Now I could take vengeance upon the dreaded caterpillar! Probably!
Well, I needed to get strong enough to win against the caterpillars anyway. I wouldn’t be able to leave the forest otherwise.
I could use [Reroll] twice now, but its usefulness was still very much in doubt. The ability to retry after a failure sounded amazing at first, but the only success I’d had with this skill was the time I forced the caterpillar to miss its biting attack. Furthermore, when rerolling, there was still the possibility that I’d fail again. Also, the skill used the specific words “required magic power”, which probably meant that the more powerful the attack I used it on, the more magic it’s going to take. 10 magic points was just for dodging the caterpillar’s bite.
And finally, I was a spiritual life-form. My combat ability would drop like a rock if my magic went low.
…so I supposed my unique skill would have to stay unused for the time being. Perhaps it could be a trump card.
There were a few new discoveries.
Total Combat Power of monsters and creatures which had hit points didn’t drop when they lost magic power, but did when they lost a large amount of hit points. Such creatures normally didn’t look very powerful. Only when they entered combat and spent magic would they exert power equivalent to their Total Combat Power.
In contrast, spiritual life-forms like me didn’t have hit points, because our magic was our life force itself. Both my magic and Total Combat Power would drop upon receiving damage. In return, magic points regenerated faster over time than hit points, and I could always attack with the full power of my Total Combat Power without spending magic.
Spiritual life-forms weren’t actually that weak. Still, I couldn’t help but felt it unfair.
Also, there were still no signs I’d come any closer to learning [Identification].
That was my situation. For the time being, I planned on continuing to gain as much strength as I could.
Currently, for a flawless victory against the snakes, I would need to attack from ambush. I’d like to get strong enough to win without a scratch in a head-on fight, at least.
I moved through the forest, slowly enough to not get dizzy, while wondering if there was any convenient prey nearby. Then, I spotted a presence some distance away. I focused my 360-degrees-fullscreen vision upon that direction.
Ah, that’s a red caterpillar. The woods gave way to a small clearing of sunlight and flowers. There the caterpillar lay, chewing on a few petals.
Huh, surprisingly powerful. Wait, it had a scar on its back. Could it be the same red caterpillar that killed me the first time? It had a darker shade now, though.
I see… it killed me to level up, didn’t it?
What should I do? It was stronger than me, so I didn’t really want to fight it. Since my death, I had already regained my strength and then some. Another death penalty would hurt a ton.
Yet at the same time, I wasn’t sure if I would ever have the chance to meet the same caterpillar again, in the same forest. I still remembered very clearly the pain of having my body shaved away, bit by bit.
If possible, I wanted my revenge.
Both of us had gotten stronger since then, but I also learned how to move my body and how to fight. A straight fight wouldn’t be easy. I might be able to win with an ambush, if I do it right.
My chances weren’t zero. Its combat power was only 20% higher. A strong first hit from ambush should give me the advantage.
And finally, I was the faster one now. I could just run away if the fight turned out bad.
I made my decision and climbed up a nearby tree. From branch to branch I moved, approaching my target. The red caterpillar was right in the center of a flower bed, which had no trees growing, but the clearing was only 5 meters large. I should be able to reach it by jumping from a protruding branch.
Wriggling, oozing, following the branches. I’d gotten used to the way this body moves, but that nauseous feeling of disconnect was still there.
I took aim… and… now!
I flew from the branch. As I dropped down right on top of the red caterpillar, I stretched out a whip of dough and slammed on its back.
Good, that’s thirty percent gone. Not only that, it looked like I hit it right in its old wound and ripped it open, which staggered it and somewhat reduced its combat power. At this point, we were equal in power. With my superior speed, I held the advantage, if only slightly.
I landed, splattering myself on the flower bed. It looked at me and finally realized it was under attack. The red caterpillar roared in rage, its body turning a darker shade.
Wait, that’s not the normal screech it usually did…
And then I heard the answering shrieks. Around the flower bed arrived three more red caterpillars. Really? Really?
Were they minions? Subordinates? A harem? I once heard that in insects, the females are generally bigger, so was this a reverse harem? Damn bitch, you’ve let power gone to your head!
They were smaller and weaker than the first red – well, dark-red now – caterpillar I encountered, but still much stronger than the snakes.
The plan had failed. Time to run.
Four caterpillars in four directions, all coming for me. I jumped towards the one opposite the dark-red.
It screamed, raising its head like a snake and spat acid. I dodged, flying like a butterfly… if butterflies didn’t have wings and were made of soggy clay, anyway.
My tentacle smashed into its head. Oh, it hurt a bit. Did I hit its fang? Was there still acid left? Anyway, I should try to avoid attacking the face from now on.
It started to squirm and writhe, seemingly in a great amount of pain from my counterattack. Hey, squirm somewhere else, would you? You’re blocking my escape path.
Meanwhile, the other three had caught up.
A screech accompanied another projectile. Wait, fire? Fire, not acid?! That dark-red caterpillar just spat fire at me! Impressive range, too. The fire mercilessly burned both me and the red caterpillar. Such cruelty.
I was going to get bogged down, at this rate. The last red caterpillar hadn’t come any closer, seemingly the careful type, while the dark-red spat fire once again. The bug I was fighting attempted another bite, caring not one whit for the approaching mass of flame. I moved, putting it between me and the projectile, and then fire covered the both of us.
[Reroll]
All the fire around me suddenly moved to light up the red caterpillar, while I was unharmed. Thank god it worked!
And there was the expected crash in magic points and combat power. The damage might have been lower if I just let the projectile hit me, true, but that was part of the plan.
The caterpillar was near-death, now. All-out attack!
These bugs did seem to be quite soft, comparatively. After hitting the doubly-cooked red caterpillar a few times, the mist was released.
That was a good boost of power. Plus, my spent magic was replenished, if only a little bit.
Seeing its fallen comrade, the dark-red caterpillar howled.
Now even the careful caterpillar was joining the fight, seemingly scared of the wife’s anger. It circled around and spat acid at me. That was pretty smart, for a caterpillar. For a moment, I wondered if it was one of the other secret alpha testers, but despite the intelligence, it wasn’t human-smart.
I moved between the two bugs and squished myself down. Both of them spat out their respective projectiles at the same time, which only whiffed right above me and went on to hit each other.
The dark-red lost itself in its howling rage and changed target to the acid-spitter. I took the chance to finish off the very first burn victim of the dark-red.
And that one got quite a bit stronger too, but as I expected, it didn’t regain any lost life. Low magic power, too. That fire projectile attack must have been expensive.
…also, it turned out that the identified names weren’t the actual, official names. They changed according to my perception.
It still had higher combat power than me, but I’d come this far. I wouldn’t run.
I provoked it with a hop and once again it spat fire, still ruled by anger.
Now, there were no longer any obstacle to take the hit for me, so [Reroll] would surely be a lot more expensive than last time. And it was probably going to fail again anyway.
So I didn’t even try to dodge. It burned. It hurt so much I would have cried if I still had my tear ducts, but I rushed forward anyway and started a melee fight head-on.
Three minutes since the brawl began, the dark-red caterpillar suddenly weakened, its hits no longer hurting me as much. Just as I expected.
Zero magic points would leave it unconscious. So if it couldn’t use any magic, it wouldn’t be able to access its full strength. Just a big caterpillar, nothing more.
The scuffle went on for some time, and finally the dark-red went down. My victory was rewarded with the familiar mist.
I’d heard that when players die, they lose 10% of their stats, but then why did I lose a whole half of mine? Was it just how it work for monsters? Or was it just for spiritual life-forms like me? Damn it, I had no idea.
Could it be? Could it possibly be that spiritual life-forms were incredibly weak?
At least my magic recovered over time. I had just a single magic point when I respawned. At the time, I seriously thought there was no way to progress any further.
My body shrank due to losing half my magic, which allowed me to hide within a hollow tree. What should I do now…? If I immediately died again, my character would probably be deleted, right?
The AI said my inventory would be dropped at my point of death, but this Identification Crystal still stayed with me. I wasn’t sure why. Perhaps it was because the crystal was a basic item for new players, or perhaps because I kept it inside my body. Anyway, thank god for that.
There had been a few discoveries while I was holing up in this tree.
My magic recovered by 1 approximately each hour. I didn’t know if this was a flat increase of 1, or if it was a 10% recovery, since my current maximum magic was exactly 10. The things I could do would be different, depending on which it was.
After using [Identification] on a few wild animals passing by my tree, I found out something. If I lost all my magic power, it’s over for me, but when normal animals’ magic points dropped to zero, they just fainted. They only died when their hit points dropped to zero.
…is this normal?
Next, when normal animals lost some magic points, their combat power still stayed the same. However, their magic points would drop bit by bit when in combat. I didn’t know whether it was because they used magic to attack, because combat itself took magic power, or because they strengthened themselves magically.
I saw a snake attacking a squirrel. When the squirrel died, the snake sucked up some kind of mist from its corpse.
I could see pretty well despite the darkness. Was it just how the game was, or was it because I was a monster?
And finally, there was a drone beetle. It approached me, thinking I was some kind of tree sap and I killed it, but I didn’t get any stronger.
At any rate, I needed to find a way to fight. Judging from appearances, the only things weaker than that caterpillar that I could find were the ‘snakes’, the ‘field mice’, and the ‘squirrels’.
Which meant that the caterpillar was the weakest monster in this forest. And right now, I was much weaker than it.
Just using my unique skill, [Reroll], to make the caterpillar miss already ate up around 10 of my magic power, so it wasn’t practical at the moment.
But there was one good thing that came from that mess. All that desperate running around helped me get used to this body, and the nausea was much more tolerable now.
Not much of a silver lining, really.
Anyway, my next goal was to get strong enough to kill a squirrel.
***
There should be a way to leverage my doughiness, I thought. Which resulted in my current attempt to ambush a squirrel from above a tree. I dropped and covered it with my whole body.
At first, the squirrel violently resisted. It suffocated and stopped moving after a while, and I absorbed some kind of mist from it. Hmm, I didn’t feel anything different…
Yup, nothing changed. And the corpse was still here. What do I do with it?
Do I eat it? How? I wasn’t going to melt it down like normal slimes. Even my own doughy body looked far tastier.
Well, I couldn’t do anything about it, so I just left it there… was this really fine, though? I only had my theoretical knowledge. It wasn’t like I’d ever played a game before.
Since then, I killed another two mice with the same method. Finally, something changed.
Both my magic power and combat power rose by 1. It was just a single point, but it did increase. It made me happy, true, but mostly I just felt relieved.
Ah, another snake showed up, attracted by the corpse. It looked like my body had some pretty sharp senses. I managed to learn how to detect ‘presences’ now, somehow.
I swiftly and carefully snuck my way up the tree, back to my old ambush spot. The snake still hadn’t noticed me.
My handling of my body had gotten much better. I was probably as fast as that caterpillar now. Not exactly an impressive achievement, I know.
The feeling of being an indistinct mass still made me nauseous, but little by little, it had gotten better. Tolerable, now.
I hid myself on the tree and looked down. The 1-meter long snake slithered toward the mouse I killed – oh, wait, another snake showed up.
The two began to intimidate each other over the meal.
Huh, snakes were weak. Still stronger than me and squirrels, though. Also, Identification Crystal, you didn’t even put any thought into naming them, did you?
They hissed.
…can you two please do this somewhere else? You’re messing up my plans here. I could just not peep and go elsewhere, but I was afraid I’d accidentally run across another snake or caterpillar in the process.
Both of them were about the same strength. Perhaps that was why none of them were willing to back off and miss out on a fresh meal. They began fighting.
Both of them twisted, turned, and generally just tried to constrict the other. The fight looked… really boring. After some time, one of them finally landed a bite on the other’s neck.
Yup, boring. It kept biting for a while, then won the fight just like that. Again, the winner absorbed the mist-like thing from the loser.
Hey, I just got my magic back up again! You damn reptile!
In my anger, I started to flail about. From my doughy body came whips to bash, to kick, to punch, and generally just throwing a tantrum right on the snake. I didn’t even know what I was doing.
The snake’s body cooled down, perhaps running out of magic. Then a few of my tentacles hit its head, but they were deflected.
