Chapter 16: Arrival of the Night
Arisu and I left the white room, and returned to the lounge of the Cultivating Centre.
There is only a blue gem in the place where the elite orc has fallen.
This seems like the magic stone in the games? Like the crystallisation of the monster’s magic or something.
I picked up the gem, and placed it in my pocket. Then I turned to Arisu.
Arisu has revealed back to the state of being covered in injuries. The instant our eyes met, her face turned red, revealing a shy smile. I was embarra.s.sed too and gave a forced smile.
Not longer after we looked at each other…
「Ah— Arisu, Kazu-senpai!」
A high pitched voice came from the balcony on level 2. Turning around, I saw Tamaki leaning out of the balcony, waving her hands strongly. Looking carefully, she is actually crying. She is sniffing and waving her hands at us at the same time.
「It’s great, it’s really great! Just now I heard a big sound, and then everything became quiet. I almost die worrying!」
This girl really has nerves of steel— I could not help but give a bitter smile.
What if the ones that lost were us, and the ones that survived is the elite orc?
But then again, ah, this also means she is that worried about Arisu and me. Arisu and I waved to her.
Other than Tamaki, there are still 7 more people who are hiding in level 3. And they are all students from the middle school section.
The students who died include 3 girls and the 2 guys who escaped here from the outside. The only survivor who are caught by the orcs is Shiki Yukariko. The number of survivors is actually quite a lot— The moment I said that…
「The 2 students from Year 1 are brought here, when I separated from Arisu and escaped here!」
Tamaki raised her chest and said proudly. So Tamaki and the 2 Year 1s ignored the highly dangerous level 1 which has orcs patrolling, and climbed to the nearby tree, and then threw a rope into an opened window on level 3 then directly entered the Cultivating Centre from there.
Then, the Tea Ceremony Society students who are originally on level 3 brought them into safety.
This sort of skill, even Indiana Joe will be shocked at it.
「In this place there are only girls?」
「Other than me and Tamaki, there are only students from the Tea Ceremony Society and Cooking Society.」
Arisu said so. She isn’t wrong, thinking about it, the facilities in this Cultivating Centre, is a cla.s.sroom targeted at girls. So it is only natural for the survivors to be girls.
Hmm— although they are students who are younger than me, but if there are guys, then I can leave the heavy stuff to them.
Other than that, a situation like a guy being surrounded by girls, is kind of uncomfortable. But if it is in a novel, it can be described as a paradise…
Ah, imaginations that are not realistic are useless. After tomorrow, I shall hope for guys who have successfully escaped.
I looked out of the window, the skies have already started turning dark, and soon it will be completely dark. But we cannot use any light, because it will be too obvious, and as long as 1 orc is attracted, we will be unable to handle it.
「Ah— Anyway we should close the main door, and then…」
Suddenly I felt a strong wave of dizziness, and kneeled onto the ground. Arisu had wanted to support me, but her body too, gave way, and limped over.
「Ah, haha, Kazu-senpai, are you okay?」
「No, Arisu are you…」
We looked at each other and smiled bitterly. It seems that once our tensed emotions relaxed, the acc.u.mulated fatigue came in at one go.
「Ah— Kazu-senpai should go and rest with Arisu. Just leave the rest to us.」
「Sorry, Tamaki. Then we will count on you.」
I shall rest slightly. Arisu and I leaned on the wall of the lounge, and I shutted my eyes.
Sleepiness came in immediately.
Once I opened my eyes, I noticed the surroundings are filled with the scent of incense used in funerals. The surroundings have a dim light, probably from candles. I see, if it’s candles, then once you close the main door, the light will not escape outside.
「I lighted some incense, because it is too smelly.」
A voice came from somewhere very near me, I raised my head and saw Shiki Yukariko sitting beside me, looking at me. She is wearing gym clothes from the high school section, that is probably something that is always in the Tea Ceremony Society.
But, why is she the only one around? Seeing my confused expression, Shiki Yukariko laughed bitterly.
「Arisu told me to look after you, while she is going to bathe with Tamaki.」
I looked to the side, and Arisu who is supposed to be beside me is gone. I see— I thought so in my heart. Saying so, did they make hot water? I also wish to take a bath.
「Sorry to spoil your expectation, there is only cold water.」
I guessed so. But even if there is only cold water, that is already good enough. I am covered in sweat, mud and orc’s blood, completely filthy. And I feel itchy all over, no matter whether it is a cold bath or ice-cold bath, I don’t care.
But I will probably fall sick with a ice-cold bath.
「Because I have already bathe, so now I am fine.」
I see, she had bathed already, which is to say…
I remembered the scene when we first discovered her. Indeed, seeing her state, anyone will let her bathe first.
Although it is so, ah. There is time to bathe, which means this Cultivating Centre is already safe. When I am about to feel relieved, my stomach suddenly growled.
Shiki-san took a bar of Calorie Mate from her pocket and gave me.
「The smell from cooking food is very dangerous, so we can only eat this. You can eat it.」
「To me now, this is already a delicacy.」
Calorie Mate is indeed delicious, I finished it in an instant, and licked my fingers.
