Mob
Kousei No Ore Demo Boukensha Ni Nareba Riajuu Ni Naremasuka: Chapter #29
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 29: The theory that the ones who will be my card
doesn't have a normal character (2)
""U......""
Hearing this voice,
Renge and Mea's expressions became stiff. When tehy glanced back, they saw a
beautiful but somewhat gloomy woman standing there.
She had red pupils
reminiscent of burning flames, wavy red hair, and a pair of short horns peeking
out from them. The neckline of her kimono was boldly pulled down to her
shoulders, exposing her deep cleavage. Her sharp eyes with a hint of red at the
corners and her full lips were very sexy.
If I were to mention
only her characteristics, she would appear as a beautiful female demon that was
both intense and bewitching. ......However, her expression, or rather her air,
betrayed this.
Her eyes seemed to be full of spite toward
the world, and she had a sneering smile with a hint of insidiousness.
Her voice itself was
beautiful, but the way she spoke was somewhat somber, and she had a sickly air
about her.
Her name was Suzuka. A demon card I got at
a tournament.
Her name came from Suzuka Gozen, the most
famous female demon in Japan.
When I first got the card, I had imagined
her to be a bewitching older sister or a vivacious demoness, but my
expectations were greatly contradicted.
"Oh, is that
perhaps footage from the last match? ...... I was left out."
Suzuka, who looked
into the tablet, said in a bitter tone.
While Renge and Mea
were frowning when they heard it, I smiled good-naturedly at her and gave some
friendly words,
"No, you're not being left out. Even Yuki didn't
show up. ......See?"
"Yes, yes, that's right."
Yuki, the loyal pup,
was quick to follow up. But,
"......Yuki-san was never in the lineup to begin
with, was she? She's not humanoid.
That leaves four possible candidates. So, I'm the only one left out after
all."
Suzuka looked at me
with a sullen and resentful look in her eyes.
I'm sorry, but to tell the truth, you're a pain in the
ass.......
"You've got to be a little bit more patient, you
newcomer!"
Then, Mea, apparently
unable to stand the sullen atmosphere, confronted Suzuka.
"Among four of us - Renge, Eliza, me and you - in
terms of both roles and seniority, the three of us should be the ones chosen.
Or do you want Eliza, who is a senior member of the group, to give her spot to
you?"
Mea, who once said to
Renge, "What does it matter if you're a senior?" in the past was now
preaching like this.
"Ah--, I see... Yes, Mea-san and the others are my
seniors, huh? That's right, they should be given priority over me. That's
great, I envy them.... It just so happened that they came to Master first, but
then they get to rank up and play in matches. ......I've always been treated as
a newcomer, even though there are only five cards. No one except Master has
even tried to talk to me, I've been left out of the group for a long time...
I'm the only one who's always alone..."
"Ugh......."
When Suzuka started
mumbling and grumbling to no one in particular, Mea was dripping cold sweat and
asked for help from those around her, but there was no one to offer any help.
She scrunched up her face and tried not to make eye contact with Suzuka. The
only one who kept a cool face was Eliza.
『Ma- Master, help me,
uhuhu-- she scares me...』
The half-crying Mea's
voice reached me through the ‘link’. I answered while scratching my chin with
my finger,
『I'm not sure if I can
help...』
Frankly, it is
impossible. Her jealousy was now ingrained in her soul.
『That's why I told you
not to bother with her so much. No matter what you say, she will feel like you
are blaming her.』
Renge also delivered
her voice in the 'link' with dismay.
It had been a few
months since Suzuka joined our group. This wasn't the first time something like
this had happened.
Basically, she had a
kind of hostility...... or complex toward everything, and if she felt that the
other party was better off than she was, even a little, she would feel intense
jealousy.
It began from the
amount of sweets given out during breaks, about the Renge's [Spiritual
recurrence], the fact that Eliza (a former ghouler) had been ranked up to
vampire, the [Friendship linkage] between Renge and Mea, and even the fact that
Yuki was being used by me as a means of transportation in the dungeon. Yes, it
was that hardcore.
Anyway, she always
became envious when she saw something that she did not have, even if it was
just something small.
One of the most
difficult tasks was giving her a name.
I had initially
planned to give her a name when the time was right, but it seemed that this
jealous demoness could not stand the situation where she was the only one who
did not have a name, not even for a second.
Speaking of Suzuka's
jealousy at that time....., she was truly worthy of being a demon.
