I Am Really The Best Anti Hero In Another World!-System Of Anti Hero! novel Chapter 35

Chapter 35 - 35 - Special Ability

After the elders left, the old man stamped his foot and dragged himself away – a tongue click could be heard as he went – and the guards soon followed, taking Guang Ai away so that her wound could be treated.

In the room, only Noah and the Radiance family remained.

"Don't be mad at Ai... I don't think she meant any harm," said Sophia—a request that made little sense to Noah, since he knew that girl would never have touched him, not even in his sleep.

He had developed this ability since childhood, from the times he woke up beaten or passed out for similar reasons—a heightened sense of every danger near his body, extremely useful in battle to keep him from being caught off guard.

"Don't worry, I don't mind," he replied.

"Huh? I don't think that's true," Alice remarked with a smile. "You even crushed her wrist without any hesitation..."

"That... that wasn't intentional... And it wouldn't have happened if she hadn't tried to touch me when I wasn't looking."

"...It seems you do have exceptionally sharp senses," Arthur noted.

"...Yes... Ever since I was a child, actually," Noah smiled—a smile heavier than usual—and everyone noticed.

The weight of his words carried great significance, yet for the Radiance family it didn't seem to matter as much as it should. They assumed it was simply because Noah had lived in the Demon Beast Forest—according to him—so the existence of such an ability only made the story he had invented seem more credible—even if that wasn't his intention—since such a trait could only be acquired in extreme environments. Nonetheless, the real story would have been even more shocking.

"Now... I believe she mentioned something about the oven I asked them to buy, didn't she?" he asked while ignoring the pain of moving one of his hands behind his back.

"Y-Yes, about that..."

"We don't have the money for something like that at the moment," Alice declared, cutting off Arthur.

"Darling!"

"Mom, that's not it...!"

"Huh...? But I said I would pay."

The golden crystal in his hands, shining as though it contained sunlight itself, caught the attention of the Radiance family—it was beautiful yet unfamiliar—and Alice couldn't help but ask what it was.

"What...? But I was told that you use that as a currency."

"Well, it's similar, but... I've never heard of anything like that. The crystals we use are white, and there are also blue ones, I think, but I've only read about them in books," she explained.

[Golden crystals are not common in the lower realms—and if someone did happen to find one by chance in this realm, they certainly wouldn't know how to use it properly, thereby wasting its potential.]

"Alright, then... white, huh..."

Everyone sees the crystals and knows they're genuine—they can feel the energy each one emits—but a doubt prevents them from simply accepting this fact. After all, without a spatial pouch, there was no way Noah could have hidden those objects from them all this time.

"How...?" murmured Sophia, perplexed—the only one among the three who ended up letting her thoughts slip.

"Pardon?"

"...How did you make these things appear? You don't have any spatial pouch on you, I'm sure—after all, I—" she paused, embarrassed, but the furious glare from Arthur beside her seemed to force her to continue.

"What did you just say, Sophia...?" he asked in a serious tone. "Continue."

"...N-No, Dad, it's nothing... I just didn't notice while we were bringing him..."

"Hey, focus on the current situation!" said Alice, while pinching Arthur's waist, causing him to react—even if he didn't feel anything.

Noah cleared his throat:

— It's just a skill...

He said that, and after diverting his gaze, he added another lie:

— ...It was my uncle who taught it to me.

[Unfortunately, you rejected the permanence of the rewards function...]

[Otherwise, you'd be earning another one right now for keeping a lie standing in such a consistent way.]

"Does the Stellar Demon Wolf even have a skill like that...?" murmured Arthur in disbelief.

Unable to verify the truth of the matter, they had no choice but to accept and live with the uncertainty. People in that city aren't capable of approaching the Demon Beast Forest—let alone facing one of its most powerful creatures. The information they have comes from vague legends and poorly detailed books—a jumble of names and descriptions that convinces them that venturing near that place is unwise.

"How many crystals do you think will be needed to buy the oven?"

Upon hearing Noah's question, Arthur replied:

— It's hard to say... I believe I know where one might be obtained, but... I'm not sure we'd even be able to start discussing a potential purchase unless, at the very least, forty thousand white crystals were involved.

He said this with a serious expression, his mind deep in doubts and thoughts.

"Huh? Is it really that expensive?!"