…eh? Really?
The snake gave a few twitches, which stopped after I covered its head and squeezed. My body sucked in the mist from the corpse.
So, I got stronger when I won and absorbed the mist. Was that mist the snake’s magic? Vitality? I guess I’ll just call it ‘life force’.
My guess – huh, it’d been a lot of guessing and hypothesizing, hadn’t it? – was that for monsters and animals that had physical bodies, their Total Combat Power enumerated the power they had only when they strengthened themselves with magic, while spiritual life-forms like me always fought with 100% of my Total Combat Power.
I had always thought spiritual life-forms to be weak, but if this hypothesis proved true, I needn’t be. Hopefully.
Also, please let me learn [Identification] already.
I sighed in relief. Finally managed to get inside the game. This ‘experiment’ thing was suspicious, admittedly, but it’d still be better living conditions compared to my former orphanage.
The aura of light covering me faded. My body, formerly human, was converted into the Demon avatar I chose.
Bright, too bright! My head hurt from the 360 degrees vision I now had. I was seeing from every part of my body, instead of just my eyes. I did get the explanation, but experiencing it myself was quite intense…
The closer the simulation got to reality, the worse the feeling of disconnect became. Apparently, just a few years ago, the syndrome didn’t even exist. Not surprising considering that at the time, VR couldn’t simulate smells, and systems only used vibration to fake the sense of touch.
The corporation said they wanted to implement ‘PvP between human and monster players’, but if processing visual information alone was this bad, I’m pretty sure it’s not going to happen any time soon. Well, I mean, I guess that’s why they needed testers…
Which reminded me, they said secret alpha testers would have their sensitivity to pain and the senses turned to maximum, but I’d hoped they would use my physical data to tweak the finer details. The problem was whether they’d do it before their data gathering finished or not… I probably shouldn’t have much hope here.
So, half a year. Half a year like this, with zero rest… I guessed that was why the AI said this race wasn’t recommended. Yet still, when it asked me what I wanted to be, this was the only choice I could think of.
My vision twisted and turned, like seeing through a kaleidoscope inside a churning whirlpool. Without the ability to even close my eyes, I decided to stay still for… somewhere around an hour. Finally, the feeling abated to a level I can bear. Perhaps my brain finally managed to process all this visual information.
Urgh… I felt like puking. My head still spun from the dizziness and nausea, but I couldn’t give up here. They wouldn’t allow the secret alpha testers to give up here.
Still, the rest was worthwhile. I could finally look around. And even I, a girl who normally kept a tight lid on her emotions, was amazed by what I saw.
I’d heard that you couldn’t distinguish VR games these days from real life, but this was far beyond what I expected. A light breeze, rustling leaves, shadows and dappled sunlight dancing on the ground, the wind carrying the smell of grass, of earth, and of water. All this, I felt.
This was a forest. Around me were trees, trees, and more trees. No signs of civilization anywhere. Nothing here…
No, wait. I was a ‘monster’ right now. I had a feeling bad things would happen if I got close to a human village. If this world was as realistic as was explained to me, human and monsters were enemies.
But I had more important things to worry about. The moment I understood what was around me, finally, I also understood what I was.
…a white slime? Not the bouncy, stretchy type, but a dripping, sticky slime made of thick liquid. I looked like somebody mixed up some watery dough or oobleck, then dropped the whole thing on the ground. How does this work? Could I move? I was drawing blanks on this body’s mechanics of locomotion.
It took me a few moments to realize there was a small, coin-sized piece of crystal on the ground near me. What was this thing…?
As I imagined stretching my arms, a piece of slime flew out and wrapped around the crystal.
Aaaahh… right. Don’t think about moving. Just do it.
At the same time, it didn’t actually feel like I was moving my arms, but rather, something shot out from my shoulder. It was terribly uncomfortable.
Anyway, the crystal. What was it? This perfect sphere couldn’t have naturally formed… oh, right, virtual reality. That meant it should be some kind of item…
[Identification Crystal] - 98/99
・This crystal ball allows one to identify one’s own power and other game items.
・This is a bonus item for first-time players. One can buy a similar item in large cities, but they’re only usable 10 times.
・Looking into the crystal allows one to know the general strength of the target.
※It may be possible to learn how to identify without a crystal. Do your best!
…an identification item?
I only thought about what this thing could be, and a message appeared inside my mind. What was this number? On a whim, I used the crystal to look at a nearby tree…
[Tree] 97/99
[Magic Points: 5]
Yup, got it. The tree wasn’t a game item, so I couldn’t get any details on it. In contrast, the crystal was one, so there was plenty of information – at least, that was my standing theory. Magic points… was that the MP thing? Even trees had that? According to the extremely detailed language pack and game information pack installed in my mind, “the world was filled with mana”. This might be what it meant.
Wait, the number dropped… Was that “97/99” after the info box supposed to be the remaining uses of the Identification Crystal? It said I could buy something similar in towns, but monsters couldn’t enter towns, right?
“Possible to learn how to identify without a crystal…” I really hoped I could do that before I ran out of uses. At any rate, I still had to use it one more time. On me.
…so I guess I was pretty weak? The description did say “extremely fragile”, and I only had four times the magic points of a tree. I’d admit I hadn’t ever played a game before, but judging from the information jammed inside my head, wasn’t it supposed to show more details like my strength, speed, and whatnot?
Let’s see… if I remembered correctly, this game was about defeating enemies and getting stronger, right? Who is the enemy? Will they be easy enough opponents for me? Actually, how do I fight? Wait, more importantly, can I move at all?
I imagined myself moving forward… It worked, but eerghh, so nauseous…
That aside, I was curious about this Unique Skill thing. Sounded kinda cool. I started wondering about the details of the skill, and immediately some text appeared.
[Unique Skill: Reroll] 95/99
・Uses up magic power. If activated upon a failed skill check, you will reroll the result.
・The more severe the failure, the more the required magic power.
・Bonus skill. Use of this skill is limited to secret testers.
I can use this… right? It said the skill was a bonus, but I was pretty sure they were just testing to see whether using it mentally affected the user or not anyway. Also, the skill itself wasn’t exactly surprising.
I knew why I have it.
I started moving. Every time I tried to go anywhere, it felt like being pushed from a cliff while blindfolded. After a while, I realized my surroundings had gotten dark.
…half a day and I probably didn’t even move more than 3 meters.
The nausea constantly assaulting me was my brain’s interpretation of the feeling of disconnect due to my extremely inhuman body. There was nothing wrong with my body, which was currently in cold sleep. It was all in the mind… so I could only power through it.
I wondered if the other secret alpha testers had to go through the same thing. I didn’t have a chance to have a decent talk with them, and I don’t think I ever would. One hundred of us, spread all over this huge world. The possibility of us meeting was infinitesimal.
A bigger problem here was encountering the ten thousand beta testers. I couldn’t speak at the moment, so it was likely I would just be killed on the spot if I ever met one of them. I couldn’t even run.
Dying several times in a row would get your character deleted. I’m sure the corporation wouldn’t allow me to try again if that happened, and I’d lose that paid-living-expenses-for-10-years reward, too.
Maybe they’d know I’m a player if I showed them my Identification Crystal…? Anyway, I should find somewhere safe before it got dar-
I heard something.
Some distance away from me was a red… thing. It looked like a caterpillar. It reared its head, like a snake trying to intimidate, and screeched.
Was it just an insect? Or perhaps… a monster? It looked strangely powerful, probably because of the scars I saw on its back.
Crap! The red caterpillar spat something at me. Yuck!
I tried to dodge – tried being the key word. The movement itself made me want to hurl. Next came the scorching heat and pain – as much as this body could recognize pain, anyway.
But the pain wasn’t the worst thing. No, it was the disturbing sense of my body eroding bit by bit. The feeling scared me so much I accidentally used the Identification Crystal.
Did spiritual life-forms have magic itself as their bodies?! And my combat power was tied to my magic?
I tried to run even as my mind was floundering in confusion, and the caterpillar gave chase. Holy hell were we slow, both of us! I oozed, it crawled. Yet it was still faster than me, even if only slightly.
My power dropped again, yet the caterpillar’s didn’t! This must be the difference between spiritual lifeforms and normal monsters. Also, I used the crystal way too often! It had limited uses, damn it!
Shit, it caught up! It’s biting me! Ouch, ouch! It felt like my own existence was being gouged out!
Right, my unique skill!
[Reroll]
The caterpillar tried to bite me again, but the moment its fangs were about to pierce me, they hit only air. Huh…? I got out of that attack, but was that it?
Author’s Note: Here’s my new series, and it begins with a VRMMORPG setting.
The starting arc is a bit dark, but the MC will be slowly getting stronger. Become the bunny girl you were meant to be, protagonist!
She’s 11 years old yet quite worldly in some aspects, so she doesn’t really act her age.
Well then, until she gets her vengeance, let us all watch over the journey of “The White Girl”.
“Yggdrasia welcomes you!”
Virtual reality (VR), as known to the public, began its first steps with a purely visual-and-aural-only system. In time, VR soon managed to replicate all sensations, and full-dive systems became the norm. The technology quickly made itself indispensable in a multitude of industries.
Some years later, the Avatar System was born: a technology that made use of Avatar bodies – crafted from electronics, special proteins and enzymes – to allow one to do dangerous work or journey the world from the comfort of their own homes through virtual reality.
And of course, it was also the heyday for VR games. Worlds of dreams and fantasy were realized upon servers, only limited by the human imagination. People waited with bated breath for the next invention, the next leap forward.
That was when a conglomerate, hailing from a certain first-world country, joined the VRMMO scene. They began recruiting beta testers for their MMORPG from all over the planet.
Created by a corporation famed for their work in the medical and defense industry and sponsored by the government, the game instantly became famous worldwide. Three millions people applied, fighting over the ten thousand slots allowed for the beta test. So grand, so fascinating was the newly-revealed world, that people wondered if this wasn’t actually interdimensional travel instead.
Applicants were chosen based on their age, sex, character, employment, education, health, criminal history, and other factors. And for the lucky ten thousand, what awaited them was the world they’ve been salivating over: Yggdrasia. A land centered around the towering World Tree, and ninety-nine of its saplings supported the continents with a combined size equivalent to Earth.
A tuxedo-clad stuffed dog appeared. The tester needed a guide to Yggdrasia, so the AI created one. The tester showed no reaction, and the guide kept quiet in return, until it found the right words, selected out of the millions of possible answers it has been programmed with.
“My, my. Young lady, you’re quite the adorable rabbit, aren’t you?”
She said nothing.
When the Avatar System was established, the biggest problem it encountered was the disconnect between the human controller’s perception and the avatar’s.
To put it simply, the disorder was caused by the differences between the human controller’s sex, physique, bone structure, height of field of view, length of limbs, or other such major characteristics and the avatar’s own. Subtle differences in facial details and hair colors, however, weren’t a problem. Even if their avatars did have major differences, no symptoms would show as long as the users keep their operation time short. It was constant, long-term avatar use that was the trigger, and in some cases, the user would start experiencing symptoms of mental rejections.
Once symptoms showed, as long as users rested for a few days without using VR, they would experience no lasting effects. But if they continued for several days, their psyches would begin to destabilize, with some users reporting nausea and anxiety.
The first solution to this problem was to lower the avatar’s sensitivity, but the decision was reversed after the deluge of complaints coming from users who had been spoiled by the realism. The simplest solution, as decided upon by the VR industry and the medical association, was just to warn users to “use an avatar as similar to yourself as possible”.
This decision prompted the VR device makers to began incorporating full-body scanners into their product as the standard, and most VR services strongly recommended their customers to copy their appearance to use as their avatars.
Of course, the game industry was no exception. Players were allowed some leeway through changing their age setting, but in most cases, their avatars were almost carbon copies of their real bodies.
Thus, our tester, as appeared in the AI guide’s room for her initial game settings, looked the same as her scanned body in real life. If there was a real human supervising this process, they would have immediately intervene when they heard the AI call the tester “an adorable rabbit”.
According to the AI’s preliminary information, the girl in front of it was a Japanese emigrant, 11 years old. Suffered from a congenital absence of pigmentation – an albino.
