Can a Mob Highschooler be a Normie: Chapter 105

 

Mob Kousei No Ore Demo Boukensha Ni Nareba Riajuu Ni Naremasuka: Chapter #105

Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain

 

 

 

Episode 105: The Adults Did Their Best, Too

　

 

 

　---- October 1st.

 

"Class 2C. We're doing a play at 10:00!　It's free, so come and join us!”

 

"Class 1A is running a casino!"

 

"Class 3B, we are having a maid cafe~!　We may not be the cutest...... but if you want to be served by a JK¹, come on in!”

 

　This day was our high school's school festival.

 

　The high school does not distribute admission tickets, so even locals can freely enter the school.

 

　Therefore, each class's caller was shouting and touting near the main gate, and there were stalls selling yakisoba, chocolate bananas, cotton candy, and other standard foods, making the event look almost like a real festival.

 

　In the midst of all this, I was .......

 

"Class 2C is running a crepe shop! If you're tired and want to sit down, how about a break~?"

 

[Here... have a crepe.]

 

[Crepes are delicious, aren't they? Even though I've never tried one!]

 

　I was touting by showing visions of Eliza and Mea with my Card Gear.

 

　The reason why I was touting for customers was because I had a Card Gear. This item could be used for drawing people in and ...... frankly, it was because I hardly participated in any of the preparations beforehand.

 

　I think this was the same for all school festivals, but the roles at school festivals were often divided into 'preparation' and 'day of the festival'.

 

　Everyone wants to go to various places on the day of the festival, so those who did not contribute much to the preparation are assigned to the day-of-the-festival duties.

 

　It was only natural that I, who did not participate in the preparation due to the dungeon attack, would be assigned to a role on the day of the festival, and there was nothing I could do about it, even with the power of the top caste.

 

　Therefore, while most of the others would be rotated between one day out of the two days, and either the morning or the afternoon, I had to be a tout both in the morning and afternoon on both days.

 

“Oh, is this the rumored Card Gear?　It's amazing."

 

“Thank you. We run a crepe shop in Class 2C, you're welcome to come in!"

 

"Are you Kitagawa, the Catfighter, by any chance?　Congratulations on winning the race! I'm always rooting for you!"

 

"Thank you for your support!　If you like, we've got a crepe shop in class 2C, so please drop by!"

 

"Aren't you going to bring out your Zashiki-warashi?"

 

“She hates this kind of thing... If you don't mind, we run a crepe shop in class 2C, so please visit."

 

　My advertising must have stood out, because I clearly attracted more attention than the other touts there.

　

　People would often call out to me, partly because they were fans of mine from MonColo, and I would allow them to have a quick conversation with Eliza and Mea as a form of fan service.

 

　By the way, why Eliza and Mea? Renge refused to do such a thing from the start, and Athena couldn't appear in public... so Eliza and Mea, Yuki and Suzuka, then Dullahan and Dragonet were rotated to attract customers.

 

　At first, Audrey was also included in the rotation, but the presence of Audrey, a real maid, attracted so much attention that the touts at a nearby maid cafe (which apparently had no cute girls) protested vehemently, and the maid-like cards were banned without warning.

 

“...... As expected, Kitagawa-kun's Card Gear is really impressive."

 

　As the wave of customers began to recede, my classmate Kato approached me.

 

　He was also in charge of attracting customers because he also had a Card Gear, but he did not attract as many customers as I did, probably because of the difference in the cards we had registered.

 

　Perhaps that was why his expression as he looked at me seemed to radiate a bit of complexity.

　

Well... It is a valuable opportunity for Kato, who usually doesn't stand out, so I guess he's not happy that I've snatched it away from him. I can understand that since I was used to being in the shadows too.

 

"I guess there's some effect from MonColo for me..."

 

"That's true, Kitagawa-kun is famous after all."

 

　Perhaps convinced, the complexity disappeared from Kato's eyes.

　

　Even without the Card Gear, I'm pretty well known now.

 

　When I walk down the street, people don't notice me because of my unremarkable face, but when I use my Card Gear to show images of my cards, a good percentage of people will recognize me as 'that Utamaro Kitagawa'.

 

　In addition to the novelty of the Card Gear, the owner's fame is also a factor, so it was only natural that there would be a difference in the ability to attract customers compared to Kato.

 

"By the way, what's it like being an adventurer? Is it dangerous or difficult?"

 

"...Are you interested?”

