Magic Forging[1]. One could argue to be the secret technique of production jobs – mainly Blacksmith, Alchemist, and Apothecary[2] – and could only be used by those who’ve advanced their art to a special stage.
This useful magic worked by placing materials on the middle of the magic circle and programming the forging process while injecting mana into it, allowing the user to produce all manner of things. Well, it had some limitations, however – While the convenience of omitting the compounding and/or manufacturing process was indeed advantageous, the success rate was relatively low, plus the items created were inevitably inferior to those crafted by hand.
Whether it was weapons or magic potions, it definitely yielded results, but for them to possess the same efficacy as hand-crafted ones, there was the need for the user to be very proficient at their art. In the same way blacksmiths improved their skills by smithing weapons over and over again and alchemists needed a lot of time and effort to compound their mixtures, for magic forging, the user couldn’t make high-quality items without having gone through crafting a large number of items prior.
This held true in both this otherworld and in the once digital world. Probably the only ones who could make high-quality items using this technique were the elves, who had shut themselves in the depths of Far-flung Forest.
All in all, there wasn’t even a handful of people who could utilize this magic technique – that could well be called ‘the ultimate technique’ – and even supposing there were some out there, they’d be most distinguished for their legendary abilities no matter how underwhelming the crafted items were.
Presently, there was only a single person capable of using this supreme spell – Zeros, the middle-aged magician.
“Fumu, the sealed magic stone[3] is ready. Now, to compress it…”[Zeros]
A sealed magic stone was a regular magic stone with a formula engraved inside. To confine a spell within it the magician did the same as when they learned a new spell themself. In other words, the difference was that the formula wasn’t imprinted in the brain but inside the stone itself. Therefore, it didn’t take much time, however, since the magician still needed to draw up the magic formula at the initial stages of the process, they still ended up doing manual work.
Fortunately for Zeros, the magic formulas and item recipes he made in the game were stored in the memory region of his brain. He could retrieve them and use them at will.
After his reincarnation in a body materialized out of the data from ORG, he could now use all the techniques he learned in the virtual world of the game. One might think it unfair, but all of these techniques were developed and improved by players over a long time, and in a sense, they were the result of their blood, sweat, and tears. Even in this world, people obtained a [power] compensation according to their job proficiency and their level, and therefore, this kind of cheat was merely the result of his devoted study, albeit in a different world, so to speak.
For someone born and raised in this world, it’d be an unprecedented and awe-inspiring achievement they’d be proud of. Zeros, however, seemed to think of it as a power he acquired messing around in a game and nothing to boast about.
However, it was an undeniable fact that the experience he gained through repeated trial and error in the game was his own. The life from his original world and the ‘life’ he had in the game were only interchanged when he was reincarnated in this otherworld.
Hunting innumerable monsters and making all kinds of items with their materials wasn’t a simple illusion. Of course, being in a world where he couldn’t actually die could be considered a massive advantage, but still, the penalty for returning from the ‘virtual’ death was unusually harsh – His status would go down and he wouldn’t be able to move properly for a few weeks. This was all in-game, naturally, but the penalty was so severe that it prompted many players to take safety measures as much as possible. They were afraid of ‘death,’ albeit a pretend one.
As the knights and magicians of this world also fought while employing their own distinctive tactics, the game world, although vast, wasn’t greatly different from this otherworld. The reality was practically the same, except for the fact that the real ‘death’ was lurking right beside its inhabitants.
Well, there were some inconsistencies (like the gacha) but the life Zeros had been living up until this point was undoubtedly reality. There was no reason for him to look down on his own abilities. Nevertheless, it all depended on to what extent he was willing to accept them; each and everyone possessed free will, and therefore, decided their own fates.
Considering he had a production job, Zeros was able to reconcile with them somewhat. Still, since his reincarnation, he’d been pondering ever so often about the relationship between these three worlds and the things he’d done in the game, and he couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t a virtual space but another reality entirely. In fact, he was wondering if this was actually the third one in a sequence.
Anyhow, the middle-aged magician was crafting items by himself.
The most troublesome part of the process was the preparations before the actual magic forging. That is to say, making the sealed magic stone.
The magic stone itself was made of condensed mana that had been mineralized, but when the stored mana ran out, it turned into transparent glass and would eventually shatter into pieces as it could not sustain its shape any longer. To prevent that scenario, several of that same type of magic stone were combined and compressed, which increased both the stored mana and the structural integrity.
A spell’s magic formula was engraved on what was essentially the core of the stone, and by combining multiple of them, one large sealed magic stone could be made. Then, by compressing it and reducing it further, the stone’s performance would increase dramatically.
A problem that could arise, however, would be that during the process of compressing the magic stone, the magic formula would end up deforming and not be able to maintain its intended efficacy. Nevertheless, that was where his production job and skills would shine; something he was already accustomed to.
Zeros was able to get the ‘Great Sage’ job because of his skillfulness in performing very precise work, as well as his vast experience crafting countless items and inventing a lot of new spells. It seemed that the techniques he polished in the game could be applied in the world that had become his new reality.
“…It’s weird now that I think about it. When the humans of this world raise their levels, part of their physical abilities and knowledge would also increase, right? And even with the compensation given by skills, the techniques of the game are too similar to this world’s. Seriously?”[Zeros]
He started to recall many strange points. For example, players could craft items; it was just an incredibly elaborate VR world where they could perceive their five senses, and get precise feedback in their hands and a sensation when they were about to fail. That sense of realism, as if one were making something in real life, was so fun that Zeros became obsessed with it.
However, now that he was away from what he thought was the real world, he clearly felt something out of place between the game world and this world while he was making an item. That sense of incongruity started from something like: ‘Can we really create such a realistic and elaborate world with Earth’s technology? Is it really just a program?’
The laws of the game’s world – Franriede – according to the setting, and this world’s were almost the same except for a few points. It’d be stranger not to feel something odd about it. If the aforementioned was the case, it’d mean the game world could not be fictional. If we consider it to be real, then it’d explain how the people that died playing the game could be reconstructed based on their avatars. After all, players could “return from their deaths,” in the game. Nevertheless, their stats would be penalized with an unreasonable debuff after their resurrection. In addition, they would lose items and experience points gained in the area where they died; even rare equipment.
In reality, the dead could never be brought back to life, but if a person on the verge of death were to be fused with their avatar in concordance with the laws of this world, it wouldn’t be outlandish to think it could be done. Otherwise, there was surely no way they could’ve been reincarnated so simply and smoothly. Then, for the sake of coherence, they just had to use the bodies of the people who passed away at the same time back on Earth. [T.N: Implying the gods isekai’d their dying bodies and cloned their minds or smt, that’s my best guess]
“It’s probably the case, but was the game based on this world? But, why? Even if it were possible, could humans make something like that? Nah, there’s obviously no way… Normally, though…”[Zeros]
It’d have to be someone that could obtain information of other worlds, that is to say, a God. Now, Zeros wasn’t sure if it was the same God that humans believed in. What he was certain of, however, was that this God was whimsical and had too much free time on their hands. Still, he could venture some guesses about the world of the gods based on the current situation. Supposing his guesses were correct, there was a high possibility that the world of Sword and Sorceress wasn’t a game. If what he thought was a mere game was actually a different world created by the gods, and only their souls were transferred to an avatar via the gaming console[4]– DreamWorks – and could travel back and forth between worlds, it would explain why he didn’t doubt it until now: He was being manipulated.