She was quite a bit smaller than the average for her age. She wore a simple white dress reminiscent of hospital gowns. Her arms and legs, peeking out from the dress, were barely better than twigs. On a closer look, you could see what seemed to be bruises dotting her white skin.
True, she could be considered cute, and true, her slightly scruffy white hair and scarlet eyes set into a permanent glare did make her look like a rabbit, but if an actual human with real emotions was to see her, they wouldn’t call her “cute”. They’d say she looked “pitiful”.
The albino stayed silent, showing no signs she heard the AI. After the required time had elapsed for the program, the stuffed dog changed its pose and began the next explanation.
“Well then, miss. Allow me to explain about the world of Yggdrasia!”
At the center of Yggdrasia was a giant, towering World Tree, and from it spawned ninety-nine Saplings to bless the lands. They attracted the race of Humans, and around the Saplings, thirty-three major and sixty-six minor countries formed out of the myriads of villages, towns, cities, and metropolitans. Population of major countries started from a few millions to tens of millions citizens, or for minor countries, hundreds of thousands to a few millions.
The Humans’ civilization looked like a mix of real-life medieval and early modern age history – if we ignored the existence of Magical Tools. Much like electrical appliances, these devices utilized Mana to serve the same purposes, and they were affordable enough even for most commoners. In larger cities, people could live, if not like a king, then at least quite comfortably.
Even carriages, trains, and ships used magical engines. Despite the world being Earth-sized, transportation and travelling were relatively simple.
Yggdrasia was filled with the power of magic, or to be more precise, Mana. Most combat centered around the use of melee weapons, magic, or rarely, single-shot magically-powered muskets.
All players were Humans, but Human was not the only race. There were also Elves, Dwarves, Beastmen, Dragonkins, and many other races of Demihuman. They lived in settlements and colonies deep inside forests and mountains, far away from Human countries. Next, there were Goblinoids and Monster races such as Goblins, Orcs, Ogres and more, who opposed all Humankind.
To raise the stakes, the game featured a death penalty: lowered magic power, 10% decrease in stats, and dropping inventory items. In case the player had not set a respawn point, they would revive at a random location near their former death. If the player died again without raising their stats back, their character will be deleted.
Pain was simulated, but only by 10%. Players would still feel the shock of being hit even if they lowered their pain setting to the minimum.
Criminal activities would be punished following the laws of the local country, with jail time as one of the possible punishments. Players could fight each other, but if they were caught by law enforcement (in case it was murder and not a consensual duel) and received a long enough sentence, their accounts would be deleted.
Playing as a criminal was allowed, but if you got on the wanted list, your activities would be severely restricted.
Speed of time in-game was practically the same as real time. Considering the size of the world itself, each area of the game had its own time zone.
“Did you get all of that? Well then, miss, to our next business. Normally, this is where beta testers start creating their characters, but since you are one of the secret alpha testers, you will be choosing your race. As per your contract, once the testing period ends, you will be required to maintain confidentiality and your living expenses for the next ten years will be fully covered.” The guide AI finished its speech.
The white girl nodded just a fraction.
Secret alpha testers. One hundred orphans, gathered in secret to serve as test subjects.
Publicly, this experiment’s purpose was to “gather data in order to implement PvP between human players and monster players”. Purportedly, it examined the psyche of a user when they used an entirely non-human body, as well as the mental and physical stress of constant long-term VR use with the user’s body put into cold sleep. But there were another secret reason for this experiment.
Military use.
Alpha testers were given non-human avatars with the sensitivity set as high as the technology could allow, and forced to stay logged-in for half a year.
“Your choices for races are as follows: ‘Goblinoids’ – examples of this type would be Goblins and Kobolds. Other than that, you can choose between ‘Beast-type’, ‘Dragon-type’, ‘Plant-type’, but I would recommend…”
“…demon…” The white girl spoke for the first time.
“Excuse me?” the AI’s speech protocol started up a new dialogue, “I see. You would pick the Demon race, then? I do not recommend using a spiritual-body type of avatar, but if that is your choice… Well then, please go to the door over there. We will also begin installing the world’s common language pack on the way, so please stay calm.”
As the girl gave a slight nod and walked, the AI executed its final programmed action.
“Then I shall wish you a wonderful life in Yggdrasia! Oh, I almost forgot one last thing! Please tell me your name!” it called after the still-nameless girl, but she kept walking.
“…don’t need one,” she muttered.
Her final steps put her on a road of light leading into the world of the new VRMMORPG, Yggdrasia.
Author’s Note: The next chapter will be the start of the white girl’s life of surviving as a monster. It’s going to be written in first-person, for the most part. She didn’t say much in this chapter, but rest assured, she said a lot of things in her head :D.
Also, thank you to Starcakez, Passerbyc, and the others editing the wiki!
Sorry for the massive delay. Really stressed at work, and then got sick twice, so I found it hard to do anything productive. Mostly just lazy gaming.
We’d even finished chapter 4.1 of the manga we’re translating, but nobody had enough effort to upload it for over 2 weeks.
But hey, at least it’s here before the Elder Scrolls 6, right?
The Inugami Clan
On his deathbed, ruthless pharmaceutical tycoon, Inugami Sahei, is surrounded by his family, including three grown daughters, by three women he never married, as well as an outsider, Tamayo.
Two of his daughters are accompanied by their husbands and sons, but the oldest, Matsuko, is alone.
When he dies before identifying his heirs, the will cannot be read until all the family is present, so Matsuko sends for her son, Sukekiyo.
When Matsuko’s son, Sukekiyo, arrives, his face is obscured by a skintight, white latex mask which arouses the suspicions of the other family members until Sukekiyo rolls up his mask uncovering a horribly burned visage.
Sahei unexpectedly leaves the family fortune to the attractive Tamayo on the condition that she marry one of the Inugami grandsons – Sukekiyo, Suketake , or Suketomo – pitting blood against blood. If she doesn’t, she will forfeit the inheritance.
Foul play ensues.
Hmhmhmm~
Sitting on my little finger was a gorgeous, lovely, pink gold pinky ring.
During our free day in Paris the girls and I all bought one each together.
While Enjou had been giving me advice, Serika-chan and the others had gone off to look for something we could remember the trip by.
In the end they went with the most adorable design. Little flowers lined up along the ring.
When we were middle schoolers we had bought matching necklaces for the trip. This time it was rings.
The proof of our relationship.
Wah, so happy~
I was sitting there on the bus from the airport in Rome, smirking as I looked at my hand, when Kikuno-chan asked if I was listening.
“I just heard, but they say Kaburagi-sama visited a jeweller in Paris,” she repeated.
“A jeweller!?”
What was he buying jewellery for?
“Kaburagi-sama was in a great mood this morning, wasn’t he? Could it be that he bought jewellery as a present for someone special?”
“Someone special!?” I shouted.
Geh!
Don’t tell me that because his date in Paris went smoothly he was planning on jumping straight to marriage!?
No, no, not even that guy could be so stupid.
…Right?
The terrible thing was that I couldn’t say for sure.
“What do you think, Reika-sama?”
“Even if you ask me that…”
“Enjou-sama was there too.”
“Emjou-sama…? Then in that case, perhaps it was Enjou-sama who was buying a present for someone special,” I suggested.
Like an engagement ring for Yuiko-san.
“Enjou-sama!? Please no!” cried Kikuno-chan.
“Even if you tell me that…”
“Don’t you mind, Reika-sama?”
“I suppose not.”
“Ehhh!? Well we mind! Right, Serika-san?!”
“Yes.”
“Uwah!” I squealed.
Staring out from between the gap in the chairs was Serika-chan’s eye.
That’s scary, Serika-chan.
You’re giving me the Shining flashbacks, okay!
“Could you ask Kaburagi-sama for us, please?”
“Eh!? Me!?” I exclaimed.
Why me!?
No way! Ask yourselves!
“You’re the only one who could ask about something like this. Pleaaaase, Reika-sama.”
“Ah, but…”
“Reika-sama~! We won’t be able to enjoy Rome if we don’t know!”
“Kikuno-san is right.”
“You think so too, don’t you, Serika-san?”
Ehhhhhhhh!?
…
And so that’s how, unable to refuse, when we arrived at the hotel lobby I found myself trudging towards Kaburagi.
I had to psyche myself up a little because he was literally surrounded by boys.
It didn’t take long for him to notice my approach.
“What’s wrong, Kisshouin?”
“Um, Kaburagi-sama, could I have a word…?”
“A word?” he asked.
We left his group and after a momentary frown his expression turned agreeable.
“I want to say yes, but we’re about to be assigned our rooms. Come to the lounge in thirty. We’ll talk then.”
“Eh!? Just for a small chat!?”
“It’s not something that can be finished in a few words.”
I was planning to just find some pillar to stand behind to ask about what he was doing yesterday.
A few words would have been fine.
But before I even had a chance to stop him he walked back into his ring of boys and headed up the elevator.
Ehhh~!?
I had to come all the way down to the lounge just to hear about this pointless topic!?
Such a bother…
When I told the girls what happened, their eyes sparkled instead. “An invitation for tea…!”
That’s really not it.
After unpacking in my room I headed down to the hotel’s café lounge as per our one-sided agreement. Kaburagi was already waiting, and he raised a hand in greeting.
Sitting elegantly next to him was Enjou, who had a smile and a cup in his hand.
Mm? Why was he here?
“Masaya said he was having a secret rendezvous with you, and it sounded too interesting not to come,” he explained.
I sighed.
Even if you smile like that, it doesn’t look cute on a schemer like you.
No sooner had I sat down did Kaburagi shoot me a knowing look.
“Kisshouin. I know what you wanted to ask me,” he said smugly.
I was pretty sure that he didn’t.
Leaning in, he continued full of confidence.
“You wanted to ask me about my date in Paris, right!” he declared.
“Absolutely not.”
“Eh?”
See? You had no idea at all.
Wow, what was this look of shock? He looked like a pigeon knocked out of flight.
Hmm. Pigeons… My natural enemy…
“I heard that you were a patron at a Parisian jeweller yesterday.”
“Eh? Yeah, I went to one but?”
“Might I inquire about your purchase?”
“Huh? Why do I have to tell that to you?”
Right~?
I’m not asking you because I want to either. But you know, Serika-chan and the others told me to, so…
“Ummm~ Although I do not believe it myself, could it be that you bought a present for her?”
“Her? Ohh, no, I didn’t.”
“Is that so.”
Haah, thank goodness.
My disciple might have no common sense, but I was glad to see he knew at least this much.
Still, if it wasn’t for Wakaba-chan then I wonder what it was. I couldn’t exactly go back to my group with nothing to show for it.
And so I sat there, staring at him silently.
Kaburagi scowled.
“Why do you even want to know?” he asked.
“A rumour has spread about your visit there, so I was asked to investigate.”
“What the hell? Are you the reporter for a gossip magazine or something?”
Well that’s rude. Now I might just report that you two bought matching watches.
“Isn’t it fine?” Enjou said. “It’s not a big deal so you may as well tell her.”
Oooh, good job, Enjou! …Ah, but am I going to owe him another favour for this?
Enjou was like an amoral loan-shark. His interest rates were frightening.
Kaburagi just sighed.
“Fine. I just went there to pick up a watch for my mother. She left it there for repairs last month.”
“Eh? Is that all?”
“That’s all. It’s an antique, so only the main store in Paris had the experts for it.”
What the heeeck~ So it was just an errand for mummy in the end?
“I see. And you bought nothing else then?”
“Yeah.”
“And Enjou-sama, if I might ask?”
“Me? I didn’t buy anything either.”
Realllly now~? No presents for Yuiko-san~?
Uwa! The intensity from his smile just…! Okay, okay, I’ll believe you!
…But maybe I could spread a rumour about…
“Please don’t make up stories, Miss Reporter.”
He read my mind!?
“Thank you very much for telling me. Well then, please excuse me.”
I had what I needed so I promptly made to leave.
“Wait, wait!” Kaburagi stopped me.
What is it?
“This ain’t right. We haven’t even gotten to the main topic yet! Don’t you want to know about it? How my Paris date went!”
