Everyone changed so much except for me

It has been more than two months since Torei moved to Bobert, he had to wake up from dawn every day to pick up the goods. For some reason, his house had turned into a tavern.

" Hey Torei! How many times have I said, don't buy this trash beer by any mistake!" - Abert

" Hey! Don't throw it, I can change it!" - Torei

For some reason, this guy Abert was staying with him. Abert tricked him and took all the house's papers and money, if he messed up now he would be thrown out on the street.

Torei had to hold back so he wouldn't accidentally let out a curse on Sarila because she sent this annoying guy to guide him.

He still did not know whether he was a guide or a thug from somewhere. But Sarila's servant had confirmed that, so there should be no mistake.

In just three days the guy turned the entire house into a damn tavern. "This place is extremely good for a tavern," he said.

Torei didn't know whether to be happy or angry because the bullsh*t words coming out of his mouth had come true.

This place was getting really big. Every day workers, adventurers, and merchants gathered here.

Torei had to run like crazy because, for some nonsense reason he was the only worker here, all the waiters' work, cleaning, and washing dishes were done by him.

He was exploited mercilessly. It was only on Sundays that Abert had vanished in a certain area and everything went quiet again.

Torei let out a long sigh, maybe he should tell Shizu about this, but he shouldn't bother her, not right now. They were doing much more important work.

Shizu still contacted him every week, first every 2 days, then 3, 4, and now sometimes she called him every 2 weeks. The heroes must travel to dangerous areas and very far from this place. He heard they went through a teleport gate or something. His "phone" couldn't work if the distance was too great, he didn't know exactly what's the limit of this thing. That was when he realized this tavern was not really as bad as he thought.

From here gathered all sorts of ingredients and sometimes he listened to more important news from his friends.

They had saved a kingdom from a massacre of demons, they defeated a monster in the swamp of death. Countless feats were done in just a few months and he thought most of their stories were exaggerated. For example, Satsuki was called the magic king, and Okura was called the great sage ... However, what bothered him the most was that they always treat the female members of the party as the hero's lovers. He felt nauseous every time he heard that.

While changing beer he heard a sob and a crowd of children gathered. In the middle was a young child dressed in rags with a bald head.

" Thief, where did you get this?"

" Hic ... here it is. I didn't steal it, it was picked up by me."

" We can't trust a thief like you. My parents said if there's an expensive thing on you, it means you steal."

" N-No."

A boy tried to snatch a small flat object that appeared to be made of gold. Children rhyme around the bald kid, they were juggling the thing. Although he wanted to help the poor kid, Torei carefully observed the movements of the four bullies. One of them was probably at a higher level than him. It's frustrating because in this world depending on the level children can be even stronger than adults.

" Hey!" - Torei

" What?"

The largest of the four turned towards Torei. He did not hesitate to walk straight toward them.

" Give that brat to me! It just stole my wine this morning. I'll teach it what the consequences of stealing from the Drunken Bear are!" - Torei

He took out a rope and tied the bald kid's hand, then pulled it away. The bullies laughed, they gleefully watched Torei drag the child away without doing anything.

" Aghhh— I-I'm not a… thief." - The kid

" I know." - Torei

" Eh?" - The kid

Wait until they got away from the bullies. Torei untied the kid.

" Ah." - The kid

" What are you doing standing there blankly, let's get out of here quickly, of course just now was a show." - Torei

" B-But." - The kid

The kid's eyes were still glued to the group of bullies.

" Is this what you looking for?" - Torei

" Eh? When did you get that?" - The kid

Torei threw the kid a golden object. The kid's eyes lit up, it immediately put the object in its pocket and nodded furiously.

" Thank you, thank you." - The kid

" Nothing. By the way, where did you get this thing?" - Torei

The thing the boy put in his pocket seemed to be a badge, etched with a symbol like a monster, half-human, half-spider. No matter how Torei looked at it, it was weird.

" This, a nice lady gave it to me." - The kid

" Well, take good care of it then." - Torei

Torei didn't ask about the badge anymore, it was none of his business. He was not a hero, staying out of trouble was his priority. Helping the kid was just accidental.

This was a world where a child could be stronger than him. Although the guards here worked very hard in the event of riots and incidents, there wasn't any such thing as a police station.

Children's rights were also not featured here. Torei gave the kid some money, but it refused. It thanked him one more time and then they went on their ways.

….

" That's what happened today." - Torei

" This snail! Why did you do that, at least you can let him or her stay in your house, right?" - Shizu

Shizu didn't know that a thug named Abert had taken over his house. Torei sighed and Shizu's frowning face appeared in the hologram glaring at him.

