Infinite Dendrogram_Volume 2

by Sakon Kaidou

  ...That seems like a strong sign that I don’t want to talk about it and that you shouldn’t be asking me this, I thought. But okay, I’ll talk. Nemesis and I were basically one and the same, so there should be no harm in telling her.

  “Back when I was a kid,” I said, “my eyesight was very poor. When I got into year 4 of elementary school, I happened to be the only kid in class who wore glasses.”

  “Well, things like that happen every now and then,” Nemesis commented.

  “My nickname instantly became ‘Noby,’ like the character from Doraemon,” I continued.

  “...Hm?” she raised an eyebrow.

  “My classmates used ‘Noby’ more than my real name,” I went on. “They often pressed me to say his trademark Doraemon phrase, even though I didn’t sound much like the character. Not only that, but the theme of the school’s arts festival somehow became Doraemon, and, of course, I was given the role of Noby.”

  It wasn’t like I had been bullied. Nor had I been some sort of outcast. In fact, I’d had a lot of friends. My classmates at that time had clearly had no ill will, and had only given me the nickname because we were somewhat close. However, the lack of a proper outlet had made a certain sentiment grow within me.

  It could basically be summed up with the words “Who are you calling ‘Noby’?” Or, “I love Doraemon and all, but this is a completely different matter.”

  Nemesis was silently staring at me.

  “What wrong, Nemesis?” I asked her.

  “The reason is just so trifling that I don’t know how to react,” she answered.

  “...Well, even I know that it’s not such a big deal,” I admitted. My big sister had reacted the same way when I’d told her about it.

  “You said you had poor eyesight,” Nemesis spoke again. “Do you still wear glasses in real life?”

  “No,” I answered. “My vision was corrected over the course of the five years after the school’s arts festival.”

  I had eaten things that were good for my eyes and trained them by looking far ahead and by moving my eyeballs daily. It’d been hard work.

  “I admire your tenacity, but wouldn’t it have been better to just get contact lenses?” she asked.

  “The idea of putting things in my eyes scares me,” I answered.

  “Master, you...” She was completely out of things to say.

  “Naturally, laser eye surgery scared me, too, so I had to fix my eyesight with steady training and... Hm?”

  As Nemesis and I were walking through the streets and chatting, I suddenly heard some unpleasant sounds coming from a nearby back alley.

  They made me curious, so I went towards their source.

  A short distance away from the main road, between the buildings, there was a slightly larger area where I saw five men encircling a single girl.

  The men looked like the most stereotypical, run-of-the-mill, boorish punks. The sight reminded me of what Liliana had told me about the princess who’d run away, which had made me picture a generic scenario where I encountered her being harassed by a bunch of evil bastards. Thinking that it couldn’t be the case, I took a better look at the scene, and... it actually wasn’t.

  The damsel in distress had a decent appearance, but her facial features were definitely those of a commoner. She wouldn’t have seemed out of place if I’d seen her standing outside a restaurant and attracting customers. The girl definitely wasn’t the princess, but that didn’t matter, considering how much trouble she was in.

  The contents of their exchange could be summed up like so:

  The girl had a little brother who had been kidnapped yesterday.

  These men had blackmailed her, saying that she had to prepare 200,000 lir if she wanted him back. They had also added that her brother would be killed if she told anything to the knights.

  The girl had run around, borrowing money and selling their family’s possessions until she’d barely managed to gather the 200,000 lir. She had then brought the ransom money to the place the kidnappers had named — this back alley — and given it to them.

  The men had readily accepted the money, but they’d had absolutely no intention of giving her little brother back. Not only that — they were about to take the girl herself as an extra.

  Well, damn, I thought. They’re scumbags to the core.

  They were tians, not monsters — at least not in the game sense — but it was clear that kicking their asses wouldn’t give me any pangs of conscience.

  And letting it slide would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

  With that thought, I stood up and showed myself to the scumbags.

  “Stop right there!” I exclaimed and instantly realized that my voice was doubled for some reason.

