And judging from Tohka's appearance and temperament, Derken believed there was a very high chance that she was a noblewoman from some powerful family or kingdom.
He was unwilling to simply give up on her, though.
So he decided to test the waters first.
Unfortunately...
Tohka answered without even thinking.
"We're not from any kingdom or family. Oh, right... Kingdom? Family? What are those? Toma-kun, do you know what a kingdom is? What's a family?"
As she spoke, Tohka even turned around and asked Toma.
She genuinely had no idea what a kingdom was.
But that was fine.
Even if she didn't know, Toma-kun definitely would!
That was exactly what Tohka thought.
And that was exactly why she asked him.
Toma covered his face with one hand.
He didn't even know what to say anymore.
That was such an obvious attempt to probe for information!
Only Tohka could fall for something like that and then answer so straightforwardly...
If he didn't keep a close eye on her, Tohka was definitely the kind of girl who could get sold by someone and then happily help them count the money afterward...
But at that moment, another question suddenly occurred to Toma.
Why was communicating in this other world so natural?
Was there seriously no language barrier?
The System immediately answered his question without hiding anything.
[The System possesses an automatic translation function. The Host and characters summoned by the Host can understand the common language of this continent.]
Toma's eyes lit up.
Now 'that' was useful!
It saved him the trouble of learning another language!
As someone who absolutely sucked at studying, Toma wanted nothing to do with learning foreign languages.
Derken, meanwhile, had only asked the question casually.
But after hearing Tohka's answer, he immediately became energized.
They weren't affiliated with any kingdom or powerful family?
Judging from Tohka's complete ignorance of worldly matters, Derken was certain she wasn't lying.
The final trace of hesitation in his heart disappeared.
Incidentally, Tohka's armor was woven from her Spirit Power.
Since she currently had very little Spirit Power remaining, she had removed most of the unnecessary decorative elements from her armor several days earlier to conserve energy.
As a result, her current Astral Dress looked much simpler than before.
At the very least, all of those brilliant wings of light were gone.
This allowed her to conserve more Spirit Power.
Toma hadn't questioned it much.
Tohka had told him that simplifying the outfit also made it easier to clean.
After all, they had spent the past several days hunting in the forest, so naturally her Astral Dress occasionally became dirty.
When Tohka explained that this version was easier to clean, Toma didn't think too deeply about it.
The anime hadn't explained the Astral Dress in much detail anyway.
So whatever Tohka told him, he simply accepted.
Because of that, although Tohka's current Astral Dress still looked distinctive and unusual, it wasn't overwhelmingly extravagant.
Besides, strange clothing wasn't exactly rare in this world.
And when it came purely to extravagance, Derken had seen plenty of custom-made armor belonging to nobles.
Some of those were far more elaborate than what Tohka was currently wearing.
For all these reasons combined, Derken didn't suspect anything unusual.
"Since you're not affiliated with any kingdom or family, there's nothing left to discuss! Boys! Kill the man and capture the woman!!!"
Luna finally understood what had happened.
This man and woman had accidentally drawn the disaster away from her.
'Should I use this opportunity to escape?'
The thought had barely appeared in Luna's mind before she crushed it.
'If I run away now and allow innocent people to suffer in my place, how could I ever face Captain and the Princess again?'
Having made her decision, Luna suddenly charged forward.
Her spear swept through the air and sent one mercenary flying before she rushed to Tohka's side.
"I dragged you into this! I'll hold them back. You two, hurry and run!"
Luna lowered herself into a fighting stance, signaling for Tohka and Toma to escape.
But Toma wasn't paying attention to Luna at all.
Derken's words were endlessly echoing through his mind.
'Kill the man and capture the woman...'
'Kill the man and capture the woman...'
'Kill the man...'
WHAT THE HELL?!!!!!
You're trying to steal 'my' woman?!
I just arrived in another world, and this is how you bastards welcome me?!
Fuck this!
Even if I could tolerate this shit, there's no way in hell I'm swallowing it!!!
With a dark expression, Toma stepped out from behind Tohka.
"Tohka, don't interfere. Let me handle them."
His voice was cold.
"They're perfect for testing this anyway. Fuck! These bastards actually dared to try stealing my woman!"
He glared at the mercenaries.
"You really think I'm some weakling you can crush whenever you feel like it?!"
Tohka hesitated slightly after hearing Toma's words.
Then she nodded.
However, although she agreed to let Toma fight, she didn't move even half a step away.
Toma was standing right beside her.
And she had no intention of leaving him.
At this distance, she was confident she could protect Toma if anything went wrong.
As for Toma...
He had already spent several days wandering around this damn forest.
He was irritated enough from that alone.
Then every night, he had to sleep while holding a beauty like Tohka without daring to make a move.
That had only made his frustration worse.
And now these bastards had come along and poured gasoline directly onto the fire.
They even wanted to steal his woman?!
The powder keg known as Toma had finally exploded.
He immediately pulled out his Duel Disk and equipped it.
Today, Toma was going to properly educate these otherworld natives on how they were supposed to behave!
"Come forth, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
Toma raised his right hand.
"Clean up this trash for me!"
He slammed the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card onto his Duel Disk.
BOOOOOOM!
A violent gale instantly erupted around them!
The mercenaries surrounding Toma were blown away all at once.
And amid the raging winds...
A gigantic figure emerged from thin air.
Massive wings spread wide.
Its enormous body descended through the storm as a deafening roar shook the forest.
The Blue-Eyes White Dragon had appeared!