Strongest Gamer Lets Play in Another World Volume 1 Chapter 4
The ever dwindling days left of training slowly passed by.
Since there were so few days left, I didn’t really bother doing something hasty. If I did anything else and it went poorly, then at worse I’d leave something half-baked behind. I didn’t know what would become of the labyrinth, but it would still be good to have a budget. I made something of a treasury for all the DL coins under the cabin, and collected all the materials that might be overabundant, along with the potions and lamps I’d made, and sold them all to Tundra.
Ann diligently polished the stone before placing it in the delivery box.
We wouldn’t get any cash until the inventory cleared out with the normal stone, but the polished stone was listed separately so it didn’t count alongside the typical variant. Though, it was kind of a shame that the amount of work didn’t change the price that much.
Some time ago, one of the dolls we’d made out of stone and metal to play tabletop games with fell apart, and so we decided to start making palm-sized stone figurines that day instead. We went at it for about two or three days and managed to create something worthy of selling, despite being complete amateurs. Even if Ann was only a half-kobold, she was really skilled at it. I thought all those laid-back days of minimal work would slowly diminish my tempered body from carving out the stairs, but...
Aoi Kousaka
<Apprentice Labyrinth Manager>
Vitality : 128/128 Stamina : 882/882 Willpower : 152/152
Skill(s) : <Dungeon Management Tool> <Appraisal>
I checked the translucent window just to make sure, but it didn’t seem like my Vitality or Stamina decreased after being raised. I found it a little strange that my body didn’t get even a little bit muscular despite my stats going up. Since bodybuilding every day wasn’t really my hobby, I guess it was convenient enough still, all things considered. I wondered if my Willpower going up was thanks to the potion making... That would be good news to me since I was kinda self-conscious about min-maxing in Stamina.
The moss, which was a highly valuable material for potion making, fortunately spread around and grew about as fast as normal vegetation. It only took about three days to come back after I would harvested some of it. I took my time to make potions, and made sure to store them properly. I also tried to create new potions with the guide book in hand from time to time. I really enjoyed the easygoing slow life of an alchemist and a doctor.
Thanks to the various kinds of potions I’d left in the mayor’s residence, Deneb kept delivering fresh vegetables and meat. The flavoring and nutritional value was somewhat of a problem still, but I was happy enough to have something different to put on the table other than the endless stream of pumpkin.
The countdown I kept scratching into nearby stone was down to ten days, assuming a month equaled 30 days in this world. Roughly every ten days, Fez would come around for the village market. Ann had left for the village earlier in the morning. She told me she wanted to eat meat and eggs last night, so I gave her money so she could buy some from Fez’s shop.
It was right about time to harvest leafy vegetables—like white bana—in the village, so there would a lot of corn, vegetable, and pumpkin cooking. I figured a growing girl like Ann would want to eat meat dishes as much as she could.
I read about a way to brew moss tea in one of the herbalism books, so I gathered some and lined them up to dry on top of a cloth in the shade... It was bright by day, but at the bottom of the ravine where nothing but sunlight refracting off the stone walls would reach, I could still manage to dry them out... After I was done with that, I headed to the village market to window-shop for a bit. I didn’t really have anything else to do there, but staying cooped inside the bottom of the ravine wasn’t healthy for anyone.
I noticed something wasn’t right as I walked towards the village. It seemed there was smoke rising off in the distance. Not white smoke, as if they had an open-air fire, but black smoke, as if something was burning.
A bad feeling had overcome me, so I quickened my pace towards the village. When I reached the small hill where I could take a look at the whole village, I manage to catch some buildings in the center of the village that were broken down, and one of them was on fire.
“What’s going on down there...?”
I could clearly see from on top the hill that there was some kind of giant standing in the middle of the village square. It was way bigger than a single-story building. I calculated that it must have been about ten meters tall, and made of scrap and round cogwheels. There were three of those metal giants standing in the center of the village.
“Hermit, mate! They’ll see you like that, get down! Come over here!”
I heard a familiar voice while I stared off at the warped shape of the giants. Instinctively, I crouched down and headed towards the voice. I found Fez apparently hiding inside a tiny thicket sitting on the wasteland.
“So you made it fine? Hey, do you have a potion on you?”
I noticed as he said it. Fez was holding onto his side, which seemed to be injured. His clothes were torn apart and there was blood coming out of his wound under his paw.
“Yeah, give me a sec. I brought a vitality potion with me.”
These days I made it a habit to carry a pouch with a potion or two inside, similar to carrying a first aid kit for emergencies. I was happy that I’d started the habit.
“Fez, put half of this on the wound and drink the rest.”
I rolled up a green dyed cloth and marked the potion so he knew how much to pour out, then handed it to Fez.
“Thanks, I made a mistake... Guh...”
It must have hurt to pour the potion on such a gash. He grimaced and downed the potion afterwards.
“As effective as ever, huh? I was prepared to bleed out to death out here, you know?”
When he took his hand off the wound, the gash that peeked out of his torn out clothes disappeared and was soon replaced by fur, as if nothing ever happened.
“What happened in the village, Fez?”
“The village got attacked by that Human clan. It was probably a party that came to plunder via a ship.”
There were humans in the village, but they were part of the population of Daemon, along with all the other races. These must have humans that come from the country that existed west of the Polaris Channel.
“Raiders? Then they must be after anything remotely valuable they can find. What about the villagers?”
“The villagers are as good as merchandise to them... They might be taken in as slaves. I think the ones that don’t resist will be safe. As safe as a slave could be, at least.”
The word ‘slavery’ didn’t conjure any sort of positive image in my mind. All of a sudden the deadlock inside my head unraveled with a click, like the percussion hammer of a gun clicking everything in place, and my mind was set in motion. That was how I got into the right mindset. Filled with tension, on the verge of stepping into the final stage, with all eyes on me. Right now I was a 22 year old apprentice, nothing else. Aoi Kousaka, a gamer that refused to give up until the bitter end, against all odds.
If their objective was slave trading, they wouldn’t haphazardly spill blood. Since Ann was always in kobold form outside of the ravine, she should be fine, even if their plundering involved raping the women...
“Phew...”
—Now... Let’s think. What can I do?
“A raid party, huh...? What are those metal giants?”
“That’s the ‘Extended Knight Armor’, I reckon. The main force those humans use to fight—giants made out of metal and gears.”
“So there’s a person inside of that?”
A stark contrast from the knights that wore armor and rode horses.
“Yeah, humans have their limits, but they have the power of those metal things. There should be people riding them. Even if they didn’t have those, there’s still over 30 armed soldiers. I don’t think the villagers could resist, even if they wanted to.”
“Even though it’s a village of 200 Daemon people?”
“Yeah, there might be some folks that are more powerful and sturdier than the raiders among them, but they’re as good as dummies with no training. When you compare them to soldiers armed to the teeth, the difference is just too great.”
So even if they looked like demons, they weren’t all that strong. That counted double for villagers who were used to living in peace.
“But you were hurt, too. Did you fight them off?”
“No, I noticed the difference in power was too Great to fight back. I was running away to a neighboring town to ask for help, but I guess they were expecting just that. I got ambushed by a human soldier on the road north of Milt Village that connects with the closest town; that’s how I ended up like this. Well... I did get lucky to meet with you here after running away.”
I had really mixed feelings about just leaving Ann in the village controlled by that raid party, but Fez’s judgement was correct. No matter how much of a talented ex-mercenary he was, we were outmatched in number and equipment. Rather than resisting in a situation where many villagers wouldn’t be of much use, it was better to seek out help.
“I see. I’m glad you managed to escape, at least.”
“Are you sure? I left Ann and the villagers behind and ran away. I was prepared to take a blow to the muzzle in exchange for the potion...”
“And you did so because your experience as a mercenary told you to, right? I think you were right... Don’t worry, I’ll charge you the price of the potion with something else. Your wallet will feel lighter, so you better be ready.”
“That hurts more than this wound did...”
Knowing the price of a Grade 6 vitality potion, it wasn’t a surprise that Fez was all but pleased with my consolation.
“Haha... So you’ll profit as long as I’m alive, huh? I’ll avoid the road I got ambushed on and head to town to call for help. You have a house outside of the city, right? It’s better if you hide.”
Fez rose up a little bit. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do myself. There should have been stuff besides swords and lances in Tundra’s ‘Military Resources’ page, like the guardian golems and such.
As my mind started to wander I heard a sound, like a bullet cutting through the air. An arrow suddenly landed near the thicket we were hiding in.
“Drats... They found us!”
When I looked at the direction that Fez had turned to, I saw two ironclad men holding gigantic bows, and an armored man on horseback wielding a spear, running in our direction.
“Mate! I’ll run north, you go the other way! It’s better than getting taken out together!”
Fez rushed behind me and jumped out of the bush. I lunged out in the opposite direction and started to run as well. I knew that if I lost even a second to doubt in this battle event that I’d end up with a first-class ticket to a dead end...!
◇
I ran through the wasteland. There wasn’t really much vegetation to speak of, just stones and boulders sprinkled here and there. I felt a stinging pain on my upper left arm due to an arrow that grazed it the second I came out of the bush. Blood spilled out in a stream, but there was no way I could stop running. Perhaps I’d gotten unlucky while Fez got lucky. The fact was that the cavalry soldier was still in pursuit of me. My body felt awfully light all of a sudden. Maybe those three months of work weren’t just for show, but the speed of a human was not the same as a horse’s in the end.
The horse seemed to be having somewhat of a hard time running across the wasteland, and I was trying my best, but the distance between us gradually narrowed.
“HAH!”
I put both feet forward and slowed myself down with a slide to lower my speed. The lance of the cavalryman behind me passed right over my head and brushed against my hair. This was about the fourth or fifth time I’d avoided the lance trying to impale me. At first the soldier looked bewildered, but soon enough he started setting up the next attack immediately after I evaded. Perhaps he had gotten used to it.
He seemed like a skilled rider, but that didn’t do me any favors!
“(pant) So... (pant) This is hard mode, huh...?”
Words that I’d almost forgotten about slurred from my mouth as I caught my breath and prepared for the next attack. I didn’t have anything on hand to make a weapon. All I had was my business suit that barely fit from all the running and workouts I’d done, and a bunch of potions. There was no way I could weaponize them. The big gash on my arm still bled quite a bit too, and my Stamina to keep me running was depleting rapidly.
Even if I gave up and fell to my knees, I couldn’t complain about it later. If this was a game, a normal player would have just thrown the controller against the nearest wall by now, but there was no reset button for reality. There were no extra lives if I met my end here.
—Is this what instinctive fear feels like?
The shiver that ran across my left arm made my right arm feel heavier for some reason. Panic had started to set in and my body tensed up, but the joy and focus that surged from deep inside caused me to return to my senses.
I wasn’t getting off on my own suffering, but I was definitely one of those weirdos that got more and more excited the harder something became—I had the heart of a gamer.
“Life may be a game, but you shouldn’t underestimate the power of life.”
The horseman held his lance steady and dashed full speed towards me, ready to attack.
“I’ll say it now and I’ll say it again. I’m a hardcore gamer! Pft, look down on life? Don’t make me laugh. I play for keeps no matter what it is!”
I ran towards a tall bush behind me.
“Yeah, this is a hard level, but it’s not that big of a deal! There’s always a gimmick or two!”
I timed the horseman racing behind me with his lance ready, and jumped horizontally. The sharp spearhead pierced the base of my neck all the way to the tip of my collar. Luckily it was a shallow wound... but it hurt like hell! There were no games out there that could reproduce the feeling of pain yet, so this was new for me.
“Ngh...!”
I rolled over onto the hard rock-filled ground and listened to the sharp neigh of the horse. I’d gotten thrown into a bush with thorns as thick as the spearhead that had pierced me just now.
“So... The archers didn’t chase me, eh? I like rises in difficulty, but that would have been a little too much.”
I got up off the ground. As the dirt and pebbles fell off my face, I looked around me and sighed in relief. There were no archers here. Seemed like the horseman was out of commision. I took a vitality potion out of my pouch and poured half of it on my wounds, and drank the rest.
“The glass didn’t break at all even after all that running? The desert labyrinth... Umm... Labyrinth #35, was it? They’re my favorite glass seller from now on.”
A sharp pain ran through my body when I poured the potion over my wounds, but it faded away as the wounds themselves closed up. I tucked away the empty bottle back into the pouch. The thorny bush shook slightly—perhaps the horseman and the horse were on their last legs. I decided not to stick around long enough to find out and headed off to the labyrinth.
◇
“Phew... I’m finally back.”
After reaching the cabin, I got some water with my usual pitcher and drank it up. I sat down to catch my breath on top of a wooden chair whose legs were a bit corroded by the moss from leaving it outside.
“What can I do? I can’t do much to liberate the villagers on my own. Even saving Ann alone would be difficult, especially with how I am now.”
Running away from a single horseman alone was hard enough, and there were still at least 30 more of them, according to Fez. Not to mention the three sets of ‘Extended Knight Armor’ out in the middle of the village.
Storming in upfront was out of the question. Even coming up with a plan to sneak in and help Ann at the very least would be extremely hard as well. If I did it by night, the difficulty would be lower, but I had no guarantee Ann or the other villagers would not be taken away today.
“Hmm? Did Ann forget this?”
While I looked around trying to think of a plan, I found something on top of the table outside the cabin. A simple necklace made out of a strap and a silver ring, just like the one I’d bought for Ann.
“It’s wrapped up with a parchment... Heh. Hahahah... Ann, that’s not fair.”
I spread out the parchment that the necklace was inside of, and a bitter laugh spilled out of my mouth. There were letters from this world written on it. Their shapes were somewhat different, but Daemon writing was roughly the same as Japanese.
To Aoi,
This is a present to celebrate the end of your apprenticeship. I had to cry for Mister Fez to drive down the price, and I managed to buy a ring just like the one you got me in the end! There’s so many things you don’t know about this world yet, and I’m always worried about you! This ring matches mine, so make sure you put it on, okay!?
- Ann.
I held the ring tightly... Yeah, it didn’t bend even when I put a bunch of force on it. Guess this really wasn’t pure silver. Fez, you dirty dog, I paid you at least 10000 DL when I bought Ann’s! I supposed it was expected of a merchant to be as tricky as possible, though.
“Ann, visual novel heroines use a little more roundabout methods these days, you know? Don’t tell me you’re the heroine of an otome game... Heh...”
An amused laugh leaked out of my mouth. While laughing, I felt a certain something, accompanied by an uncontrollable heat overflowing from deep inside my heart.
—That sneaky little girl.
This sort of heartbreaking twist wasn’t popular nowadays. Was she trying to become a tragic heroine despite all I’d done? I couldn’t help but laugh at myself for thinking about lowering the risks as much as possible.
“Well done.”
I continued to laugh after finding my answer. I may have been able to find an ideal way if I’d gathered information and thought about it calmly, but I’d already decided I would save Ann...
“Right now.”
Yes, that was what I promised Sara.
Taking the funds I’d gathered from three months of work, plus my healthy body, and the high risk of me losing my life, into account... My range of options vastly expanded.
—So what if there’s a power difference so large that I can’t overturn it with a single sword or spear? Gamers live to turn around handicapped situations!
But yeah, I’d like to avoid taking the wrong guess here. It wasn’t like gamers at large, including myself, had no fears at all. It’d be more accurate to say we were one of the world’s most cowardly beings. Even now, while a hot something stirred my body and heart into action, there was still a slight shiver that ran down my spine. That was the very same reason we would do trial and error, all to prepare ourselves to take on hardship in all its forms.
And so we stood up to fear, wielding the joy to overcome adversity, which burned bright, like a raging fire that consumed everything in its path. If I could wield that with both hands, then I had nothing to fear anymore.
Shall we take this game of life seriously now? I guess it was about time.
As I got up, ready to take action, I heard a very familiar sound of a door creaking open behind me... One I hadn’t heard in over three months. And when the door closed with a sonorous slam, the scenery around me changed in an instant.
