I"m new, very new. Translating, setting up a website and everything in between, learning as I go. Also, my grammar is terrible. I"m sure there are mistakes here and there. So feel free to point em out.
Its mostly machine a.s.sisted. Cant use jacks.h.i.t with mtl from big G
I do not guarantee 100% accuracy, heck I dunno if can even get 90% of it accurate. Romanization of terms are intentional. Verbal tics are intentional.
It seems we became acquainted with a bigshot without knowing it.
Right after the announcement, the examiner kneeled on the spot. He holds his chest down while heaving. A female guild staff rushes to put her hand on his chest. As her hand shines, the pained countenance of the examiner slowly softens.
Was the female employee a healer? After all, it was a test conducted with weapons, albeit blunted ones. Seemed rather obvious to have treatment on standby in the event of an injury. But… judging from her expression, she did not think that the examiner would be the one who required healing…
If I made even one wrong step, the receiving end of that treatment would have been me.
A while after the light from the healing subsided, the examiner stood up. On the surface, he looks calm, but how would he react to receiving blow from a youngster who has yet attain rookie status. The examiner laughed out loud and called out to a nervous me
「I had some confidence in [waiting] but I certainly did not expect to be made to [look away] in that situation. I still have a long way to go. Hahaha~」
The man was beaming while patting my shoulder.
「I see. Did you cover your overwhelming lack of skill with schemes and tenacity? I have never encountered your type before. Iya~ I was splendidly deceived.」
My bluff was exposed. That tactic will not work for the second time. And I pray that I will not have to use it again. The fatigue I acc.u.mulated from the last few minutes drained me of my energy for the whole day.
「However, by just relying on tactics and schemes, you cannot reach the top. It is best to focus on the basics and thoroughly temper yourself to the utmost diligently.」
A reasonable view. It would be better to train continuously while I am still in this world. During the test, I can sense that under the guise of his carelessness, he was actually being alert. There was this premonition, even if I were to release the full power of my [Spirit Art], it would most likely be dealt with. He exudes a presence that naturally makes you think so.
「If I"m not wrong… Kannkun wasn"t it? Umu, I will remember your name.」
「………well, it wouldn"t be a problem even if you forget.」
I might"ve overdone it a little. I"m screwed. I was too focused on getting a pa.s.sing grade and didn"t think much more than that point. It"s the standard template where weird development was bound to follow by standing out in tests.
「I"ve been examiner for newbies a number of times, but you are the first to have landed a clean hit. I can"t forget even if I wanted to. Besides……」
The intensity of the examiners eyes" looking at me increases.
As if he can see through my true nature.
「………well, it"s against the rule to pry into adventurers" secrets. I hope you will be able to raise your rank safely.」
I found out later. The one who took charge for the examination this time was a talented adventurer who could not be described as a mere B rank.
That was a story for the future me.
ーーーーーーーーー
I feel that there are a lot of this pattern recently.
The female employee took all the examinee and left the room, leaving only the examiner behind.
「As expected of Kannshi gozaru na. To be able to land a blow to an opponent that powerful. If it was this one, no matter how many times, this one would not be able to reach him gozaru yo.」
Chloe was excitedly praising me but it was too much of a lucky streak for me to accept it honestly. After all, in reality I am useless without [Spirit Arts]. That was the last time I want to fight in a fair and square manner.
The female staff brought us to a meeting room with chairs and desks are lined up. The staff were told to sit at their position and so did the examinees. After a short while, a male employee who was also at the exam hall appeared.
「Everyone, I commend you for you effort today. Now that the a.s.sessment has been completed, I will read out the names of successful applicants. It is regrettable but if any of your names are not called, you did not pa.s.s the test.」
Then, the male employee started announcing. Fifteen people took the exam. It will end soon with this number but when it comes to the announcement of success or failure, even one second feels like forever. Acceptance announcement has the same sequential order as the exam. The first boy didn"t get called. The next girl did. The reaction of both was a stark contrast, with the boy slumping dejectedly, and the girl jumping up and down with joy. More names of the successful applicants were announced, but the responses were all similar on both sides.