 

　Kato scratched his head with a slightly embarrassed look on his face.

 

"Well, sort of. I've been interested in it since I got my Card Gear.......”

 

　...So this guy turned out to be that kind of guy.

 

　I answered casually for a start.

 

“Mm, I can't say it's not dangerous, and it depends on the person whether it's difficult or not...... but at least I don't regret becoming an adventurer."

 

"I see..."

 

　Then Kato showed a somewhat challenge-like manner.......

 

"Hey, I heard a rumor that you, Kitagawa-kun, rent cards and stuff."

 

Oh...... I see, that's the kind of thing you're after.

 

　I don't know where he heard that, but.......

 

"Ah, sorry. I used to do that a little bit a while ago, but I don't do it anymore."

 

"Can I ask why....?”

 

"Un, simply put, I don't have any cards I can lend out. In the past, I was a solo player, so I had some extra D-rank cards and such, but now I'm on a team, so all the loot is bundled together for the team. Loot liquidation and distribution are done in the new year because of taxes... and honestly, when it comes to D-rank cards, I have fewer cards available than when I was playing solo. So right now, I don't have the luxury of renting them out."

 

"Oh, I see."

 

　This was, of course, a pretext for refusing Kato's request.

 

　Certainly, the initial plan was to liquidate and distribute the loot in one lump sum at the end of the year in consideration of taxes.

 

　But now that we do not know when Angolmore will happen, we cannot afford to hold onto the loot until the end of the year. Therefore, the system was switched to a 'distributing and selling the loot each time the dungeon is conquered' system.

 

　Although the taxes will be somewhat higher... if society is stable enough that we can still pay taxes next year... we will be happy about that.

 

　Therefore, while it may be true that I cannot afford a card to rent at the moment, I can get a card for rent ...... in a matter of a few days or so.

 

　The reason why I refused in such a roundabout way was because I wanted to keep as many cards as possible for my family, including the ones I won't use, and also because I don't trust Kato enough to rent an expensive card to him.

 

　To be precise, I should say that I don't know Kato well enough to trust him.

 

　Another reason was that it would be troublesome if word spread from Kato and more and more people started coming to ask to borrow cards (although I think it's too late for that since Kato already came to me like this.....).

 

　However, saying that directly would just cause a lot of anger. Therefore, I refused in a roundabout way.

 

　Besides...

 

"I think you'd better talk to Ono than me if you're thinking of that kinda thing."

 

If it's about renting cards, he's better at it than me.

 

"To Ono-kun?”

 

"Yeah, he's diving in a D-rank dungeon right now for his three-star promotion exam. He probably has one or two D-rank cards to rent."

 

　It was not like I was forcing Kato on Ono.

 

　Ono himself had asked me to pass on any card rental offers to him if anyone approached me.

 

　I had not heard clearly about his reasons, but perhaps this also has something to do with the talk of “creating a prototype for the 2nd Force”.

 

　For a note, I lent Ono one of my C-rank cards for the three-star promotion exam.

 

　I bought a card that no one in the Adventurers' Club wanted and rented it to Ono.

 

　On the surface, the purchase was paid for by Garnet, but in reality, it was paid from the sale of a B-rank card that I had given to Anna...Dionysus².

 

　This card, which I had drawn with a Lottery card about two weeks earlier, had sold for as much as 1.5 billion yen even though it was not so well suited for combat among the B-rank cards.

 

　If I remember correctly, the market price of Dionysus should have been about 700-800 million until about a month ago, which meant that the price had almost doubled.

 

　The reason for this hike was presumably due to the increased demand from the wealthy people who were eyeing the Angolmore.

 

　Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, possessed the power to create the finest wine.

 

　Before the emergence of the dungeon, some Romanée Conti³ were priced at over a billion.

 

　Many rich people would no doubt be willing to pay that much money if they could drink as much alcohol created by a deity as they wanted during their refuge in Angolmore.

 

　By the way, the card lent out was Yamara no Orochi⁴.

 

　I was not worried about him running away with it ...... it was the only card I had that would not hurt me in the event that it got Lost.

 

　After all, the market price was 10 million, and the purchase price from the team was an unbelievably low 5 million.......

 

　The Yamara no Orochi was practically priced like a D-rank card, but its abilities are on par with a C-rank card, making it the perfect rental card.

 

"I see, thank you. I'll ask Ono-kun about it."

 

　I saw Kato off as he walked away, thanking me.