  “...Hm?” I said in surprise, and it happened once again.

  Okay, what the hell? I thought.

  I’d done nothing special — I’d merely jumped out and said something — but my voice had come out as if it was in-sync with another one.

  A moment later, I noticed the cause. There was another person standing behind the scumbags and the girl — at the other side of the back alley.

  It was a young man who looked about as old as I was and had donned some strangely-designed clothing that seemed to be a mix of a military uniform and a rider suit. The gloves he wore exposed the backs of his hands, and the left one had a crest which made it obvious that he was a Master.

  “It matters not,” he said. “Back away from that fair lady, you vile scoundrels.”

  Apparently, he was just a guy who’d happened to be thinking the exact same thing I had been thinking at the exact same time.

  “P-Please, help!” pled the girl.

  “Heh,” he grinned. “Why, certainly. All beauteous flowers have thorns. And it is my mission in life to be the thorn for ladies as lovely as yourself and to sting any ruffians trying to harm you.”

  Though we seemed to be alike in some ways, I wasn’t nearly as pompous as him. The aura around him almost made me imagine roses and unnatural rays of light like in some manga aimed at young girls or a Takarazuka Revue performance.

  “Who the hell are you two?” demanded one of the scumbags.

  Another got excited. “Huh? Ya wanna go? Let’s do this!”

  “Hyahaah!” one just cheered in a discomforting way.

  “There’s five of us, ya dumb shits!” spoke yet another.

  “That’s two times more than you!” the last one added.

  That’s not two times, you numbskull, I thought. It’s 2.5 times.

  “Heh,” the pompous Master grinned. “Indeed, there are more of you, but what are your levels?”

  “Huh?!” One of them got scared.

  “From what I can tell, you are all on your first low-rank job,” said the pompous weirdo. “My total level, however, is 126.”

  “W-What?!” They all freaked out in unison.

  “Heh,” he grinned yet again. “Now, bear witness to my power. I’ll just summon my Garage and...”

  “Get him before he does anything!” shouted one of the scumbags. The other four let out a battle cry and charged at him.

  “What?!” the guy was surprised. “Wait, I need to get in my Magingear and... No matter! I will do this with my bare hands if I must!”

  I felt as though I was reading a delinquent manga. All five of the hoodlums ran towards the guy in the military uniform with their fists ready to strike.

  And so, due to just how much the weirdo was standing out, I was being completely ignored.

  “Oh well,” I sighed. The timing was good, so I spoke to the girl. “You should run away now.”

  “Th-Thank you very much!” She thanked me with palpable fear in her voice and ran to the street behind me.

  “Okay, that’s done,” I said. “And the battle is... wait, what?”

  I looked to the other side and — to my surprise — saw the guy in the uniform getting beaten to a pulp. The five hoodlums weren’t unharmed or anything, but it was still safe to s
ay that the battle was completely one-sided.

  Seems like there are too many of them for him to take on by himself, I thought. But wait, his total level is 126, so how... Oh, I see.

  “Having a high total level doesn’t mean that you have high stats, as well,” I said aloud. He was probably like Rook, who — due to being a Pimp — had half of most of my stats despite his level being two times greater than mine.

  Nonetheless, 126 was a formidable level. If the five scumbags were taking care of him that easily, it was entirely possible that I wouldn’t fare so well, either.

  As that thought went through my head, one of the five raised his fist and charged towards me. “You’re next!”

  I hastily evaded his attack and countered with a punch directed straight into his face.

  The next moment, the man got blasted away to the other side of the alley.

  “...Eh?” The other four hoodlums were shocked.

  “...Why?” I asked, as perplexed as the scumbags.

  Thinking that Nemesis had done something, I turned around and looked at her. She responded by heaving a light sigh and pointing at the back of her hand. That action made me look at the backs of my own hands and reminded me of a certain fact.

  I was wearing the Miasmaflame Bracers.

