The first one here was... Bid.
She'd been leaning against the railing, gazing up at the night sky, and turned when she noticed me.
"Oh? Hehe, if it isn't Wof."
"G-good evening."
My heart skipped a beat.
It was because Bid looked different from usual.
A light pink, slightly see-through negligée.
The hem was short, and she wasn't wearing spats underneath.
I could even faintly make out what looked like black underwear.
Maybe that was why.
Bid looked more mature and alluring than usual.
"Something the matter?"
"The stars... they're incredible, I thought..."
I looked up at the sky to cover my fluster — a canopy of stars so bright their light might pour down at any moment.
Blues and purples, reds and greens, and yellows — vivid, mystical hues...
...painting the cosmos...
...in a wash of color.
There were no trees around Finger Rock, so the green canopy overhead didn't get in the way — the view was perfectly clear.
"Nice night, isn't it."
Bid let out a quiet giggle.
I naturally fell into step beside her.
"Can't sleep?"
"That's right. I think I'm a little on edge."
I figured as much.
Maybe the reason I can't sleep is that I'm nervous too.
"Also, I'm worried about Torquetam."
"Me too."
We still hadn't managed to meet up with Torquetam from the advance group, who was supposed to rendezvous at this extermination village.
I was starting to worry that something might have happened.
On the other hand, I had faith that they'd be all right.
"...It's strange, isn't it."
"What is?"
When I murmured, Bid smiled and gazed at me.
I suddenly noticed the bracelet I'd given her, sitting on her wrist.
"I hate men, you know."
"I-Is that so..."
"Well, that doesn't mean I go out of my way to be awful to them. I can hold a normal conversation just fine. But I still hate them."
Normally, she really didn't seem like that.
She was so sociable that I'd have been surprised to hear she disliked men.
"...That's not what I got at all."
"Yeah. That's 'cause I'm careful not to let it show. See, my village — it's from one of those backwater towns in the empire on the neighboring continent, and it was the worst kind of place where male superiority was taken for granted, and nighttime visits and bride kidnapping were all over the place."
"...That's... terrible."
Wow, from what I remember of my past life, that's a textbook traditionalist village.
Bride kidnapping didn't happen in my village, but nighttime visits sure did.
"Once you came of age, you'd get hit with nighttime visits and bride kidnapping, and my best friend — the most beautiful girl in the village — kept getting targeted over and over. Pretty much all the young people in the village were against it to begin with. But those old fossils flat-out refused to budge. So we beat the crap out of anyone who tried the nighttime visits or bride kidnapping, told the village chief and his cronies to enforce imperial law instead of village customs, beat him and his entourage to a pulp in front of everyone at the assembly — yelling that the ones doing the nighttime visits and bride kidnapping weren't just single middle-aged men — then smashed up the lavishly decorated mansions of the elders who were pulling all the strings, took the village treasure, the 'Kimkui,' as compensation for all the trouble, and left."
"...I, um, how should I put it — that's really satisfying."
And pretty badass, too. But yeah, I can see how that would explain her weird hatred of men.
She knows not every guy is the enemy, so it doesn't come out in public.
Ah, right.
So this is why the breakup of her old party, "The Zan Brave," became a trauma for her.
"I never planned on going back, so I crossed the continent and became a delver in the royal capital. After that, I was soloing around the capital for a while when I ran into 'The Zan Brave.'"
"It was the royal capital, huh."
"Tons of people, so the number of requests was on a whole different level. But the dangers and troubles were just as far beyond, too."
"Is that so."
The royal capital. I still haven't been there.
I hear most people from the frontier head to the royal capital first.
It has the largest population on the continent, and the requests never run dry.
Plus, the royal capital has a dungeon.
The kingdom's largest dungeon, managed by Edda.
It was something like that, I think. The kingdom even had its name in the title.
Come to think of it, I don't actually know this country's name. Not that I'm curious about it.
"So at first I just joined as a temporary helper, and after a few runs they made me a full member. Then after a little over two years we disbanded, and here we are, y'know?"
When she finished talking, Bidda scratched her reddening cheek with one finger, looking a little embarrassed.
Watching that little gesture of hers, something came to mind.
"About that 'mysterious' thing you mentioned earlier—what did you mean by that?"
"Heh, well..."
Bidda put on a mischievous little smile and held up one finger in front of my face.
"?"
"See, even though I'm the type who can't stand stuffy guys, I don't actually dislike you, Wof. So I thought it was a little strange, y'know?"
"Ah, thank you..."
Being told someone likes you—well, doesn't dislike you—it's a little embarrassing.
Bidda blew a soft puff of air at her raised index finger, the way you'd snuff out a candle.
For some reason, the gesture looked incredibly alluring.
"That's not the reason or anything, but... I'd like to get to know you better, Wof."
"Huh? Me?"
I just blinked at her.
Me, huh. Hmm.
"Right. So, Wof, where are you from? What was it like?"
"Just a completely ordinary countryside village. A poor little place with nothing special about it. Farming folk."
I really am just the fourth son of a farmer from a completely ordinary village.
"The eldest son inherits the house, something like that?"
"That's right. It's quite common, isn't it?"
"That may be, but usually you stay at home until you're an adult, right?"
It wasn't a strict rule or anything.
But it was an unspoken understanding that it was okay to stay home until adulthood.
So, since it wasn't specifically decided, it was also okay to stay home even after becoming an adult.
"That's how it was, and that was the plan, but then I got a letter from my uncle saying he'd give me a place to live in Hydrangea... Honestly, the house was small, with no private rooms. I had zero privacy."
"Just a bed?"
"That's it."
It reminded me of a submarine crewman's private space from the memories of my past life.
"My place had a private room."
"On top of that, things got a bit tough for me to stay in the village."
"Oh my, oh my, did you do something?"
