Chapter 3 - Charmer/ssǝɹdɯƎ
ǝɥ⊥
Part 1
- 「Oceande」…the underwater city where both the Seirens and Dhampir
reside.
It did not carry out trade with any other nation, being a truly self-providing
hermit country.
Being at the bottom of the sea, it cannot be reached through normal means.
And exactly because of this, a bunch of people came forth with abnormal
means.
Jibril parted the sea, and the place she teleported to was a tower high enough
to overlook the whole of Oceande.
The depth was about two hundred meters, and if that amount ofseawater
were to flow back in…
“Something like this would happen…”
Miko, who was standing behind Sora let out a sigh, and what she was looking
at was – the other side of the air bubble Jibril had created.
The sand and rocks at the bottom of the ocean were violently tossed and
turned as though they were in a gigantic blender.
No matter how powerfulJibril was, she would be unable to use violence due
to the limitations of the 「Oaths」.
If the 「Oaths」 did exercise their power, then no harm should have been
caused to anyone…
“…You’re sure that this won’t hit the city or anyone else, right?”
“No, not at all. The 「Ten Oaths」are absolute, so it’s fine. There won’t be a
problem… probably.”
Sora attempted to comfort himself as the tides calmed around him. The sand
settled, and the seawater became clear once again.
“- Oh, this really is something.”
“…Beautiful…”
Sora and Shiro spoke their thoughts regarding the huge and wide city below
them.
Completely different from how fairytale-like and simplistic Sora thought it
would be, it was really a great 「City」.
Immeasurable amounts of buildings that appeared to be built from stones from
the bottom of the sea stood side by side.
The walls that were giving off a pearly glow had shells and corals pasted on
them like bricks, creating wonderfully bright and fresh colors. Possibly due to
the buoyancy of the water, complex formations and reverse cone-shaped
buildings could be seen – which was when Sora spoke:
“…Hmm? Why isn’t everything blue?”
At the bottom of the sea, only blue rays of light from the sun should be able to
reach. The person to answer his question was Shiro.
“…Nii, it’s probably… those.”
Shiro pointed to the countless glowing seaweeds and jellyfish – completely
natural 「Streetlights」.
- It was no wonder that the city itself was glowing.
“Oh come on, don’t treat me like an idiot. Anyway, isn't this a great-looking
city?”
“…Hah, thanks for the compliment…”
Plum replied with a bitter smile that carried hints of defeat and humiliation.
“Because this place was built and maintained by the Dhampirs… haha…”
…Sora couldn’t find any words to say to her, and instead turned around.
Jibril, Izuna and Steph were surveying their surroundings curiously, while
Miko appeared as composed as ever.
And –
“- Sora-san…what is the meaning…of this…?”
Ino asked painfully, apparently impacted by the noise from their teleportation.
“I did adhere to your request since Izuna and Miko appear to be fine, so you
have to thank Jibrilfor this!”
“…Ah~ I have no problem with that, but could you just let me say
something?”
Miko looked at Sora, Shiro and Jibril in turn, and took a deep breath.
“- You people, there’s got to be a limit to your ignorance…”
“Eh?”
“…Is there…a problem?”
“Oh, does the carnivorous subgenus of a mutt have something to say?”
The three ignorant people tilted their heads in curiosity at once.
While the few with some common sense – Steph spoke loudly as though
representing Miko:
“P-parting the sea like that, no matter how you look at it it just seems like an
act of hostility doesn’t it!? So, how are you planning to get us to their queen
at this rate?”
“They invited us in the first place, and it was they as well who made us wait,
so since we’re running out of time and in a hurry we came here ourselves.
Considering Jibril’s hard work, they should be thanking us and receiving us
with song and dance, shouldn’t they?”
Miko and Izuna’s senses told them that Sora was spouting lies yet again, and
they shut their mouths half-heartedly.
The remaining Werebeast – Ino continued to rub his ears while moaning in
pain.
“…Ah~ about that don’t you worry… look over there.”
But as they heard Plum speak, everyone looked in the direction she was
pointing at once.
Countless people began darting out of the city and hurriedly began
proceeding in their direction.
- Females with the lower half of their bodies covered with scales and
resembling fish tails, and the upper half of their bodies human-shaped.
Their breasts were shielded with small wraps of cloth, and their necks and
hands had what appeared to be leftover jewelry on them.
Their resemblances were exactly the same as fairytale beings - 「Mermaids」.
“…Ah, so those are the Seirens? Great, luckily everything’s going as
planned.”
If the things that came out were beings like Cthulhu Sora would be more than
ready to flip tables, but he felt relieved at this development.
[14]
“G-guys look over there, all those people are panicking… they really must be
angry.”
Steph spoke uneasily while looking at the Seirens standing in front of their air
bubble, after which –
“Eh, eh…?”
Steph opened her eyes wide in shock.
The Seirens were gracefully swimming while spinning round and round in the
water, displaying their glittering scales.
Their incredibly colorful jewelry made of corals and pearls displayed on their
smooth, snow-white skin swayed about along with the current.
No fixed rhythm could be detected from their movements.
The glowing jellyfish were lit up by blue rays of light, the schools of fish of
varying colors, not to mention the mermaids gracefully swimming –
Such a dreamlike sight would attract anyone’s attention, which probably
meant –
“…Nii, this is their grateful and welcoming…dance.”
“- Apparently so… l-look here, Steph, didn’t I say there wasn’t a problem!”
“These people really are magnanimous as the ocean is deep…”
After a while, a Seiren that appeared to be wearing the most beautiful jewelry
swam forth –
She waved both her hands, and her mouth opened and closed randomly.
Observing her motions, Steph tilted her head, not understanding what was
going on, while Sora realized what was going on.
“We’re in the air Jibril created for us, and they’re out there in the water –
sound probably won’t travel.”
“Yeah… I’ll go explain and drink some blood along the way so I can use the
power from that to cast a spell that will allow all of you to breathe in the
water, so please remove this air barrier after that…”
As she finished her sentence, Plum immediately sprinted forward, broke
through the air bubble and swam into the water.
They glanced at her as she left.
“Even if we really are saviors of their species…”
“- They still welcomed us this warmly after the gates to their city were forced
open with an attack like that?”
Hearing Jibril and Miko’s whispers with sharp glances on their faces, Sora
laughed coldly as well:
“…The Seirens, are they really idiots? Or –“
Part 2
“Hello~ everyone~, hehe ☆ I am Her Majesty the Queen’s representative,
Amira~! Everything’s OK~ ☆”
They’re idiots.
Sora managed to swallow his blatantly honest thought.
After Jibrilremoved the air bubble, a Seiren had rushed up immediately.
「This Person」 who called herself Amira, if her words could be trusted – but
the scary part was they probably could be – she was the sole representative
over all the existing Seirens at the moment.
She had silky green hair, snow-white skin that was almost transparent, and
clear blue eyes.
She wore coral jewelry all about her, but she didn’t give off a vulgar air.
Considering she was a mermaid, it would probably be a legitimate form of
dressing, but her personality was –
“Thank you allfor coming specially, like really thanks a lot~ ☆ ~~~Really,
the only way I can express my feelings right now would be through a kiss~!
Fufu ☆ Right?”
“...No thanks, I’ll cherish your well wishes though…”
It wasn’t a matter of honorifics or anything like that, although what she spoke
could be considered as Imanity, everything about it was strange.
Sora and the others were gaping in shock, while Amira continued to swim
around busily.
“Even in the depths of the ocean, rumors of the conquests of both of you have
reached here as well~ ☆The miraculous king here to save the Imanity sounds
like an incredibly handsome person just by hearing about him, and your looks
suit Amira’s preference as well~!! Right ☆”
“…Oh, really?”
It was the first time that he was called handsome by a girl… but why was it?
He wasn’t happy at all… thinking of those miscellaneous things, Sora nodded
in agreement.
“Aha ☆ Your voice is so cool as well!! Amira’s so wet~ ah, because I’m in
the ocean~ hehe☆”
Sora glanced at Plum wordlessly, while she silently returned his gaze while
shaking her head in sadness.
Amira didn’t seem to mind that sort of attitude at all, and instead continued
with a smile plastered on her face:
“Oh~ we’ve prepared a feast, hehe ☆ Would you like to have the food?
Or•perhaps•have •me? ♥”
Amira shook her body in an attempt to seduce Sora.
While Ino accidentally revealed a lecherous expression on his face, and his
temperature rose –
“First let us see 「The Empress」, your welcome can wait until after that.”
Hearing Sora’s obvious rejection, Ino perked his ears up in surprise.
But Amira didn’t seem to mind.
“Ah, you really are as focused as they say ☆ But ifso Amira might like you
even more, you know ☆”
“…Really…anyway please lead us there.”
“OK~ ☆ So let’s swim into the city~ follow me, over here~ phew~ ♥”
With Amira leading the way, Sora and others descended the tower and
headed in the direction of Oceande.
Sora heard Ino speaking behind him.
“…Sora-san, it’s amazing that you could reject her so quickly.”
“Huh?”
“No, in the ocean even the senses of us Werebeasts will be limited, so I can’t
grasp Sora-san’s true intentions… but considering that even when being
seduced by such an attractive woman you still can remain composed, Sorasan,
do you have superhuman self-control –“
However Sora glared at Ino coldly in response, and he spoke as though
spitting:
“Old man, are you that desperate, even though I’m a virgin, what do you
expect me to feel about someone of that standard… let’s go, Shiro.”
“…Mm…”
Leaving behind the speechless Ino, Sora swam towards the city while
carrying Shiro –
Part 3
Immediately as they stepped into Oceande, they were welcomed by
extravagant cheers.
Every single Seiren had joyfulsmiles on their faces, and were dancing
seductively while playing completely out-of-tune music.
As for the language – there was probably no need for them to speak Imanity
anyway, as although they couldn’t understand the Seirens, they could
definitely sense their welcoming intent.
In the midst of the joyfully frolicking crowds of Seirens, what appeared to be
female Dhampirs could be seen occasionally.
Their facial expressions were in contrast with the Seirens, not all that different
from Plum’s.
Those were pitiful… tired smiles, and their expressions as they welcomed
Sora’s bunch seemed to say 「Thank you for coming this far」.
- In exchange for a constant source of blood from the Seirens, the Dhampirs
were to assist the Queen in reproducing.
Before their Queen was hibernating the two races were in a state of perfect
mutualism, but now their relations were like a candle in the wind – however –
“I’m curious, how can these people remain so cheerful and lively even when
their race is nearing extinction?”
Yes – leaving out the Dhampirs, the Seirens didn’t appear gloomy in the
slightest.
“- Didn’t I explain before … they completely don’t understand what is
happening to them.”
Plum replied with a weary smile, while Jibril continued:
“Because the Seirens are so incredibly dumb that their stupidity has reached
legendary status, and in the languages of all the nations the very mention of
their species have become synonymous to 「Idiots」, and even that term itself
has been used to refer to the 「Seirens」as well, even being used as verbs in
sentences.”
Sora and others walked along the sea floor with Amira leading them.
- Walking in water.
It didn’t feel like walking nor swimming, which caused Shiro to feel curious at
this new sensation, while Sora walked forward while carrying her just the
same.
Ino and Izuna, not to mention Miko – they truly were Werebeasts.
They had quickly mastered the act of walking under these circumstances, and
were bounding forward naturally.
Even when in the ocean Jibrilstill 「Flew around」.
“- Or should I say, Imanity are even more inferior to the idiot Seirens?”
To be perfectly honest, the ones there that were clearly unsuited to moving
underwater were obviously Sora and Shiro.
“Before I met my Masters, I would reply 「Yes」 - but to put it more
eloquently, they’re only ranked higher because they have special abilities, but
otherwise they’re a really stupid species.”
Jibrilspoke allsmiles, while Plum continued wearily:
“These people only know how to eat, sleep, have sex and play, nothing
more… fish do contain nutrition that can make people smarter, but the fish
themselves are rather stupid… isn’t it unbelievable?”
- This world really doesn’t have species that can get along with each other…
Sora thought and looked into the horizon.
“…That’s true… even their representative is someone like this.”
“No… the fact that Amira-sama can speak Imanity is already good
enough…”
Good enough - Sora looked towards Plum sympathetically.
When faced with Sora’s gaze, Plum’s expression immediately turned into that
ofsomeone that has accepted his/her fate and spoke:
“Because we’re all in the same boat… I sincerely plead Sora-dono and
others to help them find ways to solve this problem – even the ones that
suggested previous methods were Dhampirs… since the Seirens don’t have
any sense of urgency, they’re only good at mating… hahah… sigh…”
“…It’s really been hard on you…”
With Amira at the lead, they entered a particularly tall building in Oceande.
During the course of their journey, Sora raised a question that had come to
him suddenly.
“Speaking of mating, Jibril, the Seirens mate with males of other species
right?”
“Yes, you’re absolutely right.”
“The sixteen races don’t have any 「Hybrids」 between races?”
- Although Sora and Shiro were only in this world for a short period of time,
but regarding things like half-elves commonly seen in fictional worlds -
「Hybrids」, they had yet to hear of.
“That’s perfectly normal.” Jibrilreplied.
“The reason why they don’t exist is because although the sixteen races all
have certain similarities with each other, their souls are completely different.”
- Souls again?
「Souls」 that were yet to be proven to exist in Sora’s original world,
appeared to be commonplace knowledge in this one.
Those were probably something like chromosomes, Sora told himself, and
continued:
“But don’t the Seirens mate with other species? Won’t their offspring be
Seiren hybrids?”
“No, their offspring will be pure 「Seirens」.”
“Even though they are two different types ofsouls?”
“It’s just like how the Dhampirs absorb souls by drinking blood, Seirens
obtain souls from mating and carry out 「Metamorphosis」, creating their own
clones, so their methods of mating are even more ineffective than 「Living
beings」, sapping the other party dry in the process as well.”
“…That really is lethal.”
“Really? According to textualrecords – the act itself brings 「Joy paralleling
assumption」.”
“So they really go through assumption quite literally… and it’s a 「Journey of
no return」.”
But forget it – no matter how you put it.
“Because of that, to produce hybrids – to produce offspring carrying
characteristics of two different species is impossible.”
Sora thought for a moment, and figured – Tet probably let there be 「Sixteen
Races」 since they can’t produce hybrids.
“- Jibril, is there something on my face?”
Sora noticed that Jibril was staring at him intently.
“I think I’ve told you before that the Flügel aren’t 「Living beings」.”
“Yeah, you said that your species aren’t 「Living beings」 but 「Life」 right.”
“Yes, and it’s because of that that souls have no fixed shape, so as long as
you extract a part ofsomeone else’s soul and combine it with mine, you could
produce an offspring belonging to the other party’s species – it’s like physical
coitus, but in theory it’s still possible to transcend species and produce a
hybrid.”
“- I still don’t get what you’re trying to say.”
At this point she lowered her head reverently, moved her halo to the back of
her head, and folded up her wings –
This was a gesture of loyalty to her Master alone, and Jibril clasped her hands
together tightly and spoke as though a prayer:
“As long as Master wishes to have a child, the inferior Jibril is willing to do it
anytime –“
“…Jibril…shut up…”
Shiro’s razor-edged words, forced Jibril to shut her mouth.
“We’re~~~~ here~!”
Sora heard a loud and bright voice all of a sudden, and looked up.
“Sorry to keep you all waiting! This is the Empress’ room~ ♪”
Amira stretched out one hand and pushed open the door slowly –
- Light spilled out from the opening.
The Empress’ room was rather wide, and the carpets and atrium were pink.
Faintly glowing seaweeds were placed on the walls, and what appeared to be
decorative woven patterns lit up the room.
Painted glass was etched onto the tall ceiling, causing sunlight that had
reached the floor of the ocean to spill into the room.
Although the faint sunlight seemed unnecessary – as on the glowing throne
right below them, there was a gigantic, beautiful crystal glowing noticeably.
No, it was a pretty-looking transparent imitation crystal… a block of ice.
“-……”
Everyone was speechless when faced with that sight.
At this point Amira solemnly – or at least attempted to act solemnly –
announced:
“Now I will introduce to everyone… this is the Empress of the Seirens…
Leila•Lorelei-dono.”
- A beautiful woman was sleeping within the block of ice.
Wave-like blue hair fell on her youthfulface.
Her snow-white body was decorated with blinding strips of gold and the
lower half of her body had attractive scales on it.
Those scales reflected the light in the room, appearing extremely colorful.
The 「Empress」 ornamented in light and gold and encased within the coffin of
ice, silently sat on the bivalve throne with her eyes closed.
Plum and Amira were quietly discussing behind everyone who was still
speechless.
“A-Amira-sama… regarding them awakening the Empress… Sora-dono and
the rest said that they wish to challenge everyone here to a game… is that all
right?”
Hearing Plum’s words, Amira appeared momentarily troubled, but then she
replied:
“Alright, no problem☆ But do you have any issues over your side?”
“Nope… s-so I wish to get the help of about thirty people to help with the
spells involved.”
“Mm.” Amira nodded her head.
“OK ☆ So I’ll be off to make preparations for Her Majesty’s awakening~
☆ Since you want everyone to use magic at once, you’ll need blood right~
Hehe ☆ Amira will go get everyone else, so I’ll leave everything to Plum for
now ☆”
“Alright… t-then I’ll make preparations for the spell to enter Her Majesty’s
dream state…”
She took a bow and left the room with Amira.
- But everyone else didn’t seem to have noticed her departure.
They were merely focusing on the block of ice with the Empress sleeping
within.
“W-what a beautiful woman…”
Steph seemed to have forgotten that she was a woman herself, and
complimented her passionately.
When faced with her stunning appearance, no elaboration was needed for
Ino’s reaction, while Jibril, Miko and even Izuna felt the same way.
Their gazes were blindly attracted to her, but –
“Hmm…? Is she that pretty? Shiro?”
“…I…don’t really understand…”
“”What!~~~?”
Everyone else was stunned by their reactions.
“A-are the both of you not right in the head!? I-if this woman isn’t a beauty,
then who is!?”
“…You’re the one that needs to calm down, she’s not beautiful to the extent
where you have to be this shocked right?”
Faced with Steph’s protests, Sora merely spoke with his forehead wrinkled in
impatience.
He looked at the Empress once again.
- Leila Lorelei, the Empress of the mermaids asleep within a coffin of ice.