“No, not particularly,” I said frankly, and was treated to a wide-eyed Kaburagi.
By his side, Enjou stifled a laugh.
“…Don’t you want to know? You want to know, right?”
“No, not particularly.”
“You don’t have to be shy. Don’t you want to know?”
“No, not particularly.”
Wow, what an unhappy look. Did he want to tell me about his fun date with Wakaba-chan that badly?
“…You’re my strategist. It’s your duty to know!”
“And as I have said before, I have no recollection of accepting that role.”
“…Isn’t your hair a god of love? It’s your duty to know!”
“And you have never left any offerings.”
What was with that pout.
Was he sulking or something?
What a gwumpy wittle boy, you are~
I wonder if he’d hit me if I said that.
“Now, now, we gave you some information too, so couldn’t you go along with Masaya for a bit?” Enjou persuaded. “As for those offerings, would the desserts from this café do? Tiramisu maybe? Would you prefer panna cotta? Shall I order both?”
Tiramisu is a coffee-flavoured Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers (savoiardi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa.Panna cotta is an Italian dessert of sweetened cream thickened with gelatin and molded. The cream may be aromatized with coffee, vanilla, or other flavorings.
Uuu, tempting me with sweet things was cheating.
But since I was in Rome, I did want to try both…
Hang in there, Reika.
It’ll be dinner soon, and there are people watching.
Console yourself with just the tiramisu.
Enjou smiled. “A reporter for a gossip magazine, the host of a hair god of love. You sure have a lot of titles, Kisshouin-san.”
Shush, you.
Both of those were just forced on me by your best friend.
Oh! The tiramisu was coming!
Itadakimaaasu~
“Alright. You’ve had your offering, right? So anyway, about my date in Paris-”
“What a sudden transition,” I said.
“It’s all he’s been talking about,” said Enjou. “It’s actually endless.”
“Shut up, Shuusuke.”
“Fine, fine. Sorry for making you listen to this, Kisshouin-san.”
Kaburagi clicked his tongue before continuing.
“I did as you said and changed taxis to give everyone the slip, and met up with Takamichi where we promised.”
“It might be best not to mention her name here,” I advised.
“…Fine. Anyway, we met and then I led the way to the patisserie I mentioned. They were really happy. They said that they had fun the whole time.”
A gentle look replaced his normally severe expressions. He seemed really happy~
And wow, this tiramisu was pretty good~
“When we were in Japan they gave me a list of cakes that they wanted to try. They seemed so excited, asking if I thought they could go here or there while we were on the trip.”
“Ohh~”
He was trying to cover it with his fist, but I could still see him smirking like an idiot.
“We tried different flavours of macarons and talked about which one was best. Then since there were still too many things they wanted to try we ended up sharing them…”
By now the smirk he was trying to hide had turned into a full-blown grin.
Sharing a cake between two people was a nice, sweet, romantic cliché after all.
“Since the day after tomorrow is another free day, we’re planning to sneak off and try dessert touring again, you know. Today she said to me, ‘I had so much fun. Every one of the stores you recommended was delicious!’. Geez, that girl.”
“Ohh~”
His little date in Paris was an even better success than I’d expected.
The cool Emperor of Zui’ran was practically dancing for joy. I wouldn’t be surprised if he screamed ‘La vie en rose!’ at any moment.
That might have been what he did last night, actually.
“They loved the chocolat too. There are some good places in Japan, so I’m thinking of inviting them when we get back…
“As for good gelato places in Rome…
“They said they wanted to try pizza too, so I could take them to…”
Since I’d finished the tiramisu, I was wondering if I could head back to my room now.
Next to the gushing Emperor, Enjou was sipping at his cappuccino like it was none of his business.
Was this what he went through last night…? Friends could be such a pain sometimes.
After a while, Kaburagi had finally stopped to catch his breath so it was time to leave.
Oh? You still haven’t talked enough?
Well that’s none of my business. I’ve listened enough to make up for the offering already.
Just as I had gotten out of my seat, Enjou whispered into my ear.
“Rather than a couple, don’t you think that going around and touring dessert places sounds more like two girlfriends?”
Damned venomous schemer.
When I got back to my room I let the girls know that it was just an errand for mummy.
After our grade all had dinner together, for some reason Kaburagi passed me a box of assorted macarons on the way back.
Ladurée. 75 Av. des Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris, France btw.
“Since you said you needed offerings, here, I’m sharing the joy. These are the macarons that they said were particularly delicious. Besides these there’s also…”
Apparently he was going to use the macarons as an excuse to talk about Wakaba-chan some more.
The way back to the hotel was filled with more of his sugar-sweet nonsense.
Enjou was right. It really was endless.
Speaking of Enjou…
He was standing a ways away, waving at me with a smile.
So he escaped.
Anyway, thanks to all of this, for the next few days there was a rumour that Kaburagi had been talking to me joyously after handing me a gift.
Such a nuisance!
Incidentally, the dessert for dinner that night was tiramisu.
I should have gone for the panna cotta…!
As for the macarons, I shared them with the girls.
*
*
Today we were sightseeing in Rome.
Amongst the places we visited were the Roman Forum,
the Mouth of Truth,
the Pantheon,
and the Colosseum.
The whole day was packed with famous landmarks.
The Mouth of Truth had a huge line in front of it, so I decided not to stick my hand in it this time.
It wasn’t like anything happened once you’d stuck your hand in, so doing it once in my life had been enough.
Unlike me, this was Wakaba-chan’s first time in rome, so I spotted her in line with a camera in hand.
When we passed by the Trevi Fountain I threw in two coins just to be safe.
An estimated 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain each day. The money has been used to subsidise a supermarket for Rome’s needy.
Please grant me marriage with somebody I love! Please grant me a fulfilling love life!
I want to go on a date where I share food with the boy I like too!
Ah! We were in a Christian country right now, but I’d forgotten to put my hands together when I prayed.
Yesterday Enjou said that Kaburagi’s Paris date was really more like a date between two girl friends, but the truth was I was envious of him.
It was too jealousy-inducing for the Chief of the Forever Alone village…
Moving on though, Rome sure was brown-coloured. At least that’s the image I got.
Maybe it was all the historical ruins.
If Paris was Kyoto, then I guess that made Rome Nara.
Anybody who was a fan of Imperial Roman history was sure to be drooling.
But wasn’t the culture of ancient Rome a bit too intense?
Like, the ancient Romans would eat up until they were full. But instead of stopping, they’d shove a peacock feather down their throats, throw it all up, all so that they could enjoy more of the food.
Who came up with that. It was such a gluttonous concept that it was kind of disturbing…
But the Vatican was nice.
The St. Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel were both solemn and amazing.
Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter’s is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture and the largest church in the world.The Pietà is a work of Renaissance sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti, housed in St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City.
The Pieta was amazing, and the paintings on the ceiling were overwhelming.
The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art.
The only downside was that there were so many people it was hard to just take your time and look. It was one of those places you could spend a whole day in.
As a postage stamp collector I couldn’t resist the allure of the beautiful Vatican-exclusives. Since that was the case, I was going to use them to send air mail back to everyone in Japan.
Of course I’d be back in the country before the mail arrived, but if you visit the Vatican you just have to get some stamps, right~?
Who could resist sending mail from here?
The day before I’d gone to buy some lovely postcards from a store near our hotel.
They were of the paintings in the Vatican, and already had everyone’s addresses and my messages to them.
I had expressly prepared them so that all I needed to do now was put on a postage stamp and send them.
Ideally I’d have bought the postcards inside the Vatican City, but it would just be hard to find the time to write all my messages here~
Maybe I could just buy some of them as souvenirs.
Waah, there were so many pretty postage stamps.
I’m gunna bring a bunch of you back for memories.
My blood as a stamp collector was just boiling~
Gosh, they were just drawing me in!
This was the one I’d bought last time, wasn’t it. But this one, I don’t think I had…
Was it new?
Angel postcards were just perfect for Yukino-kun and the kids!
As for Oniisama and Ririna, I’d go with the holy mother and child.
And I loved how beautiful this one was.
I’d go with St. Peter’s Basilica for Otousama and Okaasama.
Sakura-chan, Aoi-chan, and my other friends though… I think I’d go with paintings for them after all.
Finally, I’d send a few to myself in secret, too.
‘Dear Reika,
How are you?’
“Kisshouin-saaaan. It’s time for our class to meet up,” called Satomi-kun.
“Okaaaay,” I called back.
Sorry, Satomi-kun. I’m supposed to be a class rep too.
“Say, Kisshouin-san, are you going to see any of the catacombs tomorrow?”
As if, idiot!
What do you mean ‘it’ll be super fun, we’ll get to see mountains of skeletons’?
Satomi-kun was definitely doing this on purpose, wasn’t he!?
Maybe instead of purifying my room I should use what was left of my salt on Satomi-kun…
“Hmm? Kisshouin-san, together some of the curls on the back of your head turn into the number of the beast, you know? Isn’t that pretty bad here in the Vatican?”
…I’ve decided.
I’ll throw the rest of my salt at Satomi-kun!
*
*
The next day was free time.
Naturally we weren’t going to anywhere dreadful like a catacomb, and instead we had enjoying delicious Italian food, and shopping planned.
“Pizza is just a must in Rome, isn’t it~?”
“There was a great place I ate at the last time I was in Rome.”
“Should we go there, then?”
While we were walking along and having fun, sometimes people whistled at us, or messed around and said “Hey! Japanese!” or “Pizza? Pizza?”.
It was uncomfortable.
We were basically on the doorstep of the headquarters for Christianity across the world, so why were these guys messing around when it wasn’t even noon yet?
Stop saying ‘siesta, siesta’ and get to work!
We went to a trattoria that was well-known for its pizza and ordered amatriciana and margherita, before heading to the Piazza di Spagna for some gelato.
Next was tiramisu!
Once our stomachs were sated it was time for shopping.
I decided to get Akimi-san some olive oil.
And I just wanted to buy all the cheese, from Pecorino Romano, to Parmigiano-Reggiano, the king of cheese!
I’d even heard stories about some of the banks around Italy storing Parmigiano-Reggiano in their vaults. I wonder how true they were.
As for sweets, since I’d already gotten a bunch in Paris I decided to lay off a little.
Not on the gianduja, though.
Gianduja or gianduia is a sweet chocolate spread containing about 30% hazelnut paste, invented in Turin during Napoléon’s regency.
Had to get that.
Wah! Stylish Italian stationery! I wanted sealing wax!
And the rose seal was just fashionable beyond belief!
I had to get one that said ‘R’!
Isn’t sealing letters with wax stamps just so ‘aristocrat’~!?
And the bottles of scented ink were just so cute.
I could get a glass pen and then give them together as a souvenir.
Maybe I ought to buy a quill too?
*
*
“We bought too much, didn’t we, Reika-sama?”
“Quite…”
My arms were being torn off.
*
*
On the last night of the trip we gathered in a room together and lounged around in masks, since the air in Europe had been a bit dry.
By now, we were all pretty beat.
“The schedule was a bit packed, but it was fun, wasn’t it.”
“It really was. But it would’ve been nice to stay in each country a bit more.”
“Let’s all go again together. We can make it our graduation trip.”
Graduation trip! I wanted in!
I shot to my feet.
“A splendid idea! A graduation trip! Shall we go?” I said.
“We should! Where do you want to go, Reika-sama?”
“Hmmm. Just Paris or London again would be fine too, but how about Spain or Northern Europe? If we go to Italy, then what if we visited Milan or Florence?”
“I want to go to Venice too.”
Venice, huh?
It was a minor dream of mine to ride on a gondola with my sweetheart.
I’d be holding up a fancy parasol by his side, as he smiled gently and whispered sweet nothings in my ear. My future lover.
How dreamy.
“Gondolas come to mind, and the boat trip down the Seine was great fun, wasn’t it?”
“It was! I’m glad we went.”
Me too. It was a bit cold, but it was a great time.
“Quite a few others took the boat tour as well.”
They did. But I’d been hearing stories about couples forming because of it, in quite a few classes.
Unforgiveable…
In the end, I didn’t have a single romantic encounter during the whole trip.
Not even a single boy had suggested spending a free day together as a group.
