Chapter 10: Futaba Meiko part.1Chaos swirled in the cla.s.sroom that had begun its collapse. What Futaba Meiko remembered, was that mayhem and thinking, Ah, as she was thrown into the seemingly everlasting abyss of pitch black.
“N... uu...”
She awoke lying in a dark place. Cold, hard, and slightly wet too, there was nothing of greater discomfort. As she was recalling the soft, warm, fit-to-her-girth king-size bed in her room, her mind returned to reality.
Fortunately, she hadn’t forgotten anything. After crying a bit from the anxiety of waking up an unknown place, she was quickly able to grasp the current situation.
Apparently, they really had been brought to another world. She had been asleep inside a moss-covered small stone shrine-like building. A verdant forest peeking from the doorless, wide open entrance, opposite to which, there lay a spiral staircase running downwards.
Where should I go. Where’d everyone go. Again, the anxieties pinched at her large chest. As she was about to cry herself asunder for a second time, Meiko realized.
“Ah, right, the magic circle! From Momokawa-kun!”
Floating into her mind were, the bizarre patterns of white light on the blackboard, and the small boy with a cute-ish face sitting next her, her saviour.
The page with the drawing of his own work he had handed over so bluntly, it could be seen as some random scribblings, but right now, it was her only hope. Thankyou Momokawa-kun, saying as if praying to the LordBuddha, Meiko invoked the magic.
“Oh G.o.ds above, grant us salvation with the force of thy miracles. For we shall adhere to thine decre— Kyaa!?”
As she had finished the recitation, a magic circle of light appeared on the back of her hand. Dazzling, and at the same time, an acute heat.
“Kyaa—! What the, a-ouch, burning!”
In truth, the degree of heat wasn’t so high as to warrant such a reaction, but the abnormality in her own body made Meiko yelp, made her cry out.
Though her shrill voice echoed annoyingly loud inside that small shrine, just then, she heard a voice.
“—shall we bestow.”
Not her own. Undoubtedly, it was the voice of a third party. It rang clearly inside her head, dispelling any doubts if it was her imagination.
“To thee, great power shall we bestow.”[1]
It was a gentle female voice. Her mind, rattled with fear and anxiety, strangely came at ease. If there existed a G.o.ddess, surely she’d have such a voice, was how it seemed.
“—Uh umm, Vo, cation?”
Before she realized, the light on her hand had vanished, and the G.o.ddess-like voice, not to be heard. Having calmed down, Meiko noticed the words that had emerged on the page with the magic circle.
Reading them, she came to grasp the circ.u.mstances. Vocation, dungeon, transfer gate. It wasn’t very believable, yet she had to acknowledge reality.
“I-it’ll be tough... but we have to get back home, with everyone”
After much deliberation, Futaba Meiko at last took on the resolve to enter the dungeon.
Gripped in her shaking hands was a bulky butcher’s knife. The characteristic rectangular blade sparkled with an intimidation as if saying it could make easy work of a whole cow.
Futaba Meiko belongs to s.h.i.+ramine Private Academy’s cooking club. Her hobby is food. That include both the preparation and dining of.
Being a missionary of the faith of gourmet since her younger days, her skill in the preparation of food g
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rew along side the girth of her body. Making a lot, eating as much. It is the logical result.
At any rate, on September 20th, the Monday after a 3 day long weekend, Meiko went to cla.s.s with the personal knife set in her bag like always. Surely, after school that day, she’d again use these cherished, well sharpened knives on fine culinary creations, but by some twist of fate, they had become weapons for her self protection.
There was Kitaoji Ruriko, a friend in the same cla.s.s 2-7, in addition to an adequate amount of other people also belonging to that club, but the one serious enough to bring their own knives was Meiko only.
Though she was currently equipped with the best gear, the prospect of her openly fearful and crybaby self swinging a blade almost crushed her heart. In fact, she was as her limit just holding on to the butcher’s knife. She couldn’t imagine pointing it towards the violent beasts known as monsters. Even if the opponent was a chihuahua-sized stray dog, she likely couldn’t do it.
She could cut apart any number of ingredients, but something still alive was a no go. She could easily exercise her blade on seafood, like fish or octopi only.
“I-it’s fine... since I have the Knight vocation... I’ll be fine...”
Futaba Meiko was granted the vocation of ‘Knight’. From the explanation in the notebook, there was no problem in fighting ability, it wasn’t a bad draw.
Novice skills being 3: ‘Abandon’, ‘Repel’, and ‘Blessed Body’.[2]
‘Abandon’: Can react to the enemy’s attack.
‘Repel’: Repel enemy attacks using weapons or armor.
‘Blessed Body’: A blessed body strong against injury and sickness.
A simple description of her powers had been entered into her head at some point, so she could quickly understand them. However, how to utilize these 3 skills to fight, Meiko had not a clue.
