by Aneko Yusagi
What’s that? Motoyasu had noticed Filo’s singing.
“Filo! Bravo! Bravo!”
What had happened to the girl that was with him?
“Yaaaah!”
The tavern was getting wild.
Thirty minutes passed.
“How much leveling can we do on this island? If we go further in will the monsters be stronger?”
“Ha . . . kiddo . . . . This girl is tough!”
Raphtalia had downed 15 bottles of booze. She turned to me and started talking.
Apparently, she could really hold her liquor.
“Buzatt . . . zat’s uat am sajin . . . .”
L’Arc, on the other hand, had clearly overdone it. He was as drunk as drunk gets. All his words were jumbled together.
“Come on L’Arc, we need to get back to our room soon.”
Therese climbed under his arm and hoisted him up by the shoulder.
I was impressed with how much weight she could handle, but then I noticed she was using magic.
“That’s just about enough for tonight, isn’t it? We’ll be heading back to our room now.”
“Sure. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You two can certainly handle your liquor, especially you, Mr. Naofumi. It’s like you’re completely unaffected.”
“Yeah well . . . I’ve always been like this.”
“I’ve never scene anything like it.”
Therese smiled, shifted L’Arc’s weight onto her shoulder, and left the tavern.
“Mr. Naofumi?” Raphtalia said. “Let’s drink a little more.”
“Are you sure you want to drink so much?”
The barkeeper couldn’t hide his surprise either. Raphtalia was really holding out. I wondered if maybe alcohol affected demi-humans differently. I couldn’t help but think of the Shigaraki Tanuki statues and the massive tokkuri they carried.
The loser of the latest batch of arm wrestling came stumbling over and tripped, collapsing onto our table.
“Excuse you! We’re having a discussion here, so please don’t bother us!”
Raphtalia shouted at the drunk man.
Normally she wouldn’t be so brash. Maybe the alcohol was affecting her?
I thought back on the last few months we’d spent together. We were always traveling, selling things, fighting in the waves, and running from the crown. We hadn’t ever really stopped to catch out breath.
Maybe she needed to blow off some steam.
“Ha! If you got a problem with me, let’s settle it with an arm wrestle!”
“If that’s what you want, then fine. I’ll be your opponent.”
Raphtalia announced that she would be participating in the arm wrestling match.
She’d be fine, right? Our whole leveling campaign would collapse if she got hurt now.
I was worried about her, but I moved over to the bar and decided to watch from a distance.
There was a bunch of fruit, something like grapes, hanging there next to me, so I reached out for one and popped it into my mouth.
“?!”
It was so delicious I couldn’t believe it. It tasted like a very strong grape, but the aftertaste was clean, but it hung around, delicious as ever, encouraging me to take another. So I did.
“We have a winner!”
“This girl is STRONG!”
“I won! Whose next?!”
Raphtalia threw a fist into the air, triumphant. Maybe she was drunk after all.
Should I put a stop to this before it got out of hand?
“Excuse me . . . .”
The bartender came over to me, and he looked worried.
“Yes?”
“Is everything okay?”
“You worried about the shop? You might be right. I’ll try and wrap things up.”
“That’s not what I meant . . . .”
“Huh?”
His face was pale. I looked him in the eyes and even more color drained from his face.
It was because Raphtalia was defeating these strong men in arm wrestling. He must have just been surprised by it all.
“Booze! We need more booze over here!”
A large man came lumbering in. He was holding a large barrel. Setting it in the corner, he picked one of the grape-like fruits and dropped it into the booze before stirring. I guess it was some kind of secret ingredient. Those things were really delicious.
The tavern continued to grow more and more lively.
Raphtalia continued to win her arm-wrestling matches, and the betting going on behind her was getting more intense.
“Can anyone beat this girl?!”
As for Filo, she had joined the other musicians in song, and they were all really into the performance.
Everyone looked happy and enlivened.
I picked another fruit and popped it into my mouth.
“Hey you! What are you doing?!”
A man screamed. He was pointing a finger at me. The whole room fell silent. “What? What’s the matter?”
I swallowed the fruit.
Maybe he was just drunk?
“You can’t just EAT a rucolu! You’ll die!”
“What? What are you getting at?”
There was another bunch nearby, so I picked another fruit and threw it into my mouth.
The whole tavern erupted in shocked murmurs. Was it so strange?
“Mr . . . Mr. Naofumi? Are you all right?”
Raphtalia seemed to have instantly sobered up.
“I’m fine. What’s everyone freaking out about?”
They were so delicious. They were quickly becoming a favorite of mine. I wanted another.
I picked another one and threw it back.
“WHAT?! He ate ANOTHER one?!”
All the eyes in the room were fixed on me. Why did everything have to be such a big deal? Couldn’t I just eat in peace?
What was so shocking about that?”
“What’s the big deal?”
