[5] An Unexpected Encounter

--- Chapter 5 ---

[Eiji Pov]

After those hooded figures ran past me, I tried to get back home, only to find myself get lost within the river of mobs.

'Is there some type of festival going on or something?'

Finally having enough of getting pushed and yanked about, I decided to ask one of the people following the others as to what was happening.

"Don't you know? The princess of England has come to visit Japan!"

The smile that was worn on my face stiffened for a slight second before returning to a frown after I had thanked the man.

'Princess? Was there any character who was the Princess of England?'

My thoughts that had increasingly started to get chaotic, all dissapeared the moment I found myself in a solitary valley with no one around.

'How did I get here?'

Beginning to feel more uncomfortable by the eerie atmosphere surrounding the valley, I started to walk away.

Clang!

A clean sound of two hard objects smashing against each other resounded through the valley, making me freeze my steps.

'What was that?'

Curiosity slowly, but surely, started to take over my mind, wanting to make my body move to see what was going on. On the other hand, my rational mind is forcing me to leave and not get involved in any shady business. My mind was torn between the two choices that I had.

'Should I go?'

As that question appeared in my mind, the urge to follow it through became stronger and stronger. Thus, I did. Knowing very well that curiosity killed the cat.

Clang!

Two more sounds, one similar to the previous one and the other slightly different, echoed around once again.

Hearing this, I made my body and crouch and slightly moved my head to peek on the left to see what was happening.

'Huh? Is this a culture fight that I've been hearing so much about?'

My face contorted into an expression of shock and slight admiration as I saw one lone figure getting surrounded by 2 others, follow by 5 on the floor.

'A 7vs1, and it seems like the 7 are somehow getting smacked around.'

I intently watched as the figure moved through and knocked out one of the individuals before getting the hood pulled down by the one behind them. Or should I say her.

My mouth slightly began to droop as I stared at the woman move through the air before taking out the last figure.

Long blonde hair tied into a bun, not the typical wheat-coloured blonde hair that some people might dye into, but a shade of blonde that almost resembles gold.

Crunch!

I unwillingly moved my foot in my state of shock, accidently stepping on one of the ingredients that had unfortunately fallen off the bag.

'Fuck...'

Being honest, I didn't know whether I was upset at alerting the powerful and regal woman or destroying one of the ingredients that will be sure to make me get an earful of shouts from my mother.

During my thoughts of regrets, the woman's head that was turned to look at the figures on the floor snapped at my location. Her grip on the pipe tightening.

'She seems quite familiar... it's the feeling I got when I met Sayuki for the first time.'

For the first time during this day, an expression of perplexing etched itself on my face as I got out of my hiding spot and raised my arms to show I didn't mean any harm. With my bag of ingredients, of course.

Yes, I could have ran away from her but looking at her movements from the fight before, I'm sure that most of her stats scale way higher than mine. I might be able to get away for a few minutes, seconds at worst, before getting my ass handed by her.

'I seriously need to find how to get these damn stat points...'

Looking at my status in the corner of my eye, I found myself looking at the level bar that clearly numbered [1]. Below it displaying the progress i have made towards the next level, proudly showing [0/200].

'Guessing from the normal RPG levelling systems, I should gain 3 stat points for each level up. Since this isn't an RPG levelling system, then I'm pretty sure it would give me 1 per level. Meaning I need to reach level 14 to max out my stats...'

During my inner monologue, the young woman saw me walk towards her with my hands raised, and a smile on my face.

I immediately noticed that her grip on the pipe loosened when I had come close enough. Not because she was surprised by me, but rather to throw it at me if I try to do anything shady.

"Who are you, and are you after me?"

A clear, crisp, almost melodic voice, spoke out to me and I moved my attention from the blood-covered pipe towards the woman. Getting a clear view from her actual facial features, which in turn made me raise my eyebrow.

