"Wh-what is this sound!!!"
The bike trod over a broken vehicle barrier and mounted the road leading out of the military facility.
But my nerves were entirely on the bike's exhaust note. There was no helping it. The sound the bike made was too, far too loud.
『How about it!! The best, right?! I'm a body that's had exhaust tuning done, that's what!!』
"That is not the sense I meant it in?!!"
At this level of noise, wouldn't the Bulgasari notice?
No sooner had I thought that than a thudding sound came from behind.
GRHOOOONG!
What followed was the Bulgasari's roar. On top of that, the sight of the Bulgasari bursting out from beyond a hill was reflected in the side mirror.
The so-called 'aggro' had been pulled properly.
『Kyaaaa! It's chasing us!! It's chasing us!!』
"This is your fault! Ah, seriously!!"
If it was going to be like this I should have run alone instead of joining hands! Then I could at least have slipped out quietly!
My attention had been taken by the speed the bike could put out and I had not given the exhaust note a single thought. It was my losing move.
'Should I have caught on at the point of the flashy paint job......!'
But how much can a brat not even twenty know about bikes?
At the very least I had no interest in bikes in my previous life either. In a life with no occasion to go outside a hospital, what was there to gain from taking an interest in bikes and cars! That if the side mirrors are unfolded the car door might be open was the extent of my knowledge!
'No, but flashy paint job is just talk, it wasn't at the level of a movie......!'
What's more, the bike I was riding now did not even have the sleek, bulky design that commonly shows up in movies.
Its front end looked like a bicycle's and the body was thin overall. Even the paint job was nothing more than glossy black with some English lettering in primary colors.
To a layman's eye it looked like something that would not make a loud noise! I really was hard done by!
'......Fine, it's already happened!'
The throttle is already pulled.
Folding my upper body down tight to lower the wind resistance even a little, I quickly scanned straight ahead. A road in a condition rather unsuited to sprinting at top speed came into view.
Rattle, thud!
Every time we passed over a dip or trod on a stone or the like, the bike's whole frame jolted. Each time, my rear and lower back felt like they were being smashed to pieces, but I had to accept it.
The Bulgasari that the side mirror was showing now was in the middle of chasing us like mad.
『Insane! Insane! How much iron has it stuffed down its throat!!』
The bastard was not even falling behind. If anything I had the feeling it was gradually getting closer. Meaning its speed was not inferior to this bike's.
'If I raised it to top speed it feels like something could be done, but......!'
The problem was the road's condition. The road right now was such a wreck that I doubt I could easily have raised speed even if I had been a rider skilled with bikes.
Rattle! You can tell just from the fact that the bike wallowed several times even though I dodged the potholes as best I could. This was not a place where you could raise speed with an easy mind, even by an unlicensed person's judgment.
BAM BAM BAM BAM!
But the threat chasing me from behind was also plainly real.
In an environment where I could do neither one thing nor the other, my head turned over in search of some answer.
"Mr. Bike, the correction is going in at maximum right now, isn't it?!"
If I could not win with speed, what should I do?
My head, which had been turning to dodge obstacles, looked at the route ahead and barely squeezed out something that could be called an answer.
『Huh? What was that? Correction?』
"The driving skill!"
『Ah, yeah!!!』
Object-type Phantasms had one characteristic. That was that they provide the user with the basic method of use and a little proficiency.
The fact that I had smoothly started a bike I had never ridden and operated the clutch with ease was all thanks to this. Otherwise I would probably have been caught long ago or would still be groaning in the parking lot.
"I'll trust you!!"
In that case, what about cornering skill that a beginner could not dare hope for?
The 'Ya-hwi' from before sixteen would not have been a delinquent who rode bikes, so I would not get much help from the physical sense left in the body...... but even so, if the proficiency the Phantasm provides is combined with an innate sense of balance, wouldn't something come of it?
『Hm? Hmmmm?? Wait, wait! Even with correction, what I provide is at most——!』
Proficiency is provided not as knowledge but as instinct. Just as 'Ya-hwi's' sense for using his body was not given directly to my head.
So, leaving only the image I wanted in my head, I took the strength out of my hands as much as I could.
Then, as if it had been waiting, my hand moved as it pleased. It let the throttle off slightly and dropped the speed a little.
At the same time it wrenched the bike's handlebars around.
SCREEEEECH!
The wheels and frame that had been sprinting over the wrecked road tilted just like that. With a field on the left and a forest connected to a mountain on the right, my body and the bike slid a long way toward the right.
The bumpy earth and stones flew up wildly, scraping the clothes on my arms and legs.
『Hey hey hey hey! Aren't you being too bold?!?!』
Just before the bike went over, my arm reflexively slammed the ground. With that recoil the bike tipped the other way and regained its balance.
VROOM! Along with skid marks, the speed that had dropped came back on. Every time the speedometer shot up, the exhaust note rang out like mad.
But that sound did not feel as loud as before. It was because my own heartbeat had grown enormously loud too, and because that struck the inside of my ears harder, so the exhaust note was relatively less audible.
