After the Storm, and Before the Storm (Premium)

by Sakon Kaidou

  “Fwahahahah! Sorry, but I can’t tell which of you’ve got the things in ya, so I’ll just beat ya all. This and all the other stuff they find out about ya will probably put ya on the wanted list, so you just go and have a good time in the gaol.”

  “What?!” Gakido screamed.

  “Well, I guess it just goes to show that crime doesn’t pay.” Bigman swung his hatchet at the Sixth Realm Chaos members.

  Strange as it was, he easily chopped off the heads of those who were clearly outside of the hatchet’s reach. The sound of the blade rending the air and the spraying of blood resounded in the village.

  “FUCK!” At this point, Gakido resolved to fight the Superior.

  He had a chance against him. His Embryo, the gloves on his hands, had the power to defeat anyone in a single hit. It was an Embryo focused on that alone, and it would give him victory if he just landed a hit.

  “I’ll beat you and escape!”

  Taking the peekaboo block position from boxing, Gakido ran towards Bigman.

  “Grinding Shockfist!”

  As he closed the distance, he used the ultimate job skill of the King of Grind.

  “Pound Boxer” was a hybrid job fusing Boxer and Crasher, making it a job specialized in grinding trees and rocks with fists.

  Thus, the ultimate job skill of the King of Grind, the culmination of its grouping, was focused on destruction, as well. It created a shockwave in the shape of a fist that treated its targets as if they had 0 starting defense.

  It was a crushing, devastating attack that only registered defense from skills. As Gakido approached Bigman, he pulverized trees, rocks, buildings, and even his own clan members. Bigman, however, dodged it with light movements you’d never expect from someone so burly.

  Gakido, surrounded by the debris caused by his ultimate job skill, used that opening to approach Bigman and prepare to use his Embryo — his true ultimate skill. But then, to his shock, there was suddenly a lot of distance between them.

  “Ah...?!”

  It wasn’t that Bigman backed away.

  He’d simply moved the tip of his pipe over his shoulder and pointed it towards Gakido.

  Gakido was blown away by a smoking pipe as large as a pillar. Once airborne, he was completely at Bigman’s mercy.

  “Dewblade’s Touch — Brocken.”

  Following that ultimate skill, the hatchet sliced Gakido in two, giving him the death penalty.

  ◇◆

  After beating Gakido, Bigman went on to get rid of the rest of his clan.

  “That takes care of that,” he said with satisfaction. “Now we’ve just gotta wait for the officials to arrive.”

  He removed the chains from the villagers, helped them bury their dead, and took a break.

  “Man, I feel like I’m dancing on someone’s palm. The real big bad here’s the guy with the parasite Embryo, but it doesn’t look like I can trace him from here.”

  Since they were no longer equipped, the members of the Sixth Realm Chaos had dropped the parasite earrings. However, the earrings had quickly blown up and dissolved into light, no doubt to destroy the evidence.

  “He was gathering slaves... No... That was just to bring us here so he could gauge us, clearly. It’s looking like we’ll end up fighting eventually. Man, the battles just don’t end here. Infinite Dendrogram sure is a restless place... Or is it just Tenchi? Ha ha ha ha ha.”

  Bigman laughed and looked at where he’d just fought the Sixth Realm Chaos.

  “Now, they’re obviously going to the gaol. It’s hard to cross the sea from Tenchi.” His words reminded him of the last of The Elite Four. “I wonder if Saki did it with that shabby raft.”

  There was a hint of worry in his tone.

  Unless you had save points in other countries, getting the death penalty in Tenchi while on the wanted list meant going straight to the gaol.

  The waters in the strait between Tenchi and the mainland were known to be extremely rough and full of powerful aquatic monsters. Crossing it alone was so extremely difficult that the only ones who succeeded were people like The Unsheath, Kashimiya.

  There was also the option to give up on the strait and take the long way through the ocean, but Tenchi was on bad terms with Granvaloa, who considered all the waters beyond Tenchi’s territorial waters to be their domain. This lack of insurance in case they were put on the wanted list was another reason why Masters in Tenchi were reluctant to commit crimes.

