Upon reaching the inn, both of them decided to take a bath indoors.
The sound of the shower gushed loudly from above, washing over their bodies separately.
Both Dito and Anna stretched out their legs, feeling a wave of relief as they enjoyed a moment of respite.
Anna let out a soft sigh, her head tilting back toward the ceiling, eyes closed as she placed a small towel over her forehead.
“There are other laser users besides you?
Seriously?” Dito frowned as Anna showed him the proof.
Anna responded with a nod, looking somewhat baffled by the schoolgirl’s demeanor.
Dito himself admitted he was just as perplexed.
There were supposedly three laser energy users in total, though their names had been obscured by some author.
“Antonio Sudarman uses a laser spear, transferring his magic energy straight into his weapon.”
“Sounds straight out of a popular movie from back in the day.”
“Spot on.”
Meanwhile, as she soaked in the hot bath, Anna was lost in thought.
She tied her hair up as the hot water clung to her skin.
A faint smile played on her lips, her thighs savoring the comforting warmth and the massage-like sensation soaking deep into her pores.
“Adventuring doesn’t seem so bad after all,” Anna murmured.
Her previously foul mood lifted just a fraction.
She stretched her arms upward, let out a soft groan from the back of her throat, and rose from the bathtub entirely naked.
Wrapping a towel around herself, Anna walked carefully toward the shower area, securing the fabric just above her shoulders to cover her chest down to her most private parts.
She then gazed out the window from the inside.
The moonlight shone brightly, accompanied by the hooting of an owl and a chilly breeze piercing through the room.
The thin mist in the bathroom did little to hinder Anna as she stepped closer to the glass.
Elsewhere, Dito was reveling in the deeply comforting warmth of his bath.
His new life wasn’t turning out all that bad.
He placed his glasses near the shower, stretched his legs out, and leaned his head back toward the ceiling, hoping tomorrow would be an improvement—and that he could find a suitable quest around Westera.
“Antonio Sudarman…”
Dito muttered the name three times over, though he couldn’t quite recall any details about the guy’s background aside from what was written in the notes.
He pulled his fingers backward, cracking his knuckles.
He blinked repeatedly, splashing water across his face right up to his hairline, leaving droplets clinging to his bangs.
Letting out an exhausted sigh toward the ceiling, he swore to do his best in this new world and find a way to get both himself and Anna back home.
“By the way, do you know Antonio Sudarman?” Anna asked.
“No idea.
I don’t really know the guy,” Dito said, shrugging both shoulders.
Even so, Dito rubbed his chin, feeling as though he might have crossed paths with him before.
His gaze drifted toward a young man in a worn-out hood, but just a second later, the figure vanished as if swallowed straight into the ground.
A few adventurers approached Dito and Anna, wearing cold, aloof expressions until one of them got a little too close to Anna.
Unfortunately for them, Dito immediately blocked their way.
Standing just two palm-widths apart, Dito tilted his head up to meet the adventurer’s gaze.
“Can I help you?”
“Oi, brat!
We just wanted to get acquainted with—”
Without a word of warning, Dito twisted the adventurer’s arm.
Instantly, another one of them drew his weapon, but a fierce, intimidating glare from Anna froze them in place.
Driving her right knee hard into the right temple of the first adventurer, she watched him writhe and beg for mercy.
“What do you think you’re doing?
Get me out of here right now!”
“Shut it!
I hate this kind of cliché.
Do you mind not bothering us?” Dito snapped, forcefully shoving the arm away.
He turned on his heel, ignoring a counterattack from one of the thugs, and shouted over his shoulder, “Drop dead!”
With a swift, spontaneous sweep of his right leg, he sent the attacker crashing down onto the wooden floorboards.
The surrounding crowd burst into applause, laughing at the trio of adventurers’ miserable misfortune.
Dito couldn’t wrap his head around their attitude, but his stunt had definitely drawn unnecessary attention.
Anna yanked on Dito’s shirt, dragging him out of the guild without so much as a backward glance.
“Finally, we’re out of there.”
The sight of Anna pulling Dito by his shirt sparked immediate misunderstandings among the onlookers.
They didn’t realize the truth, but the teenagers’ brisk exit certainly left a striking impression—for now, at least.
“Are you an idiot?
I can’t believe I had to physically drag you away from all that unwanted attention!” Anna grumbled.
Dito could understand why Anna was annoyed.
It was fair enough, considering her appearance: straight, long dark hair, brown eyes, and smooth, warm tan skin.
