I shifted my attention away from her and ventured into the sea. I reached the point where my feet were unable to touch the ground and shifted to a breast stroke.
Should be around here... I took a deep breath and dove downward.
The water was crystal clear, so I could see everything below and around me without much trouble. There it was, the ruins I’d been seeking. Various large slabs were laid out in a stone circle, in the center of which was a small building that resembled a temple. I dove further down and looked inside the entrance to see a staircase leading down.
It was dark in there, so I couldn’t be sure, but I had a feeling it went really far down. At that point, I really needed to catch my breath, so I swam back up to the surface.
I wasted no time. After getting a fresh intake of oxygen, I dove down once more. I instantly went straight for the stone stairs underneath, but again I was thwarted by my puny human lungs.
There’s just no way I can do it like this. I can only hold my breath for about a minute.
I desperately wanted to know what was at the bottom of those stairs. I wanted to find out, but there was a limit to what I was capable of. I didn’t accomplish much, but that was the best I could do. I had no choice but to return to the shore.
Once I got back, I saw Paula facing the waves and wiping the imaginary “blood” from her mouth, as if to say “You’re... pretty good.” She’s still trying?
I told Leen of what I saw and sat myself down on the beach.
“So it’s at the very bottom of the sea, is it...? What should we do now, then...? Perhaps I should try calling Marion?”
“Marion?”
“The Clan Matriarch of the Marines from Mismede. An old friend of mine. She’d have no problem doing things underwater... but it just so happens that she’s quite the recluse.” Leen folded her arms and began thinking.
I tried suggesting inviting any others of that species, but according to Leen the “recluse” part referred to a policy shared by all Marines who lived in Mismede. In short, they did everything they could to not meddle in the affairs of surface-dwellers, so getting any of them to come wasn’t an option.
“It’s surprising that a race like that agreed to take part in the founding of Mismede.”
“That’s the result of my negotiation ability. She’s not a bad girl, and if you know someone for a hundred years, you tend to become able to tell what they’re thinking.” A hundred years...? Geez, the scale of what Leen talks about is always too great for me to process.
“Well, let’s leave it at that for today. Go and have some fun now. If I keep you to myself for too long, the others will come to bear a grudge on me, I’m sure.” With those words as her last, Leen went to Paula. The others? Suddenly, my sense of smell was overwhelmed by the attractive scent of cooked meat. I stood up and looked to where the wind was blowing from. There, I saw Micah and Crea, both clad in aprons. They were standing and making merry before an iron cooking plate. Micah was wearing an orange bikini, while Crea’s was striped with black and white. With them both being cooks, I wasn’t surprised that they got along.
Not far from them, I saw Aer, who was wearing a flower-patterned one piece swimsuit, getting Linze to cool down a metallic container. Oh, guess they’re making ice cream. Looks like that’ll be our dessert, then.
I then noticed Julio bringing ingredients through the [Gate] leading to our home. Apparently, the straw hat I got him became a part of his look. I hadn’t seen him take it off yet.
I decided to help out, but as I walked over there I noticed something that needed my attention.
“...What are you doing?” Two butlers, ignoring the deadly heat and still wearing their usual pitch black suit and white glove combo, were looking at something through pairs of opera glasses.
“To see if she is safe, I am observing Miss Sue.”
“For the same reason, I am observing the princess.”
...These brothers seem a tiny bit overprotective. Wait, Leim’s master is the duke and Laim is my butler. What about ensuring my safety?
Well, I didn’t see the point of saying that, so I just left them to their business and made my way over to the food. I had worked up quite the appetite.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Alright, now...” A day had passed since our beach party, and I had resolved to actually make some progress toward getting a look inside the underwater ruins. However, I had absolutely no idea where to begin.
“If only I had a spell that would let me repel water or breathe under it...”
“How about we build a tall wall around the ruins and drain all the water...?” And just how do you expect me to do that, Elze?