Thud, thud, thud, thud. It was as if my heart had risen to the tip of my chin. Even my hand, skinned and scraped from slamming the ground, did not hurt now.
GRHOOOONG!
Had we gone a good few dozen meters after turning that corner? The Bulgasari was reflected in the side mirror again.
I had thought it might come cutting straight across the forest by smashing trees, but fortunately the bastard came along the road. It seemed to be because the forest leading up to the mountain was subtly steep.
KUUUUNG!
In the small mirror I could see the whole of it failing to overcome inertia and sliding as it took the corner. That dragged out some time, and the distance that had closed was reset.
『No, no no no no! You're pulling this off? Hey, hey. You said this was your first time on a bike! Your first time!!』
"That's what I said!"
By then the road's condition had improved a little.
I raised the speed a little more. The speedometer shot up to 60km. At this rate I might be able to shake the Bulgasari off.
『Does that make any sense? However much I'm helping, what you just did makes no——』
"Is there a problem!?"
『No, it's not that there's a problem—— wait, so you were the cause?!?!』
"What is it! What's the problem now! Say it quickly!!"
Just filming a chase scene with a Bulgasari hitched to my tail had my head ready to burst already. My first bike ride in my life had more to mind than I expected, which made it all the more so.
And now a problem is being added on top of that? Just hearing that made my sense of grievance swell to double. That was why I pressed it as if barking at it.
『No, no, strictly speaking it's not a problem! It's just that your talent is incredible!』
Then, in my line of sight, asphalt rose up like a hill, or like a ramp.
To go around by the edge, the height difference between the road and the not-road was too great. One side was a field and had dropped away, the other was forest and had a retaining wall built up. Going around was impossible.
At that moment the choice my instinct made was to raise the speed.
『Do you by any chance have any interest in forming a contract!?』
VROOM!
The bike trod on the plank-like slab of asphalt and jumped. That the asphalt slab broke off abruptly in midair, so that we flew through empty air for a moment, was a bonus.
『No, please, do it for me! Hm?! Hm?!?!』
Instead of answering a request that had turned into outright pleading, I bent forward, pulling my body in as far as it would go.
Since what was loaded on top shifted the center of gravity, the bike's front wheel naturally came down lower than the rear wheel.
Thud. The front wheel wallowed and spread the shock of landing through the bike and my whole body. Tunk. Then the rear wheel too settled fully onto the ground.
In that process there was no anxiety about falling. The bike sprinted once more along a road worse than a gravel bed.
『Let's contract, contract with meee!』
"It's distracting, so tell me later!"
『Ah, okay okay.......』
Talent this and contract that — at least it did not seem to be a bad problem, so set it aside.
What mattered now was deciding my response after landing, in line with the route ahead that I had checked while floating in the air.
Being careful not to bite my tongue when we jolted, I checked the side mirror steadily too.
The distance, which should have opened up as I raised speed, was laughably almost the same as before. It was all because of the monster.
Roaring like something with its eyes rolled back, the bastard clinging close behind was faster than I had imagined.
'Damn, I have to shake it off somehow......!'
If it had at least been a city center, shaking it off would have been easier. There are plenty of usable covers there for getting out of its line of sight. And maybe the Bulgasari would give us up for the iron lying scattered everywhere there.
"Listen, do you happen to know where the nearest city center i——"
Then, from far beyond the field, in the direction that drew closer to a huge mountain, things I did not know whether to call whitish or blackish came into view. It was in the direction connected to the road I was running.
『Huh? What was that just now? City center?』
Buildings? Are those buildings?
And if those dots really were buildings, would the place where the dots were gathered be a village? Could I consider it a village?
As my head was getting complicated, I had the feeling those dots were drawing closer unusually fast. It was a thin impression that could not yet serve as a clue.
『Actually, since I left the driving entirely to my partner, I don't really know the geograph——』
GRAAARGH!
Then a roar rang out once more. At first I wondered whether the Bulgasari had cried again, but chewing it over, something was a bit different.
Not only was the cry subtly different, this roar was coming from ahead, not behind.
'Just now...... there were words.......'
And behind that roar just now there had definitely been.......
『What now! There's one in front too?!』
I hurriedly returned my thinking, which had been about to veer onto a side road, to its proper track.
Should I stop for now? No, stopping in this situation was no different from choosing to be gored to death by the Bulgasari.
Then should I turn? But the nearest fork was a good 200m ahead. The roar had come from much farther than that, but if its owner was running toward me the distance would close rapidly. I could not let my guard down.
Pat-pat-pat-pat!
But as if to cut down on my worrying, something burst out of the forest on the right side of the road. It happened four seconds after the point where the roar was heard.
『Kyah! Ahead! Ahead!』
The distance between me and the thing that burst out of the forest was roughly 100m.
Thanks to that I had time to judge what it was and how to respond. It was not enough.
"......!"
Grrng.
But the thing I examined in order to identify it had the appearance of a tiger and had green fur. The horn protruding from its head and the wing-shafts grown along its shoulder blades gave an unusually grotesque impression.