She was still wearing her long-sleeved school uniform and long skirt—not to mention the right side of her fabric, which she had torn open earlier just so she could run faster.
Dito, on the other hand, had undergone a significant change: a sharp nose, neatly combed spiky hair, dark eyes, and the matching school uniform.
The catch was that he couldn’t remember much of his past life except for one bitter memory—a guy named Devan, who had stolen away the girl of his dreams, Rachel.
That was practically the only thing left in Dito’s mind.
Strangely enough, Anna didn’t remember the shooting incident that had ended her life either; Dito had simply filled her in on how Rachel had taken Devan from him.
All along the journey, the two of them never stopped complaining about the bizarre reincarnation they had been dragged into.
“Good thing the creatures we hunted were just hyenas!
Following these preset quests is exhausting,” Anna commented, looking up at the horizon.
Dito nodded in agreement.
He felt that running into a pack of horned hyena monsters was a massive headache when it was just the two of them.
Those creatures could spew fire across a wide area, forcing Dito and Anna to constantly dive behind trees for cover.
They were down to their last three bullets in the revolver.
Right as the two of them were peeking through a gap between tree trunks—Anna included—a few hyenas scouted the perimeter.
Anna took a deep breath, her eyes locking onto the pack.
One, two, three—she moved with blinding speed, spun around, whipped out her glasses, and triggered her laser.
It narrowly missed a hyena due to its agile sidestep.
Just as the beast lunged, Dito pulled the trigger, sending a bullet straight into another hyena.
As Dito pivoted, he saw a hyena sprinting directly toward Anna, its jaws inches from snapping onto the spiky-haired guy’s neck.
With her left arm pinned, Anna pulled her trigger until the hyena’s head was blown clean through, a splatter of blood showering her face.
“I can’t believe I didn’t get to kill that bastard!”
“Shut up!
I died because of that bitch too!
If I were still alive, Devan would be mine!”
“And Rachel would be mine!”
Naturally, both teenagers had been reincarnated following the fallout of Dito and Rachel’s canceled engagement—an event Devan had intentionally orchestrated to sabotage them, driving the two teens to the brink of lethal retaliation.
~o0o~
“If I had the ability to rewind time, I swear I’d find a way to wipe that stupid girl off the face of the earth.”
“Still, we need to be careful with our next moves.
We have to figure out a way back to our original world.
Honestly, people like us have been handed a second chance just to wait for the right moment.
You know what I mean, right?” Dito said to Anna, his tone brimming with restless ambition.
Anna nodded in agreement.
Dressed in their high school uniforms, they had chosen a revolver and sunglasses as their equipment.
Once the glasses were put on, the girl’s magical abilities skyrocketed without exception.
The two of them walked toward a massive gateway bearing the name Roseldt.
It was their first time setting foot in the city after hiking through the wilderness.
Recently reincarnated, neither of them was truly satisfied with the new world they had been thrust into.
Dito clicked his tongue repeatedly in disgust at the alien surroundings, blaming the gods for ripping away his happiness.
Anna, by contrast, tried her best to adapt despite finding it deeply tedious—especially considering she had once willingly let her lover marry the person he truly loved.
“But look on the bright side.
You could always get your revenge on him if you ever—”
“Impossible!
If I ever run into that asshole, I’m going to torture him until he tells me where Rachel is!” Dito growled.
“Fine, fine!
I suppose it’s a good thing I came along.
Someone has to keep your unstable mental state in check,” Anna muttered, shrugging her shoulders.
Anna’s remark made Dito scowl.
He glared sharply at her.
There was no point pressing further about why she chose to accompany him.
One thing was certain: Dito had been given a second life, and he intended to use it to do whatever he pleased.
The pair exchanged nods and sidelong glances, then suddenly broke into a full sprint, drawing their revolvers.
Dito aimed straight ahead, blowing a bandit’s head clean off in a spray of blood.
He let out a breath of relief and hurried toward a submarine where they took cover behind the hull.
A massive massacre was unfolding all around them.
“Dito, what on earth is—”
“I wouldn’t be surprised by most things here, but what shocks me is that this thing actually exists in this world.”
“Are you serious, Dito?”
“Why would I joke about this?
The ship we’re looking at is a World War II-era Nazi-fighting submarine!
An L-3 Submarine!
A Soviet-designed vessel used for explosives or trapping enemies like warships and the like.
I can’t believe this thing is still around!” Dito said, utterly flabbergasted.
