Mob
Kousei No Ore Demo Boukensha Ni Nareba Riajuu Ni Naremasuka: Chapter #61
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 61: What Lies Beyond the Door (2)
——I woke up with a start. When
I looked around, I saw that it was a battlefield.
In the hall of the
Western-style house, the cards of each of masters were fighting to protect us
who collapsed.
The opponents in the
battle appeared to be several goats. I was slightly unsure because they were
far from the goats I knew.
Their roughly
two-meter-high bodies were devoid of any body hair, revealing black skin, and
their lower bodies had countless tentacles that looked like the roots of a
plant. The reason why I thought they were goat monsters was because they had
mouths all over their upper bodies and were making "Mee~h! Mee~h!"
voices in high pitches.
It was eerie to see
such blasphemous creatures with such an inviting scent of sweet honey in the
air.
This is .......
"Have you finally woken up? Took you so long."
Renge noticed me
waking up and said with a grin.
"But, well, I'll forgive you for waking up properly.
"But, since you woke up properly, I'll forgive
you."
"Was I ...... out cold?"
I shook my Teacher
who was lying next to me to wake him up, but there was no sign of him waking
up.
Is it an abnormal status......? But the barrier should prevent any abnormal status to be
applied to the master.......
"Perhaps that's the gimmick. The wolf attacks the
master's psyche, and the little goats attack the cards. ......That's how the
roles are divided, isn't it? Anyway, it's time to link up. It's hard to
coordinate and it's tiring."
Renge said as she
unleashed her magic towards a goat.
That was when I
finally realized that the Link with the cards had been broken. My cards on the
field were Renge, Yuki, and her subordinates, the Lycanthropes. Anna and the
others also only had the cards they had summoned just before.
I hurriedly
reconnected the Links and summoned the rest of my cards. ......It seemed that
the summoning limit itself had been increased after all. Also, the badge and
distress signal were disconnected. Looked like the call from Akira-san was just
a hallucination..... Anna and the others could not help in this state.
After checking
various things, I asked Renge a question,
『I thought the barrier
would prevent any abnormalities to the master?』
『It's not an abnormal
status. That's the 'rule'. Card barriers are also part of the rules after all.
You can't invalidate the rules.』
Rules, huh?
I hear that from the
C-rank dungeon, there will be a kind of field effects..... or rules added to
the floors.
For example,
strengthening a specific race, making it impossible to use recovery magic,
reducing the limit on the number of summons or subordinates...... If this was
one of those rules, it was no wonder that the barrier does not block it.
The Pied Piper of
Hamelin did not use such tricks because he did not have such abilities...... or
because he was manifested in an F-rank dungeon.
And perhaps the purpose of this gimmick that separates
the master from the card is...
I looked around the
place.
As expected, the
masters' cards were not moving well. Their Links had been severed.
You might think it's
natural since they are unconscious, but professional adventurers are able to
keep the Link connection even while they are sleeping. Even if Anna and Oribe
cannot do this, my Teacher should be able to.
In other words, this
was a gimmick aimed to cut off the Link between the masters and the cards.
Since I was the only
one awake while Teacher and the others were still unconscious, I guess the trap
was set for each person independently.
But .......
『Why isn't the Teacher
awake yet? If it's Teacher......
and Anna too, they must have some knowledge of the Irregular Encounters of The
Wolf and the Seven Young Goats.』
While providing
assistance to my cards with the Link, I asked Renge.
The written test to
become a professional adventurer requires not only knowledge of the legal
system, but also knowledge of monsters. This includes, of course, knowledge of
Irregular Encounters.
If this was the case,
then Teacher and Anna must know about this gimmick as well.
『I don't know. Either
they were trapped because they half-knew about it, or they missed one-half of
it......』
『What do you mean?』
『If all you know is
the information from the fairy tale, you're right to open the door. If you know
it's a gimmick, on the other hand, the right thing to do is not to open the
door. And if you know both, it is a trap where you have to guess for one-half.
Maybe it's a trap that changes depending on the opponent's
knowledge......"
A trap that changes depending on your opponent's
knowledge, something like that...
No, if you think about it, a skill that has a widely
widespread application of strategy, like the riddle of the Sphinx, which varies
in its questions. If the purpose of the skill is to test the wisdom and courage
of the opponent, it is no surprise that they have tricks to thwart the solution
with knowledge.