◇
The sound of cars coming and going could be heard from outside of the window where the sunlight rays poured into the room, along with usual train and busy town noises. Instead of the feeling of my slightly crooked chair, it was the feeling of a springy cheap cushioned sofa that supported my weight. The pure, clean air of the bottom of the ravine was replaced by the characteristic cheap scent of instant coffee. I was back at that monotonous office building where everything started.
“It’s been a while, Kousaka-san.”
“It really has... Karumi-san...”
The words were kind of stuck in my throat. The sudden change of scenery was a bit of a shock to me.
“Your performance was outstanding. To put it briefly—well done! Even among all those that received training in the past, you achieved the highest ranking in terms of production and facility expansion.”
I could barely pay any attention to the congratulatory words being thrown at me. I looked over the room and spotted a business newspaper on the table. My heart was filled with relief by the date. Two months have passed from when I’d first started—we were in the end of August now.
At the sight of this nostalgic, peaceful scene, I was filled with a sense of loss rather than relief from returning from another world.
The three months I’d spent in that old shabby cabin, with the mayor, Jenny, Fez, and most importantly... Ann, felt like some kind of fever dream now. It was like a sort of phantom hallucination had hit me all at once.
“Karumi-san. I have a lot of things I want to ask you, and I’d like you to answer me, but first of all... was ‘that place’ real?”
My suit still had the marks of the arrow and lance that had pierced it. Those wouldn’t come out no matter how much scrubbing I would do, and more importantly, I was still holding the silver ring. I wouldn’t be able to think about anything else if I didn’t ask for confirmation.
“Yes, it wasn’t a staged trick or a dream. It was real beyond any shadow of a doubt. It is a bit different from our world, though.”
“Thank you very much.”
My heart felt at ease by the confirmation.
Those last words about the world being different ticked my interest as a gamer, but they didn’t seem to have ill intent behind them, so I let it slide for now.
“First, allow me to apologize for causing you so much trouble. It was inexcusable. I was supposed to send you to a facility with enough personnel to advise and guide you, along with enough supplies to last you three months without having to do anything, but I ended up sending you off to a barren place due to defective documentation.”
Yeah, so that initial situation was irregular as I’d suspected. The difficulty wasn’t that bad thanks to the delivery box inside of the cabin and the Tundra eShop, but someone that wasn’t used to games would’ve had a harder time for sure. Perhaps they would even starve or freeze to death from being unable to figure the system out.
“One week after I sent you there, I noticed the mistake in the documents and verified it in a hurry. But by then, you were already living normally, so I was allowed to just monitor your progress.”
What was I doing one week after I got there again? I must have been planting the waterdry trees, harvesting pumpkins, and eating jerky. Wasn’t that when I’d finally put together a decent bed and Ann fell from the sky...? Yeah, you could say I was living normally.
“Did I get called back here because the results of my training came out?”
“Yes. If you wish to resign, these three months of training will be taken into account and you’ll be remunerated for your work. In the case you want to become a full time employee, you’ll be officially starting your new job as appointed manager of the Labyrinth #228 in a week’s time.”
“Why is there a week period in between?”
“A human invasion is currently endangering the vicinity of the labyrinth. We concluded it’s impossible to secure the safety of the manager due to the lack of defensive measures in the facility. We’re considering a period of one week for the danger to subside in the surrounding area and safety can be assured.”
Enough time for Fez to get to the town and drive away the humans with Daemon’s armed forces? Or enough time for the human raid party to leave after ransacking the whole place?
—So I’d be safe if I spent a week back here on Earth?
“The surrounding environment has to be put in order, and the rebuilding of the pioneering village isn’t that complicated. The movement of people to rebuild the village and bring in the most immediate supplies for community life will take about two weeks. The estimated time until it becomes a proper village will be about one month.”
That was a rather sound judgement. Yeah, pretty rational... But I refuse.
If you’ve ever played enough RPG, you must have come across situations where someone close to the hero or heroine dies in the middle the story. You must have, right?
In terms of game progression, it was viewed as necessary for developers to bring the story to a climax, or stir your emotions. From a user's perspective, it was seen as the character dying due to unavoidable circumstances.
But I really hated that.
Although gamers played all kinds of genres, ranging from RPG, to action and FPS, rather than simply enjoying them for the fun of it, some immersed themselves into their worlds and set out to overcome challenges and adversity to then come out on top. However, no matter how much effort was made, no matter how strong your character was, or how skilled you were, there would always be someone you couldn’t save. Didn’t that basically negate all the effort and emotional investment that a player poured into the game?
The heroine that couldn’t be saved might have been a mere NPC, but have you ever thought about it from the heroine’s perspective? How awful it must be to see your lover resign to your death tens of thousands of times, and abandon you just like that...
Thankfully, this game wasn’t one where the future was decided just yet.
In this case, it wasn’t bad that I wanted to take on the challenge to save my heroine. I was a gamer that laughed off difficulty levels no matter how high they were, was I not?
“If I liberate the village... there won’t be any rebuilding costs. I’m not sure what the outcome will be, but would you allow me to try on my own?”
“You’d like to help even at your own risk...? This isn’t a problem that only affects you, Kousaka-san. If those close to the labyrinth put themselves in harm’s way, the labyrinth itself will be exposed to danger. As someone employed as a labyrinth manager, and a member of society, wouldn’t you prioritize your work?”
Karumi-san shot me down with the truth, a look of indifference on her face. The tone of her voice was cold-hearted and down to business, but the curiosity-tinged gleam in her eyes was different, as if she was gauging my response carefully.
There was nothing wrong with what she’d said, rather, her sound argument couldn’t have been more perfect.
There might be civil liberties and humanity problems on Earth, but it was completely different compared to the other side. Abandoning the easily replaceable villagers and securing the life of an important labyrinth manager seemed like the most natural choice.
And the only one that knew how to traverse between Earth and the other world was Karumi-san here. I couldn’t force her to help me. This wasn’t the the time or place to get emotional and act irrationally. It would be a mistake to choose the “Raise my voice and say I want to save the villager’s lives” option. At the very least... that wasn’t my playstyle.
“It’s because I look at it from a work perspective that I’m suggesting that we can get better results from acting now, instead of waiting to repopulate the village.”
By this point, I’d grown out of spewing stuff like “I want to save someone important to me”, or other impulsive and heroic one-liners. I was too old for that now.
I had to persuade Karumi-san that saving Ann and the villagers was in the company's best interests. Compared to my younger self that could do anything out of sheer strength or courage... That was too cringey. This was the way the game played out in the world of adults.
I took a flimsy-looking paper cup that looked like it would fall apart at the slightest bit of pressure, and put some instant coffee, sugar, and milk powder in it. Since the coffee enthusiasts out there would get angry if I called it coffee, we’ll just say I wet my whistle with that coffee-based drink, and spoke once again.
“I went through the training, and just like you said, if I become a full-time employee, I’ll officially become the manager of Labyrinth #228. In which case, there’s barely anything as of now. I made a pathway, expanded the room, and created an exit connecting to the surface. But I’ll need even more manpower to at least give it the appearance of a proper labyrinth. I think I’ll go senile in that world before accomplishing any of that on my own with only a pickaxe.”
Even though Ann and I tried our very best building the stairs to the surface every single day, it still took us a whole month. I didn’t know how much time and labor would be required if the intention was to build a proper labyrinth on that plot of land.
To dig up a labyrinth with my own two hands sounded like a fun endeavor, though.
“You’re right. The labyrinth was supposed to be completed by now after fifteen years of work, and a lot of funds were invested into it. The fact that not a single hole in the ground was dug despite it being reported as completed in the official documents is quite ironic, I must add.”
“In these three months... It might be true that I’ve only come into proper contact in the last month, but I’ve assessed that the people I exchanged and dealt with have the the mental and physical prowess to partner up with me to build the labyrinth. If there are new villagers that will come instead, they’ll more than likely be preoccupied in trying to improve their situation in a new place. I’m not sure I can produce better results without knowing their qualities or disposition like I do with the current residents.”
Mayor Hopper and the villagers might be a little scary at times, but they were ruggedly honest and hard workers to a fault. Nevermind that I was together with Ann, they still accepted me with open arms. And the thought of learning to play and work with them seemed like fun.
“I see, what you say is reasonable indeed. However, don’t you think you’re getting your priorities backwards, so to speak? You would be wielding your qualities as a superior labyrinth manager and exposing yourself to a very real danger in order to achieve what you say.”
Karumi-san stated the simple truth. I could see her reasoning as a gamer that pursued figures and efficiency. But people with their own wills and dreams lived in that world, like other players in a multiplayer game. And I didn’t care about risking my life to save Ann, Sara, Deneb, or any of the other player’s lives.
I may act and talk like an adult on the surface, but I was just a serious player in this game of life. Camping and playing like a coward wasn’t cool, and it was literally better to die than live on with regrets your whole life.
“It’s an honor to hear you say I’m a good labyrinth manager. As a superior labyrinth manager, if I’m to consider the future of the labyrinth’s expansion, I need those people. I judge that the risk necessary to save them is one worth taking.”
How about that? I gazed at Karumi-san to gauge her reaction when she grabbed a cup of the same sugary milk coffee and drank it up as if it were really delicious... She flashed me a delightful smile that I could only compare to blossoming flowers in spring.
“.........”
Since she didn’t show a hint of emotion ever since we’d met, the unexpected smile made me choke on my words for a moment.
“Looks like I’m defeated. That’s a splendid facade. There’s no room for complaints.”
She said she lost, but I couldn’t sense a hint of bitterness in her cheery tone.
“Our company—no, I have been looking for a labyrinth manager like you, Kousaka-san.”
Was she testing me? Well, they were looking for people good at games, so I doubt they had been looking for the kind of adult bureaucratic person that could only deliver rigid judgement.
“Like me? What does that mean?”
“A person with the desire and will to make the desires of their heart a reality—without getting caught up in the concepts of good and evil,” she said in a cutesy manner, tilting her head to one side. “See, since we’re subordinates of the Great Dark Lord, we aren’t exactly knights in shining armor material, right? And since we’re more or less a company, we need people that can keep up appearances and act like adults.”
I calmed down and tried to think back on everything. I was a human that was...
—Living in a country that’s ruled by a Dark Lord... For the sake of the people of a country called Daemon... Trying to fight off humans.
There was the minor detail about Daemon also having humans among its population too, but we were certainly doing something akin to an evil organization’s work.
“Although, I personally think you’re more than what our company deserves as far as labyrinth managers go. But you’re still the talented person I’ve been looking for so long. I won’t hand you over to any other department.”
There was an almost carnivorous grin on Karumi-san’s face. I thought she was a more calm and collected person, but it seemed she was pretty expressive on the inside.
“I will accept the responsibility for your plan, but first I’d like to confirm one thing. It’s kind of a regulation, you see... Well then, even if you were to retire here, your remuneration for the last three months of training comes to the amount of 500,000 yen, and the additional fee for your outstanding performance adds 180 million yen that will be paid to you.”
That additional fee was wildly different, but it was a huge number, so... I couldn’t complain.
Karumi-san raised her index finger and continued.
“However, this additional fee includes the current savings of the labyrinth itself, so it will decrease if the situation of the labyrinth worsens... In the worst case scenario, it could very well disappear entirely. Will you still take the risk regardless?”
It didn’t seem like there was ill intent in her voice still. The obscene amount of money certainly was more than a mid-career person like me could ever dream of earning after just three months, but the silver ring I held right now was worth far more than that.
“This might be a little out of place, but... I choose ‘yes’.”
Karumi-san smiled as she heard my answer and nodded radiantly. You’d think she just fell in love.
“Kousaka-san, please don’t die. Our company... No, I expect great things of you,” Karumi-san said with a mischievous wink. “That’s why, I’ll give you a little advice for breaking the rules. Keep what I’m about to tell you a secret to everybody, okay?”
Karumi-san was... the very picture of a beautiful lady.
“I was allowed to look into you after sending you off to training, and there so happens to be a very unusual labyrinth manager in that world that manufactures golems and exhibits them in Tundra’s eShop. Labyrinth #13, if I remember correctly. There’s a certain giant-sized manned golem currently listed which just happens to have a very high affinity with you, Kousaka-san. It’s designed to defend, but it also has offensive capabilities, so it may be useful for your current situation.”
Karumi-san snapped her fingers, and... I heard the creaky sound of a door opening right behind me and... Slam! At the same time I heard the door closing, I was left back in front of the little cabin sitting in the middle of the ravine I’d missed so much.
“Well, then... I guess I’ll go with that.”
I drank the remaining coffee out of the cup I was holding in my hand, and opened several UI windows around me, including Tundra’s catalog.
—Let’s try taking a look at the giant golem Karumi-san told me about first.
◇
“Hmm... These two here look promising.”
After browsing the Tundra eShop for about 30 minutes, I singled out the two most promising items.
Assault Golem Armor - Comet (Height: 7 m / Weight: 6.5 t) == 13800000 DL
[Recharges automatically! Get up to six hours of battery life on a single charge!]
Seller : Manager, Labyrinth #13
Rating : ★☆☆☆☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #201
- Amazing friccing speed! Pretty funky mecha bro! It goes to friccing fast I ended up pulling the emergency brake and coughing out blood! It’ll pop like a popcorn if you so much as brush a wall you can’t break, it’s pretty fricced up!
Rating : ★★☆☆☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #102
- I value it good as a pretty ornament. It’s currently just sitting outside to scare a few loitering demons, but it’s rather pretty to look at. I’ll ignore reviewing it in regards to its functionality in this review.
Rating : ★☆☆☆☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #601
- Bad stability. I heard it was 3 times faster than the other model this same person has up for sale, so I tried giving it a whirl, but 3 times faster also means 3 times harder to use, but that’s not all, the armor is also 3 times more thin. It does have an option to fly using a flying unit, but controlling it is so hard I just gave up. I’m afraid of even trying to use the default jump unit.
I tried it out just because an acquaintance asked me to, turns out the attack power is quite high, but the equipment is specialized for close encounters. Why wouldn’t it have shooting weapons? Besides, did the price lower compared to when I bought it? This is a selling off price, isn’t it? This isn’t even a golem, it’s a goddamn robo... oh, looks like I got a visit!
Automatic Cursed Sword (Height: 1.2 m / Total Length: 1.5 m) == 6800000 DL
Brand : Jr. Devil King Edge
Seller : Preceding Manager, Labyrinth #552
Rating : ★☆☆☆☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #35
- Tough to use for older folks. A sword that bestows various faculties to the body of the wielder, it also bestows fencing abilities, tactic skills. This cursed sword gives you all those. You can use it without problem even if you don’t know anything about wielding a sword, but there’s a catch... if you’re too rough using it you might die because of the muscular pain the next day...
Rating : ★★☆☆☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #172
- It has a lot of value as work of art. The single edged sword image makes for a beautiful single piece, but the fencing abilities it gives are not very beautiful. It doesn’t grant any kind of way to protect the body, so I wouldn’t recommend it as a weapon for managers.
The giant golem from Labyrinth #13 that Karumi-san told me about was expensive enough to drain most of my savings, but I’d decided to go through with it still. It seemed it was hard to maneuver, but it had good performance, which was nice.
It seemed like the ‘Comet’ was more focused on looking intimidating than being aerodynamic. It pretty much looked like a futuristic set of armor. No one from Earth would see this and call it a golem.
The golem looked to be more difficult to steer than a robot, but when I thought back to robot games that were played in large cabinets, it was a riot for gamers even if they were a bit unwieldy. It was certainly a product that hit all my preferences, but I wondered what she meant by ‘good affinity’.
Next thing was the supposedly cursed sword; it seemed like I could increase my physical faculties just by holding it. I’d fought using blades in games countless times, but this was a suitable item for someone that didn’t have any kind of real swordsmanship or fencing experience.
The two things had a fair bit in common. They had high offensive power, high mobility, put burden on the user’s body, had no defensive power, were hard to use—and both of them absolutely wrecked a labyrinth’s budget.
I wanted as much mobility and offensive power as I could possibly get. It’d be indispensable if I were to face at least 30 or so armed soldiers alone, not to mention the metal giants... I needed offensive power to destroy those Extended Knight Armors.
