Tenshi Translations

Volume 2 Chapter 4 Full

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can grab the PDF here.

~~~~~~~~~~​~~~~~~~~~~​~~~~~~~~~~

 

After spending the night at Tsuki no Hokora, the next day came.

“...... So bright.” (Shin)

That was Shin’s first thought of the day, right after waking up.
He had forgotten to close the curtains, so the sunlight now reached all the way to his bed. It happened to be falling onto Shin’s face, and thus became the reason why he woke up.

“What time is it?” (Shin)

Having gone to sleep without setting an alarm, Shin had no idea what time it currently was. Bringing up the game menu, he learned that it was now slightly over half past six.

“Schnee is ...... not here anymore.” (Shin)

There was neither shape nor shadow of Schnee, who that had been sleeping while embracing his right arm. She was most likely already awake. The faint smell of breakfast in the air confirmed Shin’s guess.
When these thoughts were running through his mind, he noticed a strange feeling from his left arm. Thinking “no way,” he turned his head over to his left side, and his eyes registered silver hair spread out over the bed. This caused him to think that it was Schnee, but the the owner of the silver hair did not have the right body size.
The one who was stark naked and breathing quietly in sleep was a young girl who looked slightly older than 10 years old.
That person’s real identity was ——

“Yuzuha, huh.” (Shin)

【Analyze】displayed the young girl’s name. Most likely, Yuzuha’s account of feeling her mind clearing up after yesterday’s battle had been due to some sort of sealing coming undone. If that was indeed the case, then it would explain the sudden level up and how she suddenly became able to talk.
Her original form was supposed to be one of the highest ranked monsters with a level of 1000, fully capable of both speech and transforming into human form. Rather, it is her current form of a little fox that should be considered the unnatural state.
For some unknown reason, despite her human form, her fox ears and tail were still visible, such that her current appearance would have been irresistible to those who are into that sort of thing.

“In any event, this is a pretty dangerous situation.” (Shin)

According to well-known tropes, this was the part where someone shows up with uncanny timing to wake him up. Most often, the one who enters is a girl, and the guy gets misunderstood and is forced to suffer an undeserved punch.
At the moment, there was no one else’s presence on the other side of the door, but he was not going to let his guard down.

“Oi, wake up, Yuzuha. It’s morning.” (Shin)

Shaking Yuzuha’s shoulder, he tried to wake her up. Wary of any indication of someone heading towards his room, he shook her shoulder even harder.

“Unya ...... What is it~?” (Yuzuha)
“I’ll say it again, but it’s morning now.” (Shin)
“So sleepy ......” (Yuzuha)

Apparently her personality was still unchanged, which matched her new appearance. According to Shin’s memory, Elemental Tails spoke in the olden way, but Yuzuha was currently still speaking like a child. (T/N: I try to convey this by having her speak with bad grammar. Some of her lines also end with a -no, which is a verbal tic used by juvenile characters.)

“Come on, wake up quickly.” (Shin)
“Nn~? Ah, it’s Shin. Good morning~” (Yuzuha)
“Yea, good morning. Now that you’re awake, put on some clothes, first of all.” (Shin)

Yuzuha was still half asleep for a while, but after noticing that it was Shin who had woken her up, she gave him a dazed and innocent smile. It was such an adorable sight that it would have made many a person roll around in agony. But naturally, Shin did not have such preferences, so he just ignored it, and urged her to wear some clothes.

“Shin so warm~” (Yuzuha)
“Why are you hugging me. Girls should not display such unbeseeming behavior.” (Shin)
“Eh~” (Yuzuha)

Shin gently reprimanded her as he extricated himself.
The day he was seen being embraced by a naked young girl, everything would be over.
He took some distance after feeling like he was hugging a younger sister.

“Girl, no good?” (Yuzuha)
“No good.” (Shin)
“Then I do this!” (Yuzuha)

For some reason, Yuzuha emphasized the word ‘girl’ in her question. In response to Shin’s insistence against her behavior, she took an unexpected action. All of a sudden, her body glowed faintly, and in a moment, the small bumps on her chest disappeared, and her hair became short. And also, something that was not supposed to be hanging on a little girl now registered in Shin’s sight.
What had happened in front of his eyes was so shocking that Shin’s mind ground to a stop for a moment.

“...... Oi ...... Why, did you become like that?” (Shin)
“If girl is no good, then boy (おとこのこ) is fine!!” (Yuzuha)

It was not a line that was supposed to be spoken while standing naked with chest thrown out.