Even the Kaburagi-obsessed Tsuruhana-san’s group had enjoyed a Parisian sidewalk café with some boys.
I thought I had heard her laughing at me when we walked past that. I wonder if I was just hallucinating because of my inferiority complex…
So later, when I spotted Kemari Dainagon trying to talk to girls at the Piazza di Spagna, I made a beeline for him and stood right between them to get in his way. Kekeke.
But anyway, people did say that the couples that formed on trips like these broke up soon enough. It was just temporary, I bet.
They’d definitely be returning to my village soon enough.
Hohohoho.
“Are you okay, Reika-sama? You started glaring into the distance…”
Ah, oh my. I accidentally let my jealousy show.
Since my mask had set in, it was time to peel it off.
Let’s see, how was my skin doing?
I was just about to marvel at how glossy my skin looked when I was hit with a horrifying discovery.
“It’s gone…! My urna is gone!”
Impossible!
I looked over my hairline, again and again.
No way…!
It was really gone!
My symbol of good fortune, my urna!
Back when my eyebrows had gone partially bald I received this symbol of fortuna in return, so why was it gone now!?
“What’s the matter, Reika-sama!?”
“What’s gone?”
“My urna is gone! The urna I had growing on my forehead!” I desperately explained.
When had it disappeared!?
Had I taken it off along with the mask!?
But it was just a sheet mask! It shouldn’t have pulled anything off!
“What’s an urna…?”
“No idea…”
“It’s like a long white hair, apparently.”
“Ah, like those old man eyebrows?”
No!
You’re thinking of a Taoist immortal!
The urna is the curly one that Lord Shakyamuni has!
And strictly speaking the colourless hair I had wasn’t an urna but a blessed hair!
A curse comes home to roost…
Is this because I was too envious of the people in the Fulfilling Romance Village that my good fortune ran away!?
Was this an omen for worse luck in romance when I got back to Japan!?
“Now, now. Calm down, Reika-sama.”
“You must be tired, Reika-sama. Come on, it’s time to sleep.”
“But, my urna…! My blessed hair…!”
“Everything’s going to be juuust fine~”
Still wearing their masks, Serika-chan and the others pushed me into bed despite my protests, before surrounding it on all sides.
“It’s bedtime~ There’s a good girl~” they cooed, waving their hands back and forth.
Eh!? Was this some sort of black mass!?
“U-Umm…” I tried.
“Everything’s going to be juuust fine, Reika-sama~ It’s time for bed now.”
“Reika-sama is very tired. Sleep~ Sleep~”
“It’s okay, Reika-sama~ Sleep~”
And so there I was, laying in a dark room, surrounded by a group of singing Sukekiyo’s.
What did I do now?
Could it be that Serika-chan and the others were actually part of some demonic cult?
Everybody, please check the FAQ first before asking me questions.
If it’s not on there, please feel free and ask. I only get annoyed at questions when the same one has been asked 10+ times, and by then I’ll have updated the FAQ. Thank you for your consideration, guys!
Also, thank you to Starcakez, Passerbyc, and the others editing the wiki!
Tomorrow is going to be the start of a rough two weeks of work, but hopefully I’ll still get some translation progress going.
I’ve decided to put in more photos of the places she’s talking about. I figure that if I leave the captions blank, they won’t be too intrusive.
Then I realised that I like London better than Paris, so I went back to Chapter 223 and added photos there too.
Our second destination was Paris, France.
Goodbye, London! I’ll come again!
And bonjour, Paris! Paris!
Paris was the Rococo Queen’s second home. Wah, it was stylish everywhere I looked!
Even though the people walking on the street wore normal clothes, somehow they looked stylish too.
This was some French magic at work.
But even though Paris was supposed to be my second home, for some reason I felt a little out of place each time I came here.
London was populated and tight, and its pace of life somehow reminded me of Tokyo. When I was in London I felt comfortable.
In Paris though, how could I put this… The way the Parisians, or perhaps the French, seemed to think that their fashion, food, and arts were the best in the world rather reminded me of Kyoto.
Ah, naturally I loved Kyoto as well, though.
Anyhow, just like our day in London, Paris began with a structured tour.
Amongst the places we visited were the Eiffel Tower,
the Arc de Triomphe,
the Notre-Dame,
the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.
Just a photo of the Eiffel Tower was a bit like saying “I was in Paris!” wasn’t it? That was France’s fame for you.
Tokyo Tower couldn’t even compare in stylishness.
Oh, and there was the Palais Garnier opera house!
The Palais Garnier (pronounced [palɛ ɡaʁnje]) is a 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was the setting for Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera and its subsequent adaptations.Phantom, this is where you are!
Lahlalah~
Everybody who’d seen the Phantom of the Opera in London were as excited as I was.
And little wonder~
The setting of the musical we’d seen only a little while ago was right in front of our eyes.
It was like the excitement from watching the production was coming back to us.
The inside of the building was so gorgeous that I was enchanted.
Ah, so this chandelier would fall then~
The whole place was just so resplendent that I think it would have been worth visiting even without the musical. But after the musical, the place just had so much more appeal.
Since we’d seen a musical in London, it would have been great to see some theatre in Paris. It was just a shame that I couldn’t fit it into our schedule.
The Place de la Concorde was where the Rococo Queen had been beheaded.
Eeek~
I unconsciously placed my hands around my neck. Guillotines were scaryyy.
It must have been pretty crazy seeing people beheaded in public…
A person’s head flying off became some kind of sideshow.
What a fearsome people these French were.
I definitely wouldn’t be able to watch something like that.
Uoohh~ Just thinking about it was making me shiver.
Ah-, Satomi-kun was coming my way. You’re here to say something scary again, aren’t you!
“Did you know, Kisshouin-san? Apparently the guillotine was still used for executions until very recently~”
Saaaatooooomiiiiii!
What was I going to do?
What if some headless person visited me at night!?
Thanks to Satomi-kun I was going to have to salt this hotel room too!
The Pont des Arts bridge that ran across the Seine was also known as the Lovers’ Bridge.
The Pont des Arts is a pedestrian bridge which crosses the River Seine, linking the Institut de France and the Louvre. Since late 2008, tourists have taken to attaching padlocks (love locks) with their first names written or engraved on them to the railing or the grate on the side of the bridge, then throwing the key into the Seine river below, as a romantic gesture.
Couples would write their names on padlocks and attach them to the fence as a vow of love. In other words, this bridge was straight-up picking a fight with me.
Keh! Why were we even here?
Let’s just walk faster and head to the Louvre already!
Eh? There were people just standing still!
Don’t tell me every one of them was a member of the Fulfilling Romance Village!?
Hey! Are you seriously running off to buy a padlock!?
You’re not supposed to walk off during the first day, damnit!
“Kaburagi-sama seems to be in a good mood.”
Apparently people were talking about it.
“Do you think he did something fun?”
“He went to see a soccer match in London, so perhaps his team won?”
“Ah, that might be it. Kaburagi-sama loves his sports.”
The reason Kaburagi was in a good mood was probably, no, definitely, thanks to his plans to tour Paris with Wakaba-chan tomorrow.
He was probably completely giddy about it.
The damned idiot was like an open book.
Kaburagi, you’d better not have bought a padlock for this.
On the other hand, I noticed that my maiden friend Class Rep had bought one but couldn’t work up the courage to mention it.
*
*
*
The focus of my free day in Paris was shopping.
A lot of things weren’t being sold in Japan yet, so we got up nice and early to start.
Bags, shoes, accessories, trinkets, sweets… Les Champs-Élysées was a battlefield…!
Champs-Élysées is known for its theatres, cafés, and luxury shops. When I went to the McDonalds here a few years back, it was the biggest one in the world. I think I also had garlic butter escargot on this street…
Ah!
Thanks to Satomi-kun, his group was going shopping with some girls! Thanks to that same guy, I spent last night trembling in fear!
And yet there he was, happily walking down the street surrounded by women!
Unforgivable.
Deadly Sin “Envy”, activate.
Just see how I put a curse on your love-life as you walk away from me, Satomi-kun.
Hmmmm, a lot of these cosmetics were sold for a lot more in Japan. Like this hand cream that I really liked.
I decided to get some for Sakura-chan, Aoi-chan, and the girls at cram school.
But then what about the boys that I knew from there?
I was easy to get presents for girls, but the boys had me stumped.
I mean, there was a reason I was the village chief.
And speaking of boys, Imari-sama was always bringing me souvenirs. I definitely had to get something back.
As the Chief of the Casanova Village, Imari-sama’s demeanour might resemble an Italian, but his taste in clothing leaned towards the elegant fashion houses of France.
Which is why while it would be easy to decide to get him something from Paris, picking something that met his fashionable tastes was a bit too high of a hurdle~
Thanks to our many years together I had a pretty good idea of Oniisama’s taste, but I was at a loss when it came to anybody else.
Again, there was a reason I was the village chief.
Before I left Japan I had asked Oniisama what he thought a good gift for Imari-sama would be, but all he said was, “Consumables.”
So curt!
Oniisama, can’t you put a little more thought into it?
Do you want your best friend to think of your little sister as unfashionable!?
I thought about it though… It wouldn’t do to give Imari-sama sweets, but what about wine?
But I didn’t know his palate, and it probably wasn’t as easy as just buying an expensive one.
I was collecting wine labels for when I was old enough to drink, but honestly I had no idea what was good.
And apparently the famous brands had good years and bad years too.
Plus, a lot of this was coming from my idea that Wine = France, but Oniisama drank California wines quite often.
Actually the first time I saw him drinking some I was shocked, but it turns out that recently California wines tasted better than French wines. Oniisama told me this story about how during a taste test in Paris French wines lost to California wines, and now they called it the Judgement of Paris.
Since it was too profound for me, I was getting more and more reluctant to go with the wine~
Mmn, I think I would just stay away from Wine-sama for now.
After a good bit of shopping, we decided to enter a café for some lunch before we continued.
Since we were taking a break, I decided to ask my group what they thought.
“Presents for a boy, is it~?”
“Yes. I find myself unsure.”
Mmmmm! The French bread was yummy! As expected of its country of origin!
Unlike London, the food was great everywhere we went here.
It was so nice to be in a country with good food~
Naturally I ordered the crème brûlée which featured in Amélie.
I was in a different café to the one in the film though.
I felt a bit like Amélie as I cracked the caramel. Ehehe.
“I think neckties may be the right idea.”
“I’ve bought neckties for my family too.”
“Neckties, hmm?” I hummed.
I had considered those as well. That was why I had chosen Paris to get the souvenirs.
“Well then, after we finish eating how about visit some mens’ stores so that Reika-sama can find a souvenir?” Ru’ne-chan suggested.
Waah! Thank you!
*
*
*
Hmmm. Here I was in a men’s clothing store, and yet I was nowhere closer to a decision.
I had this feeling that neckties were something men cared about. It wouldn’t be nice if he was given a tie he didn’t really want to use…
Lapel pins weren’t much easier to choose.
But cufflinks could just be hidden by your suit jacket, so maybe those would be fine.
Still… Maybe clothing was a bad idea.
Hmmmm…
“I think it may take me some time to decide, so could we meet up afterwards?” I suggested to the girls that came with me.
I’d feel bad if their shopping time was taken up by my indecision in picking souvenirs. I didn’t think I’d be picking something anytime soon.
“But then you would be on your own, Reika-sama.”
“Isn’t shopping on your own just tragic?”
It was nice that they were worried for me, but I was sure they still had places they wanted to see, and they had to be getting bored looking at mens’ clothing.
“I will be fine. Let us pick a time and meet up then.”
“But…”
“Oh, Kisshouin-san?”
“Eh?”
The owner of the voiced was revealed to be Enjou, who entered the store with a group of boys.
“Enjou-sama!” the girls cried.
Enjou walked our way as his sudden appearance caused a few whispered squeals among the girls.
“What are you doing in a place like this, Kisshouin-san?”
“As you can see, I am shopping.”
“Ahh, a present for your oniisan.”
Ah-, hey!
Did he think Oniisama was the only person I had to gift mens’ clothing to!?
Dah, this bastard was looking down on me!
I know I’m unpopular, okay!? Damnit!
