I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 14

by Namekojirushi

  “Hrm...”

  Only Ellicia knew how to contact Yang, the organization’s leader. And even if I could get in touch with Nartessia, the head of the Margaret family, I doubt she’d help me without a down payment of some kind. The most realistic hope I stood was going to the king of Laputa, who lived within walking distance. The mountain she lived in, however—the crash-landed island of Laputa—wasn’t outfitted with any real weapons. The king didn’t exactly excel in combat, either. She was constantly complaining about how difficult it was to get around without her flying sphere... Even though she had a Segway to use now instead.

  I’d been through plenty of crap before, but things this time around felt even more hopeless than usual.

  “Say, L...”

  “What?”

  “How would you hold up against those robots?”

  “You have a rather casual way of asking the most audacious things,” L replied unhappily. “I wasn’t originally intended for combat. I do have a few weapons, but they were designed for use against human targets. I’m not equipped with any armaments capable of destroying something so large.”

  “I see...”

  When she said “against human targets,” she probably meant me specifically. But I chose not to focus on that for now.

  “Then how did we escape earlier? I blacked out, so I don’t really remember, but you had to have used some kind of teleportation device, right?”

  “The particle relocator, yeah. You shouldn’t use that anymore.”

  “Huh? Why not?”

  “It was designed for use by Kiklim like me and R. Not for humans. You seem to be a special case since you have... some sort of experience with things like it. But there’s no guarantee it won’t do you any harm in the future. I only used it because it was an emergency.”

  Huh? Experience? Did she mean with Iris’s warp watch and Harissa’s connection magic and stuff? Jeez, I was only okay because I’d done stuff like that so many times before? Talk about by the skin of my teeth. We could get a lot more done with a way to get around, but our options were seriously limited if we were stuck on foot. We were just plain running out of cards to play...

  “Hey, what are you getting all gloomy for?” L suddenly demanded, arching an eyebrow and folding her arms. “You’re Rekka Namidare, aren’t you? The womanizer who caused the War of All in the first place? That’s you, right?”

  “Could we maybe redact the womanizer part...?”

  “Oh, shut up!” L retorted with a sharp glare. “This is all because of you! If you take away the part of you that saved all those heroines, you’d just be a sniveling mess! So why don’t you get it together and do the one thing you’re good at?!”

  “Erk...!”

  Those words came as a hard slap in the face, waking me up to how weak I’d been about all this. The fact everyone was gone must have shaken me more than I realized. L was right. I had to get it together. Never giving up was my only redeeming feature.

  “My bad, L.”

  “So? What are you going to do now?”

  I thought silently to myself for a while before answering, “The fact of the matter is that this story originated in the future. Which means, at the very least, we need some kind of pipeline to it.”

  L hadn’t received any communication from the hardliners on her end, so the only way for us to get in touch with anyone was...

  “Let’s take over that robot.”

  “Are you serious right now? You think you can beat it?”

  “We’re not going to fight it; we’re just going to steal it. There has to be some way.”

  If we didn’t have any cards left in our hand, we just needed to take one from our opponent. That was the plan for now. But just as we decided to make a move, a large shadow loomed over us.

  Shoom!

  To our surprise, the robot we thought we’d shaken off earlier appeared out of the blue. And it wasn’t alone. It didn’t have all of the robots with it, but there were enough of them to completely block us in.

  “Wh—how?!”

  If something so huge was approaching, surely we should have noticed it. Even if L and I were in the middle of a conversation, it wasn’t like we’d lowered out guard. But all of a sudden, the robots were right on top of us... How could that be?

  “Particle relocation...” L murmured.

  “Huh?”

  “I guess these guys come equipped with their own devices.”

  Right, she meant the teleportation device she used earlier. So the robots had them too?

  “But I thought you said those weren’t meant for human use. What about the pilots inside?”

  “I told you, these robots are weapons. They’re unmanned and remote controlled.”

  “But that one talked to you!”

  “All that takes is a speaker. As long as it has one installed, whoever’s controlling it can talk through it from anywhere.”

  “...Fair point.”

  I’d just assumed it was the pilot inside talking to her, but... Now wasn’t the time to be worried about that. We were under attack.

  Pew!

  A beam of light shot out from the robot in front of us. It was a laser.

  “Not so fast!”

  Quick to act, L deflected it with a dome-shaped barrier that was just barely big enough to shield us both. My head was practically sticking out the top. But nevertheless, it was strong enough to completely negate the laser beam.

  “If you had something like this up your sleeve, you should’ve said so sooner!”

  “Shut up!”

  Despite L’s verbal abuse, she continued to protect me from incoming beams.

  “Will we be all right with this barrier for a while?”

  “Yeah, but only for a while! There’s a huge difference in our energy reserves, so I won’t be able to keep up forever!”

  “Damn...”

  So there was a time limit on this safety zone, huh? The enemy was solely focused on attacking right now. All of the robots were bombarding us with beams as they stood in place, blocking our escape. If they tried to approach, we might be able to do something to knock them off-balance or something, but they seemed to realize that.

  “Tch!”

