"This world is pretty interesting. I'm already traveling anyway, so I might as well travel through this world too," Elaina said.
"This world isn't necessarily all good," Shichen warned.
"Don't worry. I've seen plenty of darkness. I'm not that naive."
"That's true. Even so, just in case, I'm going to set up a few safeguards for you."
"Safeguards?"
"This world has plenty of bad people, and plenty of danger. Naturally, the safeguards are there to protect you."
"I'm strong, you know," Elaina said, clearly dissatisfied.
"You being strong and me wanting peace of mind aren't contradictory."
"You're really underestimating me, aren't you?" Elaina puffed out her cheeks in an adorably annoyed way.
"In that case, just don't trigger any of the protections I put on you," Shichen said with a smile.
"I guess that makes sense…"
"Let me give you a quick crash course on this world first. After that, do whatever you want."
"Okay."
So Shichen spent three days with Elaina.
For those three days, Elaina stayed at the café, and Shichen even prepared a new room for her.
And because of the room situation, Elaina gained a rough idea of how many wives Shichen actually had.
The number was way beyond what she had imagined.
At first, she thought there were only a few.
Instead, it was over fifty.
Was that really okay?
The one she was worried about wasn't the women. It was Shichen.
Even if she wasn't a man and hadn't spent much time around them, she still knew the basics: could one man really handle that many women?
But she figured it out on her own.
If Shichen was already the world's administrator, then he was probably fine.
Over those three days, Shichen taught Elaina a lot.
Even though she already understood the usual things she should know, the modern world still had all kinds of things she had no idea about.
Laws, transportation, social rules—she had to learn them properly.
She was smart, though. She picked things up fast.
She quickly started treating them like common knowledge—though she also kept asking why.
Then, after three days, Elaina changed into modern clothes and left the café on her own, setting off on her journey.
She planned to travel across this world.
Of course, if she only relied on walking and public transport, she probably wouldn't finish in her entire lifetime—never mind the complications of crossing borders.
That part wasn't a big problem. Shichen didn't forbid her from using magic. When she needed it, she could use it.
As far as Shichen was concerned, Elaina herself mattered more.
He gave her a spatial mark. As long as she had it, she could return to the café whenever she wanted.
In other words, she could go out during the day and come back at night to rest.
That was a little less "true travel," maybe, but travel was supposed to be free and spontaneous anyway.
He'd also layered several protections on her.
One of them automatically concealed her presence whenever she used magic, so ordinary people and technology wouldn't be able to detect her.
The others were tied directly to her safety: a danger-triggered barrier, a barrier that reacted to malicious intent, and a teleportation safeguard.
He'd also established a telepathic link with her, so they could contact each other wherever they were.
If she ran into something she didn't understand or had any questions, she could ask him directly.
In other words, Elaina was now in an absolutely safe state.
No strangers allowed near her.
No cold weapons allowed near her.
No firearms either.
And yet Shichen still didn't feel fully at ease, so he followed her around for a while to keep an eye on things.
He watched her obediently follow traffic rules while crossing the street, curiously taking in everything around her, and buying food whenever something caught her eye.
She had completely turned into a modern girl.
Thankfully, this world had all kinds of hair colors, or she'd stand out way too much.
Shichen had given Elaina plenty of money so she could spend freely, but as he followed her, he noticed she wasn't wasteful at all.
"Shichen, what's that white, cold thing?"
"Ice cream, probably."
"It's so cold! So sweet!"
"Tasty, right?"
"Yeah! What's that thing with fruit and cream wrapped in a thin layer?"
"That's probably a crepe."
"So good!"
"Heh."
"Shichen, what's that…"
"Takoyaki."
"And that…"
"Candied hawthorn."
"And that…"
"Milk tea."
"I haven't even described them yet. How do you already know? You haven't been following me this whole time, have you?" Elaina demanded.
"..."
"You worry too much. I'm really fine. You don't need to keep watching me. Besides, you already set so many safeguards on me."
"Alright, then I'll stop following you. But if there's anything you don't understand, just ask."
"Okay."
Since she'd noticed him, Shichen stopped shadowing her and returned to Frieren's world.
Over there, the second round of the exam still hadn't ended. In fact, only a few minutes had passed.
And Serie was still asleep, completely defenseless, her tiny face calm and sweet.
Looks like she was having a nice dream.
Even though she'd been crying and whining before she fell asleep.
But for Shichen, that was already several days ago, and now he was full of energy again.
Should he keep messing with her a bit more?
Of course, that was just a passing thought. He wasn't that much of a beast.
He genuinely liked Serie.
That didn't stop him from enjoying bullying her in the normal way, though.
While Elaina's innocent questions kept echoing in his mind and he answered them one by one, he also kept watching Frieren and the others go through the dungeon.
At this rate, he figured Elaina wouldn't even make it out of Japan for years, never mind "traveling the world."
Modern food had completely captured her.
She wanted to try everything she saw.
That wasn't traveling anymore.
And once she left Japan, she'd probably settle down in America for a while too.
Well, that was fine. Since she'd come to this world, she ought to enjoy it properly.
Still, Shichen had to keep an eye on her weight. He didn't want to come back after a month and find she'd put on a noticeable layer.
It wasn't that he disliked chubby girls.
The problem was that if Elaina gained weight, she'd panic long before he did.
No girl wanted to get heavier.
Sure, he could help her slim back down quickly, but that would still come with a whole round of trouble.
She might even throw a fit and blame him for not stopping her earlier.
Avoiding unnecessary trouble was important.
A whole day passed in no time.
By evening, Frieren and the others were still clearing the dungeon, determined to search every single area.
Fern and Ubel were both at their limit.
But honestly, this was Shichen's fault.
Back when he traveled with Himmel and the others, he also insisted on going through every single part of every dungeon.
If they picked the right route at a fork too early, he'd even turn around and go the other way.
When he used to play games, he always had to explore every map corner and talk to every NPC.
It had become a compulsion.
Naturally, he'd rubbed that off on Frieren.
Fern and Ubel couldn't stand it.
They just wanted to get to the finish as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, Frieren was the team leader, so they had to listen to her.
Meanwhile, because Frieren's team was taking so long, everyone else had already been driven into a corner.
At the final area, Frieren's clone was guarding the goal.
No one dared go in.
No one dared challenge it.
Because of Frieren, the second round of the exam was probably going to be delayed for quite a while.
By night, there had been basically no progress.
Meanwhile, after eating all day, Elaina returned to the café in a very satisfied mood, took a nice bath, and flopped onto a soft bed.
"Modern life is really amazing," she told Shichen.
"So you like it?"
"For someone like me, how could I not? How could my world compare?"
"That's true."
"Are you not coming back?"
"I still have things to do here."
"I see. Then I'm all alone in the shop tonight."
"Feeling lonely? Or scared?"
"Of course not… Though, come to think of it, were you listening while I was in the bath just now?"
"..."
~~~
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