  While testing them today, I had focused mainly on their ability to release fire and gas, but those weren’t the only features they had. The item could also be used for defense and gave a bonus to my stats. Specifically, it increased my STR by 100%.

  Back when I had been level 0, my STR had been somewhere around 10. I hadn’t had any problems moving my body back then, so I could only assume that that amount was representative of a standard adult male’s strength. I’d leveled up and increased my stats since then, and with the bonus from Miasmaflame Bracers, my STR was now over 400. That meant that I’d just punched a hoodlum in the face with the strength of more than 40 average adult males.

  “Is he dead?” Slightly worried, I took a look at the guy, who was lying on the other side of the alley.

  He was twitching, so it was safe to assume that he’d survived. I heaved a sigh of relief. It was pretty obvious that their jobs were combat-oriented, so they were probably tougher than the average Joe.

  “It’s all good, then,” I said as I closed in on them while bashing my bracers together.

  The results wouldn’t have been pretty if I’d used Nemesis, so I chose to settle it with the bad boys on my hands.

  “Who’s next?” I asked.

  “Eee!” one of them shrieked like a little girl.

  I probably looked a bit too menacing, since they quickly turned pale, whirled around, and ran away like roaches.

  “D-Damn it!” one of them shouted. “Don’t get cocky, you shits! We still have that bitch’s brother!” With that, they disappeared into the main road.

  Man, what a generic set of scumbags, I thought.

  “Are you okay?” I asked. “First Heal.”

  I walked over to the uniformed guy they’d beaten up and cast my healing spell on him.

  His wounds weren’t deep by any stretch of the imagination, and my basic healing magic quickly closed them all.

  “Heh, thank you,” he said gratefully. “Hm? Those ears are...” He looked up at the things on my head — the dog ears I’d grown because of the mad penguin.

  “What about them?” I asked.

  “...Oh, nothing,” he answered. “It’s a nice accessory.”

  “Find a penguin and you can get your own pair,” I said.

  “Heh.” He grinned yet again. “I will keep that in mind.”

  The man stood up and dusted his clothes. Even that action seemed a bit pompous.

  “I feel that this meeting is fated,” he said. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Hugo Lesseps. I am a Master and my job is High Pilot.”

  “I’m Ray Starling,” I responded. “I’m a Master and a Paladin. And this is my Embryo, Nemesis.”

  “I see... Embryos of the Maiden type are quite a rarity,” he said. “It’s a pleasure to meet such a lovely mademoiselle.”

  “Pleased to meet you, too,” said Nemesis.

  I found it interesting that he could tell that Nemesis was a Maiden and not a Guardian just by looking at her.

  But man, the way he talks sounds like it belongs in a play or something, I thought. I wonder where he’s from. If his name is anything to go by, then he’s probably French.

  “By the way, why did they beat you up so easily?” I asked. “Is your job not battle-oriented or something?” They’d been pretty weak when I’d fought them, so I would’ve assumed that someone with a total level of 126 could’ve handled them easily.

  “Heh.” There was that grin again. “I am a level 50 Pilot, level 50 Mechanic, and level 26 High Pilot. Leveling with these jobs only raises my HP, MP, SP, and DEX, so all my other stats are about what they were when I started out!”

  That didn’t seem like something to be proud of. Also, I couldn’t help but wonder just what kind of jobs they were to have such a biased stat growth.

  Does he drive a car or something? I thought. Is he like a character from Metal Max or something?

  “U-Umm...” I said.

  As I pondered the nature of Hugo’s job, someone called out to me.

  I turned around to see the girl we’d helped out. Apparently, she’d chosen to stay nearby instead of running away completely.

  “Th-Thank you very much for helping me!” she cried.

  “Oh, no need for that,” I said. “I did it because I felt like it.” Also, it would’ve left a bad taste in my mouth if I hadn’t.

  “Heh.” Hugo grinned again. "I feel the same way. I don’t know if I could sleep at night after having ignored a lady in distress.”