I could do much about the budget problem. If a labyrinth manager was going to battle directly, you’d think that they’d place defense power and survivability at the highest of priorities, but neither of the two gave any of that, so I had nothing to worry about in that front.
If I wanted more defense while maintaining performance, the price spiked up more than five times. It wasn’t like it wasn’t worth it... I just didn’t have the money.
—The problem is the budget. I’d like to buy both the sword and the Comet, but the total amount goes up to 25 million DL... I’d probably have to attach a firearm and flight unit as well... If I don’t have the flying unit, I won’t be able to take it out of this ravine.
The stairs were about two meters wide and were barely big enough for people to go up and down.
The sword may have been usable normally, but the fact its toll on the body was so high made me kinda unsure I wanted to rely on it completely. I had stamina potions, but I doubted I’d be able to recover if I ran out of steam, or one of my muscles snapped in the middle of a battle.
Since the money I had in the labyrinth right now was only about 15 million DL, I started looking for things I could cash out in the delivery box to get to the desired amount. But after living here for some months, I knew there was nothing valuable enough outside that’d give me the money right now... Or so I thought, until my eyes laid on a certain amber room decoration inside of the cabin.
The pretty waterdy amber I’d been picking up as of late. I didn’t give them much mind because it was rare to even see money back in Milt Village, but amber was a precious stone. Could it be worth something?
“I can always collect more of them again... I need as much money as I can get, even if it’s just a little more...”
The waterdry amber pieces within the glass container rattled around as I placed it inside the delivery box and closed the lid. It was a bit frustrating to do, but as long as I still breathed, I could get more.
I heard the usual sound of coins falling, and when I opened the lid I saw something I’d never seen before—a rainbow-colored silver coin with an incredible luster. The engraving said “10000000 DarkLord Coin”...?
There were two rainbow-colored coins that were about the size of a 500 yen coin, and one golden 5 million DL coin, and a few coins of other denominations that seemed to be leftover change. In the end everything was worth about 28 million DL. I wasn’t expecting to get such a huge amount of money.
—That was quite the decoration for a cheap cabin like this, huh? Was it that good of a decoration to stuff all of them in that glass container?
That was quite an unexpected surplus of money, but I could prepare both the Comet and the sword with it. I thought that the Comet alone might be good enough for the job, but when something this important was on the line, I didn’t want to hold anything back.
I ordered the Comet, the flight and firearms units, which were sold separately, and the cursed sword from Tundra’s eShop. I put the coins I’d got before along with all the savings so far inside the piggy bank.
Since my savings were arranged in 10000 DL coins, it was a bit of a problem to move them all at once. Perhaps it was because the amount to pay was incredibly high this time around, but the back of the piggy’s back spread out like a funnel to facilitate the insertion of money, making the payment far easier.
“Thank you very much, we appreciate your continued support! Bring it in, boys! Heave-ho! Heave-ho!”
This time it wasn’t the usual carefree part-timer looking dude that usually appeared. Instead, it was a relatively older-looking, polite gentleman. Maybe the full-time employees came to say ‘hi’ when the purchases were big enough?
I heard a certain rumbling noise, and then... the door that appeared out of nowhere expanded greatly to give way to a giant cardboard box. The immense weight of the item made the soft earth sink slightly. I wondered if Tundra had a bit of an obsession about delivering things using cardboard boxes... The cardboard box the Comet seemed to be inside of didn’t lose its size to the cabin we’d been living in this whole time.
“It’ll be a hassle to unbox this one...”
Then out came a long and thin box with a sticker that said “Dangerous Goods”. It was probably the cursed sword. The expanded door of sorts finally closed down afterwards.
“Good day! Thank you for choosing us!”
—Oh, the usual guy came too after all? That’s kind of a relief.
I took apart the cardboard box and found the Comet already came assembled with the extra parts I’d ordered. I guess it was supposed to be operational as soon as you took it out of the packaging.
—I’m glad I don’t have to assemble it... I wonder if it arrives finished because it’s a golem.
I took the demon sword in one hand, an instruction sheet the size of an A3 paper in the other, and opened the Comet’s chest cavity. I put the cursed sword inside the storage space and got inside. The chest armor opened and closed with a lever mechanism. Instead of going inside a robot, it was more like one giant set of armor you wore. The maker knew what he was doing with this, huh? Someone, somewhere probably got ripped off.
“The model is apparently a ‘Fantasy Golem’, how much did he remodel this?”
The wine red and black coated Comet was curvy and streamline in shape, but it also had a sci-fi feel to it as well. I’d like to stare at it a little more if I had the time.
I boarded the Comet and my body and limbs were fixed in place. At the end of my hand were a set of joysticks with buttons for each of my fingertips; there was also a foot pedal that got triggered by my ankle. It seemed the harnesses that held my body in place also had a motion sensor.
—This layout and piloting setup gives me so much nostalgia that it... Yeah, I see how this is a good match for me.
The switches on the tip of the joysticks had a certain hardness that made me think they were spring powered. I tried to confirm it with the tip of my fingertips, and... it was roughly the same as I remembered from normal joysticks.
You didn’t see that many of them these days, but there used to be a really popular robot battle game that used a huge cabinet called “Master Arms” that had this kind of layout. It was quite the wallet slayer as it costed 800 yen per play. It added up fast due to the fact that beginners needed to repeat the tutorial stage about 20 times before they could get a hang of the movement. The amount of freedom it gave, and the level of difficulty it had, made it quite popular.
The moss, which was a highly valuable material for potion making, fortunately spread around and grew about as fast as normal vegetation. It only took about three days to come back after I would harvested some of it. I took my time to make potions, and made sure to store them properly. I also tried to create new potions with the guide book in hand from time to time. I really enjoyed the easygoing slow life of an alchemist and a doctor.
Thanks to the various kinds of potions I’d left in the mayor’s residence, Deneb kept delivering fresh vegetables and meat. The flavoring and nutritional value was somewhat of a problem still, but I was happy enough to have something different to put on the table other than the endless stream of pumpkin.
The countdown I kept scratching into nearby stone was down to ten days, assuming a month equaled 30 days in this world. Roughly every ten days, Fez would come around for the village market. Ann had left for the village earlier in the morning. She told me she wanted to eat meat and eggs last night, so I gave her money so she could buy some from Fez’s shop.
It was right about time to harvest leafy vegetables—like white bana—in the village, so there would a lot of corn, vegetable, and pumpkin cooking. I figured a growing girl like Ann would want to eat meat dishes as much as she could.
I read about a way to brew moss tea in one of the herbalism books, so I gathered some and lined them up to dry on top of a cloth in the shade... It was bright by day, but at the bottom of the ravine where nothing but sunlight refracting off the stone walls would reach, I could still manage to dry them out... After I was done with that, I headed to the village market to window-shop for a bit. I didn’t really have anything else to do there, but staying cooped inside the bottom of the ravine wasn’t healthy for anyone.
I noticed something wasn’t right as I walked towards the village. It seemed there was smoke rising off in the distance. Not white smoke, as if they had an open-air fire, but black smoke, as if something was burning.
A bad feeling had overcome me, so I quickened my pace towards the village. When I reached the small hill where I could take a look at the whole village, I manage to catch some buildings in the center of the village that were broken down, and one of them was on fire.
“What’s going on down there...?”
I could clearly see from on top the hill that there was some kind of giant standing in the middle of the village square. It was way bigger than a single-story building. I calculated that it must have been about ten meters tall, and made of scrap and round cogwheels. There were three of those metal giants standing in the center of the village.
“Hermit, mate! They’ll see you like that, get down! Come over here!”
I heard a familiar voice while I stared off at the warped shape of the giants. Instinctively, I crouched down and headed towards the voice. I found Fez apparently hiding inside a tiny thicket sitting on the wasteland.
“So you made it fine? Hey, do you have a potion on you?”
I noticed as he said it. Fez was holding onto his side, which seemed to be injured. His clothes were torn apart and there was blood coming out of his wound under his paw.
“Yeah, give me a sec. I brought a vitality potion with me.”
These days I made it a habit to carry a pouch with a potion or two inside, similar to carrying a first aid kit for emergencies. I was happy that I’d started the habit.
“Fez, put half of this on the wound and drink the rest.”
I rolled up a green dyed cloth and marked the potion so he knew how much to pour out, then handed it to Fez.
“Thanks, I made a mistake... Guh...”
It must have hurt to pour the potion on such a gash. He grimaced and downed the potion afterwards.
“As effective as ever, huh? I was prepared to bleed out to death out here, you know?”
When he took his hand off the wound, the gash that peeked out of his torn out clothes disappeared and was soon replaced by fur, as if nothing ever happened.
“What happened in the village, Fez?”
“The village got attacked by that Human clan. It was probably a party that came to plunder via a ship.”
There were humans in the village, but they were part of the population of Daemon, along with all the other races. These must have humans that come from the country that existed west of the Polaris Channel.
“Raiders? Then they must be after anything remotely valuable they can find. What about the villagers?”
“The villagers are as good as merchandise to them... They might be taken in as slaves. I think the ones that don’t resist will be safe. As safe as a slave could be, at least.”
The word ‘slavery’ didn’t conjure any sort of positive image in my mind. All of a sudden the deadlock inside my head unraveled with a click, like the percussion hammer of a gun clicking everything in place, and my mind was set in motion. That was how I got into the right mindset. Filled with tension, on the verge of stepping into the final stage, with all eyes on me. Right now I was a 22 year old apprentice, nothing else. Aoi Kousaka, a gamer that refused to give up until the bitter end, against all odds.
If their objective was slave trading, they wouldn’t haphazardly spill blood. Since Ann was always in kobold form outside of the ravine, she should be fine, even if their plundering involved raping the women...
“Phew...”
—Now... Let’s think. What can I do?
“A raid party, huh...? What are those metal giants?”
“That’s the ‘Extended Knight Armor’, I reckon. The main force those humans use to fight—giants made out of metal and gears.”
“So there’s a person inside of that?”
A stark contrast from the knights that wore armor and rode horses.
“Yeah, humans have their limits, but they have the power of those metal things. There should be people riding them. Even if they didn’t have those, there’s still over 30 armed soldiers. I don’t think the villagers could resist, even if they wanted to.”
“Even though it’s a village of 200 Daemon people?”
“Yeah, there might be some folks that are more powerful and sturdier than the raiders among them, but they’re as good as dummies with no training. When you compare them to soldiers armed to the teeth, the difference is just too great.”
So even if they looked like demons, they weren’t all that strong. That counted double for villagers who were used to living in peace.
“But you were hurt, too. Did you fight them off?”
“No, I noticed the difference in power was too Great to fight back. I was running away to a neighboring town to ask for help, but I guess they were expecting just that. I got ambushed by a human soldier on the road north of Milt Village that connects with the closest town; that’s how I ended up like this. Well... I did get lucky to meet with you here after running away.”
I had really mixed feelings about just leaving Ann in the village controlled by that raid party, but Fez’s judgement was correct. No matter how much of a talented ex-mercenary he was, we were outmatched in number and equipment. Rather than resisting in a situation where many villagers wouldn’t be of much use, it was better to seek out help.
“I see. I’m glad you managed to escape, at least.”
“Are you sure? I left Ann and the villagers behind and ran away. I was prepared to take a blow to the muzzle in exchange for the potion...”
“And you did so because your experience as a mercenary told you to, right? I think you were right... Don’t worry, I’ll charge you the price of the potion with something else. Your wallet will feel lighter, so you better be ready.”
“That hurts more than this wound did...”
Knowing the price of a Grade 6 vitality potion, it wasn’t a surprise that Fez was all but pleased with my consolation.
“Haha... So you’ll profit as long as I’m alive, huh? I’ll avoid the road I got ambushed on and head to town to call for help. You have a house outside of the city, right? It’s better if you hide.”
Fez rose up a little bit. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do myself. There should have been stuff besides swords and lances in Tundra’s ‘Military Resources’ page, like the guardian golems and such.
As my mind started to wander I heard a sound, like a bullet cutting through the air. An arrow suddenly landed near the thicket we were hiding in.
“Drats... They found us!”
When I looked at the direction that Fez had turned to, I saw two ironclad men holding gigantic bows, and an armored man on horseback wielding a spear, running in our direction.
“Mate! I’ll run north, you go the other way! It’s better than getting taken out together!”
Fez rushed behind me and jumped out of the bush. I lunged out in the opposite direction and started to run as well. I knew that if I lost even a second to doubt in this battle event that I’d end up with a first-class ticket to a dead end...!
◇
I ran through the wasteland. There wasn’t really much vegetation to speak of, just stones and boulders sprinkled here and there. I felt a stinging pain on my upper left arm due to an arrow that grazed it the second I came out of the bush. Blood spilled out in a stream, but there was no way I could stop running. Perhaps I’d gotten unlucky while Fez got lucky. The fact was that the cavalry soldier was still in pursuit of me. My body felt awfully light all of a sudden. Maybe those three months of work weren’t just for show, but the speed of a human was not the same as a horse’s in the end.
The horse seemed to be having somewhat of a hard time running across the wasteland, and I was trying my best, but the distance between us gradually narrowed.
“HAH!”
I put both feet forward and slowed myself down with a slide to lower my speed. The lance of the cavalryman behind me passed right over my head and brushed against my hair. This was about the fourth or fifth time I’d avoided the lance trying to impale me. At first the soldier looked bewildered, but soon enough he started setting up the next attack immediately after I evaded. Perhaps he had gotten used to it.
He seemed like a skilled rider, but that didn’t do me any favors!
“(pant) So... (pant) This is hard mode, huh...?”
Words that I’d almost forgotten about slurred from my mouth as I caught my breath and prepared for the next attack. I didn’t have anything on hand to make a weapon. All I had was my business suit that barely fit from all the running and workouts I’d done, and a bunch of potions. There was no way I could weaponize them. The big gash on my arm still bled quite a bit too, and my Stamina to keep me running was depleting rapidly.
Even if I gave up and fell to my knees, I couldn’t complain about it later. If this was a game, a normal player would have just thrown the controller against the nearest wall by now, but there was no reset button for reality. There were no extra lives if I met my end here.
—Is this what instinctive fear feels like?
The shiver that ran across my left arm made my right arm feel heavier for some reason. Panic had started to set in and my body tensed up, but the joy and focus that surged from deep inside caused me to return to my senses.
I wasn’t getting off on my own suffering, but I was definitely one of those weirdos that got more and more excited the harder something became—I had the heart of a gamer.
“Life may be a game, but you shouldn’t underestimate the power of life.”
The horseman held his lance steady and dashed full speed towards me, ready to attack.
“I’ll say it now and I’ll say it again. I’m a hardcore gamer! Pft, look down on life? Don’t make me laugh. I play for keeps no matter what it is!”
I ran towards a tall bush behind me.
“Yeah, this is a hard level, but it’s not that big of a deal! There’s always a gimmick or two!”
I timed the horseman racing behind me with his lance ready, and jumped horizontally. The sharp spearhead pierced the base of my neck all the way to the tip of my collar. Luckily it was a shallow wound... but it hurt like hell! There were no games out there that could reproduce the feeling of pain yet, so this was new for me.
“Ngh...!”
I rolled over onto the hard rock-filled ground and listened to the sharp neigh of the horse. I’d gotten thrown into a bush with thorns as thick as the spearhead that had pierced me just now.
“So... The archers didn’t chase me, eh? I like rises in difficulty, but that would have been a little too much.”
I got up off the ground. As the dirt and pebbles fell off my face, I looked around me and sighed in relief. There were no archers here. Seemed like the horseman was out of commision. I took a vitality potion out of my pouch and poured half of it on my wounds, and drank the rest.
“The glass didn’t break at all even after all that running? The desert labyrinth... Umm... Labyrinth #35, was it? They’re my favorite glass seller from now on.”
A sharp pain ran through my body when I poured the potion over my wounds, but it faded away as the wounds themselves closed up. I tucked away the empty bottle back into the pouch. The thorny bush shook slightly—perhaps the horseman and the horse were on their last legs. I decided not to stick around long enough to find out and headed off to the labyrinth.
