"Aqua——!!!"
A roar filled with endless humiliation and rage echoed through the corridor of a luxurious mansion in Axel.
Sato Kazuma had just finished a hot bath and was preparing to enjoy some rare, peaceful time. He was shirtless, with only a towel loosely wrapped around his waist, and water droplets slid down his not-so-muscular physique.
Everything should have been so pleasant, until he inadvertently glanced at the mirror.
In the mirror, his own belly was conspicuously marked with a line of crooked, large characters written in black ink—'Excalibur'.
What was even more outrageous was that at the end of this line of text, there was an incredibly precise arrow drawn in the same ink, pointing directly at the critical area hidden beneath the towel around his waist.
Without even thinking, he knew this must be the handiwork of one of his three useless teammates—Aqua, Megumin, or Darkness.
They must have done this while he was unconscious after dying from an accidental fall from a tree trunk while fighting monsters and then being resurrected! That bunch of useless idiots—besides causing trouble and accumulating debt, what else could they do?
The veins on Sato Kazuma's forehead bulged; he felt his sanity snapping one thread at a time.
He was going to settle the score with them. He would make them understand that even if they were his teammates, they couldn't just scribble on someone else's belly, especially not with such highly insulting and misleading text!
He yanked open the door and stomped out, swearing under his breath: "What kind of bullshit 'Excalibur'! Today, I'm going to make you realize what a true 'fist of gender equality' feels like! (///￣dish￣)○～"
However, the familiar sensation of the wooden floor he expected did not come.
Beneath his feet was cold, hard asphalt.
"Huh?"
The rage on Sato Kazuma's face froze.
He blinked, realizing he wasn't standing in the corridor of his mansion. The surroundings were not the fantasy town he both loved and hated.
What came into view were countless giant buildings made of steel and glass, rising from the ground and piercing the clouds. Huge, exaggerated electronic screens hung on the walls, playing English advertisements with dazzling colors and changing lights that made his eyes dizzy.
The piercing sound of car horns, the noisy chatter of people mixed with various languages, and music coming from unknown sources—countless strange sounds converged into a torrent, washing over his eardrums. The air was filled with the mixed scent of exhaust fumes and hot dogs.
Countless people with blonde hair and blue eyes, black hair and brown eyes, and various skin tones passed by him. Everyone was in a hurry, their faces wearing the indifference and exhaustion typical of big cities.
Sato Kazuma slowly and stiffly raised his head, looking at a huge electronic billboard where a blonde woman was smiling brightly at a bottle of red carbonated drink.
"Th-this is…" He was completely stunned.
Having stayed in that fantasy World without television or the internet for so long, he had almost forgotten that he used to be a modern person. This scene before him—wasn't it New York's Times Square in the United States!!!
Terms emerged from the depths of his long-buried memories. Just as his brain crashed while trying to process this massive amount of information, a breeze blew by. Sato Kazuma felt a chill around his waist.
The towel, which had been tied loosely and served as his last piece of clothing to cover his shame, slipped off silently and landed softly on the ground.
"Eh? (ˉ▽ˉ;)—"
Time seemed to have been put on slow motion at this moment. The surrounding noise seemed to vanish in an instant.
The crowd, originally in a hurry, seemed to have been cast with a freezing spell, each of them stopping in their tracks. Countless gazes converged on the naked Asian man in the center of the square.
One second.
Two seconds.
"Pfft—" Someone laughed out loud. Immediately following were gasps, giggles, and undisguised discussions rising one after another.
"Oh my god! Look at that guy!"
"A pervert! In broad daylight! (* / ω ＼ *)"
"Look, what is he cosplaying? The Emperor's New Clothes?"
"Look, that pervert!"
"What's written on his belly? Excalibur?"
"Oh my god, how could he do this in Times Square?"
"Call the Police! There's an exhibitionist here!"
Many more people immediately took out their phones, aiming them at this rare "spectacle," and camera flashes began to go off one after another.
A stylish young girl whispered to her companion. Although she lowered her voice, Sato Kazuma's hearing, honed by his life as an adventurer, caught every word.
"Hey, look… isn't it a bit… small?"
"Shh! Don't be so loud, but… it seems to be true, hee hee, small is also cute."
"But won't it be boring~~ (¬‿¬)"
Boom—!
