The Shield of Miracles
Page 22
“This time, I didn’t feel any pain,” he kept talking. “It seems to be based on your own senses.”
So, apparently, Alhazred’s ability to hide pain was based on whether I had my own pain set to on or not.
I’d never realized this. And I was Alhazred’s Master.
“But Masters who play with their pain on are rare, so it’s not really a weakness, right?” I asked.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” he argued. “There are some Superiors who turn it on, depending on the situation. And some even have it on all the time.”
All the time...? Are they idiots? Or just a bunch of masochists?
“Then I’ll have to avoid Masters who might turn it on, and—”
“But you have an even simpler method. You merely have to always have it on yourself.”
...Huh?
“No no no no, not happening,” I insisted. “Are you even listening to yourself? Are you stupid?”
His crazy suggestion made me reply to him without any respect, but he didn’t seem to care and just placed his hand on my shoulder.
“No need to scared. There is a way to make you capable of living like that,” he said as if presenting the greatest idea ever. “Training straight from hell.”
Below the café, there was a stage that looked like a smaller version of the dueling arenas in Gideon.
“They only look the part, though,” the leader said. “Unlike in dueling facilities, we don’t have any convenient barriers here. Are you ready?”
“Yeah, yeah...” I replied with melancholy in my tone as I turned on my pain setting.
He would basically do to me what the KoD had been doing to Rook. Except here, it wasn’t to influence Embryo evolution, but to make me get used to pain.
I didn’t want pain, and I’d tried to resist, but in the end, the leader’s words and his weird, intimidating aura had made me consent.
Honestly, at that moment, he looked more like a “King of Crimes” than at any other time.
“Also... I need this training to become stronger, I guess,” I muttered.
Alhazred’s weakness would stay if I didn’t do this, and I couldn’t have that. I wanted to once again believe that he was the strongest, and I was willing to bear some pain for that.
It’s all so I can honestly claim that I have the greatest Embryo.
“I will begin, then,” he said.
“Please don’t make it too painful,” I pleaded.
“Sorry, we cannot have that. I will begin by tearing out your tongue, so it should hurt a lot.”
“Eh?” I couldn’t react in time to prevent him from taking my jaw and, just as he said he would, tearing out my tongue.
For a moment, my mind became filled with pain and shock so powerful I couldn’t even think anything.
“Wha har hou dhoinh...?!” I cried with a mouth full of pain. Blood flowed freely from my face.
“I did say it would be training straight from hell,” he answered. “If you become used to the pain of losing your tongue or limbs, you will be able to fight without caring about any damage you take.”
“Buh haht’s...!”
Training that involves losing body parts?! Are you insane?!
“No need to worry about the damage done,” he said as he took out and used a Job Crystal, changing his job to something other than King of Crimes before whispering, “The Saint’s Prayer. I healed you just now. Please see for yourself.”
I hesitantly tried to move my tongue. The feeling was enough to tell it was there again. I then touched it with my fingers and yes, all seemed to have gone back to normal.
“What was th—” I began. “Eh?!”
As I looked up, the changes on the leader shocked me way more than the healing. Up until a moment ago, he had been a plain-looking man wearing glasses. Now, however, though the clothes were the same, his chest was now big, his stature had changed, and his hair had grown — he had clearly become a woman.
My Reveal skill said that I was looking at The Saint, Sechs Würfel.
I couldn’t understand anything that was going on here — I had no words for it. The fact that I’d had my tongue torn out, the healing that had instantly made the wound vanish, or the fact that the King of Crime had become The Saint.
This reminded me that one of the KoC’s crimes was “the dispossession of The Saint.”
I had always thought that there was a strange meaning behind the name of that incident, but it might’ve actually been exactly what it said.
“With me here, even the heaviest of wounds can be healed without having to resort to the death penalty,” he said. “So please, be at peace and lose yourself in this training.”
Also, it made me come to understand another thing about our leader.
His demeanor was soft and he was definitely a calm person... but every single one of his screws were loose.
“Today is your first day, so let us start off with something lighter... Loss of all four limbs. Ten times.”
“A hah hah hah hah.” A dry laugh escaped my mouth.
