Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells Vol. 1

by Kaoru Shinozaki

  “Squ-ue-ee…”

  I looked down at the paralyzed slimes.

  “Heh heh…sorry to break up your little game, but I don’t like watching the strong pick on the weak like that, especially in such an unfair fight. I just had to step in.”

  I selected the yellow gauge on one of the slimes and tapped Dispel. A confirmation window appeared with a yes / no selection. I tapped yes and dispelled the paralysis and poison effects on the five slimes.

  My smile faded.

  “Scram.”

  With a few pathetic squees, the weakened slimes slunk cautiously away into the grass.

  Defeating them would’ve been simple—after my poison brought them to the verge of death, stepping on them probably would’ve finished them off.

  “No point killing them if they don’t give good EXP…and who knows? They might be friends or family of this little guy.”

  I knew well enough that some parents were capable of hurting or even killing their own children.

  I turned back to the smallest slime, still paralyzed where I left it.

  “I’m gonna let you move again, okay? After that, you can do whatever you want. I’m not gonna kill you or anything.”

  I’d started talking to the slime without thinking much about it—the Soul Eater had seemed to understand me, after all. But really, I had no idea if the slime understood language.

  I crouched down.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, little guy, but…”

  “Squee?”

  It doesn’t even look scared… Weird.

  “Sorry I didn’t come save you sooner. You did good. Fighting against odds like that…it was impressive.”

  “Squee…!”

  “Don’t attack me as soon as I dispel you, okay?”

  “Squee!”

  Maybe it was just my imagination, but it seemed like the slime understood.

  I dispelled the Paralyze effect.

  “Squee! Squee! Squee!”

  Hm? It’s changing color… Maybe it’s recovering from those attacks earlier?

  I stood up.

  “See you. Stay strong out there, buddy.”

  I slung my leather pouch back over my shoulder and turned to walk away. I had managed to test out my skill’s new feature—that was the main victory—but the encounter also made me feel a little better about everything.

  I’d been walking away from the slime encounter for a while when I heard rustling in the bushes. Something was following me.

  I turned around and sighed.

  I knew it.

  The little slime emerged from the bush, covered in leaves and branches. I scratched my head.

  “Don’t you have friends to go back to? Those jerks can’t be your only friends, right?”

  “Squeee…”

  The slime flattened a little, like it was hanging its head.

  I turned and kept walking. After a little while, I stopped and looked back.

  “Squee…”

  Aw, man…

  “Just how long are you planning on following me?”

  “Squee…?”

  “Can’t I come with you…?” Maybe it was all the monsters I faced in the ruins, but I felt like I could understand what the slime was trying to say.

  Well…it doesn’t seem aggressive the way those monsters were…and it doesn’t have golden eyes, or any of the creepy, gross features that those monsters did. Are there monsters in this world who aren’t dangerous…? I guess humans are like that—there are people like Kirihara and Oyamada, but also people like Sogou and Kashima.

  “I don’t know if I could bring you into a town with lots of people, though…”

  “Squuuh…”

  It seemed upset to hear that. That look stirred an old memory, and I remembered a time, long ago, when I took a cat that was lying sick in the street to get treated by a vet.

  Yeah…Kashima Kobato came with me.

  She took the cat in once it got better—my foster mother was allergic to cats, so I couldn’t take it. When I looked into the cat’s eyes as we left the vet, it looked so scared.

  “Thanks for saving me…” it seemed to say, “but what am I supposed to do now?”

  The cat hadn’t been wearing a collar—it must’ve been a stray. Now it was alone in the world, no other cats to watch its back. It had probably wandered alone for a long time before it got so weak it needed help. I felt an odd connection with the cat now, even more than I did back then.

  Just like you and me, little buddy.

  “You’re just like me…”

  Alone, useless, ostracized…

  “An outcast.”

  ***

  When Kashima Kobato agreed to adopt the cat, I was so grateful to her.

  A few days later I went to say thank you, but she just awkwardly averted her eyes and walked away from me. I didn’t think it was anything personal. Kashima always seemed so withdrawn and never talked to any of the guys in class. I think maybe she just didn’t know how to respond to me.

  In the end, I let it be.

  Maybe she’ll come up and talk to me again someday, you never know. As long as she doesn’t hate me for some reason I don’t know about…if that’s it, then I guess we’ll never be friends. But there’s no need to hurry—you can’t force a friendship. Better to let things grow over time.

  My foster parents taught me that, and I’d always treasured their advice.

  ***

  I sat under a tree chewing on katsu.

  My leather pouch had finished its cooldown, so I decided to eat lunch. The little slime wobbled around next to me, looking quizzically at the rectangular packaging. It was a tonkatsu snack I’d eaten every so often in the old world—not bad.

  Perfect crunch on the outside, a chewy, fishy center… and intensely flavored sauce coating the fried exterior. Soft and hard, salty and sweet—the flavors and textures conquered my senses and overwhelmed me.

  It wasn’t much, but it was satisfying. I washed it down with gulps of refreshing green tea.