" When will you stop being clumsy and act more thoughtful?" - Shizu

" Couldn't help it, I'm not a hero." - Torei

" Hey! Stop bringing that excuse out again, it disgusts me. Sarila gave you a house and money, there are tons of things you can do with them!" - Shizu

" What?? Now you want me to open an orphanage? If you want, go and do it yourself!" - Torei

" W-Wait I'm not do—" - Shizu

Torei hung up. The discomfort feeling was creeping into his head.

Why did she not pay attention to the story? He had saved the kid. It was not easy for him. Although he knew that their daily lives were always filled with dangerous situations but at least they had powers. Compare to them he was just a weak person. That heroic logic of Shizu disgusted him. Life was not easy for him at all.

" I'm so tired."

Torei sighed. It seems they had been influenced by this world. He felt that Shizu and the others were changing more and more as if they were always residents here.

They began to care more about what happened in this world. As for Torei, this place was always strange. He wanted to go home, he didn't want to be buried in this boring place. There weren't any pastimes in this life. Only work and Shizu's complaints.

" Haha, Shizu! Are you done with talking to Tore— Hey! Why are you crying? That guy said something bad, right?" - Satsuki

" Satsuki... am I a troublesome person?" - Shizu

Looking at Shizu's weakly sullen figure, Satsuki was confused.

" Hey hey, this stuff… don't joke around, you are the most annoying selfish girl I have ever known. Only now did you realize that?" - Satsuki

" Sob..." - Shizu

" Eh wait -" - Satsuki

" Woaaaa… waaah!" - Shizu

" Okay, please shut up for a sec! Just split out everything! I'm here to listen!" - Satsuki

After hearing Shizu tell her story, Satsuki shook her head and gave Shizu a chop on the head.

" O-Ouch! W-What was that!!" - Shizu

" Idiot, it's a miracle that the guy was still in contact with you." - Satsuki

" Sob sob." - Shizu

" Hey, don't cry! Shizu, you understand yourself, don't you? He was not like us, more or less he must have felt bad about himself." - Satsuki

" That ... I know but he should at least have to work hard right? He wasn't like this before." - Shizu

" Don't you impose your thoughts on him like that, don't you think we all change?" - Satsuki

" …"

" When you first came to this world, did you think you would have to risk your life to save a city?" - Satsuki

Satsuki pointed at the large scar on Shizu's stomach, which was the wound during a mission.

" If it were us before, you would have cried all day long for this thing and never dared to get outside without covering, but now look, you don't even care about it." - Satsuki

" …"

" This world changed us too much Shizu… if someone changed the least, it was probably Torei." - Satsuki

" Is that so ... He's still just …" - Shizu

" That's right, he's still just a weak high school student, different from us. So be gentle with him." - Satsuki

" … It was annoying to hear these words from your mouth." - Shizu

" I myself was equally annoyed when saying these cheesy words. Besides, if you came to him, it would be less an opponent …" - Satsuki

" Hey! What nonsense are you saying? Torei and I are just friends!" - Shizu

" Really? Ah but there is one more thing… just for clarification, he said that the kid he saved had a badge." - Satsuki

" Yeah, what's wrong?" - Shizu

" Did he say what it looked like?" - Satsuki

" Something like a spider." - Shizu

" …"

" What's wrong Satsuki?" - Shizu

" Spiders ... recently we found traces of the demon race in the north area. Their behavior was quite unusual." - Satsuki

" But where Torei lived was one of the safest areas deep in the heart of the kingdom, they couldn't go that far, right?" - Shizu

" In theory, they can't, but just to be sure, why don't you come to see Torei." - Satsuki

" W-Why me?" - Shizu

" Hahaha if it's not you who else? Since now you are free, I still have unfinished tasks. By the way, make up with him too, it's even better if you don't come back!" - Satsuki

" Hey! It won't happen!" - Shizu

" Haha. But seriously, go there, and if possible, check the badge for me." - Satsuki

" Okay, if there's something weird I'll get in touch with you." - Shizu

" Uhm, be careful, and send my regards to that guy." - Satsuki

" Ok." - Shizu

Shizu immediately set out on the way to Bobert, it would take a few days to travel by horseback but it only took a few hours for Shizu to run there on her legs.

For her, it was normal to run through the craggy cliffs like going for a walk in the garden. However, sweat was still dropping on her forehead because of the anxiety.

" It's been two months. How did he live? More importantly, what should I say to him now?"

Shizu sighed, looking at the Nyericellite necklace on her neck. In this world, it was called the eternal stone, often used as a proposal. One month ago someone gave it to her. She clutched the necklace around her neck and rushed faster to Bobert.