Mob Kousei No Ore Demo Boukensha Ni
Nareba Riajuu Ni Naremasuka: Chapter #129
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 129: The Deal
It
was ironically thanks to the accumulated distortions of the law of causality
from my battle with the Pied Piper of Hamelin that I didn't immediately rush
outside after my call with Anna.
Carrying the ticking bomb of
the distortion, I couldn't risk heading into the unknown beyond those
mysterious stairs.
That sense of danger stopped
my impulse right at the last second.
At the very least, I need to check the Guild's
trade list tomorrow and confirm if I can get Vouivre Diamonds before I can even
consider investigating.
As
I suppressed the urge to go, I gradually calmed down.
"…Calm down. You can't investigate right
away anyway, so there's no point in rushing,"
I
muttered to myself, trying to reason.
In
order to investigate what lies beyond the mysterious stairs, I absolutely
needed to obtain Vouivre Diamonds from the Guild.
However, for that transaction,
I'd first need to spend about half a year inside the Tamatebako to adjust my
apparent age.
Since, subjectively, that’s half a year away,
there is no point in being impatient now.
Right, let's try to think positively here.
After one fierce battle after another, I'm
exhausted, both mentally and physically. I should take this time to take a
proper rest and regain my mental balance.
I'm also curious about the Tamatebako's
specifications, so I might as well investigate various things while I'm in
there.
That thought, however, made me
want to use the Tamatebako right away, but I should probably hold off until I
see Ai.
She'd be surprised if her
brother suddenly looked ten years older after a short absence, and worst case,
she might not even recognize me.
*Knock-knock*.
As I fidgeted, waiting for Ai, a knock sounded on the room door.
I immediately stood up and
opened it to find Ai, with Eliza standing behind her.
"Onii-chan!"
"Ai."
My little sister instantly
leaped as soon as she saw me, and I embraced her back.
"Onii-chan, thank you for coming to save me.
I believed in you."
"Yeah. Sorry it took so long."
After reaffirming our safety
and celebrating our reunion, we released each other from the embrace.
"What about Mom and Dad?"
"They're safe. ...But things are a bit
strange outside, so it looks like we won't be able to see them right
away."
Ai opened her mouth for a
moment, but then held back, only murmuring, "I see..."
I stroked my brave little
sister's head and said,
"Don't worry, I'll make sure you meet
them."
"...Un."
After that, we entered Ai's
Mayoiga, slowly soaked in a bath, and enjoyed a delicious dinner, healing
ourselves both in body and mind.
Then,
when it was time to go to bed, I said to Ai,
"Ai. I have something important to tell
you, so listen, okay?"
"Okay..."
At
my serious tone, Ai sat upright on the futon with a solemn expression.
There's no need to sit in seiza1, though... but, oh well.
"...Actually, my current appearance isn't
my real one. I'm using an illusion to show you a different appearance."
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"Before you were abducted by the Pied
Piper of Hamelin, Ai, I actually encountered another Irregular Encounter called
Urashima Taro."
As
Ai tilted her head, I began to tell her the cover story I had prepared in
advance.
I told her about encountering
Urashima Taro before she was abducted by the Pied Piper of Hamelin, how
Urashima Taro's skill made me age a bit, and that I was using a card's skill to
make myself look younger so as not to worry Mom and her......
The reason for not telling Ai
the full truth was to minimize any risk of my rejuvenation abilities being
exposed.
I
planned to tell the same story to the Guild staff who had seen me in my younger
appearance.
As for placing the Urashima
Taro encounter before her abduction, I figured it would cause Ai less
stress that way.
"That skill's effect is about to wear off.
I'll probably look like I've suddenly aged a lot, but don't be surprised."
"Uh... you aged a lot? Are you okay?"
Ai, naturally, looked worried.
I deliberately nodded as if it were nothing serious.
"Yep, even if I've aged, it's only about
ten years, and there are rejuvenation items in the dungeons."
"I see."
"Alright, I'm going to release the skill
then."
