Mob Kousei No Ore Demo Boukensha Ni
Nareba Riajuu Ni Naremasuka: Chapter #152
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 152: Enemy
"So you’re the Apparel
Team’s leader now, Shinomiya-san?"
After that, we moved to the rooftop
and caught up on each other's lives in the heated eat-in space of the Dungeon
Mart.
The conversation started on ‘When
did I return’, and I gave her a brief—and I mean very brief,
superficial—account of my journey before the focus changed to Shinomiya-san.
She
shared that as the leader of the Commercial Committee's Apparel Team, she was
working on designing new outfits.
"Yeah, yeah. Well, even
though I say ‘leader’, it’s mostly just passing messages from the
President--Kanou-san to everyone else, gathering opinions, and submitting
designs to the people above. That’s about it."
"That’s pretty much the role of a proper
leader, isn’t it?"
"Well~ maybe. Thanks."
"Do you know what the others are up to?
Who's doing what?"
Shinomiya-san hummed, “Hum~?”
She tapped her index finger
against her chin, her gaze drifting upward as she began to answer,
"First off… Ono. He's
the Chairperson of the Broadcasting Committee."
"Hoo, the Chairperson... What do they even
do?"
"I see."
Public Relations, huh? Perfect
for someone like Ono. The movie theater/cinema, along with the manga cafe, are
the two major entertainment spots at the school, and they offer plenty of
perks. Being the Chairperson in charge of one means he's holding a pretty solid
position.
The
Sports Committee mainly manage facilities like the gymnasium and pool, offering
paid services like bowling, darts, and billiards.
The
Library Committee primarily manages the library, and apparently, they're in
charge of running the manga cafe as a paid service.
“Oh, and Kaori and Higashino are in the
Disciplinary Committee as Team Leaders.”
The Disciplinary Committee's main
duties are maintaining order within the school and patrolling Hesperides. They
don't operate any paid services.
Instead,
they’re responsible for managing the school’s dungeon and get a share of the
spoils obtained from there.
Most
likely, there was fear that involving them in service industries could lead to
unhealthy entanglements with customers.
In other words, nearly all my
acquaintances hold positions equivalent to Chairperson level.
...It's probably Anna's way of ensuring I
wouldn't have lost influence by the time I returned.
I couldn't be placed in a key
position while I was absent, but if my friends held those positions, I could
maintain equivalent influence even without one myself.
"I see. Everyone's working hard,
huh?"
"Yeah."
Then, a strange silence fell.
After a moment, Shinomiya-san murmured softly,
"I wonder how Shizuka is doing..."
".................."
And I could only stay silent,
unable to offer any reply.
I should probably have
comforted her with—“I’m sure she’s fine.”—but now that I knew the true
nature of the Star Mother Association, even such a simple reassurance felt too
insincere to utter lightly.
".................."
".................."
The silence stretched until my
Card Gear buzzed.
I gave Shinomiya-san an apologetic
look and stepped away to answer.
"Yes?"
『Ah, Senpai, do you have a
moment?』
It
was Anna.
"Yeah. What's up?"
『The Guild personnel have arrived,
so I'm calling to let you know.』
"I see... Got it, I'll be right
there."
I hung up with a sigh.
...So much for my little break.
I returned to Shinomiya-san
and gave her a quick bow.
"Sorry, something came up. I have to go."
"Oh, no worries! I had to get back soon
anyway."
"Then, see you later."
"Un! Good luck, Maro!"
I watched Shinomiya-san wave goodbye
energetically as she left.
"Alright then..."
I flipped my mental switch.
Time to deal with the Guild.
"Give me chocolate!" "Give me
condoms!"
"Everyone, please stay calm! Line up in
order! We have enough for everyone!"
When I arrived at the Mayoiga
where the Guild personnel reportedly were, I found evacuees crowded around a
mountain of cardboard boxes.
It seemed the Guild personnel
were distributing supplies.
The items being handed out
were mainly snacks, with small daily necessities like toothbrush sets, shampoo,
and body soap thrown in as extras.
"Oh-ho, this is a lifesaver. Around here,
they don’t usually give out name-brand snacks like this., you see.”
A middle-aged man who received
his share beamed a thankful smile at the Guild personnel.
"Ah, we’re sorry we can only offer this
much support. When it comes to aid outside the Guild, this is the limit of what
we can provide."
"No, no, we're just grateful to get
anything at all."
"Yes, yes."