“Boy or girl, it is still inappropriate to hug someone else while naked.” (Shin)
“Shin hate boy?” (Yuzuha)
“For some reason, I’m hearing a different meaning when you say ‘boy’ (おとこのこ).” (Shin)

The figure in front of Shin was not an alluring loli pretty young girl, but an alluring shota pretty young boy. Elemental Tails did not have fixed genders. It was a moment when this fact was vividly illustrated to him.
And her words seemed a bit strange. Shin thought he heard a second meaning alluding to something that Yuzuha wasn’t supposed to have known.

“Yuzuha? I have a small question. When you said ‘boy’ (おとこのこ), you meant ‘boy’ (男のこ), right?” (Shin)
“Kuu? Doesn’t it mean a cute boy? But, that’s strange. Aren’t boys supposed to be cool?” (Yuzuha)
“............” (Shin)

A shiver ran down Shin’s back.
It seems that Yuzuha did not fully understand the nuance of the question, but it made Shin wonder where she had learned her incomplete knowledge.

(T/N: Basically, the pronunciation of the word for ‘boy’ is ‘otoko no ko’ (おとこのこ), but there are two ways of writing it. The traditional, normal way that is used 99% of the time is 男のこ, which means the same thing, ‘boy.’ There is a new, unique way of writing it, 男の娘, which refers to a boy who looks like a girl (ie. a trap). This new way of writing is mainly only used by those who like BL, the so-called ‘fujoshi.’ The catch here is that little children only write in the alphabetical hiragana characters (in this case, おとこのこ), so Shin is asking for clarification on whether Yuzuha is referring to 男のこ or 男の娘.)

“Shin?” (Yuzuha)
“Well ...... You’re not wrong, I think.” (Shin)

Unfortunately, Shin did not swing that way either, so all his responses were based on intuition.

“More like, where did you hear about this?” (Shin)
“The people who came to the shrine. They also said that something called ‘bee-el’ is interesting.” (Yuzuha)
“Oh my god, who was it—!! Who were the retarded players talking about stupid stuff like this in front of boss characters like an Elemental Tail——!!” (Shin)

“What the heck are they teaching,” thought Shin as he silently cursed those unnamed players. In the meantime, he told Yuzuha to return to little girl mode. Lolis were one thing, but shotas were too much for his mind to handle.

“Come on, for now, wear this.” (Shin)
“Wapu. What is this?” (Yuzuha)
“An avatar costume that I made before. Didn’t you always use to wear something like this?” (Shin)

What Shin had handed over to Yuzuha was a hakui, a nagajuban, and a hibakama. Basically, it was a full set of miko (T/N: shrine maiden) clothing. Of course, as it had come from Shin’s inventory, they were not simple items made with normal cloth.
Perhaps due to having been living in a shrine, that outfit was what the Elemental Tail had always worn while in human form.

“Oohh—” (Yuzuha)
“I think the color is wrong, so tell me if you want it changed. Didn’t you use to wear ultramarine?” (Shin)
“This is fine—!” (Yuzuha)

Yuzuha put on the miko clothing delightedly. The costume had an automatic size adjustment function, so it fit even though her body was small.
Rather, the problem seemed to be that her memory was still a bit fuzzy, so a few minutes after she began changing found her wearing everything wrong.

“Shin~ ......” (Yuzuha)
“If you didn’t know how to do it, then you should have told me at the start.” (Shin)

Yuzuha called Shin in a teary voice. Shin helped her change by teaching her the proper way to wear the different parts. As for why Shin knew how to wear miko clothing (T/N: miko clothing is only for girls), it was because there had been instructions on how to wear it among the tailoring schematics. It was really similar to a normal hakama (T/N: which guys can wear), so he easily memorized it. There was a portion of the clothing items that were in that style. The reason was unclear.
After also putting on the tabi (T/N: miko socks), she began twirling around in high spirits.

“Kuu~” (Yuzuha)
“Don’t move around too much, okay? Your clothes might come undone.” (Shin)
“If that happens, then can ask Shin again~” (Yuzuha)
“Alright, that’s enough.” (Shin)

Yuzuha’s tail stretched out from the hakama (T/N: the red miko skirt) and was furiously circling in tandem with her body. Somehow, it seemed like she was throwing her chest out, but perhaps that was just because of the clothes.
Shin thought that it was most likely similar to the feeling from wearing a martial arts dougi. Of course, that was partly because they looked similar, but it was also because those clothes also made the wearer look like he/she was throwing their chest out.

“Come on, stop spinning around and let’s go. It should be almost time for breakfast.” (Shin)
“Breakfast!” (Yuzuha)
“Yuzuha is already hungry, aren’t you?” (Shin)
“Un!” (Yuzuha)
“Then let’s go. Nn? Someone’s coming. Looks like this signal is Tiera ............ Hah?!” (Shin)

Sensing Tiera drawing towards his room, Shin suddenly realized. Schnee aside, he had not yet explained about Yuzuha to Tiera.

