Chapter 2
Part 1
The place is Little Garden, Outer Gate number 2105380, Peribed Avenue, front of the Fountain Plaza.
A group of children were playing around in front of the stairs leading to the interior of Little Garden.
"Jin~ Jin~ Jin~! Why isn't Kuro Usa-neechan back already?"
"We already waited 2 hours in vain! I'm tired of this..."
The group of friends all started voicing their dissatisfaction, so Jin said with a slightly bitter smile:
"...Looks like it. All of you can go home now. I will wait for our new allies here."
Jin, the boy with unique characteristics - curly hair and an oversized robe - instructed the children gathering around him to go ahead and return home.
"Then we'll go home~. It's tough being a leader, but still do your best Jin~!"
"If it's alright to go back, then tell us sooner! My legs are like a wooden stick!"
"I'm hungry. Is it alright to eat dinner without waiting for you?"
"Yeah. But don't stay up late even if we don't come back in time!"
The children started making their way home with a cheerful noise.
Jin sat down on the stone stairway.
As a way to pass his free time now that he was alone, he directed his gaze absent-mindedly to the people passing through the gate.
(I heard the countries created outside Little Garden became more active recently, but since this Peribed Avenue faces the [Edge of the World] there is not much going on...)
In Little Garden, the term [Country] was commonly used to speak about extremely large communities.
There is a clearly defined [Edge of the World] for the world of Little Garden, but they say that in the size of the surface area, it rivals a sun.
There is no way that much natural resource and abundant land would be left undeveloped.
The talented gather people and create a country, but at the same time there are many of those who do not possess any talent that start living outside the veiled city of Little Garden.
Races like Dragon-kind, Demon-kind, Mythical Beasts and Spirits all have large-scale settlements outside the walls of Little Garden.
People with Gifts can gain strength in these cities outside Little Garden, then use those newly gained powers to once again participate in Gift Games inside of Little Garden.
(If the people from the other worlds turn out to be useless, we may have to leave Little Garden and find a place to live on the outside)
Jin placed all his hopes and expectations on those new allies. Because a powerless Community can't organize Gift Games as a Host and can't participate and win in others either.
Declined to a state where it can't even support itself. That means a Community's demise.
Currently, for certain reasons Jin's Community - except for Kuro Usagi - was only comprised of children below his age.
Leaving behind the land they lived on since they were born and setting out for an aimless journey was something that he wanted to avoid at all costs.
"Jin-bocchan! I've brought new people~!"
Jin raised his head. Kuro Usagi and two other young ladies were walking on the road leading to the Outer Gate.
"Welcome back Kuro Usagi. Those two young ladies there?"
"Yes indeed! These three..."
Kuro Usagi turned her head around suddenly, and then promptly froze on the spot.
"...E, What? Wasn't there another one? A gentleman with fairly evil looking eyes, very bad mouth and an "I'm a problem child" aura emanating from his whole body."
"Ah, Izayoi-kun? He said "I'm gonna take a look at the end of the world and be right back!" and ran away in that direction."
In that direction.
Where she pointed was where they saw the steep cliffside from 4000m up in the air.
Standing dumbfounded in the middle of the road, Kuro Usagi started questioning them with ruffled up ears.
"Why didn't you stop him!?"
"Because he said, "Don't stop me.""
"Then why didn't you tell Kuro Usagi about it!?"
"Because he said, "Don't tell Kuro Usagi about this""
"It's a lie. It must be a lie. You just thought it would be too bothersome, right you two?"
""Un.""
Kuro Usagi fell on her knees.
She was really envious of her past self from a few hours ago, when she was still enthusiastic about the new talents' arrival.
To think that all of them would turn out to be such problem children, there must be a limit to such harassment.
In contrast to Kuro Usagi, Jin turned pale and shouted.
"Thi-This is terrible! At the [Edge of the World] there are many Mythical Beasts roaming around freely for the sake of Gift Games."
"Mythical Beasts?"
"Ye-Yes. This term is used for beasts that possess Gifts, in particular near the [Edge of the World] there are some with powerful Gifts. Once you meet them it's over, no human can hope to oppose them!"
"Oh, that is a shame. Is it Game Over for him already?"
"Game Over before even starting a game? ... Witty."
"This is no time to be joking around!"
Jin was desperately trying to press the seriousness of the situation, but the two of them only shrugged their shoulders after getting scolded.
Kuro Usagi stood up while letting out a long sigh.
"Haa, ... Jin-bocchan. I am terribly sorry, but would it be alright for me to leave these two in your care?"
"I got it. What will you do Kuro Usagi?"
"Kuro Usagi will catch that problem child, and while I'm at it, I will make him painfully regret that he looked down on me, the one called the [Highborn of Little Garden]!"
Kuro Usagi recovered from her distress and started emanating an aura of rage from her whole body, changing her hair color from glossy black to light red.
Aiming for the outer gate, she jumped high in the air and ran up quickly with the help of carved statues on the side of the gate, then clung to one of the pillars of the gate so that she was standing horizontally and said.
"We will be back in a moment! You two just enjoy yourselves and explore Little Garden a bit!"
Her light red hair was fluttering around when she launched herself from the gatepost, leaving cracks in it. Kuro Usagi leapt away with full force, dashing away like a speeding bullet, she disappeared from their line of sight in no time.
While keeping her hair down from the resulting strong gust of wind, Kudou Asuka murmured.
".... Rabbits in Little Garden can hop around quite quickly. It is truly worthy of praise."
"They are the part of the household of Little Garden's Creator. She is not only strong, but possesses numerous Gifts and special authorities by being of noble birth. As long as she doesn't come across an especially powerful Mythical Beast, she should be alright, I think..."
Asuka responded with an absent-minded "I see", then she turned towards the concerned looking Jin and said.
"Well, Kuro Usagi said we should go ahead and explore, so let us take her up on that offer and move inside Little Garden. Will you be the one to escort us?"
"Eh, ah, yes. I am Jin Russel, the leader of this Community. I only recently became 11 years old and still very inexperienced, but let's get along from now on. Your names are?"
"I am Kudou Asuka, and the one holding the cat is,"
"Kasukabe Yō."
After introducing themselves Jin, Asuka and Yō bowed in turn.
"Then let us proceed inside Little Garden. Let me see... How about we have a talk over a light meal?"
Asuka took Jin's hand and started passing through the Outer Gate with a cheerful smile.
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