Motoyasu came sauntering over and shouted condescendingly at me.
“Nothing. I eat a grape and the whole room starts freaking out about it.”
“Oh yeah? Maybe those things are really expensive?”
“Are they? If so, then I’m sorry. I’ll pay for them, so just give it a rest.”
The queen was going to cover our tabs anyway. I could really eat as much as I wanted.
“Well they are somewhat expensive, but that’s not really the problem . . . .”
The barkeep started to explain. He was very cautious.
“What’s the problem then?”
“Rucolu are, um . . . . Well that barrel is full of water. Dissolving a single fruit in all that water turns it into alcohol. If you eat one directly, well . . . .”
“What are you talking about? That can’t be true! Stop with the jokes.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
“But Naofumi isn’t drunk, so you have to be lying.”
Motoyasu picked one of the fruits and popped it into this mouth.
“You know, they are really delicious, savory, in a way . . . .”
Before Motoyasu could finish his review, he clutched his stomach and fell forward, collapsing to the floor with a loud crash.
Haha! His eyes rolled back into his head! Hilarious. But were those fruits really so dangerous?
“Oh no! He ate a rucolu whole!”
“We have to make him throw it up!”
“Yeah!”
The whole tavern sprung into action. Men gathered around and lifted Motoyasu up, then carried him out of the room.
Well . . . so much for our fun night.
But I guess the fruits really were filled with strong alcohol. I had an idea.
“Raphtalia, you want one?”
“No . . . .”
“What about you Filo?”
Filo stopped singing and came running over. I held a fruit out to her and she came close to sniff it.
Then she covered her mouth with her hands and backed away q
uickly.
“No!”
“But you eat everything.”
“I don’t like that thing!”
Well that was a strong reaction—specially coming from Filo. I hadn’t been expecting her to turn it down.
“We’ve got a real devil here!”
“A monster!”
“The alcohol gods have run away, their tails between their legs!”
The crowd was wild and raucous again.
I wondered if the fruit was some sort of prank they were all playing on me. Or maybe human biology was different in this world? Motoyasu and I might have had a lot in common, but we did come from different universes.
“Well I’m sorry for causing such a fuss. We’ll be going back to our room now.”
“Oh . . . alright then.”
The tavern was still in an uproar as we collected our things and left for the night.
Chapter Eight: Karma
The next morning, we left to go leveling once the sun had climbed over the horizon.
We’d agreed to go out hunting with L’Arc and Therese the day after that.
It’s not like I felt like we needed to be prepared for leveling with them, just that I wanted to work on leveling anyway—while we had the time.
Besides, leveling was fun.
Oh yeah, that’s right. When I’d been trying out the weapon copy system at the old guy’s shop, I’d learned a pretty neat skill.
It was called Hate Reaction.
“Hate Reaction!”
Nothing seemed to happen. I turned my head in confusion. Filo blinked.
“Master! There’s some kind of nastiness coming from you. It’s flying out in all directions.”
That was Filo’s assessment. At first I hadn’t understood what was happening, but now I was starting to get it.
All the monsters in the area had turned their eyes on me and were creeping in my direction.
Even the ones that other adventurers had been battling with.
The skill seemed to affect an area extending about 15 meters in all directions.
Even the monsters that had learned to stay away from us on the previous day were now creeping in my direction.
It was the sort of skill that would be a burden on everyone if I used it in a populated area. But what if we were deeper inland . . . ?
If we went into an area that was off-limits to all but the most advanced adventurers, I could probably put the skill to better use.
I doubt that any normal adventurers would bother to brave the interior of the island.
Normal people had their level capped at 40. Unless you were a hero, areas like that were likely to be too dangerous.
It wasn’t like we were sure we could be alone there, but I think that the further inland we went, the less likely we were to run into anyone else.
I came across something like . . . like skin stretched taught over bones, dried till it was stiff. The further inland we went, the more it felt like a Darwinian battle to survive. I wondered how many adventurers had met their ends there.
To think that L’Arc and Therese had come looking for us in an environment like this. That must have been a real risk for a normal adventurer.
So we went on cutting our way through the forest, until we were very deep in the center of the island, when we ran into a new monster, the Karma Dog Familia. It was a very large, black dog.
It reminded me of the large, two-headed black dog that Raphtalia and I had fought a while back. The dog looked like a Doberman.
This one only had one head, but its fur was rough and kind of intimidating. As you might expect, Raphtalia looked a little uncomfortable.
“You alright?”
“Yes. There’s no problem.”
She arranged her fingers and gripped her sword tightly, readying it for battle.
Slowly, inch by inch, Filo moved in closer to the Karma Dog Familia.
There was nothing left to do but fight.
I stood at the front of the group, readied my shield, and dashed at the dog.
“Gah!”
The dog opened its mouth wide and clamped its jaws down on my shoulder.
