Chapter 738: The Fastest Master and Disciple in the World

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The moment I laid eyes on that figure, my body had already shifted into its maximum-level combat readiness.

"!!!!"

If I stay seated, I'll lose. Right now, while everyone else still hasn't grasped the situation, I'm the only one who can move. I stand up, activating my skills... and in that moment...

"───'TachyonTranscendent Speed.'"

The world decelerated.

Within a world where my vision and thoughts had barely managed to slow down, I moved at regular speed. Before even thinking about what just happened, I consecutively activated various skills; through a continuous activation that shaved off every single ounce of wasted movement to the absolute limit, I reclaimed standard speed within a world where every part of me except my eyes and brain was decelerated, and then accelerated even further.

What's the target? It can't be the salad—that's right, the coffee milk!!

Turning around, right there was a small silhouette reaching out towards my coffee milk this very second. Kuh, my judgment was too slow───!!

My skill rotation is way too sloppy, I should be ashamed of myself. Moving without stopping my thoughts, I intercepted the space between the glass and the small fingertips with an ultra-high-speed Iai Fist! Impossible, she vanished!?

".........Still, devotionshoujin is lackingta."

Stacking even more skills while adapted to TachyonTranscendent Speed...!!

The Speed HolderMaximum Speed title is strictly limited to players, and the reason why this title has never been unlocked even with the utmost efforts of numerous speed-boasters up until now... is standing right in front of me. The coffee milk in the glass is completely empty before I even realized it. Even though I can barely track her figure anymore, she accelerates even further and vanishes into a height my eyesight can't keep up with. No, seriously, if I still can't catch up with this skill build, what exactly am I supposed to do? The only thing left to do is literal body modification surgery, right? Eh, wait, is that actually the correct answer?

The world returned to normal speed.

"......I recommendsuishou not movingugo."

"Eh."

"Ah."

"Wa."

Unable to obediently follow the words of the little girl in a floral dress who had suddenly appeared, a few of the alcohol-filled glasses placed on top of everyone's heads—the very ones those idiots had been sliding across the counter just earlier—fell to the floor and shattered with a crash.

"............"

"Ah, yes, please hold on a moment Loli Sensei, yes, holy grail coming right up."

Following some natural flow, I changed my avatar's gender while simultaneously removing the salmon head. If you're dressed weirdly by common sense standards, Loli Sensei will glare at you with half-lidded eyes and act coldly; since earning affection points from an NPC in a master-type position never hurts, I act as an absolute yes-man and obey. Also, being half-naked is somehow allowed, why?

Setting that aside, since everyone was completely petrified by the sudden prank from the fastest being in the world, I gestured by pointing at the tops of the heads of the Goldunines who still had glasses resting on them. And when I shifted my gaze, Wimp was grabbing the glass off her own head with practiced movements and pouring it into Sammy-chan-san's mouth... ah, so Sammy-chan-san is a heavy drinker, being a giant snake and all.

"You're awfully used to this, Wimp."

"because, she comes here every morning..."

"Eh, she comes here every morning?"

"If you staremi intensely, the menu expandsfu......... Very convenientchouhou."

Hey, you're just shamelessly getting mooched off of, aren't you. Are you still supposed to be a Unique Monster? But since Loli Sensei is, to put it mildly, the fastest and strongest, it can't be helped. You literally can't perceive her unless you boost your thought speed with skills. Every time I meet her, a speed test begins, and every time she snatches away my food, snatches away my drinks, and takes the entire dessert... Yeah, I was getting shamelessly mooched off of too.

"Isn't it a bit too early for breakfast, Sensei?"

"......Early-morning mealsouchou-shoku."

My god, I can only be ashamed of my own ignorance. Until now, I thought breakfast was the ultimate lead-off batter of the day's meals, but to think there was an existence that came even before that... no, that doesn't make any sense. But since it's happening, there's nothing to be done; persuasiveness is a byproduct of raw power. Therefore, as long as the character known as Loli Sensei exists, the early-morning meal is the true First Eating.

The visitors were fearfully observing the movements of this over-powered character who had suddenly arrived, but me, Survival, and the others knew the truth. This supreme Bounty Hunter was simply wandering around looking for food for no particular reason, so it absolutely wasn't a case of her coming here to hunt the Goldunines or anything like that.

"Youngwaka Master...... the usual."

"Ah... Master, I'll have a refill of this."

"Right away."

".................."

"I-I get it! I'll make something!"

How tragic, Wimp, with the arrival of Loli Sensei, your mysterious aura has been completely blown away. Right now, you're nothing more than a part-time apprentice cook... or so I thought, but putting the players aside, the Goldunines were glued to Loli Sensei. Well, out of everyone here, she's the person who could kill us all the fastest, so I suppose it's only natural. You lucked out with your life, Wimp.

Now then, let's pull ourselves together and resume negotiations with the Goldunines...

"Here is the Non-Liquor Kahlúa Milk you ordered first. And for Tias-sama, here is a Comona Fruit Juice."

"Ah, thanks."

What was a Comona Fruit again? Oh right, Comona Fruits taste delicious when eaten, but their primary use is as a dangerous tree nut that leverages its club-like shape for bludgeoning people to death. The flavor is basically an apple with the texture of a mandarin orange.

The peel—or rather, the shell—is so absurdly hard that even if you lose your weapon mid-combat, you can still smack things with this about five times, so Massive Dynamite told me it's highly recommended for strike-based warriors. I kinda think it'd be better to just pick up your weapon or pull out a new one, but since its equipment capacity weight is lighter than a weapon, it's apparently legitimately within the realm of viable options.

Anyway, putting that bit of trivia aside, it looks like the Goldunines are about to recover from their mental petrification, so let's start the dialo—

"S-Sunraku........."

"What is it, Survival."

"That coffee milk......... I'll buy it for........."

Why is he handing me a bag full of money, that's disgusting. If you want coffee milk, just order it yourself... hm? Is there a reason it has to be this coffee milk? This one... that was poured directly into the glass Sensei just drank dry from............

"Hey."

"Yes."

"Drink it with a straw without touching the glass."

"What the hell are you saying!?"

"So that's what it was! Die, you bastard!!"

So that's what it was! I've misjudged you! No wait, my evaluation of him hasn't changed at all, so he just nullified my misjudgment! What is that, it's like having your stats at the absolute minimum value so taking a stat debuff essentially gets nullified!! Ugh, seriously, this guy, ugh!!

"That's gross! That crosses the line into genuinely gross! You're the absolute worst!!"

"Nu.........! Mu.........!!"

"Don't blush and look away, you pervert! Look reality straight in the eye, you pervert!!"

"Um, Tsuchinoko-san."

"Pervert! Pervert!! ...What!?"

"Could you maybe leave it at that......... Saba-san looks like he's about to open a door he can never come back from."

Huh?

Author's Afterword

Survival's fetishes are dangerous, extremely dangerous.

In fact, the fetishes of the other Dress-Up Squad members watching from a distance are also dangerous.

Also, an advertisement.

The release of Volume 1 of the comic adaptation of my work, "Shangri-La Frontier," has been decided for October 16th (Friday).

Moreover, a special edition will be released simultaneously. A special edition on the very first volume—everyone, the manga by Fuji-sensei is incredible enough on its own, but Katarina has also worked hard to write and include various things. If the main manga is the hamburger steak, Katarina is the mashed potatoes on the side.

As for what's inside the mashed potatoes, it includes all 3 chapters of the newly written novel (Heroine-chan's past arc) published in the Weekly Shōnen Magazine, plus a novel booklet with even more newly written content.

Pre-orders are open for both the standard and special editions, so please consider checking them out.