by Mamare Touno
Well, uh, Rudy, your “pulchritudinous” is a bit strange, too.
…But Touya didn’t say it. The bewildered Rundelhaus was Touya’s precious older friend. Right now, he was also a member of his party and a fellow Adventurer.
“You go places with Isuzu quite a lot, too, Rudy.”
“As if I could let a lady walk alone. Mademoiselle Isuzu is a lovely woman. She might get pulled into something untoward.”
Touya’s tightly compressed lips crinkled into a wavy line, but he felt like patting himself on the back for having kept things at that level. He really liked this young blond guy.
The performance they’d just put on rose in his ears again. He felt itchy and impatient, and he wanted to break into a run.
“It doesn’t matter what it is. We’re friends either way.”
“Well, yes, perhaps, but…”
When Touya spoke, he did his best to look serious.
Rundelhaus tilted his head as if he wasn’t really convinced, but he did listen.
Then the conversation turned to their future plans.
They intended to follow the red clay highway to the Deserted Castle of Ariba. Although the Highway to the West didn’t run beside the ocean, it crossed the plains on the Pacific side of Yamato in a general way, linking Akiba with Minami. To get to their destination, the Redstone Mountains, they’d have to leave the highway at the Deserted Castle of Ariba, then take a smaller road, or they might be forced to travel through trackless mountains.
Touya didn’t hate combat.
Of course, it frightened him and grossed him out, and it hurt, but it seemed as though that only made his ties to his companions stronger, and it felt as if he’d accomplished something. Now that they were Adventurers in this other world, monsters were a reality. If they wanted to live here, it was best to have combat abilities.
“Starting tomorrow, we’ll be solidly in the Sakawa region, then.”
“Yeah. Can’t wait!”
“We should sleep soon. While traveling, Touya, one should avoid fatigue like the plague.”
The two of them lay down on their own beds.
Then they fell asleep, wholly satisfied.
3
On Earth, the Sakawa region was the plain that included Odawara.
Until now, Minori hadn’t been particularly good at geography, but in this world, she understood it with an ease that mystified her. When she thought, This is where we’re going to go, she grew interested, and things stayed in her mind.
According to Shiroe’s knowledge and the information she’d looked up in Akiba beforehand, this area was water-rich and focused on agriculture. It was dotted with small People of the Earth settlements, and the main crops were rice and wheat.
The enemies were mainly nature-types, and there were lots of Wild Dogs, Wild Boars, and plant monsters. However, even these lived in the forests and mountainous areas. The plains and farming villages weren’t absolutely safe, but the levels of the monsters they were relatively likely to run into were low, and so was the encounter rate.
Still, when they entered the Sakawa region, Minori’s group felt a faint tension, and they grew warier.
It was a slight difference—the scent of the wind, the rustle of the treetops—but it definitely reached them, telling them that something was off. In fact, in the half day since their departure, they’d seen monsters running away in the distance twice, and although they’d only been skirmishes, they had fought battles.
They hadn’t taken damage, of course, but it was a warning that something was different.
“I mean, there was a Dire Rat.”
“Yeah, that startled me…”
Even as they talked, the cart gradually made its way up an increasingly steep road to higher ground.
When, climbing slowly, they reached the top of the gentle slope, Minori’s group saw a pure white landscape. In that first moment, it looked like snow, but the faintly sweet fragrance that reached their noses told them it was flowers.
“Cherry trees?! Are those cherry trees?”
“No, Isuzu. Those are plums.”
Isuzu had leaned out, and Serara, who was supporting her, told her what they really were.
It appeared a region of plum trees was rising out of the chilly, early spring landscape.
“They smell so good!”
The scent of the blossoms was weak, but out in the fields, it had a definite presence.
On the hill’s descending slope, they saw that stone walls had been used to build terraces, showing that human hands had been at work here. The plum trees were planted here and there in the terraced fields. Possibly because someone had taken the amount of sunlight into consideration, this side of the hill was a forest of plum trees.
Minori and the others followed the road as it wound around the hill, heading west. It took them away from the direction they wanted to go, but there was a wide river ahead of them, and they’d have to choose a place to ford it.
The sea of white plum blossoms went on and on. Isuzu and Rudy were thoroughly impressed, and Serara provided commentary for the two of them and Touya. Apparently, just after the establishment of the Round Table Council last year, she and Nyanta had bought plums, pickled some of them, and made jam from the rest.
It was a bucolic sight.
The wind was still cold, but the light was bright and clear; the cart traveled in a warm pool of sun. As they approached the big river, the wind began to feel moist and the temperature fell, and even when they entered the shadows of the forest, the peaceful atmosphere was unbroken.
From deep in the woods, they heard People of the Earth shouting in unison, like teamsters.
They might have been doing farmwork. The five Adventurers listened to the voices, smiling a little.
It was when they were detouring through the woods along the river, looking for a place to cross, that the air changed. The dense growth shut out the light, and from inside it, they heard sharp screams and violent sounds. Instantly reclaiming the tension she’d felt since that morning, Minori picked up her nearby staff and held it at the ready in front of her chest.
