18: Becoming Stronger

"Reiko Tamura, are they the people who tried to kill you?" The leader, Takeshi Hirokawa, asked her.

He was the mayor who had been helping them hide, preparing hunting spots for them, and gathering information about the progress of the police investigations. The strange thing was that he was actually human. He was a human who sympathized with the parasites and was willing to help them kill other humans.

He was a strange man, and even the other parasites found him very peculiar.

"It should be them," Reiko Tamura replied calmly, caressing her slightly bulging belly.

She was actually the 'dead' Ryouko Tamiya, who was supposed to have been killed by Chelsea back then. Fortunately for her, she had somehow managed to survive.

Luckily, an old woman happened to approach her at the time, allowing her to attack the woman and take over her body. She later found another suitable body and continued living under the identity of Reiko Tamura.

She had originally already been pregnant with a child after having sex with A, but her original body had died. Not long after escaping, she joined this group of parasites and casually chose someone from among them to have sex with, becoming pregnant again.

Unlike the other parasites, who were mainly focused on feeding on humans and simply living their lives, Reiko was far more interested in discovering the reason behind their existence and why they had been sent to this world. She wanted to know why the very first thing they learned upon coming to life was that they had to kill and devour humans.

Why did that voice in their minds want them to kill humans, and what exactly was that voice?

"They are very strong, stronger than me. I've never seen a human that powerful," Reiko said. She had already told them what had happened before, but she still tried to emphasize just how dangerous this group of people who had hunted her was. At the very least, Chelsea was ridiculously strong.

These parasites had grown accustomed to killing humans as though they were nothing more than helpless sheep. They looked down on all humans and viewed them as little more than insects. If they continued underestimating them, they would soon come to regret it.

The other parasites in the room did not speak. One good thing about them was that, despite their arrogance, they were very rational beings and did not get stung or offended easily, like humans.

"That is indeed a huge problem. How is Gotou's progress?" Takeshi pondered for a moment before asking.

Gotou was the strongest parasite among them. However, it was not entirely accurate to call him a parasite, because there were actually five parasites living within the same body. Gotou was the main parasite, suppressing the others and maintaining complete control over the body.

He was incredibly powerful, and the person responsible for creating him was Reiko. She had conducted numerous experiments on the parasites and, after many attempts, had finally succeeded in creating the monster known as Gotou.

"He is currently targeting the Yakuza's offices. He wanted to learn more about his limits." Reiko paused for a moment before answering. She then added, "If you are going to ask him to deal with them, I would appreciate it if you could bring one of them back alive. They could be of great value for my research."

...

When the two returned, Kana had calmed down and was feeling much better.

They found that Chelsea and Hilda were already waiting for them. Hilda was anxious and immediately checked the two of them to make sure nothing had happened. Well, it was more accurate to say that she checked on Natsuo.

She worriedly touched and examined his entire body, then forcefully took off his shirt in case he was trying to hide an injury. She only became relieved after confirming that he was completely fine.

"You two were reckless." Still, she pulled them toward the sofa. With her hands on her waist, she began sternly reprimanding them.

"What do you expect us to do? Just let that parasite go?" Kana shrugged her shoulders and said in a slightly annoyed tone. She was already irritated that she had been excluded from their hunt.

These two always left them behind, saying that it was too dangerous for them to go out.

Life is so boring!

She wanted to participate in this quest too. Although she had been shocked earlier after killing that female parasite, killing and fighting is actually really exciting and thrilling; the feeling that came afterward is incredibly exhilarating.

"Hilda, cut them some slack. Both of them did a good job. They got rid of a parasite without getting injured, which is a good thing," Chelsea pulled the lollipop from her mouth and said with a smile.

Actually, she had wanted to take Natsuo with them for a long time, but Hilda had been adamant about not putting him at risk, even though he had already learned all the Elementary spells, such as Water Shield, Ice Blade, Ice Smash, Fireball, Wind Blade, and various other spells.

If mana capacity is not taken into account, Natsuo is now as strong as Hilda. He should have been contributing to this hunt, but Hilda, who was strangely protective of him, kept stopping him from doing anything meaningful.

Not to mention that Natsuo had also been training under Chelsea. He was quite skilled in close combat as well, and in that regard, he was actually much better than Hilda.