“No. In fact I have already bought my brother’s present while in London!””
“Ah, really?”
“Yes. The present I am picking now is for somebody else.”
Ohohohoho! Don’t think the Reika you know in Zui’ran is all there is to me.
“Hmmm.”
Enjou looked at me with an amused smile.
Kuh, don’t look into his eyes, Reika.
He’ll see through your bluff!
“Well what might you be doing here, Enjou-sama?”
“As you can see, I am shopping.”
Tsk.
So Enjou liked expensive brands, did he?
Now that I looked at him he was wearing a fashionable scarf right now.
This store was filled with the kind of elegant clothes that matched his style.
“Ah, umm, Enjou-sama,” began Kikuno-chan, “is Kaburagi-sama not with you?”
Enjou had come in with a group of boys, but we didn’t see Kaburagi amongst them.
“Hm? Masaya is busy with something else right now. We’re meeting up later.”
Enjou suddenly threw a glance my way.
Ah, touring the dessert shops with Wakaba-chan, huh?
According to Wakaba, this morning she would have gone to see the Palace of Versailles, just outside of Paris. Then, after lunch, she’d be hearing back this way, meaning that it was about time that she’d arrive.
It was a pretty long time, but then the Versaille was rather far away.
As the Rococo Queen it was a place I had to visit, but since shopping was our focus for today it was too far for us to consider.
Besides, everyone in the group had already been before.
Still, if time permitted I’d like to have gone.
“Oh, I know! Reika-sama, why don’t you ask Enjou-sama for advice!”
“Huh?”
What the heck are you saying, Ayame-chan!
“Advice?” Enjou inclined his head in question, still smiling gently.
“Yes! Reika-sama has been having a lot of trouble deciding on a gift souvenir. Do you think you could help her, Enjou-sama?”
Hey, come on now.
“My, that will not do, Ayama-san,” I chided. “Enjou-sama has his own…”
“If you’re alright with me, why not, Ojousama?” he interrupted me with a bright smile.
Geeeehhhhh!
I looked back and the girls were all cheering.
What the hell!?
The conversation just advanced without me!
“But Enjou-sama, your friends are…”
“They’re going to shop across the street, so it’s no problem if we split up.”
Uohh, is that so?
“Isn’t that great, Reika-sama!”
“Enjou-sama will know for sure what the best choice is!”
Ahhhh~ I mean, I guess that could be true… But it’s Enjou.
“Kisshouin-san, am I not good enough?” he wondered aloud.
Guh!
The way he said it would make me look like an ingrate if I turned him down now! So sneaky!
“…I will be in your care, then.”
Kuh, I lost…
But since the girls had been dreaming of spending time with Enjou today, I supposed I had no choice…
Or so I thought when they suddenly told me,
“Well then, we’ll be going to another store now~”
“Please take care of Reika-sama, Enjou-sama~”
and left me behind with strange smiles.
What the heck!?
“It looks like your friends are gone.”
“…So it seems.”
So mean…
“Well then, shall we find that present of yours?”
“…I suppose we shall.”
Mn, fine then!
Now that it had come to this I would at least make the best of Enjou’s good fashion sense.
“Do you have anything concrete in mind?” he asked me.
“No, nothing so specific. I am finding it hard to decide…” I admitted. “He would have his own taste in neckties, no?”
“He probably would,” he confirmed.
“But cufflinks and lapel pins are difficult to choose as well…”
“How old is he?” Enjou asked.
“The same age as Oniisama.”
Enjou hummed. “If it’s too difficult choosing clothing, then what if you bought him a business card holder, or a business card case?”
“I see!”
That was a good idea!
“The problem is that some people match them with their clothing line.”
“I see~”
It was quite possible, since this was Imari-sama we were talking about.
“You didn’t consult Takateru-san?”
“Oniisama was adamant that consumables would be best.”
“Ahaha, as expected of him.”
What was expected? Well, whatever.
“Hm, as far as other gifts that don’t need much thought, I guess there’s ball markers?”
“Ball markers?” I asked.
“In golf, there can be a lot of other players’ balls when you’re close to the flagstick. Since they roll around and get in the way, people place ball markers down in their place until it’s their turn to put,” he explained to me.
Ohho~! That was an option too!?
I’d never tried golf, after all, and I didn’t have much interest either, so I had no idea these things even existed!
“But if he is already playing golf, then would he not already have markers that he likes?”
It was fine if he’d never played it before, but if Imari-sama was golfing then he obviously had one.
“That’s true, but you can have as many golf ball markers as you want, after all.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. A lot of people just pick one based on their mood for the day. That’s why they’re like cufflinks.”
“I see~!”
If people kept a lot of them then maybe they wouldn’t be uncomfortable being gifted one more.
“In that case, might it be fine even if there is a problem with his taste?”
“Ahaha! Don’t you have any confidence in your taste, Kisshouin-san? Well, should be fine though. Fashionable people often pick the most unique designs for their markers, after all.”
“Ah, I see! As a bit of a joke!”
This had a low hurdle!
It was settled then! My present to Imari-sama would be a ball marker!
Aaah! Then in that case shouldn’t I have looked for one in England!?
Golf was British!
What an oversight!
I wanted to go back now!
Bring me back to England right this moment!
“What’s wrong? You suddenly look down.”
“…I wish I had known about these golf ball markers back in London.”
“Ah, is that how it is? But I don’t think it matters, you know? Paris has some brands that are pretty famous for golf wear too, but he might appreciate it more if you pick him a brand he doesn’t know. Something he wouldn’t usually think to use.”
“I see!”
Enjou was full of good advice!
Alright, in that case I’d buy any golf ball markers that caught my eye in Paris and Rome, and then at the end I’d give the best one to Imari-sama.
Then the rest could go to Otousama.
Naturally I needed to find some for Oniisama too.
This store was using ball markers as decorations. Oho, cute.
I’d better check some other stores too.
But thank goodness.
With this, I’d addressed my biggest worry.
For once, I was grateful to Enjou.
“Enjou-sama, thank you very much for your wonderful advice.”
“You’re very welcome. It’s an honour to have been of use to you.”
Unexpectedly, Enjou might be a pretty good guy!
We smiled at each other.
Still smiling, Enjou placed his hand on my shoulder.
Hm?
“No need to feel indebted to me, okay, Kisshouin-san?”
He was telling me I was indebted to him…!
*
*
*
Enjou left to meet Kaburagi, while I went on that boat tour down the Seine that we agreed on in London.
And it was a stylish sunset cruise, no less! So dreamy!
Unfortunately we were surrounded by couples.
Ah-, those two were from Zui’ran! And they were holding hands! Didn’t they know that boys were supposed to keep a polite distance after seven!?
Ah-, and that foreigner couple were kissing right now! What did they take public decency for!? …So jealous.
…I suddenly remembered something that I heard once. That being surrounded by girl friends with no boyfriends would make it so that you’d never find one either.
Wasn’t that my situation right now?
Maybe I was unpopular because I was surrounded by unpopular girls…
“This is so fun, Reika-sama! Going on a cruise was the right choice!” Ayame-chan exclaimed with a smile next to me.
Uugh!
What on earth was I thinking!?
Wasn’t it fine to have unpopular friends?
We were on this cruise because I said I wanted to go on one, and we ate those fish and chips because I said I wanted to try some.
Serika-chan even turned into the Phantom for me.
Right! Friends before romance!
We weren’t unpopular, we just prioritised our friendships over anything else.
It’s not that boys didn’t want us, but that we were staying away from boys.
Right.
On another note though, while cruising down the Seine was wonderful and all, it was a little cold doing this in May…
Everybody, please check the FAQ first before asking me questions.
If it’s not on there, please feel free and ask. I only get annoyed at questions when the same one has been asked 10+ times, and by then I’ll have updated the FAQ. Thank you for your consideration, guys!
Also, thank you to Starcakez, Passerbyc, and the others editing the wiki!
Sorry, been exhausted with work.
There is a Japanese superstition of hiding your thumbs when seeing a hearse, especially amongst children, supposedly to protect your parents from an early grave. The reason is because the thumb in Japanese is literally called ‘parent finger’.
The Phantom of the Opera is a novel about a deformed builder guy, who is really good at singing. He tutors a Swedish songstress named Christine, who he goes crazy over, and whose childhood friend and love interest is a handsome vicomte named Raoul. Stuff happens, love triangle.
Our first destination was London.
At first we all went to the usual sightseeing locations together. The Big Ben,
the Tower of London,
Trafalgar Square,
Buckingham Palace,
Westminster Abbey, among other places.
For most of us they were all places we’d visited countless times in the past but it was a different experience when you were here with all o f your friends.
At the Buckingham Palace, my group and I had quite a bit of fun taking photos of the Changing of the Guard.
Mister horse, you ran past too quickly~!
They looked just like those toys soldiers. As I faintly wondered just how capable they actually were, I smiled to myself about just how foreign this place felt!
London Tower was scary and I ended up hiding my thumbs without thinking. It was Satomi-kun’s fault for telling me those stories when I was in Japan…
Eh!? They were taking photos here!?
Was I going to be okay…?
I couldn’t hide my thumbs if I was making a peace sign…
“Next up, you’ll be able to see the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge from your window,” said the tour guide as we rode the bus.
The London Bridge… Somehow just hearing that name was enough to play the nursery rhyme in my head.
“Kisshouin-san, are you feeling okay?,” Satomi-kun asked in concern. “You’re swaying.”
Oh gosh. Apparently I was rocking back and forth to the song in my head.
“Say, Satomi-kun? When you hear the words ‘London Bridge’ does it not bring that Mother Goose song to mind? You know the one, London Bridge is falling d──”
“Ah, the one about child sacrifices?”
Child sacrifices──
…SAAAATOOOOMIIIII!
Why would you bring up something so scary just as we’re crossing it!?
I’m a coward, okay!? Stop it already!
Look! I’m hiding my thumbs again thanks to you!
Before this I had been thinking of buying a copy of Old Mother Goose’s Rhymes as a souvenir. I didn’t think I would now…
These were supposed to be nursery rhymes for children so why were the contents so brutal?
Taking an axe and giving her mother and father forty and forty-one whacks…
How on earth did the children of Great Britain fall asleep to these?
Thanks to Satomi-kun scaring the crap out of me, while my roommate Kikuno-chan was in the bath I took the chance to purify the room with salt.
Sorry about the floor, Kikuno-chan.
*
*
The main event for my group during our free day was going to be a musical.
Since that was happenig at night though, before that we were going to do a little shopping and then have some afternoon tea.
We weren’t lacking in things to buy.
Maybe I’d get those rocking horse ballerinas this time around.
Not that I was going to wear them outside, if I did buy them. Walking around in heels like that was too scary for me, so I’d just try them on at home.
Hmm, to buy or not to buy…
Aaah, but more importantly I wanted aromatic candles and essential oils too!
And of course some English tea for a souvenir.
Some pretty books in English too.
I could get Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass for Mao-chan.
Maybe Peter Pan for Yuuri-kun.
Yukino-kun had wanted Old Mother Goose’s Rhymes as well, but was it really okay to get him a book filled with songs about murderers and psychopaths…?
Oniisama liked English brands, so I wanted to find him something too.
Oh, cute cufflinks locked-on!
Maybe I’d buy some ties too!
Haah, shopping is bliss.
When there were too many bags to carry we popped down to the hotel before heading out for more shopping.
After that was what everyone had to try while visiting Britain: afternoon tea.
We passed by a few places that brought out their desserts on plates, but what I really wanted to try was eating from one of those 3-tiered silver stands!
It was like being a princess! I wasn’t going to compromise on those 3-tiered stands!
Appearances were important.
“This scone is quite good.”
“It really is. It goes perfectly with the jam and clotted cream.”
“Truly.”
Great Britain had a reputation for disgusting cuisine, but the food we had seemed crazy good. Maybe it was the atmosphere.
Atmosphere was really, really important, after all.
Scones weren’t exactly a big thing in Japan, but I think after today they’d be a big thing with Reika.
Maybe I could look for a place that did nice scones once I got back home.
Nobody had to know that I actually preferred the biscuits (scones) from a certain American chicken fast food restaurant.
