After confirming that he had arrived in the world of Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, Rowan decided to spend some time exploring.
As for the world of DanMachi, he was in no hurry to return.
There was not much in that world that particularly attracted him anyway.
He might as well properly enjoy this brand-new world.
Besides, Rowan also wanted to see the twin sisters Ram and Rem.
Especially Rem.
After all, Rem was absolutely his type.
If possible, Rowan would very much like Ram—
No, that was wrong.
He would very much like Rem to become his maid.
Unfortunately, the chances of that happening were rather slim.
After all, Rem was an extreme siscon.
There was no way she would willingly separate from her older sister.
As for Ram…
How should he put it?
She had already been thoroughly brainwashed by Margrave Roswaal.
Getting her to leave Roswaal and follow Rowan would be nearly impossible unless he directly altered both sisters' memories.
But Rowan had no intention of using Memory Magic to trick them.
For one thing, Ram and Rem were not bad people.
For another—
he simply did not want to.
Back when he had watched the story, he had genuinely been moved by it.
He had even joined everyone else in spamming the phrase—
If true love has a color, it must be blue.
If he now modified Ram and Rem's memories, wouldn't that be betraying his past self and tarnishing the emotions he had once felt?
Rowan really did not want to do that.
Besides—
it was not as though he lacked maids.
After sorting out his thoughts, Rowan smiled faintly and leisurely wandered through the bustling capital, admiring the scenery.
Compared with the Labyrinth City of Orario, the capital of the Dragon Kingdom was not quite as prosperous.
After all, Orario was a city where gods themselves lived.
Its infrastructure far surpassed this place.
However, the capital of Lugunica had its own unique charm, completely different from Orario.
Pat.
At that moment, Rowan suddenly felt someone grab his shoulder from behind.
Immediately afterward, a pulling force dragged at him.
With Rowan's strength, shaking off that hand would have been effortless.
But he did not.
He was curious about what the person grabbing him actually wanted.
So Rowan simply followed the force and allowed himself to be dragged into an alley.
Once inside, he turned around.
The person who had pulled him in was a burly man.
Two companions stood behind him.
The three repositioned themselves, blocking every path out of the alley.
Rowan froze when he saw them.
Because he recognized these three.
Not because he had met them in this world—
but because he had seen them in the anime.
These were none other than the three street thugs who tried to rob the protagonist, Subaru Natsuki, shortly after he arrived in the world of Re:Zero.
Except this time, the person they were robbing had changed from Subaru Natsuki—
to Rowan.
Uh…
What did this mean?
Had he become Subaru now?
While Rowan was still wondering about that, the thugs spoke.
"Looks like you still don't understand your situation."
"Whatever. Hand over everything valuable if you don't want to get hurt."
Rowan sighed.
As expected.
They really were nothing more than third-rate street thugs.
He did not even feel like using magic to deal with people like this.
Fine.
It had been a long time since he had used his fists.
He might as well give these idiots a lesson they would never forget.
Ever since he had learned magic, Rowan had rarely fought with his bare hands.
First, he selected the thinnest of the three as his target.
Rowan took one step.
In an instant, he appeared directly in front of the man.
He injected just a little strength into his palm and struck the man's jaw, launching him into the air.
Then Rowan punched the suspended body.
The man slammed into the wall and collapsed to the ground, unable to rise.
Next, Rowan kicked toward the second thug—
the largest and most muscular of the three.
Bang!
With a muffled impact, the man was sent crashing to the ground.
Taking advantage of that opening, Rowan charged the final thug, lowered his body, wrapped his arms around the man's waist, and drove him directly into the wall.
The impact to his back made the thug release a painful groan.
Mm.
Not bad.
However, to Rowan's surprise, the second thug—the one he had kicked—actually climbed back to his feet.
Huh?
Had he used too little force?
Rowan knew perfectly well that these three were low-level criminals who made a living through robbery.
But robbery was not exactly a crime deserving the death penalty.
So Rowan had only intended to teach them a lesson.
He had never planned to kill them.
Still, he had not expected this man to get back up after taking one of his kicks.
Apparently, he was more durable than Rowan had expected.
Of course, it was also possible that Rowan had deliberately used too little force out of fear of accidentally kicking him to death.
Either way, it did not matter.
If the guy stood back up—
Rowan could simply knock him down again.
It was barely any effort.
Rowan raised one hand and curled a finger toward the burly thug.
Come on.
Come here, big guy. Let this uncle send you on your way.
The man immediately lost his temper.
"Die, bastard!"
He charged forward, grabbed Rowan, and attempted to use his momentum to shove him into the wall.
Rowan sighed.
He had given the guy an opportunity, and the fool still could not make use of it.
A thug was a thug.
Not a shred of proper fighting technique.
Rowan reversed his grip around the man's wrists and, using superior strength, casually peeled both hands off his shoulders.
