The Reincarnated Extra

A Boy’s Turning Point in Nut-Gathering Village

* * *

“…Haaa.”

Pikurutz, confused and trembling, sighed in exasperation, scratching his cheek.

“I said some… complicated things, but…”

And, crossing her arms, thinking about something, she slowly spun her words.

“In other words, what are you offering? In exchange for binding someone’s life.”

“In exchange…”

Pikurutz desperately used his slightly calmer head.

And he tightly hugged the shoulder bag containing his bible.

What about in ‘Sakura, the Progenitor of All Familiar Tamers’?

The protagonist, Sakura… increased her familiars by feeding them, fostering friendships, saving their lives, and fighting to show her strength.

At least, there was no description of her engaging in labor negotiations with her familiars.

However… Pikurutz thought.

That was probably only omitted from the story, because it was unnecessary for an adventure tale.

Sakura surely engaged in steady labor negotiations behind the scenes of the glorious adventure tale.

Thinking about that… Pikurutz was overwhelmingly lacking a manager’s perspective.

He had seen only the surface of the profession of Familiar Tamer in the story, thought he knew everything, and hadn’t tried to understand its essence.

Pikurutz was ashamed of his ignorance and held his head.

Well, he also feels like that reflection is probably quite off the mark, though.

“So, like. Right now, other than nuts, what can you offer?”

“Eh!? W-Well, um…”

Now, the beautiful girl monster said that.

Does this mean… there’s still some hope…?

But even so, all Pikurutz has right now is….

“…………”

Pikurutz nervously took out his bible, ‘Sakura, the Progenitor of All Familiar Tamers’, from his shoulder bag… and gently handed it to the beautiful girl monster.

Trembling.

Because ‘Sakura, the Progenitor of All Familiar Tamers’ is Pikurutz’s treasure.

An escape from the harsh reality.

Something he doesn’t want to lose.

Since he’s offering that, of course his hands will tremble.

“…You’re giving me this?”

The beautiful girl monster received the book, which was already tattered and worn from being read many times, and stared at it.

She turned it over, and casually flipped through the contents.

And then.

Without waiting for Pikurutz to stop her.

…She started eating it!

“Ahhh!? What are you doing!?”

“It’s disgusting.”

“It’s not ‘disgusting’!? Of course it is, it’s not food!?”

“It’s not filling.”

“It’s supposed to fill your heart!! Ahhh…”

Even though he offered his treasure, the negotiation failed!

The worst outcome, just losing his bible, made Pikurutz lose his energy, and he fell to his knees, hanging his head…!

It was then.

“Hmm?”

The beautiful girl monster’s gaze caught the bottle shining at Pikurutz’s waist.

The liquid swaying in the bottle, shining reddish-purple in the light of the rising sun, is the magic recovery potion that Pikurutz’s family makes.

“What’s that?”

“Eh?”

Pikurutz, suddenly having his waist pointed out, remembered that he had a magic recovery potion tucked into his belt.

After all, magic recovery potions, which are actually quite expensive, are familiar medicine that Pikurutz has been used to seeing since childhood.

Therefore, he had completely forgotten about it.

“…It’s a magic recovery potion, made by my family. We have plenty, so if you want it, here.”

“…………”

The beautiful girl monster, silently receiving the magic recovery potion, held it up to the light to check its beautiful color.

Then, she uncapped it—Pop—checked the smell… and after a beat, gulped it down in one go.

“!!”

And then, she trembled for a moment!

“Delicious…!!”

It was a whisper, but!

Clearly, happily!

She muttered that one word!

“Eh? Eh?”

“This is really delicious.”

Pikurutz blinked at the unexpected good reaction, but immediately stood up in a hurry.

“Then, will you become my familiar!?”

He shouted that, full of joy!

“No.”

“Why!?”

But the beautiful girl monster’s rejection was quick.

“Just one bottle of potion that your family has plenty of, I’m not going to entrust my life to you for that.”

“Well, yeah, I guess you’re right…”

Pikurutz hung his head dejectedly.

“Besides, this tastes good, but the magic power is weak…”

“Eh!?”

But Pikurutz, surprised by the beautiful girl monster’s next words, raised his head and retorted!

“Don’t be ridiculous, ‘the magic power is weak’… There’s no way, right? Our potion’s magic power content should be made to be just below the tolerance limit for a typical human! If we make the magic power concentration any higher, it’ll cause mana poisoning!”

“I don’t know the details. To me, it’s weak.”

“‘To me, it’s weak’…”

Those words had a great impact on Pikurutz.

After all, to Pikurutz, magic recovery potions are an industrial product that must always be made with fixed procedures and specifications.

Strict manufacturing processes are established for safety and production efficiency, and his father and brother can make potions perfectly following those rules.

They’re extremely skilled craftsmen, capable of very precise work.

In Pikurutz’s perception, they are the correct potion makers, and the potions they make are ‘perfect’ potions.

…But those potions are ‘weak’.

“…………”

“…Well then, I’m going now.”