With that, I reached behind me
and opened the Tamatebako that Renge, who had been invisible behind me, was
holding.
The moment I did, I was
enveloped in smoke――
"Where... is this?"
I
found myself standing in an empty white space.
No
walls, no ceiling, just an endless expanse of white floor. It was always
moderately bright, neither warm nor cold.
I
had assumed it would be somewhat like the Ryugu-jo, but...... there's nothing
here.
Suddenly,
I remembered the '500 Million Year Button2'
manga, and a chill ran down my spine.
...I can get out of here, right?
I whirled around, and Renge,
holding the closed Tamatebako, looked at my sudden movement with a puzzled
expression.
"What's up? Why'd you turn around so suddenly?"
"Ah, no. Good, you made it here too."
"Nn, seems like any cards you've currently
summoned get dragged in too. Might just be the ones nearby, though."
"To go back, do I just open the Tamatebako
again?"
"Looks like it... wanna try?"
"Nah... that'll be in half a year."
But, half a year in this empty space, huh...
If I couldn't bring in Mayoiga or my Cards, I'd
go crazy from boredom.
Well, I'll summon Audrey first.
If, by any chance, I can't summon her, this
experiment ends right there.
There's no way I can spend half a year here
without Mayoiga. In that case, I'll have to ask Suzuka or someone to be my body
double.
Feeling my heart pound, I
tried summoning her, and I breathed a sigh of relief to see that Audrey
appeared properly.
I stepped into Mayoiga and
began summoning my usual regular members.
"So, what now?"
Renge asked, settling onto the
tatami mats in the zashiki3.
"First, various experiments."
There are many things I want to find out about
the Tamatebako's specifications.
Things like its internal size, whether cards
can enter without me, what's the maximum size of objects that can be brought
in, whether materials brought in can be left inside, whether skill usages,
cooldowns, and Spiritual Recurrence recover, whether skill proficiency increases,
etc....
Some of these might not be verifiable in this
experiment, but the things I'm most curious about — whether skill usages,
cooldowns, and Spiritual Recurrence recover, plus whether skill proficiency increases
— should be clear from this experiment.
"But, well, that'll be starting from
tomorrow."
I'm going to sleep now. Too tired, as expected.
I
yawned and started heading for the bedroom, but then remembered there was one
more thing I absolutely had to confirm first.
"Eliza, I'm asking again, have you noticed
any abnormalities with your mind or body?"
"No, there are no particular issues."
Eliza
replied in her usual manner.
Hmm, she looks fine outwardly, but...
"Can you revert to your Selene form?"
"…Yes. It is possible. "
Eliza responded after a slight
pause to my question.
"Show me."
"Yes, Master."
Moonlight
enveloped Eliza's body, and her jester outfit transformed into a dress.
A
moment later, there was Eliza, back in her moon goddess form.
"Can you use the [Hamelin's Flute] skill
in that state?"
"...I apologize. It appears I need to be
in that form to use the [Hamelin's Flute] skill."
Hmm. So the [Hamelin's Flute] skill can't be
used in her Selene form, huh?
Considering that the [Trinity Deity] wasn't dispelled even in Bunny Eliza form,
and that she could still summon Selene's magical carriage, there seemed to be
no benefit to her Selene form.
"I see. Then, go back to your jester
outfit for now.”
When
she changed back into her jester outfit, she transformed again, this time with
an ominous, reddish-black light.
This effect bothers me... it totally feels like
someone who's fallen to evil or something...
"I know you can use long-range and short-range
transfer with the [Hamelin's Flute] skill, but what else can you do? Can you
use the Pied Piper's Song skills?"
"I can use them... but I don't know if
they will have the same effects as the ones he used."
"What do you mean?"
"It appears I need to compose the Song
skills myself."
According
to Eliza.
The demonic4
melodies from the [Hamelin's Flute] skill only reveal their effects once the
performer composes and registers them with the flute.
The
effects are determined by the melody and the emotions the composer imbues into them.