To Zeros, from the perspective of game programming, Sword and Sorceress was too sophisticated to have been created with Earth’s technology. No matter how many supercomputers, able to process colossal amounts of information, were used, it was simply impossible for them to process that much data. Even NPC’s possessed free will in the same capacity as humans. Therefore, assuming the world was a program, it’d be unable to process the amount of information it’d have to constantly store and would eventually crash. Not to mention how high the electricity consumption would be.
In the end, all of that was just his conjecture as he didn’t know exactly what was the case.
“Anyway, I imagine finding out there was an evil god must’ve been a hell of a surprise for the god that managed my previous world. Now that I think about it, some god from another world suddenly threw it inside, right? Thanks to that, Earth was affected. I would’ve liked to have at least dropped some sarcastic comment…”[Zeros]
He thought about it as when in a company, an irresponsible employee that was supposed to work on a project with another coworker, dumps all the work on the latter.
Being from a world where magic doesn’t exist, he looked at this world from a different point of view. It might have been in a higher dimension than his previous one, however, what would happen if a god from another world decided to use its powers in a material world with different laws of nature?
Zeros pondered about the matter based on his knowledge from light novels, but without conclusive evidence, everything was merely his own fantasies or speculations.
Still, from the message he received from one of the Four Deities, in other words, the goddess that manages this world, Zeros thought that she seemed to be quite irresponsible and hedonistic. He couldn’t help but think that he was right about it.
He seemed rather creepy muttering to himself while lost in thought, but he didn’t rest his hands as he prepared to craft the items.
“Alright… Preparations ready… let’s not dawdle.”[Zeros]
Zeros immerses himself in his work as he continued to make theories in his head.
He was making a ring, but he didn’t want to wear too many on his fingers because they’d just get in the way. Taking that into account, he decided to make an amulet-type of magic tool that he could wear around his neck to protect himself.
There was still an abundant quantity of materials in his possession from his mining trip. Moreover, he made the same item for Celestina and Kreuz, the latter he’d never met. But, he knew Kreuz was a very dedicated researcher from the report he sent. Zeros had the feeling they might be kindred spirits.
The preparations needed to be done before magic forging were fairly bothersome, but once that was completed, the rest was easy. All that was left was placing the materials on top of the magic circle and operate it.
Since the equipment Zeros was making was merely an inferior version of previously-made items, the work was over in no time.
He finished just as he was getting into it.
“Ah, guess I’m free now. I finished surprisingly quickly. What now?”[Zeros]
The middle-aged magician’s skills were already in the realm of masters. He was unusually fast at making things from scratch with that technique. Though he wasn’t a fan of repairing items because it was incredibly tedious, Zeros was really good at this kind of creative work. Moreover, the same sensation he felt when playing the game remained here. It would’ve been too disappointing to stop now. More importantly, though, a troubling side of him would show at this point – He’d usually get carried away when doing this sort of work. Therefore, he started to make something completely unrelated to kill his free time. Without holding back.
That work continued for three days.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
About three days after Zeros accepted the escort request and started making preparations for it.
Iris was looking at the request board in the Mercenary Guild, searching for a suitable job. All of the requests were too far away and would likely result in a loss for them, and to earn their living expenses, they’d have to take multiple other requests close to the place of that first one. They wouldn’t be able to cover their losses and most likely not even complete the requests in time.
For Iris and her party, who were struggling to live by, it’d be too expensive to pay for a carriage, lodging fees, and food if they had to travel far, and considering their ranks were low, they’d run out of money for their living expenses before they could even get there.
After doing the math, all of that excluding the lodging fees would only amount to a modest increase in their expenses but they still couldn’t afford to stay at an inn and they’d rather not sleep outdoors if they didn’t have to.
“Ugh… There aren’t any good requests. I should’ve learned a production skill.”[Iris]
They were pressed for funds. The previous Wild Cuckoo subjugation request was completed by Zeros and Kaede, and so, they didn’t get any of that money. In fact, even though the two of them weren’t even mercenaries, the client ended up presenting them with the request’s reward. Iris and her party members ended up failing the request and obtaining nothing, on the other hand.
They weren’t hurt but, in the end, they weren’t much different from the mercenaries that were beaten by the chickens.
For the past three days, they’ve been staying at the orphanage, living off the kindness of Luceris and Zeros for their meals, and going to the guild to look at the request board.
Luceris, on one hand, while looking after the children in the church-slash-orphanage, earned some money by treating injuries, charging a reasonable price for it. The middle-aged Zeros, on the other hand, seemed to always have funds although he was supposed to be unemployed, and boasted that he could always go hunting if he ever was in the need of money. In any case, he didn’t have to worry about starving because he was already self-sufficient. Iris thought her new life was going to be the typical fantasy life, but the reality of it all was terribly harsh.
“How long we’ll have to wait to go to a dungeon…? Haaah…”[Iris]
By this world’s standards, Iris could be considered to be really strong. However, Rena and Jane were weaker than her. Though power wasn’t determined by level, her physical abilities were superior to her teammates.
Jane was too cautious and tended to choose requests to defeat relatively weak monsters. Rena seemed strong, but she’d go out of control and disappear before anyone noticed.
Well, her skin was all glossy for some reason by the time she’d come back, but that probably wasn’t going to make her much stronger.
Unlike her acquaintances, Iris was still a cheat to some capacity. She felt like a fool for earnestly living as a mercenary. However, even if she went hunting for monsters alone, she wouldn’t be able to dismantle them. Iris didn’t possess a dismantling skill because she arranged all of her other skills to suit adventuring. In any case, even if she had it, it didn’t look like she’d be able to use it in practice. It was precisely because of it that she started to worry about the discrepancies between reality and the game and its harmful effects.
“One way or another, Mister was still being realistic. Compared to him…”[Iris]
Having acquired a plot of land and a house and started to live self-sufficiently, Zeros seemed to have been planning his life properly and realistically. Although an ordinary example, Zeros could be considered a successful person because he was only aiming for an ordinary life. In comparison, Iris could well be living on the streets by the next day.
Trust was the most important thing for mercenaries; the ones who earned enough to live comfortably were high-ranked mercenaries, the people trusted to bring results.
Rewards for the requests taken by mercenaries increased according to the latter’s rank, and naturally, the level of difficulty grew in proportion.
Iris might’ve been a high-ranked magician but she lacked experience as a mercenary, and her inability to retrieve materials from defeated monsters was a crucial flaw. She was accompanied by Rena and Jane, so she could ignore it so far, but with them out of the equation, no matter how strong she was, she wouldn’t be able to put food on the table[5].
“Haah… This sucks. It’s an otherworld but it isn’t that much different from Earth. Whatever, I’ll ask Mister to teach me alchemy or compounding. He pretty much promised as much…”[Iris]
Iris now realized that this was reality. Even if the world resembled a fantasy world loosely based on medieval Europe, it was still the real world, and people had to work to live. Being a mercenary takes money, most of which goes to repairing equipment like weapons or armor rather than the living expenses per se. It could only be helpful to have a second job. One would die without eating, after all.
Even though she was looking for an exciting new life, she understood once again that albeit a fantasy world, it was the real world for her now. And so, she headed to Zeros’ house looking dejected.
At any rate, she had to earn money to live.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Unable to find a job that’d catch her eye, Iris arrived at Zeros’ house in low spirits.
The chickens were in the front yard sparring and practicing stances, but she didn’t how far those strange animals will go. However, she guessed that they were preparing themselves to clash with someone stronger than themselves.
They were strong enough to knock mercenaries out cold, and strangely enough, they’d end up following their strongest opponent. In that way, it was only natural that they’d follow the overwhelmingly strong Zeros. Moreover, they served as excellent guards for his house. Surely, any unsuspecting burglar would be instantly killed.
