by Tôwa
“…Fine, then. I will break one of your arms; that will make you regr—,” she started to say in response, but she was too slow.
“—!!”
Something flew into my line of sight. It was a naked girl with a lizard tail, parts of her skin covered in scales. She shouldn’t have been able to come here, but she’d just cracked a heavy kick into the Vine Puppeteer.
“Gah!”
This world might be in the mind, but the Vine Puppeteer apparently only had the physical strength you might expect from its current form, making her unable to stand her ground against Theresia’s attack.
“Theresia… How did…you get here…?” I asked.
“…A soul eroded by the labyrinth… The same as me… I see. You placed me on your own body, then climbed along your symbol’s connection…,” the Puppeteer pieced together.
Apparently, Theresia had put the Puppeteer’s vines on herself to enter this subconscious world. Concealed by her hair, the back of her neck held her “ownership symbol,” which had certainly formed some sort of connection between the two of us… She’d used that connection to come here and save me.
“…!”
“Do you intend to resist my control and save the human? What can you do? You aren’t even entirely a monster,” said the Puppeteer. Theresia’s back was to me. In here, it was her psychological state, so she wasn’t wearing her characteristic lizard mask. Her black hair fell to the base of her neck. She was protecting me, but I knew she’d likely have her mind stolen from her in this place.
“No one can defeat me when they don’t even have a weapon. Your fates were sealed the moment you came to this place,” taunted the Puppeteer, and a multitude of vines sprouted from the ground. There was nowhere to run to in this dark space… But even so, Theresia stretched out her arms and refused to fall even a step back.
“Get out of my way!” screeched the Puppeteer as the vines lashed out at Theresia. She wouldn’t be able to withstand the violent attack… Well, she wouldn’t if there hadn’t been anything protecting her.
“Theresia, I’ll help you!” I shouted.
“…!!”
I was behind her. Even if this were just some subconscious world, I should still be a rearguard as long as I was in that position.
The vine bounced off an invisible wall. My Defense Support probably wouldn’t have worked if they had instead tried to bind her. I wasn’t sure if that had been part of Theresia’s plan, but Theresia had skillfully coerced the Vine Puppeteer into attacking her. That made a single opening for her.
“—Go, Theresia!” I called.
“…Hah…!!”
I could actually hear Theresia breathing for the first time in a while. She unleashed a kick that was strengthened with my Attack Support, adding eleven support damage to her martial arts attack.
“Ack!!”
The Vine Puppeteer was flung backward from the force of the strike. That one hit was strong enough to decide the fight, considering the enemy had assumed we couldn’t do any damage to it at all. The vines wrapped around me and Sophie withered and fell to the ground. Theresia walked up to the little, white-haired girl, or what was left of the Vine Puppeteer.
“……”
The Puppeteer shuddered on the ground and moved no more. Her real form, the white flower, had seemed the same in that they were both incredibly weak to direct hits. This was the human form that the Puppeteer had made when it came in contact with Sophie’s mind. That might be why it looked like a younger version of Sophie.
I hadn’t expected my Attack Support to be this effective. Even if it didn’t add damage to magical attacks, apparently, it worked on attacks made by mental manifestations. It was nice to know, though I had no idea if the information would ever be useful again.
Thanks to Theresia, I was able to escape certain death. Even the vines around my arm disappeared. There was a lingering pain, but it wasn’t anything serious.
Sophie and the body of the Vine Puppeteer started to glow, then slowly faded and vanished. I could only pray that Sophie would wake up all right. Soon, mine and Theresia’s mental bodies started to fade as well.
“…Theresia, thank you for coming to save me. Really…”
Theresia hesitated, then tried to turn back to face me.
“……”
I could see in my fading vision that her lips were moving, trying to say something, but before I could really see her face, I was pulled back to my real body. I opened my eyes, and I was in Sophie’s room at the Healer clinic. Theresia’s hand came from behind me and was placed on top of Sophie’s, which was squeezing mine. Sophie was lying back on the bed, unconscious, so we couldn’t confirm whether or not she was back to her normal self.
“…Thank you. I’m sorry I worried you.”
Theresia pulled her hand away, then hugged me from behind. I was surprised but felt strangely comfortable, placing my hand on hers as she gripped the front of my shirt. Even if she couldn’t say it, I thought she was trying to tell me she was happy that I was all right.
…Hmm?
I saw something out of the corner of my eye that hadn’t been there before I was pulled into the subconscious world. When I scrutinized it, I saw what looked like a seed had fallen on the bed. Apparently, even though Theresia had defeated it in that mental world, it was still alive. I was going to decide what to do with it. It should be fine for me to do that much. I looked at the powerful enemy, who was now small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, and thought of a few options.
Part VI: The Merchant and the Dissector
I called in the Healer and told her that Sophie had been freed from the monster’s clutches so that she could check how she was doing.
“I can’t be certain until she wakes up… But her condition does seem to have improved from before. Now that the monster’s seed has been removed, I can see her responding to my skill, which accelerates her own body’s healing rate,” she said.