Her appearance was certainly beautiful.
But Sora could confidently say – she was 「Different」.
For example, her beauty was different from Jibril’s that could shame even a
work of art.
It was different from Miko’s bewitched, almost holy beauty under the
moonlight as well.
It was different from Izuna’s pure, untainted cuteness as well, not to mention
–
“…? Nii…?”
Sora looked beside him – at his confused-looking sister, and he confirmed his
thoughts.
“- She’s no contest at all, or should I say, even Steph is superior to her?”
“…F-flattering me that obviously, even I’ll get angry you know!?”
“No, what use is there even if I flatter you…”
Sora looked at her in irritation, while Ino patted him on the back.
“Sora-san, no, it’s fine, don’t worry.”
He continued kindly:
“Don’t worry about it at all – impotence is curable, I’ll take you to eat softshelled
turtle steamboat next time…”
“It’s not like that at all, stop ruining my reputation!!”
Sora pointed to the block of ice and yelled.
“Can you all calm down!! I’m not calling her ugly, but when compared to the
likes of Miko-san, Jibril, Izuna and Shiro, is she really something to fawn
over!? I mean what I say, everyone here are allsupreme beauties!!”
Steph and Ino continued to look at Sora pitifully, but –
Hearing Sora’s words, only Jibril and Miko came back to their senses.
“Amazing, Master… this is what I was referring to earlier, the Seirens’
「Ability」.”
“- Ah?”
Miko and Jibril tore their gazes from the block of ice, and Jibril continued:
“The Seirens don’t have special bodies or magic, but the fact that they’ve
managed to survive for this long can be attributed to their greatest and only
weapon, which is –“
Jibril took a deep breath.
“As long as they’re in the water – they have 「The ability to attract anything」.”
“The Seirens are a species that have received the blessings of the water – the
reason why they stay in the ocean and cannot leave it is because of the large
amount of Spirits in their bodies… 「Water Spirits」, and they can 「Attract」
all other spirits.”
“…Ah…”
“Ah, I see.”
Sora and Shiro nodded their heads in understanding, seeming to have
understood what was going on.
Before the 「Ten Oaths」, the Seirens reproduced by consuming males of
other species.
Since they didn’t have any superhuman strength nor any magic and couldn’t
leave the sea, how did they survive?
The answer was – they 「Seduce」 others and attract them.
This would explain why they could swim along with the fishes and could
withstand the water pressure of the deep sea without magic.
“Isn’t that like seduction magic?”
“Yes, to put it simply they control the movements ofspirits – something like
using magnets to attract them, which is the ability of their species… which
wasn’t something particularly important originally, but –“
Jibril glared over at the Empress, and once again averted her eyes.
“But, this mermaid over here – the amount ofspirits she possesses can be
considered an 「Anomaly」.”
Jibrilspoke unhappily as she was unable to resist the Empress’ charms.
While the other person who should’ve known what was going on as well –
Miko scratched her head with a helpless expression on her face.
Changing the subject –
“But… why doesn’t it work on the Masters?”
Jibril asked curiously.
“…Hmm…? Jibrilsaid it herself…we don’t have…spirits.”
“Yeah, you did say that, everyone in this world has spirits within them, but
Shiro and I don’t.”
When they had first met, to prove to her that they were from another world,
they had let Jibrilscan their bodies for spirits.
If their ability was to attract spirits like magnets, the fact that it didn’t work on
Sora and Shiro should have been obvious, but –
“No, as long as there are souls, there should be spirits presents. Maybe
Master’s spirits are too faint for me to detect, or maybe your spirits are
undetectable – but ifso, why would there be no effect – this is strange.”
Jibril muttered to herself, with her interest once again returning to Sora and
Shiro, and she looked at them excitedly.
- While Ino who was standing beside her spoke:
“Or is it simply because Sora-san can’t get erect as a man?”
“You shut the hell up, old man, you only think about the lower halves of the
body, don’t you, but I am a man of reason.”
“Sorry to keep you all waiting~!”
- Plum and Amira returned noisily.
Was the spell to enter the Empress’ dream state ready?
The two of them approached the block of ice where the Empress was
sleeping.
“So now we’ll use Plum’s magic to let you all into Her Majesty’s dreams.”
That cheerfulsmile was still on her face.
Amira nonchalantly continued:
“To all of you who wish to awaken the Empress, please 「Swear to the
Oaths」 and bet all that you have, then touch the crystal~”
-……
“Huh? Hey, what did you say?”
Steph broke the silence and asked.
Amira replied with another question in shock:
“Eh? Is there a problem?”
“Of course there’s a problem, what are you talking about!?”
…Bet all that you have?
Does that mean in the sense where the person’s wealth, identity, freedom, life
– everything is put on the line?
“Is there a need for that? We came to help you upon your request!!”
“Sigh~ Plum, did you bring them here without telling them everything?”
“Um… I’m sorry…”
Amira prodded her cheek with a troubled expression on her face, while Plum
insistently apologized.
While the one that interrupted them was –
“Calm down, Steph, you’re the one that doesn’t understand.”
Sora’s tone was calm as always.
Seeing how calm he was, Steph turned around and observed everyone’s
reactions.
Not just Sora and Shiro – but Miko, Jibril, Ino and even Izuna had
expressions of understanding on their faces.
“We were invited here to – awaken the Empress through the 「Empress’
Game」, right?”
“The third of 「The Ten Oaths」 states that in games, wagers will be made on
what both parties decide to be of value – while the Empress 「Swore on the
Oaths」 to hibernate, since the requirements of the 「Game」 to awaken her is
to make her fall in love with the other party, a 「Bet」 of equal value is needed
for her love – right?”
“Completely right, handsome man, not only your appearance, but your brain
is handsome as well!”
Amira laughed and nodded her head in agreement, but –
Only Sora had noticed, which was when Miko and Shiro revealed thin smiles
on their faces.
Steph who hadn’t noticed still couldn’t agree.
“T-that sort of thing is just too weird –“
- She continued to question them.
“They’re the ones that are on the brink of extinction, we’re here to help, so
why do we have to face that kind of risk!?”
Sora replied as relaxed as ever.
“Plum did say earlier, to interfere with relationships and dreams should’ve
been impossible under the 「Ten Oaths」, it was only possible because the
Empress agreed on it – but her agreement is merely within the game itself.”
- Which is to say –
“If we don’t begin the 「Empress’ Game」, allsorts ofspells wouldn’t be able
to be used, so there would be no other way to awaken her, and to obtain the
rights to play a game against her, the 「Bet」 she requires is –“
Sora looked over at Plum and Amira and spoke in a joking tone:
“「If you want my love you must have the drive to sacrifice everything!」…
something like that right?”
Steph remained stunned, while everyone else appeared defeated.
Only Amira continued to ramble on.
“Co~rrect~ an~swer! Ah~ I really don’t want to give you to the Empress,
are you sure you don’t want to be with me instead?”
Ignoring Amira, Sora spoke:
“Anyway since we have magic that will allow the Empress to fall in love with
us, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Y-yes! I can confirm it, leave everything to me!”
“S-something like that – what if the magic doesn’t work!?”
Steph still couldn’t lose her sense of apprehension, but –
“Just leave that to Amira~”
Amira spoke clearly:
“Even if you guys can get into the game successfully, the Empress in charge of
the bets is still hibernating, so her possessions will be in my care! If the magic
doesn’t work I’llreturn everything, so there won’t be any risk ♪”
“No, that sort of verbal promise –“
Sora interrupted her mid-sentence.
“OK, there’s no problem – let’s begin the game.“
Steph felt something was amiss.
She felt that something wasn’t right somewhere, why would such high-risk
conditions only be mentioned now?
Steph looked at Sora, why didn’t Sora feel any suspicion about the entire
affair?
This wasn’t like the usual Sora, to accept such a suspicious-sounding game –
Steph once again surveyed her surroundings.
Aside from her, everyone else didn’t seem to have any queries, and didn’t
have anything to say.
(W-what’s going on…? What’s happening here?)
Plum then began explaining the rules of the game.
“So – after all of you bet everything you have, please 「Swear on the
Oaths」and touch the block of ice… after which the Dhampirs under the
platform and I will cast a spell and lead all of you into Her Majesty’s
dream… to perform the 「Love Magic (cheat)」 I’llfollow you as well…”
Plum began planning out the spell accordingly while explaining at the same
time:
“Since it’s a dream, the surroundings can be set according to whatever all of
you want… so – Sora-dono will decide right? I will try and go according to
Sora-dono’s imagination and construct Her Majesty’s dream
correspondingly… no matter the situation – the victory condition remains.”
Sora helped Plum continue her sentence:
“As long as someone makes the Queen fall in love with him and awaken her it
will be a 「Victory」, but if you get dumped it will be considered a 「Loss」-
while the loser will leave the game and give away 「Everything」 according to
the bet – so we just have to swear to the oaths along the lines of this right?”
“Y-yes… b-but…”
Sora interrupted her in understanding:
“I get it, we have Plum’s love magic (cheat), and even if we lose we can just
get everything back from Amira – that’s what you were planning to say right?
Take it easy.”
Sora smiled fearlessly.
Steph sensed something amiss about that smile, however, while Sora
continued:
“With our current lineup and the conditions provided the possibility of us
losing is zero, so hurry up and start the game already.”
“A-alright – so Sora-dono, please imagine how you want the dream world to
be like, and then –”
Hearing her words, Sora began imagining it.
As long as dating games were mentioned, he wouldn’t make the normal kind.
“Please swear to the oaths!”
“ - 「Aschente」!”
Sora, Shiro, Steph, Jibril, Miko, Ino, Izuna and Plum.
As all of them spoke that single word at once, their surroundings turned white.
◇◇◇
◆◆◆
◇◇◇
- After which it turned from white to blue instantly.
As though just waking up from a dream, they slowly regained their
consciousness.
Throughout their lethargic bodies, blood began circulating normally, their
senses returned to them, and –
“Aaaaahhhpfffffftttt!?”
- They were drowning.
In the middle of the sea, Sora and Shiro, Izuna, Ino and even Miko were
being tossed around by the waves.
They could only smell the burning odor of the tides, and pain assaulted the
deepest parts of their nostrils.
As their calm thoughts were being flung into a distance – a video began
playing within their subconscious.
“-With every end there is a beginning-“
There were overly flashy special effects, and sound effects that sounded like
stars collapsing.
A narrator that sounded like it was reading off a script continued blandly.
“There are meetings and there are separations –“
“THIS ISN’T THE TIME TO BE PLAYING THE OPENING CREDITS,
RIGHT!?”
Sora struggled to raise his head above the water level, and roared angrily.
“Which bloody universe’s version of 「Toki〇 Memorial」 starts with the
protagonist drowning? My heart isn’t exactly beating hard right now!”
[15]
No, their hearts were beating violently.
But Sora didn’t want to use the term 「Heartbeat」 to describe the dying
throes of one’s heart when faced with a life-threatening situation.
“Ah, s-sorry… I confused Sora-dono and Her Majesty’s imaginations of
what the dream world should be like, it takes time to create the scene…
please wait a while more…”
Thinking closely, this was rather unavoidable.
Since they were able to interfere with the Empress’ dreams, this world
couldn’t have a 「Schoolyard setting」 like in Sora’s world.
Of course, Sora’s imagination needed to be combined with the Empress’
knowledge, and –
“…Nii…I lived…a good life…”
“Plum~! My sister’s already giving up on survival, so hurry up already~~!”
Shiro closed her eyes with a blissful expression on her face, while Sora
hugged her and yelled loudly.
“- Ah, ah, the spell is complete, I’ll construct the setting now!”
- In an instant.
The original 「Setting (scene)」 of them drowning in the ocean was removed,
and changed immediately like flipping the pages of a book.
The 「Stage」 switched from the ocean itself to the sea floor, and unnecessary
「Settings」 like breathing were removed.
Like flipping over poker cards face down one by one, various changes to
make the game run smoothly were implemented, and the dream world was
able to accept 「Unreasonable」 settings.
“- Master, are you alright?”
Hearing Jibril’s loud cries, Sora returned to his senses – not realizing that he
was now on solid ground.
“…T-that was…horrifying…”
In the clear blue ocean, Sora spat out 「a single breath」, and wiped off 「the
sweat on his brow」.
Shiro was shivering in fear due to nearly drowning early, and Sora hugged her
while complaining dissatisfiedly.
“The game hadn’t even started and we were already facing a death end, can
you please not use that sort of weird plot settings here?”
“…I still…hate the ocean…”
“The 「Sea」 that caused the Masters harm… it appears there is a need to
remove it completely.”
“Wouldn’t it be fine if you were to just learn to swim…”
At this point, Steph who appeared to be the only relaxed one spoke with her
eyes half open.
But Miko and others beside her – all the Werebeasts in frustration – agreed
with Jibril’s words.
“…Yeah, who cares about the ocean, who created these weird puddles
anyway?”
“I have to agree with Jibril-san for once, just let the sea dry off already.”
“Also the sea is so stinky… if only the sea could just disappear and leave
behind all the fish.”
Everyone had completely entered the dream, and even though they were
cursing, they were gradually returning to their usual calm selves.
- Sora, Shiro, Steph, Jibril, Miko, Ino and Izuna.
They stepped on the floor individually, and the 「Setting (scene)」 in front of
them constructed slowly.
Even though they were at the bottom of the sea the sky could be seen, and
clouds were moving about on the water’s surface.
The uneven terrain was re-flattened, and 「School buildings」 appeared on the
sea floor originally filled with rocks and corals.
The schools of tropicalfish swimming around them gradually transformed into
nameless normalstudents (NPC).
In the blink of an eye a virtualstage known as the 「Underwater school」 was
built.
That was a 「High school」 built in the same style as the other buildings around
Oceande –
Glancing at their surroundings, beside Sora –
“What shocks me is that Her Majesty actually knows about 「Schools」… did
she read about them in books?”
Plum who had appeared to have snuck into the game (dream) successfully,
spoke.
Understanding the meaning behind Sora’s glance, Plum smiled wearily, and
explained bitterly.
“Haha… Oceande doesn’t have anything like schools… what would those
people need to learn anyway.”
As the scene around them stopped changing, Sora and others began showing
changes instead.
First – countless signs lit up, entering their field of vision.
“…? What is this?”
Steph wanted to touch the signs that appeared, but grabbed air instead, and
Sora explained:
“That’s the UI (User Interface)… the 「Command Selection Screen」.”
- It was exactly like a status screen in a standard dating simulator.
It brought back memories, like the title screen of 「Toki〇 Memorial」, but
Sora complained instead:
“…Since you could generate something like this this perfectly, then you
shouldn’t have let us drown in the first place.
“Because this only causes any effect on the players… when the scenes are
being constructed, it’s actually the process of combining Sora-dono and Her
Majesty’s memories, something that took us quite a lot of effort to do, but –“
Plum spoke in shock all of a sudden:
“Where did Sora-dono get your information? I’ve never seen anything like
that before.”
Plum didn’t know that Sora came from another world, and indicated curiosity
at how he was able to imagine such things – but Sora merely ignored her.
“Speaking of which since what you’re doing is reflecting the imaginations of
the players, the settings should be rather easy to change right?”
“Ah, yes, because the spell is being constructed… so as long as Sora-dono
wishes it anything can be changed.”
Plum continued:
“But one’s appearance, age and sex are unchangeable… please take care.”
- The Empress was hibernating in wait of a 「Prince」.
Ifshe were to fall in love only to realize that the person that had awoken her
was completely different from the character in her dream, like a photo scam –
she would probably resume hibernation.
They didn’t have any problem with that, but what was important was:
“Since we can change our names, please set my name as 「Ko〇man」.”
“…Nii, setting all base stats…to 573 is cheating…”
[16]
Facing his sister’s accusing gaze with her eyes half open, Sora shook his hand
while chuckling in denial.
“Using official cheats are technically allowed according to the rules, and also if
this cheat is used as long as you perform any actions you will be afflicted with
neurosis, causing you to miss the entire first year and all the flags in it… so it
does have its negative side effects!” (TL note: See what I mean by negative
stats?)
“…Then Shiro will… use the name「Se〇ponume」.”
[17]
“Um… is there any particular reason for that…?”
As they were conversing – Sora and others’ appearances changed according
to Sora’s imagination made reality by the spell.
Sora’s dressing was merely an extra uniformed suit over his usual T-shirt
saying 「I ♥Humans」.
“…Oof, this clothing is rather stuffy.”
Wearing a male school uniform as well – a ninety-eight year old man with
bulging muscles spoke beside him.
“…A uniform that bulges tightly due to overly large muscles…I think I’m
going to have nightmares tonight.”
Sora spoke while averting his gaze from hell(Ino) over to heaven
(playground) – which was essentially the female members of their posse.
Shiro who was standing on the other side of him wasn’t wearing her usualfull
black uniform – but instead a brightly colored female uniform.
- Maybe because it was mixed in with the Empress’ impressions as well, it
was a sailor uniform slightly more revealing than Sora had expected it to be.
And around her were Izuna, Jibril and Miko who were wearing the same
uniforms –
“…Miko-san’s sailor uniform, really does look amazing…”
“Do you have something to say about it?”
Stroking her long golden hair, Miko spoke while wearing a sailor uniform
identical to Shiro’s.
Her twin tails lifted her skirt slightly as they shook about, and her beautiful
legs underneath were extremely attractive, but –
“…Miko-san, how old are you?”
“Didn’t anyone tell you that asking for a lady’s age is extremely rude?”
“Oh, right… speaking of which the one that created the Eastern Federation
was Miko-san right?”
Miko’s ears twitched slightly.
“You kept saying things like since you were matured or whatever, Izuna’s
eight years old but she’s already matured, while the Eastern Federation
prospered rapidly within fifty years (half a century) – even when you leave out
the time taken to take care of the entire Eastern Federation, you at least have
to be about fifty-eight –“
“Let me give you a piece of good news OK? Imanity (bald monkey).
Werebeasts – especially in their 「Blood Devastation」 form, age extremely
slowly.
Miko interrupted Sora’s accurate deduction, and spoke with a dazzling smile.
- After which a dangerous smile appeared on her face, and she spoke clearly:
“If you dare to call me 「Auntie」, you know what will happen, don’t you ♥”
“- Phew… and I was the one about to tell Miko-san some good news.”
