The Reincarnated Extra

A Boy’s Encounter in Nut-Gathering Village

* * *

“Here, here… here you go.”

The gathering point for the spirit tree nuts is about a five-minute walk north of Nut-Gathering Village.

You can get there by following the Great Wall, so Pikurutz, of course, didn’t get lost, and as usual, arrived at the point and immediately started picking up nuts.

The spirit tree nuts are round nuts about the size of an apple, with a reddish-purple color.

They’re the raw material for the magic recovery potions that Pikurutz’s family has been making for generations, and they’re so hard that you can’t break them without hitting them with a hammer.

Therefore, at the gathering stage, there’s no problem handling them roughly.

When Pikurutz finds the spirit tree nuts that have fallen and are buried in the sand, he grabs them, throws them, and tosses them into the basket on his back.

“Here… here, here…”

This nut gathering is a race against time.

It’s almost time for the monsters to become active.

If that happens, Pikurutz, who can’t fight, will have to use his meager magic power for 【Body Enhancement】, guzzle magic recovery potions, and run back at full speed.

“…If only I had a familiar…”

Here, Pikurutz stretched and muttered that, looking at the shoulder bag containing his favorite book.

If only he had a strong and cool familiar, he wouldn’t need to fear the Desert Topopolocks or Cannon Urchins!

Pikurutz vaguely dreamed of himself vividly annihilating a horde of monsters with his affectionate young dragon partner, and chuckled—Fuhehe.

“…………Hmm?”

Here.

Pikurutz noticed something unfamiliar… a black thing, lying in the shadow of the sand dune over there.

He had been looking at the ground, looking for nuts with his back hunched, so he only just now noticed the foreign object.

“What’s that… Hih!?”

Pikurutz, casually approaching it, saw its full appearance and let out a small scream.

Because it was… something deformed, that Pikurutz, who has lived in Nut-Gathering Village all his life, had never seen before.

That deformed thing is, in a word, a mass of tentacles… a tentacle ball.

Wriggling, squirming, jet-black tentacles, occasionally tinged with a rusty red, gathered together to form it.

Its size is large enough that several adults would have to join hands to surround it.

That tentacle ball was quietly standing in the shadow of the sand dune… and staring at Pikurutz.

No, since he doesn’t know where its eyes are, Pikurutz didn’t know if the expression ‘staring’ was correct.

Anyway, Pikurutz felt that he was being ‘stared at’.

…At this point, in most cases.

If a person is calm, they’ll slowly back away and leave the scene… or if they’re panicked, they’ll scream and run away.

Something he’s never seen before is there.

That’s only natural.

But Pikurutz was different.

This dreamy, tired-of-everyday-life boy… was excited.

That excitement… isn’t from fear.

Well, of course, there’s some of that mixed in too.

That excitement is from the excitement stemming from curiosity, adventure, and so on!

Pikurutz, unthinkingly, did not consider the tentacle ball in front of him to be a dangerous creature that was hostile to him.

Pikurutz was unconsciously giving up on the fact that his life would be ordinary and boring.

But that’s why he desperately wanted to be a special person… to steer his life towards an upheaval, triggered by something.

In other words, it’s that typical adolescent thing!

And that’s why he thought!

This encounter… is the turning point of his life, breaking his detestable daily life!!

So!

What should he do in a situation like this!?

Pikurutz, rapidly replaying several scenes recorded in his bible, which he had read so much that it was worn out, in his mind.

“…Here.”

Without taking his eyes off the tentacle ball, Pikurutz lowered the basket on his back, took out a spirit tree nut from inside, and gently rolled it towards the tentacle ball!

That’s right… the first thing to do when you meet a monster you want to make your familiar!

That’s… feeding!

There’s also a pattern of ‘showing your power and forcing them to obey as your familiar’, but Pikurutz doesn’t have any power to show, so his only option is to feed it.

…Now, the tentacle ball, having a spirit tree nut rolled near it, slowly extended one of its tentacles, easily pierced the spirit tree nut, which should be unbreakable without a hammer, and pulled it into itself.

Crunch, crunch, crunch…

Then, a sound like something hard being crushed came from inside the tentacle ball.

(It ate it! …It ate it!!)

Pikurutz was thrilled, watching that scene.

Spirit tree nuts have a high mana content, and are said to cause mana poisoning, so humans can’t eat them raw.

But that’s just a rule for humans.

Monsters like these nuts and often eat them raw, crunching it.

So Pikurutz’s guess that this tentacle ball would probably eat it too… was correct!

“Here… here! There’s more… Eat a lot!”

Pikurutz rolled the spirit tree nuts in the basket towards the tentacle ball, one after another.

The quota imposed by his mother had already slipped from his mind at this point.

He won’t miss this opportunity!

He’ll definitely feed this tentacle ball… and make it his familiar!

That’s all he could think about!

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch…!

The tentacle ball took in the spirit tree nuts given by Pikurutz, one after another!

It seems to like the taste, and the jet-black tentacles are swaying in the air… seeming cheerful.

Normally, people would feel uncomfortable and disgusted by that sight, but for some reason, Pikurutz felt affection for it.

Pikurutz had been dreaming of having a ‘cool dragon, like Sakura, as his best familiar’… but now, he was starting to think ‘tentacles might be good, too’.

A Familiar Tamer who manipulates a tentacle monster…

Somehow, the image is clearly on the villainous side…

But that’s alright!

A dark hero!!

While Pikurutz was imagining his future, the spirit tree nuts in the basket were completely gone.

“…”

Now, this is the moment of truth!

It’s recruitment time!

Gently, but firmly, showing his qualities as a leader, he’ll recruit this tentacle ball as the first member of his group!

Pikurutz gulped and braced himself.

“H-Hey!”

And while standing up straight, puffing out his chest, he tried to call out.

But!

“NAAAA!?”

Pikurutz couldn’t say the decisive line he had been thinking about every night.

Rather, he screamed, his sleepy eyes wide open and his mouth agape!

Because… because!

The tentacle ball in front of him, having finished eating the spirit tree nuts!

Suddenly, it started pulling its jet-black tentacles back inside itself… and!

From within that mass of tentacles!

…A girl with ominous black hair and black eyes, expressionless… but with a beauty that could be described as unparalleled beauty, appeared!

“H-H-H-Human transformation!?”

Pikurutz screamed and fell on his bottom!