Sato Kazuma's World instantly turned from color to black and white.
He was completely petrified, like a pathetic statue exposed to the public eye. He could even clearly see those damned words on his belly, along with the arrow pointing straight at the critical spot.
It's over. Social death. No, it's global death.
Tomorrow, no, perhaps in a few minutes, a video titled "Shock! Fully Naked Pervert Appears in Times Square, His 'Excalibur' Size is Astonishing (Sarcasm)" or "Is it the distortion of human nature? Or the loss of morality? The Unspoken Secret of the Naked Pervert in Times Square!" will spread to every corner of the World.
"Ah—!!! Yamete!!!" A shrill scream erupted from Sato Kazuma's throat.
He finally snapped out of his petrified state, scrambled to pick up the towel from the ground, and wrapped it haphazardly around his waist. One hand gripped it tightly, while the other waved uselessly, trying to block those intrusive phone cameras.
"Stop filming! Everyone stop! This is a misunderstanding!" His shouts in Japanese seemed pale and weak here; instead, it looked more like a perverted performance, attracting even more onlookers and cameras.
"Hey! You pervert over there! Stop!" Two New York Police officers in blue uniforms with guns at their waists noticed the commotion here. While calling for backup on their walkie-talkies, they pushed through the crowd and walked quickly toward the center of the chaos.
Police!
When Sato Kazuma saw those uniforms, his scalp instantly tingled. Getting caught by the Police, registered, and becoming a documented exhibitionist? No! Absolutely not!
At this moment, his brain erupted with an unprecedented desire to survive. His stealth skills and escape instincts were maxed out passively at this moment.
"It's all that stupid goddess's fault! Why did you resurrect me! You should have just let me die!" Sato Kazuma let out a final desperate howl, then suddenly turned around and took off running toward the direction where the crowd was relatively sparse.
"Stop! NYPD! Stop right there!" The Police's roar sounded behind him. A naked man chase, staged in the World's busiest intersection in broad daylight, had officially begun.
While running, Sato Kazuma clutched his towel tightly at his waist, muttering non-stop.
"Why is it like this… Isn't my luck stat at the EX level? Does it not count when crossing Worlds?"
"Officer! Stop chasing! I'm really not a pervert! I'm a victim! I even have evidence on my belly!"
He wanted to turn back and point to his belly to explain, but he was afraid the towel would fall off, so he could only run with tears in his eyes. The agility he had trained as an adventurer was fully displayed at this moment, darting left and right on the crowded sidewalk like a slippery loach.
Pedestrians were frightened by this sudden chase and dodged away, with screams and whistles mixing together.
Sato Kazuma felt his lungs were about to burn. He had never been so embarrassed. Even when he was chased by a dragon or given a death sentence by a Dullahan, he had never felt such despair from the depths of his soul as he did today.
He swore that if he could go back, he would make the three of them know what true "divine punishment" was!
He didn't know how long he had been running when he turned into a dark, narrow alley. The Police sirens and shouting behind him seemed to be cut off by the high-rise buildings, becoming distant.
Sato Kazuma leaned his back against the cold brick wall, panting heavily, his whole body trembling, not knowing if it was from exhaustion or anger. He sat slumped on the ground, having survived the ordeal, surrounded by several foul-smelling trash cans.
Finally… temporarily safe.
He looked down at himself; the towel was still there, and the words on his belly were still there too. Humiliating memories flooded his mind again.
"Damn it… damn it all…"
Just as he was immersed in self-loathing and despair for the future, a soft blue light lit up before his eyes without warning.
Sato Kazuma abruptly raised his head, staring vigilantly at the light.
The light quickly condensed in front of him, eventually forming a semi-transparent, high-tech virtual panel, on which a line of Japanese text he could understand appeared.
[Congratulations to Guardian Faction player—Sato Kazuma, for successfully arriving in the Marvel Universe.]
[Player action detected: Performing "performance art" in Times Square, causing a large-scale commotion. Reputation points gained: 10,000.]
[Player action detected: Due to the "special size" issue, suffered mental attacks and observation from a large crowd. Personal reputation has reached an unprecedented height. Reputation points gained: 10,000.]
[Current total reputation points: 20,000.]
"—Huh?"
"Damn it, I don't want this kind of bullshit reputation even if it kills me! Bakayaro!!! ╰(艹板艹)."