◇
“Phew... I’m finally back.”
After reaching the cabin, I got some water with my usual pitcher and drank it up. I sat down to catch my breath on top of a wooden chair whose legs were a bit corroded by the moss from leaving it outside.
“What can I do? I can’t do much to liberate the villagers on my own. Even saving Ann alone would be difficult, especially with how I am now.”
Running away from a single horseman alone was hard enough, and there were still at least 30 more of them, according to Fez. Not to mention the three sets of ‘Extended Knight Armor’ out in the middle of the village.
Storming in upfront was out of the question. Even coming up with a plan to sneak in and help Ann at the very least would be extremely hard as well. If I did it by night, the difficulty would be lower, but I had no guarantee Ann or the other villagers would not be taken away today.
“Hmm? Did Ann forget this?”
While I looked around trying to think of a plan, I found something on top of the table outside the cabin. A simple necklace made out of a strap and a silver ring, just like the one I’d bought for Ann.
“It’s wrapped up with a parchment... Heh. Hahahah... Ann, that’s not fair.”
I spread out the parchment that the necklace was inside of, and a bitter laugh spilled out of my mouth. There were letters from this world written on it. Their shapes were somewhat different, but Daemon writing was roughly the same as Japanese.
To Aoi,
This is a present to celebrate the end of your apprenticeship. I had to cry for Mister Fez to drive down the price, and I managed to buy a ring just like the one you got me in the end! There’s so many things you don’t know about this world yet, and I’m always worried about you! This ring matches mine, so make sure you put it on, okay!?
- Ann.
I held the ring tightly... Yeah, it didn’t bend even when I put a bunch of force on it. Guess this really wasn’t pure silver. Fez, you dirty dog, I paid you at least 10000 DL when I bought Ann’s! I supposed it was expected of a merchant to be as tricky as possible, though.
“Ann, visual novel heroines use a little more roundabout methods these days, you know? Don’t tell me you’re the heroine of an otome game... Heh...”
An amused laugh leaked out of my mouth. While laughing, I felt a certain something, accompanied by an uncontrollable heat overflowing from deep inside my heart.
—That sneaky little girl.
This sort of heartbreaking twist wasn’t popular nowadays. Was she trying to become a tragic heroine despite all I’d done? I couldn’t help but laugh at myself for thinking about lowering the risks as much as possible.
“Well done.”
I continued to laugh after finding my answer. I may have been able to find an ideal way if I’d gathered information and thought about it calmly, but I’d already decided I would save Ann...
“Right now.”
Yes, that was what I promised Sara.
Taking the funds I’d gathered from three months of work, plus my healthy body, and the high risk of me losing my life, into account... My range of options vastly expanded.
—So what if there’s a power difference so large that I can’t overturn it with a single sword or spear? Gamers live to turn around handicapped situations!
But yeah, I’d like to avoid taking the wrong guess here. It wasn’t like gamers at large, including myself, had no fears at all. It’d be more accurate to say we were one of the world’s most cowardly beings. Even now, while a hot something stirred my body and heart into action, there was still a slight shiver that ran down my spine. That was the very same reason we would do trial and error, all to prepare ourselves to take on hardship in all its forms.
And so we stood up to fear, wielding the joy to overcome adversity, which burned bright, like a raging fire that consumed everything in its path. If I could wield that with both hands, then I had nothing to fear anymore.
Shall we take this game of life seriously now? I guess it was about time.
As I got up, ready to take action, I heard a very familiar sound of a door creaking open behind me... One I hadn’t heard in over three months. And when the door closed with a sonorous slam, the scenery around me changed in an instant.
◇
The sound of cars coming and going could be heard from outside of the window where the sunlight rays poured into the room, along with usual train and busy town noises. Instead of the feeling of my slightly crooked chair, it was the feeling of a springy cheap cushioned sofa that supported my weight. The pure, clean air of the bottom of the ravine was replaced by the characteristic cheap scent of instant coffee. I was back at that monotonous office building where everything started.
“It’s been a while, Kousaka-san.”
“It really has... Karumi-san...”
The words were kind of stuck in my throat. The sudden change of scenery was a bit of a shock to me.
“Your performance was outstanding. To put it briefly—well done! Even among all those that received training in the past, you achieved the highest ranking in terms of production and facility expansion.”
I could barely pay any attention to the congratulatory words being thrown at me. I looked over the room and spotted a business newspaper on the table. My heart was filled with relief by the date. Two months have passed from when I’d first started—we were in the end of August now.
At the sight of this nostalgic, peaceful scene, I was filled with a sense of loss rather than relief from returning from another world.
The three months I’d spent in that old shabby cabin, with the mayor, Jenny, Fez, and most importantly... Ann, felt like some kind of fever dream now. It was like a sort of phantom hallucination had hit me all at once.
“Karumi-san. I have a lot of things I want to ask you, and I’d like you to answer me, but first of all... was ‘that place’ real?”
My suit still had the marks of the arrow and lance that had pierced it. Those wouldn’t come out no matter how much scrubbing I would do, and more importantly, I was still holding the silver ring. I wouldn’t be able to think about anything else if I didn’t ask for confirmation.
“Yes, it wasn’t a staged trick or a dream. It was real beyond any shadow of a doubt. It is a bit different from our world, though.”
“Thank you very much.”
My heart felt at ease by the confirmation.
Those last words about the world being different ticked my interest as a gamer, but they didn’t seem to have ill intent behind them, so I let it slide for now.
“First, allow me to apologize for causing you so much trouble. It was inexcusable. I was supposed to send you to a facility with enough personnel to advise and guide you, along with enough supplies to last you three months without having to do anything, but I ended up sending you off to a barren place due to defective documentation.”
Yeah, so that initial situation was irregular as I’d suspected. The difficulty wasn’t that bad thanks to the delivery box inside of the cabin and the Tundra eShop, but someone that wasn’t used to games would’ve had a harder time for sure. Perhaps they would even starve or freeze to death from being unable to figure the system out.
“One week after I sent you there, I noticed the mistake in the documents and verified it in a hurry. But by then, you were already living normally, so I was allowed to just monitor your progress.”
What was I doing one week after I got there again? I must have been planting the waterdry trees, harvesting pumpkins, and eating jerky. Wasn’t that when I’d finally put together a decent bed and Ann fell from the sky...? Yeah, you could say I was living normally.
“Did I get called back here because the results of my training came out?”
“Yes. If you wish to resign, these three months of training will be taken into account and you’ll be remunerated for your work. In the case you want to become a full time employee, you’ll be officially starting your new job as appointed manager of the Labyrinth #228 in a week’s time.”
“Why is there a week period in between?”
“A human invasion is currently endangering the vicinity of the labyrinth. We concluded it’s impossible to secure the safety of the manager due to the lack of defensive measures in the facility. We’re considering a period of one week for the danger to subside in the surrounding area and safety can be assured.”
Enough time for Fez to get to the town and drive away the humans with Daemon’s armed forces? Or enough time for the human raid party to leave after ransacking the whole place?
—So I’d be safe if I spent a week back here on Earth?
“The surrounding environment has to be put in order, and the rebuilding of the pioneering village isn’t that complicated. The movement of people to rebuild the village and bring in the most immediate supplies for community life will take about two weeks. The estimated time until it becomes a proper village will be about one month.”
That was a rather sound judgement. Yeah, pretty rational... But I refuse.
If you’ve ever played enough RPG, you must have come across situations where someone close to the hero or heroine dies in the middle the story. You must have, right?
In terms of game progression, it was viewed as necessary for developers to bring the story to a climax, or stir your emotions. From a user's perspective, it was seen as the character dying due to unavoidable circumstances.
But I really hated that.
Although gamers played all kinds of genres, ranging from RPG, to action and FPS, rather than simply enjoying them for the fun of it, some immersed themselves into their worlds and set out to overcome challenges and adversity to then come out on top. However, no matter how much effort was made, no matter how strong your character was, or how skilled you were, there would always be someone you couldn’t save. Didn’t that basically negate all the effort and emotional investment that a player poured into the game?
The heroine that couldn’t be saved might have been a mere NPC, but have you ever thought about it from the heroine’s perspective? How awful it must be to see your lover resign to your death tens of thousands of times, and abandon you just like that...
Thankfully, this game wasn’t one where the future was decided just yet.
In this case, it wasn’t bad that I wanted to take on the challenge to save my heroine. I was a gamer that laughed off difficulty levels no matter how high they were, was I not?
“If I liberate the village... there won’t be any rebuilding costs. I’m not sure what the outcome will be, but would you allow me to try on my own?”
“You’d like to help even at your own risk...? This isn’t a problem that only affects you, Kousaka-san. If those close to the labyrinth put themselves in harm’s way, the labyrinth itself will be exposed to danger. As someone employed as a labyrinth manager, and a member of society, wouldn’t you prioritize your work?”
Karumi-san shot me down with the truth, a look of indifference on her face. The tone of her voice was cold-hearted and down to business, but the curiosity-tinged gleam in her eyes was different, as if she was gauging my response carefully.
There was nothing wrong with what she’d said, rather, her sound argument couldn’t have been more perfect.
There might be civil liberties and humanity problems on Earth, but it was completely different compared to the other side. Abandoning the easily replaceable villagers and securing the life of an important labyrinth manager seemed like the most natural choice.
And the only one that knew how to traverse between Earth and the other world was Karumi-san here. I couldn’t force her to help me. This wasn’t the the time or place to get emotional and act irrationally. It would be a mistake to choose the “Raise my voice and say I want to save the villager’s lives” option. At the very least... that wasn’t my playstyle.
“It’s because I look at it from a work perspective that I’m suggesting that we can get better results from acting now, instead of waiting to repopulate the village.”
By this point, I’d grown out of spewing stuff like “I want to save someone important to me”, or other impulsive and heroic one-liners. I was too old for that now.
I had to persuade Karumi-san that saving Ann and the villagers was in the company's best interests. Compared to my younger self that could do anything out of sheer strength or courage... That was too cringey. This was the way the game played out in the world of adults.
I took a flimsy-looking paper cup that looked like it would fall apart at the slightest bit of pressure, and put some instant coffee, sugar, and milk powder in it. Since the coffee enthusiasts out there would get angry if I called it coffee, we’ll just say I wet my whistle with that coffee-based drink, and spoke once again.
“I went through the training, and just like you said, if I become a full-time employee, I’ll officially become the manager of Labyrinth #228. In which case, there’s barely anything as of now. I made a pathway, expanded the room, and created an exit connecting to the surface. But I’ll need even more manpower to at least give it the appearance of a proper labyrinth. I think I’ll go senile in that world before accomplishing any of that on my own with only a pickaxe.”
Even though Ann and I tried our very best building the stairs to the surface every single day, it still took us a whole month. I didn’t know how much time and labor would be required if the intention was to build a proper labyrinth on that plot of land.
To dig up a labyrinth with my own two hands sounded like a fun endeavor, though.
“You’re right. The labyrinth was supposed to be completed by now after fifteen years of work, and a lot of funds were invested into it. The fact that not a single hole in the ground was dug despite it being reported as completed in the official documents is quite ironic, I must add.”
“In these three months... It might be true that I’ve only come into proper contact in the last month, but I’ve assessed that the people I exchanged and dealt with have the the mental and physical prowess to partner up with me to build the labyrinth. If there are new villagers that will come instead, they’ll more than likely be preoccupied in trying to improve their situation in a new place. I’m not sure I can produce better results without knowing their qualities or disposition like I do with the current residents.”
Mayor Hopper and the villagers might be a little scary at times, but they were ruggedly honest and hard workers to a fault. Nevermind that I was together with Ann, they still accepted me with open arms. And the thought of learning to play and work with them seemed like fun.
“I see, what you say is reasonable indeed. However, don’t you think you’re getting your priorities backwards, so to speak? You would be wielding your qualities as a superior labyrinth manager and exposing yourself to a very real danger in order to achieve what you say.”
Karumi-san stated the simple truth. I could see her reasoning as a gamer that pursued figures and efficiency. But people with their own wills and dreams lived in that world, like other players in a multiplayer game. And I didn’t care about risking my life to save Ann, Sara, Deneb, or any of the other player’s lives.
I may act and talk like an adult on the surface, but I was just a serious player in this game of life. Camping and playing like a coward wasn’t cool, and it was literally better to die than live on with regrets your whole life.
“It’s an honor to hear you say I’m a good labyrinth manager. As a superior labyrinth manager, if I’m to consider the future of the labyrinth’s expansion, I need those people. I judge that the risk necessary to save them is one worth taking.”
How about that? I gazed at Karumi-san to gauge her reaction when she grabbed a cup of the same sugary milk coffee and drank it up as if it were really delicious... She flashed me a delightful smile that I could only compare to blossoming flowers in spring.
“.........”
Since she didn’t show a hint of emotion ever since we’d met, the unexpected smile made me choke on my words for a moment.
“Looks like I’m defeated. That’s a splendid facade. There’s no room for complaints.”
She said she lost, but I couldn’t sense a hint of bitterness in her cheery tone.
“Our company—no, I have been looking for a labyrinth manager like you, Kousaka-san.”
Was she testing me? Well, they were looking for people good at games, so I doubt they had been looking for the kind of adult bureaucratic person that could only deliver rigid judgement.
“Like me? What does that mean?”
“A person with the desire and will to make the desires of their heart a reality—without getting caught up in the concepts of good and evil,” she said in a cutesy manner, tilting her head to one side. “See, since we’re subordinates of the Great Dark Lord, we aren’t exactly knights in shining armor material, right? And since we’re more or less a company, we need people that can keep up appearances and act like adults.”
I calmed down and tried to think back on everything. I was a human that was...
—Living in a country that’s ruled by a Dark Lord... For the sake of the people of a country called Daemon... Trying to fight off humans.
There was the minor detail about Daemon also having humans among its population too, but we were certainly doing something akin to an evil organization’s work.
“Although, I personally think you’re more than what our company deserves as far as labyrinth managers go. But you’re still the talented person I’ve been looking for so long. I won’t hand you over to any other department.”
There was an almost carnivorous grin on Karumi-san’s face. I thought she was a more calm and collected person, but it seemed she was pretty expressive on the inside.
“I will accept the responsibility for your plan, but first I’d like to confirm one thing. It’s kind of a regulation, you see... Well then, even if you were to retire here, your remuneration for the last three months of training comes to the amount of 500,000 yen, and the additional fee for your outstanding performance adds 180 million yen that will be paid to you.”
That additional fee was wildly different, but it was a huge number, so... I couldn’t complain.
Karumi-san raised her index finger and continued.
“However, this additional fee includes the current savings of the labyrinth itself, so it will decrease if the situation of the labyrinth worsens... In the worst case scenario, it could very well disappear entirely. Will you still take the risk regardless?”
It didn’t seem like there was ill intent in her voice still. The obscene amount of money certainly was more than a mid-career person like me could ever dream of earning after just three months, but the silver ring I held right now was worth far more than that.
“This might be a little out of place, but... I choose ‘yes’.”
Karumi-san smiled as she heard my answer and nodded radiantly. You’d think she just fell in love.
“Kousaka-san, please don’t die. Our company... No, I expect great things of you,” Karumi-san said with a mischievous wink. “That’s why, I’ll give you a little advice for breaking the rules. Keep what I’m about to tell you a secret to everybody, okay?”
Karumi-san was... the very picture of a beautiful lady.
“I was allowed to look into you after sending you off to training, and there so happens to be a very unusual labyrinth manager in that world that manufactures golems and exhibits them in Tundra’s eShop. Labyrinth #13, if I remember correctly. There’s a certain giant-sized manned golem currently listed which just happens to have a very high affinity with you, Kousaka-san. It’s designed to defend, but it also has offensive capabilities, so it may be useful for your current situation.”
Karumi-san snapped her fingers, and... I heard the creaky sound of a door opening right behind me and... Slam! At the same time I heard the door closing, I was left back in front of the little cabin sitting in the middle of the ravine I’d missed so much.
