Chapter 6: My Summons Are Bound to Me

Chapter 6: My Summons Are Bound to Me

Toma secretly clenched his fist.

Hearing that answer made him even happier.

'That means there's no Shido Itsuka around to become my romantic rival...'

'Not that I'd be afraid even if he were here...'

'But obviously, it's better if he isn't.'

Still, if that was the case, then beautiful girls like Tohka really had lost all their previous memories.

But that raised another question.

'Are they being created from nothing, or are they actually being summoned from their original stories?'

'System, come out. You should know the answer, right?'

[Host's Authority is insufficient. Unable to answer.]

"Fuck."

"Hm? What's wrong, Toma-kun?"

Toma's sudden curse made Tohka pause halfway through biting her bread. She looked at him curiously.

"Nothing. Keep eating. I'm just thinking about something."

Toma waved his hand, signaling for her not to worry.

"Oh~!"

Tohka gave him a puzzled look, shook her head, and returned to annihilating the soybean-flour bread in front of her.

...

'System, you can at least answer questions that fall within my current Authority, right? What am I allowed to know?'

[Summoned characters naturally possess a sense of closeness and trust toward the Host. As long as the Host does not deliberately court disaster, summoned characters will remain loyal to the Host.]

'That makes sense.'

If they truly had no memories, then these summoned characters were somewhat like newborn animals.

Naturally, they would develop a certain degree of trust and affection toward the first person they encountered.

That could probably be considered another small cheat.

With an advantage like that, winning over these beautiful girls should be much easier...

'Wait.'

'Didn't I originally choose the otaku option?'

'Why does this suddenly feel like I'm figuring out how to build a harem?'

'Whatever. Why think so much about it? I already feel like I picked the wrong option back then anyway...'

'As expected, a harem really is better...'

Still, that was something to worry about later.

According to the System, if Toma deliberately pushed things too far, then the girls he summoned could potentially rebel against him?

That was somewhat dangerous.

He would have to be careful.

Because if that was true, then certain girls definitely weren't suitable to summon during the early stages, when he was still weak.

For example...

'What would happen if I summoned Kurumi? Would Kurumi eat me alive?'

[Summoned characters retain their original personalities but possess no memories from before their summoning. The lives of all summoned characters are linked to the Host. If the Host dies, all summoned characters will die.]

[If a summoned character dies, she will return to the System Space and enter a dormant state. Summoning Points may be spent to revive her. The Host will remain unaffected.]

[Summoned characters are capable of harming the Host, but they cannot take the Host's life. Host, please refrain from deliberately courting disaster.]

'Isn't this basically an unequal contract?'

'Whatever. Knowing the basics is enough.'

These were the System's rules.

Even if Toma wanted to change them, he would first need the ability to do so.

Or perhaps sufficiently high Authority...

Besides...

He wasn't exactly desperate to change those rules anyway.

After all...

'I'm just a selfish otaku.'

Toma suddenly shook his head hard, throwing those thoughts aside before beginning to think again.

'Anyway, I need some way to protect myself.'

'I finally got the chance to meet real fictional beauties. How could I possibly forgive myself if I don't build a massive harem worthy of this opportunity?'

'Even though I fucking picked the wrong option back then and chose the otaku one...'

[System Notice: Based on the feasibility of the Host's current intentions, the probability of the Host being killed in a bloody romantic dispute exceeds 100%. The probability of catastrophic harem infighting exceeds 1,000%.]

'What the hell?! Stop pouring cold water on my dreams! Damn it, Poi! You're even interfering with my fantasies now?!'

Toma raised his middle finger toward the System screen.

After thoroughly expressing his contempt for the System, Toma had nothing else to do.

So naturally...

He stared at Tohka.

After all, a gluttonous beauty was still a beauty.

And she was the kind of impossibly gorgeous fictional girl who simply didn't exist back on Earth.

Just looking at her was pleasing to the eyes...

"Toma-kun, why are you staring at me? Is there something on my face?"

Having just finished eating, Tohka looked puzzled by Toma's unwavering stare.

"No. If you're finished, wipe your mouth. We should get moving."

Toma handed Tohka a tissue he had just exchanged for.

A huge box of tissues also cost only one Exchange Point.

They were practically free.

Toma was finally ready to officially begin his journey through this otherworld.

Hearing him, Tohka nodded without thinking much about it.

After wiping her mouth clean, she asked,

"Oh. Where are we going?"

"Wherever the road takes us. As long as Tohka is there..."

Toma stopped.

"Forget it. I'm not saying something that cheesy."

Seeing the confused expression on Tohka's beautiful face, Toma immediately knew she hadn't understood him anyway.

So instead of explaining, he changed the subject.

"Tohka, don't think too much about it. Just follow me. Oh, and right now, I basically have no ability to protect myself, so I'm counting entirely on you."

Toma wasn't the kind of person who pretended to be stronger than he actually was.

He understood the situation perfectly.

In this unfamiliar otherworld, an otaku like him would probably die miserably without Tohka protecting him.

So there was nothing embarrassing about admitting it.

It was simply the truth.

Even if a hundred Tomas attacked Tohka together right now, she could probably deal with all of them with a single swing of her sword.

"Don't worry, Toma-kun! I'll definitely protect you!"

Tohka confidently patted her chest.

"Yeah. With you here, I feel completely safe."

Although Toma said that...

His eyes were entirely focused on Tohka's generous chest.

Don't blame him.

He was a virgin.

Worse, he was an otaku obsessed with fictional beauties.

The fact that he hadn't immediately thrown himself at a girl as beautiful as Tohka already deserved praise for his self-control...

Still, although Toma had successfully maintained the image of a proper gentleman in front of Tohka, his eyes stubbornly refused to cooperate.

They kept drifting back toward her chest...

Looking at Tohka, Toma couldn't help thinking—

'Damn... Wouldn't it be amazing if I could actually grab them someday~?!'

But Toma understood that now definitely wasn't the time to court death.

There was plenty of time ahead.

For an innocent, food-loving girl like Tohka, winning her affection probably wouldn't be too difficult anyway.

All he had to do was—

Feed her.

Feed her.

And feed her some more...

With all sorts of ridiculous thoughts running through his head, Toma and Tohka finally began their adventure through the forests of this unfamiliar otherworld.