「ーーRuks Abern. Kanna.………That is all. These names are the successful applicants of this exam.」
Including me, there are eight successful applicants huh. Just half.
「Those who were called, remain on standby in this room. I ask of those who were not to leave. Please note that you can only reapply for an examination again after one month interval. One month of blank period. How you use this time depends on yourself. Whether to continue training or to earn exam fee, both are good paths to choose. One thing I can say is, please make a choice that you will never regret.」
When the man showed the exit by hand, those who failed left one by one. Me? He called my name at the very end. Both the male and female staff remain behind. With eight young people.
………hmm? Something"s not quite right here. Certainly there were eight successful applicant but Chloe was not an examinee. She was just applying for a reissue of her guild card. If so, other than the staff here, there should be nine people.
…Whatever. The idea flashed through my thoughts but it didn"t matter so I chucked it to the sideline. It wouldn"t matter that much if I forgot about it that easily.
「Once again, congratulations on pa.s.sing. With this, the exam has ended without problems. After this, we will issue your guild card.」
The man took out one card in his hand.
「This card is essential for all of you to be recognized as adventurers. Please drop your blood on top of the mark on the upper right of the cards I"m distributing right now. One drop is enough. Once you"re done, return the card temporarily as I will need to do a bit of processing. In the meantime, please head over to the reception where you applied for the exam. There you will be called individually to collect your card to finish the process. Is there anyone who needs a knife to draw blood?」
n.o.body raised their hand. Actually, I own one myself. In order to strip monsters of their parts, a knife is needed during my journey up to now. I was given one at Reizan village but it never got a turn because I usually use my homemade ice knife.
The card handed by the employee was blank on both the front and back. There is a small circle on the upper right of one side, I should drop my blood there. I used a peeling knife to pierce my index finger a little, and when enough blood came out, I pressed it against the circle on the card.
Whether it was because of the material, or the circle itself was special, the blood pressed on the card was immediately sucked in, and the only trace left is the circle line that has turned red.
「If you are finished, please return the card temporarily to me and please wait at the reception.」
I handed over the card as I was told and returned to the reception with Chloe.
The other applicants, who waited by the reception, safely received their guild card one by one. Soon after, I was the only one left. Despite waiting for quite a while, there was no sign my name getting called.
「…………I wonder what is going on de gozaru na?」
Chloe tilts her head in confusion. She seems to have finished reissuing her guild card. She was called by a different staff for her new card. A newly registered adventurer would have a white card. Chloe"s card, on the other hand, was blue.
This was determined by the adventurer"s rank, with the bottom E rank starting with the white card, becoming green, blue, red, gold as the rank goes up, and the rainbow card as the top S rank.
「This one have seen A rankers" gold card in pa.s.sing but as expected, a rainbow colored one would be difficult de gozaru yo.」
After all, S rankers are less than ten people altogether. Comparing to an army, they would be considered as commander-in-chief/generals. It would not be easy to meet one. On the other hand, I haven"t even received my E rank card yet. Rather, this is taking too long.
「Perhaps I have been forgotten?」
「That would be a bit too much self deprecation gozaru yo.」
New adventurers received their cards and leave the reception with joy, while me and Chloe are left behind. About time I should complain. As much as I dislike an incessant complainer, to have me waiting this long was quite excessive. It is within range of common sense if I complain here. Thinking so, as I was standing up, I saw the female employee in charge of my examination coming my way.
「Kannsama, I apologize very much for the delay. I am very sorry to trouble you further but can I have a moment of your time please?」
「………Can it be, I"m disqualified.」
「No, there is no problem in that regard. However, the process of registering Kannsama"s information on the card and guild network does not seem to be going well.」
So, I was not forgotten but rather an unexpected delay on processing my card.