Sora met her smile head on, and replied:
“Looks are everything! Miko-san gives off an air like she’s older than she
actually is because of her actions and tone of voice, but appearance-wise you
look no older than a beautiful twenty-year-old lady –which means actual age
is no more than a title, which is what we Imanity believe.”
“…That is what you believe.”
Despite clearly hearing Steph’s words, Sora excellently ignored her, and
pointed beside him.
“Also there’s someone here who is 「Over six thousand years old」, so there’s
nothing to worry about right?”
“Ah, Master, to be precise I’m 「Six thousand four hundred and seven」 years
old.”
Jibril who was looking at her garb curiously since earlier, replied with a smile
on her face.
Her shirt was lifted up slightly by the wings on her waist, revealing a short
snatch of bellybutton, while the rest can be omitted.
On the other hand –
“…Speaking of which, may I ask a question?”
“Hmm – is there a problem? Steph.”
“Why am I the only female along with you and Ino – that’s wearing male
clothes?”
- That was true.
Shiro, Jibril, Miko and Izuna.
They were all wearing sailor uniforms, but only Steph was – wearing a male
uniform identical to Sora and Ino’s.”
Sora nodded his head meaningfully, and explained his reasoning.
“Good question – this is what is known as 「To kill a general, first shoot his
horse」.”
“…What?”
Sora spoke with a serious expression, and everyone’s eyes were on him.
“- First, there are 「Two」 reasons why I didn’t let everyone wear male
clothing.”
Sora continued while lifting up a single finger.
“First, if we’re going to conquer the female lead, I want to have help from her
friends – the girls.”
“…You really say all these dastardly things without hesitation.”
Miko spoke her thoughts on everyone else who was glaring at Sora coldly.
However Sora ignored her and raised another finger:
“Secondly – I considered the possibility that a trap like the Empress 「Never
was interested in men」 in the first place might exist.”
“…I did say earlier that the Empress was looking for a fertile male…?”
“There’s insufficient evidence to prove that.”
Sora rebutted Plum who objected while staring daggers at him as well, and
continued:
“Next up is the reason why I let specifically Steph wear male clothing – Steph
has strong communication skills, so she can be our scout for information.”
If they were only looking at political power, Miko could be a stand-in for her
as well.
But according to Sora’s instinct, Steph was the correct choice as she could
make friends easily.
“I want a male comrade that has the socialskills and ability to collect
information like Saotome-kun – but…”
[18]
Sora turned to Steph and sighed.
“…But compared to Saotome, you’re more of a… someone like Ijuuin…”
[19]
“- What? I don’t really understand…”
- A redhead with rather proper looks.
She looked like a rather high-classed handsome teenager – the male-dressed
Steph tilted her head in confusion.
Her attitude was nonchalant as she hadn’t particularly noticed her
appearance, but she was proficient in both physical ability and studies, even
being a decent homemaker.
She had socialskills, a drive to get things done – and had a set of determined
blue eyes.
And deep in her eyes, one could even get a glimpse at her overwhelming
gentleness and resilient personality – she was quite literally a model teenager.
- To be honest.
Sora wanted to punch her, as she was the enemy of unpopular people (the
world) – once again glancing at her riajuu appearance, Sora sighed.
[20]
“…Ijuuin? Who’s that?”
“…It’s first-gen… don’t bother about it…”
[21]
“…Speaking of which, how about we not bother about Gramps over here
and just let Steph go talk to the girls?”
“What? No, for me to go talk to the girls – and about that… S-Sora and I –“
“…Ah, it appears the spell is complete.”
Part 4
“Hmm, so let’s play the opening cutscene all over again – after which I’ll
infiltrate the Empress’ subconscious.”
Following Plum’s announcement, a giant screen appeared in the middle of the
air.
The badly made advertising clip that had just played in their minds once again
made an encore accompanied with relaxing background music.
Following the narrator’s descriptions, after photos of the school buildings and
classrooms were shown on screen, the image cut to the courtyard, where a
giant madder-red colored piece of coral that seemed to have branches
extending in all directions was shown with the camera angle slightly tilted.
The narrator explained calmly.
“Marinal Kagayaki High… there is a legend that as long as one confesses
under the magical coral, one will acquire 「True Love」.”
[22]
Hearing these recycled words, Sora complained with his eyes half-opened:
“…Hey, I wouldn’t care if it was like a magical tree or something, but what
the hell is a magical coral…?”
To confess under an ancient tree was somewhat understandable.
Confessing in the midst of bells ringing or on a slope with Sakura blossoms
blowing around would be acceptable as well.
But no matter how you think about it, 「Under the magical coral」 just seems a
bit too over-the-top, don’t you think?
“Even if you say that I can’t do anything about it… there aren’t any trees in
the ocean…”
- Speaking of which stuff like corals would probably look disgusting up close.
The opening cutscene continued to play, disregarding Sora’s inner thoughts
and protests.
- After a while.
The boring narration ended, and pop music began playing.
Under the pink-colored 「Magical coral」, a mermaid with blue hair flowing
along with the waves appeared.
- The empress.
The uniform-wearing empress – Leila swam quietly under the giant red coral
as though dancing.
Her colorful uniform covered up her firm body that was shaking from side to
side unpredictably in the water brought out her naturalsexiness and charisma
even more, and the very action of her scaly tailsticking out from her short
skirt while flapping about in the water was attractive.
The Empress’ eyes carried a hint of melancholy, and she stretched her hand
out to the sky as though earnestly waiting for something –
“La - ♪”
She began singing.
- Upon hearing her voice, everyone simultaneously inhaled sharply.
“Ah…!”
“Oh, this is… she really is a beauty, even her voice is exceptional.”
Steph and Ino began praising her.
An Empress that could bewitch anyone through a single glance.
Her beautiful voice brought a sensation to the listener’s soul that was almost
like taking drugs.
…Except for Sora and Shiro.
Sora and Shiro stared at the screen in boredom.
“Even I’m beginning to think that there’s something wrong with our taste…”
Ignoring her voice for now –
The song and video that was playing were completely mismatched with her
sensual actions and melancholic expression.
But before that, the Empress wasn’t suitable to wear sailor uniforms at all
because she’s too sexy.
It was like a thirty-year-old woman (laugh) pretending to be a female high
schoolstudent –
“Well it’s true that everyone’s preferences are different… but you want me to
conquer her?”
I can’t seem to get excited… Sora took a small breath.
■「The First Day」■
- All of a sudden, the words 「The First Day」 appeared in front of everyone.
Sora and Shiro were undoubtedly already used to it, but Plum continued to
explain it to the others.
“Um, I believe a few 「Commands」 should have appeared in front of
everyone, if you use those you can perform specific actions… like giving
presents and things like that.”
Hearing Plum’s explanation, Sora tilted his head in curiosity instead.
“It’s like that in theory, but this is a realistic romance game right? So there
shouldn’t be a hidden affection meter…”
“…Nii.”
As Sora was complaining, Shiro quickly passed something to him.
“…Command…present…Nii, did your affection gauge rise?”
Shiro’s eyes appeared to be expecting something, while Sora smiled bitterly
and replied:
“Sorry, sis, my affection for you is already at maximum levels, so even if you
try nothing will –“
“So Master, if you allow me to, I will –“
Jibril gave him a gift as well.
Plum looked away from them and continued her expression.
“Also…among the commands displayed, there should be two heart shapes as
well.”
Everyone carried out individual confirmations and found them almost
immediately.
It was in the lower-half corner of a screen with multiple signs on it.
There was a normal heart shape and another heart shape with a 「+」marked
on it.
“That heart is the confession command…it’s up to you how you wish to
confess, but if you choose this and get 「Dumped」, it will be regarded as a
「Loss」… while the one with a + on it is…”
“Your 「Love Magic」 right – a cheat command right, OK, I think I’ve got
it… yep.”
Sora had figured out the system since earlier, and turned towards Ino.
“So Gramps, since you’ve married thirty wives, the amount of people you’ve
slept with must be more than that right? So how about you use those skills
that even Ka〇 Taka can’t beat to quickly conquer the Empress and get her
heart.”
[23]
“The way you put it is rather displeasing…”
Ino wrinkled his forehead, but after that –
“I’m looking forward to your lover’s skills that seem to be your pride,
Hatsuse Ino.”
“…Good luck Grandpa, des.”
“Yes! As Miko-sama orders…!”
Hearing the two women’s encouraging words, Ino replied respectfully and
turned towards Sora.
“…But Sora-san, I was quietly listening to you since earlier, all that stuff
about shooting generals and horses, helpers, scouts for information and others
seems pretty hard to comprehend.”
“…What?”
Sora replied with his forehead wrinkled, and Ino shrugged his shoulders and
continued:
“…Could it be that Sora-san believes that ignoring women’s preferences and
forcing one’s own preferences onto them – even stooping to the point of
changing one’s appearance to suit them is 「Love」?”
…He got me, Sora thought.
“To be precise, that’s how it is in a 「Romance Game」.”
Noticing that Sora was unable to answer, Ino looked at him solemnly.
“Phew… so that’s how it is, it was a good idea after all to leave it to me after
all, it seems that just like how being good at fighting games doesn’t make one
a good fighter, mastering romance games doesn’t allow one to talk about real
romance and love.”
- He was right, but Sora somehow felt angry as he realized that his selfconfidence
probably came from the fact that he’d slept with many women.
“Sora-san do you know why you’re a virgin – an unpopular, antisocial,
incurable man now?”
“…Old man, don’t make me get Jibril to teleport you to the ends of the
universe.”
Ino didn’t appear to be the slightest bit threatened by Sora’s devilish glare.
“Some say that 「Love is the art of reading hearts」- ifso, why can’t Sora-san
do it?”
“…Hmm?”
- If it was 「Reading hearts」.
Then Sora who was way above himself (Ino) should be able to do it.
Ino’s words carried absolute confirmation at Sora’s ability with it as well,
leaving Sora speechless.
“I see, there are many different ways to love, but… the end result is always to
「Convey one’s feelings to the other」, and –“
Ino stared at Sora sharply.
- His eyes didn’t carry any hint of condescension.
It wasn’t a look ofsarcasm, hate, pity, nor underestimation.
It was a look that Sora – knew all too well.
With the look in his eyes that Sora never wanted to see again in his original
world – Ino continued:
“The words spoken by a liar that lives on mountains of lies do not have the
power to convey one’s feelings at all!”
No doubt about it, it was – a look of 「Distrust」.
“But, it’s true, if it really is about reading hearts, there’s only one way, which
is –“
Ino spoke while glancing towards his own command screen.
“「Seize the upper hand」.”
Unhesitatingly choosing the 「Confession Command」- Ino dashed forward.
“”Eh-!?””
Leaving behind Sora and others who were stillfrozen in shock –
Using his physical ability as a Werebeast to the fullest, Ino launched a surprise
attack with a blinding speed.
His footsteps even caused loud booming noises, while his eyes were focused
only one thing.
Which was the Empress that was about to step into the school gates – Leila.
Ino yelled at the figure that was being surrounded by several NPCs:
“The pretty lady over there! Please wait!”
His voice was like a knight reporting his name on the battlefield, and hearing
his booming voice, the Empress turned around slowly.
Her sapphire colored eyes spotted Ino – and she replied:
“Are you talking about me…?”
- Those few words alone were like a force of nature.
“…! Of course!”
For a moment, Ino forgot he was in a game.
Every word, sentence, action, and smile of the beauty in front of him was
melting his soul.
But he shook his head in self-warning, and focused his strength at his
abdomen.
[24]
- There wouldn’t be a problem if he was to fall in love with her, or more
appropriately, he needed to fall in love with her.
He clenched his jaw and focused his energy with a determined look in his
eyes.
- But he couldn’t be consumed; he needed to consume the other –
“Oh beautiful lady, please forgive me for interrupting you suddenly, if it’s
convenient for you – I would like you to hear a few words of mine.”
“Ah – and what would those words be?”
The Empress smiled sweetly.
Ino’s heart felt like it was being grabbed onto tightly just from those words.
He wanted to forget everything – at least, he was tempted to.
The Empress’ eyes, the Empress’ voice, the Empress’ expression, her snowwhite
neck.
The angle at which her fingers touched her breasts unintentionally, the
shadows created by her waving hair –
Those things, he considered them priceless treasures…!
- Ino thought, there was a possibility –
The previous challengers were all consumed by the Empress’ beauty and
were unable to even confess.
She had that standard of beauty, a radiance that was almost violent in nature.
In conclusion, in front of this woman, a normal young man wouldn’t even be
able to open his mouth.
But Ino… replied with a smile.
- He wasn’t at ease; he was already at his limit.
Love isn’t about reading hearts – yes, love is a battle.
The action of 「Laughing」 was an act of war.
- It originated from how beasts would bare their jaws at their pray.
Ino calmly, carefully, solemnly kneeled on the ground.
- Love.
He raised his two palms towards the heavens and beat them on the ground
violently as though in prayer.
- The so-called love.
He looked at the girl with a powerful gaze – it wasn’t a threat, but a silent
declaration of war.
- Must be won with one’s own hands.
He clasped his hands that were plastered onto the floor onto his knees, and
pressed his forehead sharply down onto the concrete, head, bones and all…!
- It was …
Impeccable.
A glorious –
“Please! I beg you to spend a passionate night with me -!”
- He kneeled and kowtowed.
-…
“”-What!?””
- Whose voices were those?
Or were those possibly everyone’s voices?
Sora and others didn’t need mentioning, as even the Empress was frozen in
shock, however Ino continued, ignoring everyone else!
“Since the first time I saw you, my heart has been boiling like lava, please
look! My sword is hard and erect like steel-!!”
“Eek…”
The Empress breathed sharply, and backed away continuously with a
flustered expression.
While Ino increased his volume, and pressed his attack…!
“Oh, please forgive me, dear Empress of the ocean! It’s all because you’re
too beautiful! Since the first time I saw you, I’ve been having this overflowing,
unstoppable urge to hold you and penetrate you! Please forgive my burning
feelings!”
“It’s a straight-up kowtowing strategy that doesn’t give the other party time to
back down at all- !?”
Sora felt a sense of immense trepidation.
Was this the sure-win tactic of a man that has married thirty women!?
As the surrounding atmosphere dropped to absolute zero temperatures, Ino’s
passionate kowtowing strategy was still being carried out in full.
“Please! I beg you! Please carry out intercourse with me! Please have
passionate intercourse with me!”
“Eh? No, wait, um… that…”
Since she had begun hibernating, the Empress’ dreams had been interrupted
countless times, and she had received countless confessions as well.
Even ifshe was really an Empress that had rejected allsorts of men, it was
probably her first time receiving such a direct confession. She hurriedly
attempted to run towards the school blocks.
But -!
“Please wait!”
(Grasps)
Ino’s muscular hand grabbed onto the Empress’ arm, stopping her in her
tracks.
“No, hey, let go -!”
“I’m not going to! I won’t let go! I want you to feel the beating of my heart,
the burning heat of my loins! My body is old and insignificant, but I will make
you satisfied even if it costs me my life!!”
“Noooooooooo!?”
- They were speechless.
It was literally a crime – no, what was occurring in front of them was an act of
complete pervertedness.
If a temperature below absolute zero existed, Sora and others spectating
would definitely feel like they were in it.
“…No, but…”
Sora who was watching the events unfold from a safe distance asked Miko
nervously:
“Did that old man use this method to get himself thirty wives…?”
“…No, I don’t know, why are you asking me?”
“No, unless those methods when used on Werebeasts actually…”
(How could it possibly work!? I’m not even there and I feel like refusing
myself!!)
“No, wait, let go of me! I said let go of me!!”
The Empress began crying out mournfully, and finally managed to shake off
Ino’s grasp.
After which she turned, cut through the crowds and disappeared into the
school blocks with her tailflailing about.
“Please wait, Empress! EMPREESSSSSS!!”
Ah…ah… -
Ah… -
…Ah –
Ino’s mournful cries echoed in the clear blue ocean – and disappeared
suddenly.
The rejected Ino lay motionless, appearing extremely depressed.
- Seeing his current state, everyone else had the word ‘Disappointment’
engraved in their hearts.
“…He can’t make it anymore right?”
“…”
- No one bothered to rebut Sora’s words.
“…B-but that doesn’t count as being dumped yet, doesn’t it?”
Ino did kneel down in pursuit of her love earlier, but the Empress didn’t
officially reject his love.
So according to the system, the game – the dream should still continue…
Regarding Sora’s question, Plum replied somewhat hesitantly:
“…Before that, I think the real problem is whether that sort of action should
be considered as a confession or not…”
Hearing Plum’s words, Sora nodded and said:
“- Anyway, let’s have some fun normally, select command…「Leave the
school」.”
“…Nod.”
“…Why did you people choose this setting anyway?”
However, no one bothered to answer Miko’s question…
■「The Second Day」■
Immediately after they woke up, the date and the 「Attend School」
commands appeared in front of them.
As they selected the command, the scene immediately changed.
When they returned to their senses – Sora was already walking on the way to
school with Shiro.
The activities that they had all done so far – eat breakfast, change into their
uniforms, get out of the house.
Those were completely shortened out, and their memories of actually doing
those tasks merely remained fuzzily in their heads.
“…Nii, good morning…”
“Good morning…since in this game we’re under the 「Sibling Setting」 as well,
we’re allowed to be together from morning.”
Not to mention that they were set to be in the same grade.
An eighteen-year-old and an eleven-year-old in the same grade – it could be
somewhat dismissed as a result of continuous grade-hopping.
Just like that, as Sora, Shiro and the NPCs were going to school together,
someone called out to Sora from behind.
“- Ah, Sora, g-good morning.”
“Oh…?”
Turning around, Steph (male-dressed) was standing behind him.
Sora raised one hand in response to her greeting, and then spoke with his
forehead wrinkled:
“…Good morning, speaking of which the fact that you’re dressed like that but
you’re stillspeaking like a girl is somewhat disgusting.”
“Didn’t you set this yourself…”
Steph’s eyes narrowed in a devilish glare, and she took out a thick stack of
papers from her bag and passed them to Sora.
“…What is all this?”
“It’s the Empress’ personal information in this game and also her contacts…
I’ve also done some slight research on the characters that may be acting as
her friends in-game.”
“- Eh? You’ve already done research!?”
Sora’s eyes widened in shock as he began flipping through the information.