  “Ahh…”

  Up here on the surface, it felt easier to eat and drink without worrying about how much was left. I looked at the last bite of katsu in the package.

  “You want some?” I held it out to the slime. It stretched itself up a little in response.

  “Sque-ee…?”

  “Hm? Are you checking if it’s okay?”

  The little slime flushed green—the sign for yes.

  “Yeah, it’s all yours.”

  It slowly stretched out a slimy tentacle and took the food from my hand. It absorbed it into its translucent body, and I saw it begin to melt inside.

  Huh…so that’s how it eats?

  “Squeee!!”

  It turned a light pink—the color for happiness. It must’ve liked it.

  I’d done a few tests with the slime before lunch to see if we could understand each other. It seemed quick to catch on to my intentions, even if it didn’t understand the words. And it could communicate with me, too. Green meant “yes,” red meant “no,” and pink meant “happy.” Those were the only three I’d figured out so far, but it was a good start.

  Slimes were much more expressive creatures than I’d expected. Without a common language or even a face, I could still understand what the little guy was trying to say.

  Maybe even better than I understood people, to be honest.

  It just depends whether a monster would be let into a human settlement…

  That problem resolved itself when the little slime showed me that it could stretch itself out into a thin rope. It crawled up and hid itself in my robes.

  “As long as nobody in town can sense the presence of monsters, we should be fine.”

  There was another advantage to having a slime hiding in my robes. As I stood, its slippery body crawled up my leg and poked out from my collar behind my head.

  “Squee!”

  “Can you watch behind me?”

  “Squee!”

  A slimy f
eeler reached around my head so I could see it. Its tip turned green for “yes.”

  “All right…”

  It’s a temporary measure, but for now, it can watch my back.

  “I was right to let you stay, buddy.”

  “Squee! ♪”

  The slime climbed down, and I returned to sitting under the tree. There was something else I wanted to check before I got moving. I took Forbidden Arts: The Complete Works out of my pouch and opened it up. The slime poked out a feeler to look at what I was doing.

  “I think it was somewhere around here…” I flipped through the book, looking for a page I remembered reading in the ruins.

  “Here it is.”

  Monster enhancement solution—experimental

  Test Results:

  Created solution (rapid evolution).

  Slimes → feasible.

  First experiment: success.

  Second experiment: success.

  Third experiment: success.

  Adverse results in monsters: possible increased hostility, unproven. Other effects?

  The following pages were filled with scribbled notes.

  “…on the contrary, slimes have proved brilliant partners compared to previous candidates. Their capacity for understanding and compassion is undeniable. And they’re just so cute…”

  Looks like the Great Sage found them useful in his experiments.

  “Some kind of monster enhancement solution, huh…?”

  I glanced at the little slime.

  Maybe I could use this to make it more powerful.

  “Are slimes even capable of leveling up…?”

  That was one more thing to investigate, but the Great Sage had left me a hint. If he was researching a “monster enhancement solution,” I had to assume that they had to rely on potions and spells to get stronger, not automatic leveling up like summoned heroes.

  “But…if the wrong person got their hands on this research, who knows what would happen?”

  I hummed and kept scanning the pages.

  I can see why he called these “forbidden arts.”

  I looked carefully at the detailed list of ingredients at the bottom of the page. There was also a list of places where they could be obtained—none of which I recognized, of course.

  “While I’m looking for someone who can read those forbidden magic scrolls, I should see if I can pick up any of this stuff. Okay…ready to go?”

  “Squee!”

  “Hmm…”

  I realized I didn’t have anything to call it. The little guy needed a name.

  “Squee?”

  Those squealing noises sound kind of like a piglet, and he’s also kinda round…

  “Got it. Piggymaru.”

  “Squee?”

  “From now on, your name is Piggymaru. Well, unless you don’t like it—then we could change it, I guess…”

  “Squee!”

  Piggymaru turned green.

  “Sque-ue-uee~! ♪”

  Next it turned pink—I guess that meant it was happy with its new name. I put Forbidden Arts: The Complete Works back in my pouch. There was a lot of trash building up in there from all the convenience store food—I’d tried to keep the containers clean of food by wiping them off, at least, but it was still getting cluttered in there.

  Lucky for me, the leather pouch and my Forbidden Arts book didn’t smell at all—did magic items magically stay clean, too? But I could still really use another pouch for trash, or just a place to dump it.

  “Now, now. We don’t litter, all right? Put it in the bin.”

  My foster mother’s words came back to me. I didn’t want to litter unless I really had to.

  “I wonder how she’s doing…”

  She’s too kind for her own good—that worries me more than anything else.

  “She’s probably worrying about me right now…”

  ***

  It was right after my real parents disappeared that I met my uncle and his wife for the first time—my new foster parents. That first day, my foster mother held me tight to her chest, her voice and hands trembling. I thought she was angry with me at first. My father’s hands had always shook when he was angry and drunk. My mother’s voice had always trembled when she screamed at me.

  “I’m so sorry we didn’t see it sooner,” my foster mother whispered.