It wasn’t a problem of her mental faculties, her grades were on the high end in fact. But unfortunately, there was no way she could logically come to the best solutions in this abnormal situation. To add, Meiko was quite distant from the world of RPG and action games. Her minute experience of gaming only comprised of those popular among girls like that simulation with warm interactions between forest animals, and that famous puzzle game where you connected tiles with round jellies to make them disappear.[3]
She had no idea what to think of this ‘vocation’ with its game-like skill system.
But fortunately, Meiko’s first encounter in the dark pa.s.sages of the dungeon wasn’t a monster, but a familiar face, a cla.s.smate.
“—You’re, Futaba-san? Thank goodness, you’re safe.”
The person she encountered on a narrow crossroads was, possessing a slender, calm beauty completely contrasting Futaba Meiko, the cla.s.s representative of cla.s.s 2-7, Kisaragi Ryouko.
“K-Kisaragi-san! Fwaa— so glad, I’m so glad you’re here!”
Ryouko’s ever present calm and intelligent presence even inside the dungeon gave Meiko a peerless feeling of relief.
“W-wait Futaba-san, calm down”
Taken slightly aback by the large ma.s.s approaching her, Ryouko tries to calm the teary-eyed Meiko.
“—I’m pretty anxious about this place myself, but the goal is clear. No matter what, let’s get ourselves out of this mess and return to our world as fast as we can”
Walking along the pa.s.sage which looked hard like concrete, talking about their situation brought back a bit more peace of mind to Meiko. Most of all, Ryouko’s strong words alighted hope in her heart that was crumbling in despair.
Kisaragi Ryouko and Meiko weren’t particularly close. You could count on one hand the amount of times they’d conversed. Still, Meiko knew. Knew that she wasn’t only of gorgeous appearance, but her grades and athleticism were also outstanding. Being called ‘cla.s.s rep’ by everyone, her skill in leaders.h.i.+p was also a guarantee. Moreover, she showed not the slightest fear in facing the greatest delinquent Tendou Ryuuichi who had sent a dozen punks from Black high to the hospital. In fact, she had the courage to even a.s.sert dominance over him.
Invoking a feeling of both admiration and abandon at never being able to reach her height. That was the girl known as Kisaragi Ryouko.
“Hey Futaba-san, have you tried out this vocation thing?”
“Eh? A-umm... not yet”
“I see, I haven’t gone past the description either, but seems like we have no choice but to try them now huh”
After exploring the dungeon with Ryouko for some dozens of minutes, the time had come all too quick.
It was a round open s.p.a.ce where many paths met. Contrasting the dreary gray road up till now, it was an area of green. The walls overgrown in ivy, crooked trees spanned from floor to ceiling as if replacing pillars.
But what widened Meiko’s eyes was not the abrupt change in scenery of this place, but its dwellers.
“Ha, ah... Those are... rats, right?”
From inside the slight darkness, with creepy red eyes, an animal familiar to the j.a.panese, it was a rat. Particularly, its size was larger than what one would imagine. It certainly wasn’t something you could describe as slightly larger than normal.
Dirty gray fur, and a long, narrow, hairless tail like an earthworm. A rat from all directions, except size, which was closer to a cat. It could bite back against a cat even if it wasn’t cornered.
Furthermore, this rat would, in reality, be able to make easily bite apart any cat. Since, in place of canines that facilitate chewing, its mouth was equipped with 2 sharp fangs like that of a saber-tooth tiger. It proclaimed its threat by releasing grinding sounds from its fangs and lines of saw-like teeth.
This kind of rat monster had appeared before Ryouko and Meiko. And in great quant.i.ty.
“No way... S-so manyy...”
Her large stature ashaken, Meiko completely stiffened in fear. Forget attacking, she was currently the best tasting prey, one who couldn’t even run away. And not even lacking in filling. The rats were practically drooling a river at the sight.
No reason for holding back. They probably hadn’t scripted it out, but the rats, widening their eyes and mouths, all at once, began to move.
“—Ice Sagittaice arrow”[4]
Just then, though her spine was frozen stiff, Meiko felt a real coolness on her skin. Right after, s.h.i.+ngg, a shrill sound entered her ears. And then finally, she came to understand what had occurred before her.
“Wow... you can really use magic”
She easily praised the cool cla.s.s rep. It was that amazing a phenomenon.
Ryouko’s right arm extended, before it stood an icicle. Having pierced 2 of the rats at the same time.
Meiko hadn’t seen it launch, but she could easily guess. Ryouko had invoked a magic that threw ice. And this transparent ice broke through the rats’ bodies further staining their dirty gray fur in deep red blood.
Perhaps the rats became wary of the unprecedented counter. The pack halted its rush. Like an ebbing wave, they turned and took distance. And again, with great agility, they began to encircle Ryouko and Meiko.
