Chapter 13 — You Guys Are Japanese Too, Right? Are There a Lot of Japanese People in This World?
Thanks to the Book of Prophecy, Shigeto had been fully aware that the World Sword Omega Blade would be unusable in its current state. That was why they had been gathering materials to repair it along the way. If he and his companions had obtained the sword as planned, there would have been no issue. But Rei was now one of Yoshifumi’s subordinates, and Yoshifumi had taken an interest in the sword. He’d had to change his plans after that.
The Book of Prophecy showed a new route for him to take. The elven village getting wiped out and the royal family reaching the sword first were unexpected, but for the most part, they were advantageous developments. The most dangerous possibility was Yoshifumi deciding the beat-up World Sword was still valuable and taking charge of it himself. If that happened, there would be nothing Shigeto could do. He would have to give up on using the World Sword to defeat the Sage altogether.
But Yoshifumi had lost interest in the weapon immediately, turning his attention to the princess. He was always full of openings. Shigeto had been waiting for a chance to outwit him, and Rena’s fight provided the opening he needed.
Shigeto and Rei put on cloaks to turn themselves invisible. They had acquired them on their journey. Although they weren’t usable in combat, they were useful for covert action. Collecting the abandoned sword, they left the room. No rush, no noise, fully composed. Keeping themselves hidden, they distanced themselves from Yoshifumi.
“So, how are we going to make the sword usable?” Rei asked once they had gotten far enough away.
Get the World Sword before Yoshifumi can. Those were Rei’s instructions. Her abilities as a Femme Fatale had awakened. No longer merely able to cause men to take an interest in her, she was now capable of enslaving them.
But Shigeto didn’t feel like he had been enslaved. He’d had feelings for Rei since long before they’d come to this world. So even without her abilities, he was sure he would have done the same thing to save her. The fact that those past feelings were a false memory created by Rei’s powers was impossible for Shigeto to recognize. Those under her control would never realize that they were.
“We need to get farther away. It will take some time to restore the blade.” Shigeto had no knowledge or skills related to blacksmithing. But he already had the tools and materials needed to restore the World Sword. The repairs would occur automatically if he used those.
“Let’s get out of here,” Rei said.
“Yeah. But if we return to the empire, Abby will notice us. We’ll need to hide in the forest.”
Abby, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, was the head of the adventurers. She kept tabs on everyone who was playing adventurer throughout the kingdom and had the entire empire under observation. The Elven Forest was the only exception. She couldn’t see anything inside it.
“Yoshifumi is invincible, but that’s all. I’m concerned about Rena’s powers, but after this long, she probably would have chased us down if she was able to. We should be outside her range now.”
Rena’s class was Mid-Boss. That gave her a number of ridiculous abilities, among them the ability to appear in front of someone if they tried to flee or to appear behind someone the moment they stopped, thinking they were safe. But as appropriate for a Mid-Boss, the range of her powers was limited. From what he had heard, it seemed her range was about a hundred meters.
“We’ve made it far enough away that we don’t need to be sneaky anymore. Let’s hurry,” Navi, the manifestation of Shigeto’s Book of Prophecy, said as she appeared in front of them.
“How do we get out of here?”
“The path we took to get here would be too risky, so we’ll find another exit. We don’t have the time to carefully follow a guidebook to avoid all the traps, so do just as I say.”
“Okay.”
The three ran off. The ruins were filled with all kinds of traps, but following Navi’s instructions they got through without any problems. The layout of the labyrinth and the fixed nature of the traps made them easily circumvented by Shigeto’s prophetic powers. From deep underground, they proceeded back to the surface. Eventually, they came across a long hallway lined with large pillars. They could see the light of the exit coming from the far end.
“That’s the exit, right?!”
“Yes.”
But it was rather far up in the air. The exit was a hole in the ceiling. Continuing to run, they came to a stop directly underneath it. There didn’t seem to be anything to allow them to get out.
“How do we get up there?” Shigeto fully trusted that Navi would know how to proceed.
“There’s supposed to be an elevator here,” she replied.
“All I can see is a pile of rubble.” He looked around. Debris that seemed to have fallen from the exit was scattered around them. “While we’re stronger than we used to be, I don’t think we can jump that high.”
It was hard to judge their distance from the exit by eye, but the hallway could probably hold something at least as large as a five-story building. While obtaining the Gift had improved Shigeto’s physical characteristics considerably, a jump like that was still far beyond him. He went over the tools available to them in his head, but he couldn’t think of anything that would help.
“Is there another exit?”
“Not that I am aware of. The only proper entrances to the ruins are this one and the hidden path we used to get here.”
“What should we do?”
“There is always the option of restoring the World Sword right here.”
“Will that work?”
“You should know after coming this far, but the labyrinth is quite complex. If you hide within it, it should take them quite a while to find you.”
“Can we beat Yoshifumi if we fix the sword?”
“Yes. The World Sword is no ordinary weapon. It will work no matter how powerful your enemy is.”
“Hey, it looks like something’s coming down.” Rei muttered.
“What is it?” Shigeto turned from his conversation with Navi to look at where Rei had indicated. Something looking like a person was descending from the ceiling, like a boy in a white coat.
“Navi, who is that? What does the prophecy say?!”
“I don’t know. The Prophecy was updated the moment we obtained the World Sword, but this person isn’t in it...”
The Book of Prophecy didn’t update in real time. It would update if something significant enough to change the course of the future happened. But if he wasn’t in the Prophecy, the boy must have been an irregular event.