 

...Phew, this is the third person this month.

 

　The fact that all of them carried a Card Gear told me how much influence it had on ordinary people.

 

　It was like this even inside the school. The Guild must be getting new registrations every day.

 

　Production of Card Gear had been increasing steadily, so the number of adventurers was sure to continue to grow.

 

　Perhaps if Angolmore won't come, an era in which most of the population would own a card or two would soon have dawned?

 

　Then I suddenly realized.

 

I see... Perhaps that was what the country was aiming for.

 

　Nearly 90% of the population owned a mobile device. If the day when everyone uses Card Gear instead of cell phones comes, most of the population will have at least one card, and everyone will be able to defend themselves somewhat even during Angolmore.

 

　This would slow down the phases and increase the chances that the SDF could end Angolmore in the meantime.......

 

　Even if Angolmore inevitably became a regular occurrence every six months, if each citizen had a D-rank card and was able to deal with the monsters, the phase would not progress any further, which would mean that Angolmore would be conquered.

 

　The day may come when Angolmore will feel like a big typhoon that comes every year.

 

　I think that far and shook my head.

 

Either way, it's hypothetical. There is too little time before most of the population has Card Gear and is able to defend themselves during Angolmore.

 

　Humanity had not made it in time.

 

　That was the only fact.

 

 

 

 

"Now, then, are you all ready?"

 

　The lowest floor of the dungeon. In the safe zone in the field of a chalk white temple reminiscent of ancient Greece.

 

　Anna asked, looking around at the faces of the club members sitting in a circle.

 

　We simply nodded wordlessly in response.

 

　The school festival was over and the following day was a day off.

 

　We were about to challenge the Boss for the first time after about a month.

 

　This would be our first battle against the Boss of this C-rank dungeon since Kudan, a special type monster, had appeared instead of the original Boss in the previous encounter.

 

　Through reconnaissance, the identity of the Boss has already been revealed.

 

　A mighty warrior, adorned in shining golden armor, brandishing a pair of colossal spears. This was Ares, the formidable god of war from Greek mythology.

 

　Although the details of the field effects were unclear, it was suspected to be the type that strengthens the Boss, especially since no debuffs were applied to us.

 

“You know, I'd like to have a break. I can manage physically with magic and potions, but mentally, it's too much."

 

　For the past month, we had been diving in the dungeon without a single day off.

 

　We had to attend school classes during the day, dive in the dungeon after school until nearly 10 pm every day, and stay in the dungeon on our days off to attack it.

 

　As one would expect, diving into a C-rank dungeon every day for a month without a break was mentally demanding, no matter how many recovery magic and potions were available, and my spirit longed for rest.

 

　Seeing the others nodding in agreement with my complaint, Anna also made a gesture as if she was mulling over the matter.......

 

"Right. Well then, if we successfully defeat the Boss today, we'll have a whole day off tomorrow, and then we'll make Sundays and Thursdays our regular days off."

 

“Hm...... why did you decide on Sunday and Thursday?”

 

　Oribe asked.

 

"Because it is better to have one day off on Sunday to completely refresh ourselves. Thursday will be our prep day for the Friday and Saturday overnight."

 

　All right, I appreciate having a whole day off for a weekend.

 

　But .......

 

"Will the pace be okay with the entire Sunday off?　Honestly, weekends are the main time for clearing the dungeon, right?"

 

"I'm thinking of making good use of the Distress card there. To be honest, the skill sealing floor is not very profitable at this point, and the drop rate of the Distress cards is better than I thought."

 

　Indeed, the skill-sealing floor had become a major bottleneck in the attack on this dungeon.

 

　Now that we had become somewhat accustomed to the C-rank dungeon through our summer vacation, it took us about a week to reach the C-rank floor. We can clear one C-rank floor on weekdays and two to three floors on weekends.

 

　The reason it took us about a month to get to this point was that the skill-sealing floor halted us entirely on weekdays.

 

　It still took us a whole day to go through the skill-sealing floor, even if we were to do it now (I have not participated in it yet, though.....).

 

　It was easy enough to break through the D-rank floors on a weekday, but it was still too difficult to break through the C-rank floors on a weekday.

 

　.......We'd been skipping the skill-sealing floors on weekdays and farming drops on easier ones, but I think using Distress cards to speed things up and free up our weekend is a great idea.

 

　Regarding Distress cards, three of them were dropped in this dungeon attack alone.