“Good… I’m going to take the seed that came out with me. Or would you like to use it for some kind of research?” I asked.
“N-no… Unfortunately, we don’t have any facilities here that are capable of researching monsters. It would actually be best if you take it, so that we need not worry about it,” she replied.
I wondered if I took it to the Monster Ranch and made a contract with it, would it follow my orders? Having a Named Monster on the team would give us a huge edge in certain situations.
“I won’t use this seed for anything bad. I hope you’re not concerned about that,” I said.
“Of course not. Thank you for taking care of it. Georg is currently sleeping, but would you like to visit him again?”
“No, but could you give him my regards when he wakes?” He’d been in a terrible state before; there was no point in disturbing him for nothing if he was finally getting some rest—even if I did want to tell him right away about Sophie, so he could relax.
“…Mm…”
“Ah… Sophie, are you awake? How do you feel?” asked the Healer.
“Sorry, looks like I’ve made too much noise. Take care, Sophie…,” I said as Theresia and I turned for the door.
“…Wait…,” Sophie called out, stopping us. She was lying down, with only her face turned toward us. I could understand why Georg and one of the other men in the party would be interested in gaining her affection. Something about her face made me imagine she was normally a cheerful and lively woman, but now, she looked at me with hazy eyes and spoke in a weak voice.
“…I had a dream… A bad dream… I was tied up in vines…but you…” She had memories of what happened in the subconscious world even though she’d been under the Puppeteer’s control. That meant she was probably aware that Theresia and I had saved her.
“…I hope you feel better soon. Everything else can wait until then,” I said.
“…Yes… Thank you. Could you tell me your name…?”
“My name’s Arihito Atobe. This is Theresia.”
&
nbsp; Sophie looked at Theresia with her mask on, and she seemed quite surprised, since Theresia hadn’t been wearing her mask in the subconscious world.
“…A demi-human curse… If it weren’t for that…you’d be really…,” said Sophie, but she fell asleep again before she could finish. She was still weakened; she had just been in a temporarily conscious state.
The Healer wiped away a tear that was running down Sophie’s cheek and checked her condition. I thanked her again for taking care of Sophie and left the room. I looked at the profile of Theresia’s face as we walked down the hallway, side by side. What was Sophie trying to say? The only thing I could imagine was that she was trying to say what she felt when she saw Theresia without her mask.
“……”
“Ah, sorry. You know when you came to save me? I was just thinking about how you didn’t have your mask on,” I said.
“…?!”
She hadn’t realized until now… Perhaps she had been too focused on taking down the Vine Puppeteer.
“……”
“I think Sophie may have seen you, but I was behind you, so unfortunately, I didn’t get a good look. Well, I know you wouldn’t be able to do anything even if I said I wanted to see your face… But I can’t really help being curious.” Theresia shook her head. If she was saying that she didn’t mind if I saw, then I didn’t have to feel bad about being curious. But without the mask, it’d be a real problem if she insisted she wanted to take a bath with me.
“……”
“Ah… T-Theresia, it’s okay. I don’t have a fever or anything,” I stammered. Apparently, I was an open book. I’d have to be more careful of that, because she put her hand to my forehead to check my temperature.
“……”
Theresia insisted that I was warmer than her, but could I really be that hot if she was comparing it to her lizard mask, which tended to run cool…? I looked at her always overly concerned self and couldn’t keep myself from smiling. But then I noticed something: She had a small wound on the back of her hand. It was probably a cut from when she stabbed the vine into her own hand in order to save me.
“Theresia, could you walk in front of me for a bit?” I asked.
“……”
Theresia did as I asked, and after a few moments, my Recovery Support kicked in and healed her wound. I checked her hand, and it was completely gone.
“Good, it’s smooth. I would’ve felt bad if you’d gotten a scar…”
“……”
Theresia shook her head silently. I tried to figure out what she was trying to tell me.
“…I made the mistake of believing that I could protect everyone on my own. Even though my job specifically requires me to have someone in front of me before I can even do anything.”
“……”
Theresia started to shake her head but stopped. She stepped in front of me again, then turned back and flexed her arm.
“Do you mean you’re stronger when I’m behind you?”
“……”
She nodded back and showed me her now perfectly healed hand. I was still so grateful toward her that the scene of her coming to my rescue kept playing over and over again in my mind. Though, I could never admit that I was captivated by the heroic sight of her kicking an enemy while naked.
We returned to the Lady Ollerus Mansion and went to the small on-site workshop, where we saw Melissa dressed in overalls.
“…Welcome back,” she said.
“Thanks. I arranged for some materials to be sent here. I was wondering if I could ask you to process them.”
“We got ’em. I brought an ax and saw to the dissection of the Fear Treants. I can dissect the Dirty Mushrooms with a billhook.” She could probably equip all weapons necessary for dissection thanks to her job. But as always, there was something intimidating about seeing the porcelain doll–like girl smiling as she gripped a large knife.
“What can you make from the Fear Treant?” I asked.
“Pretty much any kind of wooden equipment. Or you could sell it for a decent amount. A slingshot made from a Fear Treant will generate a sound with the same effects as Terror Voice.”
