Mob
Kousei No Ore Demo Boukensha Ni Nareba Riajuu Ni Naremasuka: Chapter #40
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 40: The Adventurer's Club is Up and Running
The
first thing I noticed when I woke up was the smell of disinfectant.
I turned my head
and looked around. White floors and walls, clean sheets, a light blue hospital
gown... and an IV drip standing by my side.
"......
hospital?"
What in the
world...... Right! My
cards!
I
searched around my body, then looked at the bedside table and found my deck in
the drawer.
I
patted my chest in relief and started to check the cards one by one.
First,
the Lost soul cards of Renge, Eliza, and Mea.
I
gently caressed their cards, which had turned gray.
My
inexperience has caused them to be Lost, but as long as these soul cards
remain, I can get them back.
I'll revive
them right away.
With
this determination, I took a closer look to see if there was anything wrong
with their status.
There
was no particular change in Renge and Eliza, but Mea had acquired a new skill
as expected.
[Race] Empusa
(Mea)
[Combat
Power] 280 (MAX!)
[Inborn
Skills]
・Sucking:
She can absorb and store the target's magic and life force.
・Invitation
to Dream: Can use powerful sleep magic.
・The
three transformations: Can transform from a beautiful woman into a dog, cow, or
donkey.
[Acquired
Skills]
・Little
devil’s heart.
・A
single-minded heart.
・Friendship
linkage
・Elementary
wizard apprentice
・Medium-level
status ailment magic
・Curse
a man, and they will be cursed with two pits (NEW!): Curses a target according
to their own combat power and the damage they received, and then the target
will receives feedback for the damage they have inflicted.
[Curse
a man, and they will be cursed with two pits ] was a rare skill that can be
obtained by those who had continued to use the [Abnormal status] skill.
The
details of the conditions for acquiring this skill were not disclosed, but it
was said that the trigger for acquiring it was to hate someone so much that you
wanted to kill them even if they were dead.
I
made that bright Mea harbor such hatred... I felt ashamed about that.
Due
to its nature, if you curse others, there is a very high risk that you will be
Lost after using it.
It
was a great new skill, but I'll have to seal it off.
Next,
I checked the cards of Suzuka, Dragonet, and the unused Lycanthropes, and
finally looked at Yuki's card, the only one that was intact.
Since
all the other cards were safe, I was sure that she, who had been with me until
the end, would also be safe. ......With that thought in mind when I saw Yuki's
card, which I took a look last, I couldn't help but fell into speechlessness.
[Race]
Lycanthrope (Yuki)
[Combat
Power] 950 (150 UP!)
[Inborn
skills]
・When
The Moon is Full, It Follows
・Wolf
Clothing
・Awakening
of Instinct
[Acquired
skills]
・Loyalty
・Little
hero
・The
True One (NEW!)
・Breakthrough
of Limits (NEW!)
・True
Follower Summoning (NEW!)
・Lord
of The Territory (NEW!)
・Advanced
Ninjutsu (NEW!)
"What-
the, this......?"
A
card with an illustration of a beautiful girl with brown hair and dark green
mesh. I checked over and over again to make sure that the name 'Yuki' was
clearly written there.
What the hell
is going on? Why
is Yuki increasing in rank? Combat power 950? The growth limit for a
lycanthrope should have been 800. Besides, what exactly is this skill set...?
I
trembled in fear, as if Yuki, who I was supposed to know well, had become a
stranger.
What the hell
happened while I was unconscious...?
Confused
and alone, a knock sounded in the room.
"......Yes?"
"Sorry
to bother you. ......Is it okay if I call you Kitagawa Utamaro-kun?”
The
man who entered the room saying so was a middle-aged man of about 40 years old.
The man had a gentle face but a powerful look in his eyes, and he was the kind
of adult who made you stand up straight just by being around him.
"Yes,
it's okay, but..."
"My name
is Ayumu Oshima. This is what I am."
"Police......?"
The
police identification that Oshima-san showed me had the word 'police inspector'
and his photo on it.
I'm
not very familiar with police identification, but it looked like the real thing
at first glance.
“Kitagawa-kun,
you collapsed at the Dungeon Mart, at the 14th dungeon of D-rank in Tokyo, do
you remember?”
"Um..."
"If you
don't mind, could you just tell me what you remember from the moment you
entered the dungeon?"
"……Yes,
I understand."
Oshima-san
had a calm tone, not oppressive, so I started talking to him one by one about
what had happened since I entered the dungeon:
About
using the Flute of Hamelin to teleport to the floor where I last stopped. Along
the clearing, I met another adventure, Aoki-san, and traded cards. That I
encountered a gremlin on the bottom floor and had my phone, camera, and
adventurer's license destroyed. Also about being attacked by other adventurer
and being asked to hand over all my cards.
---And
that I got an opening and used the [Transfer1] magic card I had hidden and how I
ran away with my life...
I
openly conveyed the events that happened 'as I remember them, without any lies
or falsehoods'.
Oshima-san
took notes on my testimony, asking questions here and there, then when I
finished speaking, he finally looked me in the eye and confirmed with me,
“…Is
this everything?”