"Chelsea," Hilda turned toward her, feeling confused. Why had she suddenly decided to side with them?

Natsuo was just a child who needed to stay at home, study, and train. He had no business going around fighting those disgusting flesh eating monsters. She had only just gotten a son, and Hilda did not want him to risk his life if she could do it in his place. If something were to happen to him, she would never be able to forgive herself.

"Mom," Natsuo stood up, patted Hilda's head, and said with a smile, "I am not that weak, you know? Don't forget what you guys said before. I am your leader, so let me act like one, please."

Honestly, he had wanted to have this kind of talk with her much earlier, but he never got the chance. He was worried that she would become too emotional. He had even started to regret agreeing to become her foster son because she had so easily become overly sensitive about anything related to it.

Fortunately, this time, Kana and Chelsea had stood up first and helped him finally speak his mind.

"Natsuo..." Hilda looked at Natsuo. She wanted to say something, but when she met his gaze and saw the determination in his eyes, she couldn't bring herself to continue. In the end, she let out a long, tired sigh.

"Alright, alright. Do whatever you want. When you all put it this way, now I look like the bad guy."

"Thanks, Mom." Natsuo's smile widened as he patted her hand once again.

"..." Hilda's bad mood immediately improved when she saw his smile. Then she glanced at the hand that was gently patting her head and wondered which one of them was the parent now. Shouldn't she be the one patting his head instead?

In the end, she didn't say anything. His head pats felt good.

...

"How dare you touch her? Do you think being my fiancée gives you the right to treat her like this?"

"Stay out of this! She knows exactly what she's done."

"Enough. Let Seo-ah go."

"Jin-Woo Oppa, she came between us!"

"No! You did that yourself the moment you laid your hands on Seo-ah!"

"You are defending her over your own fiancée?"

"Because she is the woman I love. I won't marry you."

"Jin-Woo... you can't be serious!"

"I've never been more serious in my life."

Hilda's eyes were glued to the large TV screen. Lying casually on the sofa, she watched the scene of the male lead confronting his fiancée to defend the female lead.

It was such a cliché and cringy scene, but to Hilda, it felt incredibly emotional and addictive. Ever since she came to this world, she had become addicted to watching dramas.

"..." Natsuo glanced at Hilda and wondered what she would do when she returned to her world without a TV or the internet. Then he remembered that she had the Chat Group, and he and Kana could download any form of media and send it to her.

He held up his hand and stared at it, falling into deep thought. Recently, he had discovered that his mana capacity actually increased the more he used magic, which surprised him because he had thought this was only possible for people during childhood.

Mana capacity is the maximum amount of mana an individual can store and use for magic spells and Battle Aura. It can be compared to a reservoir. The larger the reservoir, the more mana it can hold and the longer it can sustain its flow.

Mana capacity was commonly believed to be inherited and determined at birth. However, that was actually wrong. Rudeus had discovered that as long as a person trained their magic during childhood, they could increase their mana capacity. What surprised Natsuo was that he was already long past his childhood, so strictly speaking, he shouldn't have been able to increase his mana capacity.

'Well, I am not someone from that world. I shouldn't necessarily apply the same logic to myself. It's already strange that I can use their magic in the first place.' Since he couldn't find an answer, Natsuo decided not to think too much about the matter. It was a good thing for him anyway.

He closed his eyes and decided to try something. He began recalling the sensation he felt whenever he used the Waterball spell, slowly focusing on the feeling of magic flowing through his body and into his arm.

Magic incantations took too much time, making them somewhat ineffective in intense battles. Because of that, Natsuo wanted to see if he could cast magic without an incantation. He imitated Rudeus and silently thought, 'Waterball.'

With his eyes closed, Natsuo suddenly felt his magic power being consumed, followed by the sensation of something being shot from his palm.

Bang!

A ball of water shot from his palm like a bullet and slammed into the wall right next to the TV. Cracks spread across the wall, while the TV quivered and tilted to the side. The image went out for a split second, right at the moment when the male lead slapped his angry fiancée and hugged the female lead, before returning to show the crying fiancée running away.

"The wall!"

"My clothes!"

"I am all wet!"

"Natsuo, what the fuck did you do?!"