“Do you have any idea who’s piloting it?” Anna asked.
Dito paused to think for a moment.
A name flickered through his mind—Vladimir Konovalov—though he didn’t know much else about him beyond his role in the war against the Nazis.
“Vladimir Konovalov.
That’s all I remember.”
“Wow.
Who knew you were such a naval expert?
Color me impressed,” Anna said with a dry, sarcastic tone.
“Are you praising me or insulting me?
Hello!
Just because I was obsessed with Rachel doesn’t mean my brain is empty.
Besides, I’ve always had a secret fascination with submarines because of their unique capabilities.”
Anna clamped her mouth shut, choosing not to comment on Dito’s rant.
Meanwhile, the young man reloaded his revolver, closed his eyes, and channeled fire-element magic into the bullets.
He aimed carefully and fired at a fleeing bandit.
The bullet caught the target in the back, sending him crashing face-first into the blood-soaked dirt.
Suddenly, the crack of gunfire echoed once more.
This time, an elderly man in a military uniform raised his rifle against an old man clad in full armor.
The emblem on his gear was unfamiliar to both Dito and Anna.
The military officer turned away, walking past the armored figure, only to run straight into a mysterious man in black tactical armor wielding modern weaponry.
Identified as a hostile element, the two factions immediately clashed, tearing each other apart in an instant and leaving only five surviving adventurers under Vladimir’s protection.
Unnoticed, Dito crept up behind the armored man to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“You’re from the previous world, aren’t you?”
“Don’t tell me you are too?” Vladimir countered.
The man in black armor smiled bitterly, looking thoroughly displeased by the question.
“If you’re going to ask something like that, why bother flashing a fake smile?”
No response came from the officer.
Instead, he swung open an upper hatch, pointing toward a cache of food supplies and ammunition.
Vladimir turned his head, staring in shock at the discovery—especially when he spotted the label reading overcapacity.
“Consider it a gift…
Vladimir Konovalov.”
With that, the man turned and vanished without a trace.
Vladimir stood bewildered by the bizarre turn of events.
He hurriedly popped open the hatch to check the surroundings, but there was no sign of the black-armored man anywhere on the surface.
Where did he go?
Who on earth was he?
How did he know?
he muttered to himself.
Elsewhere, the man in black armor collapsed onto the ground, dark smoke billowing from his nasal cavities.
Unfazed, he calmly began jotting down all the data he had gathered.
“With this, I can report back to the Master.”
Thick, cloud-like black smoke billowed out and enveloped the man, completely obscuring his form.
“Until next time, Otherworlder.”
Dito was utterly horrified.
What he had witnessed was deeply disturbing.
To make matters worse, even the heavily armored men had been wiped out without a single trace left behind.
The sound of footsteps crunched from behind.
The man quickly slipped back into his armor, looking up at General Oxion with wide, unblinking eyes—the apparent victim of severe PTSD brought on by Vladimir’s brutal onslaught.
He glanced around at the fallen troops from the Kingdom of Ars and the Torquis Empire, slaughtered on the spot with blood and viscera splattered everywhere.
The black-armored man stood up, drew a knife to put General Oxion out of his misery, gripped him by the throat with his right palm, and drove the blade deep.
General Oxion’s corpse slumped instantly.
He walked away from the battlefield, a confident smirk hidden safely behind his helmet.
~o0o~
Meanwhile, Vladimir leveled an AK-47 straight at Anna and Dito, frowning as he eyed the suspicious pair.
The two teenagers carefully placed their weapons on the ground, hoping to avoid any rash decisions.
“Who are you two?
And what do you want here?” Vladimir demanded loudly.
“Figures.
I knew something like this would happen again,” Dito muttered under his breath.
“Is that really how a soldier treats civilians who are trying to help save lives?”
Vladimir paused for a moment, slowly lowering the AK-47.
He approached Dito and Anna, fixing them with the piercing stare of a hawk about to strike.
“You two are Otherworlders, aren’t you?”
“How did you—”
“You’re such an idiot, Dito!
He was testing us to see if we’d panic in danger.
Are you completely oblivious?” Anna scolded.
Dito just stared blankly at Anna’s explanation.
Breaking into a relieved sigh, Vladimir extended a hand in greeting upon realizing he had finally met his own kind.
“Меня зовут Владимир Константинович Коновалов.
Добро пожаловать на мой корабль (My name is Vladimir Konstantinovich Konovalov.
Welcome to my ship).”