Infinite Dendrogram: Volume 3

by Sakon Kaidou

  However, I wasn’t quite sure about what to buy. Due to level restrictions, it was far too early for me to get new equipment.

  My only real shopping options are accessories and... weaponry, I guess, I thought.

  “Are you thinking of cheating on me?” demanded Nemesis.

  “No, damn it,” I answered. “Remember what Hugo said? About how Maidens can get skills after fighting in their human form?”

  “That he did say, yes.”

  “So yeah, I’m thinking of getting a weapon for you and for me when you’re in your human form.”

  “Well, that certainly sounds like something we need,” Nemesis nodded, fully understanding my point. “All right, if you’re to wield a weapon that isn’t me, I’ll have to make sure that it’s fully worthy!”

  ...Well, someone’s excited, I thought. Oh right, if we’re gonna go to Alejandro’s shop, I should also—

  “Surely you’re not about to think that you should pull the gacha again, are you, Ray?” demanded Nemesis.

  “Ha ha ha, whatever do you mean, Nemesis? Do I look like someone who doesn’t learn from his mistakes?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Let me take a better look at you by looking you in the eye when we talk.”

  “...I’m sorry.”

  But come on, I know that it’s possible that I’ll draw another Permit or an item that’s worth less than I put in, but wouldn’t it be great to land something as great as Silver or Rook’s Touch of the Silencer? I mean—

  “Huh?”

  As I was making my way towards the shop, I saw a familiar silhouette standing in the plaza before the central arena. At first, I thought that my eyes were deceiving me, but once I got close, I became fully aware that they weren’t.

  Black fur covering the whole body, a stature greater than that of the average person, a fat waist and limbs that were relatively short. It was a bear suit, surrounded by a large group of children.

  “Ohh! This popularity is so great it’s almost unbearable! I feel like a star! Ursaa!”

  The one wearing it, obviously, was my brother.

  I said nothing.

  Again, the one in the bear suit was my very own brother.

  Likely due to being in the plaza, he had probably gotten mistaken for some performance artist or a mascot, causing him to be surrounded and jostled by many children.

  “I don’t even have anywhere to stand! Ah! Climbing on me is fine and all, just make sure not to fall!”

  “...Bro, what the hell are you doing?” I asked as he became overwhelmed by children and was about to evolve into a walking adventure playground.

  “Hm? Who is it fur whom I am a brother dearest...? Oh! It’s Ray!” He greeted me by raising his arms, but his appearance made me feel like I was being menaced by a wild beast.

  “Brother dearest” was quite an exaggeration. I had no recollection of ever having that much respect for him, and that included the days before his Un-kra fight.

  “I feel like I haven’t seen you for a while, Brother Bear,” said Nemesis.

  “A beary good afternoon to you, too, Nemesis,” my brother greeted her as he slowly waved his arm. The reason for the slowness were the children hanging on to it.

  “But man, you’re as popular as always,” I said. “You were in a similar state when I met you back in the capital.”

  “Costumes like these are beary rare, after all,” he said.

  “They are?”

  “No one wants to wear them because they’re terrible as equipment.”

  “Really?”

  “Wearing these things takes up all the slots except the ones fur weapons and accessories,” he explained.

  Okay, the lack of popularity instantly makes sense, I thought.

  “Suits that make up for that huge minus are unbearably rare,” he continued. “I don’t even know five Masters who wear them on a regular basis.”

  “...So you’re saying that you know four?” I said. With my brother Shu included, that number became five.

  Sounds like a wacky hero group, I thought. ...Oh yeah, he was actually a part of one once.

  “What do you mean?” Nemesis asked telepathically.

  It’s no big deal. He just had a role as a member of a hero group in a certain tokusatsu show.

  “I can’t say that I am knowledgeable about that world, but based on the common sense I received from you, isn’t that quite impressive? Wait, wasn’t he a martial artist?” she asked.