「It can"t be helped. How about you Chloe? Your card has been reissued and you can accept a job request now. You don"t have to wait for me.」
「What are you saying gozaru ka. I accompanied you up till now, I will do so to the end gozaru yo. In the first place, this one was only planning to reissue this one"s card today and accepting requests from tomorrow onwards.」
「Then, I will guide you both.」
This is the second time this person has guided us today. We entered a room half the size of earlier conference room as I was entertaining that trivial thought.
There was a person already inside. An old woman with wrinkles. Although she looks old, you can still see vestiges of a beauty from her appearance. Her back is straight and her eyes shines with strong light. And the most eye-catching of all is the two horns protruding from the base of her ears.
This is one of the physical characteristics of the Ryujin (Dragonkin). It is the first time I have met the Ryujin since coming to this world. But, their existence are quite natural in this place, or rather in this country. On the contrary, it was unnatural that I had not witnessed any since I visited this country. The Diagal Empire with the capital city of Draknil is a nation ruled by the King of the Dragonkins after all.
「Lydeal-sama I have brought them.」
「Thank you for the hard work.」
「It was my duty.」
When the old Ryujin showed her appreciation, the female staff respectfully bowed. It seems that the grandma is in the higher position of the two.
Calling her with [sama] honorifics huh. From the atmosphere of the grandma, perhaps she was once called [Queen-sama] when she was younger.
「You, are you thinking of something strange just now?」
The old woman suddenly said.
「Well, I did..」
「……An original response ne~.」
The old woman is not just an old woman, but an experienced old woman. Not just any beautiful old woman. How many years under her belt did she acc.u.mulate to turn the tsukkomi around. 《tlnote: its off mark but i just go with best i can do》あれは年期重ねすぎて一周しちまったのか。
The old woman began talking with a wry smile
「First of all, I apologize for our inadequacy. By all means, I would have preferred to present your guild card as soon as possible, but some complications occur during the processing, you see. I"m sorry, but I"m going to have to register your information in a different way.」
「Is that what the crystal for?」
A table was placed in the center of the room, and a colorless and transparent crystal placed upon it. Is it easy to understand if you can imagine a setup similar fortune-tellers often uses.
「Your guess is correct ne~. This is a magic tool for measuring the maryoku of new registrants from the magician cla.s.s. There was no magician in the earlier exam you took, hence this tools" absence.」
「Come to think of it, there was no magician-like guy.」
Everyone who took the exam with me had some kind of melee weapons. Rather, I was the only one to use my armor as a specialized weapon.
「The number of existing and newly registered magicians are fewer than warriors. Unlike regular new registration exams that takes place every day, new magician registration exams are held twice a week. Leaving aspirations aside, even non-magician adventurers can use this crystal as well.」
「Then, is it possible for this one to use it gozaru ka?」
Chloe was very interested. Her ears are restless. This is bad. I want to mofu her.
「Is the Black Wolf girl your companion? Of course, I don"t mind. Just putting your hand on the crystal should suffice.」
「Then, if you"ll excuse me.」
With some weird determination, Chloe put her hand on the crystal. Thereupon, with accompanying sound effect, purple electric-like lines appeared inside the previously transparent crystal.
「Fumu, lower-middle rank. Attribute is [Thunder]. She is a rare find ne~」
While the Ryujin grandma touches her chin in fascination, devastated Chloe on the other hand slumps her shoulder.
「……I knew that de gozaru. I already knew that de gozaru ga!」
Was she rattled by the [lower-middle rank] evaluation? The troubled grandma scratched her cheek and continued explaining.
「 You can visually determine the innate attribute and the amount of maryoku of a person who touches the crystal. In addition, this thing has the characteristic in which it temporarily acc.u.mulates the magic wave of the last person using it. Using that information, we can register the newest applicants" information on the guild"s network.」
Although the level of civilization in this world is much lower than in the real world, there are technologies that sometimes go beyond my original world. It"s a technology developed through magic , but sometimes it feels unbalanced.