“Minori, I’m going on ahead! Something’s there!”
“Touya! Oh, honestly!”
“What? What is it?!”
With a cry that was more like an oxygen-starved gasp than a scream, a sturdy man in brown and gray cold-weather clothes came tumbling out of the woods. He was a Person of the Earth. While they were looking at the man, people who were probably his companions came running out of the darkness behind him.
Touya leapt down from the driver’s seat, racing forward at several times the speed with which the other group was approaching them.
“Enemy attack! Get ready!” Minori shouted, then swung her staff and cast Purification Barrier on her little brother. The bestial breathing that was closing in on them from the forest belonged to an ogre.
Ogres were classified as evil demihumans.
They were considered to be similar to the goblins Minori and the others had fought in the village of Choushi.
Ogres were taller than goblins, and their builds were comparatively powerful. They were stoop-shouldered, but if they stood up straight, they were about as tall as Touya, and they were stronger than goblins as well. However, they were bad at working together and acting in groups, and they weren’t particularly good at using weapons.
High-level goblins had full sets of weapons and gear, tamed Dire Wolves and other animals, and were very occasionally able to use magic.
Even at high levels, ogres wore almost no armor. They got bigger and bigger, and their strength and endurance rose. They used a strange kind of magic known as “black magic.” Ogres that had been given names, like Ooe, appeared in quests, so named ones could be said to be one of the famous types.
Both ogres and goblins were seen across a wide range of levels, from low- to midlevel. It was said that when Elder Tales had been a game, they had been distributed across regions in order to bring out each area’s dis
tinctive characteristics.
There were many goblins in the field zones of eastern Japan, from Kanto to Tohoku. Ogres were also found west of the Chubu region. Parenthetically, Shikoku was home to lizardmen, while orcs lived in Kyushu. Each area had had its own forces and distinctive quests.
These were all things Shiroe had taught her.
According to what Shiroe had said, the levels of most of the monsters along the highway were low. Of course, he’d told her that the world’s transformation had probably affected things and that they should be careful, but even so, something about this felt wrong.
They’d encountered a level-21 ogre in broad daylight. True, at this point, it wasn’t a tough enemy for their group, but wasn’t it the sort of monster they should have met in the woods or mountains, far from the road?
“Wolfie!”
Beside Minori, who was growing warier due to the feeling that something wasn’t right, Serara had gotten down from the cart and was summoning her servant. The Gray Wolf that appeared was cute and still roly-poly, not yet full-grown. Cloaked in shining magic, he circled around to the front of the group of People of the Earth. He’d gone to guard them.
“It’s a start, at least,” Serara said, eyes focused and intent.
She’d sensed the same wrongness, and instead of vainly trying to follow Touya, she’d made a general-purpose move. This made it possible for her to go forward.
“What’s the situation, Mademoiselle Minori?”
“Ogres came out of the forest. They’re chasing People of the Earth. Rescue and protect them!”
As Minori shouted and broke into a run, she passed the leading Person of the Earth, who stumbled from fatigue and fell. Touya had already gone farther ahead and was locked in combat with the ogres. There were three enemies, levels 22, 22, and 21.
Strangely enough, their levels were nearly the same as those of the skeletons they’d fought in Forest Ragranda. However, in the six months since that summer training camp, Minori and the others had grown much stronger. Putting her level 54 magic behind it, she cast Mirror’s Mystic Spell. A magic mirror appeared in front of her, and the projectiles of light it unleashed pierced the monsters, which had bright red skin and vicious faces. At the same time, they healed Touya’s scratches and scrapes.
After the missiles had run the ogres through, Touya landed an additional attack with Izuna Cutter. Using the momentum, he spun halfway around, shifting directly into Floating Boat Crossing, then into Fire-Wheel Sword. Samurai’s accuracy and damage were lower than those of an Attack class, but this trick compensated for it. Even as he scattered his attacks, he cut the monsters’ lines of sight, continuing to take positions that protected Minori, his guard.
“Minori, the woodcutters are all right!” From behind them, Serara shouted a report.
At the same time, Frost Spear drew a clean trajectory and blew off one of the ogres’ arms.
If this was how things were, they’d be okay. They were overpowering three monsters with only half of their party’s firepower.
They’d all grown enough, both in terms of levels and fighting style. More than enough.
“Don’t get careless! Fifteen more!”
A clear, carrying voice they didn’t recognize rang out from the forest, and then the trees ejected a clump of monsters. They were unfamiliar ones, shaped like black mist.
Due to the strict training she’d received from Shiroe and Naotsugu, Minori responded by drawing one leg back, taking an alert stance, and then checking their statuses.
Nightshade Servants. Level 40.
These were much tougher enemies than the ogres, and there were fifteen of them. Quickly, Minori ran some calculations. If she recalled correctly, Nightshades were spirit monsters. Spirit monsters’ lineage gave them high endurance regarding attribute damage. Dark spirits had the ability to withstand toxins and mental attacks, and they were also highly resistant to instant death.