  Oh yes, he was during his middle school and high school days. In his elementary school days, however, he was a child actor and a singer. That was when he got the role as an extra — the sixth — in a certain hero group. But that ended before I could even think properly, so I don’t know the details.

  “Just what is he?” she demanded.

  My big brother. Currently unemployed.

  “So, bro, did you come to Gideon to observe the Clash of the Superiors?” I asked.

  “Bearily, yes. I came to see my buddy Figgy fight.”

  Figgy? As in, Figaro? I thought. I didn’t know they were friends.

  “Well, I’m planning on watching it, too, so maybe we’ll meet there?” I said.

  “Eh? You bear a ticket?” he asked.

  “Yeah. A friend of mine got me one,” I answered as I reached into my inventory and showed it to him.

  “Oh, it’s for a box seat, too. I’m impressed you... Hm?” After glancing at it, he focused his eyes — the eye parts on the suit, anyway — on a certain part of my ticket.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Look here,” he said as he took out his own ticket.

  I looked at it and noticed that it said “L-001.”

  The L referred to the box itself, while the 001 was the number of the seat inside the box.

  It was relevant because my own ticket was L-004.

  “We’re in the same box?” I asked.

  Different seats, obviously, but we were still next to each other.

  “A pawsitively amazing coincidence,” my brother declared. “We’ll be watching it together!”

  “I didn’t even think this could happen.”

  “Your friend probably bought it from the same scalper as me,” he said.

  That seemed entirely plausible.

  “But oh, the fact that you’ve already made some friends here in Dendro makes me oh-so-beary happy,” he said as he took out a handkerchief and pretended to cry while putting it against his suit’s eye parts.

  ...I’m quite sure that no tears are coming out of there, I thought.

  “Also, by looking at your gear, I see that you’ve already been on some big adventures,” he added while looking at my bracers and boots — the Miasmaflame Bracers and the Grudge-soaked Greaves.

  “Well, things happened, all right,” I said. “I kinda want to talk about it, but this doesn’t seem like the situation for long chats.”

  Shu had been surrounded and jostled by children for the entirety of our conversation so far.

  “Good point,” he said. “All right, children! This bear has to go now! Here’s something to help you bear this farewell!”

  He reached into his inventory, took out a huge amount of candy, and began tossing it around and at the surrounding children. Naturally, the kids were overjoyed, expressed their thanks, and went away from him, one by one.

  “You did this back in the capital, too,” I commented.

  “Heh, it’s a bare necessity when wearing this suit.”

  I was about to suggest that he take it off, but then I remembered that he couldn’t. The face under it was his real face, after all.

  “Why aren’t you wearing some sort of mask or a disguise instead?” I asked.

  “I don’t want to look like a weirdo.”

  ...Do you really think that wearing a bear suit isn’t weird? I thought.

  “Then why not do what you’re good at and use the appearance of a hero, instead?” I asked.

  “There’s a clan focused entirely on that, so t
hings could get beary annoying.”

  “...There’s actually a hero group clan?”

  “And a masked hero clan, too.”

  “Well, Dendro sure doesn’t seem to lack freedom,” I muttered.

  Soon enough, Shu finished distributing the candy, and there were no longer any children around. Indeed, the children had left, but...

  “Isn’t there something on your head?” I asked.

  “Well, I’ll be. There actually is,” he said.

  Something was holding on to the top of his head. It definitely wasn’t a human child. Though caricaturistically distorted, it looked somewhat like a hedgehog or porcupine.

  The way it clung to Shu made it look like some sort of mascot, but I was fully aware that my brother didn’t come with any such extras. It had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

  There’s no name above its head, so it’s clearly not a monster. Is it an Embryo, then? I thought.

  “Oh, sorry about that,” I heard someone say.

  I turned to the direction of the voice and saw a woman. She looked like she was in her early twenties. Her clothing, despite fitting the fantasy setting, gave her the appearance of a secretary. The crest on the back of her left hand was proof that she was a Master.