  At first, I didn’t understand why she’d apologized. But when I eventually got it, I cried.

  I was happy. People cry when they’re happy—not just when they’re sad.

  It was the first time anyone had really shown me compassion.

  ***

  I walked, Piggymaru wrapped around my neck, leather pouch on my back.

  “Hey, Piggymaru.”

  The slime appeared on my shoulder.

  “Squee?”

  “This whole thing I’m doing…it’s just about revenge. It’s a personal vendetta. That might not seem important…but it’s important to me.”

  Logically, I knew it was stupid to get so caught up in revenge. What did I really expect to come of it, once the dust settled?

  Revenge is wrong, it’s meaningless, it’s a waste of your life. I’m sure a lot of people think that way—they’d look at me and my goals and think I’m pathetic.

  But I’m going to do it anyway.

  And if somebody asked me why…well, it’s obvious to me. I’m doing this because…I want to. I won’t stop until I get what I want—until I feel like this is over. Screw those self-righteous idiots, fighting for the masses, playing heroes and villains. We aren’t even in the same story. For me, this all comes down to one thing—my ego.

  There’s a kind of justice to my revenge, though. Justice for me—not for anyone else. If anybody wants to join me on my journey, they’ll have to be okay with that. I’ll be upfront about it, give them all the info ahead of time. Whether they come with me or not will be up to them.

  “I’m only doing this for my personal revenge—nothing more, nothing less. I’m basically an egomaniac. Are you really okay with that?”

  “Squee!”

  “If you want to leave, now’s the time, little buddy. I won’t hold it against you.”

  “Squeee!”

  Piggymaru’s tentacle poked out from my robes and turned red, the signal for “no.”

  “You really want to stick with me on a quest for vengeance?”

  “Squee!”

  The tentacle turned green—the signal for “yes.”

  “All right, then.”

  I gently patted the little tentacle and took my first step.

  Two outcasts’ journey for revenge.

  “I’m counting on you, partner.”

  “Squee!” came Piggymaru’s happy reply as he turned a deeper shade of green.

  We walked through the forest together, branches snapping underfoot.

  They say nothing good can ever come from revenge. But that’s fine. I don’t want anything good. I don’t need this revenge to come to anything at all.

  In fact, I won’t let it. I won’t let this spiral out of control.

  “Once I’m ready, I’m coming for you, and I won’t stop until you’re dead.”

  And that’s the end of it.

  Foul Goddess…

  “I will have my revenge.”

  Chapter 6:

  A Chance Meeting

  The Runaway

  THE ELF’S IRREGULAR PANTING echoed softly through the quiet forest.

  “Haah… Haah… Haah… Haah…!”

  She ran headlong through the deep foliage, avoiding the roads. She’d started running full speed when she heard a twig snap somewhere nearby. The slim lines of her body made it easy to avoid snapping twigs or being snared by branches as she sprinted along.

  “…”

  She slowed her pace.

  I think…I’ve lost them for the moment…?

  She no longer felt like her pursuers were breathing down her neck, but she knew that they hadn’t given up. This was just how they di
d things—they wanted to enjoy the hunt. They’d let you know they were following, then suddenly disappear. Once you thought you’d shaken them, they’d be back on your trail.

  I shouldn’t have bathed in the river earlier. I’m lucky they didn’t ambush me there. If they had…

  A shiver ran down her spine. Unfortunately, the ruins she’d stumbled upon were no help—she’d discovered what looked like an entrance but had no idea how to get inside. After leaving the ruins, she’d encountered the four hunters again and had to flee. And now, there was a different path presented to her.

  Should I really keep running? Maybe it’s time to fight.

  She ducked behind a tree trunk and readied an attack. Her pursuers were of heroic blood, descendants of the Heroes from Another World who had once saved this world. The children of those heroes had talents and strength far surpassing the average warrior.

  According to rumor, even with their great strength, the descendants couldn’t compare to the real heroes who’d fought against evil in times of old. Still, they were much more formidable than the enemies she normally had to face. The descendants of heroes lived in kingdoms all across the continent, and were an important part of the militaries of countries who couldn’t summon heroes of their own.

  Her mind raced as she hesitated on what to do next. She might’ve been able to take them in single combat, but all four at once…

  She let out a tired sigh.

  I don’t think I can throw them off for good…so they leave me no choice. I’ll have to equip my spirit armor.

  It’s time to put an end to this chase.

  If she couldn’t run, she would have to fight, even if the odds weren’t in her favor. She called out to the spirits within her.

  I summon you, armor of spirit… I dedicate myself to your service. Protect me, as I have sworn myself to you…

  She silently mouthed the names of the spirits to herself.

  Silfigzea, Ferillbanger, Willozega…

  Three rays of light enveloped her body—the light green of the spirit of wind, the blue of the spirit of ice, and the pure white of the spirit of light.

  When the lights faded, she was clad in armor, a sword at her side. A manifestation of the spirits’ power, her spirit armor made her look like a holy knight from days of old—many had assumed her to be one in the past. She drew the sword at her hip and strengthened it with ice.