“Well, then... I guess I’ll go with that.”
I drank the remaining coffee out of the cup I was holding in my hand, and opened several UI windows around me, including Tundra’s catalog.
—Let’s try taking a look at the giant golem Karumi-san told me about first.
◇
“Hmm... These two here look promising.”
After browsing the Tundra eShop for about 30 minutes, I singled out the two most promising items.
Assault Golem Armor - Comet (Height: 7 m / Weight: 6.5 t) == 13800000 DL
[Recharges automatically! Get up to six hours of battery life on a single charge!]
Seller : Manager, Labyrinth #13
Rating : ★☆☆☆☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #201
- Amazing friccing speed! Pretty funky mecha bro! It goes to friccing fast I ended up pulling the emergency brake and coughing out blood! It’ll pop like a popcorn if you so much as brush a wall you can’t break, it’s pretty fricced up!
Rating : ★★☆☆☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #102
- I value it good as a pretty ornament. It’s currently just sitting outside to scare a few loitering demons, but it’s rather pretty to look at. I’ll ignore reviewing it in regards to its functionality in this review.
Rating : ★☆☆☆☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #601
- Bad stability. I heard it was 3 times faster than the other model this same person has up for sale, so I tried giving it a whirl, but 3 times faster also means 3 times harder to use, but that’s not all, the armor is also 3 times more thin. It does have an option to fly using a flying unit, but controlling it is so hard I just gave up. I’m afraid of even trying to use the default jump unit.
I tried it out just because an acquaintance asked me to, turns out the attack power is quite high, but the equipment is specialized for close encounters. Why wouldn’t it have shooting weapons? Besides, did the price lower compared to when I bought it? This is a selling off price, isn’t it? This isn’t even a golem, it’s a goddamn robo... oh, looks like I got a visit!
Automatic Cursed Sword (Height: 1.2 m / Total Length: 1.5 m) == 6800000 DL
Brand : Jr. Devil King Edge
Seller : Preceding Manager, Labyrinth #552
Rating : ★☆☆☆☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #35
- Tough to use for older folks. A sword that bestows various faculties to the body of the wielder, it also bestows fencing abilities, tactic skills. This cursed sword gives you all those. You can use it without problem even if you don’t know anything about wielding a sword, but there’s a catch... if you’re too rough using it you might die because of the muscular pain the next day...
Rating : ★★☆☆☆
Reviewer : Manager, Labyrinth #172
- It has a lot of value as work of art. The single edged sword image makes for a beautiful single piece, but the fencing abilities it gives are not very beautiful. It doesn’t grant any kind of way to protect the body, so I wouldn’t recommend it as a weapon for managers.
The giant golem from Labyrinth #13 that Karumi-san told me about was expensive enough to drain most of my savings, but I’d decided to go through with it still. It seemed it was hard to maneuver, but it had good performance, which was nice.
It seemed like the ‘Comet’ was more focused on looking intimidating than being aerodynamic. It pretty much looked like a futuristic set of armor. No one from Earth would see this and call it a golem.
The golem looked to be more difficult to steer than a robot, but when I thought back to robot games that were played in large cabinets, it was a riot for gamers even if they were a bit unwieldy. It was certainly a product that hit all my preferences, but I wondered what she meant by ‘good affinity’.
Next thing was the supposedly cursed sword; it seemed like I could increase my physical faculties just by holding it. I’d fought using blades in games countless times, but this was a suitable item for someone that didn’t have any kind of real swordsmanship or fencing experience.
The two things had a fair bit in common. They had high offensive power, high mobility, put burden on the user’s body, had no defensive power, were hard to use—and both of them absolutely wrecked a labyrinth’s budget.
I wanted as much mobility and offensive power as I could possibly get. It’d be indispensable if I were to face at least 30 or so armed soldiers alone, not to mention the metal giants... I needed offensive power to destroy those Extended Knight Armors.
I could do much about the budget problem. If a labyrinth manager was going to battle directly, you’d think that they’d place defense power and survivability at the highest of priorities, but neither of the two gave any of that, so I had nothing to worry about in that front.
If I wanted more defense while maintaining performance, the price spiked up more than five times. It wasn’t like it wasn’t worth it... I just didn’t have the money.
—The problem is the budget. I’d like to buy both the sword and the Comet, but the total amount goes up to 25 million DL... I’d probably have to attach a firearm and flight unit as well... If I don’t have the flying unit, I won’t be able to take it out of this ravine.
The stairs were about two meters wide and were barely big enough for people to go up and down.
The sword may have been usable normally, but the fact its toll on the body was so high made me kinda unsure I wanted to rely on it completely. I had stamina potions, but I doubted I’d be able to recover if I ran out of steam, or one of my muscles snapped in the middle of a battle.
Since the money I had in the labyrinth right now was only about 15 million DL, I started looking for things I could cash out in the delivery box to get to the desired amount. But after living here for some months, I knew there was nothing valuable enough outside that’d give me the money right now... Or so I thought, until my eyes laid on a certain amber room decoration inside of the cabin.
The pretty waterdy amber I’d been picking up as of late. I didn’t give them much mind because it was rare to even see money back in Milt Village, but amber was a precious stone. Could it be worth something?
“I can always collect more of them again... I need as much money as I can get, even if it’s just a little more...”
The waterdry amber pieces within the glass container rattled around as I placed it inside the delivery box and closed the lid. It was a bit frustrating to do, but as long as I still breathed, I could get more.
I heard the usual sound of coins falling, and when I opened the lid I saw something I’d never seen before—a rainbow-colored silver coin with an incredible luster. The engraving said “10000000 DarkLord Coin”...?
There were two rainbow-colored coins that were about the size of a 500 yen coin, and one golden 5 million DL coin, and a few coins of other denominations that seemed to be leftover change. In the end everything was worth about 28 million DL. I wasn’t expecting to get such a huge amount of money.
—That was quite the decoration for a cheap cabin like this, huh? Was it that good of a decoration to stuff all of them in that glass container?
That was quite an unexpected surplus of money, but I could prepare both the Comet and the sword with it. I thought that the Comet alone might be good enough for the job, but when something this important was on the line, I didn’t want to hold anything back.
I ordered the Comet, the flight and firearms units, which were sold separately, and the cursed sword from Tundra’s eShop. I put the coins I’d got before along with all the savings so far inside the piggy bank.
Since my savings were arranged in 10000 DL coins, it was a bit of a problem to move them all at once. Perhaps it was because the amount to pay was incredibly high this time around, but the back of the piggy’s back spread out like a funnel to facilitate the insertion of money, making the payment far easier.
“Thank you very much, we appreciate your continued support! Bring it in, boys! Heave-ho! Heave-ho!”
This time it wasn’t the usual carefree part-timer looking dude that usually appeared. Instead, it was a relatively older-looking, polite gentleman. Maybe the full-time employees came to say ‘hi’ when the purchases were big enough?
I heard a certain rumbling noise, and then... the door that appeared out of nowhere expanded greatly to give way to a giant cardboard box. The immense weight of the item made the soft earth sink slightly. I wondered if Tundra had a bit of an obsession about delivering things using cardboard boxes... The cardboard box the Comet seemed to be inside of didn’t lose its size to the cabin we’d been living in this whole time.
“It’ll be a hassle to unbox this one...”
Then out came a long and thin box with a sticker that said “Dangerous Goods”. It was probably the cursed sword. The expanded door of sorts finally closed down afterwards.
“Good day! Thank you for choosing us!”
—Oh, the usual guy came too after all? That’s kind of a relief.
I took apart the cardboard box and found the Comet already came assembled with the extra parts I’d ordered. I guess it was supposed to be operational as soon as you took it out of the packaging.
—I’m glad I don’t have to assemble it... I wonder if it arrives finished because it’s a golem.
I took the demon sword in one hand, an instruction sheet the size of an A3 paper in the other, and opened the Comet’s chest cavity. I put the cursed sword inside the storage space and got inside. The chest armor opened and closed with a lever mechanism. Instead of going inside a robot, it was more like one giant set of armor you wore. The maker knew what he was doing with this, huh? Someone, somewhere probably got ripped off.
“The model is apparently a ‘Fantasy Golem’, how much did he remodel this?”
The wine red and black coated Comet was curvy and streamline in shape, but it also had a sci-fi feel to it as well. I’d like to stare at it a little more if I had the time.
I boarded the Comet and my body and limbs were fixed in place. At the end of my hand were a set of joysticks with buttons for each of my fingertips; there was also a foot pedal that got triggered by my ankle. It seemed the harnesses that held my body in place also had a motion sensor.
—This layout and piloting setup gives me so much nostalgia that it... Yeah, I see how this is a good match for me.
The switches on the tip of the joysticks had a certain hardness that made me think they were spring powered. I tried to confirm it with the tip of my fingertips, and... it was roughly the same as I remembered from normal joysticks.
You didn’t see that many of them these days, but there used to be a really popular robot battle game that used a huge cabinet called “Master Arms” that had this kind of layout. It was quite the wallet slayer as it costed 800 yen per play. It added up fast due to the fact that beginners needed to repeat the tutorial stage about 20 times before they could get a hang of the movement. The amount of freedom it gave, and the level of difficulty it had, made it quite popular.
—If this thing is anything like Master Arms, I think I’ll get used to it pretty quick.
“Hah, I might even meet this golem’s creator in a battlefield, somewhere.”
I went through the startup procedure by repeatedly pressing the foot pedal and the finger buttons.
I was a sucker for sim games with cockpits. I was so obsessed that I got a part-time job solely to dump money into them. I played so much that I ended up being in the Top 20 ranking for the Kanto region.
Between the shape and weight of the joystick, the button layout felt a little out of place. It was basically the same kind of thing though, so I should be good to go. Master Arms used retinal projection to display stuff, but I didn’t know how images were being projected in the Comet. A mix of English and Japanese letters flowed along on the internal gray armor plate, like it was beginning some sort of start up sequence... Then a screen popped up that said “Sugawara Heavy Industries”.
—Is this really a golem? It even has a start-up logo! The guy that made this really is something else.
“Based on... ‘Master Arms Ver.2.4’? That’s not even the latest version. They updated it like half a year ago.”
It appeared that a robot maniac had managed to become a labyrinth manager and was going pretty hard at it. But thanks to him, I could avoid charging in headfirst with only a sword, so I was grateful nonetheless.
Most of the launch settings of the Comet were automatically set. There was a pair of wings with jet engines attached to them that was probably the flight unit, which was sold separately. Also attached was the firearms unit, which consisted of a huge rifle with a revolver magazine, that clashed with this whole fantasy world we were in.
Impatience started stirring within my heart as night began to creep in. If I got too hasty I probably would crash headfirst into the rocks and die. That wouldn’t be all that great of a climax, would it? I fought off the urge to just get going as I waited for the progress bar to complete.
“No abnormalities in the various check sequences, and the optional parts are functioning properly. The assortment of gauges based on Master Arms is nice to see.”
The monitor displayed the word “READY” and locked the joints, allowing for the Comet to slowly start moving.
When I first came to this world, it was a survival game where I searched for food and water. And ever since Ann came into my life, I enjoyed interacting with her, living together and making things, like in a crafting adventure game. When the horsemen chased after me, it was like an action game where one wrong move could end my life.
But now... it was a PvP game, where I bet my life against another player’s.
Hostile players came and disrupted what was once a peaceful game. Everything changed into a completely different mode: one where you had to fight with the intent of killing another.
I still remembered the first time I played a game with other people. Yes, the first game in which I fought other players went offline a long time ago, but it was still a famous old MMORPG. Back then, I wasn’t prepared at all. I got lured out of the safe zone and was ganked immediately; I just laid there, shocked at being attacked. I still remembered the tension and excitement of being assaulted by people with ill intent, and how wet my mouse got from my sweaty palms.
Compared to then, my palms weren’t sweaty now; and I was holding onto the Comet’s joystick instead of a mouse. And besides my worry for Ann, Sara, and the other villagers, I was quite calm.
“Heh... I can’t help but smile, huh?”
My mouth warped into a smile, unable to hide the hunger to fight.
—Violent games are a terrible influence for children...
That overused phrase came to mind, but I laughed it off.
I couldn’t tell you if all the games I’d played in my life were a good or bad influence. But what I could say is that thanks to them, I was now able to face danger in order to save someone precious to me.
“Well, then... Let’s enjoy life.”
I stepped on the feet pedals lightly and the flight unit started up. A blush-white light poured out of the wings as the Comet rose into the air with a metallic sound.
◇
“This is more like riding a wild horse than I thought!”
I raced over a nearby wall at high speed with a gentle nudge of the joystick.
I tried to muster all the skills I had gained from playing Master Arms a long time ago. Lately there were less and less arcades that could take on the high maintenance cost, or the high cost of the cabinets themselves, so I was kind of rusty after not playing for a while. It didn’t take long for my body adjust to it again, though.
No wonder the Tundra review page was filled with criticism. It was really hard to get a handle on how to maneuver it, as well as dealing with the response time. It was like raising your PC’s mouse sensitivity two or three times. It wasn’t outright unusable, but it definitely wasn’t easy either.
I stopped the flight unit once I was out of the ravine. The power of gravity enacted and drove the decelerating Comet right into the ground with a heavy thud.
“(cough) Ugh! (cough)”
I may have been a gamer capable of piloting it, but my body wasn’t used to the forces a real pilot went through. The impact I took from the landing sent me right into a coughing fit. Thank goodness I didn’t have the chance to eat lunch at the village’s market. I would’ve made a mess out of this thing if my stomach was full.
I really had the urge to just waste time to figure out how it moved and such. I took a deep breath to calm myself and maneuvered the left joystick... which caused the Comet to kick off the ground into the air. The parts attached to the back and leg portions of the machine made a high-pitched metallic sound as it created the propulsion to move, and I headed towards the village, halfway leaping through the air. A distance that would have taken me an hour by foot took less than ten minutes using the Comet.
“This robo— No, this golem armor really is strange in more ways than one, huh?”
When I got to the hill where I could see the the whole village from, I stopped. In the middle of the village were those Extended Knight Armors from before.
Thankfully the raiders hadn’t left yet, if those Extended Knight Armors were any indication. I still couldn’t understand how those lumps of scrap metal managed to even move. I observed them for a bit, waiting for steam to spew out of them like they were some sort of steampunk machine. My eyes eventually wandered to a spot near the neck of one of them. A metal tube roughly two meters in length protruded out of it. Judging from the position and size, I reckoned that was the cockpit. It made sense if you considered the safety of the pilot, I guess.
As far as I could tell, there were three sets of armor in the village square, with soldiers and bowmen in the village’s entrance. Yeah. So flying all the way here was the Stage One, doing a surprise attack on the village’s entrance would be Stage Two, and eliminating the Extended Knight Armors in the village square would be the Final Stage.
There was no guarantee I had a happy ending waiting for me once I cleared all three stages, but I didn’t really have the time to dwell on it.
“Alright... Let’s get it on.”
I grabbed the Comet’s cylinder rifle firearm (sold separately) that costed 12 million DL from its holding spot at the waist. It looked like a futuristic, modern rifle but it seemed to shoot magic, as opposed to using some complicated firing mechanism. Not that it mattered how it worked. A gamer plays with whatever he’s given. The lore maniacs can deal with all the principles, diagrams, and mechanical parts in their own time.
“So to prime it I have to do... this? And if I switch to ‘Fire Mode’ a reticle appears and... Huh?”
When I positioned the Comet’s body sideways and held the rifle with one hand, a blue-colored magic square appeared at the tip of the rifle’s barrel and a new pop up appeared in one corner of my field of view.
[3 Rounds Remaining. Optional Firearm Unit: Activated. Aim Adjustment Engaged. Corrections Will Complete After Two Rounds Are Fired.]
—Well, I guess I can’t do much about the adjustment when it’s the first time its starts up.
I breathed a heavy sigh. In short: the shots would go where I wanted to them after I’d fired twice.
Or so it said...