  “I hope Saki doesn’t cause too much trouble in Caldina or Huang He. Caldina’s ‘Blue Sky Songstress’ and Huang He’s ‘Fenghuang’ sound like the kind of people she couldn’t get along with...”

  Bigman was worried that his fellow Elite Four member would pick a fight with a foreign Superior and end up on a wanted list.

  “Even if that does happen, Hokugen’in has her back, so at least she wouldn’t lose all her save points and go to the gaol,” he thought out loud. “Speaking of that place...”

  Bigman looked up at the sky and thought of the mysterious place in an unknown location.

  “I wonder what kind of Superiors they have there. They must be pretty rough.”

  Martial artist that he was, he couldn’t help imagining the place full of powerful potential foes.

  It must be a war-torn hellhole that makes Tenchi pale in comparison...

  ◆◆◆

  April 3rd, 2045, gaol, Bow Hunter, Gerbera

  On a Monday afternoon, I logged in to the gaol and found a note on the counter.

  “Miss Gerbera,

  I have business to attend to in real life and won’t be able to return until evening.

  During my absence, the establishment will be closed, but feel free to eat whatever you find.”

  It said that our clan leader wasn’t here right now.

  “That’s rare,” I muttered.

  He’d been online almost all the time every day since I’d come here a few days ago. I’d only ever seen him log out to eat or use the bathroom. He even went to bed here.

  “Ah. So April’s here even when he’s gone,” I added. He must’ve set her to stay around, even when he was offline.

  You could also do this with tamed monsters, but since they could be killed or stolen while the Master was away, it was rarely used. April was once again just sitting in her chair, eyes closed. That seemed to be her default whenever not working.

  “He said ‘eat whatever you find,’ but...”

  There actually wasn’t that much food here.

  There were some ingredients in the fridge-shaped inventory with time-stopping function, but the only things that could be eaten just like that were the bread, and the ham and veggies for sandwiches.

  “Going out to eat... isn’t a good idea, either,” I murmured.

  The food in the gaol honestly wasn’t very good, which was only obvious, since there were no tians here, and the Masters were all criminals.

  Masters who did nothing more than run a restaurant or something wouldn’t end up in a place like this.

  There were no proper cooks with the “Cooking” sense skill, so you only had back-alley cooks who tried to do what they could with their real life cooking skill.

  So yeah, the gaol lacked good food.

  At first, I’d thought that our leader’s café was successful because he was the King of Crime, but it turned out that his good coffee and tea-cakes played a big part in that.

  He was actually good at cooking. Still, there had been a time when he was making nothing but popcorn.

  “He’s not here... so I guess I’ll just have to make something myself,” I muttered.

  “Eh?”

  Did I just hear April make a sound I never heard from her before? I’m just imagining it, right?

  Shaking my head to clear it from the distraction, I said, “I can make a berry pie out of this stuff.”

  I would have liked to make something more proper, but sweets and pastries were all I could do.

  “Thinking of sweets reminds me of my
life in Gideon,” I added nostalgically.

  They had tons of cafés and restaurants there. I’d always enjoyed lunch time back there. With all the places selling them, I hadn’t had to make any sweets myself.

  I wanna eat doughnuts from White Sugar Peach again, I thought longingly.

  “Anyway, it’s a pain, but I don’t wanna go through hell’s training on an empty stomach,” I decided.

  I prepared the cookware and ingredients, and made my first pie in a while.

  I remembered how to make it, so I just moved my hands based on my memory. I could feel the “hang of it” coming back to me. It reminded me of my days helping Mother make sweets.

  While I was busy, April had opened her eyes.

  “What?” I asked her.

  “...No-thing.” She was looking at me as though she was seeing something unbelievable.

  She’s a maid robot, so... did she notice something strange about my pie? Well, whatever. I’m making this for myself. If it’s not good, then it’s my own fault.

  Over two hours had passed before I was done.

