If you were to enter a world where Awakened, Heroes, and Villains exist, what would be the best thing about it?
Actually gaining superpowers?
Or being able to witness the profession of Hero, which you could only see in movies or comics, in reality?
Or if not that, becoming a Villain yourself like someone with chuunibyou, pointlessly committing terrorism while venting your complaints to society?
I did think the aforementioned things were good points, but I could absolutely never acknowledge them as the best.
The best thing was, without a doubt… beastkin.
“Literally, the current era is the era of beastkin….”
“Sigh…….”
“Of course, it’s not just beastkin; these days, many more diverse types of Transformation-type ability users have been appearing, but?”
“…Charlotte, have you really gone crazy?”
“Huh.”
I was slightly hurt by my Team Leader’s reaction, which seemed to show pity toward my heartfelt words.
No, I genuinely believed that the best thing about the present world and era was the existence of beastkin—that is, people who possess some of the external characteristics of animals.
“No, aren’t they cute? Aren’t they pretty? Don’t you want to touch them so badly when they’re fluffy or sleek? Am I the only one?!”
“…Even so, it’s not to the point of being that over the top. Of course, I admit that Transformation-type and Shapeshift-type Awakeners have unusual appearances. Charlotte, but it’s not so insanely amazing that you need to make such a fuss, is it?”
“Team Leader… you don’t know emotion, you don’t know romance… you don’t know thirst…….”
“What on earth are you talking about… Wouldn’t Energy-type or Superpower-type Awakeners be cooler? That’s fantasy itself. They shoot lasers, and actually create fire or lightning, you know?”
“Beastkin are the ones who, together with animal ears and tails, or horns or scales, are truly the ultimate life forms, you know?”
If I had my way, I could have lectured not just on external characteristics but also on ecology and habits starting from mating season, but.
Unfortunately, our Team Leader was an ignorant commoner who had yet to realize the charm of beastkin.
I figured it would surely be better to gradually win her over by talking about the simplest thing—their appearance—rather than starting such a lecture.
“You like cat ears too, Team Leader! You like dog ears too! Although our Team Leader has never once dated a boyfriend, and there are times you feel like a homosexual who seriously likes women, anyway, if your lover cosplayed as a cat or dog for you, you’d like it! It’s the exact same logic?!”
“Sigh… I’m really worried that this kid is our team’s ace….”
“No…!”
Why on earth couldn’t she understand this?
I had thought that our Team Leader, who worked with me in the Association’s Welfare Division, would surely believe in this ideal of mine.
At the Team Leader’s reaction, once again dismissing my words as nonsense today as well, I felt nothing but devastated.
“…I’ll just go on a business trip.”
Thus, what I ultimately chose was a kind of deviation and escape.
Truthfully, even if it weren’t for that, the promised time was gradually approaching, so I couldn’t spend any more time in the office and decided to slowly get up from my seat.
Honestly, it was also because the discussion with the Team Leader had reached such a hopelessly fruitless level?
“Sigh… Fine, you might as well go on a business trip and get some work done. Who was the Hero I need to handle this time? An E-rank Hero… I can’t quite recall the exact name.”
“It’s because they’re E-rank. It’s inevitably a bit too much for someone at the Team Leader’s level to pay proper attention to such a rookie Hero.”
“Haha. But still, handling Heroes is our job. Even if they’re E-rank, I should try to remember them.”
“I only just received the file and haven’t read much of it yet either, so I don’t know well, but apparently they’re a rookie who hasn’t even decided on a Hero name yet.”
The number of Awakened debuting as Heroes was increasing by the day, and in a situation where the number of Heroes the Association’s Welfare Division had to handle was also growing, it was too much for the Team Leader to remember every Hero.
To begin with, the Team Leader hadn’t even been on our team for that long.
“Aha… Anyway, thanks for your hard work today too.”
“Yes, you work hard at the office too, Team Leader~.”
Anyway, after finishing my farewell to the Team Leader, I immediately headed to the promised place to meet the bottom-tier Hero I would be handling this time.
[Batori, E-rank 999th, Ability—Transformation-type: Eoduksini]
[Age: 20]
[Height: 135cm]
[Issue: Concerns regarding ability usage and development, and resulting growth impediment]
“Hmm….”
Since it would be too much to go by foot… unlike my previous life, my current life’s body was no different from a frail young girl, so I read through the documents while riding in a taxi.
To begin with, the documents didn’t contain that much information.
Besides, it would definitely be better to memorize some degree of information before meeting the Hero I would be handling.
“This is quite… something to look forward to.”