“Um... I-I just thought of something...” Linze timidly raised her hand. Well now, that’s a rare sight. Linze wasn’t one to volunteer her opinion often. Because of that, I assumed she must have had some kind of revolutionary idea.
“So, what is it? If you have a good idea, let’s hear it.”
“I-I don’t know if you can call it an idea, but... wh-why don’t you just send your vision there with [Long Sense]...?”
“......Oh.” Right. There’s nothing stopping me from doing that. Why didn’t I think of that? Am I retarded? I wordlessly gave Linze a thumbs-up and cast [Long Sense].
I quickly cast my vision into the sea and got a look inside the ruins. Hm... this is...
“Well? See anything?”
“...It’s too dark to see...”
“Get a hold of yourself, already!” Elze’s verbal push made me hastily send a [Light Sphere] down there.
A part of me thought the orb of light would vanish once inside the sea, but that didn’t happen. It was a silly worry, since it wasn’t like it was a Fire spell or anything.
Soon enough, the surroundings around my disembodied vision grew bright. I moved the light in sync with the vision, heading further down the stairs.
Eventually, I entered a large hall. In the center, there was a platform with a magic circle inscribed on it, surrounded by six pedestals. Each had a spellstone embedded in it. Red, blue, brown, green, yellow and purple — all the magic schools except Null were represented by a shining jewel.
Aside from that, there was nothing notable. No treasure chests, no inscriptions — nothing at all. Was that really it? I returned my vision and told Leen about what I saw. The Clan Matriarch of the fairies folded her arms, took a moment to think about something, and finally spoke up.
“That was probably a teleportation circle.”
“A what now?”
“I think that when you activate the six elements around it, the magic circle will transport you elsewhere. It’ll work in a similar fashion to your [Gate] spell, I believe.”
Hmm... A teleportation device for fast movement between locations, huh? I wonder if the sea level used to be lower in the past... Maybe people used that place as a normal means of transportation? Maybe the ruins are only abandoned because the sea level got higher?
“I’d like to activate it... But that isn’t exactly possible if we can’t even get there. I guess we’ll have to search for Null magic that allows you to breathe underwater and...”
“My master, if I might interject for a moment.” Kohaku, who was nestled in Yumina’s arms, suddenly spoke up and prevented Leen from continuing her train of thought.
“What’s up, Kohaku?”
“I happen to know someone who can help you with your predicament.”
We moved away from the beach and closer to the rocky area, where Leen conjured up a large magic circle.
“You are aware that summoning magic doesn’t allow you to pick who you want to summon, yes?”
“Fret not, we shall mix master’s magic power with my spirit power. If we do that, the one I desire to bring here will surely hear and respond to the call.” Kohaku brushed away Leen’s words. I hadn’t the faintest idea that was an option. I figured it was just some kind of special-case workaround.
“But even so... to summon the Black Monarch
of all things... I’ll confess that I’m extremely surprised to discover that the tiger here is the White Monarch, but bringing forth another of the Monarchs should be absolutely impossible...”
“It is best if you stop logical thought when it comes to Touya-dono, it is.” As Leen mumbled, Yae gently talked her down and left the magic circle.
“Summoning them should be possible, but I cannot predict what they will want for the contract to be complete. They are not too wild when it comes to temperament, but they can be quite, well... odd...”
“I keep hearing you use ‘they’ and ‘them’ when referring to the Black Monarch... He won’t be alone?"
“How should I put this... the two of them make up the entity known as the Black Monarch. Well, you will understand once we summon them.” True enough. Better to get the summoning itself over with.
I stood before the magic circle and focused my Dark magic upon it. A mist began gathering in the circle, becoming ever thicker with every passing second. Soon enough, Kohaku joined the magic channeling, charging the mist even more. Apparently, Kohaku’s magic was called Spirit Power, but I wasn’t one to care about such trivialities.