『So, what do I have to
do to wake up Teacher and the others?』
『Give up for now. If
they haven't woken up yet, it probably means they missed the answer. They
probably won't wake up until this enemy is defeated.』
When Renge said that,
I could feel a sense of shame, or perhaps a slight sense of guilt, through the
Link.
It was probably
because..... there was no guarantee that Anna and the others will wake up even
if we defeat this Irregular Encounter.
The boys and girls who
were turned into old men by Urashima Taro, who once appeared, were never
restored to their former state even after the Urashima Taro was defeated.
Some of the damage
caused by Irregular Encounters may leave aftereffects.
But for now, I have
no choice but to fight, believing that Anna and the others will wake up if we
defeat this enemy.
That was probably why
Renge did not say so.
Then a thought
occurred to me.
『Could it be that I'm
still in a hallucination?』
To my words, Renge
replied with a look of disbelief,
『If you're still
sleepwalking, how about I give you a slap to wake you up?』
『I'm just kidding.』
Ah, this is the real Renge.
It would be
troublesome if I am asked to provide evidence, but I was confident.
If that's the case, there's no need to hesitate.
I just had to
concentrate on defeating the enemy in front of me.
『From the looks of it,
each one is not that strong.....』
The goats moved
quickly, they crawled on the walls and ceilings with their tentacle legs like
they were on the floor, and they seemed to have paralyzing poison in their
claws and fangs, which made them quite troublesome, but their fighting power
was C-rank.
『Yeah, but ......』
When I looked beyond Renge's line of sight, I
saw that my Teacher's Aradia1 was just about to defeat a goat monster. ...The
face looked familiar. Perhaps a ranked-up from the witch I fought during the
tournament.
The goat monster,
whose head had been pierced by a spear of rock by Aradia's magic, disappeared
as if melting.
But as if to replace
it, a new goat monster soon appeared from the back of the building.
This is .......
『As you can see, they
keep coming up one after another, no matter how many we take down. Fortunately,
it doesn't seem like there will be more than six of them...』
『......Six?』
Hearing Renge's
words, I looked around.
I see..... these guys are the seven young goats!
So the reason there is one missing must be because it is
hiding somewhere.
Perhaps if we find
that one, the goats will disappear...... or they won't be able to resurrect.
Where is it? Where could it be? Where did the seven young
goats hide in the fairy tale?
That was when my eyes
caught sight of a big old clock.
Oh right! The clock! If
we break this....!
Reflexively, I was
about to order Renge to destroy the standing clock - but then I stopped myself.
No, wait. Is that really the right thing to do?
The reason I knew
that the seventh goat was hiding in the big clock was because of the fairy
tale.
But in the earlier
trap, that knowledge from the fairy tale was counterproductive.
If I were to follow
the flow, I would rather.......
『The door, Yuki! Open the door!』
『!? Yes!』
Yuki was surprised at
my sudden instruction, but immediately headed for the door.
Then, the movements
of the young goats clearly changed.
As if in a panic,
they attacked Yuki as she headed for the door.
Yuki easily avoided
them and kicked the door open.
At that moment.
————Aooooooooooooooooooooooong!
! !
The howl of a wolf
echoed from far away.
The young goats,
hearing it, ran away to various places in the building as if they were spiders.
As expected! It's
the role of the wolf to kill the young goats! Hence,
we could not defeat them.
Then the role of the standing clock is......!
I opened the front of
the clock, and somehow it led to a meadow.
"Hey! Let's
get out of here before the wolf comes! Carry
your masters!"
At the sound of my
voice, each of the monster cards ran toward the clock carrying their masters on
their backs.
Then, at last, the wolf
revealed itself.
"Gegyagyagyagyagyagya!"
A wolf entered the
building, its body much larger than the door, looking cramped and constricted.
Its outline was
obscured by reddish-black shadows, giving the impression of a child's crude
scribble.
"Gihihihihihihihihihihihi!"
The wolf looked at us
and laughed. It was a malicious laughter that froze the viewer in their tracks.
I turned to face the
standing clock. There, my Teacher was about to pass through first.
Kuh...! No choice!
"Kuro! Shiro! You've got to stop him in his tracks!"