The beautiful girl monster tilted her head at Pikurutz, who suddenly fell silent, but since he’s not approaching her, there’s no reason for her to stay here.

She crunched and swallowed the glass bottle that contained the potion, as if it were candy, and finally turned around and started walking towards the Great Wall.

“Thank you for letting me eat so many things. I’ll repay you, so wait a little.”

Saying that, the beautiful girl monster put her foot on the Great Wall.

And then, what happened!?

The beautiful girl monster’s feet stuck perfectly to the rock face of the Great Wall… and she started walking up the almost vertically standing Great Wall, as if ignoring gravity!

Quickly, the beautiful girl monster climbed the Great Wall.

The Great Wall, which Pikurutz had given up on ever being able to climb… a symbol of his “life’s wall”, so easily.

But.

But for Pikurutz now, that’s not important.

“Hey!!”

Pikurutz shouted loudly.

“If… If I could make a magic recovery potion… with enough ‘strength’ for you!!”

He shouted desperately.

“Then!! …Would you… become my familiar!?”

“…No way!!”

The beautiful girl monster, climbing the wall, heard Pikurutz’s shout, looked back, and uttered those words of rejection.

But Pikurutz no longer crouched down.

Looking up at the beautiful girl monster clinging to the Great Wall, he spoke.

“Even so… even so!! Hey, will you remember!? I… Pikurutz of Nut-Gathering Village, will someday make a magic recovery potion that you’ll be satisfied with!! Absolutely!! So, so…!!”

Driven by a passion he had suppressed, unaware of its existence, until now… he spoke!

“Someday, will you drink it… the potion I made!?”

“…………”

The beautiful girl monster clinging to the Great Wall looked down at Pikurutz, standing in the desert and shouting, and tilted her head.

The boy no longer said, ‘Become my familiar,’ as he had been so insistent on.

He said, ‘Drink the potion I made.’

She didn’t know enough about Pikurutz to understand the reason for that sudden change.

But.

Her excellent fantasy vision caught that the boy below was in a much better state than before.

Pikurutz, who had been somewhat servile and hunchbacked, was now standing with his back straight, looking straight at her.

So, that change.

Is probably not a bad thing for him, she thought.

“…Alright!! I, Emi Rune!! Will be looking forward… to Pikurutz of Nut-Gathering Village’s magic recovery potion!!”

So, the beautiful girl monster.

Emi Rune.

“I’ll be waiting!!”

…Made that promise!

…From there, the events unfolded quickly.

Emi no longer looked back, and ran up the Great Wall with tremendous speed… and soon disappeared from sight.

And then, a few seconds later, a large number of spirit tree nuts fell near where Pikurutz was standing.

Among them are also rare and expensive golden nuts.

This must be what Emi meant by ‘repayment’.

From a purely financial perspective, it’s a huge plus.

But Pikurutz, his passion still burning, didn’t even notice.

Pikurutz kept staring, staring at the top of the Great Wall, where Emi’s figure had disappeared.

“…Hehe.”

And then, he laughed softly.

Pikurutz had been mistaken.

He thought he couldn’t make ‘perfect’ potions that surpassed his father and brother.

That’s why he thought he had no value as a apothecary.

That’s why he didn’t want to be a apothecary, and didn’t want to make potions.

But, when it came down to it.

It turns out that he, too, had a passion.

He was so frustrated that he couldn’t win that he simply suppressed it.

But now, Pikurutz doesn’t need to pretend not to notice that passion.

Because the goal Pikurutz is aiming for is clearly different from the goal his father and brother are aiming for.

“A magic recovery potion… for familiars…!”

Now, this moment.

Is the starting point of Pikurutz, the ‘apothecary’.

And it was the turning point.

Of his life.

* * *

“…Even so.”

Now, a few minutes later.

Pikurutz, having calmed down a little and finished picking up the spirit tree nuts scattered around, looked up at the Great Wall again.

“Emi Rune, huh…”

And he muttered.

“…She was… a named monster, huh…”

…The fundamental misunderstanding that Emi is a monster was left uncorrected.

——

This concludes Arc 27.

If there’s a so-called ‘wall of life’.

I think the mainstream of stories in the world is to overcome or break down that wall.

But can we do that?

I’d like to, if possible.

But are all the people in the world such successful people who can do that?

Isn’t it okay for there to be a story that doesn’t overcome the ‘wall of life’?

Isn’t there a feeling that can be saved by that?

Arc 27 started with such feelings.

But when I finished writing it, the message was a little off.

It ended with the conclusion that the Great Wall wasn’t really a ‘wall of life’ for Pikurutz.

What you think is the ‘wall of life’, is it really the ‘wall of life’?

I think it’s also important to re-examine that.

So, I decided not to worry about the story’s message being off.

I’m lenient on myself.

Now, after this, before entering Arc 28, there will be an interlude unrelated to Pikurutz’s story so far.

It hasn’t been prepared yet, so it will be posted later.

I hope you’ll wait for it.