  “Apologies. My Behemot seems to have troubled you,” she said.

  “Behem...? Oh, this thing,” my brother said.

  “Behemot” was one way to refer to Behemoth — a creature from the Old Testament. That meant that it was an Embryo and that the lady here was its Master.

  “Go on now, little lady. Big lady’s here to pick you up,” said Shu as he took the hedgehog, Behemot, and tried to remove it. But it didn’t show any signs of letting go.

  “Little lady?” It’s a girl? I thought.

  “xD!” Behemot emitted a strangely irritating chitter of joy and grabbed hold even harder. Apparently, she had taken a liking to Shu’s head.

  “Behemot, get off the bear’s head,” said the lady. “We have to go or we won’t make it. We’re in the standing area, so we have to hurry up.”

  Behemot complied, jumping off my brother’s head and into her Master’s chest.

  “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we will take our leave,” the woman said and began walking away.

  “Oh, wait a second,” said Shu before reaching into his inventory, taking out some candy, and giving it to them.

  “I bear gifts for all!” he exclaimed. “Enjoy it to your heart’s content, you two.”

  “...Thank you very much.”

  “thx!”

  With that, Behemot and her Master walked away from us. From the mention of a “standing area,” it was fair to assume that she was going to see the event in the central arena.

  “So it’s not just children, eh? You seem to be popular with small animals, too,” I said.

  My words made Shu tilt his head for some reason. Though it wasn’t too noticeable, with him not being a real bear and all.

  “Well, I guess you can just say that I’m beary popular among the little ones,” he said. “Everyone loves bears!”

  “Whatever you say, bro.” Though he’d said that he’d started wearing it because it was necessary, he seemed to enjoy it quite a lot.

  “In fact, this bear suit is so popular that I don’t really feel up fur wearing any other suit,” he added.

  “You have other ones?!”

  “You don’t have enough fingers to count the number of suits I have, and that’s just for special rewards.”

  “That many?!”

  I didn’t know what was more surprising — the fact that he had that many special rewards or the fact that they were all suits.

  Man, my brother is quite the barrel of laughs, I thought.

  “Let’s go and have a nice chat somewhere,” he said.

  “Sure. Let’s go, Nemes— Wait, what’s with that face?”

  For some reason, she was just standing there. I suddenly noticed that she hadn’t spoken a word for a while. I didn’t know why, but she was looking at the direction where Behemot and her Master had gone.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Oh, it’s nothing,” she said. “I’m probably just imagining things. She has an Embryo, after all...”

  I couldn’t make out what she was so concerned about.

  “Hey! Why are you just standing there?! Don’t make me wait fur you!” exclaimed Shu.

  “Oh, he’s right. Let’s go, Ray.”

  “Yeah.”

  We caught up with my brother, and we all decided to go to a café. He let us choose the place, so — by Nemesis’s suggestion — we ended up go to the same sweet-focused café as yesterday.

  I dread to imagine how much she’ll eat, I thought.

  ◇◆◇

  “Well then, Behemot. Are you quite satisfied?” she asked.

  “lol...”

  “Excellent. You did say that you found the bear cute and wished to hug him. Though I found it a bit improper, it’s good to see that you had your fill. Now, let’s hope that you can also get what you want from today’s fight, as well.”

  “yeye.”

  “Truly, I hope the Superiors in this nation are powerful… It would be great news indeed.”

  “git hype.”

  Chapter Two: Catching up

  Paladin, Ray Starling

  “Gardranda and Gouz-Maise, huh?” said Shu. “Looks like you’ve been through some beary strange things, Ray.”

  “You think so?” I asked.

  At the familiar sweets parlor, my brother and I were having a little talk about what had happened so far. Since I was still full from the sandwiches from before, the only thing I ordered for this chat was tea.

  Nemesis, on the other hand, was eating as she always did.

  What the hell is up with your stomach? I thought.