""Grrrrrr!""
At my command, the
two Lycanthropes growled and confronted the wolf.
This should somehow
buy us enough time to escape. I feel guilty for abandoning them, but only they,
who were practically immortal, could be entrusted with this role.
Teacher passed
through, then Anna, and finally Oribe was about to pass...... when,
"Gyak!" "Gah!"
The wolf, seeing us
running away, shook off the Lycanthropes and came at us.
The moment I saw its
eyes, I understood what the enemy was trying to do.
Not good...! It wants to destroy the clock!
No other choice! I'll
at least let Oribe pass through!
When I made up my
mind to do so, there was a shadow that stood up to the wolf.
"Ho-ho-ho-ho!"
It was Oribe's Tsuchigumo
card.
"I'll buy you some time here, so please run away!!
It's too narrow for me to get through anyway! Don't worry about it!"
"I-I'm sorry! Thank
you!"
"Take care of my master!
With the voice of the
Giant Spider at my back, I too pass through the escape route of the standing
clock.
Finally, Eliza also
passed through, and just before the wolf's claws touched her, she managed to
close the door of the standing clock, and the escape route vanished without a
trace.
"Haaaaahhhh......."
I managed to ......
escape. I let out a breath of relief.
Oribe's
Tsuchigumo...despite its creepy appearance, was a guy who can be looked up to.
But......
I glanced around.
We were apparently on
top of a small hill. The setting sun was illuminating the low meadow. In the
distance, I could see a large mansion.
Had we been
transported from there?
That was when I heard
grunts from my Teacher, Anna and Oribe. ...They have woken up!
"Teacher, Anna, Oribe!"
"Uh...... where is this place?"
My Teacher asked me
while slowly sitting up.
"This is outside the mansion. Teacher and the others
were knocked unconscious by the Irregular Encounter trap."
"Ah...... I see. I made a mistake, huh......."
My Teacher who heard
my answer understood everything by that, and his face was downcast in
frustration.
Then, Oribe, who was
gazing around, brought up an inquiry,
"Tsutchi? Senpai,
where is Tsutchi?"
"...I'm sorry, Tsuchigumo stalled to let us escape.'
"I see....."
Oribe hung her head
as if dejected for a moment, but she quickly looked up and began trying out her
badge, a request for rescue, and the magic card for emergency evacuation.
This quick switching
was as expected of her.
As I was also trying
out the cards for contacting the outside world and emergency evacuation to see
if anything had changed since we left the mansion. Then My Teacher asked me a
question while I tried to summon more cards,
"Maro. If this is outside the mansion and we
escaped, does that mean you used the wolf to deal with the young goats?"
"Yes."
When I nodded, Teacher
put his hand on his chin and muttered,
“…In that case, it should be coming soon.”
"Coming? Is it the wolf?"
No........"
Teacher shook his
head.
"We were trapped by the wolf, and the fact that we
woke up like this means that the wolf is dead. And in the fairy tale, killing
the wolf is......"
————
Meeeeeeeeeeeeeh!
A roar thundered
through the air, shaking the very atmosphere.
“Here
comes the angry mother goat whose children were eaten…”
A corner of the
mansion blew away, and the upper half of a huge goat emerged from it.
The mother goat,
which looked several dozen times larger than her kids, was coming toward us
with her seven kids in tow.
“Shit,
the young goats are safe after all...!”
Even in the fairy
tale, the young goats will be resurrected, but I even sacrificed Tsuchigumo and
the Lycanthropes to invite the wolf in. ......Was it all for nothing, after
all?
I gritted my teeth,
but Teacher said,
"No, Maro's choice was not wrong. If you break the
standing clock and kill the seven young goats, the boss will be the wolf. If
you invite the wolf in and make him eat the seven young goats, the boss will be
the mother goat and the seven baby goats. Though the one that is easier to deal
with as the boss is actually the wolf that has no cronies..."
"In such a case, we will be unconscious until the
wolf is defeated, right? Well, if we had summoned all of our cards and were unconscious,
that option might have been okay. But....."
"Each of us had only summoned two monster cards...
Besides, they needed to protect the defenseless master, and considering things
like cooperation, the total strength would have been higher if we woke
up."
I see. So the
sacrifices of Tsuchigumo and the others were not in vain.
