Mob Kousei No Ore Demo Boukensha Ni
Nareba Riajuu Ni Naremasuka: Chapter #158
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Translator(s) note: Multiple chapters again~ Really sorry for those who have been waiting...
Episode 158: Trade (3)
"————Now then, with the list of trade
items settled, it’s finally Gacha Time!" Anna said energetically.
After some deliberation, we
finalized the list of items to be kept.
We decided to keep: Pele's
Tapa, the Infinite Great Boulder, the Infinite Log, Demeter's Scythe, all
rejuvenation, anti-aging, and revival items, named weapons and armor, D-rank
and useful C-rank Cross Space-type cards, Cardification magic items, along with
the Treasure Chests, Lotteries, and Transfer-type cards.
Anything else would be put on
the trade list.
Though, since many of those
were still highly useful, we agreed to only go through with a trade if a
potential Key Item appeared.
『Renge』
『Yeah, I'm ready.』
Ignoring Anna, who was
gleefully rubbing her hands together, and Oribe, whose eyes were sparkling with
anticipation, I pulled the first card.
With the sound of Garnets
shattering, the Lottery Card transformed.
The result was――――
“Genbu1, huh?
It'll be kept, then.”
“Yes. Its Absolute Barrier is nearly as good as
a pseudo safe zone. Keeping Four Divine Beasts to ensure the other side doesn't
get them is definitely wise,” Anna said.
At Oribe's question, I counted
the number of Garnets used.
"Forty.
Pretty standard."
"
Hmm, looks like the Phase hasn't affected the rates, then," Oribe
commented.
Once the check was complete, I
pulled the second card.
What appeared was a radiantly
handsome young man clad in Nordic-style armor.
This is...!
"Is that Freyr?!"
It was Anna who shouted before
I could even react.
Freyr is the twin brother of
Freya—the card I had recently given to Anna.
Male-female twin deities, like
Apollo and Artemis, often possess Pair of Deities2
skill—a pair-based ability—and Freyr and Freyja were no exception.
Moreover, Freyr was known as
the King of Alfheim, the fairy realm, and thus made him responsible for its
governance. He stood as a powerful otherworld-class cross-space card capable of
summoning diverse fairy-kin subordinates, including Elves and Dwarves.
Anna stared intensely at the
Freyr card, her breathing heavy with excitement, before stealing a glance at
me. Her eyes were practically begging... I gave a wry smile and held the Freyr
card to her.
"Here.
You should hold onto this, Anna."
"Eh!? Is that alright!? I just received
Freyja the other day, I can't possibly take this too!"
"Nah, don't worry about it."
Despite her words of
restraint, her hands were already gripped tight around Freyr and weren't
letting go.
"You’re the one who can make the most of
Freyr’s potential, so just take it. Besides, conveniently enough, he doesn't
have that pesky [Pride of Deity] either."
"Ehehe, you think so? Then I won't hold
back! Thank you so much!"
Anna beamed, cradling the
card.
Well, I guess this
finally balances things out with Oribe's Yomotsu-Ōkami.
I thought like that as I
pulled the third card.
"Hmm, Sukunabikona3, huh?"
Sukunabikona. The dwarf god
who served as the inspiration of Issun Bōshi4.
His Authorities are
staggeringly broad: Sake (Alcohol), Medicine, Hot Springs, Sorcery (Magic),
Tokoyo/The Eternal World (The Underworld), Grains, Knowledge (Wisdom), and
Stone.
Usually, a deity with this
many Authorities would be missing a few, but the Japanese Sukunabikona was a
‘Native’ version, meaning he possessed all of them simultaneously without
exception.
Unfortunately, he was hardly a
battle-oriented deity, but his highly versatile Authorities would be a massive
help to our daily lives.
Specifically, Authorities of Sake and Grains are
things that we lacked, and his Hot Springs Authority would help save resources of
cross-space cards like Mayoiga.
After making that assessment, I
looked at the other two people with a conflicted expression,
"So... what do we do?"
"This is a tough call... Ideally, it’d be
nice to keep it for our own use," Anna admitted.
"But we've kept everything so far. If we
keep every card that comes out like this, we might end up without anything to
trade."
I nodded at Oribe's concern.
When it came to B-rank cards,
there were inevitably many useful ones, making it tempting to choose ‘keep’ on
them all... We’d need to be a bit pickier in our decisions moving forward.
"Let’s put him on 'hold' for now. If we
don't get anything better for trading, we'll put him on the trade list."