「Who brought this?」
「There is a food storage in the bas.e.m.e.nt of this Cultivating Centre, which are emergency rations. We cleared it a bit, those rations could probably let 10 people here survived up to roughly 1 year. Other than that, there are some cans. The water in the bottles are also quite an amount, so we do not need to worry for a while. We also found some generator which uses fuel, but since it will be too noisy, so we did not use it.」
That’s a smart judgement— I thought so in my heart. I am even touched by her ability to handle stuff. She had just met with that sort of tragic stuff… Her liveliness surprised me.
「Also, we moved all the corpses to the innermost cla.s.sroom on level 1. We will bury them tomorrow morning. Other than that… ah, why do you keep looking at me?」
「Wah, ah, sorry.」
「Forget it, it’s fine.」
Shiki-san used her hand to brush her hair behind her.
「Just saying so, I am actually just forcefully enduring it. If I don’t do something, I will not be able to handle it.」
「I see… Sorry.」
「Don’t apologize. If not for you, I maybe already dead, or still in midst of h.e.l.l, so I am very grateful to you, thank you.」
「You should thank Arisu. When the elite orc appeared, I had intended to abandon you.」
「I heard the situation then, it is natural for you to do that. And really saying, actually it was me who have always abandoned you.」
Yes— I nodded powerlessly. She is right. By the result, I saved her, but actually that was just the development of the situation then.
The reason why she ignored me then, was the same. Well, what humans can do are only following the scenario, making the best choice.
…… there is no meaning in saying anything now.
「Don’t reject it anymore, the you now is filled with power.」
「You heard about the thing on Magic and Skills?」
「Arisu told us everything. Including the white room. Although it is unbelievable, but we can only believe it now. My wounds are also healed by Arisu.」
I see, I have only grat.i.tude to Arisu who saved me the trouble.
「So, what to do now? You can banish me out of this building, and send me to the orcs.」
「I will not do that sort of thing.」
「I know. But if you are that sort of person, I will have lesser guilt to my self-reproach.」
Yes— I expressed my agreement. So she had felt painful to her powerlessness— herself who can’t do anything.
「Okay, anyway, if you are willing, can you give me a punch, and then ask you to forgive me?」
I didn’t expect her to be such a simple person. I wa shocked.
「I won’t beat you.」
「Ah— then at least flick my forehead.」
Shiki-san smiled as though she is pranking me, and leaned her forehead towards me.
Her shoulders are still shaking.
I understood, that she is forcing herself. Even so, she still hope that she can be strong and happy.
I laughed bitterly and lightly flicked her forehead.
「This does not hurt at all.」
「You have already experienced so much, and I do not want others to feel pain anymore.」
「Yes. You have killed many orcs, it has been tough on you.」
Actually, the one standing in the frontline is Arisu, she is the one who has it tough……
Ah, regarding that I will forget it — I thought so. But before sleeping again, I should do the stuff that should be done.
「I will go use magic to set some alarming system.」
When I just stood up, Shiki-san gave a「ekk」sound, backed away.
「Ah—— Sorry.」
「…… Sorry.」
Shiki-san shrunk her body, and looked at me, revealing an ironic smile.
「I thought I have already worked very hard……」
I did not say anything, and while keeping a distance from her, I moved to the door.
It is already completely dark outside the Cultivating Centre. I walked out, and shut the main door.
Looking up, a sky full of stars came into view.
There is no light in the surroundings, so it is natural for the stars to be so bright. Even the street lights which illuminates the dorms and the school are no longer around, making one feel fresh at the view.
I looked at the sky, the Milky Way is also beautiful……
At this moment, I discovered something. I understood why this sky look so unnatural.
「There are 2 moons……」
I mumbled to myself.
「This is indeed not the world we are originally in.」
It’s another world
The strongest evidence is here. Looking at it carefully, the constellations seems different. I do not know much about constellation, so I can’t say what is wrong…… But I can confirm, that the stars I have seen before is not like this.
I did not know how long I daze off. Suddenly, I remembered the reason why I came out.
「That’s right, I have to use magic to strengthen our defense.」
In Rank 2 Support Magic, there is a magic called 《Alert Territory》.
This magic is different from the other magic. Once you set it at a certain location, once a certain thing or person pa.s.s by, it will ring an alert that only I can hear. I thought about it, and decide to set the alert as 「As long as something which exceeds the size of a kid pa.s.s the boundary around the Cultivating Centre, the alarm will sound.」
I walked around the building, and set the circle of alerting magic in the perimeter. With the size of the Cultivating Centre, I only had to go one round, and set it at 4 places.
The effective time of the magic is about 12 hours, or until I cancelled it. As long as it can last until morning then it is fine.
Finally I looked at the starry sky again.
「Why did we come to this world?」
Is there an answer to this question?
I shook my head, and returned to the Cultivating Centre.
If the orcs suddenly invade, level 1 is the most dangerous.
So all of us should sleep in level 3.
The girls slept in a big j.a.panese-styled room, while I slept in a small Western-styled room.
I had a bit of expectation, don’t know if Arisu will sneak into my bed in the middle of the night. But I didn’t have the energy to wait, once I enter the bed, I slept like a log.
I believed Arisu is also the same. She, who is in the frontline, is definitely more tired than me.
The long day ended just like that.
Then……
The second long day in another world begins.