“Shin, are you awake yet? It’s almost time for breakfast!” (Tiera)
“O-Okay. Almost——” (Shin)
“Food!!” (Yuzuha)
“——Wait a sec-!? Yuzuha, stop!!” (Shin)
“Eh?” (Yuzuha)

Tiera was about to knock on the door to tell him about breakfast.
Of course, she wasn’t going to do the light novel or manga thing where she barges in without reserve. However, Yuzuha forcefully threw the door open, probably because she was so excited about breakfast and hadn’t heard Tiera’s voice.
Beside Shin’s shout, he also heard Tiera’s shout of surprise. At the same time, the dull sound of the door slamming into Tiera, who had been in front of the door, rang out.

“Ou~ch~ ......” (Tiera)
“Umm, I, oh no ............” (Yuzuha)

Next to the door, Shin saw Tiera holding down her nose, and Yuzuha being very flustered at the sight. Due to the door opening, Tiera had fallen on her butt, and was currently sitting in a girly way.

“Are you alright?” (Shin)
“Uu~, who is this girl?” (Tiera)
“It’s Yuzuha. She has the ability to transform her appearance. Come here, apologize to Tiera.” (Shin)
“I-I’m very sorry ......” (Yuzuha)
“I see. I’m fine, Yuzuha-chan. The door didn’t hit me that hard, so I’m fine. But next time, be careful when you open the door, okay? And also, good morning.” (Tiera)
“Understood. Umm, good morning to you too.” (Yuzuha)

Tiera smiled at Yuzuha, trying to calm her down. She must have been thinking of Yuzuha as a child that had gotten just a bit too excited, given Yuzuha’s current appearance and her corresponding way of thinking and behaving.
While looking at the two of them talking, Shin thought. This is definitely because we defeated the Skull Face Lord. Seeing Yuzuha’s state, he speculated that this was most likely the current upper limit of her recovery. After that time, she had not leveled up anymore, and judging by her speech and behavior, it appears that her mind was also not fully recovered either.
He didn’t know why Yuzuha’s power had been sealed, nor how much information could be gleaned from Yuzuha herself, so there was no choice but to ask her directly. In Shin’s memory, there had been no such quest in the game. Something beyond his knowledge must have happened.

“Well then, since you two have made up, shall we get going? Breakfast is ready, right?” (Shin)
“Un, all that’s left is to bring out the food from the kitchen. Shishou is already downstairs.” (Tiera)
“Fo~od, fo~od~” (Yuzuha)
“She used to be a fox cub, right? Yuzuha-chan, do you like abura-age?” (Tiera)
“Like!” (Yuzuha)
“In that case, should we have inarizushi for lunch?” (Tiera)
“Really?!” (Yuzuha)

(T/N: It’s general knowledge that mythical foxes (ie. the ones enshrined in shrines) love abura-age, fried tofu. And inarizushi is a type of sushi made with abura-age.)

Hearing about inarizushi got Yuzuha excited again. This sight looked like a harmonious scene of two sisters.

“Good morning to you all. Oh my, Yuzuha transformed into human form?” (Schnee)

When the three of them reached the living room, Schnee greeted them while setting the table. She had known about Yuzuha being an Elemental Tail, and thus did not look too surprised.

“G-Good morning.” (Yuzuha)
“Well said. Good morning to you too. In this case, I will prepare one more portion.” (Schnee)

Without a sudden icebreaker event like she had with Tiera, Yuzuha was slightly nervous while greeting Schnee.
Seeing Schnee smile gently while returning her greetings, Yuzuha released her hold on the cuff of Shin’s pants.
The table had more than enough space for four people. While Schnee was preparing one more setting for Yuzuha, Shin brought over an extra chair.

“Well then, shall we start eating?” (Shin)
『Itadakimasu!』(Everyone)

After bringing their hands together, they began eating. The menu was white rice, miso soup with abura-age made of seaweed and tofu, and dried fish similar to Japanese horse mackerel. Shin thought there might be a feeling of discrepancy at seeing elves eating Japanese fare, but surprisingly it looked quite normal to see them break the fish up into small pieces with wooden chopsticks.
Yuzuha could not handle chopsticks properly, so she was using a spoon.

“So yummy!” (Yuzuha)
“As expected of Shishou.” (Tiera)
“This is really well done.” (Shin)

They raised voices of praise. By no means was the meal extravagant, but Shin had never eaten anything so delicious even in the real world.