After all, their previous owner was a level 200 former A-rank mercenary. If they fought against that kind of person every day, it was no wonder they’d become so strong.
Leveling up didn’t mean killing one’s opponents necessarily.
Iris lightly knocked on the door.
“Mister?? You there? It’s Iris.”
“Come, it’s open… Just kind of busy right now.”[Zeros]
He seemed to be in the middle of working on something, which made her hesitate for a moment, but her livelihood was on the line. Without extra help to improve for the better, Iris’ dream of challenging dungeons would not come true.
“Excuse me,” Iris said, as she opened the door and saw Zeros making something completely out of place for a fantasy world. It was a machine with a metal frame and what looked like an engine attached to it. Iris immediately thought – ‘A motorcycle,’ when she noticed the number of parts and wheels carelessly thrown around the place.
At first glance, it resembled an off-road type of bike, but it probably gave that impression because the frame itself looked to be in the rough and the big wheels weren’t attached yet. However, there seemed to be magic tools installed in several places. The bike was apparently a 1000cc type.
The exterior parts weren’t named if used appraisal on them, but they seemed to be some sort of dragon scale. Also, they were of a jet-black color one could sense the evil from. It was the fitting companion for a certain Rider appearing gallantly on the scene.
The middle-aged Zeros was destroying the fantasy-world look incredibly well.
“Mister…… Why are you making a motorcycle?”[Iris]
“I tried making one to kill time because I thought I might need it. I’ve fiddled a bit with bikes with Ichinose-kun around the neighborhood in the past, so I had an idea of how to make one. Also, since we’re in a world with magic, there’s no need to worry about fuel.”[Zeros]
“Who even is that!? And this is supposed to be a fantasy world! A world of swords and magic! Why’re you trying to destroy that dream!?”[Iris]
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Cars and motorcycles appear in fantasy worlds all the time. On top of that, there’s a ton of them with all sorts of things; from plane fighters to flying ships, and even aerial battleships. I think there’s also one with robots…”[Zeros]
“Ugh… that’s true. Still, this world is underdeveloped, so please there’s no need to make that kind of futuristic stuff, alright?”[Iris]
It was totally a technological cheat. However, since he didn’t have any intention of selling anything like that, the fantasy-world feel would be preserved for the moment.
Zeros was only using modern-day technology to build stuff to pass time; just for fun, although he could even make tanks if he wanted to. Nevertheless, with Iris having been beaten down by reality, she felt immensely disappointed in Zeros. She had no right to criticize him for his very aloof and lacking-in-common-sense actions, but as she’d been looking for dreams and adventures in this fantasy world, indescribable emotions swirled all around her heart.
“Mister, are you gonna play card games on top of it? You know, it’d be just like that.”[Iris]
“Ah… So I could do that, I’d completely forgotten. Yeah, I think I can manage. Right, I’ll start remaking it.”[Zeros]
“Wai— it’s a joke. A joke! Stop it, I don’t wanna see a super intense card battle of dudes shouting ‘Acceleration!‘ in a fantasy world!”[Iris][6]
“Recently there were things like ‘Fusion‘ and ‘Rank up‘. It might not be possible to do all of those, but I could think about it later.”[Zeros]
“Are you serious!? What are you even aiming for!? Stop ruining this fantasy world please!”[Iris]
He was seriously considering it. If he used Arcana to create a familiar, it’d be possible to make some sort of summoning imitation. Zeros felt he could even get a high-ranking summon if he spent some time programming it. The problem was that he had to take safety into account, considering they’d be used for serious combat.
Familiars became stronger according to the Arcana’s user’s level. Therefore, even if Zeros were to summon the weakest monster, it’d probably be as strong as a last boss-type of monster. In that case, it’d be possible to limit the strength by messing with the settings of Arcana, but that would make the magic formula more complicated. It wouldn’t be something that would fit in a small card.
“It’d be difficult… Probably impossible to write such a detailed magic formula by hand. But, what if I make a special machine for it? Luckily I’ve programmed a robot arm before…”[Zeros]
“I’m begging you, please stop! Don’t destroy this fantasy world any further!!”[Iris]
“…In a sense, wasn’t that anime also part of the fantasy genre? It’s weird that they fight for the fate of the world just using cards, right? Also, why do they use racing cars powered by electric batteries, and why does it always end up in a battle for the world? Why? Ahh, There was also this robot that’d fight inside cardboards, right? But like, she – HoiHoi-san – there’s no way she can actually fight, right?”[Zeros][7]
“How do you know so much about anime!? And, HoiHoi-san’s purpose is to exterminate pests! Don’t go sending her to fight for the world!”[Iris]
He could recreate the anime he liked one way or another with golems in this fantasy world. In his mind was HoiHoi-san standing on top after destroying all the other robots inside the cardboard box in a battle while doing a cute and cool pose.
“Damn, I wanna try! Wanna see HoiHoi-san, the strongest robot!”[Zeros]
“The robots are supposed to be the pests!? They’re getting exterminated like pests by HoiHoi-san now!?”[Iris]
“…In a way, wouldn’t it be easier for her to deal with them rather than pests? She’s got real weapons and all, right?”[Zeros]
“…I can’t deny that. She used them to kill in the story.”[Iris]
It was at that moment when she realized that if Zeros were serious, the world would undoubtedly be plunged into chaos. On the inside, however, she still wanted to see HoiHoi-san being the strongest robot in real life. Iris liked cute things, after all.
Nevertheless, the two hadn’t yet realized that when HoiHoi-san would fight inside the cardboard box, she would already be a weapon.[8]
“That reminds me, if we use our combat skills in a football match, we’d probably turn it into a brutal game…”[Zeros]
“No, that’d be impossible, or rather, wouldn’t that be kung-fu football already!? Anyway, are you planning to turn sports into a war!? Noo, why did you make my fantasy world so scary and dangerous now!??”[Iris]
“Like that one middle-school football team whose matches eventually evolve into a battle that transcends time and space.”[Zeros]
“Stop that, really. I feel like you could transform this fantasy world into a super dangerous one just based off your delusions.”[Iris]
“Iris-san… What we, humans, dream can be realized to a certain extent with technology. The old mobile phones were awfully big but now they fit in our palms. Technology is always evolving, good or bad.”[Zeros]
“Don’t say it with a serious face when you’re just trying to destroy my fantasy world!!”[Iris]
Iris now recognized some of the dangers of fantasy worlds she was previously unaware of. Precisely because of the existence of mana, which could well be called a clean[renewable] energy, it seemed like the technology that had started to take its first steps would continue to develop infinitely and cause a war that would engulf the whole world as a consequence.
Even if Zeros didn’t, if someone else were to create that sort of technology, it’d be used for the same reasons and develop in the same way.
It was certain that it was bound to happen, the question simply was whether it was sooner rather than later. That is because the history of humans is the history of wars…
“Anyway, why did you come today?”[Zeros]
“Yes, well, I’m actually having problems making ends meet, so I was thinking if I could get you to teach me some alchemy… but it looks like you were busy.”[Iris]
“Ah, you come just in time, then. I received an escort request and I thought I’d invite you and your party, Iris-san. It’s better to have more hands on board, right?”[Zeros]
“An escort request? Are you guarding the lord?”[Iris]
“Well… Almost. It’s a bit different. Actually…”[Zeros]
He started talking about the contents of the request. The escort target was one of the lord’s sons – Zweit. Zeros was planning to participate as a guard in the Magic Academy’s combat drills, during which, he’d be protecting Zweit.
The issue was that each of the mercenaries would be guarding a different student, and he didn’t know if he’d be able to stay close to Zweit, the target of the request. Therefore, there was the need for some extra help.