Steph did say it was merely rough research, but what Sora saw was
「Information」 regarding tens upon tens of characters from their contacts to
their hobbies.
- To have such staggering amount of information in only the second day of
school.
She had a speed that even Saotome would envy, and Sora continued halfsuspiciously:
“How did you research about this sort of thing?”
Steph widened her eyes as well in response, and replied nonchalantly:
“It’s exactly the same as a 「Social Network」, as long as you get close to a
few of her attendants, you get all their information, including things from
interests, dislikes, injuries, even relationships they’re in. Also there apparently
won’t be any consequences for talking about private matters here unlike in the
real world.”
- Cheh!
“What was that for!? Why did you go ‘cheh’ at me earlier!?”
Her communication abilities were stunning.
Although it had achieved the effects he had intended it to, but Sora felt anger
first instead of gratitude at her superhuman socialskills.
“Ah, I’m sorry, it was an accident… I-I’ll be using these as references,
thanks for everything.”
Sora rallied once more and began comforting her.
“- A-about that, speaking of which, just now, earlier, that… did the
「Affection Gauge」 rise?”
Steph (male according to the settings) asked while twiddling her fingers shyly.
“…What?”
“No, the gift command earlier – “”””Steph-sama♪”””” – Ah!?”
A flirtatious voice sounded from behind her, and Steph let out a cry, falling
onto the floor.
As she hurriedly turned, she saw a group of girls with heart shapes in their
eyes struggling and fighting amongst each other to get to her.
“Steph-sama! Let’s walk to school together!”
“Hey you, don’t ask so chummy with her! Here, Steph-sama, this way –“
“Eh, wait…I haven’t finished – someone, someone help me ahhhhhhhh -!?”
Upon seeing Steph being dragged away by a group of girls, Sora responded
by half-closing his eyes.
“…Just let yourself be chased to the ends of the earth.”
He let out a small choking noise, then left her behind and resumed his walk to
school.
As he reached the school gates, he noticed Ino was still there in a kowtowing
position.
■「The Third Day」■
Izuna used the 「Gift」 command on Sora.
What she gave was a can of mackerel.
However Izuna was drooling while staring at the can of mackerel, and she
appeared to be undergoing an internalstruggle.
Sora couldn’t help but consider giving up and going on the Izuna route
instead, but he managed to control his urge.
- In school, he bumped into the Empress and Steph at the school gates, was
there a flag being triggered?
But Sora didn’t know her yet, so he ignored her and continued towards the
classroom.
Immediately as he reached – probably because she was set in the same grade
as well – Plum walked over in a female uniform.
“U-um… why is everyone ignoring the Empress…?”
“Because we need to begin our assault only after we achieve the stats
required to conquer the character in order to easily gain affection points.”
“…Early game…except for scripted flags…ignore everything…focus on
raising stats…”
Shiro and Sora raised their opinions with focused expressions, while Plum
looked somewhat troubled.
“…That’s how it works…?”
Ino was still kowtowing at the school gates.
■「The Fourth Day」■
Miko used the 「Ask on a Date」 command – on Sora.
He was stopped on the way to school, and Miko took the initiative.
“I’m pretty interested in this 「Sakura Coral Park」 set in the spring season, so
would you like to go together?”
She appeared to be reciting lines off of the UI (User Interface), but it was the
first time Sora had heard of the place.
“Eh? What’s that? Where did you see that?”
“Really, you hadn’t noticed? There’s an icon shaped like a small book in the
lower right corner.”
“Ah… really. The Oceande Messenger – I actually fell behind Miko-san in a
romance game of all things…”
“Heheh… so? Could it be that you’re not interested in what Sakura corals
may be?”
“Fine, I’ll go, Shiro can follow along right?”
“…Mm, I want to… see.”
“Since we’re going, let’s invite everyone else as well, Izuna, Jibril, Steph –
does Plum want to go?”
“Master, there’s a 「Make Bento」 command under the 「Hobbies」 command
section, I’ll make some for our visit.”
“…Um, are you sure all of you haven’t forgotten what we’re here for…?”
Ino was still kowtowing at the school gates.
■「The Fifth Day」■
Today was the day that they were to select their clubs, and everyone chose
the go-home club.
[25]
Only Steph joined the students’ council, and for some reason she was glaring
hatefully at Sora.
- After school, Shiro was tugging on his sleeve, and he looked up –
“…Nii, over there.”
She pointed at the Empress that appeared to be going home as well.
“A go-home flag…?”
“I think so, forget it, it’s too troublesome, let’s go home.”
“…「Going home together…if anyone were to spread rumors… it would be
very embarrassing」.”
“Hey sis, can you not say that line again?”
[26]
- Memories from his past awakened.
The other party was his childhood friend, and as he nonchalantly invited her to
walk home together, he heard that line instead.
“Thinking about it, I think that was the time when I stopped trusting people.
Plum appeared to be hurriedly saying something, but Sora ignored her and
replied with “OK yeah it’s very funny” dismissively.
Ino was still kowtowing at the school gates.
■「The Tenth Day」■
They were having a meeting in preparation for the sports meet next month.
Since it would probably end up with Jibril performing alone, they reached an
unanimous vote that they would select the leave school command immediately
after classes ended.
As they were stepping out of the school gates, Sora finally tried to use the
「Date Command」.
- And his target was Miko.
“Ah~ um, how about we all 「Go shopping」 together?”
“Why do you sound like you’re reading from a script?”
“Nah, it’s just a habit.”
“Speaking of which wouldn’t it be no fun if we were to go shopping without
having anything to buy?”
“…I think there’s…a food fest…”
“Alright, let’s go, there should be wine right? Ah, does Izuna want to come
along as well?”
“As long as there’s meat or fish then definitely, des.”
“Ah, I’ll definitely go as well, Master.”
He had planned to invite Steph, but possibly because she was busy with
council activities, they didn’t see her after school at all.
- Although they spent all their 「Money」, everyone got to try pretty delicious
food.
Ino was still – never mind.
■「The Fifteenth Day」■
“- Everyone, do we really need to go to school?”
Hearing Sora’s words, everyone realized something.
After which their actions were very fast-paced.
Everyone began making plans in order to try out all the dating spots within
their reachable radius.
Sora and Shiro dressed up carefully, wore dress suits and went to their
meeting point, but –
“…Disappointed…”
Shiro sagged her shoulders in disappointment, while Sora helped her ask her
question.
“…Miko-san… allow me to ask, why are you wearing that?”
Miko who had arrived on time was wearing a tracksuit and a pair ofslippers,
appearing particularly pathetic.
It was no different from an old man’s home clothing, but Miko shrugged her
shoulders.
“Because there aren’t any straw shoes or skirts or pants. Although these may
look cheap, they’re easy to move about in, and they’re comfy as well.
Shouldn’t I be the one asking you why you’re wearing suits and dresses off
for a hike?”
“Hey Jibril, could you tell me why you’re wearing a swimsuit over?”
“Eh? Because there was a clothing selection, so I just chose something that
was the closest to what I usually wear.”
…On another note, according to Steph who was still going to school
diligently, Ino was really still… never mind.
■「The Twentieth Day」■
- Everyone was just about bored of playing.
On a spur of the moment, Sora attempted to actually begin going to school.
Immediately after that, he noticed that for some reason a rumor had spread
that 「Sora hurt Steph (male)」.
In order to find out what exactly was going on, he went to find Steph during
recess, and –
“…!”
Upon seeing Steph, she glared at him fiercely and ran off.
“What’s going on here?”
“…The game’s…like this in the first place…”
The fact that 「Bombs」 would appear without the player doing anything was
really the way the game was designed.
[27]
But why would the bomb icon – appear on a male (by setting only)?
“Hey, Plum, there seems to be a bug with the system of the game.”
“…Compared to that, you’ve really forgotten the main aim of the game,
haven’t you?”
Sora complained to her that the game should be properly debugged.
Plum looked to the horizon and let out a long, sad sigh instead.
- While – Ino, was still, kowtowing, at the school gates…
■「The Twenty-fifth Day」■
Nothing much happened.
It was almost as if the entire affair had become the second half of a summer
holiday.
■「The Thirtieth Day」■
Nothing much happened.
■「The Thirty-fifth Day」■
Nothing much, basically.
■「The Thirty-ninth Day」■
- Let’s just go check out the school tomorrow.
Ino somehow began regaining realization of what was going on…
■「The Fortieth Day」■
- The sky was dyed with the dawn sunlight.
In front of the school gates that were bathed in the sunlight as well, there was
a frail-looking, thin, stone statue that was covered in barnacles and appeared
to have become one with the ground.
This solemn, serious, memorial that even let out a saintly air was –
“…C-could it be… the old man?”
Everyone took a breath in shock as they finally went to school once again.
- Sora and others who had retreated from the scene earlier… had nothing to
say at that point.
His back even appeared to be emitting light…
He – unquestionably was more of it than anyone else – like a real man.
…This man had done it ever since the day the game started, to the Empress
that passed by him without a word daily –
Kneeled and kowtowed.
Like a statue, he didn’t budge at all.
Even until now, he continued to request.
No, his very appearance was his very best articulation, and he was letting out
a single sentence.
Which was –
Let me have you - !!
Faced with his awe-inspiring image, Sora couldn’t help but admit that he truly
had the dignity of a man –
Ah… so love isn’t about reading hearts.
- It’s the act of proving one’s love.
The old man succeeded in doing that.
Ifso – the fact that he didn’t understand love wasn’t surprising any more.
Sora swaggered towards the stone effigy – no, the true man within it, and his
body was trembling uncontrollably.
“Too small – I’m so incredibly insignificant.”
Compared to that man, what was he?
For a mere – he couldn’t help but think of it so - 「Romance」, could he bear
kneeling for forty days?
Sora could only say no.
He – Ino didn’t disguise himself, and shamelessly, fearlessly pulled out his
heart and gave it to her.
Was there a love more sincere than this – no, there wasn’t!
“So… so this is… this is 「Love」…”
“…Absolutely…not…”
Sora spoke while almost at the point of tears as though he had reached some
sort ofspiritual awakening, while Shiro immediately rebutted him.
But – suddenly.
As though it was hiding from the sun – a shadow fell upon that holy statue.
Looking at the owner of the shadow that was swimming through the waters
gracefully and appeared to be on the way to school –
It was – the Empress.
Her line ofsight brushed past Sora and focused upon the sacred statue – no,
focused on Ino.
- Could it be?
“…Impossible – it can’t be…?”
Miko who was looking from a distance couldn’t help but mumble to herself.
The Empress continued to approach Ino.
And then she clasped Ino’s cheeks lightly.
In that instant… as though it had finally recalled that it was a human being, the
statue moved.
The barnacles, the floor and even the rocks and stones on it began to peel off.
The Empress’ hands gently support Ino’s cheeks and raised his head up, and
as though receiving some divine guidance, Ino raised his head.
After which – she spoke with a voice that would enchant any listener –
She smiled a smile that was more valuable than any treasure on earth.
She spoke a single sentence.
“…It’s impossible for us to be together.”
- I knew it~…
Everyone’s inner thoughts seemed to overlap.
“- Ah…”
However Ino clenched his teeth and thought, it can’t end like this.
It was true – his love was rejected.
It was crushed into dust.
But now – since it’s come to this, there’s no other way -!
In order to fulfil Miko’s orders – Ino selected a command from the UI (User
Interface).
- The heart shape with a 「+」 sign on it.
Which was – the command for Plum’s 「Love Magic (cheat)」.
And then –
“- Forgive me, Empress! Hnng~~~!!”
He exerted a force strong enough to rival a sumo wrestler.
- He grasped onto the Empress’ breasts firmly.
Yes – in order to complete Plum’s「Spell」, he used the command.
“- Eh!?”
In an instant, a red light began glowing around the Empress, and she opened
her eyes wide in shock.
- At the same time.
“- Ah, ugh -!”
Complex patterns formed in Plum’s eyes, and she let out cries of pain.
Maybe because her powers were being taken from her, her black wings
became blood-red in an instant, and she fell onto the floor in a sitting position.
“…Ah, aahhh…”
On the other hand the Empress let out weak noises with her breasts being
fondled by Ino.
Her face was beet-red – even Sora and others could tell obviously that her
heart rate was rising.
“We, we did it – now we can – !”
Plum spoke in a convincing manner.
“N-now, no matter how appalling of a person Ino-sama is, even with the fact
that he only cares about the lower body, and no matter what kind of feelings
the Empress may have… she will take those feelings – and recognize them as
「Love」!”
Plum seized her opportunity to insult Ino to the point of worthlessness while
speaking tiredly.
- Sora was grumbling to himself that it was a really low form of magic as well.
But no matter by hook or by crook, the Empress would 「Fall in Love」.
Which means Game Over.
And then –
“- No, nonono, even if you want love it shouldn’t be this way, this is
impossible, sorry!!”
- Just like that, she clearly rejected Ino.
The Empress waved her fins, and almost flew – towards the school buildings.
…
- …
…Sad~ depressing~ melancholic~… -
That sort of background music began playing in Sora’s mind.
That man was reduced to ashes.
He was burned white – no, his fur was white in the first place – burned into a
white pile of ash.
The words 「Hatsuse Ino•Lose」 appeared in the world.
While in front of the gates, although he had been shattered and burnt –
- The man who was still maintaining his posture from squeezing the Empress’
boobs earlier – Hatsuse Ino turned into ashes.
Sora stumbled over.
He didn’t know what to say to him,
- But despite that, Sora felt like he had to say something.
“Old man – no… Hatsuse Ino, I’ve misunderstood you all this time.”
Sora’s voice was trembling as he searched for the correct words to say.
“You are truly a – great man, just for that woman… for that woman that can’t
appreciate truly great things, you’re too great for her…”
But, even though Ino was about to turn into ashes and disappear –
He stillspoke –
“- No, Sora-san… it was my love that wasn’t enough, for love is without sin.”
After finishing his sentence – as he was 「Rejected」, Ino would lose all his
rights and be removed from the game.
He gradually began slowly changing colors from a dark, charred gray until he
appeared almost transparent, and then –
“Ino…? Ino, hey, wait! You’re joking right!?”
Sora yelled while grasping onto Ino’s shoulders, but Ino’s body ignored him
and gradually began disappearing from the game.
- Just like that, Hatsuse Ino’s high school life was over.
It was a high school life that was rather eventful, but ended up with him
kowtowing all the while.
If he could go through it again, he wouldn’t leave behind any regrets –
- At this time, some weak-sounding closing transcript along the lines of that
would probably be heard, but Ino instead –
“Phew… I have no regrets… if there’s a next time, I’ll do it, all over again –“
With a blissfulsmile on his face, blatantly refusing to speak such weak words,
and disappeared from Sora’s arms.
- In complete silence, Sora looked up to the sky.
His face which was that of real man’s was covered in tears.
“Hatsuse Ino… how could a man like you – ugh!”
Ignoring the emotional Sora, everyone else appeared cold.
- This wasn’t just an awkward moment.
Ino wasn’t dead, nor had he disappeared.
He was merely brought out of the dream – and returned to the world outside
the game.
But Sora was so emotional that his body was shaking uncontrollably as
though he had lost an irreplaceable brother-in-arms.
“How could this be -…!!”
Sora yelled to Plum who was looking at him coldly as well with a tone that
suggested he was about to vomit blood.
“What is this!? Wasn’t that a sure-fire way to win!? That man – he even
sacrificed his aesthetics!! Why did this happen even after using 「Cheats」,
why… why – didn’t the Empress let him in!!”
“- No, it’s not that… w-with the way he was acting any sort of magic
wouldn’t be able to help, probably…?”
- Plum’s words did make a lot ofsense.
Miko suddenly recalled something Plum had said.
To fall in love with someone like that, even a rock would have a better chance
against him.
But -…
Just as Miko revealed a thin smile, Sora knelt and began pounding the floor
beside her emotionally.
“What kind of joke is this!? Is there anyone that’s more of a 「Man」 like him
– do you agree? Shiro, Miko-san, Jibril!”
Sora yelled, almost roared at them.
The three of them that were called out merely –
- Nodded in approval.
“…Eh, eh~~?”
Steph was so shocked that she stepped back upon seeing them nod their
heads.
On the other hand, Plum was utterly stunned by Sora’s angered stance –
She hurriedly attempted to comfort him.
“P-please calm down… t-this is just a really extreme example… I’ll ask
Amira-sama to return Ino-sama, I just want Sora-dono to try the game
properly one more time –“
Speaking those words –
She looked over at Sora’s face –
And Plum –
“- …!?”
Her heart was crushed.
No, more correctly she thought it had been.
The person there was – not the Sora from earlier.
It wasn’t the emotionally charged, begging, pleading man from earlier.
It wasn’t the cheerfully laughing, carefree man that had listened to Plum’s
request.
The person there was – someone else that Plum didn’t know.
A man with the eyes of a hunter that pitied the 「Prey that had fallen into the
trap」.
The man spoke a single sentence with a cruel, strange tone:
“Again? – Why?”
- Because –
“…We’ve…already won…”
“- Eh…?”
The man stood up nimbly with a gaze that didn’t carry any warmth, and Shiro
followed suit.
No – Shiro as well…Plum didn’t know her – she was a girl with eyes at
absolute-zero temperatures.
Faced with their sudden, drastic change – Plum took a step back.
Plum didn’t understand the two of them.
While Steph, Jibril, Miko and Izuna… they all knew.
The ones that didn’t know could just die –
They just had to stumble upon them of all people – Sora and Shiro – these
two siblings –
And those unknowing ones were Plum and others that stood against them.
They would only appear when their plan to drive the enemy into the corner
has been completed.
- 「The most vicious enemy」- .
“- That’s enough, Miko-san, Jibril.”
Sora turned around and asked while looking behind him.
『 』
Kuuhaku
“Yeah, we’re done playing, it’s complete.”
“I’ve already confirmed it; I’m ready anytime – just waiting for your
command.”
Seeing the two of them nod in approval, Sora spoke in an emotionless voice:
“Do it, Jibril.”
“- Your wish is my command.”
Jibril took a deep bow, and spread her wings.
- Just like that.
The spell that had been held together by tens upon tens of Dhampirs – the
「Magic (Game)」 that was interfering with the Empress’ dreams.
Just like blowing daffodilseeds into the wind, it was scattered easily – and the
scenery around them shattered.