Even if one were to compose the exact same song as the Pied Piper of Hamelin, if
it lacked the imbued emotion, it wouldn't be registered, and even if it were,
it would almost certainly not have the same effect.
The
number of songs that can be registered is five, just like the Pied Piper of
Hamelin, and once registered, songs cannot be deleted or changed.
Because of this, it was
entirely possible for composed songs to lack synergy or to have overlapping
effects.
"Hu~mm, seems like a rather finicky skill,
huh ...And you said you have to compose them yourself, but can you even
compose, Eliza?"
Is Composition skill separate from [Musical
Performance] she already has?
I asked while wondering like
that.
"No, I cannot. However, I intend to learn
it from now on."
Eliza, though expressionless,
replied with a somewhat eager demeanor.
"Well, do your best," I told her with
a wry smile, and continued to ask,
"So, are those all the effects? What about
Absolute Attack or Barrier?"
"I apologize, it seems those cannot be
used. However..."
"However?"
"I still have the feeling that I haven't
fully grasped the abilities. If you grant me more time, perhaps..."
"Hmm..."
Not fully grasped, huh? As expected of an
Irregular Encounter's skill, it seems to be quite special in various ways.
Irregular Encounters possess many other special
abilities, such as taking over a dungeon boss, isolating dungeon floors,
teleporting between dungeons, and so on.
Given that her new skill appears to replicate
the Pied Piper of Hamelin's skills, there's a possibility that these other special
abilities might also unlock as Eliza masters the skill further.
"Alright then, I've confirmed what I was
curious about, so... time to sleep."
I
started to head for the bedroom again, this time for real.
"Please wait."
Audrey
stopped me with a stern look on her face.
"...What is it?"
"Surely, you don't intend to go to sleep
in that attire?"
"Attire? Oh, right."
I
looked down at my uniform, cut off at the waist and covered in blood, and
understood.
Since
I obviously hadn't brought any spare clothes, I had no choice but to put this uniform
back on after my bath...
"Here you go."
Saying that, Audrey produced a
gown from seemingly nowhere and offered it to me.
This
gown, like the amenities in Mayoiga, was a tangible illusion. It would vanish
the moment I stepped outside Mayoiga, but conversely, there was no problem
wearing it inside.
I quickly stripped off my
bloody uniform and changed into the gown.
"Please summon Arachne tomorrow. While it
will be a simple garment, We will make you a change of clothes."
"That would be a great help."
Hearing
us, Mea then said with sparkle in her eyes.
"Ne, ne, if you want, should Mea design your
clothes?"
"You, Mea?"
Hmm, as long as it's not something weirdly
eccentric, it should be fine, but...
"Sorry, but let's talk about that
tomorrow."
"Okaーay..."
I'm seriously sleepy right now. ...It's
definitely not because Eliza is looking at me as if she has something to say.
Tomorrow, yes, tomorrow I'll properly hear what
you have to say, Eliza. Whether I adopt your ideas is another matter, though.
Thinking
such thoughts, I headed to the bedroom.
And
this time, my long day finally came to an end
――――At
this point, I... no, we had completely underestimated spending half a year
inside this Tamatebako.
We,
had no idea
What
‘you don’t age inside the Tamatebako' truly meant.
We
didn't understand the implications of spending time in this unchanging space...
The
next day, we began the full-scale investigation of the Tamatebako.
The main points were the
following four:
1. Its internal size.
2. Do skill usages, cooldowns, and Spiritual Recurrence
recover?
3. Does the distortion of the law of causality
decrease within this internal time?
4. Does skill proficiency increase?
Of these, the first three were
confirmed immediately on the same day.
First, regarding its internal
size: we concluded the investigation when Myra, transformed into a Wyvern, flew
for about an hour without finding any sign of a wall.
As for skill usages and Spiritual
Recurrence, we confirmed they recovered without issue, as demonstrated by Myra
transforming into a Wyvern.