"Wouldn’t be right to complain when you’re
risking danger to deliver these supplies all the way from the Guild."
"One lemon packed
the vitamin C of four lemons1."
"Ah, your kind words are reassuring. Thank
you."
Students, likely members of
the Disciplinary Committee, stood at some distance watching this friendly
exchange between the evacuees and the Guild personnel. Their expressions were
uniformly bitter.
They clearly disliked the
Guild's blatant attempt to curry favor, but they couldn't exactly stop people
from receiving much-needed supplies.
"When can we move to the Guild
shelter?"
The Guild personnel’s
expression turned troubled.
"My apologies... negotiations with the Adventurer
Team here have been difficult. They aren't making it easy for us to move you..."
That was the spark. The
evacuees erupted.
"Honestly, what on earth is their
problem?"
"It’s just about moving over to the Guild!"
"They probably want to keep playing King
of the Hill."
"Do they really not want to let us go?"
"Are they keeping us here as shields and
to get more supplies for themselves?"
『...By the way, Master? The
people shouting now are acting.』
I heard a whisper from the
invisible Suzuka. I nodded slightly.
Yeah, I figured.
Stepping back for a broader
view, it was clear that those being loud--both thanking the Guild and those
venting complaints about the Adventurers' Club--were always the same familiar
faces.
The vast majority of the
evacuees appeared somewhat stirred up by the shills, but their expressions
seemed more anxious than angry.
The evacuees were no fools.
They knew the Guild tried to divide them, and they understood the target was
the Adventurers' Club's cards and resources.
There was no guarantee the
Guild would protect them after they snatched those valuables.
Even if they were accepted at
first, if things got worse, they—the latecomers—would be the first to be
discarded.
And yet, staying put in this
school also left lingering unease.
They'd just suffered
casualties recently, and they'd learned that even the supposedly safe
cross-space cards could be easily breached with a little ill will. Furthermore,
regarding the Guild, it was the school side that initially approached the Guild
with the intent to hand over some evacuees—meaning the school itself would be
more likely to abandon them than the Guild.
Driven by such anxieties,
they've likely chosen to ride the wave created by the Guild, albeit
reluctantly.
Ultimately, what they feel was
the ‘anxiety of the weak’.
Powerless, they were left with
no choice but to surrender themselves to the ‘current’ forged by the strong.
No matter how loudly they
shout, they cannot create their own ‘current’. They were consumed by the fear
that they must entrust themselves to the ‘current’ someone else has made.
Right now, they're riding the current the Guild
created, but if someone else creates a different stronger current, they'll
drift over to that one.
In that case, this is simple. I’ll just have to
build a bigger one.
I waited until the
distribution were mostly done, then stepped forward with a bright, friendly
smile,
"Hello! You must be from the Guild. Thank
you so much for agreeing to take in the evacuees!"
The man probably doesn’t
expect to be greeted so cheerfully like this by a student.
He looked at me, slightly
taken aback.
"Oh, hello. And you are...?"
"Ah, I’m sorry for the late introduction. My
name is Kitagawa, Vice President of the Adventurers' Club."
When I introduced myself, the
Guild personnel's eyes widened in an instant.
"...He's back? But how on earth—"
He muttered the words so
faintly they barely left his mouth, but in the next heartbeat, he flashed a
professional smile and returned the greeting,
"Ah, please excuse me. My name is
Yaguchi."
As I shook the hand he
offered, I took the opportunity to casually size him up.
I looked down at the hand
gripping mine.
I see.
Having made a mental note of
Yaguchi’s background, I let go of his hand.
"Then, regarding the evacuation..."
he began.
"Yes."
"I assume your presence here means the
decision has been made for everyone to evacuate to the Guild?"
As the surroundings murmured
at Yaguchi's words, spoken with the confidence of a man who already smelled
victory, I replied with an air of innocence,
"No? We're staying here. The evacuation to
the Guild will only be for those who wish to go."
Yaguchi’s face fell into an
expression of confusion.
"Umm... that’s not possible. Moving people
to the Guild is a dangerous undertaking; it requires exhaustive preparation on
our part. We have to mobilize a massive amount of our combat force for
security, which in turn thins the Guild’s own defenses. We can’t afford to do
this over and over. Ideally, the evacuation should be handled in a single trip.
...I believe I’ve explained this several times already. Are you perhaps unaware?"