Chapter 3 - Charmer/ssǝɹdɯƎ
ǝɥ⊥
Part 1
- 「Oceande」…the underwater city where both the Seirens and Dhampir
reside.
It did not carry out trade with any other nation, being a truly self-providing
hermit country.
Being at the bottom of the sea, it cannot be reached through normal means.
And exactly because of this, a bunch of people came forth with abnormal
means.
Jibril parted the sea, and the place she teleported to was a tower high enough
to overlook the whole of Oceande.
The depth was about two hundred meters, and if that amount ofseawater
were to flow back in…
“Something like this would happen…”
Miko, who was standing behind Sora let out a sigh, and what she was looking
at was – the other side of the air bubble Jibril had created.
The sand and rocks at the bottom of the ocean were violently tossed and
turned as though they were in a gigantic blender.
No matter how powerfulJibril was, she would be unable to use violence due
to the limitations of the 「Oaths」.
If the 「Oaths」 did exercise their power, then no harm should have been
caused to anyone…
“…You’re sure that this won’t hit the city or anyone else, right?”
“No, not at all. The 「Ten Oaths」are absolute, so it’s fine. There won’t be a
problem… probably.”
Sora attempted to comfort himself as the tides calmed around him. The sand
settled, and the seawater became clear once again.
“- Oh, this really is something.”
“…Beautiful…”
Sora and Shiro spoke their thoughts regarding the huge and wide city below
them.
Completely different from how fairytale-like and simplistic Sora thought it
would be, it was really a great 「City」.
Immeasurable amounts of buildings that appeared to be built from stones from
the bottom of the sea stood side by side.
The walls that were giving off a pearly glow had shells and corals pasted on
them like bricks, creating wonderfully bright and fresh colors. Possibly due to
the buoyancy of the water, complex formations and reverse cone-shaped
buildings could be seen – which was when Sora spoke:
“…Hmm? Why isn’t everything blue?”
At the bottom of the sea, only blue rays of light from the sun should be able to
reach. The person to answer his question was Shiro.
“…Nii, it’s probably… those.”
Shiro pointed to the countless glowing seaweeds and jellyfish – completely
natural 「Streetlights」.
- It was no wonder that the city itself was glowing.
“Oh come on, don’t treat me like an idiot. Anyway, isn't this a great-looking
city?”
“…Hah, thanks for the compliment…”
Plum replied with a bitter smile that carried hints of defeat and humiliation.
“Because this place was built and maintained by the Dhampirs… haha…”
…Sora couldn’t find any words to say to her, and instead turned around.
Jibril, Izuna and Steph were surveying their surroundings curiously, while
Miko appeared as composed as ever.
And –
“- Sora-san…what is the meaning…of this…?”
Ino asked painfully, apparently impacted by the noise from their teleportation.
“I did adhere to your request since Izuna and Miko appear to be fine, so you
have to thank Jibrilfor this!”
“…Ah~ I have no problem with that, but could you just let me say
something?”
Miko looked at Sora, Shiro and Jibril in turn, and took a deep breath.
“- You people, there’s got to be a limit to your ignorance…”
“Eh?”
“…Is there…a problem?”
“Oh, does the carnivorous subgenus of a mutt have something to say?”
The three ignorant people tilted their heads in curiosity at once.
While the few with some common sense – Steph spoke loudly as though
representing Miko:
“P-parting the sea like that, no matter how you look at it it just seems like an
act of hostility doesn’t it!? So, how are you planning to get us to their queen
at this rate?”
“They invited us in the first place, and it was they as well who made us wait,
so since we’re running out of time and in a hurry we came here ourselves.
Considering Jibril’s hard work, they should be thanking us and receiving us
with song and dance, shouldn’t they?”
Miko and Izuna’s senses told them that Sora was spouting lies yet again, and
they shut their mouths half-heartedly.
The remaining Werebeast – Ino continued to rub his ears while moaning in
pain.
“…Ah~ about that don’t you worry… look over there.”
But as they heard Plum speak, everyone looked in the direction she was
pointing at once.
Countless people began darting out of the city and hurriedly began
proceeding in their direction.
- Females with the lower half of their bodies covered with scales and
resembling fish tails, and the upper half of their bodies human-shaped.
Their breasts were shielded with small wraps of cloth, and their necks and
hands had what appeared to be leftover jewelry on them.
Their resemblances were exactly the same as fairytale beings - 「Mermaids」.
“…Ah, so those are the Seirens? Great, luckily everything’s going as
planned.”
If the things that came out were beings like Cthulhu Sora would be more than
ready to flip tables, but he felt relieved at this development.
[14]
“G-guys look over there, all those people are panicking… they really must be
angry.”
Steph spoke uneasily while looking at the Seirens standing in front of their air
bubble, after which –
“Eh, eh…?”
Steph opened her eyes wide in shock.
The Seirens were gracefully swimming while spinning round and round in the
water, displaying their glittering scales.
Their incredibly colorful jewelry made of corals and pearls displayed on their
smooth, snow-white skin swayed about along with the current.
No fixed rhythm could be detected from their movements.
The glowing jellyfish were lit up by blue rays of light, the schools of fish of
varying colors, not to mention the mermaids gracefully swimming –
Such a dreamlike sight would attract anyone’s attention, which probably
meant –
“…Nii, this is their grateful and welcoming…dance.”
“- Apparently so… l-look here, Steph, didn’t I say there wasn’t a problem!”
“These people really are magnanimous as the ocean is deep…”
After a while, a Seiren that appeared to be wearing the most beautiful jewelry
swam forth –
She waved both her hands, and her mouth opened and closed randomly.
Observing her motions, Steph tilted her head, not understanding what was
going on, while Sora realized what was going on.
“We’re in the air Jibril created for us, and they’re out there in the water –
sound probably won’t travel.”
“Yeah… I’ll go explain and drink some blood along the way so I can use the
power from that to cast a spell that will allow all of you to breathe in the
water, so please remove this air barrier after that…”
As she finished her sentence, Plum immediately sprinted forward, broke
through the air bubble and swam into the water.
They glanced at her as she left.
“Even if we really are saviors of their species…”
“- They still welcomed us this warmly after the gates to their city were forced
open with an attack like that?”
Hearing Jibril and Miko’s whispers with sharp glances on their faces, Sora
laughed coldly as well:
“…The Seirens, are they really idiots? Or –“
Part 2
“Hello~ everyone~, hehe ☆ I am Her Majesty the Queen’s representative,
Amira~! Everything’s OK~ ☆”
They’re idiots.
Sora managed to swallow his blatantly honest thought.
After Jibrilremoved the air bubble, a Seiren had rushed up immediately.
「This Person」 who called herself Amira, if her words could be trusted – but
the scary part was they probably could be – she was the sole representative
over all the existing Seirens at the moment.
She had silky green hair, snow-white skin that was almost transparent, and
clear blue eyes.
She wore coral jewelry all about her, but she didn’t give off a vulgar air.
Considering she was a mermaid, it would probably be a legitimate form of
dressing, but her personality was –
“Thank you allfor coming specially, like really thanks a lot~ ☆ ~~~Really,
the only way I can express my feelings right now would be through a kiss~!
Fufu ☆ Right?”
“...No thanks, I’ll cherish your well wishes though…”
It wasn’t a matter of honorifics or anything like that, although what she spoke
could be considered as Imanity, everything about it was strange.
Sora and the others were gaping in shock, while Amira continued to swim
around busily.
“Even in the depths of the ocean, rumors of the conquests of both of you have
reached here as well~ ☆The miraculous king here to save the Imanity sounds
like an incredibly handsome person just by hearing about him, and your looks
suit Amira’s preference as well~!! Right ☆”
“…Oh, really?”
It was the first time that he was called handsome by a girl… but why was it?
He wasn’t happy at all… thinking of those miscellaneous things, Sora nodded
in agreement.
“Aha ☆ Your voice is so cool as well!! Amira’s so wet~ ah, because I’m in
the ocean~ hehe☆”
Sora glanced at Plum wordlessly, while she silently returned his gaze while
shaking her head in sadness.
Amira didn’t seem to mind that sort of attitude at all, and instead continued
with a smile plastered on her face:
“Oh~ we’ve prepared a feast, hehe ☆ Would you like to have the food?
Or•perhaps•have •me? ♥”
Amira shook her body in an attempt to seduce Sora.
While Ino accidentally revealed a lecherous expression on his face, and his
temperature rose –
“First let us see 「The Empress」, your welcome can wait until after that.”
Hearing Sora’s obvious rejection, Ino perked his ears up in surprise.
But Amira didn’t seem to mind.
“Ah, you really are as focused as they say ☆ But ifso Amira might like you
even more, you know ☆”
“…Really…anyway please lead us there.”
“OK~ ☆ So let’s swim into the city~ follow me, over here~ phew~ ♥”
With Amira leading the way, Sora and others descended the tower and
headed in the direction of Oceande.
Sora heard Ino speaking behind him.
“…Sora-san, it’s amazing that you could reject her so quickly.”
“Huh?”
“No, in the ocean even the senses of us Werebeasts will be limited, so I can’t
grasp Sora-san’s true intentions… but considering that even when being
seduced by such an attractive woman you still can remain composed, Sorasan,
do you have superhuman self-control –“
However Sora glared at Ino coldly in response, and he spoke as though
spitting:
“Old man, are you that desperate, even though I’m a virgin, what do you
expect me to feel about someone of that standard… let’s go, Shiro.”
“…Mm…”
Leaving behind the speechless Ino, Sora swam towards the city while
carrying Shiro –
Part 3
Immediately as they stepped into Oceande, they were welcomed by
extravagant cheers.
Every single Seiren had joyfulsmiles on their faces, and were dancing
seductively while playing completely out-of-tune music.
As for the language – there was probably no need for them to speak Imanity
anyway, as although they couldn’t understand the Seirens, they could
definitely sense their welcoming intent.
In the midst of the joyfully frolicking crowds of Seirens, what appeared to be
female Dhampirs could be seen occasionally.
Their facial expressions were in contrast with the Seirens, not all that different
from Plum’s.
Those were pitiful… tired smiles, and their expressions as they welcomed
Sora’s bunch seemed to say 「Thank you for coming this far」.
- In exchange for a constant source of blood from the Seirens, the Dhampirs
were to assist the Queen in reproducing.
Before their Queen was hibernating the two races were in a state of perfect
mutualism, but now their relations were like a candle in the wind – however –
“I’m curious, how can these people remain so cheerful and lively even when
their race is nearing extinction?”
Yes – leaving out the Dhampirs, the Seirens didn’t appear gloomy in the
slightest.
“- Didn’t I explain before … they completely don’t understand what is
happening to them.”
Plum replied with a weary smile, while Jibril continued:
“Because the Seirens are so incredibly dumb that their stupidity has reached
legendary status, and in the languages of all the nations the very mention of
their species have become synonymous to 「Idiots」, and even that term itself
has been used to refer to the 「Seirens」as well, even being used as verbs in
sentences.”
Sora and others walked along the sea floor with Amira leading them.
- Walking in water.
It didn’t feel like walking nor swimming, which caused Shiro to feel curious at
this new sensation, while Sora walked forward while carrying her just the
same.
Ino and Izuna, not to mention Miko – they truly were Werebeasts.
They had quickly mastered the act of walking under these circumstances, and
were bounding forward naturally.
Even when in the ocean Jibrilstill 「Flew around」.
“- Or should I say, Imanity are even more inferior to the idiot Seirens?”
To be perfectly honest, the ones there that were clearly unsuited to moving
underwater were obviously Sora and Shiro.
“Before I met my Masters, I would reply 「Yes」 - but to put it more
eloquently, they’re only ranked higher because they have special abilities, but
otherwise they’re a really stupid species.”
Jibrilspoke allsmiles, while Plum continued wearily:
“These people only know how to eat, sleep, have sex and play, nothing
more… fish do contain nutrition that can make people smarter, but the fish
themselves are rather stupid… isn’t it unbelievable?”
- This world really doesn’t have species that can get along with each other…
Sora thought and looked into the horizon.
“…That’s true… even their representative is someone like this.”
“No… the fact that Amira-sama can speak Imanity is already good
enough…”
Good enough - Sora looked towards Plum sympathetically.
When faced with Sora’s gaze, Plum’s expression immediately turned into that
ofsomeone that has accepted his/her fate and spoke:
“Because we’re all in the same boat… I sincerely plead Sora-dono and
others to help them find ways to solve this problem – even the ones that
suggested previous methods were Dhampirs… since the Seirens don’t have
any sense of urgency, they’re only good at mating… hahah… sigh…”
“…It’s really been hard on you…”
With Amira at the lead, they entered a particularly tall building in Oceande.
During the course of their journey, Sora raised a question that had come to
him suddenly.
“Speaking of mating, Jibril, the Seirens mate with males of other species
right?”
“Yes, you’re absolutely right.”
“The sixteen races don’t have any 「Hybrids」 between races?”
- Although Sora and Shiro were only in this world for a short period of time,
but regarding things like half-elves commonly seen in fictional worlds -
「Hybrids」, they had yet to hear of.
“That’s perfectly normal.” Jibrilreplied.
“The reason why they don’t exist is because although the sixteen races all
have certain similarities with each other, their souls are completely different.”
- Souls again?
「Souls」 that were yet to be proven to exist in Sora’s original world,
appeared to be commonplace knowledge in this one.
Those were probably something like chromosomes, Sora told himself, and
continued:
“But don’t the Seirens mate with other species? Won’t their offspring be
Seiren hybrids?”
“No, their offspring will be pure 「Seirens」.”
“Even though they are two different types ofsouls?”
“It’s just like how the Dhampirs absorb souls by drinking blood, Seirens
obtain souls from mating and carry out 「Metamorphosis」, creating their own
clones, so their methods of mating are even more ineffective than 「Living
beings」, sapping the other party dry in the process as well.”
“…That really is lethal.”
“Really? According to textualrecords – the act itself brings 「Joy paralleling
assumption」.”
“So they really go through assumption quite literally… and it’s a 「Journey of
no return」.”
But forget it – no matter how you put it.
“Because of that, to produce hybrids – to produce offspring carrying
characteristics of two different species is impossible.”
Sora thought for a moment, and figured – Tet probably let there be 「Sixteen
Races」 since they can’t produce hybrids.
“- Jibril, is there something on my face?”
Sora noticed that Jibril was staring at him intently.
“I think I’ve told you before that the Flügel aren’t 「Living beings」.”
“Yeah, you said that your species aren’t 「Living beings」 but 「Life」 right.”
“Yes, and it’s because of that that souls have no fixed shape, so as long as
you extract a part ofsomeone else’s soul and combine it with mine, you could
produce an offspring belonging to the other party’s species – it’s like physical
coitus, but in theory it’s still possible to transcend species and produce a
hybrid.”
“- I still don’t get what you’re trying to say.”
At this point she lowered her head reverently, moved her halo to the back of
her head, and folded up her wings –
This was a gesture of loyalty to her Master alone, and Jibril clasped her hands
together tightly and spoke as though a prayer:
“As long as Master wishes to have a child, the inferior Jibril is willing to do it
anytime –“
“…Jibril…shut up…”
Shiro’s razor-edged words, forced Jibril to shut her mouth.
“We’re~~~~ here~!”
Sora heard a loud and bright voice all of a sudden, and looked up.
“Sorry to keep you all waiting! This is the Empress’ room~ ♪”
Amira stretched out one hand and pushed open the door slowly –
- Light spilled out from the opening.
The Empress’ room was rather wide, and the carpets and atrium were pink.
Faintly glowing seaweeds were placed on the walls, and what appeared to be
decorative woven patterns lit up the room.
Painted glass was etched onto the tall ceiling, causing sunlight that had
reached the floor of the ocean to spill into the room.
Although the faint sunlight seemed unnecessary – as on the glowing throne
right below them, there was a gigantic, beautiful crystal glowing noticeably.
No, it was a pretty-looking transparent imitation crystal… a block of ice.
“-……”
Everyone was speechless when faced with that sight.
At this point Amira solemnly – or at least attempted to act solemnly –
announced:
“Now I will introduce to everyone… this is the Empress of the Seirens…
Leila•Lorelei-dono.”
- A beautiful woman was sleeping within the block of ice.
Wave-like blue hair fell on her youthfulface.
Her snow-white body was decorated with blinding strips of gold and the
lower half of her body had attractive scales on it.
Those scales reflected the light in the room, appearing extremely colorful.
The 「Empress」 ornamented in light and gold and encased within the coffin of
ice, silently sat on the bivalve throne with her eyes closed.
Plum and Amira were quietly discussing behind everyone who was still
speechless.
“A-Amira-sama… regarding them awakening the Empress… Sora-dono and
the rest said that they wish to challenge everyone here to a game… is that all
right?”
Hearing Plum’s words, Amira appeared momentarily troubled, but then she
replied:
“Alright, no problem☆ But do you have any issues over your side?”
“Nope… s-so I wish to get the help of about thirty people to help with the
spells involved.”
“Mm.” Amira nodded her head.
“OK ☆ So I’ll be off to make preparations for Her Majesty’s awakening~
☆ Since you want everyone to use magic at once, you’ll need blood right~
Hehe ☆ Amira will go get everyone else, so I’ll leave everything to Plum for
now ☆”
“Alright… t-then I’ll make preparations for the spell to enter Her Majesty’s
dream state…”
She took a bow and left the room with Amira.
- But everyone else didn’t seem to have noticed her departure.
They were merely focusing on the block of ice with the Empress sleeping
within.
“W-what a beautiful woman…”
Steph seemed to have forgotten that she was a woman herself, and
complimented her passionately.
When faced with her stunning appearance, no elaboration was needed for
Ino’s reaction, while Jibril, Miko and even Izuna felt the same way.
Their gazes were blindly attracted to her, but –
“Hmm…? Is she that pretty? Shiro?”
“…I…don’t really understand…”
“”What!~~~?”
Everyone else was stunned by their reactions.
“A-are the both of you not right in the head!? I-if this woman isn’t a beauty,
then who is!?”
“…You’re the one that needs to calm down, she’s not beautiful to the extent
where you have to be this shocked right?”
Faced with Steph’s protests, Sora merely spoke with his forehead wrinkled in
impatience.
He looked at the Empress once again.
- Leila Lorelei, the Empress of the mermaids asleep within a coffin of ice.
