He finally met someone else wearing a hero uniform for the test.
Saitama couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
It was like being called out by a teacher in school to stand in the hallway as punishment; it's awkward when you're the only one from the class standing outside.
But then, you suddenly notice a guy from the class next door standing outside too!
You don't know each other, but you're in the same situation.
Somehow, it makes things a little less awkward.
"It's fine. Did you find what you were looking for?" Saitama asked.
"Yeah, I bumped my head right after I found it and stood up."
Placing a hand on the back of his head, he spoke sheepishly.
As the only two people in the entire venue wearing hero costumes,
they naturally started chatting.
"I've already thought of my hero name. It's 'Mumen Rider.' If you like, you can just call me 'Mumen.'"
"I'm Saitama, a hero for fun. My hero name is..."
Saitama's expression reverted to that dull, dead-fish-eyed look.
He seemed to have never considered his own hero name before.
Mumen Rider wiped the dust off his goggles.
"Saitama..."
Hearing Saitama's name, Mumen Rider looked at him thoughtfully.
This face, this name...
He felt like he had some impression of them.
"Saitama, when you were in middle school, did you ever encounter a Monster that charged into the school?"
"A Monster in middle school? Well... I think there was one," Saitama recalled, rubbing his head.
"It really is you! Then we were classmates!" Mumen Rider said happily, punching his palm.
"We were in the same year! The news of you chasing a Monster out of the school caused quite a stir back then!"
"Really?"
Saitama was only twelve back then.
He hadn't felt like it was a 'stir' at all at the time.
He only chased the Monster out of the school because his two hundred yen had landed on it.
He just chased after it to get his money back.
In the end, he was slammed into a wall by the Monster, creating a huge crater, and was knocked out for over an hour.
The main thing was, after the police finally eliminated the Monster, he never got his two hundred yen back.
It was only because of those two hundred yen that Saitama could remember the incident.
Mumen Rider couldn't be sure at first.
It was all thanks to the fact that Saitama hadn't lost his hair yet.
He still had the same hairstyle he'd had since he was a kid.
Combined with his name, this allowed Mumen Rider to barely recognize him.
"You really did want to become a hero too! Let's work hard together to pass the test!" Mumen Rider encouraged him.
"Oh, oh!" Saitama raised his hand casually and echoed with a couple of calls.
It wasn't that he 'wanted to become' a hero.
He already was a hero in his own heart.
Mumen Rider was boiling with passion beside him,
proclaiming his ideals of justice.
Saitama looked up blankly at the sky.
As expected, it's only during battle that one feels more like a hero.
Ah... the sky is so blue... that cloud looks like a fish... ——City Y——
"Do you need to eat?"
"...I do."
"Then if you bask in the sun, can you go without eating?"
"...No."
"one last question, it might be a bit rude."
Aokiji curiously pinched the plants on this person's head.
After confirming that grass really was growing out of his head, he asked:
"Can eating fertilizer make the plants grow faster?"
The eyelids of the thin man named Green twitched.
He had long hair and wore long robes, with flowers and grass that looked like a shrub atop his head.
He took a deep breath before replying:
"I have never eaten fertilizer."
Fearing that Aokiji would ask another question,
Green immediately followed up:
"Lord Aokiji, let's just start the mission!"
"Fine." Aokiji withdrew his hand from the foliage.
"The Association said your ability can find the source of the Monsters, so let's begin."
They were currently in the far outskirts of City Y.
Ahead of them was a forest bordering the city.
Green took a few steps forward, crouched down, and pressed his palm against the ground.
Plant roots extended from his robes, following his hand into the earth.
He was one of the few Espers in the original work who didn't use psychokinesis.
He could control plants that he had nurtured inside his body since childhood.
Even his nerves were shared with them.
Because most of the nutrients he consumed were sucked away by the plants, he himself was very weak.
Green closed his eyes and fell silent.
Then, he slowly stood up.
"It's coming from this direction. Lord Aokiji, please follow me."
The two entered the forest.
Every now and then, he would crouch on the ground to re-confirm the direction.
Needless to say, Aokiji was fast.
And relying on the plants within him, Green's advancing speed wasn't slow either.
About half an hour later,
Green stopped moving, summoned the plants from his body to shield himself, and warned warily:
"Lord Aokiji, a Monster is coming..."
Zzzzt——!!!