With their agreement, I pulled
the fourth card.
When I saw what appeared, my
eyes widened.
The card depicted a
youth—either a boy or a girl, it was hard to tell—with an androgynous
appearance, dressed in ancient Roman attire.
Seeing it, the other two let
out cries of surprise mixed with excitement, just like me,
"Mercurius?
That's the Roman equivalent of Hermes!" Anna shouted.
"A
Deity of Commerce!" Oribe said eagerly.
Yes—Mercurius was effectively
the Roman equivalent of Hermes, and like Hermes, Mercurius wielded the
Authority of the Deity of Commerce.
Mercurius's very name was said
to be derived from merx (goods)5 and merces (wealth)6, making his commercial aspect arguably
even stronger than that of Hermes. Mercurius was a bona fide deity of commerce.
"Ooh! Finally, we have a commerce deity
ourselves...!" Anna exclaimed.
"We absolutely gotta keep this one,
Senpai!" Oribe quickly said.
"Yeah! I know!"
We were wildly excited about
this long-awaited commerce deity card.
With this, as long as we had
Magic Stones, we could now obtain items even before Angolmois. It was only
natural.
I felt like this one card
alone had paid back the cost of every Garnet used so far.
Does this mean the previous cards are
essentially free? Meaning I could pull four more times and it would technically
cost nothing…? (The classic gambler's fallacy).
With my head spinning, I
pulled the fifth card.
And what appeared was――――
"Mmh, this is..."
My eyes widened slightly at
the card in my hand.
This card... why here? Why now?
Seeing me fall into silence,
Anna and Oribe leaned in to peek,
"Apollo, the pair of Senpai's Artemis7?"
【Race】Apollo
【Combat Power】800
【Inborn Skills】
・Apollo the Radiant: Can wield
the Authorities of Apollo, god of the sun, arts, and herding.
・Father of the God of Medicine:
Can summon his son and subordinate deity, Asclepius. Once per day, one deity
only.
・Laurel Leaves: The blessing of Daphne8,
who transformed into a laurel tree. Once per day, guarantees evasion of an
enemy's attack.
・Pair of Deities: Demonstrates its true value when summoned
together with another closely related deity, such as a partner, a parent, or
siblings. Summoning both cards only consume one dungeon summoning slot.
Additionally, the two cards share life force (vitality), magic power, skill
usage counts, and all acquired skills.
・Arrow Shooter: Unleashes
unfailingly accurate arrow imbued with a powerful curse. Rarely inflicts instant
death. If the target is male, the first shot ignores defense and deals double
damage. There is no usage limit, but it has a ten-minute cooldown. Only when
Artemis is present on the field does the attack target expands to all male
enemies. Includes the Loading and Hunter skills.
（Loading: Allows the user to
imbue magic into a weapon and release it.)
（Hunter: Contains skills
necessary for a hunter. Encompasses Martial Arts, Archery, Far-sight, Tracking,
and Presence Concealment.)
【Acquired Skills】
・Pride of Deity
・Advanced-level Wizard
Artemis was a Trinity of Moon
Goddesses (Selene, Hecate, and Artemis), but she was also a Pair of Two9 with her twin brother, Apollo.
The true value of her skills is
only unleashed when all these cards are assembled.
Specifically, her Absolute Hit10 skill—normally a single-target attack
restricted to females— expands into an area-of-effect (AoE) Absolute Hit that
targets all females.
Apollo, on his part, possessed
the male version of Artemis's skill. Therefore, the combined effect becomes a
total board-wipe AoE, except for genderless opponents.
The only catch is that Apollo is a male card...
『M-Master. Can I speak to you
for a moment?』
Yuki’s voice suddenly cut in.
Unusually for her, it sounded
strained with excitement.
『What’s up?』
『It’s just a hunch, but... I
think I might be able to take in that Apollo with my [True Subordinate
Summoning].』
"WHAT!?"
The word slipped out loud. Anna
and Oribe, who had been peering curiously at the Apollo card, whipped around to
see what the commotion was.
"What happened?" Anna asked me,
"No, it’s just... Yuki thinks she might be
able to take Apollo in via [True Subordinate Summoning]."
At my words, the two of them
exchanged looks.
"If
Yuki, who is an Artemis, can absorb Apollo... does that mean the Pair of Two
cards are also valid targets?!" Anna asked.
I nodded, acknowledging the
possibility was there.
"But...
I hate to say this, but... Doesn't absorbing a Trinity Deity or something
similar with [True Subordinate Summoning] feel a bit... pointless?"