But I’d powered up recently, and my stats were too high for the dog to deal any damage.
I ducked my head down and threw my weight forward, pushing the dog back.
“Ha!”
“Take that!”
Raphtalia and Filo didn’t miss the opportunity. They rushed in and attacked.
“This thing is tough!”
Raphtalia sunk her sword deep into the dog’s belly, and Filo delivered a brutal kick, tearing the dog’s hind leg clean off.
“ . . . ?!”
The dog let out an ear-splitting squeal.
But it didn’t give up. It kept coming at us—at me. Screaming until its last breath, it bit at me.
I had to admire its tenacity. It was fighting as if it didn’t care for its own life at all.
It was strong, but it probably had to be to survive deep in the island’s interior.
“That was one persistent dog.”
“Yes, it was.”
“And its bite was really something to contend with.”
Filo tottered over to the corpse and started snacking on it.
“Stop that.”
“Fiiiine.”
Stupid bird . . . . I knelt down by the dog and absorbed it into my shield.
Karma Dog Familia Shield conditions met.
Karma Dog Familia Shield: ability locked: equip bonus: sense of smell up (low): inult status adjustment (small)
There were a number of other items that appeared in the menu, but I was most drawn to the unlock conditions and the equip bonus.
Sense of smell up seemed self-explanatory enough.
If I kept increasing my sense stats like this, I wondered if I would turn into a feral creature like Filo.
Inult . . . . Wasn’t that the name of the monster that had pioneered civilization in the islands? Where was I going to find one of those?!
The drop item was actually bad luck. There wasn’t one.
If we met another one I would break it down a bit before absorbing its parts.
As for experience points, we’d gotten quite a lot when we won. I think it had been worth about 800 points.
The monsters on the perimeter of the island had been giving us around 90, so this was a big step up.
“Gah!”
Huh? Another one appeared. We defeated it, then came across another. And on and on we moved deeper into the island’s interior.
“Is this the end of the line?”
“Who knows?”
We kept on going in the same direction, and the monster’s strength, as well as the points they were worth, continued to rise.
But our own levels were rising rapidly too.
I’d reached level 57, Raphtalia was at 59, and Filo was at level 61.
We were leveling so fast that all our time up until then felt like it had been a waste. Raphtalia and Filo’s stats were also rising quickly.
“Ugh . . . .”
Raphtalia was closely inspecting her sword. Then she started moaning.
“What is it?”
“Nothing. It feels like my sword has lost its core . . . .”
Raphtalia forcefully swung her sword a few times to check. I couldn’t really tell, but it looked like the blade was bending. The sword itself wasn’t very old. What did it mean?
“You’ve probably outgrown it.”
If she kept using it like she was, it looked like it might bend or break.
I looked over to Filo, only to find that her metal claws were chipped too—the points had nearly broken off completely.
“What’s happening master?”
“I don’t know.”
I had a hunch that Raphtalia and Filo’s power levels had outgrown the durability of their equipment.
If we were preparing for the next wave, I’d have to give priority to their weapons. If I didn’t we might end up in real tr
ouble.
For the time being, I had a couple iron swords that had been item drops, so we could use those if there was an emergency—not that they would really be much help.
It was probably time for us to start relying on custom equipment. We were going to need powerful weapons from this point on.
“Should I switch to the magic sword?”
Raphtalia sheathed her sword and switched to the magic sword.
The sword worked against disembodied enemies, but against normal enemies it only cut through their magic power. It couldn't actually kill a normal enemy, but it could cause them to lose consciousness.
And there was little chance of it breaking. Raphtalia summoned the magic blade, and it appeared there now, extending from the hilt.
It seemed to be outputting more power than it had before. It was a large blade, and it was crackling with energy.
“Ah . . . .”
Raphtalia hurried to switch it off.
“What happened?”
“I can’t use it. There’s too much power. The hilt gets too hot to hold.
“If you’re not careful, you might break it.”
“Understood.”
We moved on, deeper into the woods. When we finally arrived at what seemed to be the center, we found a large structure there, a temple of some kind. It reminded me of Stonehenge. It appeared to be ruins.
In the center of the circle was some kind of sphere. It was like a magic lens.
“What is this thing?”
“Who knows?”
It reminded me of the rifts that appeared in the sky during the waves. I could tell that it wasn’t quite the same thing though.
“Filo, will you try attacking it for me?”
“Sure!”
She jumped forward and kicked the black sphere.
For a moment, it looked like the whole object warped and bent—but a second later it was back to its original shape.
What could it mean? If it functioned anything like objects in the games that I had played, it would probably only become functional if certain conditions were met.
Suddenly, a very large dog appeared—and it was covered in black feathers. It was huge, probably five meters from head to tail.
It was shaped something like a golden retriever. It was large and clumsy looking, but it was still a vicious monster.
I checked the beast’s name in the menu. It was called a Karma Dog.