Her appearance was certainly beautiful.
But Sora could confidently say – she was 「Different」.
For example, her beauty was different from Jibril’s that could shame even a
work of art.
It was different from Miko’s bewitched, almost holy beauty under the
moonlight as well.
It was different from Izuna’s pure, untainted cuteness as well, not to mention
–
“…? Nii…?”
Sora looked beside him – at his confused-looking sister, and he confirmed his
thoughts.
“- She’s no contest at all, or should I say, even Steph is superior to her?”
“…F-flattering me that obviously, even I’ll get angry you know!?”
“No, what use is there even if I flatter you…”
Sora looked at her in irritation, while Ino patted him on the back.
“Sora-san, no, it’s fine, don’t worry.”
He continued kindly:
“Don’t worry about it at all – impotence is curable, I’ll take you to eat softshelled
turtle steamboat next time…”
“It’s not like that at all, stop ruining my reputation!!”
Sora pointed to the block of ice and yelled.
“Can you all calm down!! I’m not calling her ugly, but when compared to the
likes of Miko-san, Jibril, Izuna and Shiro, is she really something to fawn
over!? I mean what I say, everyone here are allsupreme beauties!!”
Steph and Ino continued to look at Sora pitifully, but –
Hearing Sora’s words, only Jibril and Miko came back to their senses.
“Amazing, Master… this is what I was referring to earlier, the Seirens’
「Ability」.”
“- Ah?”
Miko and Jibril tore their gazes from the block of ice, and Jibril continued:
“The Seirens don’t have special bodies or magic, but the fact that they’ve
managed to survive for this long can be attributed to their greatest and only
weapon, which is –“
Jibril took a deep breath.
“As long as they’re in the water – they have 「The ability to attract anything」.”
“The Seirens are a species that have received the blessings of the water – the
reason why they stay in the ocean and cannot leave it is because of the large
amount of Spirits in their bodies… 「Water Spirits」, and they can 「Attract」
all other spirits.”
“…Ah…”
“Ah, I see.”
Sora and Shiro nodded their heads in understanding, seeming to have
understood what was going on.
Before the 「Ten Oaths」, the Seirens reproduced by consuming males of
other species.
Since they didn’t have any superhuman strength nor any magic and couldn’t
leave the sea, how did they survive?
The answer was – they 「Seduce」 others and attract them.
This would explain why they could swim along with the fishes and could
withstand the water pressure of the deep sea without magic.
“Isn’t that like seduction magic?”
“Yes, to put it simply they control the movements ofspirits – something like
using magnets to attract them, which is the ability of their species… which
wasn’t something particularly important originally, but –“
Jibril glared over at the Empress, and once again averted her eyes.
“But, this mermaid over here – the amount ofspirits she possesses can be
considered an 「Anomaly」.”
Jibrilspoke unhappily as she was unable to resist the Empress’ charms.
While the other person who should’ve known what was going on as well –
Miko scratched her head with a helpless expression on her face.
Changing the subject –
“But… why doesn’t it work on the Masters?”
Jibril asked curiously.
“…Hmm…? Jibrilsaid it herself…we don’t have…spirits.”
“Yeah, you did say that, everyone in this world has spirits within them, but
Shiro and I don’t.”
When they had first met, to prove to her that they were from another world,
they had let Jibrilscan their bodies for spirits.
If their ability was to attract spirits like magnets, the fact that it didn’t work on
Sora and Shiro should have been obvious, but –
“No, as long as there are souls, there should be spirits presents. Maybe
Master’s spirits are too faint for me to detect, or maybe your spirits are
undetectable – but ifso, why would there be no effect – this is strange.”
Jibril muttered to herself, with her interest once again returning to Sora and
Shiro, and she looked at them excitedly.
- While Ino who was standing beside her spoke:
“Or is it simply because Sora-san can’t get erect as a man?”
“You shut the hell up, old man, you only think about the lower halves of the
body, don’t you, but I am a man of reason.”
“Sorry to keep you all waiting~!”
- Plum and Amira returned noisily.
Was the spell to enter the Empress’ dream state ready?
The two of them approached the block of ice where the Empress was
sleeping.
“So now we’ll use Plum’s magic to let you all into Her Majesty’s dreams.”
That cheerfulsmile was still on her face.
Amira nonchalantly continued:
“To all of you who wish to awaken the Empress, please 「Swear to the
Oaths」 and bet all that you have, then touch the crystal~”
-……
“Huh? Hey, what did you say?”
Steph broke the silence and asked.
Amira replied with another question in shock:
“Eh? Is there a problem?”
“Of course there’s a problem, what are you talking about!?”
…Bet all that you have?
Does that mean in the sense where the person’s wealth, identity, freedom, life
– everything is put on the line?
“Is there a need for that? We came to help you upon your request!!”
“Sigh~ Plum, did you bring them here without telling them everything?”
“Um… I’m sorry…”
Amira prodded her cheek with a troubled expression on her face, while Plum
insistently apologized.
While the one that interrupted them was –
“Calm down, Steph, you’re the one that doesn’t understand.”
Sora’s tone was calm as always.
Seeing how calm he was, Steph turned around and observed everyone’s
reactions.
Not just Sora and Shiro – but Miko, Jibril, Ino and even Izuna had
expressions of understanding on their faces.
“We were invited here to – awaken the Empress through the 「Empress’
Game」, right?”
“The third of 「The Ten Oaths」 states that in games, wagers will be made on
what both parties decide to be of value – while the Empress 「Swore on the
Oaths」 to hibernate, since the requirements of the 「Game」 to awaken her is
to make her fall in love with the other party, a 「Bet」 of equal value is needed
for her love – right?”
“Completely right, handsome man, not only your appearance, but your brain
is handsome as well!”
Amira laughed and nodded her head in agreement, but –
Only Sora had noticed, which was when Miko and Shiro revealed thin smiles
on their faces.
Steph who hadn’t noticed still couldn’t agree.
“T-that sort of thing is just too weird –“
- She continued to question them.
“They’re the ones that are on the brink of extinction, we’re here to help, so
why do we have to face that kind of risk!?”
Sora replied as relaxed as ever.
“Plum did say earlier, to interfere with relationships and dreams should’ve
been impossible under the 「Ten Oaths」, it was only possible because the
Empress agreed on it – but her agreement is merely within the game itself.”
- Which is to say –
“If we don’t begin the 「Empress’ Game」, allsorts ofspells wouldn’t be able
to be used, so there would be no other way to awaken her, and to obtain the
rights to play a game against her, the 「Bet」 she requires is –“
Sora looked over at Plum and Amira and spoke in a joking tone:
“「If you want my love you must have the drive to sacrifice everything!」…
something like that right?”
Steph remained stunned, while everyone else appeared defeated.
Only Amira continued to ramble on.
“Co~rrect~ an~swer! Ah~ I really don’t want to give you to the Empress,
are you sure you don’t want to be with me instead?”
Ignoring Amira, Sora spoke:
“Anyway since we have magic that will allow the Empress to fall in love with
us, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Y-yes! I can confirm it, leave everything to me!”
“S-something like that – what if the magic doesn’t work!?”
Steph still couldn’t lose her sense of apprehension, but –
“Just leave that to Amira~”
Amira spoke clearly:
“Even if you guys can get into the game successfully, the Empress in charge of
the bets is still hibernating, so her possessions will be in my care! If the magic
doesn’t work I’llreturn everything, so there won’t be any risk ♪”
“No, that sort of verbal promise –“
Sora interrupted her mid-sentence.
“OK, there’s no problem – let’s begin the game.“
Steph felt something was amiss.
She felt that something wasn’t right somewhere, why would such high-risk
conditions only be mentioned now?
Steph looked at Sora, why didn’t Sora feel any suspicion about the entire
affair?
This wasn’t like the usual Sora, to accept such a suspicious-sounding game –
Steph once again surveyed her surroundings.
Aside from her, everyone else didn’t seem to have any queries, and didn’t
have anything to say.
(W-what’s going on…? What’s happening here?)
Plum then began explaining the rules of the game.
“So – after all of you bet everything you have, please 「Swear on the
Oaths」and touch the block of ice… after which the Dhampirs under the
platform and I will cast a spell and lead all of you into Her Majesty’s
dream… to perform the 「Love Magic (cheat)」 I’llfollow you as well…”
Plum began planning out the spell accordingly while explaining at the same
time:
“Since it’s a dream, the surroundings can be set according to whatever all of
you want… so – Sora-dono will decide right? I will try and go according to
Sora-dono’s imagination and construct Her Majesty’s dream
correspondingly… no matter the situation – the victory condition remains.”
Sora helped Plum continue her sentence:
“As long as someone makes the Queen fall in love with him and awaken her it
will be a 「Victory」, but if you get dumped it will be considered a 「Loss」-
while the loser will leave the game and give away 「Everything」 according to
the bet – so we just have to swear to the oaths along the lines of this right?”
“Y-yes… b-but…”
Sora interrupted her in understanding:
“I get it, we have Plum’s love magic (cheat), and even if we lose we can just
get everything back from Amira – that’s what you were planning to say right?
Take it easy.”
Sora smiled fearlessly.
Steph sensed something amiss about that smile, however, while Sora
continued:
“With our current lineup and the conditions provided the possibility of us
losing is zero, so hurry up and start the game already.”
“A-alright – so Sora-dono, please imagine how you want the dream world to
be like, and then –”
Hearing her words, Sora began imagining it.
As long as dating games were mentioned, he wouldn’t make the normal kind.
“Please swear to the oaths!”
“ - 「Aschente」!”
Sora, Shiro, Steph, Jibril, Miko, Ino, Izuna and Plum.
As all of them spoke that single word at once, their surroundings turned white.
◇◇◇
◆◆◆
◇◇◇
- After which it turned from white to blue instantly.
As though just waking up from a dream, they slowly regained their
consciousness.
Throughout their lethargic bodies, blood began circulating normally, their
senses returned to them, and –
“Aaaaahhhpfffffftttt!?”
- They were drowning.
In the middle of the sea, Sora and Shiro, Izuna, Ino and even Miko were
being tossed around by the waves.
They could only smell the burning odor of the tides, and pain assaulted the
deepest parts of their nostrils.
As their calm thoughts were being flung into a distance – a video began
playing within their subconscious.
“-With every end there is a beginning-“
There were overly flashy special effects, and sound effects that sounded like
stars collapsing.
A narrator that sounded like it was reading off a script continued blandly.
“There are meetings and there are separations –“
“THIS ISN’T THE TIME TO BE PLAYING THE OPENING CREDITS,
RIGHT!?”
Sora struggled to raise his head above the water level, and roared angrily.
“Which bloody universe’s version of 「Toki〇 Memorial」 starts with the
protagonist drowning? My heart isn’t exactly beating hard right now!”
[15]
No, their hearts were beating violently.
But Sora didn’t want to use the term 「Heartbeat」 to describe the dying
throes of one’s heart when faced with a life-threatening situation.
“Ah, s-sorry… I confused Sora-dono and Her Majesty’s imaginations of
what the dream world should be like, it takes time to create the scene…
please wait a while more…”
Thinking closely, this was rather unavoidable.
Since they were able to interfere with the Empress’ dreams, this world
couldn’t have a 「Schoolyard setting」 like in Sora’s world.
Of course, Sora’s imagination needed to be combined with the Empress’
knowledge, and –
“…Nii…I lived…a good life…”
“Plum~! My sister’s already giving up on survival, so hurry up already~~!”
Shiro closed her eyes with a blissful expression on her face, while Sora
hugged her and yelled loudly.
“- Ah, ah, the spell is complete, I’ll construct the setting now!”
- In an instant.
The original 「Setting (scene)」 of them drowning in the ocean was removed,
and changed immediately like flipping the pages of a book.
The 「Stage」 switched from the ocean itself to the sea floor, and unnecessary
「Settings」 like breathing were removed.
Like flipping over poker cards face down one by one, various changes to
make the game run smoothly were implemented, and the dream world was
able to accept 「Unreasonable」 settings.
“- Master, are you alright?”
Hearing Jibril’s loud cries, Sora returned to his senses – not realizing that he
was now on solid ground.
“…T-that was…horrifying…”
In the clear blue ocean, Sora spat out 「a single breath」, and wiped off 「the
sweat on his brow」.
Shiro was shivering in fear due to nearly drowning early, and Sora hugged her
while complaining dissatisfiedly.
“The game hadn’t even started and we were already facing a death end, can
you please not use that sort of weird plot settings here?”
“…I still…hate the ocean…”
“The 「Sea」 that caused the Masters harm… it appears there is a need to
remove it completely.”
“Wouldn’t it be fine if you were to just learn to swim…”
At this point, Steph who appeared to be the only relaxed one spoke with her
eyes half open.
But Miko and others beside her – all the Werebeasts in frustration – agreed
with Jibril’s words.
“…Yeah, who cares about the ocean, who created these weird puddles
anyway?”
“I have to agree with Jibril-san for once, just let the sea dry off already.”
“Also the sea is so stinky… if only the sea could just disappear and leave
behind all the fish.”
Everyone had completely entered the dream, and even though they were
cursing, they were gradually returning to their usual calm selves.
- Sora, Shiro, Steph, Jibril, Miko, Ino and Izuna.
They stepped on the floor individually, and the 「Setting (scene)」 in front of
them constructed slowly.
Even though they were at the bottom of the sea the sky could be seen, and
clouds were moving about on the water’s surface.
The uneven terrain was re-flattened, and 「School buildings」 appeared on the
sea floor originally filled with rocks and corals.
The schools of tropicalfish swimming around them gradually transformed into
nameless normalstudents (NPC).
In the blink of an eye a virtualstage known as the 「Underwater school」 was
built.
That was a 「High school」 built in the same style as the other buildings around
Oceande –
Glancing at their surroundings, beside Sora –
“What shocks me is that Her Majesty actually knows about 「Schools」… did
she read about them in books?”
Plum who had appeared to have snuck into the game (dream) successfully,
spoke.
Understanding the meaning behind Sora’s glance, Plum smiled wearily, and
explained bitterly.
“Haha… Oceande doesn’t have anything like schools… what would those
people need to learn anyway.”
As the scene around them stopped changing, Sora and others began showing
changes instead.
First – countless signs lit up, entering their field of vision.
“…? What is this?”
Steph wanted to touch the signs that appeared, but grabbed air instead, and
Sora explained:
“That’s the UI (User Interface)… the 「Command Selection Screen」.”
- It was exactly like a status screen in a standard dating simulator.
It brought back memories, like the title screen of 「Toki〇 Memorial」, but
Sora complained instead:
“…Since you could generate something like this this perfectly, then you
shouldn’t have let us drown in the first place.
“Because this only causes any effect on the players… when the scenes are
being constructed, it’s actually the process of combining Sora-dono and Her
Majesty’s memories, something that took us quite a lot of effort to do, but –“
Plum spoke in shock all of a sudden:
“Where did Sora-dono get your information? I’ve never seen anything like
that before.”
Plum didn’t know that Sora came from another world, and indicated curiosity
at how he was able to imagine such things – but Sora merely ignored her.
“Speaking of which since what you’re doing is reflecting the imaginations of
the players, the settings should be rather easy to change right?”
“Ah, yes, because the spell is being constructed… so as long as Sora-dono
wishes it anything can be changed.”
Plum continued:
“But one’s appearance, age and sex are unchangeable… please take care.”
- The Empress was hibernating in wait of a 「Prince」.
Ifshe were to fall in love only to realize that the person that had awoken her
was completely different from the character in her dream, like a photo scam –
she would probably resume hibernation.
They didn’t have any problem with that, but what was important was:
“Since we can change our names, please set my name as 「Ko〇man」.”
“…Nii, setting all base stats…to 573 is cheating…”
[16]
Facing his sister’s accusing gaze with her eyes half open, Sora shook his hand
while chuckling in denial.
“Using official cheats are technically allowed according to the rules, and also if
this cheat is used as long as you perform any actions you will be afflicted with
neurosis, causing you to miss the entire first year and all the flags in it… so it
does have its negative side effects!” (TL note: See what I mean by negative
stats?)
“…Then Shiro will… use the name「Se〇ponume」.”
[17]
“Um… is there any particular reason for that…?”
As they were conversing – Sora and others’ appearances changed according
to Sora’s imagination made reality by the spell.
Sora’s dressing was merely an extra uniformed suit over his usual T-shirt
saying 「I ♥Humans」.
“…Oof, this clothing is rather stuffy.”
Wearing a male school uniform as well – a ninety-eight year old man with
bulging muscles spoke beside him.
“…A uniform that bulges tightly due to overly large muscles…I think I’m
going to have nightmares tonight.”
Sora spoke while averting his gaze from hell(Ino) over to heaven
(playground) – which was essentially the female members of their posse.
Shiro who was standing on the other side of him wasn’t wearing her usualfull
black uniform – but instead a brightly colored female uniform.
- Maybe because it was mixed in with the Empress’ impressions as well, it
was a sailor uniform slightly more revealing than Sora had expected it to be.
And around her were Izuna, Jibril and Miko who were wearing the same
uniforms –
“…Miko-san’s sailor uniform, really does look amazing…”
“Do you have something to say about it?”
Stroking her long golden hair, Miko spoke while wearing a sailor uniform
identical to Shiro’s.
Her twin tails lifted her skirt slightly as they shook about, and her beautiful
legs underneath were extremely attractive, but –
“…Miko-san, how old are you?”
“Didn’t anyone tell you that asking for a lady’s age is extremely rude?”
“Oh, right… speaking of which the one that created the Eastern Federation
was Miko-san right?”
Miko’s ears twitched slightly.
“You kept saying things like since you were matured or whatever, Izuna’s
eight years old but she’s already matured, while the Eastern Federation
prospered rapidly within fifty years (half a century) – even when you leave out
the time taken to take care of the entire Eastern Federation, you at least have
to be about fifty-eight –“
“Let me give you a piece of good news OK? Imanity (bald monkey).
Werebeasts – especially in their 「Blood Devastation」 form, age extremely
slowly.
Miko interrupted Sora’s accurate deduction, and spoke with a dazzling smile.
- After which a dangerous smile appeared on her face, and she spoke clearly:
“If you dare to call me 「Auntie」, you know what will happen, don’t you ♥”
“- Phew… and I was the one about to tell Miko-san some good news.”