  It had taken longer than expected. It wasn’t my lunch anymore, but a mid-afternoon snack.

  “Here goes...” I cut the freshly-baked berry pie, placed it on the plate, and began eating.

  It would be good both warm or cold, but I was hungry right now, so it was best to eat while it was still hot.

  Well... It was pretty good. It would’ve been better if I’d prepared for this, but it was makeshift, so this was probably the best I could have done.

  “I’m back,” our leader said as he suddenly logged in.

  Oh, you’re earlier than I expected.

  “Welcome back,” I said.

  “Oh...? What’s that?”

  “I baked a berry pie. Want some?”

  “...I might as well.”

  I took out a new plate and dished up some of my pie for him.

  Oh, I’ll also give him the candy art, I thought. Now that I think about it, I didn’t need it or the little peacock if I’m eating by myself.

  “Here I go...” he said as he took a bite.

  Ah. He fell silent, I thought. He didn’t like it? Is it because of the slime thing? But he’s human now, right?

  “I forgot to breathe,” he finally said.

  “Hm?”

  Breathe? You can survive without a head. Don’t talk like that matters to you.

  “Miss Gerbera, did you take Cook or Patissier jobs?” he asked.

  “No I didn’t. They weren’t in the training menu, were they?”

  “I see. That’s true. So this is all you. It’s like Shu...”

  What’s wrong with him today? He’s not the type to get lost in thought and mumble like that.

  “Miss Gerbera, could you please make some desserts for us to sell here?” he asked.

  “Sure, but it’s amateur work. Will that be fine?”

  I didn’t even have the Cooking skill. Could we really charge for the stuff I made? Then again, that wasn’t rare here in the gaol. Not even our leader had the skill.

  “...Yes, please,” he said.

  “Okay. I’ll make some in my spare time and put them in the fridge.”

  And so, I now had confectioning as part of my daily routine. Yup. That was my life now. Just another peaceful day in the gaol.

  Episode Two: Seniors

  April 4th, 2045, Reiji Mukudori

  It was the second day of college. Classes were over, and I was heading to relax in the café. Fuyuki had ended up not coming to college all of yesterday, but he’d come as normal today.

  The four of us — including Kasugai, who had come during second period yesterday, as planned — all scolded Fuyuki, telling him we were worried about him, and then sharing the info we’d gotten from sitting in the classes.

  Natsume also told him that he owed us lunch in the expensive cafeteria.

  Anyway, I parted ways with them, and it was time for me to build my timetable for Monday and Tuesday. I’d have to consider the balance between all the days, but I knew for sure that I wanted Monday’s first period open, since I’d probably spend most of my weekends logged in to Dendro for long periods. Quartierlatin surely wouldn’t be the last clash between Altar and Dryfe, so I had to dedicate as much time for Dendro as possible.

  ...That thought made me feel like Dendro had become a really big part of my life, but I was fine with that. I just had to take care of any Dendro trouble while being careful that I didn’t lose control of my life in reality. Of course, it would be best if there was no trouble at all.

  Specifically, I would have liked to avoid any more Superior-related trouble, but that seemed unlikely. Anyway, I’d save the thinking about Dendro trouble for when I came online. For now, I was just going to think about my real life, drink this fancy tea, and—

  “Heyoo! Hi, Ray! How’re ya?!” a voice came from behind me.

  It was akin to the insane ramblings of a cosmic horror, and it was coupled with a slap on my shoulder. It clearly wanted my attention, but I didn’t want to turn around, because I knew exactly what it was.

  “Ah. Those cream puffs look great. Don’t mind if I doooo!” The creature reached forward and took one of the 300 yen chou à la crèmes I had.

  The slender, beautiful fingers made me picture the tentacles of indescribable eldritch horrors lurking inside the deepest, darkest trenches of the ocean.

  “So what kinda tea’s that?” the person went on.

  ...No good. If I continued to ignore her, she’d probably take more of my snacks.

  “...Fuso,” I said as I turned around. “You’re not supposed to take people’s food without permission. What are you, Nemesis?”