Seeing obvious fear appear on the man's face, Rowan revealed a wicked smile.
He applied slightly more pressure.
The man immediately screamed.
Then Rowan lifted him off the ground and lightly slammed him down.
The only reason he did not use more strength was because even a little too much might reduce the man to meat paste.
Yet even after Rowan restrained almost all of his power, the thug was still smashed into a daze, several bones snapping inside his body.
Just as Rowan prepared to finish things with one final kick and knock him unconscious—
"That's enough."
A clear voice carrying a trace of authority came from behind him.
Rowan ignored it.
He kicked the robber unconscious first.
Only then did he slowly turn around and look toward the speaker.
The first thing that stood out was the man's blazing red hair, like a raging flame.
Beneath it were brilliant blue eyes that embodied nothing but courage.
His features were so perfectly handsome that even a single glance made it obvious he was no ordinary person.
His tall, slender body was wrapped in well-tailored black clothing.
Around his waist was a simple ornament—
and a knight's sword radiating an extraordinary sense of pressure.
Rowan hummed softly.
That appearance was familiar.
Fiery red hair.
Blue eyes.
And a knight's sword whose scabbard was decorated with a dragon claw.
There was no mistaking him.
The greatest walking cheat in Re:Zero—
the author's beloved son.
The Sword Saint of the Dragon Kingdom.
Reinhard van Astrea.
Anyone familiar with the story knew exactly how absurd this man was.
He had been born into the so-called Sword Saint lineage and possessed the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint.
He was the strongest Sword Saint in history and represented the absolute ceiling of combat power in the setting.
The strongest of every generation of Sword Saints.
A warrior standing at the very pinnacle of the world.
He could even fight the Witch of Envy, Satella, head-on. Due to compatibility between their abilities, neither could conclusively defeat the other.
Normally, Reinhard merely walking around on patrol was enough to suppress crime throughout the area.
As for exactly how powerful he was—
that required explaining this world's Divine Protections.
A Divine Protection was essentially a blessing granted to people at birth by the world itself through Od Lagna.
Some Divine Protections were unique to certain races.
Earth Dragons, for example, possessed race-specific protections, as did certain other animals.
Most people were born without any Divine Protection at all.
Only a minority possessed one.
Those born with Divine Protections instinctively knew what ability they had without anyone needing to explain it to them.
According to official information, only around one percent of people in this world possessed a Divine Protection at all.
Most of those protections were practically useless.
Roughly 0.1 percent possessed useful protections.
Around 0.01 percent possessed rare protections.
And perhaps only 0.001 percent possessed extraordinarily practical ones.
In short—
the more useful a Divine Protection was, the rarer it became.
Someone possessing two Divine Protections might not even appear once among a million people.
And Reinhard?
He possessed more than one hundred and thirty Divine Protections.
These included, but were certainly not limited to—
the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint, allowing him to cut things that should be impossible to cut, wield the Dragon Sword Reid, and draw out the sword's maximum potential.
The Divine Protection of Evasion, which prevented long-range attacks from hitting him.
The Divine Protection of Arrow Accuracy, making his own ranged attacks guaranteed to hit.
The Divine Protection of Arrow Avoidance, allowing him to evade enemy projectiles.
The Divine Protection of Anti-Magic, which nullified curses, debuffs, and even various supportive buffs.
And even the Divine Protection of the Phoenix, which allowed him to resurrect once.
Once that resurrection was used, he would simply gain the Next Divine Protection of the Phoenix.
In other words—
he could resurrect indefinitely.
If this was not cheating, then what the hell counted as cheating?
"Yo."
Rowan smiled and greeted the walking cheat.
"The Sword Saint, Reinhard, right?"
"Yes."
Reinhard nodded.
"You wanted me to stop, but surely you can tell I was only defending myself."
Rowan pointed toward the three thugs he had beaten down.
"They tried to rob me first."
Reinhard glanced at the unconscious men and nodded.
"I don't deny that."
"However, the three of them merely attempted robbery. Their crimes do not warrant death."
"I wasn't planning to kill them."
Rowan replied,
"I just wanted to give them a lesson they'd never forget."
"But your lesson was perhaps a little too…"
A troubled expression appeared on Reinhard's handsome face.
"They are only ordinary people."
"That's exactly why I went easy on them."
Rowan corrected him.
"I only broke a few bones."
Reinhard said,
"Even so, I believe your response was still excessive."
Rowan looked at Reinhard in surprise.
"You really are kindhearted."
Then he suddenly remembered.
"Oh, right. You're Reinhard."
"The knight among knights."
"Of course you'd think like that."
"Fine."
"For your sake, I won't bother with these three anymore today."
With that, Rowan let the three thugs off and prepared to leave.
But just then—
Reinhard suddenly called out.
"Please wait."
Rowan stopped and turned back.
"Is there something else?"
~~~
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