Chapter 30
Arc 1: Setting Notes + Bonus
● Characters
Note: Stats are purely for flavor.
Note: For Strength and Agility, an average adult man is "10." A member of a military special forces unit is "15." A world-record holder or gold medalist is "20."
Note: As for certain body parts, I won't say which ones.
'Yahiro Kota'
Race: Half-Human, Quarter-Elf, Quarter-Oni
Spirit Rank (LV): 10
Strength: 35
Endurance: 35
Agility: 35
Magic: 35
Gifts: Scroll Creation, Foresight Magic Eye, Mistletoe Arrow
Unique: Blood of Rejuvenation
Notes
The protagonist of this work. Commonly known as "the Mongrel."
Originally an utterly ordinary boy, as both he and everyone around him would agree, but the "Day of Return" turned his life upside down in more ways than one.
He originally had a raccoon-dog face and looked like a typical Japanese boy, but now he's a handsome youth with black hair, pale skin, and red eyes. Even so, he's still not popular with girls.
After awakening as a Gifted person in middle school, he became isolated at school because of the string of crimes committed by Gifted people across the country. As a result, he became quite socially awkward.
A major factor seems to have been that even his friends from elementary school looked at him as if he were a monster and kept their distance.
He has a gentle personality. He's the type to avoid conflict, but he does harbor a longing for adventure and heroes.
He also has a weakness for beautiful women. On top of that, he's a devout follower of the Church of Boobs, and around busty beauties he's easier to win over than a pushover heroine from an old-school light novel.
It turns out that a hundred years in the future he has been genderswapped in a mobile game and is called things like "Mother of Humanity" and "the Great Succubus." He was deeply shocked.
His latest worry is that his parents, who have grown younger and better-looking, are far too affectionate with each other. Wearing an extremely awkward expression, he had his mother buy him a pair of high-end earphones.
'Takanashi Miyu'
Race: Human
LV: 4
Strength: 15
Endurance: 16
Agility: 21
Magic: 14
Gifts: Gritting Teeth
Notes
The heroine of this work. Not a boy soldier but a girl soldier, from a hundred years in the future.
Though it's called the future, it's a parallel world, so nothing she does in this era has any effect on her world.
A hundred years in the future, humanity has been driven to the brink by the monsters' offensive, and everything except a few American states and the British mainland has already been overrun. Even that last sphere of survival is gradually shrinking.
Because of this, an extremely harsh conscription system is in place, and she served as a machine soldier from the age of seven. Her body was used as material for magic tools, and her brain was placed in a special container and connected to the humanoid mobile weapon "Kenning." She fought monsters for eight years straight.
During her final mission, her unit was wiped out in the literal sense of the word. Her own machine was badly damaged and on the verge of running out of energy when she encountered the self-proclaimed Demiurge, whose magic sent her to this world, in this era.
Because Miyu's ancestors were protected by Yahiro Kota when they escaped from Japan, she respects him.
For a while she equated this world's Yahiro Kota with that one, but that may have changed slightly.
I won't say where, but "K." According to Kota, definitely over a meter. She may even be the largest in humanity within this story. I won't say where.
Incidentally, her talent as a Gifted person is, to put it kindly, not high. With even average talent, she would have awakened during her eight years of fighting.
According to the self-proclaimed Demiurge: "Genuine garbage. Even after I forcibly awakened her, she's at the level of kitchen scraps that are barely edible."
In exchange, she has great talent as a pilot of humanoid weapons.
'Inoue Riko'
Race: Dark Elf
Note: Stats still unknown.
Notes
The heroine of this work?
The poster girl of the clan "Alf" that Kota and the others belong to. She's called Riko-senpai, but only because she joined the clan a few days before them. She's fifteen, the same age as Kota and Miyu.
She's a casual otaku girl, but after becoming a dark elf, she decided, "I'll become a gyaru who's nice to otaku!" She may be a little deranged.
At the girls' high school she attends, everyone around her is an otaku girl, but since they already knew each other, her gyaru act never lasted long, and before she knew it she'd be having normal otaku talk, so she gave up. She's decided to start by practicing being a gyaru who's nice to otaku somewhere easier.
As her target, she locked onto Kota, who had been blatantly displaying his social awkwardness. She's also scheming to raise Miyu into an otaku girl and then be nice to her.
I won't say where, but "an E leaning toward F." Because she became a dark elf, her physical age is fourteen. She'll probably grow. I won't say where.
Her specialty is cooking, though only the kind of dishes served at a retro café. She's also better at programming than others her age.