“It’s all thanks to the help I get from the skill. I cannot claim all the credit for this.” (Schnee)
“Is the effect of the skill that significant?” (Shin)
“I believe it increases the deliciousness by at least two stages.” (Schnee)
“Is that so. But then again, if it wasn’t already delicious in the first place, then there’s nothing for the skill to adjust. I still think you’re amazing.” (Shin)
“I agree completely. You even practiced so much, didn’t you?” (Tiera)

Because Schnee was being humble, Tiera began talking about how much effort Schnee had dedicated.
It was true that the Cooking skill gave various adjustments, but it wasn’t capable of turning something that was awful into something delicious. Awful food would remain as awful food.
Even though the deliciousness had been raised by the skill, it did not change the fact that the chef had to have a good hand.

“Gochisousama deshita.” (Shin)
“Mhmm, osomatsusama desu.” (Schnee)

(T/N: Gochisousama is said after eating, and is an expression of appreciation for the food. Osomatsusama is said by the one who made the food, and is an expression of humility, claiming that the food was not as good as the other party is making it out to be. The latter is the appropriate response to the former, and no further response is needed.)

After breakfast, Schnee began clearing the table, Tiera went to help her, and Shin headed towards the smithy inside Tsuki no Hokora. It seems that Yuzuha was a bit interested, as evidenced by her decision to follow Shin.

“What is over here?” (Yuzuha)
“The warehouse and smithy. The warehouse is a bit special. It has more space inside than its appearance indicates.” (Shin)

Though the capacity of the warehouse at Tsuki no Hokora was not on the level of warehouses in Guildhouses, there was still a very sizable number of items stored inside. As the place was Shin’s personal warehouse, it couldn’t be helped that the majority of its contents were weapons and armors.

Because Yuzuha said that she wanted to see the warehouse, they decided to make a small detour. The front of the warehouse was a normal door with a lock on it. However, the durability of the lock was so high that during the game era, it wouldn’t break even when Shin punched it. The material was said to be so tough that it could withstand any amount of physical damage.

“Just pour a tiny trickle of magical energy in, and ......” (Shin)

When Shin poured magical energy into the lock, a quiet “kakin” sound rang out, followed by the lock coming off. It was the type that opened from magical energy recognition. There was a keyhole too, but of course, the lock wouldn’t open regardless of how the keyhole was tinkered with. The keyhole was a complete feint.
Pushing the door, they entered. The place was packed absolutely to the brim with weapons, weapons, weapons, and even more weapons.
Starting from swords, including katanas, there were also spears, bows, shortswords, greataxes, halberds, flails, and all manners of other weapons all lined up. A different corner of the warehouse had entire sets of full plate armor, light armor, unique gauntlets, and shields. Of course, none of the items in the storehouse were simple items. The grade of the weapons ranged from Unique to Legend to Mythology and all the way up to Ancient.
Even someone not sensitive to magical power would feel an enormous pressure upon stepping into the warehouse. Though the quantity and quality of each weapon type differed, all of them emanated such overwhelming magical power that for the people of this world, the word “abnormal” could never do it justice.
Every item was so valuable that if even a single one were to be brought out and sold, countries would bet their very pride in the scramble for it. And there was a whole mountain of such equipment. Their quantity was so great that the storehouse was in danger of becoming entirely cluttered.

“Sugo—i! But somehow, tingly feeling~” (Yuzuha)
“Magical energy is thick in this place. If it’s too uncomfortable for you, you don’t have to force yourself to go in, you know?” (Shin)
“Yuzuha, still fine!” (Yuzuha)

Though young, she was still an Elemental Tail, one of the most powerful species in this world.
Due to the great difference in level, she couldn’t really pretend that the pressure was a mere passing wind, but rather than being overwhelmed by the pressure from the magical energy emanating from the weapons, her interest seemed to have deepened, and she stared into the depths of the warehouse. Her tail, which had been out the entire time, was now completely standing on end, but some things were better off not being pointed out.

“It’s fine to just look, but don’t touch anything, okay? Some of the weapons are cursed.” (Shin)
“Dangerous?” (Yuzuha)
“Some of them would give you more than mere injuries. Although everything in here has been sealed, you might be powerful enough to break some of those seals.” (Shin)
“Mu—, Yuzuha won’t break anything -mon.” (Yuzuha)

(T/N: Adding -mon to the end of a sentence makes it cute because it is something that only children do.)

While apologizing to Yuzuha, who had puffed up her cheeks in indignation, Shin led the way towards the smithy. This place, too, was exactly the same as the other places in that it had been meticulously maintained, ready to greet its master’s return at any time.