“O Beast who governs the winter, the waters, the north and the mountains. Heed my call. Heed my summons, present your form before me.” The dense mist suddenly released a strong burst of magical energy. Or maybe it was Spirit Power, I couldn’t tell. Just like the time I summoned Kohaku, I could feel the... whatever power overwhelm my surroundings.
Once the mist dispersed, a gigantic turtle appeared before me. It was about four meters in size. Or maybe it was a tortoise. They were both pretty similar. Just like any tortoise, it also had just four legs. However, it had characteristics which distanced it from normal tortoises and made it look closer to some kaiju from monster movies. More specifically, it reminded me of that one kaiju that could fly through the sky by launching jets from its shell. Though, the one before me didn’t have that kaiju’s large fangs, and its expression didn’t seem nearly as menacing.
A black serpent was wrapped around the kaiju-tortoise-turtle thing. Just like the tortoise, it was quite large, too. It was larger than an anaconda. Its scales shone like black pearls and its golden eyes gleamed brightly. Those eyes were fixed on Kohaku, and myself.
“Oh myy... Sso it really iss the White Monarch. Haven’t sseen you in forever. You doing okay, ssweetheart?”
“It’s been quite a while, Black Monarch.”
“Oh, come onnn, darling. Didn’t I tell you to call me Blackie?”
Man, this thing sure sounds carefree. But what the heck is up with this snake? Yeah, he sure is friendly... but maybe a little too friendly. His voice sounds kind of thick, too... Reminds me of a stereotypical drag queen...
“And this young fella iss...?”
“Mochizuki Touya. My master.”
“Your... master?” The tortoise suddenly glared at me. I felt as though I was being evaluated. Its appearance made me think it’d have the voice of a dignified old man, but boy was life full of surprises. The tortoise sounded more feminine than the snake. He did have a sharp harshness to his tone, though.
“To have such a human as your master... Oh, how the mighty have fallen, White Monarch.”
“Say what you will. He will soon be your master, as well.”
“Don’t make me laugh!”
Kohaku calmly responded to the tortoise’s provocation. Both the snake and the tortoise were now staring at me, the former with curiosity, the latter with anger. This situation was starting to feel a little troublesome.
“Very well, boy. Touya, was it? We shall test if you are worthy of contracting us.”
“Fine by me. What do I have to do, though?”
“Face us in mortal combat. If you still stand and are in good health by sunset, we will recognize your power and permit you to make the contract. However, if you leave the magic circle, lose consciousness, or become unable to attack us, you can forget about it entirely.” It didn’t say anything about me winning if I defeated them. They probably believed that there was no way they could lose to me. Kohaku had mentioned that they excelled at defense, so that confidence was probably justified.
“I just have to stand around until sunset, right?”
“Yes. You can choose to run around, if you like. That is, if you believe you can keep running that long.” The tortoise replied with a mocking chuckle. His arrogance was starting to piss me off by that point.
The magic circle was about twenty meters in diameter. It was definitely large enough to run around in. However, it was about to turn noon, meaning that I’d have to run around for a whole six to seven hours, and I knew that I’d reach my limit way before that.
Then again, that was probably the Black Monarch’s plan. But it wasn’t something I was going to let come to fruition.
“Alrighty. Let’s get to it.”
“T-Touya, are you sure you want to do this?” Yumina looked up at me, worry apparent in her tone and eyes. What a gentle girl she was. I calmed her down by patting her head. She had nothing to worry about, after all.
“Don’t worry, Yumina. This’ll all work out, trust me.” With those words, I entered the magic circle. The turtle was still chortling to himself and, well, I didn’t really care anymore.
“You’re sssurprissingly calm.”
“Indeed. I praise your courage, child. Let us begin!” As if to signal the start of the battle, the turtle let out a deafening roar. That was exemplary kaiju behavior if I ever saw any.
Victory belongs to he who casts the first stone!
“[Slip].”
“Hwuh?!” With a loud crash and a strong quake, the snake and the tortoise crashed to the ground. Considering how large they were, it probably hurt them pretty badly.