 

　Since we had already collected enough Distress cards for each floor of the dungeon so that we would be prepared for any time if Angolmore were to occur, the cards I obtained this time would be a perfect surplus.

 

　Using them to skip the skill sealing floor would be much more beneficial than selling them on the market.

 

"Then, shall we get going now?"

 

　After our chatting break, we took our cards and left the safe zone.

 

　――――That moment, countless arrows rained down on us.

 

　However, the beautiful black-haired oni,――――Goki-, who stood next to Teacher, stepped forward and swung the iron fan in her hand, which created a fierce wind and repelled all the arrows. Not only that, it also blew away the archers who were hiding behind the pillars and hallways.

 

　Bansho fan⁵. It was a magic item that, when raised once, summoned the wind, twice summoned the clouds, and three times brought rain. It was one of the loot obtained in this dungeon attack.

 

　The enemy, knocked against the wall by the gust of wind, lay exposed.

 

　It was a group of beautiful female warriors dressed in revealing clothes ...... Amazons.

 

　According to mythology, the Amazons were a tribe descended from Ares.

 

　Therefore, Ares can summon the three Amazon Queens said to be his daughters, ---- Hippolyta, Antiope, and Penthesileia, who were also his subordinates. They have the skill to summon an unlimited number of Amazons.

 

　These Amazons were the vanguard summoned upon Ares' army summoning skill.

 

『Athena.』

 

『I know. Nike!』

 

　The theory said to summon your subordinates against another's.

 

　Nike, under Athena's command, called forth the chariot squadron⁶.

 

　The other club members followed suit, commanding their own cards to summon their subordinates.

 

　The Chariots of Heroic Spirits, the Yomigun, the Giant Spiders, Alraunes, and evil-looking lower demons (Lesser Demons).......

 

　The gap in numbers here was quickly reversed, and the Amazons, who were now the minority, were quickly attacked by the various subordinates, led by Nike's chariot squadron.

 

　The Amazons were of excellent D-rank, but all of our side's subordinates were also of D-rank. Our balance was also better, with the Chariots and the Yomigun in the vanguard, and Arlaunes and the Lesser Demons in the rearguard.

 

　The now outnumbered Amazons were no match, and were easily defeated.

 

"■■■■■■■■...h!"

 

"Mm...!"

 

　――――Or it should have been.

 

　But the result was the opposite.

 

　Along with an inaudible roar from the Amazons, our side's subordinates were blown away with a single swing of their arms.

 

　Clearly, the combat power deviated from that of the D ranks. This.......

 

『That's Ares' authority as the God of War,』

 

　Athena, who saw how Amazons fought, said in a bored tone.

 

『I see... it is that.』

 

　If you look closely, you can see that the beautiful faces of the Amazons were distorted like those of beasts, and their bodies were covered with a faint red aura.

 

　This was a characteristic of when the [Insanity-clad] skill was activated.

 

　Ares was a god also known as the 'Destroyer of Walls'.

 

　Like Athena, Ares was a Greek deity of war. However, while Athena was the 'Guardian of The City' who oversaw victory and glory in battle, Ares embodied destruction and madness on the battlefield.

 

　Therefore, Ares' skills were more aggressive or rough than those of Athena, who was a defender of the city.

 

　Ares's [Destroyer of Walls] and [Ares' Belt⁷] were skills that granted allies the power to fight in war and madness.

 

　To be more specific, he can cast a level-up magic on all his allies and also grant them the [Warrior] and [Insanity-clad] skills.

 

　The [Insanity-clad] skill can be said to be owned by Berserker and Degraded Berserk. It was a skill that put them in a violent state until the end of the battle, gradually decreasing their life force while tripling all of their stats.

 

　This skill carried the risk of opening the wide chance of the card being Lost if the enemy is not defeated by the end of its life force, but the increase in all stats by three times is tremendous.

 

　The level-up magic boosted them up to the same combat power as the growth limit of the card, even though they were a dependent body, the [Warrior] skill gave them the art of fighting, and the [Insanity-clad] skill tripled their stats......

 

　With these skills, Ares allegedly can increase the substantial combative abilities of his subordinates by one rank.

 

　The risk of losing a subordinate due to madness would not be a significant disadvantage if the subordinate could be summoned as much as desired.

 

　There may be no skills more compatible with the summoning of subordinates than these.

 

　A power worthy of being called a god of war.