The middle-aged magician had already planned to stay in close communication with each other and be able to rush to the scene at any time.
Iris and her party were to act as guards as well as Zeros’ eyes so he could be quickly informed of any attack. Fortunately, Iris’ detection skill was at a high level, while he was making a motorcycle to be able to quickly arrive at the scene.
“Mister… we don’t have a choice, do we? Did you accept the request knowing we were struggling?”[Iris]
“You’re free to refuse if you want. I know it’ll be dangerous, so I won’t force you. I’ll just bring the three strongest chickens.”[Zeros]
“Three of them… Then, aren’t we unnecessary if those chickens are going to be there?”[Iris]
“After the recent training sessions they’ve had, their levels have already hit the three-hundred mark. Makes sense considering they can evolve into Cockatrices. They even have high poison resistance. In a way, they’d very powerful guards. It’s just that…”[Zeros]
“Just what? Is there a problem? I mean, how? Aren’t they getting super strong!?”[Iris]
“They just love fighting way too much. They’d start attacking other monsters as if they were deliriant or something, so I think they’d forget about guarding.”[Zeros]
“They’re birds, after all. Bad memory and everything.”[Iris]
It wasn’t like the chickens would forget everything after walking three steps, but they did tend to lose sight of their surroundings when they were roused up.
Zeros only chose Iris and her party members to work with him simply as a way to compensate for that weakness. He casually invited them and wouldn’t think too deeply about it if they refused.
“By the way, what happened to the other two? I assume they must also be in dire straits, right?”[Zeros]
“Jane helping out Luceris, and Rena… she’s probably doing something somewhere…”[Iris]
“Yeah… she might indeed be doing something. You know, the other day I saw her coming out of an inn… with a few young boys.”[Zeros]
“She couldn’t control her super libido, right? We’re having it tough living by already. Just what the hell is she doing?”[Iris]
Leaving Jane aside, Rena was quite unrestrained. One could call it being faithful to her desires, albeit somewhat perverted as she’d rather have a fruit yet to mature over a ripe one.
Be that as it may, that was allowed to a certain extent – Men could marry at the age of fourteen while women at thirteen.
Due to being raised in the modern world, although Iris was old enough to marry, she felt like she wasn’t ready for it. She wanted to live her life freely, hence, she wasn’t thinking about the future for the time being.
Yet, there was an extremely annoying disease in this world that no amount of medicine could cure. It was like a behavior ingrained in the very core of living beings, and that, once triggered, not only it would go out of control, it could lead to social death.
“As I said the other time, it’s better to have a second job. This is not a game anymore. Reality is hard.”[Zeros]
“Yeah, I’ve already realized. Being able to use magic isn’t enough to survive in this world.”[Iris]
“It’d probably be better if you also knew how to make a couple magic tools on top of alchemy, as well. You can put support magic into magic stones, and once you get the knack of it, I think you could manage to produce magic tools fairly quickly and with a reasonable performance.”
“You can make a lot of stuff, right? But Mister, why don’t you use your skills to make money?”[Iris]
“If I did, there’d be a lot of bad stuff out there. Explosive, and explosives, and also explosives…”[Zeros]
“Only explosives!?”[Iris]
The Black Annihilator was pushing it close to being a terrorist. He could make as many magic tools that contained support magic as he wanted, but considering the historical context of this world, they’d be complete overkill. If that happened, he’d be immortalized in history.
In any case, he didn’t feel like making support items. On this occasion, however, he had no choice but to do it due to the nature of the request.
Still, he did like making joke items. For example, he once made an annoying item that had high defensive abilities but gave nasty curses at the same time.
In the game, one of his most used lines was, ‘well, choose. You can either get an item with outstanding performance and just as bad of a curse, or a trivial curse but with just as trivial of a performance.‘
His nickname was the ‘Laughing Peddler,’ or the ‘Shady Hawker.’ But, his true identity was said to be shrouded in mystery.
“Anyway, teach me how to compound something easy. I have some medicinal herbs but I don’t know what to do.”[Iris]
“That’s okay. A potion for wounds should be easy to make, and if you mix magic stone powder and inject some mana, its efficacy will increase. I think you could sell that for a generous price.”[Zeros]
“How much do you think?”[Iris]
“I don’t know the normal market price. I’ve never bought any sort of potion, I could just make them with my friends, so I’ve only sold them. Ever heard of the ‘Shady Hawker’?”[Zeros]
“I have! Was that you, Mister!? I heard he was selling some pretty weird and sinister items.”[Iris]
“Well, it was ‘we’, to be exact. We all shared the money to fund our other stuff. How nostalgic…”[Zeros]
Once again, the lack of common sense of the Annihilators came to light.
While having such an ordinary conversation, Iris asked the middle-aged magician how to compound medicinal herbs.
Incidentally, on that day, Iris learned the Compounding skill, which was part of the production skill tree. Since she was also a magician, once her compounding level went up, it’d eventually develop into alchemy.
Zeros started putting together the motorcycle while teaching Iris how to compound the potion for wounds, and he completed it by the time she managed to learn it.
At dusk, he took the bike out of his inventory and went out in high spirits. Naturally, for a test drive.
A middle-aged man became the wind.
Later rumors spread that a jet-black monster was rushing through the streets at super-high speeds, but Zeros had no way of knowing. He became a highway star, beating the wagons of peddlers and the fast horses of knights that were on the street at that time. The knights, thinking it was a monster, went after him, but no one could catch up with his bike. It went without saying, because the horsepower was extremely different, to begin with.
A jet-black whirlwind ran through the highway while laughing like an idiot.
As an aside, he realized halfway that the brakes didn’t work, and so, he had no other choice but to wait until it ran out of mana.
There was nothing he could do if he couldn’t stop the bike, so he could only laugh.
After, he said, “That was scary… No, really, I seriously thought I was gonna die.”
In the end, he walked home and arrived at the city by early morning. He walked all night from Far-flung forest to get home.
[1] 魔導錬成; from now on magic forging. The term 錬成 is more used in the sense of tempering/making smt stronger, but I don’t think it conveys the meaning of creating a whole item from scratch; beginning to end. Magic Smithing might sound cooler but the term in JP is not supposed to be strictly related to metalworking. I’m open to suggestions tho.
[2] 薬術調合師; I think I translated it as something else in a previous chapter. My bad I can’t remember which one, but I decided on Apothecary because that’s the name given in the JP version of Perfect World(thanks linguee reverse context), which certainly conveys the feeling of being a fantasy herbalist/doctor. This is the author’s own version of it, though, seeing as he added two extra kanji to the term, literally ending up as something like “Medicine Technique Compounding Expert”
[3] 魔封石; technically magic seal stone, but it’s more in the sense of a magic stoned sealed with something inside.
[4] ゲーム媒体; more specifically, it refers to the platform you play games on. I’m assuming the author had in mind something a bit more sci-fi like in SAO.
[5] 幾ら個人では強かろうと半人前なのだ。; Written as an old proverb, don’t know if the author was paraphrasing it or was just a rhetoric figure because I couldn’t find it verbatim on the internet. Still managed to find what it meant tho. seems like the last part is a common saying.
[6] a reference to that one yu-gi-oh 5d anime that I barely watched as a kid.
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichigeki_Sacchu!!_HoiHoi-san
yeah, haven’t heard of it either
[8] Not sure I think it is because in the manga/anime/game she uses real guns?; だが、某段ボール内で戦った時点で、○イ○イさんは兵器の仲間入りする事を二人はまだ気づいていなかった。
Magic Forging[1]. One could argue to be the secret technique of production jobs – mainly Blacksmith, Alchemist, and Apothecary[2] – and could only be used by those who’ve advanced their art to a special stage.