"Yes,
that's all I remember."
Oshima-san
stared at me with a difficult expression on his face for a while, but then he
took a deep breath and looked up at the sky.
"I
see... then that means that the attacker is in charge of all the mysteries.
That's a shame."
"...?
Did something happen?"
When
I asked that question, Oshima-san looked a little troubled, then he said,
"...Well,
you'll find out soon, so I suppose it's fine. Actually, the dungeon you were in
has disappeared."
"…………Eh?"
That dungeon
has disappeared...? Hasn't dungeons never been confirmed to disappear? Why on
earth...? Don't tell me, it's the work of that person who attacked me?!
While
I was dumbfounded, Oshima-san scratched his head and grumbled,
"The
country is already in an uproar all over the place. After all, it's been 20
years since the dungeon appeared...and this is the first time a dungeon has
disappeared. It seems like there's been a flood of inquiries from foreign
countries as well. It hasn't been on the news yet, so the general public...
It's not known, but it's probably only a matter of time. So I have a request
for you, Kitagawa-kun..."
“Request?”
"Yes.
The government and the police will hide information about you, but the media
might sniff out something on you. At that time, please don't tell them
anything. It would hinder the investigation."
"Ah......,
I understand."
"Thank
you. Then,"
With
that, Oshima-san left.
I
leaned back onto the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.
"........................................................................"
'The dungeon
has disappeared', huh?
I wonder if
that criminal did it to get rid of me who managed to run away from them...?
But I also
think that there was no way. In the first place, if they could find a way to
make the dungeon disappear, they would have enough money to play around with it
for the rest of their life, and any crime would be covered up by the
government.
"........................Ugh,
it's no use, I don't know."
I
thought about it for a while and surrendered.
No
matter how much I thought about it, I could not come up with an answer.
But
still.......
"I'm
glad I had the [Transfer] card..."
I
let out a breath of relief.
Even though
the two were the same magic items of teleportation, the magic card that can be
activated immediately and the Hamelin Flute, which requires blowing a whistle,
differ in their immediate effects.
If I didn't
have the [Transfer] card, Anubis would have killed me while I was blowing the
Hamelin Flute.
I'm really
glad I didn't sell the [Transfer] card. ............ No, wait.
"Why
didn't I sell the [Transfer] card again?"
For me, who
had the Flute of Hamelin, the [Transfer] card was an unnecessary magic item.
Unlike the
Flute of Hamelin, the card had the advantage of being usable without a time
lag, but I never really thought I would be attacked by other adventurers, so it
felt strange to me that I kept the [Transfer] magic card for safekeeping.
If this had
been a [Distress] magic card, for example, I would have been happy to have it
because of its different effect......
Then, a
flash of realization hit my brain.
Oh! Right. I remembered. It's the tax
strategy.
If you sell
your magic items or cards, you have to pay taxes, but if you keep them, there
are no taxes incurred.
If you buy
cards with cash only when you find the cards you truly want, you can minimize
the amount of tax you have to pay.
That's why
I kept the [Transfer] magic cards instead of selling them, that's all.
That was
how I was able to escape.
Yeah,
nothing crazy about that.
...But why am
I having doubts about having so many [Transfer] cards?
Speaking of
doubts, the same goes for Yuki.
When did
Yuki rank up to be a lycanthrope?
I only had
two male lycanthropes. There was no way she could rank up with them.
When did I
get the right lycanthrope card?
What
happened while I was out cold? Am
I forgetting something? Something
happened between the time I used the [Transfer] magic card and the time I was
found collapsed in the Dungeon Mart:.......
Just as my
consciousness began to dive deep into the sea of memories,
"Excuse~
me."
Suddenly,
the door to my room opened alongside a familiar bright voice.
Immediately,
the white image that had been flickering in my mind faded away.
"Good
morning, Senpai. How are you feeling?"
"Anna..."
The visitor
was a beautiful red-haired girl who had recently become my junior. She checked
my body and then smiled cheerfully...
"It
looks like you're not hurt... That's a relief."
"Yeah......
You, what about school? It's only
noon right now."
"What!
Of course I can't go to school when my respected senior is in the
hospital."
I gave her
a blank stare as she said such a heartfelt thing. Although we had only known
each other for a short time, I knew she was not such a sweetheart.
Seeing my
suspicious gaze, Anna stuck out her tongue like a child who had been caught
playing a prank.
"......
Ai, you got me~ I just ran over because I couldn't stand the fact that Senpai
seemed to be involved in something strange again. Eh, but it's true that I was
worried. Here, this is my consolation gift to you."
I asked her
while accepting the sweets she had offered me.
"How
much do you know about this? Where
did you hear it from?"
"Well,
the only thing I heard was that the dungeon that Senpai was in had disappeared.
.…Can I ask you for more details?”
As she said
this, her eyes sparkled with curiosity that conveyed: "I won't let you go
until you tell me."
"......Just
so you know, the police have also stopped me from speaking about it, so you
cannot tell anyone."
"Of
course. If I tell anyone, I'll do anything you say."
