Chapter 181: Teach Me That

* * *

Now, Giovanno was perplexed.

That was unavoidable.

As a great sinner exiled to an unexplored region unfit for human habitation, he had just witnessed the sight of a girl who couldn't be much older than 10 years old, all alone, sitting by a campfire and grilling meat.

Who was this girl?

Without a doubt, she was no ordinary being.

Perhaps she was the form taken by a fairy tale monster to make Giovanno let his guard down.

Perhaps she intended to lure Giovanno out, kill him, and eat him.

She might be a dangerous existence.

Based on such assumptions, if one looked at the girl again, indeed, an indescribable intensity, a dignity of the strong, seemed to emanate from her.

No, however, in the first place, she was at least capable of operating in such an unexplored region.

Regardless of her true nature, there was no doubt she was strong.

Therefore, the option of becoming her enemy did not exist for Giovanno from the start.

Yet that didn't mean he had the choice of fleeing this cavern, fleeing from this girl, either.

If he went outside now, he would die attacked by monsters if unlucky, or die of exhaustion if lucky.

Thus, there was only one course of action Giovanno should take.

Namely, negotiation with this inscrutable girl.

* * *

"......Excuse me, young lady, is this your dwelling?"

Now, after a moment of silence.

The tattered middle-aged man knelt on one knee to bring his eye level to my height, then asked me that in a polite tone as I continued eating the meat.

"............"

I remained silent in response.

No, it wasn't that I didn't want to talk or anything, but my mouth was full of meat.

But what should I say?

This was a base, but not a dwelling.

I tilted my head.

"......Ah......my apologies, do you not understand my words? Ah......tsk, what to do......"

No, I understand your words.

My mouth is full of meat.

Guess it can't be helped.

I hastily swallowed the meat, then.

"I understand language. Can't talk, eating."

......I replied with a hint of irritation.

I emanated just a bit of killing intent.

Receiving my words, the man trembled slightly, then bowed his head apologetically.

"My bad. I'm ashamed to admit, after so long slurping leftover food behind iron bars, I seem to have completely forgotten my manners."

However, despite saying that, the man did not fall silent.

"But still, I am fully aware it is rude, but please hear me out. Could you......allow me to sit by that campfire? Drenched by the rain, my body is too chilled to bear......"

"............"

I nodded while stuffing my mouth with meat again.

"......You have my, utmost gratitude."

The man unsteadily stood up and sat across the campfire from me.

* * *

Saaaaa......

I could still hear the sound of rain continuing to fall outside.

Crackle, crack......

The sound of the campfire, too.

And one more sound had newly joined.

Guuuuuu......

""........................""

Yes, it was the sound of the man's stomach seated across the campfire from me.

The man said nothing.

He simply sat still in front of the campfire.

Guuuuuu......

It rumbled again.

<This is getting annoying. Shall we kill him?>

As usual, Extra-sama showed no mercy to existences other than me.

But I......having finally been sated by eating the green dragons, I wasn't that irritated.

I stared intently at my right hand.

In it was meat on the bone, grilled to a delicious golden brown.

I looked at my left hand too.

In it was also delicious-looking meat.

"........................"

......The reason I was looking around like this was because I had remembered Kamasse.

I recalled the taste of the grilled chicken skewers he had given me in Yoshanka.

"........................"

I looked at the meat in my right hand again.

Meat glistening as it was illuminated by the campfire's orange flames.

Its brown grilled surface was accented by the occasional black charring.

If one tore into it with their teeth, the meat juices trapped inside making it bulge would surely flood the mouth with umami flavor.

And this savory aroma.

Honestly, even without any seasoning, just looking at it made my mouth water uncontrollably.

This meat.

I.

......held it out to the man.

"......You're giving it......to me?"

The man audibly gulped.

<Eh, ehhh!? You're giving it away!? Eh, Emi sharing food with someone else......!?>

Extra-sama expressed surprise in a rather rude manner.

"You have my repeated, utmost gratitude......!!"

The man remained seated, but he lowered his head deeply to bow to me.

<Ah! I get it! You're fattening up this guy to eat him later, right?>

Extra-sama, you and I are gonna fight later. Remember that.