But I only had three rounds. Should I expect to only hit once...? Even though I paid so much money? I wondered if it was because the creator decided to make a damn rifle instead of something more like a fantasy game like a bow, or something. While I had more objections, I figured that if I could take out at least one of those Knight Armors with a shot, it would be worth the trouble, at least.
◇
The Daemon villagers were all gathered and handcuffed in the middle of the village’s square. They were all tied together by the same rope in a straight line, waiting to get transported. The raiders were using a sturdy rope that had metallic threads braided into it, and they conducted themselves in a very organized manner, while the villagers looked miserable.
The humans that attacked the village were a raid party that came from one of the three human countries to the west of Daemon, but they weren’t mere outlaws—they came looking for a commodity called... “Daemon Slaves”.
And they’d gotten permission from the country to stock up on them. They were mercenaries employed by a major slave dealer. Even among human nations, the treatment of Daemon people varied between them, but in this case the only thing they saw were ‘beasts able for labor and capable of speech’.
And that was the treatment all Daemon citizens received.
That being said, the raiders didn’t run amok on the village, wrecking it like barbarians. They weren’t so bored as to do frivolous things that could lower their commercial value, even if they did consider Daemons as beasts.
“Next one, step forward.”
A bearded mercenary wearing a grim expression, with his head crammed into a metal helmet, called for the next villager to be added to the chain of others. A well-dressed female kobold stepped forward...
“Hmm...? Pretty good-looking and well-dressed... Are you a Daemon from another village?”
The middle-aged soldier looked puzzled when he laid eyes upon the kobold. She was in stark contrast compared to the villagers that wore nothing but ragged, patched up old garments. The girl didn’t answer as she was startled and quivered in fear.
“We were celebrating her becoming an adult today. Why did this have to happen...?”
Another female kobold close by had spoken up. In truth, that celebration had ended about a year ago, but even then, what they wore in celebration paled in comparison to the well-dressed kobold.
“I see... You got unlucky,” the middle-aged mercenary grumbled. “This is why I hate hunting Daemons. Talking them down like this sickens me.”
The man moved to his work, but a rumble that shook everyone to the core interrupted him.
“What is it!? What happened!?”
Among angry screams and shrieks, what was reflected in the eyes of the middle-aged mercenary was a red light coming from the west. The light pierced through one of the Extended Armors sitting in the middle of the village square. The upper half of the reliable and intimidating giant hell apart and crashed into the ground with an earth-shattering roar.
◇
A chill ran down my spine when the shot landed in the square... I completely understood the maker’s intention now—he wanted to make a rifle that shot beams.
When I pulled the trigger a multi-layered magic square formed around the muzzle, and a blue light erupted out of it. The first shot landed on the roof of the house that was burning close to the village square, blowing it away completely. I changed my aim completely in a hurry and the second shot went into ground near the horsemen that were on standby near the southern exit of the village. I calmed down and took my time to aim the third shot after blowing up the horsemen, and landed it right in the center of the Extended Armor that was the farthest away from the villagers in the square.
I took a look at the display floating in a corner of my field of vision and sighed when I saw that hard mode was turned on.
[Aim Correction Complete. 0 Rounds Remaining. Recharge Time: 83 Hours, 59 Minutes 21 Seconds.]
“It would’ve been great to know beforehand that I could fire three shots every 84 hours!”
I let go of the now steaming rifle and let it fall onto the ground. I heard an astounding amount of screams and shouts while I cautiously headed towards the village. The iron-clad mercenaries seemed to be moving around the village in a panic. With the Comet I dashed past the mercenaries with a steady pace, desperately trying to hold back the desire to run in guns blazing. The thing that worried me the most right now was the potential of the mercenaries taking hostages. Even if we could overwhelm them with numbers, my chances of winning would be null if they decided to use them as shields. On the other hand, if I ignored all collateral damage and concentrated only on saving Ann, she would probably be sad about it. I didn’t really want to sacrifice the good people of the village either.
—How should I go about this? If I seem like I’m on the villager’s side, they’ll take them as hostages.
Luckily, the Comet was an enclosed golem armor that didn’t expose the pilot in any way, so they couldn’t see that there was a human inside. It looked kinda peculiar, but you could probably guess it was a golem by how hard the outer shell was.
—Yes... I should just swoop down like a monster, a random natural disaster. No idiot would try to take hostages in front of a blood-starved demon.
For someone from that human country, this must be a land where horrible demons lurk around. They probably wouldn’t be very surprised if a mad creature attacked them with a golem.
“Well then, time for Stage Two!”
As I approached the village entrance I was met by nine soldiers. Four were pointing spears in my direction, while the other five drew their bows. They looked scared still. Meanwhile the Comet’s armor was basically like “Defensive power? Is it yummy?” I was curious as to whether or not the Comet could even deflect arrows, but then again it was still a golem that stood seven meters tall. It was natural to be scared when faced with an unknown quantity like it.
—I’ll charge in once they fire off their bows...
I walked the Comet at a constant pace. Soon I felt the hand holding the joystick starting to sweat, waiting for the battle to begin. The archers released their arrows basically at the same time the Comet leapt forward.
The flying arrows arced right over my head. My body got pressed heavily by the force of the momentum as I leapt into the row of spearmen at full speed. I backed away a bit, kicked out the spearmen, and crushed two of the archers with both hands, then stopped.
“Now... Three more!”
I grabbed the remaining archers and flung them away towards the village square, effortlessly. I tried behaving like a monster to strike fear in them, but the burden on my human body inside the golem was taxing. The finely-detailed control of the golem was done through a motion sensor, so I had to...
“Bear it, come on!”
Since I was inside the Comet, I had to look the part. When I bent my body to match the golem’s unreasonable posture, I could hear my joints creak.
Not only were they getting attacked out of the blue by a mysterious being, they were given a front row seat to see how a monster mowed down their forces like tons. About half the soldiers surrounding the villagers were thrown into a state of panic. And so, all the unlucky soldiers standing in my way were thrown about like playthings. I could see archers sneaking into houses facing the square in an attempt to hide, while others scrambled out the southern exit after dropping their weapons.
“Is that a Commander I see? There’s one of them screaming at the ones running away.”
I apologized to whoever owned the old-fashioned cart that was lying around as I grabbed it and threw it at the screaming soldier. The commander-like man finally shut up as the cart collided into him.
“Did the cart fall right where I wanted it to because I’m so good at handling the golem? I kinda doubt that’s the case. (cough)”
—So now we’re at the Final Stage. I’d sure like a save point right around now...!
While I was busy catching my breath from the coughing fit, one of the Extended Armors started moving.
“It’s really freaky-looking seeing it up close, huh? It’s roughly humanoid... but it’s a robot. It’d be kinda dumb to call it ‘humanoid machine’, though.”
At first glance, the Extended Knight Armor looked like a giant steel skeleton that used gears as its flesh and blood.
The gears interlocked and grinded, causing the limbs to follow suit. There were parts protected by iron armor plates, but there were also some rusted spots and pieces of scrap mixed together in other places.
—Amazing...! I get to fight that freaky thing!?
I heard something resembling a voice echo through one of the metal pipes sticking out of it.
“I see. If you’re gonna go against me, I have to get serious... Come on!”
I lowered my stance and waited for the next moment to strike. The Extended Knight Armor pulled out a lance as big as itself and lunged forward, trying to impale me. I leapt to the side with the Comet and dodged. I passed right besides the Knight Armor at high speed and deployed the Comet’s fixed armament—a huge metallic blade built into the golem’s wrist. I crammed the blade into the moving gears, which caused a sharp metallic grinding to ring out, and the Extended Armor imploded on itself.
“(cough) Tch...! (cough)”
The reverberations of the implosion impacted the Comet like a wave crashing into my body, causing me to cough. There was now a certain red liquid mixed up among my coughs, so I took my hand off the joystick, grabbed a vitality potion from my pouch, and downed it in one gulp.
“(cough) The... (cough) float like a butterfly, sting like a bee (cough) phrase is cool, but if your opponent is sturdy and heavy, then the constant impacts are enough to make you want to die! (cough) I wouldn’t mind fighting at half speed if it meant I had some armor to take a punch of me, at least then it wouldn’t wreak my body!”
I left the dilapidated Knight Armor as it collapsed onto the ground, scattering gears all over, and headed towards the village square once again. As far as human soldiers were concerned, the Comet was simply a monster that appeared out of nowhere. I couldn’t afford to show them the toll my body was taking. I’d been battling nothing but... humans this whole time, taking them down with my own hands, but I was still surprisingly calm about it.
I used to read novels and comics back on Earth. One such story you’d often see was of a boy who was good at games, then killing people in cold blood like it was nothing. They were made to emphasize the difference between fictional games and reality, and I’d always wondered why they did that. While you typically were crushed by the feeling of guilt in killing someone in real life, the same didn’t apply when you did so in a game.
Be it games or whatever, was I not prepared to murder people with my own two hands? When I realized that I had become the monster those stories spoke of, it hit me so hard that I didn’t want to continue on anymore. To say I was doing it to save someone—to save Ann—would be selfish and just shift the blame. I couldn’t justify my actions with that. In order to satiate my selfishness I was willing to cover my hands in blood, no matter if it was in games or reality.
The mere thought of continuing my life forward with regret of not saving what was precious to me, because I’d gotten distracted, sent a chill down my spine.
◇
“Maybe now...”
Ann stealthily untied the rope holding her hands down. The main reason the village adults didn’t resist in any way was because of the human soldiers pointing spears at the village’s children in order to subjugate them. But most of them had escaped, and the last two soldiers left were just staring in disbelief at the Extended Knight Armor’s demise in front of them—their heads anywhere but there.
“I’m stronger in my human form... I’m sorry for breaking our promise, Auntie,” Ann murmured as she reverted from her kobold form.
She grabbed the two soldier by their ankles, raised them into the air, and tossed them aside with all her might. Originally, Ann’s status as half-human and half-kobold made her naturally weak, but in the two months she’d spent with Aoi, her body became sturdier, and her strength increased dramatically for some unknown reason.
“If Aoi was here he’d probably say something like... ‘Since you’ve been working at the labyrinth this while time, maybe you leveled up or your status increased.’”
The soldiers Ann had thrown slammed right onto some mud walls. When the cloud of dust cleared, it was obvious they wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
“Mister Gald! Everything’s fine over here!”
“Got it!”
As soon as the tied up ogre saw the children were held hostage, his rock hard muscles tensed up as he swung his tied up arms, knocking out a nearby soldier.
“Hey, you guys! Ann’s doing all the work! We have to step it up too!”
All the villagers started rebelling at once, and held down all the remaining soldiers. The villagers would normally be helpless against trained soldiers, but Ann was at the vanguard for them. Being protected by the children they were supposed to be protecting seemed to encourage the adults greatly. There were also soldiers that tried to stop Ann since she looked like nothing more than a little girl; unnatural power or not, Ann would have been easy prey for a rear attack due to her lack of battle experience.
“Gwah!”
A soldier that tried to attack Ann ended up with an extremely deep dent in his helmet, and crumpled down to the ground.
“Ann~ Your back’s exposed, be careful~”
“Miss Deneb! Thank you!”
Deneb struck the soldier’s head with a giant stone pot she was wielding in one hand. It was normally just a cooking utensil, but she seemed strangely used to this kind of thing... Or maybe her usual calm demeanor was all a ruse.
“Protect the families and the fields!”
The most important thing for the famers living in the frontier were their families and fields, and Gald’s roar rallied them to that end. The usually peaceful giants that always opted to shy away from conflict broke away their restraints and joined the fray.
The supposedly powerless Daemons fought back. Once the Extended Knight Armor that was supposed to suppress got taken down, it didn’t take too long for the remaining soldiers to get routed. A moment of happiness reflected on the villagers’ faces, but was dashed away almost as fast as it came.
“Filthy Daemons! Don’t resist if you care about this piece of filth’s life!”
A soldier wearing gaudy armor restrained Sara and stuck the edge of his sword to her neck.
“Sara...!”
Ann’s scream sent a chill down the spines of the surrounding villagers.
◇
“You ogres there, stop! All you Daemons need to shut up, or do you wanna see this little girl die!?”
As soon as I entered the village square, I saw a soldier clad in a pompously decorated set of armor holding Sara with one arm, with a sword pointed at her throat in the other.
“He took a hostage, huh? So he thinks it might be useful despite there being a raging monster running amok? Or was he just regurgitating the only thing he knew how to do?”
My intuition told me it was the latter. He may have been born that way, but the soldier semed to exude an aura of cruelty—he reeked of it, even.
I continued to edge closer, bit by bit, to the soldier that took Sara hostage.
“Stop! Do you not understand me!? Enough!”
His fear couldn’t have been made more evident. I crept ever closer to him without a hint of desisting.
—I know this must be scary, Sara, but hang in there. Things might get worse if I stopped now.
“Cease! No! Stop! Damn it all!”
As soon as I was close enough to reach him, he tossed Sara out of the way and tried to make an escape. I was astonished he had kept up the rotten act thus far. I almost wanted to praise him. But really, it all the more reason to squash him like the rodent he was.
“S-Stop! Don’t come closer! STOOOOOOOP!”
I took one step forward with the wrist blade extended and held it above the soldier... And swung downward until the blade was stopped by the ground.
Sara, who had fallen on the ground, looked up at me in horror... I would have called out to her, but... Yeah.
—I have to change to the motion tracking mode to control my right hand better... I think I just have to do this here and... I think I got it.
I made the Comet kneel down and extended its hand towards Sara. When she saw me swiftly stick out the golem’s ring finger her dumbfounded expression shifted to one of understanding, and eventually one of joy. Thank goodness she understood me. She opened her mouth and muttered something, but I was unable to hear due to the armor. I thought must have been something along the lines of “It took you long enough!”
I circled around the square one last time in search of any stray soldiers. There didn’t seem to be any. Off in the distance was a trail of lances and shields heading south. The raiders must have ran away towards the sea that I’d heard so much about.
“Wasn’t there one of those Knight Armors still around? Where’d it go? I can’t see it an—GAH!”
As soon as I let my guard down, the remaining Knight Armor broke through the nearby buildings facing the square and threw itself at me. I was blown away to the other side of the square, into the wood storage house. The building had stopped my fall.
“Ugh! (cough) So... (cough) He stayed in hiding waiting for his own chance to strike, huh? I thought I cleared the Final Stage, but looks like there’s a hidden bonus round.”
The surprise impact sent me into another coughing fit. A display flickered open informing me that various parts of the Comet’s internals were heavily damaged.
—I didn’t think it had much defense considering that one Tundra review, but I expected it to at least be able to take more than one hit before becoming useless!
I closed the various warning windows and gripped the joystick once more. I had no intention of going out with a fight.
◇
“AHHHH!”
The villagers screamed in anguish as the Knight Armor blew away the red and black Comet. They felt fear. Fear of the unknown. Two giant bodies fought before them, one of ill intent and one against it. Their sense of comradery was put into question. As the Knight Armor moved to wrap its hand around the neck of the now immobile golem, the villagers covered their faces in dismay.
Ann ran down to where Sara had fallen. From there she called out to the golem at the top of her lungs...
“AOI! DON’T GIVE UP!”
◇
Ann’s voice had been carried by the wind and miraculously reached my ears inside the golem. I could feel my mouth jerk into a smile. My body screamed in pain despite downing a vitality potion just now. Ever since Fez and I had separated and I was chased by the horsemen, I hadn’t stopped putting my life in danger. Every fiber in my body ached and pleaded for me to stop, to slow down, but I couldn’t. The difficulty was set to its absolute maximum and it’d been nothing but a barrage of challenges. There were no choices or hints, no strategy guide or wiki either. It was a brutal game that had no save slots or continues—a game where my very life was at stake...
“Even so... Life’s still pretty fun.”
I wasn’t done yet. I still had to teach that evil, oblivious little girl how to be a proper lady, for my sake, and for the world’s.
I took the cursed sword and slipped out of the Comet’s cockpit and ran up the nearby wall using the physical abilities the sword had granted me. I jumped up above the hand of the Knight Armor which was around the Comet’s neck. I could hear Ann’s voice as I was being dragged down by gravity. I took a deep break and shouted back to her...