“Everything is in tip-top shape and ready to be used immediately.” (Shin)
“Use for what?” (Yuzuha)
“This place is for making things like swords and armors. But before we do that today, there are some things that I really have to ask Yuzuha.” (Shin)
“Things to ask?” (Yuzuha)
“Yes, I have a few questions. Alright, let’s go back to the living room for now. We’ll talk there. Sword-making is for after that..” (Shin)
“Then, let’s go quick. I wanna see Shin make swords!” (Yuzuha)

Yuzuha rushed back to the living room, her eyes shining brightly with impatience. Unable to understand why Yuzuha was so eager, Shin performed a preliminary check of the tools before following behind Yuzuha. It wouldn’t take that long for Schnee and Tiera to clean up, so from the very start, Shin had only intended on a brief visit.
When he got back to the living room, he saw three people already sitting around the table. While smiling wryly at Yuzuha, who was hurrying him by saying “quickly, quickly,” Shin also took a seat.

“What does Shin want to ask?” (Yuzuha)
“Firstly, why were you were so weakened and lying in a place like that? Secondly, a large number of people disappeared about 500 years ago, right? If you know anything about that, then could tell us about it?” (Shin)

Hearing Shin’s questions, Yuzuha crossed her arms and squeezed her eyes shut like she was thinking about something. After maintaining this pose for several seconds, she slowly and deliberately opened her mouth.

“Ummm. Yuzuha was there because, because it hurt the least there -no. When Yuzuha goes outside, hurt so much, almost collapse.” (Yuzuha)
“I see. Do you know anything about the pattern that was written on the ground?” (Shin)
“Nn—, I dunno.” (Yuzuha)

Shin thought that the pattern had the function of delaying Yuzuha’s symptoms or giving some sort of relief, but as he expected, Yuzuha did not seem to remember.

“Understood. Then what about people disappearing?” (Shin)
“I dunno. People, came not often.” (Yuzuha)
“Which reminds me, there had been a barrier that prevented people from going in.” (Shin)

What he was talking about was the barrier erected around the shrine that had worked to keep people away through mental attacks. Most likely, that barrier had been the reason why no one came to the shrine.

“In the end, what were you doing there, Yuzuha?” (Shin)
“Ummm, I was enjoying the sunlight when the ground went “ban!” and the wind went “fyuu fyuu” and the mountain went “dok~kan!” -no. Yuzuha got scared then got sick -no. Then to stop the ground being all broken, Yuzuha tried so hard to calm it down.” (Yuzuha)
“...... In other words, you tried to suppress the effects of the cataclysms?” (Shin)
“I do believe that is what she is referring to.” (Schnee)
“Eh, really?” (Tiera)

Most likely, Shin’s guess was not far from the mark. He couldn’t imagine exactly what methods had been used, but Elemental Tails were monsters that could control all of the elements. The likelihood that she had used some unique method to interfere with the cataclysms was high.

“Yuzuha tried hard, then suddenly no more energy, so went to shrine to rest -no. Yuzuha was so tired and almost going to die, but then Shin came.” (Yuzuha)
“So I had come just in the nick of time, huh.” (Shin)
“The awful wind was blowing, so scary -no.” (Yuzuha)

Hearing “awful wind,” what came to Shin’s mind was miasma. In all probability, the【Curse】and【Poison】on Yuzuha had been due to miasma. Back during the game, areas with miasma had more monsters with higher levels. As for the miasma itself, it was an annoying thing that granted debuffs to players that negatively affected their stats for set durations. Monsters aside, status debuffs could be removed by consuming recovery items of a certain grade or higher, so the only players who were forced to choke back their own tears were the low ranked ones.

“The person who saved Yuzuha was Millie. If Millie hadn’t given me the suggestion, I wouldn’t have known to go there.” (Shin)
“Going to thank Mii-chan again -no.” (Yuzuha)
“That’s a good idea. Let’s bring some visiting gifts with us when we go.” (Shin)

There was the issue of the『Star Chanter』Gift too, so Shin didn’t fully divulge the contents of that conversation. It wasn’t clear whether Yuzuha properly understood discretion in this matter, but it appears that she had chosen to match Shin’s story.

“So, who’s ‘Millie’?” (Tiera)
“A child living in the orphanage in the kingdom. We only got to know each other by coincidence. If you guys remember Wilhelm, then you can just understand the orphanage as the place where that guy is.” (Shin)
“Ohhh, that person.” (Tiera)
“You know him?” (Shin)
“He comes by every once in a while to ask to meet Shishou. I meet him only very rarely, though. At those times, he would buy our pastries, so I was wondering what was up with him, but hearing about the orphanage explains everything.” (Tiera)

Apparently, Wilhelm had come often to buy the pastries made by Tiera.