“It pretty great, but it won’t clear the way”
Ryouko seemed to have calmly a.n.a.lysed her power and the enemies’ strength. Even in this crisis, she could make use of her head, and furthermore, take action upon that forethought. Ryouko was of astounding courage and guts.
Lest it be ignored, Kisaragi Ryouko’s magic prowess too, was astounding.
“الجليد الباردة تجميد انتشار النار—‘Ice Blastfrozen emission’!”
Along with a chant in a completely incomprehensible mystery language, Ryouko shouted what was likely the magic’s name. Pus.h.i.+ng both hands out at front with all her might, she manifested the ‘Ice Blast’.
She created a blizzard. That was Meiko’s impression.
From Ryouko hands surged air cold like the freezing gales of a midwinter blizzard, and the next moment, the rats moving in front of them were frozen solid. Impossible to count, a great many of them.
With that single cast, about all of the rats on the forefront were annihilated. Their squalid gray bodies dyed in white snow, they had become unmoving statues of ice.
Faced with the fact that a large number of their allies had suddenly been slain, the rats were unable to take appropriate measures— meaning, they weren’t able to make the quick decision of escape. Or perhaps, Ryouko’s second volley was simply too fast.
“That should do it—”
One after another, she kept invoking ‘Ice Blast’. This time mowing down the flock built up on her peripherals. The rats scampering on the ground had no ability to avoid the fierce gale that instantly froze them to the core.
“Amazing... Kisaragi-san...”
Soon enough, the pack of rats was no more. More than half frozen, the rest fled like baby spiders. Afterwards, the only things left behind were the creepy ice statues of monster rats.[5]
“Phew, I’m glad that went well. With this magic, we can make do from now on”
So dazzling was the gentle smile of Ryouko. So much, that to Meiko, her own useless self looked like an ugly pig.
“Now, let’s go, Futaba-san”
Relief from overcoming the crisis, and faith in Ryouko. With those, and, deep in her heart, a slight sense of inferiority, Meiko stepped forward.
“—I see, Kisaragi-san’s vocation must be Ice Mage then”[6]
With a proper vocation, I guess you can fight like that. I feel a bit of jealousy boiling up, but if I was in her shoes, suddenly able to launch ice magic, I have doubts it’d go so well.
It’s highly likely that when these large rats with overgrown fangs, lets call them ‘Fang Rats’— when this pack of fang rats was so easily done in, it was undeniably by the superior talents of the individual Kisaragi Ryouko.
I had this thought from before, or should I say, I had indirectly felt it. That she was of the same type as Souma-kun or Tendou-kun. High-spec’ed, normieriajuu, there’re many easy words to describe them, but in the end it’s that. beauty, brains, body, and even personality is top notch, winners in life.
“Direct attacks with ice arrows, and a cold air emission area attack. Full points in versatility huh... on that point, there’s 3 novice skills so she must have another one. Futaba-san, do you know?”
“Eh, umm... Sorry, I don’t”
Her brows arching as if troubled, Futaba-san made an apologetic face. I’m not blaming you ok, so that face is a bit troubling for me.
Giving a nice and gentle follow up line here might’ve been the perfect thing a man could do, but unfortunately, my deficiency in handsome-points makes that action unavailable. I thought about how to reply for a few seconds, but ended up with nothing in particular. Pathetic.
“...You not knowing probably means it was an always pa.s.sive skill, or maybe she was intentionally keeping it from you.”
My ‘Pain Return’ and ‘Intuition Pharmacy’ worked without any chants or special actions, they were the always-active type. Futaba-san’s ‘Blessed Body’ must be the same.
“Ah sorry, I kinda interrupted your talk”
Up till now, the plot’s going in an enviously easy dungeon capturing direction. We haven’t reached the scene where she, Futaba Meiko, is left absolutely b.l.o.o.d.y at the fairy square.
“Yeah, so then, you see—”
Really, what horrid truth will spill from that mouth of hers? I already don’t have a good feeling about this, but yet, keep listening to Futaba-san’s tale.
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[1]貴女/kijo, an archaic 2nd person j.a.panese p.r.o.noun. Untranslatable so ‘thee’.
[2]Skill names... 『見切り』『弾き』『恵体』, I don’t know if there’s any commonly used English translations for these, but that’s what I have. ‘Abandon’ seems to be related to Monster Hunter’s ‘Reckless Abandon’ by name, and ‘Blessed Body’, is sometimes refers to a (s.e.xy) girl with good proportions.
[3]So basically, Animal Crossing, and Bejewelled.
[4]I’ll put the attack name meanings up as ruby text on occasion.
[5]Baby spiders.. is this a k.u.mo ref? I hope!
[6]Back to Kotarou POV. On that note, I won’t be announcing these changes in POV anymore, it’s kinda obvious and feels like I’m insulting the reader’s intelligence. If you think it’s necessary, let me know.