This useful magic worked by placing materials on the middle of the magic circle and programming the forging process while injecting mana into it, allowing the user to produce all manner of things. Well, it had some limitations, however – While the convenience of omitting the compounding and/or manufacturing process was indeed advantageous, the success rate was relatively low, plus the items created were inevitably inferior to those crafted by hand.
Whether it was weapons or magic potions, it definitely yielded results, but for them to possess the same efficacy as hand-crafted ones, there was the need for the user to be very proficient at their art. In the same way blacksmiths improved their skills by smithing weapons over and over again and alchemists needed a lot of time and effort to compound their mixtures, for magic forging, the user couldn’t make high-quality items without having gone through crafting a large number of items prior.
This held true in both this otherworld and in the once digital world. Probably the only ones who could make high-quality items using this technique were the elves, who had shut themselves in the depths of Far-flung Forest.
All in all, there wasn’t even a handful of people who could utilize this magic technique – that could well be called ‘the ultimate technique’ – and even supposing there were some out there, they’d be most distinguished for their legendary abilities no matter how underwhelming the crafted items were.
Presently, there was only a single person capable of using this supreme spell – Zeros, the middle-aged magician.
“Fumu, the sealed magic stone[3] is ready. Now, to compress it…”[Zeros]
A sealed magic stone was a regular magic stone with a formula engraved inside. To confine a spell within it the magician did the same as when they learned a new spell themself. In other words, the difference was that the formula wasn’t imprinted in the brain but inside the stone itself. Therefore, it didn’t take much time, however, since the magician still needed to draw up the magic formula at the initial stages of the process, they still ended up doing manual work.
Fortunately for Zeros, the magic formulas and item recipes he made in the game were stored in the memory region of his brain. He could retrieve them and use them at will.
After his reincarnation in a body materialized out of the data from ORG, he could now use all the techniques he learned in the virtual world of the game. One might think it unfair, but all of these techniques were developed and improved by players over a long time, and in a sense, they were the result of their blood, sweat, and tears. Even in this world, people obtained a [power] compensation according to their job proficiency and their level, and therefore, this kind of cheat was merely the result of his devoted study, albeit in a different world, so to speak.
For someone born and raised in this world, it’d be an unprecedented and awe-inspiring achievement they’d be proud of. Zeros, however, seemed to think of it as a power he acquired messing around in a game and nothing to boast about.
However, it was an undeniable fact that the experience he gained through repeated trial and error in the game was his own. The life from his original world and the ‘life’ he had in the game were only interchanged when he was reincarnated in this otherworld.
Hunting innumerable monsters and making all kinds of items with their materials wasn’t a simple illusion. Of course, being in a world where he couldn’t actually die could be considered a massive advantage, but still, the penalty for returning from the ‘virtual’ death was unusually harsh – His status would go down and he wouldn’t be able to move properly for a few weeks. This was all in-game, naturally, but the penalty was so severe that it prompted many players to take safety measures as much as possible. They were afraid of ‘death,’ albeit a pretend one.
As the knights and magicians of this world also fought while employing their own distinctive tactics, the game world, although vast, wasn’t greatly different from this otherworld. The reality was practically the same, except for the fact that the real ‘death’ was lurking right beside its inhabitants.
Well, there were some inconsistencies (like the gacha) but the life Zeros had been living up until this point was undoubtedly reality. There was no reason for him to look down on his own abilities. Nevertheless, it all depended on to what extent he was willing to accept them; each and everyone possessed free will, and therefore, decided their own fates.
Considering he had a production job, Zeros was able to reconcile with them somewhat. Still, since his reincarnation, he’d been pondering ever so often about the relationship between these three worlds and the things he’d done in the game, and he couldn’t help but feel that it wasn’t a virtual space but another reality entirely. In fact, he was wondering if this was actually the third one in a sequence.
Anyhow, the middle-aged magician was crafting items by himself.
The most troublesome part of the process was the preparations before the actual magic forging. That is to say, making the sealed magic stone.
The magic stone itself was made of condensed mana that had been mineralized, but when the stored mana ran out, it turned into transparent glass and would eventually shatter into pieces as it could not sustain its shape any longer. To prevent that scenario, several of that same type of magic stone were combined and compressed, which increased both the stored mana and the structural integrity.
A spell’s magic formula was engraved on what was essentially the core of the stone, and by combining multiple of them, one large sealed magic stone could be made. Then, by compressing it and reducing it further, the stone’s performance would increase dramatically.
A problem that could arise, however, would be that during the process of compressing the magic stone, the magic formula would end up deforming and not be able to maintain its intended efficacy. Nevertheless, that was where his production job and skills would shine; something he was already accustomed to.
Zeros was able to get the ‘Great Sage’ job because of his skillfulness in performing very precise work, as well as his vast experience crafting countless items and inventing a lot of new spells. It seemed that the techniques he polished in the game could be applied in the world that had become his new reality.
“…It’s weird now that I think about it. When the humans of this world raise their levels, part of their physical abilities and knowledge would also increase, right? And even with the compensation given by skills, the techniques of the game are too similar to this world’s. Seriously?”[Zeros]
He started to recall many strange points. For example, players could craft items; it was just an incredibly elaborate VR world where they could perceive their five senses, and get precise feedback in their hands and a sensation when they were about to fail. That sense of realism, as if one were making something in real life, was so fun that Zeros became obsessed with it.
However, now that he was away from what he thought was the real world, he clearly felt something out of place between the game world and this world while he was making an item. That sense of incongruity started from something like: ‘Can we really create such a realistic and elaborate world with Earth’s technology? Is it really just a program?’
The laws of the game’s world – Franriede – according to the setting, and this world’s were almost the same except for a few points. It’d be stranger not to feel something odd about it. If the aforementioned was the case, it’d mean the game world could not be fictional. If we consider it to be real, then it’d explain how the people that died playing the game could be reconstructed based on their avatars. After all, players could “return from their deaths,” in the game. Nevertheless, their stats would be penalized with an unreasonable debuff after their resurrection. In addition, they would lose items and experience points gained in the area where they died; even rare equipment.
In reality, the dead could never be brought back to life, but if a person on the verge of death were to be fused with their avatar in concordance with the laws of this world, it wouldn’t be outlandish to think it could be done. Otherwise, there was surely no way they could’ve been reincarnated so simply and smoothly. Then, for the sake of coherence, they just had to use the bodies of the people who passed away at the same time back on Earth. [T.N: Implying the gods isekai’d their dying bodies and cloned their minds or smt, that’s my best guess]
“It’s probably the case, but was the game based on this world? But, why? Even if it were possible, could humans make something like that? Nah, there’s obviously no way… Normally, though…”[Zeros]
It’d have to be someone that could obtain information of other worlds, that is to say, a God. Now, Zeros wasn’t sure if it was the same God that humans believed in. What he was certain of, however, was that this God was whimsical and had too much free time on their hands. Still, he could venture some guesses about the world of the gods based on the current situation. Supposing his guesses were correct, there was a high possibility that the world of Sword and Sorceress wasn’t a game. If what he thought was a mere game was actually a different world created by the gods, and only their souls were transferred to an avatar via the gaming console[4]– DreamWorks – and could travel back and forth between worlds, it would explain why he didn’t doubt it until now: He was being manipulated.
