TYBMB 04

Chapter 4: See-Through Clothes
2024.01.04

When the captain encouraged me to finish drinking the potion, I quietly shook my head.

“…I still need to use the rest of the potion elsewhere.”

“……?”

“The remaining half needs to be applied to my forearm.”

Since there’s only one reason to apply potion externally, he immediately understood my condition.

“Did you injure your arm?”

“Yes. The monster in Rift 3 used ice, remember? The cold it emitted touched my arm and caused a slight frostbite. It’ll heal quickly if I apply the potion.”

“…Why didn’t you say something earlier? That you were injured.”

“I was a little disoriented and forgot. I’d just woken up after fainting, so I was a bit confused.”

To be honest, it wasn’t because I fainted. I had returned five years into the past after dying, so I had no time to worry about some minor frostbite on my arm.

I completely forgot about it until I felt a throbbing pain in my arm and finally remembered.

“You’re the first person I’ve met who forgets about being injured.”

As always, he snarked at my forgetfulness.

He had cried out for me in despair when I was dying in my past life—and now he acted like this. It felt annoyingly ironic, and I was about to snap back, but he approached me first.

He suddenly came closer. Did he somehow sense I was mentally cursing him?

While I was thinking that ridiculous thought, the captain dragged a chair over and sat down right in front of me.

“Roll up your sleeve.”

“I don’t think you really need to see it…”

“Now.”

It was a direct order from a superior—how could I disobey?

I obediently rolled up my sleeve to show him the injury.

The moment I revealed the frostbitten skin hidden beneath my sleeve, I was shocked.

It was worse than I’d expected.

Had it been this bad in my previous life?

I hadn’t visually checked it after getting up, so I didn’t realize the wound was this severe. The injured area was bluish and frozen.

The cold emitted by monsters imbued with magical energy didn’t fade easily like regular cold.

Sure enough, when I lightly touched the area, the chill felt like it could still freeze me.

So that’s why I had a fever and chills all over.

Though surprised, I nodded in understanding.

Unlike me, who accepted it quickly, the captain frowned deeply as he looked at the wound.

“You forgot about frostbite until it got this bad? There’s a limit to how careless you can be. Do you not realize pushing yourself like this could cause problems for your fellow squad members?”

“I had my reasons for forgetting—”

“Shh. Stay still. I need to concentrate.”

The captain didn’t let me finish and slowly raised his hand.

His large hand stopped just a little above my forearm.

It seemed he intended to melt the cold using his special power—his gift.

A power bestowed by the gods—gifts.

People who could use such powers were called awakened, and they were few even within the empire.

The captain and I were among those rare awakened individuals who used our powers to defeat monsters.

As expected, after a brief pause, the captain activated his power and conjured a small flame in his palm.

The same black flame that had raged wildly during combat now appeared smaller and gently melted the frostbite on my skin.

As he treated the wound, he explained,

“As you know, the cold left by a monster contains magical energy. It doesn’t disappear easily. It has to be melted with magic-infused flame.”

“Ah…”

“It’s a relief I found you. This kind of wound can’t be healed with potion alone.”

Just as he said, in my previous life, I had only taken antipyretics and left the frostbite untreated—and I’d suffered for it.

The cold had lingered for nearly a week.

Unlike then, the cold now visibly melted and disappeared quickly.

The only problem was that it was a little… hot.

The captain’s power was so strong that even after melting the frostbite, his flame kept emitting heat.

The affected area healed quickly, but I started sweating profusely.

“My shirt’s getting soaked. Do you mind if I take it off for a moment?”

“What?”

It wasn’t an impolite act, so I didn’t feel the need to wait for his approval.

I took off my now-sweaty shirt and held it in my hand.

I still had a thin inner layer underneath, so I wasn’t embarrassed.

But apparently, the captain didn’t see it that way.

“W-What are you doing?”

I noticed his cheeks and ears flush bright red.

He was clearly flustered, and seeing that made me panic too.

“Ah, I just took it off because it was hot. Should I put it back on?”

“…Of course you should. You’re in your underwear…”

“Sorry? Underwear? This is just a thin undershirt. I wore it during training with other members all the time.”

“You wore that often? Are you serious? Do you even realize how you look right now?”

Hearing that, I glanced down at my chest and was horrified.

The undershirt… was see-through.

I had chosen a thinner one today, and now that it was soaked with sweat, both my skin and underwear underneath were completely visible.

Realizing it too late, I frantically crossed my arms over my chest.

“Ah, I—um, this—”

“…Please put your shirt back on.”

“Yes…”

I quickly slipped my shirt back on.

While I was getting dressed, the captain respectfully kept his eyes averted and then quietly scolded me.

“You should wear thicker clothes from now on. That’s not appropriate attire to appear before other members.”

“…I’ll be more careful.”

Maybe it was the flame he’d used earlier—or maybe it was just embarrassment—but my cheeks burned.

I grabbed the remaining potion and fled from his tent like I was running for my life.

Even the cool night breeze wasn’t enough to cool my flushed face.

The next morning, the captain fortunately seemed fine.

He didn’t act awkward or strange at all.

So I, too, pretended nothing had happened and acted as normally as possible around him.

And just like that, the afternoon arrived.

Thanks to last night’s treatment, my forearm had healed completely, and I was able to attend the strategy meeting as usual.

Not liking to be late, I arrived at the captain’s tent—the meeting location—a bit early. Unsurprisingly, no one else had arrived yet.

And so, I found myself alone with the captain once again.

I gave him a polite nod, and he returned the gesture with a slight dip of his head.

“……”

“……”

After the greeting, we said nothing more.

Since he acted normal in the morning, I thought it would be fine—but being alone with him now was incredibly awkward.

Should I have shown up later than the others? I thought, just before the captain broke the silence.

“You’re early.”

“Yes, I came especially early today. I plan to share some important information, and I wanted to mentally prepare myself.”

“Important information?”

“I’ll explain once everyone’s here.”

Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long.

After about three minutes, Elma, the squad leader of the support unit, arrived.

Soon after, Carl, the leader of the medical support unit, joined us.

Once everyone had gathered, the captain turned to me.

“Well then, everyone’s here. Can you share that important information now?”

“What I have to say is related to the next target—Rift 4.”

I took a deep breath after saying that.

Telling them about what I experienced in Rift 4 in my past life—and preventing a repeat of that tragedy—required a great deal of courage.

Since no one knew I had returned from the future, they were likely to dismiss anything I said about future events as nonsense.

Still, I steeled myself and spoke up.

“For this operation, only Captain Martin and I should enter the rift.”

“…Why?”

As expected, the captain questioned me.

I opened my mouth and gave a reply that might shock him.

“If other members come with us… half of them will die.”

I wasn’t lying.

If we took others into Rift 4 along with me and the captain, half of them would die.

But without any evidence, no one agreed with me.

They just stared with confusion and skepticism.

Still, I couldn’t stop there.

I pleaded once more with the captain.

“We must exclude the other members and go in—just the two of us. It’s the safest option.”

“I don’t understand. Why would it be dangerous with more members? Isn’t it usually safer with a larger team?”

“That’s true if we were dealing with ordinary monsters.”

“You mean… it’s not ordinary?”

I gave a small nod.

“Yes. The monsters in that rift are… mind-control types.”