'Inoue Mizuki'
Note: Stats still unknown.
Notes
Clan master of the clan "Alf." Riko's grandmother, who is looking after her because her parents are working far away.
She's in her late sixties. However, becoming a dark elf rejuvenated her physical age to around twenty.
She has a gentle personality. Perhaps thanks to her years, she was known in the neighborhood as a good listener. Since becoming a Gifted person, local residents have tended to avoid her. Even so, she still seems to chat normally at neighborhood association meetings and the like.
She runs the café half as a hobby. Her late husband once worked as a chef at a famous hotel in Tokyo, and after returning to his hometown he opened the café, which the two of them ran together. She seems to have learned cooking from her husband, and French cuisine is her particular specialty.
I won't say where, but "F." I really won't say where.
Incidentally, she is not a romanceable character. Please wait for the DLC.
'Ishiyama Iwako'
Note: Stats still unknown.
Notes
Self-styled "Rosso Vendetta." Real name Ishiyama Iwako. A woman in her twenties.
A blonde, heterochromatic dhampir. In Miyu's world, she was infamous as a wicked, atrocious monster.
Her most famous episode is "The Nightmare of the Seventh Fleet," in which she single-handedly sank about half its ships and caused many casualties. She is said to have been slain by the future Kota during that incident.
In this era, she was seen fighting hard to defend the civic gymnasium serving as an evacuation shelter. Wielding her Spirit Armament, a great scythe, she battled a pack of Lycanthropes, and kept fighting through injuries that would have killed an ordinary person ten times over.
She seems to be considering joining the clan "Alf," but the details are unknown.
I won't say where, but "G." I won't say where.
She apparently came up with the name "Rosso Vendetta" herself. Fake Italian. It supposedly means "Red Avenger."
● Monsters That Appeared
'Skeleton'
Strength: 10
Endurance: 10
Agility: 8
Magic: 8
Gifts: None
Notes
The first monster Kota encountered. An extremely famous monster. It looks like a human skeleton model walking around on its own, and though its movements are a bit slow, like other monsters it has a strong murderous intent toward humans.
Among monsters as a whole, it belongs to the extremely weak category.
'Kobold'
Strength: 10
Endurance: 9
Agility: 12
Magic: 5
Gifts: Mineral Detection
Notes
A monster found in the dungeon they entered for the clan "Alf" entrance test. It looks like a bipedal dog and is armed with swords and spears. It resembles a dog, but in fact its senses are not as sharp as a dog's.
Its overall strength is on par with a Skeleton, but it's nimble and has better detection abilities than those things, so it's that much more of a threat.
'Black Rat'
Strength: 18
Endurance: 15
Agility: 16
Magic: 3
Gifts: Poison Resistance (Small)
Notes
A monster found in dungeons resembling old underground waterways. Its body is a size larger than a large dog's, and it has fangs that can easily bite through iron plates.
It's far stronger than Skeletons or Kobolds, but even so it's still treated as beginner-level among adventurers. It holds the position of "strong, for small fry."
'Yowie'
Strength: 14
Endurance: 12
Agility: 18
Magic: 10
Gifts: Night Vision
Notes
A monster found in cave-like dungeons. It has a lizard's head, a snake's body, and insect-like legs. Excluding the tail, its body is three meters long.
At first glance it's a snake with bug legs, but its head is a lizard's. It has no pit organs and mainly tracks enemies by hearing and sight.
'Lycanthrope'
Strength: 23
Endurance: 25
Agility: 26
Magic: 20
Gifts: Super Regeneration, Venomous Fangs
Notes
A monster encountered in the city. A monstrosity over two meters tall with a heavily muscled body covered in thick fur.
Unless it's struck with silver weapons infused with consecrated magic power, or with undead-slaying weapons or Gifts, it won't die unless more than forty percent of its body is blown away at once.
It never got to shine in the main story because its opponents had "Status Effect Immunity" or were "robots," but its fangs carry a potent venom. A deadly poison that can kill even an Indian elephant within minutes.
Its temperament is extremely cruel. It has a habit of toying with its prey before finishing it off, and it has absolute confidence in its nearly immortal body.
● Boss Monsters
'Bunyip'
Note: Stats still unknown.
Notes
The boss monster of the dungeon where the Yowies live. Details haven't been revealed in the main story, but it's a ferocious monster over four meters tall that likes to eat people. On top of that, it's said to even use magic.
Incidentally, whether it will appear at all in the future is undecided. It might not show up.