To Zeros, from the perspective of game programming, Sword and Sorceress was too sophisticated to have been created with Earth’s technology. No matter how many supercomputers, able to process colossal amounts of information, were used, it was simply impossible for them to process that much data. Even NPC’s possessed free will in the same capacity as humans. Therefore, assuming the world was a program, it’d be unable to process the amount of information it’d have to constantly store and would eventually crash. Not to mention how high the electricity consumption would be.
In the end, all of that was just his conjecture as he didn’t know exactly what was the case.
“Anyway, I imagine finding out there was an evil god must’ve been a hell of a surprise for the god that managed my previous world. Now that I think about it, some god from another world suddenly threw it inside, right? Thanks to that, Earth was affected. I would’ve liked to have at least dropped some sarcastic comment…”[Zeros]
He thought about it as when in a company, an irresponsible employee that was supposed to work on a project with another coworker, dumps all the work on the latter.
Being from a world where magic doesn’t exist, he looked at this world from a different point of view. It might have been in a higher dimension than his previous one, however, what would happen if a god from another world decided to use its powers in a material world with different laws of nature?
Zeros pondered about the matter based on his knowledge from light novels, but without conclusive evidence, everything was merely his own fantasies or speculations.
Still, from the message he received from one of the Four Deities, in other words, the goddess that manages this world, Zeros thought that she seemed to be quite irresponsible and hedonistic. He couldn’t help but think that he was right about it.
He seemed rather creepy muttering to himself while lost in thought, but he didn’t rest his hands as he prepared to craft the items.
“Alright… Preparations ready… let’s not dawdle.”[Zeros]
Zeros immerses himself in his work as he continued to make theories in his head.
He was making a ring, but he didn’t want to wear too many on his fingers because they’d just get in the way. Taking that into account, he decided to make an amulet-type of magic tool that he could wear around his neck to protect himself.
There was still an abundant quantity of materials in his possession from his mining trip. Moreover, he made the same item for Celestina and Kreuz, the latter he’d never met. But, he knew Kreuz was a very dedicated researcher from the report he sent. Zeros had the feeling they might be kindred spirits.
The preparations needed to be done before magic forging were fairly bothersome, but once that was completed, the rest was easy. All that was left was placing the materials on top of the magic circle and operate it.
Since the equipment Zeros was making was merely an inferior version of previously-made items, the work was over in no time.
He finished just as he was getting into it.
“Ah, guess I’m free now. I finished surprisingly quickly. What now?”[Zeros]
The middle-aged magician’s skills were already in the realm of masters. He was unusually fast at making things from scratch with that technique. Though he wasn’t a fan of repairing items because it was incredibly tedious, Zeros was really good at this kind of creative work. Moreover, the same sensation he felt when playing the game remained here. It would’ve been too disappointing to stop now. More importantly, though, a troubling side of him would show at this point – He’d usually get carried away when doing this sort of work. Therefore, he started to make something completely unrelated to kill his free time. Without holding back.
That work continued for three days.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
About three days after Zeros accepted the escort request and started making preparations for it.
Iris was looking at the request board in the Mercenary Guild, searching for a suitable job. All of the requests were too far away and would likely result in a loss for them, and to earn their living expenses, they’d have to take multiple other requests close to the place of that first one. They wouldn’t be able to cover their losses and most likely not even complete the requests in time.
For Iris and her party, who were struggling to live by, it’d be too expensive to pay for a carriage, lodging fees, and food if they had to travel far, and considering their ranks were low, they’d run out of money for their living expenses before they could even get there.
After doing the math, all of that excluding the lodging fees would only amount to a modest increase in their expenses but they still couldn’t afford to stay at an inn and they’d rather not sleep outdoors if they didn’t have to.
“Ugh… There aren’t any good requests. I should’ve learned a production skill.”[Iris]
They were pressed for funds. The previous Wild Cuckoo subjugation request was completed by Zeros and Kaede, and so, they didn’t get any of that money. In fact, even though the two of them weren’t even mercenaries, the client ended up presenting them with the request’s reward. Iris and her party members ended up failing the request and obtaining nothing, on the other hand.
They weren’t hurt but, in the end, they weren’t much different from the mercenaries that were beaten by the chickens.
For the past three days, they’ve been staying at the orphanage, living off the kindness of Luceris and Zeros for their meals, and going to the guild to look at the request board.
Luceris, on one hand, while looking after the children in the church-slash-orphanage, earned some money by treating injuries, charging a reasonable price for it. The middle-aged Zeros, on the other hand, seemed to always have funds although he was supposed to be unemployed, and boasted that he could always go hunting if he ever was in the need of money. In any case, he didn’t have to worry about starving because he was already self-sufficient. Iris thought her new life was going to be the typical fantasy life, but the reality of it all was terribly harsh.
“How long we’ll have to wait to go to a dungeon…? Haaah…”[Iris]
By this world’s standards, Iris could be considered to be really strong. However, Rena and Jane were weaker than her. Though power wasn’t determined by level, her physical abilities were superior to her teammates.
Jane was too cautious and tended to choose requests to defeat relatively weak monsters. Rena seemed strong, but she’d go out of control and disappear before anyone noticed.
Well, her skin was all glossy for some reason by the time she’d come back, but that probably wasn’t going to make her much stronger.
Unlike her acquaintances, Iris was still a cheat to some capacity. She felt like a fool for earnestly living as a mercenary. However, even if she went hunting for monsters alone, she wouldn’t be able to dismantle them. Iris didn’t possess a dismantling skill because she arranged all of her other skills to suit adventuring. In any case, even if she had it, it didn’t look like she’d be able to use it in practice. It was precisely because of it that she started to worry about the discrepancies between reality and the game and its harmful effects.
“One way or another, Mister was still being realistic. Compared to him…”[Iris]
Having acquired a plot of land and a house and started to live self-sufficiently, Zeros seemed to have been planning his life properly and realistically. Although an ordinary example, Zeros could be considered a successful person because he was only aiming for an ordinary life. In comparison, Iris could well be living on the streets by the next day.
Trust was the most important thing for mercenaries; the ones who earned enough to live comfortably were high-ranked mercenaries, the people trusted to bring results.
Rewards for the requests taken by mercenaries increased according to the latter’s rank, and naturally, the level of difficulty grew in proportion.
Iris might’ve been a high-ranked magician but she lacked experience as a mercenary, and her inability to retrieve materials from defeated monsters was a crucial flaw. She was accompanied by Rena and Jane, so she could ignore it so far, but with them out of the equation, no matter how strong she was, she wouldn’t be able to put food on the table[5].
“Haah… This sucks. It’s an otherworld but it isn’t that much different from Earth. Whatever, I’ll ask Mister to teach me alchemy or compounding. He pretty much promised as much…”[Iris]
Iris now realized that this was reality. Even if the world resembled a fantasy world loosely based on medieval Europe, it was still the real world, and people had to work to live. Being a mercenary takes money, most of which goes to repairing equipment like weapons or armor rather than the living expenses per se. It could only be helpful to have a second job. One would die without eating, after all.
Even though she was looking for an exciting new life, she understood once again that albeit a fantasy world, it was the real world for her now. And so, she headed to Zeros’ house looking dejected.
At any rate, she had to earn money to live.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Unable to find a job that’d catch her eye, Iris arrived at Zeros’ house in low spirits.
The chickens were in the front yard sparring and practicing stances, but she didn’t how far those strange animals will go. However, she guessed that they were preparing themselves to clash with someone stronger than themselves.
They were strong enough to knock mercenaries out cold, and strangely enough, they’d end up following their strongest opponent. In that way, it was only natural that they’d follow the overwhelmingly strong Zeros. Moreover, they served as excellent guards for his house. Surely, any unsuspecting burglar would be instantly killed.