Ho~h, she'll
do anything? She won't
get back on it, right......?
I explained
to Anna what I had explained to Oshima-san, while making sure I had the right
words in my mind.
“————And
that’s how I got to where I am now.”
"...I
see. So, what do you plan to do now, Senpai?"
She was
listening to me seriously, and when she finished listening, she asked me that
question.
I answered
honestly, feeling like my heart was being looked into by her jewel-like blue
eyes,
“————Find
the culprit and put an end to this incident.”
"Why is
that? When I said that before, you stopped
me, didn't you?"
"That's......."
Anna's
words stumped me a bit.
......To be
honest,
When I
heard that there were many people missing in the dungeons, I thought it was
someone else's problem.
After all,
I had never seen the faces of any of the victims, nor were they being reported
on TV, and somewhere in Japan, nearly a million people die every year. Just
because a few people die an unfortunate death, I am indeed not enthusiastic
enough to start solving the problem.
I feel
sorry for them, but adventurers are responsible for their own deaths....... I
kept yelling like that and didn't face it head-on.
However, my
true feelings were egotistical: 'It seems that low-ranked people are the
target, so it's none of my business.'
In the end,
I guess such was the nature of the person I am.
The world
was complete with only myself and the people around me, and I was unable to
accept the reality of whatever tragedy was happening outside of that world.
I was not
like Anna, who immediately tried to move to solve the case as soon as she
learned about it.
I didn't
have the sense of justice to put myself in danger for someone whose face I
didn't even know.
————However,
if it's for myself, my family, or my friends, it's a different story.
Anna,
Oribe, and ...... even Ono as an added bonus. I've only known them for a short
time, but I wasn't going to be so thin-skinned as to be okay with these guys
becoming victims of that Anubis.
Of course,
there was also a personal grudge.
Well, to be
honest, that was mostly it.
Even now,
when I close my eyes, it comes back to me vividly.
I will
never forget the feeling that as each piece of something important, Mea, Eliza,
and Renge...... fell off, one by one, and became missing from my heart.
The fear of
someone seriously trying to kill me. The strong disappointment and regret I
felt toward myself for having to abandon my friends and escape. Despair and
burning hatred for the ...... murderer when I found out that I had gone that
far to escape, only to find myself in a dead-end situation.
I was
burning with all kinds of emotions, and a sense of urgency that made me want to
start running at any moment.
I have to
punish the bastards who caused my precious cards to be Lost.
Otherwise,
I would have no face to show to my friends who had risked their lives for my
sake.
I couldn't
put my confused thoughts into words, so I kept my mouth shut...
"Well,
in any case, if you're motivated, that's the best. We, the Adventurers' Club,
are going to catch the culprit!"
I flinched
at Anna's sudden declaration.
"Huh?
No, I'm not planning to involve the Adventurer's Club..."
"What
are you talking about at this stage? You sound like an airhead! If you act
alone, you'll die this time, you know?"
"Muu......"
``I'm telling
you, as long as we don't quit being adventurers, we'll be in the same danger,
right? And neither I nor Saya have any intention of quitting being adventurers
or refraining from being adventurers. Then it would be safer to act together as
much as possible. Right?”
"That's......
true."
No matter
how much I tell them not to dive into the dungeons, it won't mean anything if
they don't want to listen to it.
In that
case, it is certainly safer to act together as much as possible.
And... it
is also true that when Anna said she would search for the culprit together with
me, I was a little bit happy.
After all,
even though I was trying to be strong, I was also scared that I was about to be
killed...
"Thank
you, ......."
Words of
gratitude spilled out unconsciously.
"Hm-m?
Did you say something?"
"N-no,
it's nothing..."
“No,
no, you just said thank you, right?”
"Agh, so
you did hear!"
“Ahahaha!”
That was
how our Adventurer's Club began in earnest.
[Tips] Mind
Reading Magic Items
One of the
misfortunes that has been disappearing since the dungeons appeared is the 'false
accusations'.
With the
advent of mind-reading monsters like Satori2 and magic items, the police are now
able to get a more accurate picture of the whole case.
However,
monsters and magic items with the power to read minds are extremely rare, and at
present they are only used to investigate serious crimes and to counter
terrorism.
Whenever
scandals involving members of the parliament become an issue, people call for
the use of a mind-reading magic item, but there is absolutely no room for it to
be used for such a thing!
While the
magic of mind reading is extremely useful in investigations, it also has the
drawback that it is difficult to judge the subject's beliefs and perceptions.
There have also been cases in which the suspect did not retain the memory of a
crime committed by another personality, and the police released the suspect
after determining that the person was innocent, resulting in a lengthy
investigation.
Naturally, because of the ease of
misuse, possession and use by the general public are strictly forbidden.
***
Notes:
1 Before, the author use『遭難』/ Distress in chapter 39, but now the one appearing is『転移』/ Transfer. It may be a bit confusing, but we will follow the WN …↩
2 Satori (覚, 'consciousness') in Japanese folklore are mind-reading monkey-like monsters (yōkai) said to dwell within the mountains of Hida and Mino (presently Gifu Prefecture). ↩
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