In the end, after
some twists and turns before I named her, I ended up giving her the name
'Suzuka', which she continues to use to this day.
The reason I decided
to keep her instead of selling her card was partly because I knew she was
difficult to handle, so I wouldn't be able to get much money out of selling her
card, and it was also because I thought that maybe giving her a name would make
her a little more stable.
...... The rest was
simply because she was very capable and I liked her appearance.
"Hmm? Could it be, a secret conversation? No. the
Master won't exclude me, will he?"
Suzuka, who had been
mumbling bitterly to herself, suddenly aimed the brunt of her complaint at me.
She leaned against me
and clasped my arm around her ample bosom. The smell of incense tickled my nose
softly and the soft, malleable, and tempting bosom seduced me.
...... This was the
main reason why I couldn't bring myself to let her go.
This brooding
red-headed demoness possessed the largest chest loadout in our party.
Her level of
'prowess' even surpassed that of Eliza, who went from a D to an F upon evolving
from a ghoul to a vampire.
It was probably
G...... H, or even larger, though it was a modest estimate.
It would be
outrageous for a women's boobs admirer to give up these great assets, no matter
how difficult her character may be.
In the first place,
it was natural for any of our members to have some kind of shortcoming. It has
been my cards' strength that they turned their shortcomings into merits.
......And there was
actually one more reason why I kept her card.
"--Mm? Master would understand, no? We are a fellow mob after all...... right, Master?"
"Ah~ well, yea......."
When I agreed with
her, it would mean that I'm on Suzuka's side regarding the matter.
Not to mention Renge,
all of my cards possessed some kind of brilliance. But me, I have only one
thing: I am their master.
I've been praised by
many for my discovery of [Spiritual recurrence], but it was all due to good
luck. It wasn't because of my talent.
Just luck.......
...Anyway, the only
thing I possessed was that I am the master of Renge and the others, and I don't
have anything special as a human being.
Of course, I was not
dissatisfied with that or jealous of the cards, but I could imagine how Suzuka
felt about having such talented colleagues as Renge and the others.
Perhaps Suzuka had
some sympathy for me, as she had never been jealous of me since I first
summoned her, or perhaps it could be said that there was nothing to be jealous
of. She was friendly to me as fellow mobs. For some reason, her manner of
speaking seemed to be a little friendly.
Well, ...... honestly, if you ask me if Suzuka is a mob character,
I would have to tilt my head.
I'm not sure if she's a mob character or not, but she has
a very strong character.
While I was not sure
how to feel about this, Suzuka was smiling in a good mood.
"Fufu, I know Master would say so. Then, of course,
I should be the next one to be ranked up, right?"
"Huuh?!"
It was Mea who
reacted faster than I could say anything.
"What are you talking about?! You're a newcomer, yet you're so impudent! Yuki is next, of course! And
after that is Mea, your senior! Right,
Master?'
"Master, you're not going to ditch me as a fellow
mob, are you?"
"Ahh..."
All I could do was to
smile amiably as I winced under the pressure of the two gazes.
Certainly, Mea was
right about the order of things, but her next rank-up would be the succubus. It
was a rare card that was extremely difficult to obtain or even to buy. If I
insist on ranking up Mea first, then all other members after her will not be
able to do so for a long time to come.
I feel bad for her,
but unless we are very lucky, raising Mea's rank will be on the back burner.
Of course, it would
be out of the question to rank up Suzuka before Yuki.
"Hmm, I've told you before, the first thing we need
to do is to raise Yuki's ranking. I also told you why, didn't I?"
At my words, Mea and
Suzuka nodded, looking slightly dissatisfied.
Why should Yuki be
ranked up first? ......It was not because she was the only one of the initial
three cards that had not yet been ranked up.
It was because of all
the cards I have, Yuki's evolution card was the easiest to get.
The D-rank dungeon we
were in right now was called 'The Werewolf Forest'.
This was a nickname
given by the adventurers, but it was derived from the boss of the dungeon.
This was a dungeon
where lycanthropes always appear.
As a side note, the
most promising candidate for Suzuka's rank-up, Goki1, appeared only in another
prefecture far from here, and for Mea's rank-up, Succubus, it was not even
known where it would appear.
The information about
the fixed dungeons where popular cards such as elves and succubus appeared was
so scarce that there were rumors that the government had a monopoly on them, or
that the top adventurers' teams were the ones doing the work.
That was why we had
been coming to this Werewolf Forest for the past three months or so.