As I channeled the effects of my [Slip] spell, I reached for my waist pouch, took out a single bullet, and applied magic to it.
“[Enchant]: [Slip].” And so, I cast another spell, giving a certain function to the bullet.
“Begin [Program]／ Starting Condition: The effects of [Slip] wear off／ Cast Spell: [Slip]／ Ending Condition: The original caster cancels the effect／ End [Program].” That should do it.
“Guh!!!” The tortoise was trying to stand up, so I fired the bullet at the ground right under it.
“Gwaugh?!” It fell down once more, causing another quake. Again and again, the tortoise tried to stand up, only to spectacularly fall down and make the ground tremble.
“You... You’re actually evil, did you know that?” Leen stared at me. The disgust in her eyes was palpable. I saw Kohaku, rolling on the ground and laughing loudly right next to her. The sight must have tickled the tiger’s funny bone. Paula, too, was rolling with her paws on her stomach. Just how much programming does that thing have? Two hundred years’ worth of code had resulted in something truly impressive.
“Once the effects of [Slip] wear off, another instance of the spell takes its place. When that one’s gone, another is cast and, well... it’s an eternal loop. Normally, the caster would run out of magic to sustain it in mere seconds.”
I’ll have to thank Paula for this wonderful idea. I was inspired by seeing her get perpetually smacked by the waves yesterday. My magic regeneration is greater than the cost of sustaining the loop, so there are no problems in that regard.
“Now, I just had to wait until sunset. Linze, you brought a packed lunch, right?”
“Ah, yes. I do have some, but...” Linze, clearly unsure about how to process the situation, looked at the Black Monarch. Hey, I’m not breaking any rules or anything.
“How should I put this... I feel quite bad for them...”
“I’ve seen Touya do things like this way too many times by now, and I don’t think there’s any point in saying it, but you should be more considerate of your opponents... Try to read the mood, I mean.” Wow, my methods are actually damaging my reputation... I felt that was uncalled for, honestly. A fight was a fight, and if it there was a safe way to win w
ithout breaking the rules, it was only logical to take that option.
“Augh!” A thundering crash echoed out again. I unpacked my packed lunch and brought Crea’s special sandwich to my lips. Damn, this is a good sandwich. Can’t really go wrong with ham and cheese.
“Gyuh!” There was another crash. The veggie salad’s pretty good too. Man, what did she put in this dressing? Delicious!
“Grruh!!!” And another crash.
“Hey, you guys. Could you stop that? I’m trying to eat over here.”
“You’re terrible!” Everyone in the vicinity felt like they had to yell that in unison at me. What, really?
“Don’t you make light of me, impudent brat!!!” The black serpent finally roared something as he fell over for the umpteenth time. It was speaking in a completely different manner than before. If you can talk normally, then what was with the drag queen mannerisms? Why would you do a character bit?! It released a ball of water through its open mouth. However, since the snake fired as it rolled along the ground, the ball went to a completely different direction and hit the barrier around the magic circle.
Huh, that actually looked dangerous. Those outside the circle were completely safe, but it was clear that it could hurt me pretty badly if it landed a hit.
The tortoise saw an opportunity and, while airborne after a fall, opened its large mouth.
“Eat this!” It spewed water at me, compressed so hard it reminded me of a laser. Though, just like the snake’s ball, it fired off into a random area.
The spell resembled Linze’s [Aqua Cutter]. I knew that one could hurt me if it landed a hit, too.
[Slip] made the victim fall if they moved even a single millimeter, meaning that the very first fall would have them falling over and over forever. Aiming at and hitting me was difficult, but not completely impossible.
“Guess I’ve got no choice. I’ll make you fall even more.”
“Wh-What?!” Both of the beasts that made up the Black Monarch cried out in unison. I reached for my pouch, took out two bullets, enchanted them, and then loaded them into my gun. Instead of the ground, however, those two were meant for the snake and tortoise.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 3 Page 6