Bid-san grinned, looking delighted.
Like a little devil.
"I punched the village chief's son."
"That was quite a show, wasn't it? What was the reason?"
"He was trying to force himself on my older and younger sisters."
"Yeah, that happens a lot, doesn't it?"
She heaved an exasperated sigh.
I sighed too before I went on.
"The village allows night visits, but while my older sister was already an adult, my younger sister was still a minor. Well, the village chief's son had such a terrible record that he'd been removed from the succession ages ago, so beating him up wasn't an issue. The problem was that I also stopped him from visiting my older sister at night…"
"What a hassle."
"On top of that, night visits were actually going to be abolished. So combined with my sister's situation, I didn't get punished, but I ended up in this really awkward position with the village. And that just made me feel even more uncomfortable."
"So you left the village before you were an adult?"
"I got a letter, and that was that. I was gone the next day."
"Hm? Wait, you had your family's permission, right?"
"I left a note, at least."
I'd thought about not even bothering, but since they were family, I figured I might as well.
"You weren't on bad terms with your family… right? Seeing how you helped your sisters and all."
"No, we got along fine."
I'd say we were about average — neither good nor bad.
"…Well, it's a bit late now, I guess."
"Besides, in my case, my uncle's influence was pretty strong."
"Ah… that actually makes a weird amount of sense."
She was weirdly convinced by that.
"So, well, that's roughly how it happened."
Roughly, anyway.
After that, I was picked up by a caravan, and plenty more happened once I reached Hydrangea too.
When I finished talking, I suddenly realized this was the first time I'd ever told anyone about my hometown and family.
Well, it wasn't exactly the kind of thing that made for interesting conversation.
There hadn't really been any reason or opportunity to bring it up, either.
"Still, it's quite something. Wof's uncle. Looking at Heizen's hideout and the Junkyard, he seems to have been up to all sorts of things elsewhere too."
Bid said that with a wry smile.
Yeah, that about summed it up. Uncle really did seem to have his hands in all sorts of things.
"But he's not a First-Class delver."
"Having done all that and still not being First-Class does feel a bit off."
"Right? I think so too."
No matter how you looked at it, it was strange that he wasn't a First-Class delver.
"Your uncle. What's his name, anyway?"
"Well, the thing is... I've always just called him 'Uncle'..."
I gave an awkward smile. I called him Uncle, so I didn't actually know his name.
Bid chuckled softly.
"That's a classic family thing, isn't it? Back home, I used to call my cousin's big sister 'sis' for so long I actually forgot her name."
"Maybe he's famous for something, though..."
He seemed to have some connection to the Zenzera family, too.
Apparently, he'd even called Seiran something like "Miss Seiran."
And then there was something I'd been vaguely picking up on from the diary I'd found in the Junkyard.
"Even if you think finding the Junkyard is a hassle, it's really not that big a deal."
Well, in short, she'd done all sorts of things.
"That's definitely true. I mean, he's Wof's uncle, after all!"
"Ahaha..."
What did she mean by "because he's my uncle," exactly?
After a wry smile, I suddenly looked up at the sky. Every time I see it, I think.
The night sky of this world doesn't match any night sky from my memories of my past life.
Not that it matters, but also, today's queen was a crescent moon.
"Hey, changing the subject for a sec, but—I've been thinking about something."
Bid said, her face turned toward the stars just like mine.
"What is it?"
"—I'm thinking of officially accepting the invitation to join Torquetam."
"So you're joining."
Finally. At last. I tucked those feelings away inside my heart.
"I've been going back and forth on it for a while. I could probably keep going as a solo delver for a while longer, but I just wasn't sure about that, y'know... I've known the Torquetam folks for a long time, and right now I'm basically still crashing at their hideout. And more than anything, it just feels comfortable there. Plus, continuing solo kind of feels like I'm just sulking."
"Pakira and the others will be happy to hear that."
"Yeah... right now, I'm really enjoying myself. It wasn't bad back during the Zan Brave thing either, but the sense of fulfillment now is on a whole other level. And that's all thanks to you, Wof."
Me?
"Me?"
"Heh heh, I figured you'd react like that."
Bid sidled a little closer to me for some reason.
What?
"First off, I got stronger. The Flashstep Sword is my treasure."
"You just happened to get lucky, that's all."
The Junkyard, hidden away in Hydrangea's water dungeon.
And what shone with a super-rare yellow light in that Junkyard was the Flashstep Sword.
"Even so, if Wof wasn't there, I never would have gotten my hands on it."
"That much is true... but if Bid hadn't been there, I wouldn't have even known it was an OOPArt."
It only proved useful because Bid, the compatible user, happened to be there.
Yeah. It really was just Bid getting lucky.
"Also, the Parestia — it's a spear that really feels like me, and I love it."
"That one's pretty handy, isn't it?"
In terms of my past-life memories, the category would be... what was it?
Binding-type? Landmine-type? Those sounded like they meant something else entirely.
"And I'm also really fond of this bracelet."
"I'm glad to hear that."
Honestly, I was just happy she still wore it.
It suited her really well.
"Hey, Wof."
My heart skipped a beat — she'd suddenly dropped her husky voice for something cute and sweet.
When I instinctively looked over, her eyes were glistening.
"Bid...?"
Because her cheeks were flushed. Because her heated gaze reflected my face.
Because her face was drawing closer. Because I was being pulled toward her lips.
Because she was right beside me.
That's why my heart skipped.
"—The stars sure are pretty, huh."
Her lips moved as if whispering, right before my eyes.
Then Bid smiled softly before me, and spun away with a light twirl.
Her steps were as graceful as a dance.
"Y-yes. They're beautiful."
I answered honestly.
Because Bid was shining, just like the stars.
Because she was wonderful.
I said it straight.