  L gritted her teeth as her barrier began to flicker. What could I even do to help her...? Oh, I know!

  I grabbed my phone from my pocket and tried to call Touko again. The odds of her picking up and me being able to convince her to help in the time we had left before L’s barrier collapsed were... No, there was no point in thinking about that. If there was a chance—if there was any chance at all—it was better to try than to do nothing. But as I was dialing her number...

  Brrring!

  To my surprise, my phone started ringing. And even more surprisingly, the name on the Caller ID was... Jigen Namidare.

  “Dad?!”

  I could hardly believe my eyes—my dad was calling me. And as I stared at my phone in disbelief, it kept ringing. I didn’t have the time to catch up with him right now. Should I just reject the call and try and contact Touko again? That’s what I was thinking, but I had this strange feeling... For some reason, I felt like I shouldn’t ignore my dad’s call.

  Beep.

  So I reluctantly answered...

  “Dad?”

  “Yoohoo! Where are ya right now, Rekka?”

  But Dad was the same as ever. Was I the fool for expecting anything?

  “Hey, uh, Dad... I don’t really have time to talk right now.”

  “I know. So where are ya?”

  “Um...”

  “You’re in a rush, right?”

  Dad’s tone took a sudden change for the serious, and when I heard that...

  “Th-The neighborhood opposite the high school from our house!”

  I answered him seriously too.

  “Got it. Be there in a sec.”

  I didn’t even have time to ask how; he really did appear in a split second. And when he did, he immediately cut the robot diagonally from s
houlder to waist with the long katana he was carrying, causing it to explode in a firework-like burst of flames.

  “Heya. Sorry to keep you waiting.”

  He then rested his sword on his shoulder and turned to greet me, seemingly without a care in the world for the ridiculously superhuman feat he’d just performed.

  “Dad, why... How? You’re supposed to be overseas...”

  “It’s a parent’s duty to come running when their kid’s in trouble. See? Your mother’s here, too.”

  “Mom...?”

  I looked up in the direction Dad was pointing—up into the air—and was struck speechless. There was my mom, Kanon Namidare, flying in the sky.

  “Awaken! Child 1897!”

  It was the first time in a good while that I’d heard Mom’s voice, but as it came down from the sky, so too did light. It was a bright blast of natural light, completely different from the robots’ beams... It was lightning. It broke into several branches and struck each robot with directed precision.

  “Wh-Wha...”

  While I was still at a loss for words, Mom landed on the ground gracefully.

  “Honestly, Rekka, just what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into while I was gone?”

  Mom was dressed in her favorite suit. She looked like her usual self. Her blue eyes looked right at me. She had her hair tied up and was wearing the same pair of earrings she always wore. Yeah, everything was perfectly normal... except the rapier hanging at her waist.

  Unless I’d lost more memories than I realized, that was probably something... No, that was definitely something I’d never seen her with before. What was she even doing with something like that? And that lightning just now... Was that her handiwork?

  “Just... Just hold on. I’m gonna need a minute to get my head around all this...”

  Dad also possessed the Namidare bloodline, so I could just barely accept the fact that he might have gained some sort of strange powers because of it, but...

  “What on earth is going on?! Why can Mom use crazy magic like that?!”

  I was truly yelling from the bottom of my heart. I wanted answers, but...

  “Who cares?” Mom replied bluntly.

  “I do!”

  There was no way I was accepting that for an answer, so I shot Dad an imploring glance. He grimaced.

  “Well, son... You’ve learned all about the Namidare bloodline by now, right?”

  “Yeah, of course.”

  “Then I assume you know about other worlds, too?”

  “Don’t get me started. I can’t even count how many times I’ve come and gone from them at this point.”

  “Oh? Well... I suppose that simplifies things.” Dad looked dubious for a moment, but then resumed his explanation. “You see, your mother is a princess from another world that I once saved. She’s a spellsword that traveled the other world with me.”

  “Mom’s a spellsword...? Aaah...”

  I crouched down on the spot and clutched my head. It wasn’t that I was confused. Really, that simple explanation summed it all up pretty well. What made me clutch my head right now was just how readily I’d accepted this ridiculous situation. Ridiculous as it all was, however, I had to put aside my emotions for now.

  “Okay, Dad... I get that you and Mom aren’t ordinary people. But what are you doing back in Japan? I mean, why now?”

  “This kind of timing wasn’t just a coincidence,” Mom sighed with near exasperation. “The Otomos called us.”

  “Uncle and Auntie did?! But how on earth—”

  I was about to press for details, but I suddenly realized the answer to my own question. Satsuki came from a family of mages, and her parents were longtime friends of my mom and dad. It was possible they’d known each other’s secrets all along, which likely meant...

  “They brought you two here from overseas using magic, didn’t they?”

  “Bingo!” Dad confirmed with nod and a smile.

  When the robots attacked and the Otomos realized that they were in over their heads, they’d immediately gone to pick up Mom and Dad to protect the town. And after getting Mom and Dad here, the Otomos had gone to help the evacuees. They’d probably met up with President Momone’s group by now.

  “Yeah, it all makes sense now, but wow... I had no idea you could use a sword, Dad.”