When I read through the documents at a moderate pace, my first thought was anticipation.
They were E-rank, and indeed a bottom-tier hero with an extremely low ranking, but I couldn’t help but look forward to it.
Fundamentally, among the various types of Awakened, there were many beastkin in the Transformation-type.
Among them, there were pet types like dogs or cats that you could easily encounter in daily life, and types like crocodiles, dolphins, lions, and tigers that you could meet at the zoo.
But the ability of the bottom-tier Hero I would be handling this time was clearly different from those common ones—Eoduksini.
Not an ability that grants the traits of ordinary animals….
But an ability related to non-human, otherworldly beings—creatures that appear in fantasies and folktales.
“Hmm….”
What kind of ability was ‘Eoduksini’ exactly?
Stories and folktales featuring dokkaebi were from a very, very long time ago, and I felt like I had read them only in my childhood in my previous life, so I couldn’t help but become a bit thoughtful.
“…By the way, that height is incredibly small.”
After roughly finishing my thoughts on the ability, I naturally couldn’t help but become interested in the height listed below it.
Even I, who had come to live a life as a woman, was absolutely not on the tall side.
I was 149 centimeters—really just a tiny, tiny bit, just slightly short of 150—but the Hero I would be handling this time was a tiny little thing who wasn’t even 140 centimeters, so of course it was fascinating, wasn’t it?
Though she was apparently an adult.
“…It couldn’t be something like identity forgery.”
No matter what, the Hero Association was extremely thorough; there was no way she had registered illegally with a forged identity.
“We’ve arrived.”
“Yes, thank you.”
The taxi fare was automatic anyway.
I got out of the taxi just as it was and stood in front of the café where we were to meet.
It was a small café, but one I frequented often, and the reason was simple.
It wasn’t the type where all seats were out in the open, but a café divided into rooms so guests could comfortably converse.
As soon as I entered the café, the owner guided me to the room I had reserved, and in that room, I saw a girl who had arrived first sitting in an extremely nervous state.
The moment our eyes met….
“E-eeeek…!”
Her startled appearance was quite cute.
“Hello. E-rank Hero, Miss Batori? I apologize for calling you by your name, as you haven’t registered a Hero name yet.”
“Ah, no…! I-It’s just that I haven’t decided on a name yet, so….”
“Haha, you don’t need to be so nervous. The Association didn’t arrange this meeting to be angry with you; it was made to help you.”
“Y-Yes, yes!!!”
“…….”
Anyway, the girl sitting across from me was a girl much smaller than me.
She was probably so small that her feet didn’t even reach the floor beneath the chair, and between her ashen hair strands, strands of black hair were visible here and there.
But what stood out far more than such features was….
“You have horns like a dokkaebi?”
“Ah… that’s right…! They started growing at some point because of my ability…!”
“Oho….”
Two horns growing at the ends of her forehead.
Horns that felt stubby yet, on the other hand, sharp—honestly, they felt amazing.
Ordinary beastkin horns usually gave off a distinctly hard feeling.
Beastkin like rhinoceroses, bulls, or goats had horns with clearly different textures and colors from their skin, but Batori’s horns had a feeling as if they had grown from the skin and then hardened, so it was truly astonishing.
I wanted so badly to just put my hand on her horns and stroke them before even saying anything, but.
“Ahem, let’s start with self-introductions.”
“Ah, y-yes…!”
I had to do what needed to be done first; only then could I indulge in such deviation without issue.
I composed my voice and properly began with my self-introduction.
“I’m Charlotte, from the Hero Association’s Welfare Division. As your handler, I will be providing support and counseling until your issues are resolved, Miss Batori.”
“Ah, hello…!”
As I lowered my head slightly in greeting, the little one, much smaller than me, politely bowed her waist repeatedly.
For some reason, at that sight… my conscience pricked quite a bit, but.
Since she was younger than me anyway, I figured it wasn’t a big problem, and continued to my next words.
Since the purpose of the meeting and self-introductions were done, I immediately decided to ask about what kind of ability Eoduksini was, which I had been curious about.
“Miss Batori, would it be alright if I touched your horns myself?”
“Y-Yes…? Yes…!?”
“Ah.”
The problem was that what I had been wondering about inside and what I had intended to say had gotten switched.
I had been thinking about wanting to touch the horns since the moment we first met, so I had unwittingly blurted it out without thinking.
But apologizing and taking it back here would only make me an even stranger person, so I figured that in this situation, it was better to just go for it.
“…Can’t I just touch them once?”
But I really want to touch them!