A hint of irritation bled
through his voice, as if he were tired of repeating the same script. I
maintained my oblivious act,
"Is that so? But in that case, wouldn't it
be fine to just evacuate those who wish to go in that one trip?"
" ...The Guild’s position is that we would
prefer everyone here to evacuate to our shelter together."
"Hmm. And why is that?"
When I pressed him, Yaguchi
glanced around at the crowd, looking hesitant, before finally answering as if
he were giving up a difficult secret,
"Ah... I apologize for saying this, but...
the Guild believes there are significant concerns regarding the defensive
capabilities of this facility."
"...What do you mean?"
" Well, we heard that just the other day,
you suffered casualties here due to a monster breach. While cross-space cards
are certainly effective at repelling monsters to a point, they have a fatal
flaw: once something manages to get inside, you’re completely defenseless. At
the Guild, we have a double layer of protection—the cross-space cards plus a
physical shelter. But here..."
" We have nowhere to hide if a monster
gets in. Is that it?"
Yaguchi put on a performatively
awkward face at my blunt summary.
" Now, please don’t misunderstand. I truly
recognize that you all are doing your absolute best to protect people. At your
age, to prepare such high-level cross-space cards and protect this many
people... it’s truly remarkable. That is my honest, heartfelt opinion. However,
in this world, some things can't be solved by effort alone."
Right then, I noticed the
crowd around us was growing.
It seemed other students had
caught wind of the conversation and were gathering to watch.
Among them, I spotted Ono with
a smirking, entertained grin on his face.
That guy is enjoying this way too much...
I thought with a mental sigh,
before refocusing on Yaguchi.
"I believe you’ve all done an incredible
job so far. But don’t you think it’s about time you started relying on us
adults?"
Yaguchi spoke with a look of
heartfelt sincerity. As if suddenly remembering something, I said,
" That reminds me. About the evacuation to
the Guild..."
" Eh? Yes...?"
"You mentioned that because of the safety
of the route and the costs involved, you can’t do this multiple times."
"Correct."
"In other words, if the transport is safe
and low-cost, you wouldn’t have an issue with evacuating people in smaller
groups, right?"
".................."
Yaguchi fell silent. A clear
look of wariness flickered across his face.
"Well?"
"That... would depend on the specific
method. I can't give an answer without hearing the details... "
"Please don't overthink it. This is just a
hypothetical. If there was a way that was safe and didn't cause any trouble for
the Guild, would the Guild still insist on moving everyone at once? Would you
tell people who want to evacuate that you won't take them, even if they were
standing right in front of your shelter?"
At my words, the genuine evacuees
in the crowd—not the shills—suddenly began to chatter restlessly.
Yaguchi frowned for a split
second before quickly smoothing his expression into a mask of professional
integrity and replied,
" In such a case, we would obviously
accept them. The Guild exists to help the citizens, after all."
Good! I've got your word!
*Pa!*
I clapped my hands with a broad smile,
"Ah, what a relief! In that case, problems
solved! Please leave the transportation to me. I’ll make sure the evacuees are
delivered to the Guild safely and surely!"
"Wha—!?"
"As for the specific schedule for the
first group's arrival————"
"H-hold on a second!"
Yaguchi frantically cut me off
as I tried to steamroll the conversation forward,
"I, I mean, even if you say that... 'Safely
and surely'? What on earth are you basing that on...?"
The flustered Yaguchi got
ignored, and some of the surrounding evacuees started exchanging startled
glances.
"Come to think of it, when we evacuated to
this school..."
"Yeah. We were teleported here."
"Does that mean that Kitagawa kid has a
teleportation magic item?"
As Yaguchi watched with a
questioning look, one of the shills from earlier rushed over and whispered
something in his ear.
Yaguchi’s expression grew
increasingly stern...
Finally, he turned back to me.
"...My apologies. I’ve just found out. So
Kitagawa-san possesses a transfer magic item that functions even on the
surface? And you used it to evacuate everyone to this school when Angolmois
began. Is that correct?"
"Yes."
"Then I have one question. Why didn't you
use that item to return here immediately?"
The Guild personnel's words
sent another ripple of buzz through the evacuees.
Yaguchi, his eyes gleaming
with certain triumph, pressed further,
"Could it be… that the magic item is no
longer functional?"
Hmm... now, how to play this?
It would be easy enough to
explain that the location data had been reset once by the Pied Piper of
Hamelin, and that it was now usable again.
