Elf Appears!!’

“An Elf!? Oh, come on. This isn’t a fantasy novel, you know~”

‘Oh! Master is falling into normalization bias! But think about it. Master is a descendant of a Witch and transforms into a Magical Girl, right!? Then isn’t it fine if Elves exist too?’

“Oh, right.”

I have just been perfectly logically defeated.

My very existence itself was fantasy.

Well then, I guess Elves exist, huh.

‘Well, there were no Elves in the world we were born in, so it might just be a fairy tale!’

Well then, I guess Elves don’t exist, huh.

“Now, now, let’s look at this without preconceptions. Ah, this is linked to a video by Kiraboshi Hazuki. That girl always seems to be at the forefront of movements regarding changes in the world.”

There, in the video, was her encountering an Elf in a mountain village in Tohoku that had undergone Dungeonization.

The high school girl streamer, Kiraboshi Hazuki.

Right now in this country… no, in the world, she is a top-class streamer, a being who has accomplished numerous legends.

And she… met an Elf!

“The Elf person in the video is probably going to become popular. She looks like the strict type who’d say ‘I’ll kill you’. Her name is Canaan, huh? She’s cute~”

She was an Elf with a very Elf-like appearance.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, pure white skin, and slender.

Real-life Caucasians often have more rugged facial features, but this Elf had an Asian beauty’s facial structure, with large eyes and a not-so-high nose.

It’s like taking the best balance points from each race, picking all the good parts.

“Ahhh, this is going to be popular. And this is without an Avatar, right? Spice prophesies! There will be lots of Elf streamers!”

‘That’s possible~! And it seems they can use magic naturally! Spirit Magic~? Do they really think they can wield something that primitive and unsystematized to rival a Grimoire~?’

Oh, Flota is burning with competitive spirit.

Thrusting her hardcover parts left and right with a shu shu is probably the Grimoire school of shadowboxing.

Knock knock

“Ah, yes, yes. Ms. Shino, you’re going to show your face at the Labyrinth Ministry for a bit. Have a safe trip~”

“Yes, well then~”

Shino transformed into her fox-girl form and slipped out of the house while Mashiro was still collapsed.

Her true identity still hasn’t been exposed to Mashiro, you see.

She’s thought to be a dog that resembles a fox who for some reason has taken up residence in our house.

‘Actually, from now on, the boundary between the Otherworld and this world will probably become increasingly blurred, don’t you think?’

“Is that so? Meaning things like what Spice and the others did before, moving to other places via the Otherworld, will become easier?”

‘It will. Fundamentally, a Dungeon is the very act of projecting an Otherworld’s scenery into our world. Since that’s been repeated over and over, it wouldn’t have been strange for the boundary between worlds to collapse at any time.’

“So that’s how it was! Spice and the others were living in a dangerous place!”

‘That’s right! Well, it seems the practitioners and science/technology of this world were holding it back… But probably something happened in the last year that drastically changed the balance? Did this world maybe give birth to a great Hero who could rival a god or something?’

“I don’t know about that~”

In the smartphone video, Kiraboshi Hazuki was letting out silly sounds like “Achocho!” while utterly crushing a giant, talking owl-headed bear head-on with a ‘Ugwaaaah!’

It’s a scene where you can’t tell if it’s edited as usual, or if it’s real.

Monsters don’t get defeated that easily and ephemerally, do they?

‘Hmm, that’s chilling. I absolutely do not want to meet this girl!’

“Is that so?”

‘This girl is dangerous! She’s the natural enemy of all Demons! I get that premonition loud and clear! If we ever encounter her, I’ll erase my presence and not utter a single word!’

‘Mmm, me too~. If I got hit by that Burdock, I’d be annihilated~’

“That much!? That’s serious. I’ll have to hide everyone.”

‘And Master! The fact that the boundary with the Otherworld is becoming ambiguous means… the final battle is finally drawing near~’

“Ah, the Witch of the Mind! That one was using the Otherworld to attack here, wasn’t she?”

‘Yes. The Witch of the Mind is thought to be controlling many humans, making them share a common dream, and using that to move through the Otherworld. Among the Mind Magic I know, the only means to interfere with the world is a ritual using dreams. So, I think she’ll be coming here herself soon~. Master, after all, you’ve been trampling all over her pawns!’

“That’s true. Maybe the Witch of the Mind isn’t used to being provoked?”

‘Do you think someone who controls others’ minds ever gets provoked on equal terms?’

Nope!

So that means there’s a possibility she’s over there with a bright red face right now!

“I’ll have to keep my antenna up high and watch for the arrival of the Witch of the Mind…”

With the next decisive battle approaching, Spice feels the need to tighten his helmet straps!

By the way, Mashiro still hadn’t recovered and was saying things like, “My brain is melting~. Ahh~”

ASMR is more powerful than I imagined.