A massive field of giant ice spikes, several times taller than the primeval forest, surged out of thin air ahead!
To call them ice spikes would be an understatement; they were far too large.
To call them mountain peaks would be an understatement; they were far too cold.
Within them, one could vaguely see numerous frozen plant Monsters.
"The Monsters are gone." Aokiji lowered his hand.
"These aren't the final enemies, right?"
Green snapped out of his daze,
tearing his shocked gaze away from the giant ice spikes.
"Y-yes, we need to keep going forward."
As he spoke, he couldn't help but occasionally glance back at the miraculous sight of the ice mountains.
To think that something of this scale could be completed in an instant.
The two continued forward.
Occasionally, plant Monsters would come to attack,
but none could even get close before being completely covered in extreme ice.
Rather than carrying out a hero mission,
it was more like they were creating a world of glaciers.
Soon,
they drew near their target.
In the forest they had come through,
the trees were so dense there was almost nowhere to step.
Twisted, thick roots emerged from the ground, entangled with one another.
But ahead,
was a large, abrupt patch of wasteland!
Not even a single weed could be seen.
Only bare, desolate soil remained.
Viewed from above, the wasteland formed a perfect, giant circle.
In the center of the wasteland,
a massive withered tree was rooted.
Gnarled roots lay in a messy coil.
On the dry bark, two distorted humanoid faces grew, one above the other.
Both distorted wooden faces had their eyes closed, showing no movement whatsoever.
"Lord Aokiji, that fellow seems to be the leader of the plant Monsters," Green whispered.
"It's resting. Let's get closer to ensure a one-hit kill!"
Aokiji nodded casually.
They crossed the wasteland and arrived near the massive withered tree.
"Lord Aokiji, after I finish the countdown, we'll attack together!"
Green pressed his hand to the ground, and the roots within him surged into the soil.
His thin face turned deathly pale, his throat bobbed, and he whispered:
"3, 2——"
Numerous roots violently surged out from beside Aokiji's feet!
They tightly coiled around and bound Aokiji!
Green shouted in a raspy voice:
"Forest King!! Do it!!!"
The two faces on the silent withered tree instantly revived, pulling into eerie, distorted curves.
The coiled roots of the Forest King writhed.
In an instant, they went from static to an all-encompassing, extremely powerful whipping attack!!
The shrieking of the air sounded like rain!
It fell without a moment's pause!!
The destruction caused was more like slashes!
The earth was violently torn apart, struck with long, narrow fissures!
Forest King, Disaster Rank—Dragon!
"Pfft, cough, cough..."
Green walked out from the exaggerated cloud of dust, coughing.
Because of the shockwaves from the Forest King's attack,
his robes were torn with many holes, and blood seeped from several wounds.
"Human..." the Forest King made a raspy, withered sound.
"Is this the powerful enemy you spoke of? He has already been ground to dust by this King..."
"How dare you exaggerate his strength so casually, causing this King to lose a portion of fertilizer!!"
"Now, according to our previous agreement, offer up your body to this King!"
Green clutched his wounds,
whispering with a terrified expression.
"No, no..."
"Human, do you wish to break our agreement? Do you still think there is room for struggle at a time like this?"
The Forest King disdainfully extended a root to grab him.
But instead of resisting,
Green shouted at it in a panic:
"Quick! Eat me quickly! Inside my body is something that can strengthen you—pfft—"
He looked down with difficulty at the ice blade piercing through his chest.
A terrifying chill spread from the ice blade,
completely devouring his body heat.
Aokiji twisted the hilt of the blade and asked curiously in his ear:
"Can the stuff inside you strengthen me a bit?"
The Forest King's roots launched another violent whipping attack!!
This time, they were blocked by a solid layer of ice.
"You... you... knew all along..." Green forced out a raspy breath.
"Otherwise? The traces you left behind earlier were far too obvious to me."
Aokiji withdrew his Ice Saber.
Pointing at the raging Forest King outside the ice layer, he said strangely:
"There are no other guys around. Do you two really think that relying on it alone could defeat me?"
Green remained silent.
Instead, Aokiji's phone rang at an inopportune moment.
After he picked up, Sitch's voice sounded panicked and tense:
"Mr. Aokiji! City Z is being invaded by a large-scale force of deep-sea creature Monsters! Their target is the hero recruitment site currently being held!!"