After all, their previous owner was a level 200 former A-rank mercenary. If they fought against that kind of person every day, it was no wonder they’d become so strong.
Leveling up didn’t mean killing one’s opponents necessarily.
Iris lightly knocked on the door.
“Mister?? You there? It’s Iris.”
“Come, it’s open… Just kind of busy right now.”[Zeros]
He seemed to be in the middle of working on something, which made her hesitate for a moment, but her livelihood was on the line. Without extra help to improve for the better, Iris’ dream of challenging dungeons would not come true.
“Excuse me,” Iris said, as she opened the door and saw Zeros making something completely out of place for a fantasy world. It was a machine with a metal frame and what looked like an engine attached to it. Iris immediately thought – ‘A motorcycle,’ when she noticed the number of parts and wheels carelessly thrown around the place.
At first glance, it resembled an off-road type of bike, but it probably gave that impression because the frame itself looked to be in the rough and the big wheels weren’t attached yet. However, there seemed to be magic tools installed in several places. The bike was apparently a 1000cc type.
The exterior parts weren’t named if used appraisal on them, but they seemed to be some sort of dragon scale. Also, they were of a jet-black color one could sense the evil from. It was the fitting companion for a certain Rider appearing gallantly on the scene.
The middle-aged Zeros was destroying the fantasy-world look incredibly well.
“Mister…… Why are you making a motorcycle?”[Iris]
“I tried making one to kill time because I thought I might need it. I’ve fiddled a bit with bikes with Ichinose-kun around the neighborhood in the past, so I had an idea of how to make one. Also, since we’re in a world with magic, there’s no need to worry about fuel.”[Zeros]
“Who even is that!? And this is supposed to be a fantasy world! A world of swords and magic! Why’re you trying to destroy that dream!?”[Iris]
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Cars and motorcycles appear in fantasy worlds all the time. On top of that, there’s a ton of them with all sorts of things; from plane fighters to flying ships, and even aerial battleships. I think there’s also one with robots…”[Zeros]
“Ugh… that’s true. Still, this world is underdeveloped, so please there’s no need to make that kind of futuristic stuff, alright?”[Iris]
It was totally a technological cheat. However, since he didn’t have any intention of selling anything like that, the fantasy-world feel would be preserved for the moment.
Zeros was only using modern-day technology to build stuff to pass time; just for fun, although he could even make tanks if he wanted to. Nevertheless, with Iris having been beaten down by reality, she felt immensely disappointed in Zeros. She had no right to criticize him for his very aloof and lacking-in-common-sense actions, but as she’d been looking for dreams and adventures in this fantasy world, indescribable emotions swirled all around her heart.
“Mister, are you gonna play card games on top of it? You know, it’d be just like that.”[Iris]
“Ah… So I could do that, I’d completely forgotten. Yeah, I think I can manage. Right, I’ll start remaking it.”[Zeros]
“Wai— it’s a joke. A joke! Stop it, I don’t wanna see a super intense card battle of dudes shouting ‘Acceleration!‘ in a fantasy world!”[Iris][6]
“Recently there were things like ‘Fusion‘ and ‘Rank up‘. It might not be possible to do all of those, but I could think about it later.”[Zeros]
“Are you serious!? What are you even aiming for!? Stop ruining this fantasy world please!”[Iris]
He was seriously considering it. If he used Arcana to create a familiar, it’d be possible to make some sort of summoning imitation. Zeros felt he could even get a high-ranking summon if he spent some time programming it. The problem was that he had to take safety into account, considering they’d be used for serious combat.
Familiars became stronger according to the Arcana’s user’s level. Therefore, even if Zeros were to summon the weakest monster, it’d probably be as strong as a last boss-type of monster. In that case, it’d be possible to limit the strength by messing with the settings of Arcana, but that would make the magic formula more complicated. It wouldn’t be something that would fit in a small card.
“It’d be difficult… Probably impossible to write such a detailed magic formula by hand. But, what if I make a special machine for it? Luckily I’ve programmed a robot arm before…”[Zeros]
“I’m begging you, please stop! Don’t destroy this fantasy world any further!!”[Iris]
“…In a sense, wasn’t that anime also part of the fantasy genre? It’s weird that they fight for the fate of the world just using cards, right? Also, why do they use racing cars powered by electric batteries, and why does it always end up in a battle for the world? Why? Ahh, There was also this robot that’d fight inside cardboards, right? But like, she – HoiHoi-san – there’s no way she can actually fight, right?”[Zeros][7]
“How do you know so much about anime!? And, HoiHoi-san’s purpose is to exterminate pests! Don’t go sending her to fight for the world!”[Iris]
He could recreate the anime he liked one way or another with golems in this fantasy world. In his mind was HoiHoi-san standing on top after destroying all the other robots inside the cardboard box in a battle while doing a cute and cool pose.
“Damn, I wanna try! Wanna see HoiHoi-san, the strongest robot!”[Zeros]
“The robots are supposed to be the pests!? They’re getting exterminated like pests by HoiHoi-san now!?”[Iris]
“…In a way, wouldn’t it be easier for her to deal with them rather than pests? She’s got real weapons and all, right?”[Zeros]
“…I can’t deny that. She used them to kill in the story.”[Iris]
It was at that moment when she realized that if Zeros were serious, the world would undoubtedly be plunged into chaos. On the inside, however, she still wanted to see HoiHoi-san being the strongest robot in real life. Iris liked cute things, after all.
Nevertheless, the two hadn’t yet realized that when HoiHoi-san would fight inside the cardboard box, she would already be a weapon.[8]
“That reminds me, if we use our combat skills in a football match, we’d probably turn it into a brutal game…”[Zeros]
“No, that’d be impossible, or rather, wouldn’t that be kung-fu football already!? Anyway, are you planning to turn sports into a war!? Noo, why did you make my fantasy world so scary and dangerous now!??”[Iris]
“Like that one middle-school football team whose matches eventually evolve into a battle that transcends time and space.”[Zeros]
“Stop that, really. I feel like you could transform this fantasy world into a super dangerous one just based off your delusions.”[Iris]
“Iris-san… What we, humans, dream can be realized to a certain extent with technology. The old mobile phones were awfully big but now they fit in our palms. Technology is always evolving, good or bad.”[Zeros]
“Don’t say it with a serious face when you’re just trying to destroy my fantasy world!!”[Iris]
Iris now recognized some of the dangers of fantasy worlds she was previously unaware of. Precisely because of the existence of mana, which could well be called a clean[renewable] energy, it seemed like the technology that had started to take its first steps would continue to develop infinitely and cause a war that would engulf the whole world as a consequence.
Even if Zeros didn’t, if someone else were to create that sort of technology, it’d be used for the same reasons and develop in the same way.
It was certain that it was bound to happen, the question simply was whether it was sooner rather than later. That is because the history of humans is the history of wars…
“Anyway, why did you come today?”[Zeros]
“Yes, well, I’m actually having problems making ends meet, so I was thinking if I could get you to teach me some alchemy… but it looks like you were busy.”[Iris]
“Ah, you come just in time, then. I received an escort request and I thought I’d invite you and your party, Iris-san. It’s better to have more hands on board, right?”[Zeros]
“An escort request? Are you guarding the lord?”[Iris]
“Well… Almost. It’s a bit different. Actually…”[Zeros]
He started talking about the contents of the request. The escort target was one of the lord’s sons – Zweit. Zeros was planning to participate as a guard in the Magic Academy’s combat drills, during which, he’d be protecting Zweit.