  “Those words make me wonder about li’l Nemesis’s role,” said the cosmic aberration, AKA the Superior and my upperclassman, Tsukuyo Fuso.

  Not even real life could save me from encountering this Superior...

  “Hmm? Why’re ya lookin’ at me like I’m a monster?” she asked.

  You’re not a monster, but a yokai, I thought, not daring to say it. The Chou à la Crème Kitsune.

  “Oh dear, you look upset,” she said. “Sorry ’bout the cream puff. It looked so good that my hand moved on its own. I skipped lunch, so I’m hungry, too. Will you forgive me if I buy you somethin’? I can even get you somethin’ more expensive. A sponge cake? Parfait?”

  “Just get me a new chou à la crème,” I said.

  “’Kaaay... Didn’t take you for the type who’d be picky about food names.”

  “I’m just calling it by its name on the menu.”

  She went on to order some tea and snacks, and sat down on the chair in front of me.

  Ah! Damn it! We ended up sitting at the same table!

  “Boy, is it hard to meet when we’re in different departments,” she said, flopping back across from me.

  “Yeah...”

  “We had a good time chattin’ in the club room last time, didn’t we?”

  “That’s not how I remember it!”

  You dragged me in and held me down!

  “Details, details... How’re you doing these days?”

  “Fine, I guess,” I shrugged. “College is different than high school, so I’m still adjusting to the system. I’m making a timetable right n—”

  “I don’t wanna hear that boring stuff,” she cut me off.

  She just called everything I was up to “boring”...

  “I meant in Dendro,” the aberration continued. “What kinda deadly fights are ya gettin’ into recently?”

  “Why are you making it sound like I’m always on the verge of dying?” I demanded, looking back at the dangers I’d faced in Quartierlatin and being unable to deny her implication. “Well, I did go through some stuff after leaving Torne...”

  “Ah. Were you caught up in the trouble at Quartierlatin?” she asked, making it clear that unlike Natsume and Akiyama, she hadn’t seen the video.

  “No comment...”

  “Ahaha! ‘No
comment,’ he says!” I had no idea what was so funny, but she burst out laughing and started poking me in the cheek.

  Her nails weren’t sharp — probably because she was a medical student — but it kinda annoyed me.

  “Tell me if the trouble ends up hurtin’ ya. I’ll treat ya for a special price,” Miss Aberration said.

  “...How much are we talking?” I asked.

  “One heal and you join the club.”

  I could consider that much...

  “Two heals and you join The Lunar Society.”

  “Not happening!”

  I was against getting a death penalty just to fix a bad injury-type status effect, but I sure as hell wouldn’t pick anything worse!

  “Oh, that’s sooo mean.”

  “At least I’m not going around a university campus inviting people to my cult,” I shot back.

  Isn’t that forbidden? I fumed silently.

  “Hey, don’t be like that,” Miss Eldritch said. “That was just a joke. Look, the snacks are here, so let’s just have some tea. I need a break right now.”

  “Did something happen?” I asked slowly.

  “I had to hand in some reports. Today was the deadline, but... stuff happened on Saturday, so I had to get ’em done yesterday.”

  Reports? I thought. So even she can be a proper student, huh?

  She was a Superior in Dendro and the top of a cult both here and there, but now she seemed like a normal university girl. The “stuff on Saturday” must’ve been related to Mr. Shijima.

  ...Fine. I have her to thank for fixing my arm, so I could at least have some tea with her.

  “This all looks sooo good. Wanna feed me? Here! Ahhhh,” she said as she opened her mouth.

  This woman...

  “Nope,” I replied. “Also, isn’t that something you should ask your boyfriend?”

  “Boyfriend?”

  “Isn’t that what Tsukikage basically is?”

  She blinked a few times, then laughed out loud. “No no no no! We’re not like that.”

  “You aren’t?”

  “We’re childhood friends. Kage’s from the family that’s been serving mine for generations. He’s now my secretary and caretaker.”