“That’s…creepy. But powerful.”
“There’s also headgear, which would have the Soundproof 1 effect. Monsters that use sound attacks also have sound resistance.”
“Headgear? Could you make one of those for us?”
The remaining wood gave us enough materials to make two or three more pieces of equipment, so later, I’d show the party a list of what could be made and ask if they wanted anything.
While Melissa and I talked, Madoka came over from where she had been sitting in the workshop. I had asked her to look into something for me, and it looked like she’d gotten something.
“Good work today, Arihito. I heard it was another tough expedition,” she said.
“I can’t say they were uninjured, but all the members of Polaris are going to be all right. I’m just glad we managed to save them,” I replied.
“You guys always manage to rescue so many people. You must give so many others courage… I know you give me more courage, like I need to work harder.”
“I’m not sure about all that… But I do know that we can keep up the fight thanks to you. Sorry to keep you working even when you’re not out seeking with us.”
“It’s all right… You can ask me anything. I just hope I can be of some assistance to you and your party.”
“Thanks—I know you will. So what did you find?” I had asked her to look into the alkaid crystal we’d gotten from Juggernaut but still had no idea what it could be used for. It was a transparent quartz that glowed a faint silver. There was some sort of pattern inside the crystal, which made it look like a rune, but that’s where the resemblance ended.
“This is a material that has never been found in District Eight before. There have been similar objects found in the higher districts, but never the exact same item,” explained Madoka.
“It’s that rare… So what exactly can they be used for?” I asked.
“Well… It’s unregistered. There’s not a single record of them being used for modifications, and the Merchants Guild has no information regarding what the parties who have one in their possession have actually used them for.”
But my license at least told me it was an alkaid crystal, so it didn’t seem right that there’d be no information about it anywhere else.
Which means the license can display information that even the Guild doesn’t have access to. That’s the only reasonable explanation… So then…who made the licenses?
I had too many questions running through my mind. The person who gave us the licenses when we reincarnated told us that she normally lived in the Labyrinth Country. If that was true, I wanted to ask her who made the licenses if I ever happened to meet her again. Didn’t sound like we could get it out of her very easily, though.
“Well, so the only thing we know about this is its name. I guess even that’s a result of sorts,” I said.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t find what you needed. I really am too low a level…”
“No, it was helpful. You’ll be able to do more when you level up, but this is plenty for now.”
“…Arihito…” Madoka seemed lost in her thoughts, so I placed a hand on top of the Merchant’s turban she wore and patted it gently. She was a little surprised and shyly held her turban in place.
“…Atobe, are you good at patting people?” asked Melissa.
“Uh, I think I’m probably average.”
“Hmm. I thought you were good based on how Madoka looks,” she said shortly, which made me think she didn’t mean anything else by her question. Even Madoka’s ears were bright red, and she didn’t seem to be able to say anything.
“A-anyway… What can we make from the Dirty Mushrooms?” I asked Melissa.
“The white stalk’s edible. Sometimes, you find magic stones inside the caps if you cut them open… The arms and legs are unusable and poison
ous, so they get thrown away. Sometimes, there is a section on the inside that is patterned, and that can be used to make medicine.”
There were five Dirty Mushrooms, and each one weighed a little over twenty pounds. The stalk could be used as food, so we could sell it for a small price. The total edible portion was about ten pounds, but it wasn’t massively valuable. The total of fifty pounds of food between the five mushrooms was only worth fifteen gold pieces.
Other than that, I had Melissa cut open the unbroken caps, and she found a magic stone in the fourth mushroom.
“…A confusion stone. You have one on your sling, but you can compress them if you gather ten,” she explained.
“That’ll take a while… But maybe we’ll get enough someday. Okay, so if there’s a central part with a pattern, what kind of medicine can be made?” I asked. Melissa glanced at Madoka, then clamped her hands over Madoka’s ears.
“Huh? What? …Why won’t you let me listen?” asked Madoka in confusion, but Melissa completely blocked her hearing before looking at me, her cheeks tinged pink as she spoke in a low voice.
“…A tonic. Dad says men will pay a lot of money for it.”
“I—I see…,” I replied.
I guess that meant it wasn’t good for physical or nutritional purposes, but rather…adult uses. Even so, there might come a time when it could be helpful for some unexpected use, so I wanted to keep some on hand. I hoped that Melissa didn’t jump to conclusions when I asked her to check each one of the Dirty Mushrooms for the pattern.
CHAPTER 5
Weapon of the Secret Gods
Part I: The Worries of a Valkyrie and a Swordswoman
Just one in a hundred Dirty Mushrooms could be used to make the tonic. We only defeated five but managed to find one—probably thanks to Misaki. A pharmacy would be able to provide me a sample once we delivered the materials. Madoka dealt with a pharmacy in town, which meant I’d be able to get the sample as soon as it was finished, but I still couldn’t think of a use for it. Perhaps there was a way to use it in combination with something rather than by itself. Either way, it was probably safest to have it stay in storage until I could find some use for it.