 

　In mythology, there were not many good episodes of Ares, as he was defeated by the human Diomedes and was half killed by Hercules, the most violent man in Greek mythology, but as a card, he is an extremely excellent deity.

 

　But no matter how powerful their skills were, there would be ways to deal with them.

 

“...... Audrey!”

 

　I called out to Audrey with my voice instead of the Link.

 

　At my call, Audrey, who provided support from the rear, nodded and deployed Mayoiga.

 

　The club members, who watched the sequence of events since I called out, sensed my intention and quickly retreated to Mayoiga.

 

　Leaving the subordinates outside, we all safely entered Mayoiga which allowed us to breathe a sigh of relief.

 

“Fu~u, all we have to do now is to wait here for the effect of Ares' skills to wear off."

 

　Ares' skills were certainly powerful, but their effectiveness lasted only for an hour.

 

　Then all we had to do was lock ourselves in a safe space like this and wait for the skill's efficacy time to expire.

 

　By the way, the reason why we did not evacuate to a safe zone or another floor was that if we did so, the Boss' life force, number of used skills, and various other things would be fully restored.

 

　Therefore, we had to wait for the time to run out on the battlefield.

 

　In this respect, the cross-space card, which allowed you to wait for the time to run out in relative safety, was a must-have for professionals.

 

"...... But, we still have to be on our toes.”

 

　Anna said, trying to get the members' attention back on track.

 

　Indeed, there were two concerns about this hikikomori⁸ tactic.

 

　The first was the possibility that the effect time of Ares' skills might be extended by the field effect.

 

　Some Boss-specific field effects extend the duration of a skill or increase the number of times a skill can be used.

 

　There were no debuffs of any kind in this battle, so it was highly likely that this type of effect had been selected.

 

And, the other is.......

 

『Kh……!?　Goshujin-sama！』

 

　At the same time as Audrey's warning, a shock hit us so hard that the entire Mayoiga distorted.

 

　A huge hole appeared in the wall, and dust obstructed our vision.

 

“Oioi, that was a fast turnaround ..."

 

　I muttered to myself, choking lightly.

 

　Between the timing of the Amazons' strengthening and the fact that they attacked us immediately after we holed ourselves up, it seemed that the enemy was quite impatient.

 

　...... The second concern was this.

 

　Ares' [ Destroyer of Walls ] had the effect of allowing him to break into the opponent's 'camp' by smashing through it.

 

　A territory, a boundary, a temple, a fortress ...... and a different space.

 

　There were no unbreakable encampment establishment skills before Ares.

 

　The only exceptions would be the safe zone of the dungeon, and Athena's Aegis.

 

　Even if we were to hole up in Mayoiga and wait for the expiration time, the god of war could just barge in as if he owned the place.

 

　The dust cleared, and the intruder made his appearance.

 

　A handsome young man in armor, riding a four-horse chariot, appeared ...... the Boss, Ares.

 

 

***

 

Notes:

1  Short for Joshi Kousei (high school girl)^↩

2  In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus was the god of wine, vegetation, pleasure, festivity, madness and wild frenzy. ^↩

3  Some of the most expensive wines in the world because of three combined factors: very high quality, reputation and exclusivity, and consequently supply and demand. ^↩

4  That one monster shaped like men’s thing for its eight heads^↩

5  The fan of Princess Iron Fan, a character from the 16th-century Chinese novel 'Journey to the West'. In the novel, the fan was called Banana Leaf Fan. Extremely large, it is the finest banana leaf of the "supreme yin", and that is why it can extinguish all fires, including the fires on the Flaming Mountains (the volcano in the story). The fan was also described as being able to create giant whirlwinds; if a man is bodily fanned by it, he will "drift for eighty-four thousand miles before the cold wind subsides", and they're the subject of gravity again. The name 'Bansho Fan' is used in the 'Dragon Ball' series. Son Goku's wife Chi Chi is based Princess Iron Fan. When she first appeared, her mission alongside Goku was to find the Bansho fan to put out the fire in her father's castle. ^↩

6  Using [Dedicate Victory] skill: This summons a chariot squadron of heroic spirits killed in battle. Infinite summoning type. The combat power of the chariots is equivalent to 300 combat power. ^↩

7  The belt endowed the wearer with superhuman strength.^↩

8  Hikikomori is a phenomenon in Japan wherein people remain isolated and withdrawn and stay in their homes. ^↩

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