Sora met her smile head on, and replied:
“Looks are everything! Miko-san gives off an air like she’s older than she
actually is because of her actions and tone of voice, but appearance-wise you
look no older than a beautiful twenty-year-old lady –which means actual age
is no more than a title, which is what we Imanity believe.”
“…That is what you believe.”
Despite clearly hearing Steph’s words, Sora excellently ignored her, and
pointed beside him.
“Also there’s someone here who is 「Over six thousand years old」, so there’s
nothing to worry about right?”
“Ah, Master, to be precise I’m 「Six thousand four hundred and seven」 years
old.”
Jibril who was looking at her garb curiously since earlier, replied with a smile
on her face.
Her shirt was lifted up slightly by the wings on her waist, revealing a short
snatch of bellybutton, while the rest can be omitted.
On the other hand –
“…Speaking of which, may I ask a question?”
“Hmm – is there a problem? Steph.”
“Why am I the only female along with you and Ino – that’s wearing male
clothes?”
- That was true.
Shiro, Jibril, Miko and Izuna.
They were all wearing sailor uniforms, but only Steph was – wearing a male
uniform identical to Sora and Ino’s.”
Sora nodded his head meaningfully, and explained his reasoning.
“Good question – this is what is known as 「To kill a general, first shoot his
horse」.”
“…What?”
Sora spoke with a serious expression, and everyone’s eyes were on him.
“- First, there are 「Two」 reasons why I didn’t let everyone wear male
clothing.”
Sora continued while lifting up a single finger.
“First, if we’re going to conquer the female lead, I want to have help from her
friends – the girls.”
“…You really say all these dastardly things without hesitation.”
Miko spoke her thoughts on everyone else who was glaring at Sora coldly.
However Sora ignored her and raised another finger:
“Secondly – I considered the possibility that a trap like the Empress 「Never
was interested in men」 in the first place might exist.”
“…I did say earlier that the Empress was looking for a fertile male…?”
“There’s insufficient evidence to prove that.”
Sora rebutted Plum who objected while staring daggers at him as well, and
continued:
“Next up is the reason why I let specifically Steph wear male clothing – Steph
has strong communication skills, so she can be our scout for information.”
If they were only looking at political power, Miko could be a stand-in for her
as well.
But according to Sora’s instinct, Steph was the correct choice as she could
make friends easily.
“I want a male comrade that has the socialskills and ability to collect
information like Saotome-kun – but…”
[18]
Sora turned to Steph and sighed.
“…But compared to Saotome, you’re more of a… someone like Ijuuin…”
[19]
“- What? I don’t really understand…”
- A redhead with rather proper looks.
She looked like a rather high-classed handsome teenager – the male-dressed
Steph tilted her head in confusion.
Her attitude was nonchalant as she hadn’t particularly noticed her
appearance, but she was proficient in both physical ability and studies, even
being a decent homemaker.
She had socialskills, a drive to get things done – and had a set of determined
blue eyes.
And deep in her eyes, one could even get a glimpse at her overwhelming
gentleness and resilient personality – she was quite literally a model teenager.
- To be honest.
Sora wanted to punch her, as she was the enemy of unpopular people (the
world) – once again glancing at her riajuu appearance, Sora sighed.
[20]
“…Ijuuin? Who’s that?”
“…It’s first-gen… don’t bother about it…”
[21]
“…Speaking of which, how about we not bother about Gramps over here
and just let Steph go talk to the girls?”
“What? No, for me to go talk to the girls – and about that… S-Sora and I –“
“…Ah, it appears the spell is complete.”
Part 4
“Hmm, so let’s play the opening cutscene all over again – after which I’ll
infiltrate the Empress’ subconscious.”
Following Plum’s announcement, a giant screen appeared in the middle of the
air.
The badly made advertising clip that had just played in their minds once again
made an encore accompanied with relaxing background music.
Following the narrator’s descriptions, after photos of the school buildings and
classrooms were shown on screen, the image cut to the courtyard, where a
giant madder-red colored piece of coral that seemed to have branches
extending in all directions was shown with the camera angle slightly tilted.
The narrator explained calmly.
“Marinal Kagayaki High… there is a legend that as long as one confesses
under the magical coral, one will acquire 「True Love」.”
[22]
Hearing these recycled words, Sora complained with his eyes half-opened:
“…Hey, I wouldn’t care if it was like a magical tree or something, but what
the hell is a magical coral…?”
To confess under an ancient tree was somewhat understandable.
Confessing in the midst of bells ringing or on a slope with Sakura blossoms
blowing around would be acceptable as well.
But no matter how you think about it, 「Under the magical coral」 just seems a
bit too over-the-top, don’t you think?
“Even if you say that I can’t do anything about it… there aren’t any trees in
the ocean…”
- Speaking of which stuff like corals would probably look disgusting up close.
The opening cutscene continued to play, disregarding Sora’s inner thoughts
and protests.
- After a while.
The boring narration ended, and pop music began playing.
Under the pink-colored 「Magical coral」, a mermaid with blue hair flowing
along with the waves appeared.
- The empress.
The uniform-wearing empress – Leila swam quietly under the giant red coral
as though dancing.
Her colorful uniform covered up her firm body that was shaking from side to
side unpredictably in the water brought out her naturalsexiness and charisma
even more, and the very action of her scaly tailsticking out from her short
skirt while flapping about in the water was attractive.
The Empress’ eyes carried a hint of melancholy, and she stretched her hand
out to the sky as though earnestly waiting for something –
“La - ♪”
She began singing.
- Upon hearing her voice, everyone simultaneously inhaled sharply.
“Ah…!”
“Oh, this is… she really is a beauty, even her voice is exceptional.”
Steph and Ino began praising her.
An Empress that could bewitch anyone through a single glance.
Her beautiful voice brought a sensation to the listener’s soul that was almost
like taking drugs.
…Except for Sora and Shiro.
Sora and Shiro stared at the screen in boredom.
“Even I’m beginning to think that there’s something wrong with our taste…”
Ignoring her voice for now –
The song and video that was playing were completely mismatched with her
sensual actions and melancholic expression.
But before that, the Empress wasn’t suitable to wear sailor uniforms at all
because she’s too sexy.
It was like a thirty-year-old woman (laugh) pretending to be a female high
schoolstudent –
“Well it’s true that everyone’s preferences are different… but you want me to
conquer her?”
I can’t seem to get excited… Sora took a small breath.
■「The First Day」■
- All of a sudden, the words 「The First Day」 appeared in front of everyone.
Sora and Shiro were undoubtedly already used to it, but Plum continued to
explain it to the others.
“Um, I believe a few 「Commands」 should have appeared in front of
everyone, if you use those you can perform specific actions… like giving
presents and things like that.”
Hearing Plum’s explanation, Sora tilted his head in curiosity instead.
“It’s like that in theory, but this is a realistic romance game right? So there
shouldn’t be a hidden affection meter…”
“…Nii.”
As Sora was complaining, Shiro quickly passed something to him.
“…Command…present…Nii, did your affection gauge rise?”
Shiro’s eyes appeared to be expecting something, while Sora smiled bitterly
and replied:
“Sorry, sis, my affection for you is already at maximum levels, so even if you
try nothing will –“
“So Master, if you allow me to, I will –“
Jibril gave him a gift as well.
Plum looked away from them and continued her expression.
“Also…among the commands displayed, there should be two heart shapes as
well.”
Everyone carried out individual confirmations and found them almost
immediately.
It was in the lower-half corner of a screen with multiple signs on it.
There was a normal heart shape and another heart shape with a 「+」marked
on it.
“That heart is the confession command…it’s up to you how you wish to
confess, but if you choose this and get 「Dumped」, it will be regarded as a
「Loss」… while the one with a + on it is…”
“Your 「Love Magic」 right – a cheat command right, OK, I think I’ve got
it… yep.”
Sora had figured out the system since earlier, and turned towards Ino.
“So Gramps, since you’ve married thirty wives, the amount of people you’ve
slept with must be more than that right? So how about you use those skills
that even Ka〇 Taka can’t beat to quickly conquer the Empress and get her
heart.”
[23]
“The way you put it is rather displeasing…”
Ino wrinkled his forehead, but after that –
“I’m looking forward to your lover’s skills that seem to be your pride,
Hatsuse Ino.”
“…Good luck Grandpa, des.”
“Yes! As Miko-sama orders…!”
Hearing the two women’s encouraging words, Ino replied respectfully and
turned towards Sora.
“…But Sora-san, I was quietly listening to you since earlier, all that stuff
about shooting generals and horses, helpers, scouts for information and others
seems pretty hard to comprehend.”
“…What?”
Sora replied with his forehead wrinkled, and Ino shrugged his shoulders and
continued:
“…Could it be that Sora-san believes that ignoring women’s preferences and
forcing one’s own preferences onto them – even stooping to the point of
changing one’s appearance to suit them is 「Love」?”
…He got me, Sora thought.
“To be precise, that’s how it is in a 「Romance Game」.”
Noticing that Sora was unable to answer, Ino looked at him solemnly.
“Phew… so that’s how it is, it was a good idea after all to leave it to me after
all, it seems that just like how being good at fighting games doesn’t make one
a good fighter, mastering romance games doesn’t allow one to talk about real
romance and love.”
- He was right, but Sora somehow felt angry as he realized that his selfconfidence
probably came from the fact that he’d slept with many women.
“Sora-san do you know why you’re a virgin – an unpopular, antisocial,
incurable man now?”
“…Old man, don’t make me get Jibril to teleport you to the ends of the
universe.”
Ino didn’t appear to be the slightest bit threatened by Sora’s devilish glare.
“Some say that 「Love is the art of reading hearts」- ifso, why can’t Sora-san
do it?”
“…Hmm?”
- If it was 「Reading hearts」.
Then Sora who was way above himself (Ino) should be able to do it.
Ino’s words carried absolute confirmation at Sora’s ability with it as well,
leaving Sora speechless.
“I see, there are many different ways to love, but… the end result is always to
「Convey one’s feelings to the other」, and –“
Ino stared at Sora sharply.
- His eyes didn’t carry any hint of condescension.
It wasn’t a look ofsarcasm, hate, pity, nor underestimation.
It was a look that Sora – knew all too well.
With the look in his eyes that Sora never wanted to see again in his original
world – Ino continued:
“The words spoken by a liar that lives on mountains of lies do not have the
power to convey one’s feelings at all!”
No doubt about it, it was – a look of 「Distrust」.
“But, it’s true, if it really is about reading hearts, there’s only one way, which
is –“
Ino spoke while glancing towards his own command screen.
“「Seize the upper hand」.”
Unhesitatingly choosing the 「Confession Command」- Ino dashed forward.
“”Eh-!?””
Leaving behind Sora and others who were stillfrozen in shock –
Using his physical ability as a Werebeast to the fullest, Ino launched a surprise
attack with a blinding speed.
His footsteps even caused loud booming noises, while his eyes were focused
only one thing.
Which was the Empress that was about to step into the school gates – Leila.
Ino yelled at the figure that was being surrounded by several NPCs:
“The pretty lady over there! Please wait!”
His voice was like a knight reporting his name on the battlefield, and hearing
his booming voice, the Empress turned around slowly.
Her sapphire colored eyes spotted Ino – and she replied:
“Are you talking about me…?”
- Those few words alone were like a force of nature.
“…! Of course!”
For a moment, Ino forgot he was in a game.
Every word, sentence, action, and smile of the beauty in front of him was
melting his soul.
But he shook his head in self-warning, and focused his strength at his
abdomen.
[24]
- There wouldn’t be a problem if he was to fall in love with her, or more
appropriately, he needed to fall in love with her.
He clenched his jaw and focused his energy with a determined look in his
eyes.
- But he couldn’t be consumed; he needed to consume the other –
“Oh beautiful lady, please forgive me for interrupting you suddenly, if it’s
convenient for you – I would like you to hear a few words of mine.”
“Ah – and what would those words be?”
The Empress smiled sweetly.
Ino’s heart felt like it was being grabbed onto tightly just from those words.
He wanted to forget everything – at least, he was tempted to.
The Empress’ eyes, the Empress’ voice, the Empress’ expression, her snowwhite
neck.
The angle at which her fingers touched her breasts unintentionally, the
shadows created by her waving hair –
Those things, he considered them priceless treasures…!
- Ino thought, there was a possibility –
The previous challengers were all consumed by the Empress’ beauty and
were unable to even confess.
She had that standard of beauty, a radiance that was almost violent in nature.
In conclusion, in front of this woman, a normal young man wouldn’t even be
able to open his mouth.
But Ino… replied with a smile.
- He wasn’t at ease; he was already at his limit.
Love isn’t about reading hearts – yes, love is a battle.
The action of 「Laughing」 was an act of war.
- It originated from how beasts would bare their jaws at their pray.
Ino calmly, carefully, solemnly kneeled on the ground.
- Love.
He raised his two palms towards the heavens and beat them on the ground
violently as though in prayer.
- The so-called love.
He looked at the girl with a powerful gaze – it wasn’t a threat, but a silent
declaration of war.
- Must be won with one’s own hands.
He clasped his hands that were plastered onto the floor onto his knees, and
pressed his forehead sharply down onto the concrete, head, bones and all…!
- It was …
Impeccable.
A glorious –
“Please! I beg you to spend a passionate night with me -!”
- He kneeled and kowtowed.
-…
“”-What!?””
- Whose voices were those?
Or were those possibly everyone’s voices?
Sora and others didn’t need mentioning, as even the Empress was frozen in
shock, however Ino continued, ignoring everyone else!
“Since the first time I saw you, my heart has been boiling like lava, please
look! My sword is hard and erect like steel-!!”
“Eek…”
The Empress breathed sharply, and backed away continuously with a
flustered expression.
While Ino increased his volume, and pressed his attack…!
“Oh, please forgive me, dear Empress of the ocean! It’s all because you’re
too beautiful! Since the first time I saw you, I’ve been having this overflowing,
unstoppable urge to hold you and penetrate you! Please forgive my burning
feelings!”
“It’s a straight-up kowtowing strategy that doesn’t give the other party time to
back down at all- !?”
Sora felt a sense of immense trepidation.
Was this the sure-win tactic of a man that has married thirty women!?
As the surrounding atmosphere dropped to absolute zero temperatures, Ino’s
passionate kowtowing strategy was still being carried out in full.
“Please! I beg you! Please carry out intercourse with me! Please have
passionate intercourse with me!”
“Eh? No, wait, um… that…”
Since she had begun hibernating, the Empress’ dreams had been interrupted
countless times, and she had received countless confessions as well.
Even ifshe was really an Empress that had rejected allsorts of men, it was
probably her first time receiving such a direct confession. She hurriedly
attempted to run towards the school blocks.
But -!
“Please wait!”
(Grasps)
Ino’s muscular hand grabbed onto the Empress’ arm, stopping her in her
tracks.
“No, hey, let go -!”
“I’m not going to! I won’t let go! I want you to feel the beating of my heart,
the burning heat of my loins! My body is old and insignificant, but I will make
you satisfied even if it costs me my life!!”
“Noooooooooo!?”
- They were speechless.
It was literally a crime – no, what was occurring in front of them was an act of
complete pervertedness.
If a temperature below absolute zero existed, Sora and others spectating
would definitely feel like they were in it.
“…No, but…”
Sora who was watching the events unfold from a safe distance asked Miko
nervously:
“Did that old man use this method to get himself thirty wives…?”
“…No, I don’t know, why are you asking me?”
“No, unless those methods when used on Werebeasts actually…”
(How could it possibly work!? I’m not even there and I feel like refusing
myself!!)
“No, wait, let go of me! I said let go of me!!”
The Empress began crying out mournfully, and finally managed to shake off
Ino’s grasp.
After which she turned, cut through the crowds and disappeared into the
school blocks with her tailflailing about.
“Please wait, Empress! EMPREESSSSSS!!”
Ah…ah… -
Ah… -
…Ah –
Ino’s mournful cries echoed in the clear blue ocean – and disappeared
suddenly.
The rejected Ino lay motionless, appearing extremely depressed.
- Seeing his current state, everyone else had the word ‘Disappointment’
engraved in their hearts.
“…He can’t make it anymore right?”
“…”
- No one bothered to rebut Sora’s words.
“…B-but that doesn’t count as being dumped yet, doesn’t it?”
Ino did kneel down in pursuit of her love earlier, but the Empress didn’t
officially reject his love.
So according to the system, the game – the dream should still continue…
Regarding Sora’s question, Plum replied somewhat hesitantly:
“…Before that, I think the real problem is whether that sort of action should
be considered as a confession or not…”
Hearing Plum’s words, Sora nodded and said:
“- Anyway, let’s have some fun normally, select command…「Leave the
school」.”
“…Nod.”
“…Why did you people choose this setting anyway?”
However, no one bothered to answer Miko’s question…
■「The Second Day」■
Immediately after they woke up, the date and the 「Attend School」
commands appeared in front of them.
As they selected the command, the scene immediately changed.
When they returned to their senses – Sora was already walking on the way to
school with Shiro.
The activities that they had all done so far – eat breakfast, change into their
uniforms, get out of the house.
Those were completely shortened out, and their memories of actually doing
those tasks merely remained fuzzily in their heads.
“…Nii, good morning…”
“Good morning…since in this game we’re under the 「Sibling Setting」 as well,
we’re allowed to be together from morning.”
Not to mention that they were set to be in the same grade.
An eighteen-year-old and an eleven-year-old in the same grade – it could be
somewhat dismissed as a result of continuous grade-hopping.
Just like that, as Sora, Shiro and the NPCs were going to school together,
someone called out to Sora from behind.
“- Ah, Sora, g-good morning.”
“Oh…?”
Turning around, Steph (male-dressed) was standing behind him.
Sora raised one hand in response to her greeting, and then spoke with his
forehead wrinkled:
“…Good morning, speaking of which the fact that you’re dressed like that but
you’re stillspeaking like a girl is somewhat disgusting.”
“Didn’t you set this yourself…”
Steph’s eyes narrowed in a devilish glare, and she took out a thick stack of
papers from her bag and passed them to Sora.
“…What is all this?”
“It’s the Empress’ personal information in this game and also her contacts…
I’ve also done some slight research on the characters that may be acting as
her friends in-game.”
“- Eh? You’ve already done research!?”
Sora’s eyes widened in shock as he began flipping through the information.