“LEAVE IT TO ME...!”
Using the momentum of gravity, I aimed myself towards the metal cylinder on the Knight Armor’s back. I slashed away at the metal tube, in an attempt to sever the connection between it and the armor. Perhaps it had noticed my resistance, as the Knight Armor moved its other hand towards me. At the verge of being squared by the hand, I managed to cut the connection of the cockpit with my sword.
“Knock it off already, you piece of crap!”
I relaxed my body slightly and gathered my remaining strength into one final stab. The Knight Armor slowly came to a halt as I hit, and soon collapsed into the ground with an earth-shattering impact. A cloud of dust was kicked up by the impact, and I took cover under the now powerless arm of the machine. As the dust cleared, I stood there, sword in hand, one eye closed off from blood. The villagers began to cheer, having realized the identity of their would-be savior.
I didn’t really want to say what actually happened as I fell off the back of the Knight Armor, since I’d landed right on my head and ended up a bloody mess. I hoped that the giant dust cloud managed to mask my embarrassing blunder.
It was impossible to show off perfection like a real hero since, after all, I was just a simple gamer.
Amidst the aftermath I managed to move closer to Ann.
“......!”
She said something and then embraced me. I hugged her back and finally lost consciousness.
“Hah, I might even meet this golem’s creator in a battlefield, somewhere.”
I went through the startup procedure by repeatedly pressing the foot pedal and the finger buttons.
I was a sucker for sim games with cockpits. I was so obsessed that I got a part-time job solely to dump money into them. I played so much that I ended up being in the Top 20 ranking for the Kanto region.
Between the shape and weight of the joystick, the button layout felt a little out of place. It was basically the same kind of thing though, so I should be good to go. Master Arms used retinal projection to display stuff, but I didn’t know how images were being projected in the Comet. A mix of English and Japanese letters flowed along on the internal gray armor plate, like it was beginning some sort of start up sequence... Then a screen popped up that said “Sugawara Heavy Industries”.
—Is this really a golem? It even has a start-up logo! The guy that made this really is something else.
“Based on... ‘Master Arms Ver.2.4’? That’s not even the latest version. They updated it like half a year ago.”
It appeared that a robot maniac had managed to become a labyrinth manager and was going pretty hard at it. But thanks to him, I could avoid charging in headfirst with only a sword, so I was grateful nonetheless.
Most of the launch settings of the Comet were automatically set. There was a pair of wings with jet engines attached to them that was probably the flight unit, which was sold separately. Also attached was the firearms unit, which consisted of a huge rifle with a revolver magazine, that clashed with this whole fantasy world we were in.
Impatience started stirring within my heart as night began to creep in. If I got too hasty I probably would crash headfirst into the rocks and die. That wouldn’t be all that great of a climax, would it? I fought off the urge to just get going as I waited for the progress bar to complete.
“No abnormalities in the various check sequences, and the optional parts are functioning properly. The assortment of gauges based on Master Arms is nice to see.”
The monitor displayed the word “READY” and locked the joints, allowing for the Comet to slowly start moving.
When I first came to this world, it was a survival game where I searched for food and water. And ever since Ann came into my life, I enjoyed interacting with her, living together and making things, like in a crafting adventure game. When the horsemen chased after me, it was like an action game where one wrong move could end my life.
But now... it was a PvP game, where I bet my life against another player’s.
Hostile players came and disrupted what was once a peaceful game. Everything changed into a completely different mode: one where you had to fight with the intent of killing another.
I still remembered the first time I played a game with other people. Yes, the first game in which I fought other players went offline a long time ago, but it was still a famous old MMORPG. Back then, I wasn’t prepared at all. I got lured out of the safe zone and was ganked immediately; I just laid there, shocked at being attacked. I still remembered the tension and excitement of being assaulted by people with ill intent, and how wet my mouse got from my sweaty palms.
Compared to then, my palms weren’t sweaty now; and I was holding onto the Comet’s joystick instead of a mouse. And besides my worry for Ann, Sara, and the other villagers, I was quite calm.
“Heh... I can’t help but smile, huh?”
My mouth warped into a smile, unable to hide the hunger to fight.
—Violent games are a terrible influence for children...
That overused phrase came to mind, but I laughed it off.
I couldn’t tell you if all the games I’d played in my life were a good or bad influence. But what I could say is that thanks to them, I was now able to face danger in order to save someone precious to me.
“Well, then... Let’s enjoy life.”
I stepped on the feet pedals lightly and the flight unit started up. A blush-white light poured out of the wings as the Comet rose into the air with a metallic sound.
◇
“This is more like riding a wild horse than I thought!”
I raced over a nearby wall at high speed with a gentle nudge of the joystick.
I tried to muster all the skills I had gained from playing Master Arms a long time ago. Lately there were less and less arcades that could take on the high maintenance cost, or the high cost of the cabinets themselves, so I was kind of rusty after not playing for a while. It didn’t take long for my body adjust to it again, though.
No wonder the Tundra review page was filled with criticism. It was really hard to get a handle on how to maneuver it, as well as dealing with the response time. It was like raising your PC’s mouse sensitivity two or three times. It wasn’t outright unusable, but it definitely wasn’t easy either.
I stopped the flight unit once I was out of the ravine. The power of gravity enacted and drove the decelerating Comet right into the ground with a heavy thud.
“(cough) Ugh! (cough)”
I may have been a gamer capable of piloting it, but my body wasn’t used to the forces a real pilot went through. The impact I took from the landing sent me right into a coughing fit. Thank goodness I didn’t have the chance to eat lunch at the village’s market. I would’ve made a mess out of this thing if my stomach was full.
I really had the urge to just waste time to figure out how it moved and such. I took a deep breath to calm myself and maneuvered the left joystick... which caused the Comet to kick off the ground into the air. The parts attached to the back and leg portions of the machine made a high-pitched metallic sound as it created the propulsion to move, and I headed towards the village, halfway leaping through the air. A distance that would have taken me an hour by foot took less than ten minutes using the Comet.
“This robo— No, this golem armor really is strange in more ways than one, huh?”
When I got to the hill where I could see the the whole village from, I stopped. In the middle of the village were those Extended Knight Armors from before.
Thankfully the raiders hadn’t left yet, if those Extended Knight Armors were any indication. I still couldn’t understand how those lumps of scrap metal managed to even move. I observed them for a bit, waiting for steam to spew out of them like they were some sort of steampunk machine. My eyes eventually wandered to a spot near the neck of one of them. A metal tube roughly two meters in length protruded out of it. Judging from the position and size, I reckoned that was the cockpit. It made sense if you considered the safety of the pilot, I guess.
As far as I could tell, there were three sets of armor in the village square, with soldiers and bowmen in the village’s entrance. Yeah. So flying all the way here was the Stage One, doing a surprise attack on the village’s entrance would be Stage Two, and eliminating the Extended Knight Armors in the village square would be the Final Stage.
There was no guarantee I had a happy ending waiting for me once I cleared all three stages, but I didn’t really have the time to dwell on it.
“Alright... Let’s get it on.”
I grabbed the Comet’s cylinder rifle firearm (sold separately) that costed 12 million DL from its holding spot at the waist. It looked like a futuristic, modern rifle but it seemed to shoot magic, as opposed to using some complicated firing mechanism. Not that it mattered how it worked. A gamer plays with whatever he’s given. The lore maniacs can deal with all the principles, diagrams, and mechanical parts in their own time.
“So to prime it I have to do... this? And if I switch to ‘Fire Mode’ a reticle appears and... Huh?”
When I positioned the Comet’s body sideways and held the rifle with one hand, a blue-colored magic square appeared at the tip of the rifle’s barrel and a new pop up appeared in one corner of my field of view.
[3 Rounds Remaining. Optional Firearm Unit: Activated. Aim Adjustment Engaged. Corrections Will Complete After Two Rounds Are Fired.]
—Well, I guess I can’t do much about the adjustment when it’s the first time its starts up.
I breathed a heavy sigh. In short: the shots would go where I wanted to them after I’d fired twice.
Or so it said...
But I only had three rounds. Should I expect to only hit once...? Even though I paid so much money? I wondered if it was because the creator decided to make a damn rifle instead of something more like a fantasy game like a bow, or something. While I had more objections, I figured that if I could take out at least one of those Knight Armors with a shot, it would be worth the trouble, at least.
◇
The Daemon villagers were all gathered and handcuffed in the middle of the village’s square. They were all tied together by the same rope in a straight line, waiting to get transported. The raiders were using a sturdy rope that had metallic threads braided into it, and they conducted themselves in a very organized manner, while the villagers looked miserable.
The humans that attacked the village were a raid party that came from one of the three human countries to the west of Daemon, but they weren’t mere outlaws—they came looking for a commodity called... “Daemon Slaves”.
And they’d gotten permission from the country to stock up on them. They were mercenaries employed by a major slave dealer. Even among human nations, the treatment of Daemon people varied between them, but in this case the only thing they saw were ‘beasts able for labor and capable of speech’.
And that was the treatment all Daemon citizens received.
That being said, the raiders didn’t run amok on the village, wrecking it like barbarians. They weren’t so bored as to do frivolous things that could lower their commercial value, even if they did consider Daemons as beasts.
“Next one, step forward.”
A bearded mercenary wearing a grim expression, with his head crammed into a metal helmet, called for the next villager to be added to the chain of others. A well-dressed female kobold stepped forward...
“Hmm...? Pretty good-looking and well-dressed... Are you a Daemon from another village?”
The middle-aged soldier looked puzzled when he laid eyes upon the kobold. She was in stark contrast compared to the villagers that wore nothing but ragged, patched up old garments. The girl didn’t answer as she was startled and quivered in fear.
“We were celebrating her becoming an adult today. Why did this have to happen...?”
Another female kobold close by had spoken up. In truth, that celebration had ended about a year ago, but even then, what they wore in celebration paled in comparison to the well-dressed kobold.
“I see... You got unlucky,” the middle-aged mercenary grumbled. “This is why I hate hunting Daemons. Talking them down like this sickens me.”
The man moved to his work, but a rumble that shook everyone to the core interrupted him.
“What is it!? What happened!?”
Among angry screams and shrieks, what was reflected in the eyes of the middle-aged mercenary was a red light coming from the west. The light pierced through one of the Extended Armors sitting in the middle of the village square. The upper half of the reliable and intimidating giant hell apart and crashed into the ground with an earth-shattering roar.
◇
A chill ran down my spine when the shot landed in the square... I completely understood the maker’s intention now—he wanted to make a rifle that shot beams.
When I pulled the trigger a multi-layered magic square formed around the muzzle, and a blue light erupted out of it. The first shot landed on the roof of the house that was burning close to the village square, blowing it away completely. I changed my aim completely in a hurry and the second shot went into ground near the horsemen that were on standby near the southern exit of the village. I calmed down and took my time to aim the third shot after blowing up the horsemen, and landed it right in the center of the Extended Armor that was the farthest away from the villagers in the square.
I took a look at the display floating in a corner of my field of vision and sighed when I saw that hard mode was turned on.
[Aim Correction Complete. 0 Rounds Remaining. Recharge Time: 83 Hours, 59 Minutes 21 Seconds.]
“It would’ve been great to know beforehand that I could fire three shots every 84 hours!”
I let go of the now steaming rifle and let it fall onto the ground. I heard an astounding amount of screams and shouts while I cautiously headed towards the village. The iron-clad mercenaries seemed to be moving around the village in a panic. With the Comet I dashed past the mercenaries with a steady pace, desperately trying to hold back the desire to run in guns blazing. The thing that worried me the most right now was the potential of the mercenaries taking hostages. Even if we could overwhelm them with numbers, my chances of winning would be null if they decided to use them as shields. On the other hand, if I ignored all collateral damage and concentrated only on saving Ann, she would probably be sad about it. I didn’t really want to sacrifice the good people of the village either.
—How should I go about this? If I seem like I’m on the villager’s side, they’ll take them as hostages.
Luckily, the Comet was an enclosed golem armor that didn’t expose the pilot in any way, so they couldn’t see that there was a human inside. It looked kinda peculiar, but you could probably guess it was a golem by how hard the outer shell was.
—Yes... I should just swoop down like a monster, a random natural disaster. No idiot would try to take hostages in front of a blood-starved demon.
For someone from that human country, this must be a land where horrible demons lurk around. They probably wouldn’t be very surprised if a mad creature attacked them with a golem.
“Well then, time for Stage Two!”
As I approached the village entrance I was met by nine soldiers. Four were pointing spears in my direction, while the other five drew their bows. They looked scared still. Meanwhile the Comet’s armor was basically like “Defensive power? Is it yummy?” I was curious as to whether or not the Comet could even deflect arrows, but then again it was still a golem that stood seven meters tall. It was natural to be scared when faced with an unknown quantity like it.
—I’ll charge in once they fire off their bows...
I walked the Comet at a constant pace. Soon I felt the hand holding the joystick starting to sweat, waiting for the battle to begin. The archers released their arrows basically at the same time the Comet leapt forward.
The flying arrows arced right over my head. My body got pressed heavily by the force of the momentum as I leapt into the row of spearmen at full speed. I backed away a bit, kicked out the spearmen, and crushed two of the archers with both hands, then stopped.
“Now... Three more!”
I grabbed the remaining archers and flung them away towards the village square, effortlessly. I tried behaving like a monster to strike fear in them, but the burden on my human body inside the golem was taxing. The finely-detailed control of the golem was done through a motion sensor, so I had to...
“Bear it, come on!”
Since I was inside the Comet, I had to look the part. When I bent my body to match the golem’s unreasonable posture, I could hear my joints creak.
Not only were they getting attacked out of the blue by a mysterious being, they were given a front row seat to see how a monster mowed down their forces like tons. About half the soldiers surrounding the villagers were thrown into a state of panic. And so, all the unlucky soldiers standing in my way were thrown about like playthings. I could see archers sneaking into houses facing the square in an attempt to hide, while others scrambled out the southern exit after dropping their weapons.
“Is that a Commander I see? There’s one of them screaming at the ones running away.”
I apologized to whoever owned the old-fashioned cart that was lying around as I grabbed it and threw it at the screaming soldier. The commander-like man finally shut up as the cart collided into him.
“Did the cart fall right where I wanted it to because I’m so good at handling the golem? I kinda doubt that’s the case. (cough)”
—So now we’re at the Final Stage. I’d sure like a save point right around now...!
While I was busy catching my breath from the coughing fit, one of the Extended Armors started moving.
“It’s really freaky-looking seeing it up close, huh? It’s roughly humanoid... but it’s a robot. It’d be kinda dumb to call it ‘humanoid machine’, though.”
At first glance, the Extended Knight Armor looked like a giant steel skeleton that used gears as its flesh and blood.
The gears interlocked and grinded, causing the limbs to follow suit. There were parts protected by iron armor plates, but there were also some rusted spots and pieces of scrap mixed together in other places.
—Amazing...! I get to fight that freaky thing!?
I heard something resembling a voice echo through one of the metal pipes sticking out of it.
“I see. If you’re gonna go against me, I have to get serious... Come on!”
I lowered my stance and waited for the next moment to strike. The Extended Knight Armor pulled out a lance as big as itself and lunged forward, trying to impale me. I leapt to the side with the Comet and dodged. I passed right besides the Knight Armor at high speed and deployed the Comet’s fixed armament—a huge metallic blade built into the golem’s wrist. I crammed the blade into the moving gears, which caused a sharp metallic grinding to ring out, and the Extended Armor imploded on itself.
“(cough) Tch...! (cough)”
The reverberations of the implosion impacted the Comet like a wave crashing into my body, causing me to cough. There was now a certain red liquid mixed up among my coughs, so I took my hand off the joystick, grabbed a vitality potion from my pouch, and downed it in one gulp.
“(cough) The... (cough) float like a butterfly, sting like a bee (cough) phrase is cool, but if your opponent is sturdy and heavy, then the constant impacts are enough to make you want to die! (cough) I wouldn’t mind fighting at half speed if it meant I had some armor to take a punch of me, at least then it wouldn’t wreak my body!”