The excitement in my chest
deflated slightly at Oribe’s blunt assessment that was said awkwardly.
The greatest feature of the
Pair of Two is that you can summon multiple cards while only consuming a single
card slot. Since [True Subordinate Summoning] doesn't take up any slots to
begin with, this feature would be rendered meaningless.
On the other hand, the
strength of [True Subordinate Summoning] is that even if a subordinate is Lost,
it can be revived after a day. However, since the Trinity Deities share their
life force, if the subordinate got Lost, the main body will be Lost too...
Of course, since the revival
cost would only be a single Yuki's race card, there would still be a
significant merit to take in a Pair of Two with the [True Subordinate
Summoning] in terms of efficiency.
Still, there was no denying
that the perks of Pair of Two and the perks of [True Subordinate Summoning] overlapped
a bit too much.
Just when I thought the value of [True
Subordinate Summoning] finally skyrocket… is it destined to be an ‘undervalued’
skill after all?
Wait, hold on. There's another mystery
surrounding [True Subordinate Summoning]...
The massive number of Anubis
cards during the Hound Master incident raised a suspicion: "Could those
Anubis be subordinates created through [True Subordinate Summoning] and then
turned into cards using Cardification magic item?”
Back when Yuki was a Lycanthrope, freely using Cardification
magic item wasn't possible. By the time it became feasible, she had already
rank-up to Artemis, so we never got to verify it... Could this be the perfect
opportunity to test it?
"Alright, Yuki, try taking this in with
[True Subordinate Summoning]."
"Yes!"
Yuki crunched the Apollo card
I handed her to pieces and immediately summoned him on the spot.
The one appearing was a
strikingly handsome youth, radiant and beautiful, truly worthy of the ‘Radiant One11’ nickname.
His beauty was so captivating
that not only the women like Anna and Oribe, but even I—a man—found myself
momentarily entranced.
"Hm? This is...?"
The summoned Apollo examined
his own body, then, for some reason, bowed his head to Yuki,
"It's been a while, Yuki-sama. I look
forward to serving you again."
It's been a while???
As we tilted our heads in
confusion, Yuki looked at Apollo’s face and a spark of realization lit up her
eyes.
"Nn? You... are you, by any chance,
Shiro?"
Shiro? One of the two that she took in back
when she was a Lycanthrope?
Now that she mentioned it, there is a certain
resemblance...
"Yes, though to be precise, I am merely an
existence that has incorporated his remnants."
"Hoh..."
To think we’d reunite with Shiro like this.
Does this mean that once a card is taken in, it never completely vanishes?
Well, let’s set that aside for now.
"Sorry, but there's something I'd like
test."
"Yes, of course."
With Shiro's consent, I pulled
out the Black Card12--a Cardification magic
item.
"I want to test if I can turn you into a
card using this item."
"Senpai, you mean...!?"
Anna and Oribe watched with
wide eyes as they realized where I was going with this.
How was the Hound Master able to scatter so
many Anubis cards?
And then, there’s the new way to use Cardification
magic item that I learned when converting Prima into a card.
Putting it all together, this is the only
logical conclusion.
I held the black Black Card
magic item up toward Shiro and activated it.
The result...
"Just as I thought."
In my hand lay a card
of Shiro, indistinguishable from a regular card.
【Race】Apollo (Shiro)
【Combat Power】1200 (400 UP!)
【Inborn Skills】
・Apollo the Radiant
・Father of the God of Medicine
・Laurel Leaves
・Pair of Deities
・Arrow Shooter
【Acquired Skills】
・Loyalty
・Presence Detection
・Martial Arts
・Eye for People
・Intermediate Ninjutsu
・Pride of Deity (LOST!)
・Advanced-level Wizard
"Yuki, can you summon Shiro?"
"Yes."
Yuki called Shiro forth. Seeing
that, I then attempted to summon him from the card in my hand. Naturally, he
didn't respond to the summon. I had Yuki return Shiro, and I tried again. This
time, I was able to summon him normally.
"In this state, can you still un-summon or
re-summon Shiro?"
" Um... yes, I can."
With that, Yuki performed a
re-summoning. Shiro vanished from before me and reappeared in front of Yuki.
Hmm. So, for a card of a True Subordinate—let’s
call it a Pseudo-Card for now—, the higher control remains with the possessor
of the [True Subordinate Summoning] skill.
After having her dismiss Shiro
once more, I held the Pseudo-Card out to Oribe.