Might as well ask questions.
「Um, what"s magic wave?」
「Oh, don"t you know? For a magician, it"s just common sense ne~. Well, there are quite a few things warrior adventurers don"t know. Right, I will explain it briefly.」
I"ll break up the explanation from the grandma and explain it in my terms. In short, a magic wave is the magic version of a human fingerprint. Each person has different characteristics of maryoku, and none of them is the same. By registering the magic wave in the card into the guild"s information network, the guild manages the card and by extension, its holders.
「There are two ways to measure magic waves. Just like what you did after your test, a drop of blood on a special material is one way. Another is to read the information acc.u.mulated in this crystal.」
「Why don"t you just use this crystal?」
「First, it takes time. Only the magic wave of the last measured person can acc.u.mulate in the crystal. You can"t process large number of people because you have to keep a record of every measurement. Secondly, warriors don"t need to know their attributes to use jutsu-shiki, they just fuel the jutsu-shiki with their maryoku and it will be executed. There are a lot of independent magicians operating nearby. Most of them chose to register with this crystal ne~.」
A new undiscovered -for me- fact has come to light. But what does it mean to use maryoku to execute jutsu-shiki. Is it considered bad timing to question it here and now? Judging from the way grandma speaks, its not a special term but rather, a common sense.
………c.r.a.p.
At this point, I had completely forgotten about this relatively important characteristics of mine. Rather, it was accepted much too naturally and hardly cared about. And because of Spirit Art, I didn"t feel the necessity of [it] at all.
「Let"s leave the preface so far, and finally measure your magical power.
………Is something the matter dear? Suddenly becoming quiet.」
「Oh, its just that I suddenly remembered quite an important thing.」
I"m a little hesitant about whether to tell it, but isn"t it already too late in this situation? It"s my fault that I forgot about my circ.u.mstances and didn"t know what to do with the word [magic wave] that the staff sometimes say. It"s better to confess honestly.
「I"m very sorry telling you this at our present stage but…… 」
「What is it? Don"t tell me you want to keep it a secret because you have a hereditary superior attribute? Rest a.s.sured. I swear by the guild"s honor and pride, I will not divulge the adventurer"s personal information. Even for the Emperor"s faction.」
「No, its a more fundamental issue.」
It would be faster to show than to say it.
Fortunately, there is a tool in front of my eyes to prove it.
I closed my finger and opened it, and then put my palm on the crystal.
……………………………………………………。
「………Its not lighting up at all gozaru na.」
「……What seems to be the problem?」
Chloe and the guild staff tilted their heads. Perhaps because they thought the differences are too minute but on the other hand, are they not aware of the unnaturalness?
As I thought, even though my palm touches the crystal, it remain colorless and transparent without showing any change. The only person who changed her complexion dramatically was the Ryujin grandma.
「Indeed, I see. Certainly this is a matter of [existence]. As you mentioned, a fundamental issue.」
「………What do you mean, Lydeal-sama?」
「Let"s see……Try your hand at the crystal as well.」
「Ok………」
The female staff who couldn"t understand the situation, touched the crystal as told. Then, unlike Chloe, something like a light blue liquid squirmed in the crystal.
With larger reaction as well.
「The attribute is [Water]. Maryoku amount is upper-middle rank.」
「There is no particular change from the previous measurement.」
「Well then, listen. What is the result of this kid"s measurement? 」
「That is………?」
The staff tried to answer immediately, but the words got lost halfway. That would be normal. Because the change necessary to measure did not occur at all for me.
You all know that.
The fundamental fact that my maryoku is [zero].
「That is correct. The maryoku of this young man is [zero] which is hard to believe. I have met a good number of people during my long life but I have never met someone with a [zero]. This is surprising ne~.」
「……hmm? If this one remembers correctly Kannshi uses Ice magiiiiic~~~!」
Chloe who didn"t know my circ.u.mstances tries to say something, so I gripped her tail with all my strength and stops her before she could say anything further.