Servant indicated the role and rank of a monster in the same category. It was a sign that, among Nightshades, these monsters had relatively low combat power. Even so, level 40 was just ten levels below Minori’s group, and in this post-Catastrophe world, that meant these weren’t opponents they could afford to be reckless with.
They could probably win. However, the People of the Earth might take damage. There were too many of them to protect properly. That was what they were up against.
Without hesitating, Touya roared out Samurai’s Challenge.
He was letting Minori take command:
“Rundelhaus, concentrate your firepower and finish off the ogres! Isuzu, focus on defense!”
“Leave it to me! Orb of Lava!”
“Sturdy Pastoral!”
They’d probably been on standby. Rundelhaus’s fireball flew in immediately, punching through two of the ogres and finishing them off. Timing his move to that, Touya retreated a distance of about ten paces in one jump. Their ranks had extended too far. He’d retreated in order to condense them, and he’d made the right decision.
On the other hand, Touya and Minori were on the front line, and the People of the Earth group was still behind them. Serara and Isuzu were guarding them directly, so they didn’t think anything too bad would happen, but there were limits on how far they could retreat.
Even as they did this, the Nightshade Servants moved their mist-shrouded forms to attack Touya. But he’d refined his swordsmanship; while they weren’t the sort of moves he would have used in kendo, he’d learned from Akatsuki and Soujirou, as well as Naotsugu, and he was learning the key points of diverting enemy attacks.
Minori shot glances in all four directions. The woman who’d warned them was probably in the woods. Depending on the situation, they’d have to save her, too.
However, as if ignoring Minori’s wary thoughts, a bespectacled woman emerged from the forest at a run, crashing through the undergrowth, her pure white coat flaring behind her. She sent a soundless torrent of energy from the tip of her staff, turning two of the Nightshade Servants iridescent. Then she raised her staff again.
“Servant Summoning: Princess Lace!”
Servant Summonings were a basic Summoner attack method: Monsters called “servants” were called in and put to work. Since there were no time limits, a Summoner’s fighting power was a combination of the Summoner’s own power and that of their servants, equal to the other eleven classes at the same level. On its own, Servant Summoning wasn’t a very powerful spell.
However, that was if they were on the same level.
Cloaked in shining level-90 magic, the woman and her servant ran across the battlefield, routing the enemy.
Summoners’ spells could never be called first-class, but the female Adventurer played her cards magnificently, using her servant, Princess Lace, to blast death-dealing energy waves, destroying the Nightshade Servants in rapid succession.
Facing Minori’s group and the stunned People of the Earth, she adjusted her glasses with a humorous gesture and raised her voice.
“Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Roe2, a Summoner. I’m on my way to Minami, and…I suppose you’d call me a traveling Vampanella.”
Standing before Minori and the others was a Summoner in a pure white coat and round glasses.
4
The People of the Earth who’d fled from the forest were woodcutters, and they explained that the ogres had attacked them while they were working. Minori’s group split up to retrieve their tools: the axes and racks slung on their backs they had flung away in their escape.
The People of the Earth could have gone to pick them up, of course, but it was possible that there were still hostile beings in the woods.
Minori and the others weren’t obligated to help them. Even though no one had actually suggested it, they naturally accepted the job of guarding the People of the Earth. Minori decided it was too late for them to back out now, since, if people they’d saved once ended up being attacked in the woods a second time, it would leave a bad taste in their mouths.
She was a high-level Summoner, but according to her, she “wasn’t good with sunlight.” As a result, she said, she’d been traveling through forests or mountains all this time.
When they’d collected the tools and were ready to set off again, a staggering fact came to light. Thanks to Minori’s Damage Interception spell, the red beams of light the Nightshade Servants had fired had veered away from Touya, but the stray shots had struck the group’s horses. The twin animals had been badly injured, but even so, they’d taken off running and disappeared beyond the horizon. Even their item, Lyman’s Twin Horse Whistle, was cracked. Because of the recast time, they weren’t able to check right away, but even if that hadn’t been the case, the damage was bad enough that they were hesitant to use it again before getting it repaired.
As a result, Touya and Isuzu ended up taking the cart to the local village.
Even if their levels were still in the fifties, they had Adventurer strength. As long as speed wasn’t an issue, walking while pulling the cart was easy.
The People of the Earth—the woodcutters and their boss, Haze—were walking in any case. Since they were traveling together, this was actually more convenient.
Serara and her servant wolf led the way. The wolf pup, a ball of light gray, was a bundle of curiosity; it kept busily shoving its snout into the bushes on either side, sniffing the scents, then returning to Serara and yapping in a cute little voice as if to report its findings.
Touya was pulling the cart. Haze and three of his assistants walked warily beside the boy.
Isuzu was the one in charge of pushing the cart from behind. Technically, Rundelhaus was next to her, doing the same thing—“It would be unseemly to force all the manual labor onto a lady,” he’d said—but class differences were cruel, and even when they were the same level, Bards (a Weapon Attack class) were stronger than Sorcerers (a Magic Attack class.)