They never gave enough maple syrup though.
…But wow was this jam and cream combination proving itself a formidible adversary to a maiden’s stomach.
I wasn’t the sort to run and hide from an enemy though.
Damned scone, prepare yourself!
“This is so fun~” sighed Ru’ne-chan. “NY and LA are nice too, but Europe is just…”
“I know, right~?”
“Europe is my favourite as well.”
I could understand why they all agreed.
I mean, Europe had castles and ancient cityscapes, fantasy and cute cakes, wasn’t it just a girl’s dream come true?
Serika-chan suddenly sighed.
“But it would be even better if Kaburagi-sama or Enjou-sama were here…”
Right. What was missing from this fairytale atmosphere was a Prince Charming.
Apparently those two fit the bill for her.
Their looks were the only thing going for them, so I supposed they qualified in that department at least.
“Afternoon tea with Kaburagi-sama and Enjou-sama…!”
“Goodness, if it were me I’d be too nervous to eat!”
“Me too! I wouldn’t have eaten more than a bite of the sandwiches from before.”
“Right? Don’t you think so too, Reika-sama?” one of the girls asked me as I was busy duking it out with the scones.
“Eh? Ah, well, I suppose?” I offered.
I suppose if there was a boy I liked nearby, I wouldn’t want to look like a glutton either.
“But you must spend time with them all the time in the salon, don’t you?” Kikuno-chan asked.
“That’s true. Having tea with them must be everyday for Reika-sama. I’m so envious. What are they like in the salon?”
“Tell us, Reika-sama~!”
Hmmmmmm. I mean, they just drank tea and ate food like normal people, I guess.
Not that I could say that without disappointing the girls.
Being the considerate friend that I was, I decided to help out with their fantasies a little.
“They do not do anything special,” I began. “I suppose they just spend time together like we are now. Kaburagi-sama sometimes plays the piano if he feels like it, so we occasionally have the privilege of enjoying that with our tea.”
“Myy!”
Their dreaminess meters filled up at once.
“What about Enjou-sama?”
“Hmm. He often smiles as he quietly drinks his tea. Most of the time he spends his time chatting with Kaburagi-sama. As you all know, the two of them are very close. When Kaburagi-sama plays the piano, Enjou-sama stands by him to enjoy the music. I have even seen them leaning against each other’s backs while reading.”
“How wonderful…!”
“A world with only the two of them…”
“It’s beautiful…”
Well, that last bit actually happened during primary school, but it’s not a lie since I never specified when.
My group stared into space together, no doubt daydreaming about it.
While they were distracted, I got back to my scones.
Don’t rush, Reika.
There’s still the cake monster waiting for you at the top of the tower.
“I wonder what the two of them are doing now…”
“I heard that they were going to watch a soccer game…”
Oh? So that’s what they were doing.
“We can relax then, since it’s just boys that went to that.”
“Yeah. There are lots of girls who are planning to worm up to them during the trip after all.”
“So shameless!”
“It’s especially bad when one of the outsiders try it!”
“I know.”
“I wonder where they’re going when we get to Paris. Touring Paris with them would be like a dream come true.”
“It would, wouldn’t it?”
…In Paris and Rome, Kaburagi was planning on touring dessert stores with Wakaba-chan though~
You better keep the tag-alongs away, Kaburagi!
After we finished up the cake at the top-tier of the platter, we began talking about where to go next.
“We’ve already done our shopping, so what should we do now? We could just rest here.”
“Hmmm.”
Everyone was a bit tired from our earlier shopping but since we were already here I wanted to have some fun.
“Say, since we still have time until the musical, what if we went to the British Museum?”
It was Ayame-chan that suggested this.
The British Museum?
Come to think of it, it was what she was looking forward to the most the whole trip.
I wonder if we’d get to see a cat mummy.
“Good idea. Shall we go?” I asked.
It was a shame to be parting with something as dreamy as afternoon tea, but we had to get going now.
When we got off the taxi we had called, I saw some other Zui’ran students here and there.
Since we didn’t have anything we wanted to see in particular, we all sort of just walked about as we chatted.
“Hmm? Hey, isn’t that…?”
I looked in the direction that Kikuno-chan pointed, only to find Wakaba-chan, Fellow Stalking Horse, and a number of other boys and girls.
So they were here too.
Her bag was strapped to her chest so there was nothing to stop Wakaba-chan from excitedly taking photographs or taking notes.
Sometimes Fellow Stalking Horse would point at an exhibit and say something to Wakaba-chan, which she nodded at in return.
They seemed to really get along.
“Takamichi-san seems awfully friendly with Mizusaki-kun, doesn’t she…” Serika-chan commented.
“They are in the Student Council together, after all…”
The girls were just staring now.
Oi, stop that, guys!
I hurriedly moved them along before Wakaba-chan noticed.
“Ah, Kisshouin-san,” said a surprised voice.
I turned to find Class Rep, Iwamuro-kun, Miharu-chan and Nonose-san in front of the Rosetta Stone.
“My! You all came here as well?” I asked.
So these four were spending their free day together, huh?
Kuh-! So envious…!
“Mhm. The British Museum never gets old.”
The four of them nodded together.
Wow, they really got along.
Mn, the happiness of a disciple was the happiness of their master.
And I was happy but… it was a little vexing.
Wakaba-chan was with a mixed-sex group as well.
Now that I was looking, I could spot other mixed-sex groups from Zui’ran here and there.
It was nothing surprising. We were a co-ed school after all.
So why was it just me that was in a girls’ school!?
After talking to them I found out that the quartet were going to watch the Phantom of the Opera as well.
Ohh~?
Not a surprising choice for a blushing maiden like Class Rep.
“Also, the four of us were thinking about going on a boat tour of the Seine once we get to Paris. Right, guys?”
“Mhm.”
“Yes.”
“Oh…?”
Two couples going on a boat tour down the Seine… Well wasn’t that just romantic.
I was so damned jealous.
…Fine then. Whatever.
I’d already been on one with Oniisama, so there!
And one day I’d definitely find a boyfriend and do the same!
After some parting greetings I watched the four of them leave.
“The Seine. How nice…”
The girls happened to overhear me and thought I was interested in the river itself.
“In that case let’s go on a boat tour too!” they suggested.
Mm. Thanks, girls…
*
*
*
There was still some time until the musical began so we decided to eat dinner first.
But we had eaten quite a bit during afternoon tea, so we weren’t exactly starving either.
Oh, I know!
“Say, how would you all feel about trying fish and chips?”
Fish and chips were like the national fast food here in Britain.
I knew of it, but I hadn’t had the chance to try it before. After all, every time I’d been here I was with family, so eating something so plebeian was out of the question.
It was something I’d wanted to try for the longest time~
Would the girls go for it?
“Fish and chips…?” came the bewildered response.
“Yes. I have seen it mentioned in quite a few books, so I have always wanted to try it,” came my excuse.
“Ah, so that’s why. I’ve seen it mentioned too, but I’ve never tried it before.”
“Me neither.”
“I might be a little curious…”
“Since we are in the right country for it,” I said, “why not try some?”
“Okay!”
“Agreed!”
Yay! Fast food in London!
Since we obviously had no experience, none of us were sure where to find some, which was why we decided to try looking it up.
In the books I’d read, fish and chips were something that came wrapped in newspaper that you could eat in a park and such.
In the place that we chose, though, apparently it would come to us on a plate.
Fish and potato chips were big favourites of mine, so I was curiously looking forward to it.
But when the food came…
Fish!
Chips!
It was literally just some fish, and some chips.
“…”
…It kind of made me wonder if they couldn’t have prettied this up a bit, or at least made them bite-sized perhaps. It looked a bit low effort. Also there was a lot of it…
B-But perhaps it would taste good! It was so famous after all!
I took a bite.
…It tasted as average as it looked.
Considering that this was their national food I guess the rumours about British food were spot-on…
Long live Japanese commoner food.
Um, sorry, girls.
Bellies filled with grease, we returned to our hotels to change.
Geh, my stomach was bulging a little because of the food…
I reminded myself to stretch before going to bed tonight.
*
*
*
We arrived to a crowd of Zui’ran students.
It was a popular story after all.
Plus, tomorrow we’d be going to Paris where the real Palais Garnier would be. It was a must-see then!
It wasn’t long before the musical began, and it was wonderful.
The venue wasn’t that big, but the stage was close so it was crazy immersive.
I was completely enraptured.
And when the falling chandelier scene happened I couldn’t help but scream, even though I knew it was coming.
Eh? No! Christine!
Don’t cry, Phantom!
Phantom, you’re the Chief of Paris’ Forever Alone Village, aren’t you!
Since you’re a fellow village chief, let me give you a hearty round of applause.
When the musical finished, even when we left the venue I still felt like I was in a dream.
Everybody else seemed to be under the same effect.
Going to a performance was the right choice! Aah, I felt like breaking into song now!
On the way back to the hotel I spotted Class Rep in tears about it, and Miharu-chan stroking his back.
*
*
*
I spent the whole day moving around, so I was beaat~
The moment we got back to the hotel I stepped on the golf ball I brought for rolling over my acupoints.
Haah! So good!
At this point I’d probably be comfortable walking around with it strapped to my foot. Slowly though.
Roll roll roll~
Haah~ The Phantom of the Opera was great. Sad ending, though.
Today I was sharing a room with Serika-chan.
While she was in the bath I channeled Christine and sang quietly.
At some point I started getting into it and began dancing randomly as well.
I sang a little louder.
While I was happily singing and posing at some point my eyes made contact with Serika-chan’s, who had at some point come out of the bathroom.
We froze.
──She saw meeeeee!
But then Serika-chan silently closed her eyes before suddenly walking towards me and gently taking my hand.
“Christine!”
Phantom!
Clad in her bathtowel cloak, Phantom Serika beckoned songstress Reika into the darkness.
Let us dance! Laaa laaa~ Lalalalala~!
And that was how the two of us, hand in hand, sang together as we made our way into the bowels of the Palais Garnier.
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It’s been six hundred years, since the last chapter release…
Side Story – Bizef Forkranz’s Past
I had been dead inside.
Up until I had met an angel…
It was she who had given me the strength to live again.
Back then, I was called the hope of the Royal Capital’s Adventurers Guild.
Once, I had been the leader of a gang of troublemakers back in my hometown.
I was 15 and fearless, living in a rural town with less than a thousand people.
There was little in the way of fun there, so the brats around my age all dreamed of making a name for themselves in the faraway Capital.
I wasn’t any exception, and I had a lot more confidence in myself than your regular kid.
Nothing was an impossibility.
Even if there was something I couldn’t do now, I would definitely be able to in the future!
It was a baseless confidence that never left me.
Not to say that I was weak.
In fact, I was definitely strong enough to become an adventurer.
After I joined the Guild it seemed to be success after success for me and I quickly climbed the ranks.
I was only twenty when I reached C-Rank.
Now that I thought about it, that was my peak as the adventurer called Bizef.
As was natural, this earned me some jealousy. People tried holding me back.
Worse yet, I was the insolent type, so my relationship with my peers only got worse as the years went on.
On magic beast exterminations they left me out. On bandit supression missions they fed me false info. In the end, I was even ambushed by some fellow adventurers. How was I supposed to raise my rank when everyone was against me like this?
I fell into a slump, hard.
The promising adventurer who was the youngest C-Rank soon found his peers catching up.
And before long he was just another adventurer.
Even though the rate that he had been rising was the 10th fastest in Guild history.
It was unadulterated humiliation for me.
But all that had really happened was that I’d become ordinary.
If only I’d had the broadmindedness to accept that I had been less of a big deal than I’d thought.
Unfortunately I was too proud to do that.
Instead I vowed to myself that I would make a comeback.
To gain merit I went on dangerous missions, one after another. As long as it would get me ahead of my foes, I pulled outrageous stunts and made them work.
Because of my behaviour, my already small circle of friends pulled away from me.
Back then I hadn’t noticed though because I was always looking upwards.
Instead, I started to see enemies all around me. Eventually people started calling me Bizef the Mad Dog.
I think it was around that time that I began my weapon collection. It might have been a consequence of those feelings of betrayal, but I used the power of money to gather powerful armaments.