"Sayo, can you try summoning Shiro with
this card?"
"Me- This one13?
Hmm, very well."
Oribe looked surprised,
pointing to herself before nodding and taking the card.
She then raised the card and was
able to summon Shiro without issue.
"He actually came out, huh?"
"It looks like anyone can do the summon
when the card is created this way,” Anna noted.
"So that’s the trick the Hound Master was
using," I muttered.
...Since True Subordinates can be resurrected
even if they die, the Hound Master could afford to scatter them like candy.
"Then again, this does significantly
broaden our strategic options, doesn't it?"
I nodded at Oribe's words.
That was certainly true.
Take Karkinos, for example, who
possessed the Lost Substitution skill. The drawback was that the Karkinos would
be gone after a single use of that skill, but with [True Subordinate
Summoning], that won’t be an issue any longer.
Even with Dullahan's Equipping
skill, if I had Yuki take in a Dullahan for every member, I could gear up my
entire party using only a single slot.
And above all...
"Since these aren't real cards but
Pseudo-Cards, distributing them to the club members won’t be such a big deal."
Anna and Oribe bobbed their
heads in agreement with my words.
The fear of handing high-rank
cards to other club members was the risk of them being sold or used to stage a
rebellion.
But if they’re Pseudo-Cards
that the original owner can dismiss or re-summon at will, any attempt to steal
or rebel could be quelled instantly.
Meaning, we can finally
utilize the numerical advantage of the Adventurers' Club.
"Anyway, I’ll get back to the gacha first."
"Right," Anna replied.
Thus, it was time for the
sixth card.
For a trade involving a Key Item for an A-rank,
I want at least two B-rank cards. While I'm grateful for the winning streak, I
really need something I’m willing to trade away now...
And,
"......Andromalius, huh."
Seeing the card that appeared,
I found myself clutching my head once more.
Andromalius. One of the 72 Pillars
of Solomon—a devil with Authority leaning toward righteousness: unmasking fraud
and unfair practices, capturing thieves, and recovering stolen goods (though,
true to a devil's nature, he also wielded Authority of theft himself).
While his Authority would be
great for maintaining order in the school, the Authority wasn't what was
troubling me...
"Another difficult one, I see. Out of
everything Senpai pulled so far, he’s the strongest candidate for trade, but...”
Anna trailed off.
"The 72 Pillars of Solomon are too
useful. Trading one away would actually look suspicious." Oribe added.
The problem was precisely that
it was one of the 72 Pillars of Solomon.
Between the Legion Summoning
skill and the fact that even a total amateur can handle them provided they have
Magic Stones, the 72 Pillars of Solomon are among the most user-friendly
B-ranks. In this Angolmois, they won’t appear on a trade.
The kind of trade bait I had
in mind was either 'card we can’t handle and use properly due to [Pride of
Deity] or something' or ‘a non-combat type whose Authority overlaps with what
we already have.' Andromalius, whom anyone can use with enough Magic Stones, doesn't
fit either category.
Given that the other side had
been plotting against us until just the other day, trading this would look even
more unnatural.
"...This one’s on ‘hold’, too."
I’ll put him up for trade if no other suitable
card appears or if they have a Key Item I need.
But the next one will be my seventh pull
already. That means I'll have used up nearly half of my saved Garnets.
I won’t end up using them all, will I…?
With that faint anxiety
gnawing at me, I pulled the next card, and it was————
"Bacchus! Yosh! Finally, a perfect one!"
Bacchus. The Roman god of
wine.
"He isn't combat-oriented, and his
Authority to make wine is something we students wouldn't be expected to value.
Finally, a card that makes sense for us to trade!" Anna happily said.
"With this, we can keep Sukunabikona. Actually, I was secretly looking forward to
the Authority of Hot Springs." Oribe chimed in.
Exactly. Trading Bacchus
wouldn't be strange, and this way we can hold on to Sukunabikona too. Perfect.
"For now, show them Bacchus and the magic
items list to initiate the trade. We'll only bring out Andromalius if they have
a Key Item on their list and we need to make up the difference... Sounds
good?"
The two nodded in return,
saying, "No objections."
Alright, it's settled. Phew, I'm glad something
suitable turned up by the halfway point.
As I was putting away the
remaining Garnets, Anna suddenly asked as if she’d just remembered something,
"By the way,
Senpai, don’t you also have Diana14? Aren't
you going to put her up for trade? Her Authority overlaps perfectly with
Artemis, so I thought it would be a perfect trade card."