'Blonde hair, green eyes... now that I've seen her I feel like I should know her, and judging from the screaming at the back of my mind she should be someone very important. Urgh, I honestly hate how my memories from my past life are fading through the passage of time.'

My thoughts regarding her true identity, that started to get irritated, began to dissipate as her green eyes pierced through me, awaiting my response that I unintentionally had forgotten about.

'Now that I think about it, thinking too much isn't good for me. I'm somehow getting my ass in these scenarios in the span of two days...'

Feeling the rigidness of the pipe, aimed at my neck, I began to focus on the situation at hand. Instinctively giving her a glare that quickly disappeared as if it never happened.

I opened my lips and stormed through ideas to make her drop the pipe that was burning my neck. Eventually remembering an idea that a certain friend had told me to do if I ever find myself in a dangerous situation.

'It's either do or die...'

"Eiji Hagiwara. A 15 year old. My house is in the northeast section of Morioh, where all the villas are, and I am not married. I work as an employee for the Kame Yu department stores, and I get home every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don't smoke, but I occasionally drink. I'm in bed by 11 PM, and make sure I get eight hours of sleep, no matter what."

"After having a glass of warm milk and doing about twenty minutes of stretches before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no issues at my last check-up. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes to live a very quiet life."

"I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to fight I wouldn't lose to anyone."

The girl, who was originally pressing the pipe harder to my neck the moment she heard me talk, loosened her grip on the pipe and dropped it before staring at me with confusion from my 'bizarre' introduction.

Even after seeing her drop the pipe, I stood still not making a single movement. Trying my best to alert her that I didn't really come here to hurt her.

Although, that didn't stop my mind from once again drifting to my thoughts.

'Who would've thought that there would be a day when a meme saves a life?'

I chuckled to myself on the inside while glancing at the girl who had quickly realised her blunder.

She had immediately turned her green eyes to look at mine and readied her hands in a stance, readying for another fight.

However, it didn't take long enough for her to notice that I wasn't going to attack her.

Due to this she concluded that I wasn't an enemy, yet, and gave an introduction of her own while bowing in apology.

"Sorry for attacking you. I was cautious due to those figures in the floor that had chased me, and I had initially thought that you were with them."

She then gave a sincere spologetic smile and looked at me in the eyes, before talking once again, this time a clear introduction of her name.

"Unfortunately, my introduction won't be as long as yours. My name is Artoria Pendragon, a tourist that had recently came to Japan."

My eyes that had settled on her slowly widened with shock at the revelation of her name, and turned even wider, when the system gave an announcement.

[Ding! 20EXP and 5 Dating Points given for making the heroine, [Artoria Pendragon], become interested! Due to meeting the first heroine, the God has decided to give you one free [Stat Point] to help your journey!]

During my inevitable state of shock, the blonde woman had received a message from someone, seeing how she began to narrow her eyes at the phone.

"I'm sorry, Hagiwara...san? I will need to immediately meet up with my fellow tourists to go to the next city. I hope that we will meet again sometime in the future."

She then hurriedly have me a bow and spoke to me with a slight accent, breaking me out of my stupor.

I stared at her back as she nimbly moved out of the valley, into the crowd of people that somehow had started to come to this side as well.

With her leaving the isolated valley, only I and the 7 other people knocked out cold were left.

'No wonder she was so strong...'

I dragged one of my hands towards my head and grabbed a handful of my hair before beginning to give myself a smile.

'Artoria Pendragon. Future King, or rather Queen, of England that had become a noble servant after her death. Looking at how she was behaving, it seems like in this 'world', Artoria hasn't experienced any bloodshed or anything of that sort.'

I leisrurely glanced at the people behind me who started to twitch their fingers and decided to get myself out of there.

'*Sigh* Another eventful day. I hope mom won't be too angry with me...'

Fearing the speech that she is about to give me, I decided to make some stops along the way to comfort myself after.

---

Introduction of Eiji was made in the spur of the moment. If I read it again in the future and find that it doesn't fit in the story, then I will most likely make minor changes.