While I was confident about
skill usages, I had braced myself for the possibility that Spiritual Recurrence
might not recover, so I was relieved to see that it did.
For those with multiple Spiritual
Recurrences like Mea and Myra, the full recovery usually takes several days. The
fact that it could essentially recover in one day inside the Tamatebako greatly
expanded our strategic options.
Furthermore, we confirmed the
next day that magic items with daily usage limits and the energy of Irregular
Encounter Magic Stones also recovered properly with the passage of days inside
the Tamatebako.
On the other hand,
unfortunately, no decrease in the distortion of the law of causality was
observed.
Then, there was also a later,
separate investigation to answer:
“Can my Cards enter the Tamatebako without me?”
“What is the maximum size of objects that can
be brought in?”
“Can objects be left inside the Tamatebako?”
Although it wouldn’t be known until
the later investigation, the results showed:
“My Cards alone cannot enter."
“Objects can be brought in regardless of
quantity or size (a clear intention to bring them in is required).”
“Storage inside is impossible (the moment I
step outside, anything left inside is haphazardly scattered outside).”
These facts came to light.
If I could store objects inside, I could have
used it as a pseudo-item box... what a shame.
After concluding the immediate
investigations, we began verifying our main objective: "Does skill
proficiency increase?"
This marked the beginning of
our hell.
First, to maximize training
efficiency, we decided to fully utilize Dress and the Celtic Trinity Deities'
[Feast of Destruction, Slaughter, and Victory].
Dress possessed the [Maid
Master] skill, copied from Audrey. The goal was to share the [Teaching] skill
contained within [Maid Master] with everyone via [Feast of Destruction,
Slaughter, and Victory].
The [Feast of Destruction, Slaughter, and
Victory] lasts about an hour, but with Renge's [True Rain of Amrita], we could
extend it to a maximum of 11 hours.
That is more than enough time for training.
We decided to limit training
to the duration of [Feast of Destruction, Slaughter, and Victory], with the
rest of the time being free.
As for the skills we aimed to
acquire, [Breakthrough of Limits] was, of course, the top priority.
Renge and other [Breakthrough
of Limits] users became the teachers, guiding members who have not yet acquired
the skill.
... You might wonder how one
teaches something as mysterious as [Breakthrough of Limits], but it seems that
sharing insights and experiences of using a skill can raise its proficiency.
So, everyone shared their impressions of the skill and discussed it together.
Among the opinions, one that I
found particularly interesting was: 『Could
[Breakthrough of Limits] perhaps be a skill obtained by those who continue to
fight even after reaching their own growth limit? 』
It
was Eliza who proposed this, saying that skills copied via [My Fair Lady] felt
different compared to skills she had acquired naturally (Eliza described it as
'touching things through gloves'), but she felt that the [Breakthrough of
Limits] skill, which she had copied every time she defeated a Carbuncle or a Vouivre,
felt increasingly natural to her.
This was a rather convincing
argument. Given the skill's name, 'Breakthrough of Limits', it seemed fitting
that it might be a skill obtained by cards who continue to accumulate
experience even after reaching their growth limit, isn't it?
However, there should be
countless cards in the world who continue fighting even after reaching their
growth limit, so there was likely another condition for acquiring [Breakthrough
of Limits].
This led to the hypothesis: 『Could the number of acquired skills be the key?
』
That acquiring a certain
number of skills independently might be one key, and that proficiency for
acquiring [Breakthrough of Limits] might accumulate with each skill acquired.
However, the number of slots
that a card can acquire was said to vary individually.
While some cards, like Eliza,
can acquire many skills, there were also cards confirmed to reach their talent
limit with just a few skills.
If the number of acquired
skills was a condition, then cards with limited talent wouldn't be able to
acquire [Breakthrough of Limits], no matter how hard they tried.
This made my Cards tilt their
heads in unison. From their perspective, that hypothesis felt somehow off.