  Isn’t that much like my go-to phrase for these situations? I thought.

  “U-Umm... Are you Masters?” the girl ventured.

  “Why, yes,” said Hugo. “Myself and Ray here are both Masters.”

  The girl dropped to the ground before us and pushed her head against it.

  “Lady...” Hugo didn’t seem sure how to react. “Please raise your head.”

  “Please... Please save my little brother!” she pled. “I beg of you!”

  Oh, yeah, the scumbags said something about that while running away, I thought.

  “Save him? As in, from those hoodlums?” I asked.

  “Y-Yes!” she said. “They’re the Gouz-Maise Gang... They kidnap children, and if they don’t get the ransom for them, the boys and girls get killed and e-eate— ohhh...”

  Her words made me turn silent.

  Killing and eating children? I thought in disbelief. Ohhh, man...

  “They kidnapped my little brother, so please, save him!” she exclaimed. “I can give you this money! And if that’s not enough, I’ll do whatever you want...”

  She extended the bag with the ransom towards us and begged while crying her eyes out.

  I knew the circumstances from the eavesdropping I’d done before jumping out to help her. As things were, her brother would’ve been killed and eaten sooner rather than later. To prevent that result from becoming reality, one had to act fast, and the only ones who could do that were Hugo and me.

  Honestly, I had a feeling it would come to this the moment I showed myself to the scumbags, I thought. That’s why I’m fully prepared to face the risks.

  “I’m down for it,” I said. “I don’t need any compensation, though.”

  “B-But...”

  “You went through great lengths to gather this ransom money, right?” I said. “I can’t take it.” I had a feeling that I would’ve done something about it even if she hadn’t asked me to. If I’d ignored it, the aftertaste in my mouth would’ve been downright foul.

  “What about you, Hugo?” I asked.

  “Heh,” he grinned. “A foolish question. Of course I’m doing it. And I don’t need any money, either.”

  Hugo went down on one of his knees, gently plac
ed his left hand on her chin, and made her look upwards. He then gently wiped her tears away with the thumb of his right hand.

  “Lady,” he said gently. “We shall stop your tears.” And so — as if acting out a scene from a play — Hugo smiled at her. “I promise that you will greet tomorrow’s morning with a smile on your face.”

  [The quest “Rescue Roddie Lancarse, Difficulty Level 8” has started]

  [Please see the quest window for further details]

  A message directed to my ears announced the beginning of an event quest. Apparently, the same thing had happened to Hugo.

  “Let us go, Ray,” he said. “The mission awaits.”

  “Okay,” I sighed. “I can dance to this tune of yours.” Our target quest was the difficulty level 8 “Rescue Roddie Lancarse.” Our destination was the hideout of man-eaters and kidnappers — the Gouz-Maise Gang.

  Our goal... was a morning of smiles.

  And so, we began our quest.

  Chapter Three: A Maiden’s Master

  Gideon, the city of duels, Paladin Ray Starling

  Nemesis, Hugo, and I got on a difficulty level 8 random event quest called “Rescue Roddie Lancarse.” Just like the quest to save Milianne, it was going to be a race against time. However, I had two other worries about it.

  First was the quest difficulty. I didn’t know just how difficult level 8 quests were, so I asked Hugo about it...

  “Difficult enough for level 500 tians going solo to fail spectacularly,” he said. “Even a full party of such tians would have a hard time.”

  ...and that was his answer. So, level 8 quests were too difficult for max level tians. Even if we Masters were generally stronger than tians, it was clearly a bit too much for me — someone below level 50 — to handle. However, I had no intention of leaving the child for dead just because it was hard to save him.

  “I must say that letting them escape was a grave mistake,” said Nemesis.

  And that was my other worry — the five scumbags we’d faced.

  The one I’d punched was still spread out on the back alley’s pavement, so Hugo tied him up with a wire he had on him. We decided to hand him over to the guards, so the girl we’d helped — Rebecca — ran off to the guardroom.