Steph did say it was merely rough research, but what Sora saw was
「Information」 regarding tens upon tens of characters from their contacts to
their hobbies.
- To have such staggering amount of information in only the second day of
school.
She had a speed that even Saotome would envy, and Sora continued halfsuspiciously:
“How did you research about this sort of thing?”
Steph widened her eyes as well in response, and replied nonchalantly:
“It’s exactly the same as a 「Social Network」, as long as you get close to a
few of her attendants, you get all their information, including things from
interests, dislikes, injuries, even relationships they’re in. Also there apparently
won’t be any consequences for talking about private matters here unlike in the
real world.”
- Cheh!
“What was that for!? Why did you go ‘cheh’ at me earlier!?”
Her communication abilities were stunning.
Although it had achieved the effects he had intended it to, but Sora felt anger
first instead of gratitude at her superhuman socialskills.
“Ah, I’m sorry, it was an accident… I-I’ll be using these as references,
thanks for everything.”
Sora rallied once more and began comforting her.
“- A-about that, speaking of which, just now, earlier, that… did the
「Affection Gauge」 rise?”
Steph (male according to the settings) asked while twiddling her fingers shyly.
“…What?”
“No, the gift command earlier – “”””Steph-sama♪”””” – Ah!?”
A flirtatious voice sounded from behind her, and Steph let out a cry, falling
onto the floor.
As she hurriedly turned, she saw a group of girls with heart shapes in their
eyes struggling and fighting amongst each other to get to her.
“Steph-sama! Let’s walk to school together!”
“Hey you, don’t ask so chummy with her! Here, Steph-sama, this way –“
“Eh, wait…I haven’t finished – someone, someone help me ahhhhhhhh -!?”
Upon seeing Steph being dragged away by a group of girls, Sora responded
by half-closing his eyes.
“…Just let yourself be chased to the ends of the earth.”
He let out a small choking noise, then left her behind and resumed his walk to
school.
As he reached the school gates, he noticed Ino was still there in a kowtowing
position.
■「The Third Day」■
Izuna used the 「Gift」 command on Sora.
What she gave was a can of mackerel.
However Izuna was drooling while staring at the can of mackerel, and she
appeared to be undergoing an internalstruggle.
Sora couldn’t help but consider giving up and going on the Izuna route
instead, but he managed to control his urge.
- In school, he bumped into the Empress and Steph at the school gates, was
there a flag being triggered?
But Sora didn’t know her yet, so he ignored her and continued towards the
classroom.
Immediately as he reached – probably because she was set in the same grade
as well – Plum walked over in a female uniform.
“U-um… why is everyone ignoring the Empress…?”
“Because we need to begin our assault only after we achieve the stats
required to conquer the character in order to easily gain affection points.”
“…Early game…except for scripted flags…ignore everything…focus on
raising stats…”
Shiro and Sora raised their opinions with focused expressions, while Plum
looked somewhat troubled.
“…That’s how it works…?”
Ino was still kowtowing at the school gates.
■「The Fourth Day」■
Miko used the 「Ask on a Date」 command – on Sora.
He was stopped on the way to school, and Miko took the initiative.
“I’m pretty interested in this 「Sakura Coral Park」 set in the spring season, so
would you like to go together?”
She appeared to be reciting lines off of the UI (User Interface), but it was the
first time Sora had heard of the place.
“Eh? What’s that? Where did you see that?”
“Really, you hadn’t noticed? There’s an icon shaped like a small book in the
lower right corner.”
“Ah… really. The Oceande Messenger – I actually fell behind Miko-san in a
romance game of all things…”
“Heheh… so? Could it be that you’re not interested in what Sakura corals
may be?”
“Fine, I’ll go, Shiro can follow along right?”
“…Mm, I want to… see.”
“Since we’re going, let’s invite everyone else as well, Izuna, Jibril, Steph –
does Plum want to go?”
“Master, there’s a 「Make Bento」 command under the 「Hobbies」 command
section, I’ll make some for our visit.”
“…Um, are you sure all of you haven’t forgotten what we’re here for…?”
Ino was still kowtowing at the school gates.
■「The Fifth Day」■
Today was the day that they were to select their clubs, and everyone chose
the go-home club.
[25]
Only Steph joined the students’ council, and for some reason she was glaring
hatefully at Sora.
- After school, Shiro was tugging on his sleeve, and he looked up –
“…Nii, over there.”
She pointed at the Empress that appeared to be going home as well.
“A go-home flag…?”
“I think so, forget it, it’s too troublesome, let’s go home.”
“…「Going home together…if anyone were to spread rumors… it would be
very embarrassing」.”
“Hey sis, can you not say that line again?”
[26]
- Memories from his past awakened.
The other party was his childhood friend, and as he nonchalantly invited her to
walk home together, he heard that line instead.
“Thinking about it, I think that was the time when I stopped trusting people.
Plum appeared to be hurriedly saying something, but Sora ignored her and
replied with “OK yeah it’s very funny” dismissively.
Ino was still kowtowing at the school gates.
■「The Tenth Day」■
They were having a meeting in preparation for the sports meet next month.
Since it would probably end up with Jibril performing alone, they reached an
unanimous vote that they would select the leave school command immediately
after classes ended.
As they were stepping out of the school gates, Sora finally tried to use the
「Date Command」.
- And his target was Miko.
“Ah~ um, how about we all 「Go shopping」 together?”
“Why do you sound like you’re reading from a script?”
“Nah, it’s just a habit.”
“Speaking of which wouldn’t it be no fun if we were to go shopping without
having anything to buy?”
“…I think there’s…a food fest…”
“Alright, let’s go, there should be wine right? Ah, does Izuna want to come
along as well?”
“As long as there’s meat or fish then definitely, des.”
“Ah, I’ll definitely go as well, Master.”
He had planned to invite Steph, but possibly because she was busy with
council activities, they didn’t see her after school at all.
- Although they spent all their 「Money」, everyone got to try pretty delicious
food.
Ino was still – never mind.
■「The Fifteenth Day」■
“- Everyone, do we really need to go to school?”
Hearing Sora’s words, everyone realized something.
After which their actions were very fast-paced.
Everyone began making plans in order to try out all the dating spots within
their reachable radius.
Sora and Shiro dressed up carefully, wore dress suits and went to their
meeting point, but –
“…Disappointed…”
Shiro sagged her shoulders in disappointment, while Sora helped her ask her
question.
“…Miko-san… allow me to ask, why are you wearing that?”
Miko who had arrived on time was wearing a tracksuit and a pair ofslippers,
appearing particularly pathetic.
It was no different from an old man’s home clothing, but Miko shrugged her
shoulders.
“Because there aren’t any straw shoes or skirts or pants. Although these may
look cheap, they’re easy to move about in, and they’re comfy as well.
Shouldn’t I be the one asking you why you’re wearing suits and dresses off
for a hike?”
“Hey Jibril, could you tell me why you’re wearing a swimsuit over?”
“Eh? Because there was a clothing selection, so I just chose something that
was the closest to what I usually wear.”
…On another note, according to Steph who was still going to school
diligently, Ino was really still… never mind.
■「The Twentieth Day」■
- Everyone was just about bored of playing.
On a spur of the moment, Sora attempted to actually begin going to school.
Immediately after that, he noticed that for some reason a rumor had spread
that 「Sora hurt Steph (male)」.
In order to find out what exactly was going on, he went to find Steph during
recess, and –
“…!”
Upon seeing Steph, she glared at him fiercely and ran off.
“What’s going on here?”
“…The game’s…like this in the first place…”
The fact that 「Bombs」 would appear without the player doing anything was
really the way the game was designed.
[27]
But why would the bomb icon – appear on a male (by setting only)?
“Hey, Plum, there seems to be a bug with the system of the game.”
“…Compared to that, you’ve really forgotten the main aim of the game,
haven’t you?”
Sora complained to her that the game should be properly debugged.
Plum looked to the horizon and let out a long, sad sigh instead.
- While – Ino, was still, kowtowing, at the school gates…
■「The Twenty-fifth Day」■
Nothing much happened.
It was almost as if the entire affair had become the second half of a summer
holiday.
■「The Thirtieth Day」■
Nothing much happened.
■「The Thirty-fifth Day」■
Nothing much, basically.
■「The Thirty-ninth Day」■
- Let’s just go check out the school tomorrow.
Ino somehow began regaining realization of what was going on…
■「The Fortieth Day」■
- The sky was dyed with the dawn sunlight.
In front of the school gates that were bathed in the sunlight as well, there was
a frail-looking, thin, stone statue that was covered in barnacles and appeared
to have become one with the ground.
This solemn, serious, memorial that even let out a saintly air was –
“…C-could it be… the old man?”
Everyone took a breath in shock as they finally went to school once again.
- Sora and others who had retreated from the scene earlier… had nothing to
say at that point.
His back even appeared to be emitting light…
He – unquestionably was more of it than anyone else – like a real man.
…This man had done it ever since the day the game started, to the Empress
that passed by him without a word daily –
Kneeled and kowtowed.
Like a statue, he didn’t budge at all.
Even until now, he continued to request.
No, his very appearance was his very best articulation, and he was letting out
a single sentence.
Which was –
Let me have you - !!
Faced with his awe-inspiring image, Sora couldn’t help but admit that he truly
had the dignity of a man –
Ah… so love isn’t about reading hearts.
- It’s the act of proving one’s love.
The old man succeeded in doing that.
Ifso – the fact that he didn’t understand love wasn’t surprising any more.
Sora swaggered towards the stone effigy – no, the true man within it, and his
body was trembling uncontrollably.
“Too small – I’m so incredibly insignificant.”
Compared to that man, what was he?
For a mere – he couldn’t help but think of it so - 「Romance」, could he bear
kneeling for forty days?
Sora could only say no.
He – Ino didn’t disguise himself, and shamelessly, fearlessly pulled out his
heart and gave it to her.
Was there a love more sincere than this – no, there wasn’t!
“So… so this is… this is 「Love」…”
“…Absolutely…not…”
Sora spoke while almost at the point of tears as though he had reached some
sort ofspiritual awakening, while Shiro immediately rebutted him.
But – suddenly.
As though it was hiding from the sun – a shadow fell upon that holy statue.
Looking at the owner of the shadow that was swimming through the waters
gracefully and appeared to be on the way to school –
It was – the Empress.
Her line ofsight brushed past Sora and focused upon the sacred statue – no,
focused on Ino.
- Could it be?
“…Impossible – it can’t be…?”
Miko who was looking from a distance couldn’t help but mumble to herself.
The Empress continued to approach Ino.
And then she clasped Ino’s cheeks lightly.
In that instant… as though it had finally recalled that it was a human being, the
statue moved.
The barnacles, the floor and even the rocks and stones on it began to peel off.
The Empress’ hands gently support Ino’s cheeks and raised his head up, and
as though receiving some divine guidance, Ino raised his head.
After which – she spoke with a voice that would enchant any listener –
She smiled a smile that was more valuable than any treasure on earth.
She spoke a single sentence.
“…It’s impossible for us to be together.”
- I knew it~…
Everyone’s inner thoughts seemed to overlap.
“- Ah…”
However Ino clenched his teeth and thought, it can’t end like this.
It was true – his love was rejected.
It was crushed into dust.
But now – since it’s come to this, there’s no other way -!
In order to fulfil Miko’s orders – Ino selected a command from the UI (User
Interface).
- The heart shape with a 「+」 sign on it.
Which was – the command for Plum’s 「Love Magic (cheat)」.
And then –
“- Forgive me, Empress! Hnng~~~!!”
He exerted a force strong enough to rival a sumo wrestler.
- He grasped onto the Empress’ breasts firmly.
Yes – in order to complete Plum’s「Spell」, he used the command.
“- Eh!?”
In an instant, a red light began glowing around the Empress, and she opened
her eyes wide in shock.
- At the same time.
“- Ah, ugh -!”
Complex patterns formed in Plum’s eyes, and she let out cries of pain.
Maybe because her powers were being taken from her, her black wings
became blood-red in an instant, and she fell onto the floor in a sitting position.
“…Ah, aahhh…”
On the other hand the Empress let out weak noises with her breasts being
fondled by Ino.
Her face was beet-red – even Sora and others could tell obviously that her
heart rate was rising.
“We, we did it – now we can – !”
Plum spoke in a convincing manner.
“N-now, no matter how appalling of a person Ino-sama is, even with the fact
that he only cares about the lower body, and no matter what kind of feelings
the Empress may have… she will take those feelings – and recognize them as
「Love」!”
Plum seized her opportunity to insult Ino to the point of worthlessness while
speaking tiredly.
- Sora was grumbling to himself that it was a really low form of magic as well.
But no matter by hook or by crook, the Empress would 「Fall in Love」.
Which means Game Over.
And then –
“- No, nonono, even if you want love it shouldn’t be this way, this is
impossible, sorry!!”
- Just like that, she clearly rejected Ino.
The Empress waved her fins, and almost flew – towards the school buildings.
…
- …
…Sad~ depressing~ melancholic~… -
That sort of background music began playing in Sora’s mind.
That man was reduced to ashes.
He was burned white – no, his fur was white in the first place – burned into a
white pile of ash.
The words 「Hatsuse Ino•Lose」 appeared in the world.
While in front of the gates, although he had been shattered and burnt –
- The man who was still maintaining his posture from squeezing the Empress’
boobs earlier – Hatsuse Ino turned into ashes.
Sora stumbled over.
He didn’t know what to say to him,
- But despite that, Sora felt like he had to say something.
“Old man – no… Hatsuse Ino, I’ve misunderstood you all this time.”
Sora’s voice was trembling as he searched for the correct words to say.
“You are truly a – great man, just for that woman… for that woman that can’t
appreciate truly great things, you’re too great for her…”
But, even though Ino was about to turn into ashes and disappear –
He stillspoke –
“- No, Sora-san… it was my love that wasn’t enough, for love is without sin.”
After finishing his sentence – as he was 「Rejected」, Ino would lose all his
rights and be removed from the game.
He gradually began slowly changing colors from a dark, charred gray until he
appeared almost transparent, and then –
“Ino…? Ino, hey, wait! You’re joking right!?”
Sora yelled while grasping onto Ino’s shoulders, but Ino’s body ignored him
and gradually began disappearing from the game.
- Just like that, Hatsuse Ino’s high school life was over.
It was a high school life that was rather eventful, but ended up with him
kowtowing all the while.
If he could go through it again, he wouldn’t leave behind any regrets –
- At this time, some weak-sounding closing transcript along the lines of that
would probably be heard, but Ino instead –
“Phew… I have no regrets… if there’s a next time, I’ll do it, all over again –“
With a blissfulsmile on his face, blatantly refusing to speak such weak words,
and disappeared from Sora’s arms.
- In complete silence, Sora looked up to the sky.
His face which was that of real man’s was covered in tears.
“Hatsuse Ino… how could a man like you – ugh!”
Ignoring the emotional Sora, everyone else appeared cold.
- This wasn’t just an awkward moment.
Ino wasn’t dead, nor had he disappeared.
He was merely brought out of the dream – and returned to the world outside
the game.
But Sora was so emotional that his body was shaking uncontrollably as
though he had lost an irreplaceable brother-in-arms.
“How could this be -…!!”
Sora yelled to Plum who was looking at him coldly as well with a tone that
suggested he was about to vomit blood.
“What is this!? Wasn’t that a sure-fire way to win!? That man – he even
sacrificed his aesthetics!! Why did this happen even after using 「Cheats」,
why… why – didn’t the Empress let him in!!”
“- No, it’s not that… w-with the way he was acting any sort of magic
wouldn’t be able to help, probably…?”
- Plum’s words did make a lot ofsense.
Miko suddenly recalled something Plum had said.
To fall in love with someone like that, even a rock would have a better chance
against him.
But -…
Just as Miko revealed a thin smile, Sora knelt and began pounding the floor
beside her emotionally.
“What kind of joke is this!? Is there anyone that’s more of a 「Man」 like him
– do you agree? Shiro, Miko-san, Jibril!”
Sora yelled, almost roared at them.
The three of them that were called out merely –
- Nodded in approval.
“…Eh, eh~~?”
Steph was so shocked that she stepped back upon seeing them nod their
heads.
On the other hand, Plum was utterly stunned by Sora’s angered stance –
She hurriedly attempted to comfort him.
“P-please calm down… t-this is just a really extreme example… I’ll ask
Amira-sama to return Ino-sama, I just want Sora-dono to try the game
properly one more time –“
Speaking those words –
She looked over at Sora’s face –
And Plum –
“- …!?”
Her heart was crushed.
No, more correctly she thought it had been.
The person there was – not the Sora from earlier.
It wasn’t the emotionally charged, begging, pleading man from earlier.
It wasn’t the cheerfully laughing, carefree man that had listened to Plum’s
request.
The person there was – someone else that Plum didn’t know.
A man with the eyes of a hunter that pitied the 「Prey that had fallen into the
trap」.
The man spoke a single sentence with a cruel, strange tone:
“Again? – Why?”
- Because –
“…We’ve…already won…”
“- Eh…?”
The man stood up nimbly with a gaze that didn’t carry any warmth, and Shiro
followed suit.
No – Shiro as well…Plum didn’t know her – she was a girl with eyes at
absolute-zero temperatures.
Faced with their sudden, drastic change – Plum took a step back.
Plum didn’t understand the two of them.
While Steph, Jibril, Miko and Izuna… they all knew.
The ones that didn’t know could just die –
They just had to stumble upon them of all people – Sora and Shiro – these
two siblings –
And those unknowing ones were Plum and others that stood against them.
They would only appear when their plan to drive the enemy into the corner
has been completed.
- 「The most vicious enemy」- .
“- That’s enough, Miko-san, Jibril.”
Sora turned around and asked while looking behind him.
『 』
Kuuhaku
“Yeah, we’re done playing, it’s complete.”
“I’ve already confirmed it; I’m ready anytime – just waiting for your
command.”
Seeing the two of them nod in approval, Sora spoke in an emotionless voice:
“Do it, Jibril.”
“- Your wish is my command.”
Jibril took a deep bow, and spread her wings.
- Just like that.
The spell that had been held together by tens upon tens of Dhampirs – the
「Magic (Game)」 that was interfering with the Empress’ dreams.
Just like blowing daffodilseeds into the wind, it was scattered easily – and the
scenery around them shattered.