The next hypothesis proposed
was: 『By acquiring a certain number
of skills, or reaching one's skill acquisition limit, one fulfills the
conditions for acquiring [Breakthrough of Limits], and proficiency is gained by
continuing to fight or by striving to acquire the skill even after reaching one’s
limit.』
This hypothesis had some
credibility. If it were correct, wouldn't it be difficult to acquire the skill
without a skill count comparable to Eliza's? Such opinions erupted.
By this time, a month had
already passed inside the Tamatebako.
No one had yet to acquire any
skills.
To be frank, everyone was
getting bored with the training.
So, instead of a seemingly
difficult skill like [Breakthrough of Limits], we decided to try acquiring
easier ones.
However, after another month
passed, and even Eliza, who was most adept at skill acquisition, couldn't learn
any new skills, we concluded that skill acquisition was impossible inside the
Tamatebako.
The Tamatebako's specification
of 'you don’t age no matter how long you spend inside' likely also halts the
growth of one's spirit and body5.
While my Cards diligently worked
on skill acquisition, I also had dedicated myself to Link training, but the
fact that I felt no growth whatsoever was proof of the Tamatebako's effect.
The saving grace, if there was
one, was that since my memories were continuous, knowledge acquisition didn't
seem to be hindered.
It was ironic that this item
would be perfect for studying for exams or qualifications, yet it seemed I'd no
longer have such opportunities in my life, which left me with a complex
feeling.
Having been freed from days of
fruitless training, the problem became: ‘How do we spend this abundance of free
time?’
Since I had entered with only
the clothes on my back, there were no forms of entertainment like manga, games,
or movies.
Spending several months
without entertainment in this unchanging, enclosed world...
it was, in essence, just a
slightly more comfortable prison.
We then began by creating our
own forms of entertainment.
Some carved Mayoiga tables to
make board games like shogi.
Some dedicated themselves to
making clothes.
Some tried their hand at
creative cooking.
Some began creative activities
like manga and novel writing.
Among these, shogi and Go became universally popular among us.
These games, where one's
strength grew proportionally to the number of opening strategies learned, were
the only way to feel growth in our unchanging days. We became engrossed, almost
as a form of escapism.
It started with just me, Myra,
and Dress, but then one participant after another joined, and before we knew
it, a peculiar space had formed where everyone was simply analyzing game
records.
Thus, half a year passed inside
the Tamatebako, and the time came for us to return to the outside world.
"...O- Onii-chan?"
At the sound of a girl's
voice, I snapped back to reality.
In front of me was Ai, staring
intently with a worried expression.
Uhh...... what's the situation again? Ah right, I remember now. Yeah, I used the
Tamatebako right in front of Ai.
As I recall, to make various aspects of
Urashima Taro's aging effect consistent, I decided to claim that my youthful
appearance was just an illusion, and then 'undo' the said illusion using the
Tamatebako right before her eyes.
Yep, I completely remember now. Uwah, this is
bad. Spending a long time inside makes immediate past events feel subjectively like
it was ages ago, causing momentary confusion...
"You are Onii-chan right...?"
Ai asked, her gaze wavering,
as I struggled with a side effect of the Tamatebako I hadn’t been prepared for.
Darn it, darn it. My delayed response at a
strange moment made her anxious.
"Yeah, that's right. ...How do I look? I'm
probably around my late twenties now."
As I nodded, Ai smiled in
relief and stared at me closely.
"U-n... like Dad, but younger? Oh, but
your eyes are sharper than Dad's, and you've got muscles, and what was that
word again? Musclene6? Something like that!
Un, you're plain handsome!"
Musclene... does she mean masculine7?
In any case, it was good that
the reception was positive.
But then, Ai tilted her head slightly
in puzzlement.
"...But why are your clothes different
too?"
"Nn? Oh."
I
looked down at my body, and it clicked.
I
was currently wearing the clothes my Cards had made for me inside the
Tamatebako.
Come to think of it, I entered the Tamatebako
in my bloodied uniform.