『Run.』 A voice that came overlapped with the cry made my head swim.
VROOOOM!
It had spotted me, yet with indifferent eyes it made way for me. It was a moment that rather negated my effort to run along the edge to avoid a collision.
'Horokgumo.......'
But it was not entirely meaningless either. At the very least I had gained the new information that it might not be an enemy.
Or perhaps that was a conviction I had reached even before it made way.
'No, it wasn't Horokgumo, was it Hogurokmo?'
Hogurokmo. An imaginary beast resembling a tiger but with green fur, a horn, and featherless wings.
It had not appeared in the main work or the fan book, but back when I was busy searching up Eastern strange beings, the design I saw was cool, so I remembered it to this day.
Passing the Hogurokmo, my gaze checked the side mirror briefly.
On the mirror's surface I could see the green tiger standing with its back to me, waiting for the Bulgasari. Looking only at the difference in weight class, it was a picture where the Hogurokmo seemed likely to be thrown aside in an instant.
『Hey hey hey hey! Ahead! Another one ahead!』
But before the Hogurokmo and the Bulgasari collided, the bike called out to me.
I hurriedly took my eyes off the side mirror and examined straight ahead. Someone who had not been there until a moment ago was on the road.
As if he too had burst out of the forest like the Hogurokmo, that being had a few fallen leaves stuck to his body.
『The flames in my heart burn my body.』
The face, which grew distinct as it gradually drew closer, was a handsome man at a glance.
The fellow, smiling brightly, gestured at me as if to say hurry past, even as he babbled to himself.
'Not...... a person.'
The distance between the man and me was not great, but there was no danger of collision. It was thanks to the fact that I was still running along the edge in order to avoid the Hogurokmo.
So the bike and I passed the man without difficulty too. My gaze fixed on the side mirror again.
『I have become the fire ghost.』
FWOOOOSH.
Around the time I felt scorching heat at my back, I saw the man reflected in the mirror being wrapped in flame.
The Hogurokmo had already withdrawn to even farther back than the man.
Grhng!
The Hogurokmo barked once and began sprinting toward where I was. Now the one closest to the Bulgasari was the man wrapped in flame.
『Burn, burn, let it all burn! Let even this heart of mine turned toward the sovereign burn away entirely!』
The flames burning the man's body grew larger and larger and finally spread across the whole road. Beyond them the approaching Bulgasari let out a cry that sounded like a scream.
『Wh-what is that now!! It's a walking ball of fire!』
"......Ji-gwi."
If I saw it correctly, that was a being who, during Queen Seondeok's reign, loved the sovereign so deeply that he became wrapped in his own fire and burned eternally.
This one had been included in the fan book, and the tale was so famous that it was hard not to recognize.
Grhng!
Just then the Hogurokmo, which had come level with the bike at some point, jerked its chin at me. 『Keep going.』 I had never seen a tradition saying the Hogurokmo was friendly to humans, but the one before me seemed to have no intention whatsoever of attacking me.
Brrrrm!
『Oh! Hey, over there! Over there!』
"......People."
Also, the identity of the dots I had thought were buildings was in fact not buildings. Every single one of them was a military vehicle.
At the appearance of force that could protect me, the strength went out of my shoulders for a moment.
'I've...... made it, haven't I.......'
As reflected in the side mirror, the Bulgasari had been completely blocked by the flames. So dropping my speed a little would not cause any great problem.
I lowered my speed so that the military unit could recognize me properly. As I slowed a little, the Hogurokmo, which had been running in step with me, also slowed its running slightly.
I had had my suspicions from the point it did not attack me, but this Hogurokmo seemed to be an individual contracted with a human.
『Hey, they're waving.』
The vehicle the soldiers were riding had a structure with almost no side walls, let alone a roof.
One person riding in it stood bolt upright and waved at me. Whether it was a signal agreed among drivers or what, it was a gesture whose meaning I could not make out.
『That's the stop signal.』
Fortunately that gesture was interpreted by the bike. Trusting its word, I lowered my speed further, step by step.
'......The Bulgasari won't be able to come over anymore.'
The Bulgasari traditions were in fact divided between it being unfazed even by fire and it dying to fire. Judging by its advance being halted by Ji-gwi's flames, that Bulgasari seemed to be the latter.
Judging that the element threatening my life was gone, I let myself relax a little more.
Of course, that did not mean I cut the engine completely. I had to be able to shoot off at any moment in case of emergency.
"A person?"
A few dozen seconds later, the vehicles the soldiers were riding passed by me. Of course, not all of them. One of them stopped in front of me.
I raised both hands for now, to mean I had no intention of resisting. Whether that effort worked or not, the soldiers, though they were holding guns, did not aim them at me.
"Are you a civilian by any chance...... wait, that tracksuit."
"......I was sitting the military academy entrance examination and got dragged into this bizarre world. Please, save me."
Fighting two Lizard Men with my life on the line, then staying up a midwinter night outdoors, skipping three whole meals, and on top of that an out-of-nowhere Rear World adventure and a life-or-death chase.
At this point my feeling was that I wanted, please, to rest.