「Whaaaat!!」
Luckily the staff member in her amazement, shouts louder than Chloe.
「No magic power? Is that even possible. As long as the person is alive, they should have at least some magical power! In fact, every single person who has ever been measured with this crystal displayed some result, no matter how little their magic power was!」
「But in reality, here exist a young man who has none whatsoever. It"s a good thing to live a long life ne~.」
That grandma was looking at me like I"m a rarer specimen than Chloe. From my perspective, a person with horns protruding from their head is the one equal to a rare specimen.
「You"re thinking rudely again.」
「Well, you"re right.」
「You have a good personality on your head ne~.」
「I hear that a lot.」
「………You reeally are blessed with good personality.」
I received another sigh.
「For the moment we should leave out the fact that you are a rare [zero magic]. 」
「Lydeal-sama!? I don"t think that is a matter we can just brush aside!?」
「Calm down. There are more than tens of thousands people living in this world. It is not a strange thing to have a person or two with no magic power.」
There it is. A rare old woman with a deep compa.s.sion. It might not be unusual in this world. But then again, up until 150 years ago, the Ryujin"s were treated as fict.i.tious existence, so it might not be too far off.
「You"re really a rude boy, you know.」
How in the blazes does she knows what I"m thinking.
「It come with the years. Anyway, the problem we have currently is that you have no maryoku, therefore you produce no magic wave to measure with.」
「Any negative effects it comes with?」
「Let"s see. If you can safekeep the same card for the rest of your life, there is no problem. But if by any chance you lose it, it"s a different story.」
Grandma took out a white guild card from her pocket.
「The guild card keeps track of your achievement, at the same time, the information is also stored as a backup in the guild network. As you know, being an adventurer involves high amount of fighting and moving around. Losing a card can happen to anyone. Which brings us back to magic wave, specifically its [pattern] which is necessary to reissue a guild card. By comparing this with the information stored in the guild, it is possible to reproduce a brand new card with exactly the same information.」
「Is that reason besides the card material that guild cards can only be reissued in a limited number of branch de gozaru ka?」
Grandma affirms Chloe"s question
「This process requires special magic tool owned by the guild. Well, the guild"s regulations require you to submit your card at a fixed branch once every three years, right?」
「Speaking of which, this one feels like such a story has been heard before de gozaru na. Until now, this one have been receiving requests only in the capital of Hinoizur and Yulfilia, so this one have completely forgotten about it de gozaru ga.」
「There are limited number of magical tools that can overwrite and withdraw information. That"s why they are given priority to relatively large branches. So, if you keep track of your achievements in a guild that doesn"t have that magical tool and you lose your card, all your achievements will be lost.」
In easier words, limited network of [majutsu-shiki]. The technology of this world is quite similar to the real world in strange places.
「It took a while to get this far ne~. What I wanted to say was…」
「If I ever lose my card by any chance, I risk losing all my achievements……Was that what you wanted to say? 」
「Correct. Well now, this is troubling ne~.」
The Ryujin grandma kept silent as she ponders. I don"t intend to rank up as adventurer, and I don"t have much attachment to gold. Earning just about enough for travelling expenses and savings seems perfectly fine for me.
If I"m in need of a large sum of money, I can always use my share of divided money and goods and put it into the p.a.w.nshop. 《tln: ones he got frommountain village n yulfilia castle》 From what I"ve heard, E rank requests are enough to get by if the person lives in a cheap inn.
If I lose my card, I can just retake the registration exam and restart from E rank. The grandma raised her face before I can put all that into words though.
While holding her index finger up.
「It does not solve everything, but I came up with a good idea. This way, you won"t fall into a situation where you lose your cards and your achievements at the same time.」
Grandma took out another white guild card.