People would betray you, but a weapon never would. Since I couldn’t rely on people, I would have my weapons protect me instead, or so I reasoned…
But living a life where you relied only on your weapons and nobody else? The world wasn’t so soft that it would allow it.
One day I fell into a trap set by hostile adventurers and suffered a serious wound while on a mission to kill a man-eating white chalk tiger.
I came out of it badly injured. They said that even potions and healing magic couldn’t guarantee a full recovery.
The adventurer’s livelihood depends on his body. I had no choice but to quit.
I cursed my life.
There was nothing left. Only a mountain of debts.
What was I supposed to do, I wondered.
Only halfway through my twenties and already forced to retire. The days that followed were a blur to me. I had hit rock bottom.
It took a few months before anything changed.
It occurred to me that I was going to starve to death. I at least needed the money to eat.
So I picked myself up enough to look for a job.
I was a deadbeat, sure, but a former C-Rank adventurer was nothing to sneeze at.
The jobs came one after another. A bodyguard for a merchant caravan. A fencing instructor. But although I went from one job to the next, none of them rose my spirits.
And little wonder, because for all the praise they heaped on me for my experience, in their hearts they looked down on me for falling.
Eventually I was fed up with it all and accepted a job as a guard in the rural outskirts instead. Not that there was actually much work to do in the peaceful countryside.
Still, boring as it was, a job was a job. I didn’t care as long as I was getting paid. And the quicker I got out of the rotten Capital, the better, in my opinion.
So I arrived there. Beruga Town.
A peaceful place in the countryside, far away from the Royal Capital.
Surrounded by thick forests and farms.
If you wanted to put it kindly, it was peaceful, but to a city-dweller it was the boonies.
It hit me just how far I had fallen.
Yes, I had wanted to get away from the Capital, but this was the middle of nowhere.
If I had to say something, I suppose the food was good, but that was about it.
I was going to work long enough to make some money, and then I was going to go somewhere else.
At least that had been the plan.
One day a pair of children came into the guard station.
I think they might have been around ten. One had blonde hair, while the other’s was silver, and together they looked around in curiosity.
This was why I couldn’t stand the countryside.
The guard station was a serious place, not somewhere you could wander into for fun.
“You two, you’re not supposed to be in here without a reason!”
“W-We’re sorry!” the blonde one immediately apologised.
It wasn’t like I enjoyed on picking on children. All the more if they were cute and good-natured, so the next time I spoke it was a little softer.
“If you understand then you should go home.”
“Ah, please wait. My name is Tilea. This is my sister, Timu. Might you be Bizef-san?”
“Well, yes…?”
“Ummm~ Is it true that you were an adventurer?” asked the little blonde, eyes glimmering in excitement.
Ah, this again…?
I know that children couldn’t help it, but having this brought up just to sate their curiosity was a pain.
“…It was a long time ago, kid. Anyhow, this isn’t a place you can enter without permission. Go home, go home,” I said, a little irritated.
It was always hard to stay calm when my past was brought up. I knew it was cruel to take it out on children, but I couldn’t help it.
The stern expression I was making would be enough to scare her away.
I wondered if I’d be chased out of town for this. Perhaps the nickname ‘Mad Dog Bizef’ would spread to this tiny town as well.
That was fine, I thought resignedly. It wasn’t like I’d be here for long.
“Sooooo coool! This is my first time meeting an adventurer, you know! Could I have your autograph!?”
I was left totally bewildered.
It was the complete opposite of all the scorn I had faced all this time.
I began to wonder how long it had been since somebody had looked at me with respect in their eyes…
She wasn’t just flattering me either.
I could tell. This little girl was earnestly praising me.
She wasn’t like all the others who were polite on the outside but were sneering on the inside.
I had spent so long with those sorts that I had… forgotten… this feeling.
The time I hunted my first magic beast.
The time I protected my comrades from a wolf pack.
The time I crushed a bandit gang and rescued a kidnapped girl.
I had been praised for those.
There had even been parents crying tears of gratitude.
It was thanks to this feeling that I had continued to forge onwards despite my weakness.
In the end I was so overjoyed with the blonde girl’s reaction that I spent hours regaling her with tales of my adventures.
The basics of magic, my life in the Capital, fights with bandits or with a man-eating shark… It wasn’t the kind of content that girls would usually find interest in.
Despite that, this girl just listened, rapt.
……
………
……………
“Mmn, mmn, and then?”
“Honestly I thought I was a goner. But my sword made it just in the nick of time and I managed to break out of the circle of wolves.”
“Fuee, that’s incredible… Could it be that that sword on your hip is the same one?”
“It is, actually. I take good care of it even now.”
“U-Ummm, would it be okay if I touched it?”
“Sure, but just be careful. It’s dangerous, Tilea-chan.”
Any other day I’d have thought it madness to hand my sword over to a stranger. But the way she praised me so earnestly was cute enough that I just agreed.
Tilea-chan held the sword up and tried to take a stance, but she couldn’t quite get it high enough.
I saw her arms tremble as she took quick breaths. A bit heavy for a kid.
Not a surprise considering it was a greatsword that even adult men would find trouble with, to say nothing of a young girl like her.
But it brought a smile to my face to see her do her darndest to swing it.
“Haah, haah, haah. It’s no good. I-I just can’t hold it up.”
“Hahaha, that’s no surprise. This is what you’d call a greatsword. You wouldn’t be able to without training.”
“Haah, haah, it seems not. Then Bizef-san, could I see you swing it instead?”
“Why not.”
She handed it back, so I cut audibly through the air a few times.
“Whoa, that’s amazing. That sound too. So this is an expert.”
“I’m actually quite out of practice. My swings used to be a fair bit sharper.”
I suddenly realised that I’d gone from trying to kick her out to performing for her.
But her eyes just had that effect on me.
“Oneechan, it’s getting late.”
“Ah, you’re right. Look at the time.”
“Right? I’m hungry~”
“Ehehe. Sorry, Timu. I just got caught up in Bizef-san’s stories.”
Unlike Tilea, her silver-haired sister Timu didn’t seem to have much interest in the stories of an adventurer. That was the more normal reaction for a girl.
Tilea-chan was a special case in that regard.
“We’ll be leaving now, Bizef-san. Would it be all right if I came and listened to your stories again?”
“Of course. You’ll always be welcome here. I had a lot of fun too, meeting a girl as interesting and adorable as you.”
She beamed a little abashedly in response. What a pure kid.
Before she left though, her expression turned serious.
“Bizef-san?”
“What is it?”
“Have you given up on adventurer?”
“Yeah. It’s a shame but… I can’t anymore.”
Even after my injuries healed, I couldn’t move the way I wanted. Simple jobs were one thing, but difficult jobs like I used to take were beyond me now.
When I explained it to her, Tilea-chan’s expression turned mournful.
It was uncomfortable to see.
“Ah, it’s nothing for you to worry about, Tilea-chan. It’s something that happened a long time――”
“Thank you very much!”
“Eh!? W-What’s wrong?”
“You’ve been protecting us all this time. You even got badly hurt because of it. So, thank you very much!”
Tilea-chan bowed deeply to me, her sister following suit.
“I-It’s not something you need to thank me for. It was my job, and it’s not like I saved everybody.”
“That’s not true. My family runs a restaurant. My dad said that the reason we have our ingredients is because the adventurers are working hard to hunt them. That they were stopping bandits and hunting dangerous magic beasts to protect everyone else. It’s because of hard-working adventurers like you that we can live the way we do, so――”
Before I knew it I had wrapped her in my arms.
It was what I had been searching for ever since my retirement…
It was what I had wanted, all this time…
Not retirement money, not job prospects, but the words she had just told me.
*
*
For the next few years, Tilea-chan would occasionally visit to listen to more of my stories.
Not once did she get bored of them, listening to every story with glittering eyes.
Her passion for adventurers was undeniable.
For a while I had even considered teaching her the basics if she had the talent and drive.
In the end though, I decided it was better for it to remain a passion.
The life of an adventurer was filled with hopes and dreams, yes. But ambition also bred toxicity.
I didn’t want her to experience that.
Besides, the girl herself was already resolved to pursue her dream of being a chef, and she had the talent for it too. It seemed like a day didn’t go by without her skill improving.
Even your average professional from the Capital was no match for her these days. In my opinion it was better that she follow her dreams of being a cook instead of getting tangled up in dangerous professions like adventuring.
Tilea-chan.
She was a fantastic cook, a beauty that lit up the room, the one I owed for saving my spirit, and the person that I loved.
It was a gradual thing over these last 6 years, but my feelings seemed to grow by the day.
Plenty of other men here had their eyes on her too, but I crushed every one of them.
Tilea-chan was too precious for these hicks.
She had no idea of course, but it was actually a fairly common occurance.
I was sitting in the guard station with George and the others, thinking things through.
Was now the right time?
I ought to confess to her soon…
“Bizef-san, did Tilea-chan make that?”
“Yeah, I got it off her as thanks the other day.”
This dish was called ‘nikujaga’.
Nikujaga. A Japanese dish of meat, potatoes and onion stewed in sweetened soy sauce.
It looked and tasted incredible. Everyone else in the room was staring enviously.
You aren’t getting any.
“It looks amazing. Even though she’s such a great cook and a beauty too, how come nobody is going after her?” said one of my colleagues.
“She’s a beautiful, filial girl. You’d expect her to have had a boyfriend or two by now, right?” agreed another.
“I’ve lived in a few towns now, but there’s never been a girl as cute as Tilea,” yet another praised.
Hmph, obviously!
As if the girl I loved could be anything less.
It’d be a problem if they lumped her in with the rest.
“Great at cooking, a personality like the sun, and a stunner too. On top of that, she’s a great person. I bet all the youngsters are after her.”
“Idiot, big bro Bizef’s already sent them off to the afterlife,” laughed George.
“Oi, oi, that’s slander,” I said.
How would he take responsibility if some weird rumours ruined her impressions of me.
“What do you mean slander? The other day didn’t you threaten that kid who tried to make a pass at her?”
“T-That was… The guy was just being too frivolous about it so I taught him a lesson,” I countered.
“I see now,” somebody nodded. “So that’s why Tilea-chan doesn’t have a boyfriend. So Bizef-san was the culprit.”
“Kuh, that’s not it. I’m just genuinely worried about Tilea-chan and…”
“Haha, it’s fine. That girl definitely likes you too,” he replied.
“S-Seriously?”
“Of course!” added another. “Don’t you see the way her eyes sparkle when she listens to your stories!”
“T-That is true…”
“Bizef-san, you’d better invite us to the wedding ceremony,” another joked.
“Y-Yeah.”
Tilea-chan liked me?
I mean I had an inkling, but it seemed so much more certain after hearing others say it.
Even after the others left to do their jobs, I couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot.
In the end I had to slap myself when I heard somebody enter.
Somebody who seemed to be shouting, actually.
I strained my ears, and seemed to hear Tilea-chan.
After promptly heading to the entrance, it turns out my suspicions were correct.
“Bizef-san! Bizef-san! Bizef-saaan!”
Tilea-chan was frightened!
What had happened, exactly?
Still, nothing was impossible for the man named Bizef. Bandits, magic beasts, armed with my skill and courage I’d crush anything that got in the way.
After all, this was my chance to show her my appeal as a man!
With some difficulty I managed to suppress my grin before heading towards her.
“Why if it isn’t Tilea-chan. You don’t look too good. What’s wrong?”
“S-, Something outrageous has happened. I-, it’s a disaster. It’s a disaster!”
“Disaster?”
“Y-, Yes. S-, Somebody’s using a dragon to attack――”
From back alley brawls to bashful bonds, two former-delinquents face their next fight: long-term relationships.
During her high school years, Takebe was the top dog at her school. But with her old friends now living as happy riajuu, Takebe was faced with an impending sense of crisis.
Takebe thus resolved herself to quit delinquency, but the result of that was a fated meeting with her old rival, Soramori. Losing a fist-fight against Soramori, for some reason or other Takebe was now dating her.
What kind of relationship did the two of them have back in high school? And would Takebe ever manage to graduate from delinquency…!?
お兄ちゃん、やめてぇ！ 