"...I just got out of the bath, so why
would I wear dirty clothes? My uniform appearance was just the skill's
specifications."
“Hummm."
My
excuse was a little lame, but Ai didn't seem to be that interested after
hearing it, and simply let it pass.
"Ne~e, I've been wondering since earlier,
but something's glowing?"
"Eh?"
Following
Ai's gaze, I looked down at my waist to see my Card Holder faintly emitting
light.
No way......!
Pulling
out Renge's and the others' Cards to look, I found that everyone had acquired
new skills.
・Renge:
Tactics (NEW!), Art (NEW)
(Art: Possesses a certain level of knowledge
and skill in art. Provides a positive bonus to actions during specific
behaviors.)
・Yuki:
Tactics (NEW!), Literature (NEW)
(Literature: Possesses a certain level of
knowledge and skill in literature. Provides a positive bonus to actions during specific
behaviors.)
・Eliza:
Teaching (NEW), Warrior (NEW), Tactics (NEW!), Composition (NEW!)
(Warrior: Contains the skills necessary for a
warrior. Include Martial Arts, Swordsmanship (NEW), Spearmanship (NEW), Archery
(NEW), and Riding skills.)
・Audrey:
Tactics (NEW!), Garment Crafting (NEW)
(Garment Crafting: Possesses a certain level of
knowledge and skill in garment crafting Provides a positive bonus to actions
during specific behaviors.)
・Dress:
Tactics (NEW!), Fashion Designer (NEW)
(Fashion Designer: Possesses a certain level of
knowledge and skill in fashion designing. Includes Garment Crafting (NEW), Art
(NEW), and Precise Movement skills.)
・Mea:
Tactics (NEW!), Art (NEW), Literature (NEW)
・Suzuka:
Tactics (NEW!), Archery (NEW)
・Athena:
Tactics (NEW!) → Strategy (CHANGE!)
・Myra:
Tactics → Strategy (CHANGE!), Novice Maid → Maid (CHANGE!)
・Morrigan:
Tactics (NEW!) → Strategy (CHANGE!)
・Macha:
Tactics → Strategy (CHANGE!)
"This is......"
Did the proficiency gained inside the
Tamatebako reflected the moment we came out?
Almost
everyone acquired [Tactics] or [Strategy] skills. Furthermore, each also gained
skills related to the fields they had been interested in and worked on.
Th-thank goodness...! So all that time wasn't a
waste after all!
"Fwa~ah..."
As
I savored the joy, Ai let out a big yawn.
"Ready for bed?"
"Un..."
Ai
nodded softly and tugged at the hem of my clothes.
"...It's been a while, let's sleep
together?"
"Okay."
It
had been a long time since Ai asked to sleep together.
When I was younger, before
junior high, we shared a room, and she used to sneak into my bed whenever she
had a bad dream. But as we got older, that stopped.
The last time we slept together… if I remember
correctly, it was after she watched a scary movie when she was in fifth grade.
...Hmm? It
wasn't that long ago, was it?
She's a precocious little sister, but maybe her
need to be pampered hasn't changed.
Thinking that, I gently stroked Ai's back until she fell asleep.
***
Notes:
1 The formal, traditional Japanese way of sitting.↩
2 5億年ボタン (Go-oku-nen Botan) is a common name for a short, one-shot manga released in 2001 by Souta Sugawara. Imagine a button. If you press it, you receive 1 million yen. However, there's a catch: your consciousness gets warped to an empty, white space, and you spend 500 million years there. In this space, there's nothing but a tiled floor extending endlessly. You cannot die, fall asleep, or lose consciousness in any way. You are forced to remain fully aware for the entire 500 million years. ↩
3 座敷 (Zashiki) is a tatami room. ↩
4 魔 (ma) can mean ‘magic/supernatural’, ‘demon’, ‘evil’, or ‘devil’↩
5 心身(shinshin) can also translates to ‘mind and body’ or ‘mental and physical’ ↩
6 セーカン (sēkan). We made up the English word. ↩
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