The results...... had
not been good so far.
The drop rate for
C-rank cards was originally as low as 0.1%, and whether a female or male card
would appear was entirely up to luck.
If the gender is different,
it cannot be used to raise Yuki's rank.
We had already gotten
two lycanthropes, both of which were male cards.
If...... I say we
weren't lucky, that was not true. In fact, I'd say we've been crazy lucky.
In the past three
months, we had cleared this dungeon 22 times. And we got two C-rank cards,
which should have dropped at a rate of only 0.1%. The drop rate was an
astonishing 10%. If I said we were unlucky, the adventurers of the world would
have beaten me to a pulp.
This cheat-like drop
rate twist was, of course, due to Renge's ability.
The [Spiritual
recurrence] of Renge was Kisshouten, the goddess of good fortune. When she
becomes Kisshouten, she has stronger luck-granting abilities in exchange for
losing her ability to grant bad luck.
This blessing of good
luck was given to me before we battled the boss of the dungeon to increase the
drop rate of cards.
......By the way, I
did a lot of research on this ability of Renge to increase the drop rate, but
it seemed to be a power unique to her.
Let alone normal
Zashiki-warashi, even other Kisshouten do not have the power to manipulate the
drop rate.
Either the card with
the [Spiritual recurrence] is special, or the Renge is special. ......Either
way, I've decided not to divulge this to anyone.
I think it would be
best not to even say everything to the guild, not even to sell these
lycanthropes.
Selling two
lycanthropes within three months is too much for an adventurer of my rank.
For your information,
the guild's market price for C-rank cards was between 50% and 80% of the list
price.
The reason why the
purchase price jumped sharply compared to D-rank and below, which were priced
at a flat 10% of the list price, was because the supply was so small compared
to the demand.
Lycanthrope was a
popular and easy-to-use card, so even male cards were sold for around 30
million yen.
The thought of
selling a card for at least 15 million yen made me smile. Considering this, I
didn't mind the time and hassle involved in selling them.
"Ha-h, whatever you say, let's get going."
Renge, who had been
watching our exchange with disinterest, said while eating a piece of sweet. She had a solid [Spiritual recursion], so she was not
bothered about ranking up like the other cards.
"It is good to be you. You are a C-rank card, and
you can transform."
Renge's face
unusually darkened at Mea's bitter words, as if she had caught Suzuka's mood.
When I looked at
this rare expression, I thought, "Oh?"
"Aah... I'm sorry for you. I know you must feel
inferior when a chosen genius like me is around. If possible, I would like to
share a little of my overflowing talent with you-ughu!"
Mea's jump kick
interrupted Renge's speech. Renge was knocked off her feet with an
"Ughu!", but she immediately responded and attacked Mea.
"You! You trying to pick a fight?!"
"That's my line! That's where you are supposed to be
humble and comfort me. Why are you bragging without any sense of shame?!"
"Ha!? I
did comfort you!"
"Which part?!"
I clapped my hands to
stop the two of them who started to fight each other.
"Okay, okay, that's it. Break is over. Let's
go."
The sun will set if I
let this duo continue to jab at each other at every opportunity.
"Eliza, play the Hamelin Flute."
"Yes, Master."
Well, I hope the card I'm looking for will drop today.
I prayed to the
goddess of luck and walked through the teleportation gate that Eliza had opened
for us.
[Tips] Gladiators and Gambling
The most popular form
of gambling in this world is not horse racing or pachinko, but the Monster
Colosseum. The reason for its popularity is partly because it is purely fun to
watch, but it is also because of its low deductible rate. While horse racing
and pachinko have deduction rates of 25% and 12.5%, respectively, the Monster
Colosseum has a very low deduction rate of 5%. This low deduction rate has
attracted many entrants and also resulted in the program attracting many
sponsors as TV shows.
This abundant source
of funds is also the reason why gladiators are paid so well. On the other hand,
due to the increase in the number of professional adventurers who become
gladiators for high rewards, there is also the problem that the original
purpose of the adventurer system, which is to conquer the dungeons, is being
neglected.
***
Notes:
1 In Japanese folklore, Zenki ( 前鬼 ) and Goki ( 後鬼 ) are a husband and wife pair of murderous bandit Onis (demons) stopped by the Emperor Tenmu of Japan.↩
Previous chapter | Novel page | Next chapter
Psst, you can get advanced chapters on our Patreon!
Or you can help us keep our spirit up by buying
us Coffee (人ゝω・）
