"Is that so?"
Sharan gave Ryuji a brief glance. She didn't really care about any of this. Instead, she placed a brooch in front of him.
"This is for you. It'll let you and whoever you're speaking to understand each other. It only lasts for a month, but that should be more than enough time for you to learn the local language."
After saying that, Sharan turned and left. Though the brooch was a valuable, consumable magic item of her own creation, she didn't mind—it was enough that it could be of help. Money had never been something she cared much about.
He immediately bowed in thanks.
"Thank you, Miss Sharan. I'll pay you back for this someday."
Sharan turned around with a smile.
"No need for that. Just buy me a drink sometime."
With that, she walked out of the room. He wanted to say something more, but the doctor beside him spoke first.
"Well then, sir. Since you can understand us now, there's no need to worry too much about your companion's condition. She merely passed out from shock. She'll wake up soon."
Ryuji quickly thanked the doctor and sat beside Kiri, waiting for her to regain consciousness.
And sure enough, not long after the doctor left, she slowly opened her eyes—staring directly at him.
"So, why the hell are you here? Don't tell me I'm back in hell again?"
Kiri looked at him with visible frustration. She remembered everything clearly: falling into the sea from the Sky Realm, then plunging into a deep abyss because she couldn't swim.
Just when she thought she was done for, she reached some strange threshold.
After that, she was suddenly out of the ocean and in some bizarre place. The sea itself looked strange, unnatural. Before she could even process it, her body felt weightless again—and she was falling.
If a piece of driftwood hadn't smacked her in the head, she might've been perfectly fine.
"Well, good news: you're not back in that damned world. Bad news: I came to rescue you—and now we're broke. We owe a pair of fishermen for saving our lives, a doctor for his treatment, and a mage for a magical item."
Kiri shivered at the thought, her voice dry with sarcasm.
"Honestly, that sounds worse than hell."
But even though being broke was a serious issue, her curiosity quickly shifted.
"So… since you already saved me, shouldn't you have gone back by now? Or did you already send that girl Lux back?"
She looked at him with slight suspicion. As much as she thought he was a bastard, the fact he came all this way to save her proved one thing: he was a good guy. A man who wouldn't easily break a promise.
But if she was safe now, why hadn't he left?
Her eyes drifted across his body before she flopped back onto the bed in a big starfish sprawl, sighing dramatically.
"Wait… don't tell me you still want to sleep with me? Fine, whatever, come on, you beast. I'll pretend I'm just getting bitten by a mosquito. Besides, that thing of yours isn't even as big as my double-barrel shotgun—"
The corner of Ryuji's eye twitched. She always did this—turn even the most serious situations into nonsense.
"You keep pushing me and I will fuck you until you're crying," he sighed, rubbing his temples.
"The truth is, I need a ton of energy to go back—nearly ten thousand units. And just relying on you won't cut it. Even if I got you pregnant, it wouldn't be enough. So I've gotta get filthy rich, then hire a bunch of girls to sleep with me so I can gather enough energy. But those girls? They're just in it for the money. No emotional connection means the effect will suck."
He let out another long sigh and looked her in the eyes.
"So you've gotta help me make money. That's the cost of saving you, Kiri."
"…Huh? You want me to earn money so you can hire prostitutes?! And you actually said that with a straight face?!"
"Alright then, how about you take the role of my wife and we go at it eighty times? That should be more efficient."
"No way! Who the hell would like a bastard like you?! You think I care what happens to you? Not a chance! Don't come to me for that crap!"
She turned her head away in exaggerated disgust. But Ryuji wasn't done.
"Fine, I'll just fuck you until you're foaming at the mouth—like Lux did."
He reached out and cupped her soft chest. It soothed his frayed nerves instantly, but she jolted like she'd been struck by lightning. Her face flushed bright red as she grabbed him by the collar.
"You bastard! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Just before she could explode, a loud cough came from the door.
They turned to see the awkwardly smiling female doctor standing there.
"Ahem… excuse me, but this is a church hospital. If the two of you are well enough to argue, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."
And so, Ryuji and Kiri were kicked out.
Out on the bustling street, the two of them watched horse-drawn carts rumble by, loaded with goods, flanked by shops packed closely together.
Ryuji sighed.
"Why is it only me who has trouble understanding the language here, but you can talk to everyone just fine? You're from the Sky Realm, yet this place speaks the same language?"
Kiri shrugged.
"That's not weird at all. There's a legend that this world was built by people from the Sky Realm escaping some ancient war. I didn't think it was true, though."
She scanned the surroundings excitedly, then tugged on his sleeve.
"Hey, Ryuji! Look! It's a Mage's Guild! They really have magic here!"
"I'm literally using magic to talk to you right now…"
He wanted to remind her of the enchanted brooch that allowed their conversation, but her enthusiasm was too much. He held back the sarcasm.
"And do you have money for this? You do realize learning magic means you have to quit your job and study full-time, right? We don't even have enough for lunch. Let's find a place to sell some gold first."
His reality check drenched Kiri's excitement like a cold shower.
"Oh… right. We don't even have lunch money. Ugh, why do I still have to worry about food in a new world?" she grumbled. But halfway through complaining, a thought popped into her head.
She reached into her inventory—and pulled out a shiny gold ingot.
Apparently, her 7 Days to Die system hadn't completely vanished.
"You really think this gold from that world will work here?"
Kiri eyed the bar with suspicion. They'd found it while mining iron and other ores, but she wasn't sure if it was real gold.
"Well, there's only one way to find out. And even if it's worthless, we still have steel. Loads of it. Remember? If there's one thing we have too much of, it's scrap metal."
"That makes sense."
She nodded, thinking of the thousands of steel ingots and frames sitting in her inventory. The future looked… shiny.
But just as Ryuji was scanning the street for a pawn shop or a bank, a small commotion broke out up ahead.
A woman in a yellow combat suit was being pinned to the ground by another woman in tight fighting gear. She smashed a brick across the first woman's head, then pulled out two glowing purple needles—and drove them into the fallen woman's back.
"This is what happens when you don't pay your debts!"
The woman on the ground let out a blood-curdling scream—then, in the very next moment, lost consciousness and collapsed with a heavy thud.
The attacker, on the other hand, showed no panic whatsoever. She stood up calmly, as if nothing had happened. Not a single guard moved, and the surrounding crowd didn't even flinch.
It was as if this sort of thing happened all the time.
Ryuji couldn't help but mutter under his breath:
"Damn... the folks here sure are hardcore."