If I used it here right in
front of him to link to the front of Tachikawa Station, he wouldn't be able to
argue.
However, if I did that, the
Guild would be on guard and might set up anti-transfer measures.
That would be a pain.
I looked around. Suddenly, the
number of curious students had increased considerably.
……………………Actually, this might be the perfect opportunity.
I made up my mind and said to
Yaguchi,
"I won’t be using transfer for the
evacuation."
"Hmm. Then, how exactly do you plan to do
it?"
Yaguchi asked the question
with the expression of a teacher handing a deliberately impossible problem to a
failing student. And I answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the
world,
"I'll wipe out every monster in
Tachikawa."
"....................Huh?"
As Yaguchi gaped in shock, I
repeated myself,
"Like I said. For the evacuation, I will
eliminate every monster in Tachikawa. Then, I’ll blockade the entrances to
every dungeon. That way, the evacuation to the Guild————"
"Listen to yourself!"
Yaguchi cut me off, his voice
sharp with derision.
"That’s impossible! Honestly, I thought
you were going to say something sensible..."
The look in Yaguchi’s eyes was
a jumble mix of anger, exasperation, and contempt
It was the look of someone who
felt a serious discussion was being mocked. I actually felt my opinion of
Yaguchi improve somewhat.
I see... so Yaguchi is serious in his own way.
Well, I suppose he wouldn't travel all this way through monster territory alone
if he wasn't.
"I’m sorry, but I’m a busy man. I still
haven't finished distributing the supplies. If you'll excuse me."
"————Even after you see this?"
Yaguchi, who had turned to
walk away, looked back with an air of annoyance.
But the moment his eyes fell
upon what I was holding, they snapped wide open.
"!!! That... is...! No way!?"
A gigantic, crimson Magic
Stone, over 40 centimeters in diameter.
Once I confirmed that Yaguchi
fully understood the implications, I began summoning my cards one after
another:
Kisshouten, Artemis, Selene,
Seoritsu-hime, Frigg, Nemain, Morrígan, Macha, Kimaris...
Nearly my complete lineup,
minus the C+ rank ones and my trump card, Athena.
Even if they couldn't identify
the specific races, the sudden appearance of several high-tier deities and
demons—instantly recognizable as B-Rank—caused the entire venue to fall deathly
silent.
For ordinary people, who
weren't adventurers, the mere presence of B-rank beings instilled an overwhelming
pressure—enough to raise goosebumps and make one feel crushed.
When nearly ten of them
appeared at once, the evacuees froze like a frog stared down by a snake, unable
to utter a single sound.
The members of the
Adventurer’s Club, who were really only slightly capable than the average
people themselves, were no exception. The only ones in this place still capable
of finding their voices were me, their Master, and…
"T-to think you’ve brought all these B-ranks
under your command...!"
…only Yaguchi, who was likely
a former member of the Self-Defense Force.
Breaking out in a cold
sweat—yet simultaneously looking somewhat exhilarated—Yaguchi stared as I said,
"As you can see, I possess enough strength
to take down even an A-rank. No matter how many ‘enemies’ are lurking around
Tachikawa, they won't be a problem."
"…………………………"
"Please make sure to convey that clearly
to the Guild."
I locked eyes with him as I
spoke. Yaguchi lowered his gaze for a moment with a faint, self-deprecating
smirk…
"Yes… I certainly will."
He looked up, and he nodded.
When he did so, his expression was clear, as if a weight had been lifted off
his shoulders.
【Tips】Area-of-Effect
Attack
As the name implies, this is a
skill that allows you to attack all enemies.
In this context, 'enemies'
refers to 'all enemies recognized by the skill user'.
Enemies not recognized by the
skill user will not be targeted, even if they are right in front of them.
Conversely, if an enemy is recognized, they become a target regardless of
location—even if they are inside a cross-space or on the other side of the
Earth (though whether the attack reaches them depends on the energy channeled
into the skill).
Because of this, enemies using
Presence Concealment skills like [Hide and Seek] skill are excluded from the
target list. If an enemy has been recognized even once, they will remain a
target even if they activate a Presence Concealment skill afterward.
Furthermore, in places like
dungeons—where spaces are independent by floor— or on the surface during Phase
4 and beyond where spaces are isolated, the boundaries of that specific area
become the effective range of the skill.
***
Notes:
1 It’s derived from bottled lemon advertisements which use such marketing claims↩
Translator(s) note: Here’s where you can buy
the Author’s books:
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