“The pastries made by Tiera are delicious, after all.” (Schnee)
“It’s only because they’re cheap. I’m not as skilled as Shishou. Didn’t the king send a servant to buy the ones that you made that time? The ones that I make are based on recipes that I learned back in the elven village where I came from, so their only selling point is their novelty.” (Tiera)

They were both praising each other, but Shin was certain that the pastries made by the both of them were delicious.

“What kind of pastry is the one that you learned from your elven village?” (Shin)
“It’s a baked pastry called Kyafal. Have you heard of it?” (Tiera)
“No, don’t think I have.” (Shin)

In the first place, Shin did not remember the elves having any confectioneries that they were famous for. However, his specialty was not in cooking, so it was often that even though he had a recipe, he didn’t know how to or did not even have the skill to the make the dish.

“The thing closest to it would be financier, I think. It’s a bite-sized pastry, perfect for handing out to children.” (Schnee) (T/N: Financier is a small French cake that looks like this.)
“I just placed it on the shelves as a test, but now it’s our top 1 or 2 in terms of sales. I lived in the forest before, so I’m good at pastries that use honey.” (Tiera)
“Is that so. But Tsuki no Hokora is not a store that specializes in food. Do we have other products that are selling well?” (Shin)
“In Shin’s absence, we quickly ran out of good items to sell. I myself am a mere novice when it comes to blacksmithing, and the warehouse from which we can restock can only be opened by Shin.” (Schnee)

If they thoughtlessly tried to restock from an external supplier, the situation could easily turn into a messy competition for the position, so it had been very difficult to restock their inventory. Shin had not made many low ranked items after he leveled up his Blacksmithing skill, so the lack of an in-house craftsman sealed their fate of eventually running out of stock.

“Somehow, I’m sorry. I should probably have made it so that Schnee could also open the warehouse.” (Shin)
“Even if I could open it, there aren’t that many inside that can be sold, though.” (Schnee)
“............ You have a good point. Being able to open the warehouse still wouldn’t have solved the problem, would it.” (Shin)

During the game, the shop’s business had been quite slow. It couldn’t have been helped.

“When you have time, it would be very helpful if you would help us with the restocking.” (Schnee)
“You got it. Well then, we’ve digressed quite a bit. Yuzuha, can we continue from where we left off before?” (Shin)
“Un. But, Yuzuha was only at shrine entire time, so Yuzuha dunno anything more.” (Yuzuha)

To interfere with the cataclysms, the Elemental Tail must have used some severely taxing techniques. Ever since the Dusk of the Majesty, she had been working very hard behind the scenes to alleviate the damage caused by the cataclysms, so no one could reproach her for not knowing about the state of the wider world.

“I see. In case you ever remember anything else, please tell me.” (Shin)
“Un, okay. Ummm, Tiera-oneechan, Kyafal, still have?” (Yuzuha)

When the conversation started to wind down and Shin was about to end the meeting, Yuzuha asked about the pastry mentioned earlier. It must have captured her interest quite strongly, as she had clearly forgotten all about blacksmithing and started to press Tiera. Her tail was wagging furiously.
So this part of her also matched her appearance.

“I’m terribly sorry, but there’s still one issue left. I want to ask Shin something.” (Schnee)
“...... What is it?” (Shin)

In contrast to before, Schnee now looked very serious, so it appears that the meeting was not over yet.
It seems that she had been looking for the right timing to broach this subject.

“Actually, there’s a person that I want you to meet as soon as possible. I am fully aware that there are many things that you wish to look into at the moment, but I really wish for you to prioritize this first.” (Schnee)
“Errr, who is this person that you want me to meet?” (Shin)

Shin felt a tinge of impatience from Schnee’s voice, as if she was being pressured by an approaching deadline.
He sat up straighter and readied himself for Schnee’s words.

“I didn’t think it appropriate to mention yesterday since we’d just reunited, but the person that I want you to meet is Gilard.” (Schnee)
“So it’s Gilard, huh ............ No, wait, Gilard? Really?” (Shin)

The Gilard that Schnee was talking about had been Shin’s support character number 3, a high beast. However, more than 500 years had passed since the Dusk of the Majesty, so Shin had thought it impossible to meet Gilard anymore.

“...... He’s still alive?” (Shin)

That was the issue. High beasts were not impervious to aging. For humans, beasts, and dwarves, a lifespan of 100 years was already considered long.
Whereas the four races of elf, pixie, dragnil, and lord were called the long-lived species, the three abovementioned were called the short-lived species. High beast and high dwarf were at the top of their respective races, but even for them, 150 years was supposed to have been the limit.
