Big Frog?

“Good morning, Jin-dono.”

The morning after we went to the shopping mall to buy household supplies, Seram’s voice rang out in the living room.

“Yeah, good mor—”

I instinctively turned around to return her greeting, but stopped halfway when I noticed something different about her appearance.

She was wearing different clothes.

Instead of her usual unfashionable red tracksuit, she was wearing a pure white T-shirt and jeans.

They were undoubtedly the clothes we’d bought at Unishiro just yesterday.

It was a simple outfit, but it looked incredibly good on a beautiful woman with a figure like Seram’s.

While I stood there staring at her transformation, Seram touched her clothes with a slightly anxious expression.

“H-how do I look? My clothes don’t look strange, do they?”

“Don’t worry. They look fine.”

“I see. That’s a relief.”

When I nodded in reassurance, Seram’s expression relaxed.

A gleaming gold necklace adorned her chest. Perhaps it was Kaho’s idea of adding a little accent to the outfit.

Considering that Kaho attended a university in the suburbs and admired city life, her sense of fashion was certainly impressive.

“She really picked out clothes that suit you. I’ll have to thank Kaho.”

“Ah!”

As I muttered that, Seram suddenly let out a loud cry.

“What’s wrong?”

“I never properly thanked Kaho-dono!”

“Ah, come to think of it, things got pretty hectic toward the end, what with loading up the household supplies and delivering them to people’s homes.”

For a moment, I thought she’d made some terrible mistake, but it turned out to be nothing particularly serious.

“After everything she did for me, failing to thank her is terribly rude! I must express my gratitude to Kaho-dono!”

However, it apparently mattered a great deal to Seram.

The moment she remembered, she made to rush out of the house.

“Hold on. You don’t even know where Kaho is right now, do you?”

“Ah.”

When I stopped her, Seram seemed to regain her composure and abandoned her attempt to run outside.

“You’re a knight, aren’t you? Times like this are exactly when you should stay calm.”

“I tend to act before thinking. It’s a bad habit of mine. I’m ashamed of myself.”

Seram spoke dejectedly. At least she seemed aware of her own shortcomings, which was reassuring.

“First, I’ll ask whether Kaho is home.”

“Ask her? How?”

“Like this. I send her a written message using this device. As long as someone else has the same kind of device, I can contact them even when we’re far apart.”

“From anywhere!?”

“Pretty much anywhere, as long as you’re not deep in the mountains or underground.”

“How incredibly convenient. A means of communication like this would completely transform the battlefield…”

Seram stared in amazement at the message I’d sent Kaho.

It was rather alarming that her first thought upon learning how convenient smartphones were was their potential military applications.

While I was thinking that, a reply arrived from Kaho.

Since it was still early in the morning, I hadn’t expected an immediate response, so I was surprised to find that she was already awake.

Apparently, she had plans to go out with some university friends and had gotten up early.

“She says she can spare a little time this morning.”

“Then let us go to Kaho-dono’s house at once!”

“After we eat breakfast.”

“R-right.”

I calmed Seram down before she could rush out again, and we ate breakfast as usual.

After finishing breakfast, Seram and I left the house and headed toward Kaho’s home.

Normally, visiting someone so early in the morning could be a nuisance, but this time it was more convenient for her, so there shouldn’t have been a problem. Apparently, Kaho would be busy for a while after today, making it difficult to meet up with her.

Kaho’s house was about a fifteen-minute walk from mine.

Since we lived in the countryside, there weren’t any particular crosswalks or complicated intersections to navigate. We simply had to follow the road.

It was just past seven thirty. The sun was gradually climbing higher, and the temperature was about to rise along with it. At this hour, though, it was still quite comfortable outside.

If the temperature stayed like this throughout the afternoon, I’d be able to work steadily and comfortably all day.

Rice paddies stretched out around us, their water reflecting the blue sky and white clouds.

It really was an absurdly rural place, surrounded by nature in every direction.

As we strolled along, leisurely admiring the scenery, a toad emerged from one of the rice paddies.

The countryside was rich in nature and teeming with wildlife. Seeing something like this was perfectly ordinary, but Seram’s reaction was anything but.

“Big Frog!”

The moment she shouted that unfamiliar name, she drew her sword.

The midsummer sunlight poured down, casting a dull gleam across the blade in Seram’s hand.

It was a sight that looked completely out of place in the peaceful countryside.

“Hey, hey! What do you think you’re doing?”

I’d already warned her not to draw her sword, so what on earth was she thinking, unsheathing it right here beside the road?

What had happened to all that talk about how knights shouldn’t draw their swords recklessly?

“Jin-dono! You told me there were no monsters in this world, but that was a lie! This is unmistakably a juvenile Big Frog! Please stand back!”

What on earth was this female knight talking about?

I sighed and smacked Seram on the back of the head as she stood there with her sword at the ready.

“Ouch! What was that for!?”

“I don’t know if it resembles some monster from your world, but this is an animal called a frog. It’s not a monster.”

“I-is that so? My apologies. It looks so much like a monster from my world that…”

“What kind of monster is this Big Frog thing, anyway?”

“Imagine this frog, but approximately five meters long.”

“A five-meter frog…? Something like that actually exists…?”

From the perspective of someone living in the modern world, the biggest frog I could readily imagine was something like a bullfrog. I had trouble even picturing a frog larger than that.

“They frequently appear in farming villages and are terrifying monsters that swallow livestock and humans whole. During my first battle, when we were sent to exterminate a Big Frog, its long tongue wrapped around me, and I nearly ended up being swallowed alive.”

I didn’t know much about the circumstances of her original world, but I was beginning to understand why Seram seemed traumatized by frogs.

“Well, don’t worry. There aren’t any creatures like Big Frogs in this world. You’ll see frogs around here pretty often, but they’re all small.”

“…That does seem to be the case. Even after noticing us, it shows no sign of attacking. Hmm, it really is just an ordinary animal.”

“Now that you understand, put your sword away.”

“M-my apologies! I’ll be more careful from now on!”

The last thing I wanted was for her to get arrested for violating Japan’s firearms and swords laws.

Once I’d confirmed that Seram had returned her sword to its sheath, I continued walking along the road.

However, Seram still seemed bothered by the toad, staring at it warily as though she expected it to attack at any moment.

Feeling a mischievous impulse, I approached the toad from behind.

Sensing danger, the toad suddenly jumped toward Seram.

“Waaah!?”

Seram promptly collapsed onto the roadside, as though her legs had given out beneath her.

The toad, seemingly unconcerned by her reaction, hopped right past her and returned to the rice paddy.

“Ahahahaha! You’re way too scared of an ordinary frog—hey, hold on! Wait! Don’t draw your sword! I’m sorry! It was my fault!”

I’d been laughing at Seram’s hilarious reaction, but when she reached for her sword with a deadly serious expression, I immediately panicked.

Come to think of it, I was completely outmatched by Seram in every aspect of combat. Provoking her too much was probably a terrible idea.

I ended up spending the entire walk to Kaho’s house trying to get back into Seram’s good graces.