  “Encountering UBMs is rare, and even Epic ones are damn tough,” he said. “It’s not every day you get someone who fights and kills them not too long after entering Infinite Dendrogram.”

  Shu put some honey-covered pancakes into his mouth. Of course, he didn’t neglect to use a fork. I was impressed that he could do it with those bear hands of his, but then I figured that it was probably easier than using a gatling gun.

  Also, the overall image of a bear sitting on a chair and eating honey-covered pancakes was quite lavish. It seemed kinda cute, as well. At least, to anyone who didn’t know that the person inside the suit was a man in his late twenties.

  “Well, I’m probably not the one to talk, considering I killed my first UBM when I was on my first low-rank job,” he continued.

  “Huh?”

  “It was also the time I met Figgy,” he said. “We happened to get lost in a certain field and had to fight two UBMs...”

  “TWO?!”

  I instantly began imagining myself fighting both Gardranda and Gouz-Maise at the same time.

  Nope, it’d be hopeless, I thought. Even as I was now, they’d kill me easily.

  “So you and Figaro went two-on-two against them?” I asked.

  “Nope,” he answered.

  “Oh, so Figaro wasn’t the only who helped, then.”

  “Wrong again. We both went against them one-on-one.”

  Excuse me?

  “Separating them was a real pain, and I really had to use my head to beat mine...”

  “Wait. You said you were still on your first low-rank job, right?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “What about Figaro?”

  “He, too, was on his first job — Gladiator. Not even level 50, either.”

  “...What about your Embryos?”

  “Both were in their third forms. And no, neither of them had any giant-killing abilities like your Nemesis does.”

  I was stunned into silence. I’m probably not in a position to think this, but how the hell did they do it? I mean, they didn’t even have the support I did. Also, he says it happened when he — one of the first players — was on his first job. Doesn’
t that mean that they were among the first Masters to have beaten UBMs?

  “Anyway, going any deeper into this would mean revealing Figgy’s Embryo’s abilities,” he said. “I’m beary averse to the idea of giving this info away myself, so I’ll only explain it to you after you more or less understand it yourself.”

  “Well, then I guess I won’t push it,” I shrugged.

  This duel city was Figaro’s hometown, and with him being the local king of the arenas, the people here had lots of info about him.

  However, there was a decisive lack of knowledge about his Embryo. Its powers, shape, and even category were all a great mystery to everyone. The other two in the Kingdom of Altar’s Big Three weren’t like this in that regard. The King of Destruction’s Embryo was assumed to be a battleship, while the High Priestess’s was widely known to be the moonlit night. However, there was absolutely nothing known about the Embryo of the Over Gladiator.

  I had seen Figaro fight the player killers in the video that Marie had shown me, but even then, I hadn’t seen a hint of his Embryo’s abilities.

  If the event Shu was referring to was linked to the truth behind it, I could totally understand why he didn’t want to talk about it.

  “But you do know it, huh, bro?” I asked.

  “Figgy and I have been acquainted fur a long time, after all,” he answered. “A whole four years by Dendro standards.”

  “I see. So I guess you also know why he’s so fixated on going solo?”

  “I do, but going into that would mean compromising his privacy, so I won’t explain it,” he said.

  “All right. I won’t push it, then.”

  It was probably the core of the reason why Figaro had said he wasn’t “interested in sloppy battles” and refused to participate in the war. I wanted to know, but if it was something private, I couldn’t really delve any deeper.

  “I must say, you seem to be quite well-connected, Brother Bear,” commented Nemesis.

  “Well, it happens kinda naturally when you’ve been a long-time player,” he shrugged.

  “This has been bothering me for a while... How many hours a day do you spend here, anyway?” I asked.

  Being the unfairly rich neo-NEET that he was, Shu had all the time in the world, so I couldn’t help but wonder.

  “I know what you’re thinking, but no, I’m leading a beary healthy life,” he said.