  “Oh, this is just an old mallet handle I keep handy. And the blade’s just a dusty old thing from the storage shed.”

  “There’s no way it was dusty. Harissa and I cleaned the shed over summer vacation.”

  Harissa... Saying her name out loud made my chest tighten with worry. And that worry wasn’t just for her, but if I started wondering where all the heroines were right now, I’d never be able to stop.

  “Harissa? Rekka... don’t tell me you’ve been involved in stories other than today,” Mom asked, drawing closer with a quizzical look on her face.

  She glanced over at L, who was standing beside me in a daze, unable to keep up with what was going on.

  “Is this Harissa?”

  “No, this is L.”

  “Then is she the heroine of the current story?”

  “She, uh... Maybe?”

  Mom laid pressing question after question on me, leaving me at a loss for how to answer. I mean, who was the heroine right now? There was so much to think about that I hadn’t gotten that far yet.

  I couldn’t dismiss the possibility it was L, but somehow that didn’t seem right. She did have a deep connection with the hardliners, but it wasn’t like she was their target right now. Actually, even if Mom knew all the ins and outs of the Namidare heritage, wasn’t she asking a lot of questions? Dad had a kinda cagey look on his face just now too. I didn’t think I’d said anything strange, but...

  Creeeak!

  While we were standing around talking, three of the robots that had been struck with lightning earlier lurched to their feet.

  “Oh, my, they can still move after all that?” Mom eyed them with a raised eyebrow, then turned around and casually drew her rapier. “I’ve already defeated my final boss and maxed out my level, so you small fry ought to just sit back down. How about this then?”

  Mom pointed the tip of her rapier into a pile of rubble lying around and chanted another spell.

  “Awaken! Child 0026588!”

  It was similar to the one that had spawned the lightning earlier, but the effect was different. The rubble she pointed her sword at started to flicker to life. Additional chunks of concrete, roofing shingles, and wood debris started to gather and come together as though they were moving on their own. Once there was enough material, it started to shape itself into something.

  “Uh, Mom, what is that?”

  “Just a golem I made from the rubble.”

  A golem... Its silhouette was somewhat similar to the robots, but it carried a large hammer in one hand and for some reason wore a hat-like thing on its head, making it look much cuter than the enemy.

  “Though it’s been a while since I made one. I wonder if it’ll move properly...” Mom cocked her head as she put away her rapier, then pointed at the rising robots. “Destroy them.”

  “Urororororogh!”

  With a throat-gurgling roar, the golem charged towards the enemy. Once it approached the robots, it raised its hammer into the air, and...

  Ga-thunk!

  It smashed its hammer against the robot so hard that its solid outer armor was dented. Whunk, thunk... The robots that had been slowed by the lightning strike had no power to evade the golem’s attacks. They all crumpled one after the other under its blows.

  “Oh! Wait!”

  “Hm? What’s wrong, Rekka?”

  “Leave one alive, please. I want to investigate the inside for enemy information.”

  “You want one of these moving ones?”

  “They’re unpiloted and being controlled remotely. The moving ones have a higher chance their connection is still linked, so if possible, yeah.”

  “Sure thing. Golem!”<
br />
  At Mom’s order, the golem left one of the robots intact, knocking its legs out from under it to pin it down instead.

  “Wow! With your mother here, it looks like you didn’t need me!”

  “Your strengths lie elsewhere, Jigen. Be patient.”

  Dad smiled at Mom, laughing heartily. From my point of view, Dad was also quite formidable, but... it’s true he was being overshadowed by Mom. At any rate, it hadn’t even been ten minutes since they first arrived. They were both insanely powerful. It made me realize just how weak I really was. Saying this about my dad was a little, y’know... But he was like a real hero.

  “It’s kinda infuriating.”

  “Huh? Did you say something, Rekka?”

  “No.”

  I turned away with a huff. That left me facing L, which suddenly made me feel a little embarrassed. Maybe I was being a bit childish...

  When all the robots were taken care of, Mom and Dad stowed their weapons and walked back over to me.

  “Now that things have finally calmed down and we know the evacuees will be fine since the Otomos are with them, how about you tell us what happened here, Rekka?”

  “Tell us everything you can.”

  “All right.”

  I gave them a rundown of the days’ events. I told them about how the heroines around me had suddenly disappeared, about how the robots had been sent from the future to kill me, and about how L had saved my life in the nick of time. I wondered whether or not I should tell them about R, but the War of All was extremely difficult to explain if I left her out, so I just told them the truth. Mom and Dad took it well and listened without asking too many questions... But when I brought up Satsuki—my childhood friend and the daughter of their longtime friends—they had no idea who I was talking about. L had been able to trigger my memories, so did this mean it had to happen on an individual level? I put that question out of my mind for the time being to finish catching my parents up to speed.

  “Well, that’s quite the story...”

  “Our boy is going through something even more outrageous than you did, Jigen.”

  When all was said and done, Mom and Dad’s reactions had gone past shock into exasperation.

  “Huh...?”

  Something felt odd about how they were acting. Something told me we weren’t quite on the same page.