Let's take a look at
our forces.
First, I had four
C-rank cards with Renge, Eliza, Yuki, and Suzuka. Mea and Dragonet were two
D-rank cards. Of these, Renge and Yuki effectively have B-rank class power.
Next is Teacher, with
seven C-rank cards... and one B-rank card, the Aradia. All of them were fully
brought up to their growth limit, and all of them were mainstays.
Next, Anna had three
C-rank cards and five D-rank cards; the C-rank cards were Elf, Pegasus, and
Dullahan, which were ranked-up versions of the members at the tournament.
Although it may seem that Anna had a small number of C-rank cards for being the
daughter of a company president, this was due to Anna's obsession with
acquiring cards with money she earned herself. She is not averse to borrowing
from her parents when it comes to magic items and the like, but when it comes
to cards, she seems to have some sort of obsession with them.
And then there was
Oribe, who currently had only three D-rank cards, so we can't really expect
much from her in terms of strength. The C-ranked Tsuchigumo was her main card
after all. However, she had the strongest D-rank here, the Yomotsushikome2.
Yomotsushikome could summon an unlimited number of D-ranked Yomigun3, so she
could be expected to play the role of a defender.
"Let's split the team into two."
Teacher quickly
scanned each card and said,
"Team A will defeat the Mother Goat and Team B will
hold back the seven Young Goats.
Team A will be Maro
and Jushichiya-san, and Team B will be me and Oribe-san. I'll also cover for
team A if I can afford it. ......What do you think?"
“Wouldn’t
it be better if Teacher is in charge of the Mother Goat?”
Teacher shook his
head at my words.
"No, Maro or Anna-san may not be able to properly
protect Oribe-san and Yomotsushikome until the Yomigun is able to suppress the
seven Young Goats.
'The Wolf and the
Seven Young Goats' will most likely be a prolonged battle. Until Oribe-san's
Yomotsushikome is able to control all seven Young Goats, I, who have the same
number of C-rank cards as the Young Goats, should join her.
As soon as she can
manage all seven Young Goats with Yomotsushikome alone, I will join to deal
with the Mother Goat."
I see...... We nodded
our heads--when...
“————Meeeeeeeeeeeeh!!”
With an earth-shaking
roar, the Mother Goat arrived.
[Tips] The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats Part 1
The attack of the
Wolf and the Seven Young Goats is divided into three phases.
In the first phase,
adventurers are quarantined in a spiritual world and must choose whether or not
to open the door.
This is a riddle
skill executed by the wolf, and the correct answer is dependent on the
adventurer's knowledge. The adventurers must derive the correct answer not from
knowledge, but from their own wits and intuition. The spiritual world is unique
to each adventurer, and all companions and cards are fakes recreated from one's
own memories. Three chances to answer are given, and if they fail, they will
remain trapped in the spiritual world until someone kills the wolf.
In the second phase,
they are forced to overcome the seven immortal young goats.
While the master is
challenging the riddle skill in the spiritual world, the physical body is being
attacked by the seven young goats. The cards must protect the master from the
immortal young goats while the Link is broken until the adventurer awakens.
Upon awakening, the
adventurer now has two choices: break the standing clock or open the door.
This choice will
determine whether the enemy in the third phase will be the mother goat or the
wolf.
Furthermore, the
cards are not given the right to answer this choice, and until the master
awakens, the standing clock can never be destroyed and the door cannot be
opened.
As a consolation,
only when all adventurers fail the riddle skill can both the mother goat and
the wolf attack and move on to the third phase. Hell.
***
Notes:
1 Aradia was a name that appeared in a book called the Gospel of the Witches published in 1899. Its fifteen chapters portray the origins, beliefs, rituals, and spells of an Italian pagan witchcraft tradition. The central figure of that religion is the goddess Aradia, who came to Earth to teach the practice of witchcraft to peasants in order for them to oppose their feudal oppressors and the Roman Catholic Church.↩
2 The 'Ugly Woman of the Underworld’, remember? ↩
3 Residents or army of the underworld ↩
Previous chapter | Novel
page | Next chapter
Help us out and get Advanced Chapters on
our Patreon! (Psst, go and check out the FREE trial on the
first tier!)
Or you can keep our spirit up by buying us Coffee (人ゝω・）