The newcomer slowly descended. It looked like he was descending at whatever speed he wanted to, ignoring gravity. As he approached, Shigeto’s legs began to tremble. He started to sweat, and his heart rate increased. He could tell instinctively that this boy was on an entirely different level, a being that existed in an entirely different dimension, metaphorically.
Shigeto dropped to his knees as his legs gave way and bowed down. It was an instinct born from sheer awe. His body moved on its own as if it knew it had no choice. Rei must have felt the same way, since she was bowing down just as he was. Navi had vanished. She must not have been able to stand being in her human form.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t think there was anyone down here. I’ll rein in my power a bit.”
At some point, the boy had reached the floor, and his voice came from right beside them. As he spoke, the overwhelming emotion holding their bodies in place lessened. The feeling of awe remained, but they were able to lift their heads.
“Wh-Who might you—”
“I don’t like that. Could you be more casual?”
Shigeto hesitated. He didn’t know if it was really wise to speak so bluntly to someone who was clearly that superior.
Do as he says. Someone on his level has no need for complicated formalities.
At Navi’s words, Shigeto felt himself relax a little.
“Hello.”
“Yeah, hi.”
The boy returned the greeting with a smile. He wasn’t acting hostile. If he had bad intentions, talking with him in this way would have been impossible.
“Could you stand up? I want to talk a bit, but seeing you kneeling like that is kind of off-putting.”
Rei and Shigeto rose to their feet.
“Are you...Japanese?” Shigeto asked. Judging from the boy’s face, he was Japanese and about the same age as them.
“Japan, huh? That’s a nostalgic word. Yeah, I’m from Japan.”
“Were you summoned here by the Sages too?” Being formal and self-deprecating might end up offending him, so Shigeto figured it was best to speak casually.
“I was invited here, but I don’t think it was by a Sage. Wait, maybe it was? Are Sages people who look like little girls with wings?”
“No idea. I’m sure there are Sages of all kinds, but...” Shigeto had only ever met two of them: Sion and Yoshifumi. There didn’t seem to be anything in common between the pair, so he had no clue what the other Sages were like.
“Huh. You guys are Japanese too, right? Are there a lot of Japanese people in this world?”
“Not that we came here on purpose. But yes, there are quite a few Japanese people here.”
“Oh really? I’m Takumi. What’re your names?”
“My name is Shigeto Mitadera. This is Rei Kushima.”
“Oh, right! We generally have last names too! I totally forgot mine, though.”
“Why are you here, Takumi?”
“I’m looking for something.”
Shigeto’s heart began to race again. If the boy was looking for something here, it was unlikely to be anything other than the World Sword. And if he wanted the World Sword, they’d have no way of keeping it from him. If he told them to hand it over, Shigeto felt like he would do so quite willingly.
“Can I ask what you’re looking for?” he managed to squeeze out.
“Sure, but why are you so nervous about it?” Takumi asked, a bit puzzled.
“I’m just kind of shy. I’m not so good at talking to strangers.”
“Oh, really? Well, I’m looking for a god.”
Shigeto relaxed a little. “Are they here?”
“Hmm. It’s hard to say. She lost her power and was split into pieces, but it feels like part of her is nearby.”
“So you’re trying to collect the pieces and put her back together?”
“That’s right. I want to kill her, but I have to put her back together first.”
“Are you...not a god yourself?” With the divine aura he exuded, Shigeto would believe the boy instantly if he’d said he was.
“Like I told you, I’m Japanese, so I’m not a god or anything. But a lot of things happened, and now I can kill gods. I guess if you think having the ability to kill a god makes you a god, I meet that requirement.”
“Why do you want to kill gods?”
“It’s just a hobby. There isn’t really anything else that I find challenging.”
That seemed to be the sentiment expressed by everyone who obtained great power. Yoshifumi was the same way, having so much power that he ended up doing nothing but looking for ways to kill time.
“All right, well, I should probably get going,” Takumi said. “Sorry for stopping you guys.”
“We were already stuck here before you arrived, so don’t worry about it.”
“Oh, really? Are you trying to get out of here?”
“Yes. We were just trying to think of a way to get outside.”
“You should have said something earlier. All right, I’ll get you guys out. You just want to go up there, right?” he said, pointing at the ceiling.
As Shigeto nodded, he and Rei began to float upward.
“What?!”
“See ya.”
They continued to float upward, reaching the exit in no time, passing through the opening in the ceiling and making it above ground before dropping safely onto solid earth.
Shigeto’s body was absolutely gushing sweat. He could feel Takumi getting farther away. That overwhelming presence was getting slightly weaker, heading deeper underground.
“What the hell was that?” he muttered.
“That was terrifying.” Rei made no attempt to hide her feelings.
“Anyway! Let’s get out of here!” Navi said as she reappeared.
They didn’t know what was going on, but they had been saved. If they sat around doing nothing, Yoshifumi would catch up to them, making it all pointless. They needed to find a place to hide right away.
Shigeto looked around, searching for a destination. The terrain around them was in terrible shape. Something had melted a straight line through the earth. The beam of light that had destroyed the elven village had also reached this place. They were in a collection of ruins, but the attack had erased everything in its path.
“Those buildings are guardians made to protect this place. They will transform and attack you, so don’t get any closer to them,” Navi shared from the Book of Prophecy.
“Then into the forest, I suppose.”
“Yes. I don’t know if I should call us lucky, but following the trail of that beam of light should take us back into the forest very easily.”
Having collected themselves, the three ran off towards the forest.
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