But to my slight dismay, it seemed the man had almost no strength left.

"Hngh......"

The man let out a groan as he tried to stand up to receive the meat, staggered, and collapsed again.

"......Hah."

I sighed and stood up.

I trotted over to the man and brought the meat close to his mouth.

"Ha, haha......how pathetic of me......"

The man chuckled wryly as he raised his body.

"But you know, young lady. No need to worry. A capable man always has a trick or two up his sleeve."

Saying that, the man grinned.

I tilted my head quizzically, wondering what he meant, but I was genuinely surprised by what happened the next moment.

The meat floated out of my hand, hovering in midair!

"Hahaha, did that surprise you?"

The man winked as he took small bites of the floating meat.

Honestly, he had such a villainous face that it didn't come across as charming at all.

"Unique ability......"

"Hmm, so you knew that term. Indeed, this is my unique ability. I call it [Invisible Hand]."

[Invisible Hand] was certainly an aptly named ability.

With my [Magic Perception], I could clearly see what looked like a slender arm made of magic power extending from the man's right shoulder, grasping the meat.

<This is......basically [Telekinesis]. A magic power manipulation technique Emi has yet to master.>

Extra-sama showed interest in the man for the first time.

Well, not the man himself, but his unique ability, to be precise.

"Hahaha, while it may sound impressive to call it a unique ability, I can only levitate light objects, nothing remarkable. Because it's a harmless parlor trick, please rest assured."

"......Really?"

"......Of course. I've kept it secret until now to avoid suspicions of using it for anything dangerous. There's no point hiding it at this stage. I'd be delighted if it could at least help alleviate your boredom a little, young lady."

No no no no, this isn't a matter of alleviating boredom!

I'm actually quite excited right now!

An unknown technique!

How do you do that!?

I tried extending threads of magic power from my right fingertips.

It was [Mana Sensing Thread].

I tried wrapping the threads around nearby pebbles and lifting them, but I couldn't.

The threads snapped and vanished first.

If I wrapped [Magic Slash Thread] around a pebble, the threads didn't vanish, but I still couldn't lift it.

The pebble would just crumble apart.

"......Young lady, what are you......?"

But the fact that physical interference was possible meant the man's unique ability, his way of using magic power, was similar, right?

I extended threads to another pebble.

No good.

They still sliced it to bits.

I couldn't lift it.

"Eep......!?"

The man's face turned pale as he let out a small shriek upon witnessing the pebbles I stared at being finely sliced by something invisible.

Perhaps losing concentration, the man's [Invisible Hand] vanished and the meat fell to the ground.

But you know.

Now wasn't the time to be concerned about that.

Using magic power to levitate objects.

Come to think of it, [Telekinesis] was a staple among staples of fantasy abilities.

And needless to say, it would be insanely useful if I could use it.

The man said he 'couldn't do anything remarkable', but that was because he was weak.

Because the amount of magic power he possessed was low.

He probably hadn't trained it properly.

If I could use it.

......I could do it.

I could do all sorts of things.

......I really want that power.

<But [Magic Slash Thread] is more than enough for killing enemies, right? Is there any need to go out of your way to learn this [Telekinesis]?>

Ah, geez, Extra-sama just doesn't get it!

It's [Telekinesis]!

[Telekinesis] is romantic!

"Hey."

"Wh-What is it?"

To the man who was flustered with a pale face after suddenly being spoken to, I continued speaking with unabated excitement.

"Tell me your name."

"Ah, aah. My apologies for not introducing myself sooner. My name is Giovanno......just Giovanno."

"I see, Giovanno. I'm Emi. Also just Emi."

After a pause, I continued.

"Giovanno. I gave you meat."

"......Yes, you have my gratitude."

"So you should return the favor to me."

"Mm."

"That [Invisible Hand] of yours, teach it to me."

Because I won't allow you to refuse.

You're going to accompany me in acquiring a new technique, mister.

Having tried to ambush Mereucce with [Invisible Hand], Giovanno understands this unique ability is not a "harmless parlor trick."

It's a small lie to avoid making Emi wary of him.

And for the first time in a while, Emi has entered learning mode.