Suddenly, I realized something. I’d always thought I was above other Masters and always acted like it, but ever since meeting our leader, I’d never once looked down on him.
It was probably because — as stupid as other people thought I was — even I could understand, with just my instincts, that I was no match for him.
“Hhhhaaa,” I sighed, gave in, and prepared to go through the training.
Now that I thought about it, that Rook guy had gone through this, as well.
I will overcome this, too, become flawless, and get my revenge on him after becoming the strongest I’ve ever been!
“...Go easy on me,” I said.
“Apologies, but no. Going easy isn’t quite enough to cut it, you see,” he replied while raising his hand.
“Wait, you’re using a knife hand? That’s just sca— AAAAAHHHHH!”
And so began my life at the gaol... and my days of hellish training. A long road that would lead me to my new destination.
Damn you, Rook... I’ll make you pay for this someday!
The End
Afterword
Cat: “With the side story over, it’s time to jump into the afterwooord!”
Xun: “I wasn’t in thE midword, but I’m ‘Xun,’ fOR ‘Xunyu.’ So, where’s the beAr?”
Fox: “He couldn’t be here ’cause he’s still in jail. The afterword is related to where we are in the story, isn’t it?”
Xun: “Well, there was thAT time he wasn’t hEre ’cause he was waiting for his tUrn.”
Cat: “The afterword is a mystery space where the fourth wall doesn’t exist and characters who never interact in the actual story get to talk to each other, and it changes depending on what’s currently happening.”
Xun: “Is that hOW it is?”
Cat: “Yes. Anyway, it’s time for the customary serious comment from the authooor!”
Thank you for your purchase, dear readers. I am the author, Kaido Sakon.
With this Dendro volume, I’ve been able to conclude the first arc of the second part of the series.
In this part, you will see many more stories focused on tians. Volumes 6 and 7 were the first step into it, and they presented a story about close bonds between players and tians.
In Dendro, players are split into worlders and ludos, and I believe the same applies to the readers, as well. Many of the happenings in the story will likely appear different depending on which kind of reader is reading them, and that too, is a very important part of this work.
Volume 8 will introduce a character who is very important for both the setting and the work itself. Little would give me more joy than your excitement for her first appearance on the stage of this story.
Fox: “Now that that’s done, can I ask something?”
Cat: “Go aheaaad.”
Fox: “Why did you add a side story after the main story? You did the same in volume 3, but still...”
Cat: “First
of all, the reason why they exist in the first place is because there are things we can’t show if we focus only on the events that involve Ray. We have the side stories to compensate for that, and the information in them is necessary for the main story.”
Fox: “Oh, I can see why they’re important. One of the side stories in volume 3 gave us the identity of the Superior Killer, and heeere, we had the King of Crimes.”
Cat: “That’s exactly why we need them. However, as things are, we can’t release a book with nothing but side stories.”
Fox: “True.”
Cat: “That’s why we will be adding them next to the main one. It’s all so we can tell as many Dendro stories as possible.”
Xun: (He sounds a bit like the author’s serious comment right now.)
Bear: “I’M BACK IN THE WILD!”
Bear: “VOLUME 8 IS SET TO COME OUT AROUND OCTOBER, I GUESS, SO BEAR IT UNTIL THEN!”
Cat: “That was too sudden! And you completely ruined the flow!”
Bear: “We have a limited amount of space fur the afterword! Sudden or not, it’s time to announce the next volume!”
Cat: “That’s so meta! You actually can’t say that anywhere else but here!”
Fox: “Here I was thinking he wouldn’t appear here this time, but he barged in and took an important honor and the entire spotlight allll for himself...”
Xun: (This afterword sure had a lot of talk about the afterword itself...)
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Copyright
Infinite Dendrogram: Volume 7
by Sakon Kaidou
Translated by Andrew Hodgson
Edited by Emily Sorensen
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 Sakon Kaidou
Illustrations Copyright © 2018 Taiki
Cover illustration by Taiki
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2018 by Hobby Japan
This English edition is published by arrangement with Hobby Japan, Tokyo
English translation © 2018 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: September 2018