I left the dilapidated Knight Armor as it collapsed onto the ground, scattering gears all over, and headed towards the village square once again. As far as human soldiers were concerned, the Comet was simply a monster that appeared out of nowhere. I couldn’t afford to show them the toll my body was taking. I’d been battling nothing but... humans this whole time, taking them down with my own hands, but I was still surprisingly calm about it.
I used to read novels and comics back on Earth. One such story you’d often see was of a boy who was good at games, then killing people in cold blood like it was nothing. They were made to emphasize the difference between fictional games and reality, and I’d always wondered why they did that. While you typically were crushed by the feeling of guilt in killing someone in real life, the same didn’t apply when you did so in a game.
Be it games or whatever, was I not prepared to murder people with my own two hands? When I realized that I had become the monster those stories spoke of, it hit me so hard that I didn’t want to continue on anymore. To say I was doing it to save someone—to save Ann—would be selfish and just shift the blame. I couldn’t justify my actions with that. In order to satiate my selfishness I was willing to cover my hands in blood, no matter if it was in games or reality.
The mere thought of continuing my life forward with regret of not saving what was precious to me, because I’d gotten distracted, sent a chill down my spine.
◇
“Maybe now...”
Ann stealthily untied the rope holding her hands down. The main reason the village adults didn’t resist in any way was because of the human soldiers pointing spears at the village’s children in order to subjugate them. But most of them had escaped, and the last two soldiers left were just staring in disbelief at the Extended Knight Armor’s demise in front of them—their heads anywhere but there.
“I’m stronger in my human form... I’m sorry for breaking our promise, Auntie,” Ann murmured as she reverted from her kobold form.
She grabbed the two soldier by their ankles, raised them into the air, and tossed them aside with all her might. Originally, Ann’s status as half-human and half-kobold made her naturally weak, but in the two months she’d spent with Aoi, her body became sturdier, and her strength increased dramatically for some unknown reason.
“If Aoi was here he’d probably say something like... ‘Since you’ve been working at the labyrinth this while time, maybe you leveled up or your status increased.’”
The soldiers Ann had thrown slammed right onto some mud walls. When the cloud of dust cleared, it was obvious they wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.
“Mister Gald! Everything’s fine over here!”
“Got it!”
As soon as the tied up ogre saw the children were held hostage, his rock hard muscles tensed up as he swung his tied up arms, knocking out a nearby soldier.
“Hey, you guys! Ann’s doing all the work! We have to step it up too!”
All the villagers started rebelling at once, and held down all the remaining soldiers. The villagers would normally be helpless against trained soldiers, but Ann was at the vanguard for them. Being protected by the children they were supposed to be protecting seemed to encourage the adults greatly. There were also soldiers that tried to stop Ann since she looked like nothing more than a little girl; unnatural power or not, Ann would have been easy prey for a rear attack due to her lack of battle experience.
“Gwah!”
A soldier that tried to attack Ann ended up with an extremely deep dent in his helmet, and crumpled down to the ground.
“Ann~ Your back’s exposed, be careful~”
“Miss Deneb! Thank you!”
Deneb struck the soldier’s head with a giant stone pot she was wielding in one hand. It was normally just a cooking utensil, but she seemed strangely used to this kind of thing... Or maybe her usual calm demeanor was all a ruse.
“Protect the families and the fields!”
The most important thing for the famers living in the frontier were their families and fields, and Gald’s roar rallied them to that end. The usually peaceful giants that always opted to shy away from conflict broke away their restraints and joined the fray.
The supposedly powerless Daemons fought back. Once the Extended Knight Armor that was supposed to suppress got taken down, it didn’t take too long for the remaining soldiers to get routed. A moment of happiness reflected on the villagers’ faces, but was dashed away almost as fast as it came.
“Filthy Daemons! Don’t resist if you care about this piece of filth’s life!”
A soldier wearing gaudy armor restrained Sara and stuck the edge of his sword to her neck.
“Sara...!”
Ann’s scream sent a chill down the spines of the surrounding villagers.
◇
“You ogres there, stop! All you Daemons need to shut up, or do you wanna see this little girl die!?”
As soon as I entered the village square, I saw a soldier clad in a pompously decorated set of armor holding Sara with one arm, with a sword pointed at her throat in the other.
“He took a hostage, huh? So he thinks it might be useful despite there being a raging monster running amok? Or was he just regurgitating the only thing he knew how to do?”
My intuition told me it was the latter. He may have been born that way, but the soldier semed to exude an aura of cruelty—he reeked of it, even.
I continued to edge closer, bit by bit, to the soldier that took Sara hostage.
“Stop! Do you not understand me!? Enough!”
His fear couldn’t have been made more evident. I crept ever closer to him without a hint of desisting.
—I know this must be scary, Sara, but hang in there. Things might get worse if I stopped now.
“Cease! No! Stop! Damn it all!”
As soon as I was close enough to reach him, he tossed Sara out of the way and tried to make an escape. I was astonished he had kept up the rotten act thus far. I almost wanted to praise him. But really, it all the more reason to squash him like the rodent he was.
“S-Stop! Don’t come closer! STOOOOOOOP!”
I took one step forward with the wrist blade extended and held it above the soldier... And swung downward until the blade was stopped by the ground.
Sara, who had fallen on the ground, looked up at me in horror... I would have called out to her, but... Yeah.
—I have to change to the motion tracking mode to control my right hand better... I think I just have to do this here and... I think I got it.
I made the Comet kneel down and extended its hand towards Sara. When she saw me swiftly stick out the golem’s ring finger her dumbfounded expression shifted to one of understanding, and eventually one of joy. Thank goodness she understood me. She opened her mouth and muttered something, but I was unable to hear due to the armor. I thought must have been something along the lines of “It took you long enough!”
I circled around the square one last time in search of any stray soldiers. There didn’t seem to be any. Off in the distance was a trail of lances and shields heading south. The raiders must have ran away towards the sea that I’d heard so much about.
“Wasn’t there one of those Knight Armors still around? Where’d it go? I can’t see it an—GAH!”
As soon as I let my guard down, the remaining Knight Armor broke through the nearby buildings facing the square and threw itself at me. I was blown away to the other side of the square, into the wood storage house. The building had stopped my fall.
“Ugh! (cough) So... (cough) He stayed in hiding waiting for his own chance to strike, huh? I thought I cleared the Final Stage, but looks like there’s a hidden bonus round.”
The surprise impact sent me into another coughing fit. A display flickered open informing me that various parts of the Comet’s internals were heavily damaged.
—I didn’t think it had much defense considering that one Tundra review, but I expected it to at least be able to take more than one hit before becoming useless!
I closed the various warning windows and gripped the joystick once more. I had no intention of going out with a fight.
◇
“AHHHH!”
The villagers screamed in anguish as the Knight Armor blew away the red and black Comet. They felt fear. Fear of the unknown. Two giant bodies fought before them, one of ill intent and one against it. Their sense of comradery was put into question. As the Knight Armor moved to wrap its hand around the neck of the now immobile golem, the villagers covered their faces in dismay.
Ann ran down to where Sara had fallen. From there she called out to the golem at the top of her lungs...
“AOI! DON’T GIVE UP!”
◇
Ann’s voice had been carried by the wind and miraculously reached my ears inside the golem. I could feel my mouth jerk into a smile. My body screamed in pain despite downing a vitality potion just now. Ever since Fez and I had separated and I was chased by the horsemen, I hadn’t stopped putting my life in danger. Every fiber in my body ached and pleaded for me to stop, to slow down, but I couldn’t. The difficulty was set to its absolute maximum and it’d been nothing but a barrage of challenges. There were no choices or hints, no strategy guide or wiki either. It was a brutal game that had no save slots or continues—a game where my very life was at stake...
“Even so... Life’s still pretty fun.”
I wasn’t done yet. I still had to teach that evil, oblivious little girl how to be a proper lady, for my sake, and for the world’s.
I took the cursed sword and slipped out of the Comet’s cockpit and ran up the nearby wall using the physical abilities the sword had granted me. I jumped up above the hand of the Knight Armor which was around the Comet’s neck. I could hear Ann’s voice as I was being dragged down by gravity. I took a deep break and shouted back to her...
“LEAVE IT TO ME...!”
Using the momentum of gravity, I aimed myself towards the metal cylinder on the Knight Armor’s back. I slashed away at the metal tube, in an attempt to sever the connection between it and the armor. Perhaps it had noticed my resistance, as the Knight Armor moved its other hand towards me. At the verge of being squared by the hand, I managed to cut the connection of the cockpit with my sword.
“Knock it off already, you piece of crap!”
I relaxed my body slightly and gathered my remaining strength into one final stab. The Knight Armor slowly came to a halt as I hit, and soon collapsed into the ground with an earth-shattering impact. A cloud of dust was kicked up by the impact, and I took cover under the now powerless arm of the machine. As the dust cleared, I stood there, sword in hand, one eye closed off from blood. The villagers began to cheer, having realized the identity of their would-be savior.
I didn’t really want to say what actually happened as I fell off the back of the Knight Armor, since I’d landed right on my head and ended up a bloody mess. I hoped that the giant dust cloud managed to mask my embarrassing blunder.
It was impossible to show off perfection like a real hero since, after all, I was just a simple gamer.
Amidst the aftermath I managed to move closer to Ann.
“......!”
She said something and then embraced me. I hugged her back and finally lost consciousness.
“Aoi!”
I woke up the next morning on a bed inside Jenny’s house. Apparently I had been sleeping for more than half a day’s time. What was waiting for me as I finally opened my eyes was an embrace from Ann in human form. It seemed like she had been waiting in the bed with me this whole time. Sitting in the nearby chair wasn’t quite enough for her.
“How long has it been?”
“It’s the morning after. We’ve been all taking turns watching over the village, but the mayor told me we could switch turns.”
I was kinda worried about whether they would come back or not after escaping, but everything seemed to be okay.
“I see... One more thing, why are we naked?”
“Hm...?”
I wanted to think it was safe because we were both covered in sheets, but neither of us were wearing any clothes. I was a little concerned for my chastity, but I trusted in Ann.
—That’s okay, right?
“Auntie told me that if you want to nurse someone really special to you, you need to be on the same bed naked.”
—Another one of Jenny’s traps!?
“Yeah, I think Jenny got that wrong. Let’s put some clothes on.”
“Okay~”
She obediently got off the bed and started putting on the clothes she’d folded nearby.
Ann was pretty intelligent. I couldn’t help but wonder why she was only clueless when it came to relationships between males and females.
My clothes were also neatly folded as well. I put on my now blood-stained white shirt and ragged formal suit. I checked my potion pouch and noticed that one of the vitality potions was empty. I realized then that I felt no pain and that there wasn’t a single wound on my body from yesterday.
—I’ll just overlook this for now. Yeah, it’s better that way...
I quietly put the empty bottle back in the pouch. I was kind of afraid to ask who got me to drink it, and how, while I was out of commission.
As we went out afterwards, Ann was back in her kobold form, and we met the mayor along the way, who proceeded to thank me endlessly.
“You’re truly our village’s patron. I don’t know how we could ever hope to repay you!”
I understood he was grateful, but I’d like to keep a little distance between me and his minotaur face since it honestly still scared me.
I tried to boot up the Comet, but all I was met with were a bunch of warnings and no movement. Fortunately, there was a sort of self-healing function, so it would eventually repair itself. The only downside with that was the minimum wait to base functionality was two weeks, and a full recovery was two months...
I locked it up near the village to prevent any children from getting inside, and left the rifle alongside it. Thankfully, the mayor and the villagers gracefully agreed to help me in safekeeping the Comet while it was there.
I also helped with guarding the village, cursed sword in hand, but Fez eventually came along with city sentinels and mercenaries in tow. With security taken care of as well, Ann and I headed back for the labyrinth.
◇
“Welcome back, Kousaka-san.”
As we reached the bottom of the stairs to the ravine we were met by the sight of Karumi-san standing in front of the cabin. Oh, how I missed that shabby thing.
“I made a bit of a mess back there... Is my training score intact?”
“Naturally. You proposed a plan that would generate further profit, and you produced outstanding results. You’re a desired person by our company, by all means.”
Results were required in the adult world. Even if you said you’d do you best, you wouldn’t be appraised by your heartfelt intentions, more so the actual results you produced. That’s just how the world worked.
“Allow me to repeat myself from a few days ago: will you retire and go back to the ‘safe world’ and accept the salary and remuneration you’ve earned so far? Or will you become a full-time employee and continue living on in this danger-ridden world?”
“Aoi...”
Ann clasped the hem of my shirt with a lonely expression on her face. I stroked her head in response just like always.
“My answer is...”
I recited my answer as Karumi-san stared daggers at the little thing around my waist.
I woke up the next morning on a bed inside Jenny’s house. Apparently I had been sleeping for more than half a day’s time. What was waiting for me as I finally opened my eyes was an embrace from Ann in human form. It seemed like she had been waiting in the bed with me this whole time. Sitting in the nearby chair wasn’t quite enough for her.
“How long has it been?”
“It’s the morning after. We’ve been all taking turns watching over the village, but the mayor told me we could switch turns.”
I was kinda worried about whether they would come back or not after escaping, but everything seemed to be okay.
“I see... One more thing, why are we naked?”
“Hm...?”
I wanted to think it was safe because we were both covered in sheets, but neither of us were wearing any clothes. I was a little concerned for my chastity, but I trusted in Ann.
—That’s okay, right?
“Auntie told me that if you want to nurse someone really special to you, you need to be on the same bed naked.”
—Another one of Jenny’s traps!?
“Yeah, I think Jenny got that wrong. Let’s put some clothes on.”
“Okay~”
She obediently got off the bed and started putting on the clothes she’d folded nearby.
Ann was pretty intelligent. I couldn’t help but wonder why she was only clueless when it came to relationships between males and females.
My clothes were also neatly folded as well. I put on my now blood-stained white shirt and ragged formal suit. I checked my potion pouch and noticed that one of the vitality potions was empty. I realized then that I felt no pain and that there wasn’t a single wound on my body from yesterday.
—I’ll just overlook this for now. Yeah, it’s better that way...
I quietly put the empty bottle back in the pouch. I was kind of afraid to ask who got me to drink it, and how, while I was out of commission.
As we went out afterwards, Ann was back in her kobold form, and we met the mayor along the way, who proceeded to thank me endlessly.
“You’re truly our village’s patron. I don’t know how we could ever hope to repay you!”
I understood he was grateful, but I’d like to keep a little distance between me and his minotaur face since it honestly still scared me.
I tried to boot up the Comet, but all I was met with were a bunch of warnings and no movement. Fortunately, there was a sort of self-healing function, so it would eventually repair itself. The only downside with that was the minimum wait to base functionality was two weeks, and a full recovery was two months...
I locked it up near the village to prevent any children from getting inside, and left the rifle alongside it. Thankfully, the mayor and the villagers gracefully agreed to help me in safekeeping the Comet while it was there.
I also helped with guarding the village, cursed sword in hand, but Fez eventually came along with city sentinels and mercenaries in tow. With security taken care of as well, Ann and I headed back for the labyrinth.
◇
“Welcome back, Kousaka-san.”
As we reached the bottom of the stairs to the ravine we were met by the sight of Karumi-san standing in front of the cabin. Oh, how I missed that shabby thing.
“I made a bit of a mess back there... Is my training score intact?”
“Naturally. You proposed a plan that would generate further profit, and you produced outstanding results. You’re a desired person by our company, by all means.”
Results were required in the adult world. Even if you said you’d do you best, you wouldn’t be appraised by your heartfelt intentions, more so the actual results you produced. That’s just how the world worked.
“Allow me to repeat myself from a few days ago: will you retire and go back to the ‘safe world’ and accept the salary and remuneration you’ve earned so far? Or will you become a full-time employee and continue living on in this danger-ridden world?”
“Aoi...”
Ann clasped the hem of my shirt with a lonely expression on her face. I stroked her head in response just like always.
“My answer is...”
I recited my answer as Karumi-san stared daggers at the little thing around my waist.
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