「For this occasion only, let"s issue two cards for you. And then, to register these two cards and the magic wave needed for the guild information network, we will have another person to do it in your stead. Even if you lose one of the cards, you can still search for magic waves to reissue as long as you have the other card left. Of course, it will be described in the remarks of the card. With this arrangement, it should be possible to acc.u.mulate information and reissue cards at any eligible branch.」
I can understand its merit but a question came up my head immediately.
「Even if it"s possible, whose magic wave is to be registered? If said person is an active adventurer, I can imagine chaos from the mix up of information.」
「I already thought about that. Please rest a.s.sured. It"s the magic wave of someone who will never register as an adventurer in the future.」
For some reason, the grinning face of this Ryujin grandma seems to overlap with the mischievous sly smile of the Great Spirit of Ice.
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
When the new registrant young man and his accompanying Black Wolf woman withdraws, the other two people remained in place. The old Ryujin woman and the female staff member.
「…………Lydeal-sama, whose magic wave are you going to register? Could it be a civilian who is not an adventurer?」
「If we proceed that way, there will be problems when said person tries to become an adventurer ne~. As an absolute requirement, as I told the youngster, I need a person who will not act as an adventurer. And so, for that particular person, I have one in mind.」
The old woman put her hand on the crystal. Thereupon, brown turbidity not unlike muddy water spread throughout the crystal. With the transparent part completely filled, its transformation was as if it was brown colored from the beginning. The staff was stunned after she realized what the old woman was planning.
「It…can"t be……Lydeal-sama, do you intend to register your own magic wave!? That"s impossible! Your magic wave is already present in the guild"s information network!」
「That sort of thing is not a problem if I just erase it with my authority.」
「Erase?!!……Are you going to throw away all your achievements!?」
「I"m not interested in glory of bygone days ne~. In addition, I have no intention of going back to active duty now. There is no better role than this ne~.」
「Even so, there is no reason for Lydeal-sama to go that far for a single rookie, right?!」
The old woman says to the shrieking staff, looking at the door where the white-haired boy had left.
「That boy somehow managed to stand his ground against The Answerer [Fragarach]. I don"t think it can simply be explained with a few words. You were properly watching the fight, didn"t you?」
「Th-That"s true but……」
He was the only one in her charge to deliver a blow to [him]. A young n.o.bleman just before the him was excellent too, but it can be said that the white-haired young man was the most promising rookie.
「In addition, the subject is a young man with zero magical power that are rare in this world. This should be amusing.」
「………Please don"t talk about a person like they are some kind of rare animal.」
「Tell that to that youngster.」
An att.i.tude that respects his superiors but does not humble oneself more than necessary, one of the reasons the old woman took a liking to that youngster.
「Each and everyone of you, while conversing with me, were always mindful of my past, that sort of conversation was not enjoyable at all. If an opportunity presents itself, I want to enjoy some tea with that youngster ne~.」
「…………It was his first time visiting this branch, and he probably didn"t know your face nor your achievements at all. Otherwise, he won"t behave like that.」
「Really? Perhaps he won"t change at all.」
「There"s no way that can be true. No matter what Lydeal-sama says, you are a [former S rank]. Furthermore, the Guild Master of this branch, that is the undeniable truth.」
Hearing her t.i.tle as proclaimed by the staff member, the old woman -Lydeal- wryly smiled.
「Yare yare, you sure are obstinate ne~. Why don"t we take a bet. If that youngster learns of my position and change his behavior with me, I"ll reward you a gold coin. If it"s the other way around, I"ll have one from you. How about that?」
「I am not betting.」
「How boring ne~.」
Such a conversation was exchanged without Kanna knowing.
Glossary
Jutsu - Art/Technique
Jutsu-shiki - Art/Technique system?/formation?/form? Suggestion?
Majutsu - Magical Spell or just Spell
Majutsu-shi - Magician
Majutsu-shiki - Magical Formation
Maryoku - Magical Power/Mana/Magic Power
Maryoku Hadou - Magic Wave
Ma Juu - Magic Beast
Seirei Jutsu - Spirit Art