The issue was that each of the mercenaries would be guarding a different student, and he didn’t know if he’d be able to stay close to Zweit, the target of the request. Therefore, there was the need for some extra help.
The middle-aged magician had already planned to stay in close communication with each other and be able to rush to the scene at any time.
Iris and her party were to act as guards as well as Zeros’ eyes so he could be quickly informed of any attack. Fortunately, Iris’ detection skill was at a high level, while he was making a motorcycle to be able to quickly arrive at the scene.
“Mister… we don’t have a choice, do we? Did you accept the request knowing we were struggling?”[Iris]
“You’re free to refuse if you want. I know it’ll be dangerous, so I won’t force you. I’ll just bring the three strongest chickens.”[Zeros]
“Three of them… Then, aren’t we unnecessary if those chickens are going to be there?”[Iris]
“After the recent training sessions they’ve had, their levels have already hit the three-hundred mark. Makes sense considering they can evolve into Cockatrices. They even have high poison resistance. In a way, they’d very powerful guards. It’s just that…”[Zeros]
“Just what? Is there a problem? I mean, how? Aren’t they getting super strong!?”[Iris]
“They just love fighting way too much. They’d start attacking other monsters as if they were deliriant or something, so I think they’d forget about guarding.”[Zeros]
“They’re birds, after all. Bad memory and everything.”[Iris]
It wasn’t like the chickens would forget everything after walking three steps, but they did tend to lose sight of their surroundings when they were roused up.
Zeros only chose Iris and her party members to work with him simply as a way to compensate for that weakness. He casually invited them and wouldn’t think too deeply about it if they refused.
“By the way, what happened to the other two? I assume they must also be in dire straits, right?”[Zeros]
“Jane helping out Luceris, and Rena… she’s probably doing something somewhere…”[Iris]
“Yeah… she might indeed be doing something. You know, the other day I saw her coming out of an inn… with a few young boys.”[Zeros]
“She couldn’t control her super libido, right? We’re having it tough living by already. Just what the hell is she doing?”[Iris]
Leaving Jane aside, Rena was quite unrestrained. One could call it being faithful to her desires, albeit somewhat perverted as she’d rather have a fruit yet to mature over a ripe one.
Be that as it may, that was allowed to a certain extent – Men could marry at the age of fourteen while women at thirteen.
Due to being raised in the modern world, although Iris was old enough to marry, she felt like she wasn’t ready for it. She wanted to live her life freely, hence, she wasn’t thinking about the future for the time being.
Yet, there was an extremely annoying disease in this world that no amount of medicine could cure. It was like a behavior ingrained in the very core of living beings, and that, once triggered, not only it would go out of control, it could lead to social death.
“As I said the other time, it’s better to have a second job. This is not a game anymore. Reality is hard.”[Zeros]
“Yeah, I’ve already realized. Being able to use magic isn’t enough to survive in this world.”[Iris]
“It’d probably be better if you also knew how to make a couple magic tools on top of alchemy, as well. You can put support magic into magic stones, and once you get the knack of it, I think you could manage to produce magic tools fairly quickly and with a reasonable performance.”
“You can make a lot of stuff, right? But Mister, why don’t you use your skills to make money?”[Iris]
“If I did, there’d be a lot of bad stuff out there. Explosive, and explosives, and also explosives…”[Zeros]
“Only explosives!?”[Iris]
The Black Annihilator was pushing it close to being a terrorist. He could make as many magic tools that contained support magic as he wanted, but considering the historical context of this world, they’d be complete overkill. If that happened, he’d be immortalized in history.
In any case, he didn’t feel like making support items. On this occasion, however, he had no choice but to do it due to the nature of the request.
Still, he did like making joke items. For example, he once made an annoying item that had high defensive abilities but gave nasty curses at the same time.
In the game, one of his most used lines was, ‘well, choose. You can either get an item with outstanding performance and just as bad of a curse, or a trivial curse but with just as trivial of a performance.‘
His nickname was the ‘Laughing Peddler,’ or the ‘Shady Hawker.’ But, his true identity was said to be shrouded in mystery.
“Anyway, teach me how to compound something easy. I have some medicinal herbs but I don’t know what to do.”[Iris]
“That’s okay. A potion for wounds should be easy to make, and if you mix magic stone powder and inject some mana, its efficacy will increase. I think you could sell that for a generous price.”[Zeros]
“How much do you think?”[Iris]
“I don’t know the normal market price. I’ve never bought any sort of potion, I could just make them with my friends, so I’ve only sold them. Ever heard of the ‘Shady Hawker’?”[Zeros]
“I have! Was that you, Mister!? I heard he was selling some pretty weird and sinister items.”[Iris]
“Well, it was ‘we’, to be exact. We all shared the money to fund our other stuff. How nostalgic…”[Zeros]
Once again, the lack of common sense of the Annihilators came to light.
While having such an ordinary conversation, Iris asked the middle-aged magician how to compound medicinal herbs.
Incidentally, on that day, Iris learned the Compounding skill, which was part of the production skill tree. Since she was also a magician, once her compounding level went up, it’d eventually develop into alchemy.
Zeros started putting together the motorcycle while teaching Iris how to compound the potion for wounds, and he completed it by the time she managed to learn it.
At dusk, he took the bike out of his inventory and went out in high spirits. Naturally, for a test drive.
A middle-aged man became the wind.
Later rumors spread that a jet-black monster was rushing through the streets at super-high speeds, but Zeros had no way of knowing. He became a highway star, beating the wagons of peddlers and the fast horses of knights that were on the street at that time. The knights, thinking it was a monster, went after him, but no one could catch up with his bike. It went without saying, because the horsepower was extremely different, to begin with.
A jet-black whirlwind ran through the highway while laughing like an idiot.
As an aside, he realized halfway that the brakes didn’t work, and so, he had no other choice but to wait until it ran out of mana.
There was nothing he could do if he couldn’t stop the bike, so he could only laugh.
After, he said, “That was scary… No, really, I seriously thought I was gonna die.”
In the end, he walked home and arrived at the city by early morning. He walked all night from Far-flung forest to get home.
[1] 魔導錬成; from now on magic forging. The term 錬成 is more used in the sense of tempering/making smt stronger, but I don’t think it conveys the meaning of creating a whole item from scratch; beginning to end. Magic Smithing might sound cooler but the term in JP is not supposed to be strictly related to metalworking. I’m open to suggestions tho.
[2] 薬術調合師; I think I translated it as something else in a previous chapter. My bad I can’t remember which one, but I decided on Apothecary because that’s the name given in the JP version of Perfect World(thanks linguee reverse context), which certainly conveys the feeling of being a fantasy herbalist/doctor. This is the author’s own version of it, though, seeing as he added two extra kanji to the term, literally ending up as something like “Medicine Technique Compounding Expert”
[3] 魔封石; technically magic seal stone, but it’s more in the sense of a magic stoned sealed with something inside.
[4] ゲーム媒体; more specifically, it refers to the platform you play games on. I’m assuming the author had in mind something a bit more sci-fi like in SAO.
[5] 幾ら個人では強かろうと半人前なのだ。; Written as an old proverb, don’t know if the author was paraphrasing it or was just a rhetoric figure because I couldn’t find it verbatim on the internet. Still managed to find what it meant tho. seems like the last part is a common saying.
[6] a reference to that one yu-gi-oh 5d anime that I barely watched as a kid.
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichigeki_Sacchu!!_HoiHoi-san yeah, haven’t heard of it either
[8] Not sure I think it is because in the manga/anime/game she uses real guns?; だが、某段ボール内で戦った時点で、○イ○イさんは兵器の仲間入りする事を二人はまだ気づいていなかった。