"Oh... Diana."
Come to think of it, I did have that one.
I’d completely blocked it out.
...Because I’d intended that card for Teacher.
When I
decided to give Freyja15 to Anna and
Yomotsu-Ōkami to Oribe, I had naturally thought of Diana for Teacher.
Diana had a
strong mythological connection to Aradia16—the race of Teacher's partner, Jeanette—making
their skills to have immense synergy.
Unfortunately, I haven't been
able to see Teacher since I announced I'd be joining forces with the Star
Mother Association, so it’s still in my hands. But my intention to give Diana
to the Teacher hadn't changed.
"Yeah, well, I'm keeping her for
now."
"...Is, that so?"
Still, it was somehow
difficult to bring that up to Anna, who seemed to have some lingering friction
with Teacher.
So, I kept my answer vague,
and Anna didn't press the issue further.
That was probably because
Diana was my card, and how I used it should be my freedom.
...But for a moment, just a
fleeting instant.
Those eyes of hers, usually bright
and shining, seemed to become deep, dark, and murky...
"Well, we've kept the Guild members
waiting long enough. Shall we go back now?"
Anna said this with her usual
cheerful demeanor...
Just as I was about to
convince myself I’d imagined it—
" " "!!!" " "
A jolt surged into my head. Something
flooded in.
Memories raced through my mind
in an instant, like a life flashing before one's eyes—the memories of the clone
I’d dispatched to Oragashima.
"Y-You’ve got to be kidding me..."
Learning what had become of the island, a wave of intense dizziness hit me, and my knees buckled.
"Yujin-san..."
Hands barely supporting my
body, I muttered as my gaze stared blankly at nothing,
"Yujin-san,
married Reina... and they even have a child now?!"
The span of seven years had
elevated Yujin-san to a realm where a virgin like me couldn't even hope to
compete.
***
Notes:
2 Pair of Deities: Demonstrates its true value when summoned together with another closely related deity, such as a partner, a parent, or siblings. Summoning both cards only consume one dungeon summoning slot. Additionally, the two cards share life force (vitality), magic power, skill usage counts, and all acquired skills. ↩
3 スクナビコナ A god who was said to appear from across the sea when the nation was created. Sukunabikona has many different characteristics, including being a god who cooperates in nation building, a god of the eternal world, and a god of medicine, hot springs, taboos (magic), grain, knowledge, sake brewing (info: sake has been considered a medicine since ancient times), and stones. ↩
4 一寸法師 (Issun Bōshi) means ‘One-Inch Boy’. He’s the lead of a folk tale, similar to the European 'Tom Thumb'.↩
6 The raw actually use 財貨(zaika) which means wealth, property, or assets, but merces is actually the Latin words for wages. ↩
7 Reminder, Yuki is an Artemis. Artemis was the goddess of the moon, while Apollo was the god of the sun. The two were both experts with the bow and arrow. In addition, Apollo was the god of civilized arts, such as music, poetry, and athletics, while Artemis represented the wilderness and the hunt. ↩
8 The story of Apollo and Daphne is a tragic love story: Cupid/Eros, who was offended by Apollo’s arrogance, shot the Apollo and Daphne with different arrows, causing Apollo to be deeply in love while Daphne ended up hating him very much. Apollo chased her everywhere until Daphne prayed to her father, the river god Peneus. Her wish was granted and she was transformed into a laurel tree. ↩
9 Pair of Two: This card is a pair of two cards which can be called as one half of a body. Even if two cards are summoned, only one summoning slot in the dungeon is consumed. Also, the two cards share the same life force. ↩
10 Absolute Hit (絶対命中): A skill that guarantees a hit on any target, except those within a pseudo-safe zone. It is nullified by Absolute Evasion and blocked by Absolute Defense.↩
11 輝く者(kagayakumono), this should be related to how Apollo is a sun god.↩
12 the repeatedly usable Cardification magic item ↩
13 Changing from わた(wata-) to 我が(waga). She was about to say わたし(watashi), which is often used in polite settings, but she changed it to 我が(waga), which is very rarely used in the modern era, only used in extremely formal events and older settings. ↩
14 Reminder: The Roman equivalent of Artemis, a goddess of the hunt, wild animals, and the moon. She also possesses the Authority of Beasts. ↩
15 Additional note: Freyja also possess Authority of Beasts, similar to Artemis and Diana ↩
16 Aradia (Queen of witches) was said to be the daughter of Diana and Lucifer. ↩
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