For beasts, their lifespan differs greatly depending on the model of animal that they take after. Gilard’s model was the orthodox ‘wolf,’ which wasn’t a particularly long-lived model.
If he remembered right, he had heard about Gilard becoming a king. However, rulership of that country had already been inherited by successive generations, so Shin did not expect Gilard to be still alive.

“Yes he is. However, although he won’t be passing away anytime in the next few days, he does not have very long left.” (Schnee)

Schnee herself did not know how Gilard had managed to live so long.
But aside from that, Schnee understood something else about him.

“He, too, has been waiting for Shin the whole time.” (Schnee)

Just as she herself had, Gilard also had been waiting for Shin.

“He himself also said that he did not understand why he could live so long. But since he’s alive, then there must be some meaning to it.” (Schnee)

It did not sound like he was that frightened of his impending death.
A body that was supposed to have already died. After all this time, he was not desperately trying to lengthen his lifespan any further.

“In actuality, even without Gilard around, the Alliance would function just fine. The current Beast King is the 8th generation. Aside from just martial strength, this current ruler also has what it takes to be a proper leader.” (Schnee)

The Falnid Beast Alliance had been formed by gathering together all of the various beast tribes. The person who had managed this feat amidst the chaos caused by the cataclysms had been Gilard.
That first generation king had been none other than Shin’s support character number 3, that high beast.
Gilard Estorea.
The appearance that Shin remembered was that of a 40-something man with brown hair colored so dark that it approached black, and his characteristically unshaven stubble. It would be irksome to be constantly surrounded by only handsome men and beautiful girls, so Shin had selected this appearance while thinking “an older man with a wild vibe is good too.” When Gilard was fully armored, he strongly gave off the feeling of a battle-hardened warrior, so Shin was actually quite proud of having made him.
During battle, he transforms into a werewolf, and his figure when attacking his prey was truly that of a hunter.
Similar to support character number 4, the dragnil Schubaid, Gilard had also been specced specially for melee combat, so the two of them had frequently served as the vanguards of the group. Though Gilard’s magical ability was low, he more than made up for that with his inherently high mobility and thorough grasp of Unarmed-Type Martial Skills, such that he could fight on equal footing against Schnee under certain conditions, even though her stats were significantly higher than his.
The mental image of Gilard pounding an enemy with his bare fists while roaring at the top of his voice immediately played back in Shin’s mind.

“Now that I’ve heard this, I can’t not go, can I. Where exactly is the place where Gilard is at?” (Shin)
“Beyond several countries on the other side of the Wraith Plains from the other day. Straddling a plain and a forest is the community where the current Beast King is, which is also what humans call the capital of the Alliance. There are four such large communities, and the one that Gilard is at is the community of the Dog Tribe.” (Schnee)
“I see. I’ll ask just to be sure, but the situation won’t end up with him dying while we are en route, right?” (Shin)
“He is still fine for a few more years, I believe. The person himself has not weakened to that level yet.” (Schnee)
“Then we can go normally, huh.” (Shin)

If the issue had really been that urgent, Shin had been prepared to use some long distance travel secret skills, but it appears that it was not necessary.

“Well then, there are still a few things that I want to confirm, so we can set off after that. There are preparations to make and all, will you two be ready by tomorrow?” (Shin)
“Ready anytime!” (Yuzuha)
“Should I stay behind to look after the store like always?” (Tiera)

Shin was addressing Yuzuha and Tiera, both of whom had fallen into the role of being passive listeners. Generally, Tiera had always been entrusted with looking after the shop while Schnee was away, so it seems that she thought this was going to be the same again.

“Tiera, this time, you’re coming along too.” (Shin)
“Eh, me too?” (Tiera)
“Shin had come back after all, so we no longer have to be fixated on a specific location.” (Schnee)
“One of the good points about personal shops.” (Shin)

Tiera was surprised at hearing that she was to go along too.

“But, is it alright to leave this shop unattended?” (Tiera)
“No problem at all. We’ll be bringing it with us, after all.” (Shin)
“Bringing it wi- ...... What?” (Tiera)

The expression on Tiera’s face was one of complete incomprehension. Even if it hadn’t been Tiera, very few people would have easily accepted the claim of taking a whole shop along on a journey.

“This shop can be folded up and carried, you know.” (Shin)
“Umm, exactly what do you mean by that?” (Tiera)

It wasn’t that Tiera did not understand what Shin was trying to say. However, as she had lived there for so long, the words that the shop could be physically moved did not feel real to her. It wasn’t a weapon or a toolbox. There’s no way that it could be carried off that easily. Or so she thought.

“Are they not used often anymore? Shops or houses that could be carried along?” (Shin)
“They are not completely nonexistent, but I do not know of anyone not specialized in the relevant businesses who could use them so. To the limit of my knowledge, even small houses of this type fetch extravagant prices.” (Schnee)

Back during the game, that ability had been so common as to have been taken for granted, but he did not know how it was today. When he asked Schnee for confirmation, he discovered that things were as he had suspected. This ability was also being treated as a special technique in the current era.
Seeing Tiera’s “no way, you can really do that too?” face, he deduced that production skills had also suffered a huge decline.

“I see, so that’s how things are. In that case, then we can’t fault Tiera for not knowing. Nowadays, Artes are much more commonplace than Skills, right? Is that the same for production types?” (Shin)
“Yes. Production types have also become split into Artes and Skills. After the Dusk of the Majesty, Artes were born from peoples’ efforts in restoring Skills through trial and error. Therefore, the effectiveness of Artes being lower than Skills is the same for both battle types and production types.” (Schnee)
“As I thought.” (Shin)

Shin finally understood why Artes were weaker than Skills. Putting things in game terms, the people were attempting to recreate Skills without the assistance of the game system. Normally, nothing would happen, but this was a parallel world. Most likely, they had succeeded in creating something that matched the form of the effects, and then taken to calling them Artes. With Blacksmithing as an example, there were certain techniques that could definitely not be shallowly imitated, so his conjecture should not be far from the mark.

“To someone like me who comes from the new generation and thinks of Artes as the standard, people like Shin and Shishou are the people who are abnormal. Before the Dusk of the Majesty, people of Shishou’s strength were the norm, right? I can’t even imagine what kind of world it had been.” (Tiera)
“Sure, there had been people like that, but they weren’t that numerous.” (Shin)
“Even so, their number had been greater than the number of fingers on both hands, right? At that point, it’s already gone beyond the realm of just being ‘scary.’ Leaving aside their personal moralities, the very fact that they existed together is amazing. I’ve heard about such people getting into fights all over the place. I can’t even imagine how the world was able to continue running with any semblance of order in such a situation.” (Tiera)
“That’s, well, I guess you could say that it had been managed very strictly, or that the people who went over the line too many times were forcefully removed.” (Shin)

Players reported the vicious and belligerent ones to the Game Moderators, who held the authority to ban and erase accounts. Shin couldn’t say this, though, so he tried to evade the question by fudging some parts.
It was clear that if it really had been such a world, all traces of society would have been extinguished ages ago.

“It had been managed?” (Tiera)
“It’s, you know, many people cooperated together and things worked out. Rather than that, what is this ‘new generation’ that Tiera mentioned earlier?” (Shin)
“Oh, that? It’s simple. Those who were born after the Dusk of the Majesty are called the ‘new generation,’ and those who were born before are called the ‘old generation.’ After the Dusk of the Majesty, someone in the first country that got established coined those words, and they just stuck. When I look at people like Shishou, though, it is clear that the new generation has fallen behind.” (Schnee)

In the normal view of things, newer generations are supposed to be better off in some way, but the truth was as Tiera had said. When judging by abilities alone, those who were called the ‘old generation’ were much more powerful.
Shin and Schnee were prime examples of this. With that said, though, without their skills, it wasn’t like each and every one of the old generation were abnormally powerful.

“Though there is indeed a power gap between the generations, people’s strength has always been varied, so I’ve never really felt the generation gap that strongly. It’s an entirely different story when comparing against Shin or Shishou, though.” (Tiera)
“Generation gap, huh.” (Shin)

To be honest, Shin couldn’t really wrap his head around this talk of a generation gap.

“This is one of those things that’s enough to merely have the knowledge of.” (Tiera)

This terminology had already become widely used, and it did not appear to be directly causing any harm. Save a few exceptions, naturally.

“For now, let’s return the conversation to the place we were at before we digressed. I’ve said this before, but this place, Tsuki no Hokora, is a movable shop. Therefore, I am thinking of moving together with everyone. Tiera also finally managed to go outside, so I’m thinking that a trip might be good for her. But of course, you can choose to stay behind if you wish.” (Shin)

He wished to say in advance that he was open to the option of leaving the shop behind, as there wasn’t any major reason why he had to bring it with him. He did not want to force Tiera to come along against her will.

“If that’s the case, then I will also come along. After that time, I’ve gone outside for a bit, but still find it a bit scary to go to crowded places like the Kingdom. If I’m with Shin and everyone, though, then I think I’ll be fine.” (Tiera)
“Then we’re decided.” (Shin)
“Everyone together!” (Yuzuha)
“Well then, let us all go make the necessary preparations without further ado.” (Schnee)

 

 

Previous Part | ToC | Next Part