'Ulfhedinn'
Strength: 40
Endurance: 36
Agility: 42
Magic: 30
Gifts: Super Regeneration, Venomous Fangs, Monstrous Strength
Notes
The boss of this arc. The leader of the Lycanthropes. In appearance, it's just a larger Lycanthrope holding a simple greatsword.
However, its combat ability and preferences are very different: rather than relying on its regeneration, it launches a fierce assault while dodging attacks with its high evasion.
It also shows an abnormal obsession with battle, a berserker who enjoys fighting even on the brink of death.
In exchange, when "a warrior abandons the fight and flees," it becomes incapable of any thought other than chasing them down and killing them.
● Q&A
Q.
Kenning... isn't it weaker than expected?
A.
It's just a mass-production unit, after all. That said, at its original performance, it would have been strong enough to defeat the Ulfhedinn before Kota arrived.
At the time, it was badly damaged and had only been forcibly patched up by Takanashi-san, who only had basic knowledge. In about two weeks, no less. It was running at roughly thirty percent below its original performance.
Another problem was that its only weapon was the stake replacing its right arm.
Q.
How skilled is Takanashi-san as a pilot?
A.
In Code G●ass terms, brain-only Takanashi-san is like a modified Lord Orange without the Canceller. Regenerated-body Takanashi-san is about as skilled as pre-modification Lord Orange. If she could beat him head-on, she'd be a shoo-in for the Rou●ds.
She didn't survive eight years for nothing; she's a hardcore ace pilot.
Q.
In the future world, she's treated as a rank-and-file soldier even with that skill?
A.
Yes. Her skill is good enough to be given a custom unit, but there's no longer any leeway to build custom units in the first place, and she has so little spiritual talent that even with one her performance wouldn't improve much...
Also, simply put, a "well-trained Gifted person" is stronger.
Q.
Why did Kota become the Mother of Humanity in the future?
A.
I don't know either. Before I knew it, he'd become one.
Q.
What's the self-proclaimed Demiurge's real name?
A.
Demi-chan
"It's a☆se☆cret☆"
Q.
Why are Gifted people outside Britain and Japan so underwhelming?
A.
Because these two countries were the only places where the ley lines running through the Earth happen to surface conveniently. In other countries, the amount of magic power flowing underground isn't all that different.
That said, there are "exceptions" among Gifted people outside these two countries too.
Q.
Will Kota get genderswapped?
A.
He won't. At least his actual body won't. But there's no telling what happens in people's rumors or in mobile games.
Q.
Isn't the future world a little too cornered?
A.
Frankly, the biggest cause was the fall of Japan, which was sacred spiritual ground on a national scale. But the "various things" that happened afterward seem to have had an effect too.
Q.
Is Takanashi-san's current body her own?
A.
Yes. That body is the result of Demi-chan regenerating her flesh from her brain with healing magic. If she hadn't become a machine soldier and had lived a healthy, cultured life until fifteen, she probably would have looked just like she does now.
Q.
Is this work also a boob harem?
A.
Even whether it'll be a harem is undecided.
Q.
Is the Public Security officer pretending to be a high schooler a sexy bombshell?
A.
Tōmi-san
"That's right."
● Bonus: "At a Certain Port, in a Certain World"
The heavens burned.
From the ground, I looked up at the crimson maelstrom that had formed in the sky, as though it were a whirlpool seen from above.
That was the last of my combat scrolls. I tossed away my now-lighter staff and readied my sword.
The enemy should be out of flying types after that. But there were still plenty of monsters advancing on land.
Cracked concrete ground, overgrown with weeds here and there. Only about thirty percent of it was still visible.
Everything else was hidden beneath all manner of monsters.
Japan had fallen.
A few years had passed since the "Day of Return." Lately I hadn't even had the leeway to count the days, so I couldn't recall the exact date, but this country had been taken by monsters.
Neither the Self-Defense Forces nor the police were functioning, and people were being hunted everywhere.
The only hope for those still living in this country was the evacuation ship departing from this port.
I'd fought all kinds of battles all over the place, but they had probably all been meaningless. Not long ago that helplessness might have brought me to tears, but now I felt nothing.
A three-headed hellhound, a goat-headed half-man half-demon, beasts that mixed tigers and raccoon dogs—they were all slowly approaching.
From among them, two monsters with near-human frames stepped forward. One's skin was sickly pale, the other's black as ink.
What they had in common was that they had no eyes or noses, and an absurd amount of magic power.
'———, ———!'
'———...!'
I wondered whether these monsters were even speaking human language. I'd heard some monsters were highly intelligent, but I couldn't tell.
At some point, I'd stopped being able to understand the words other people spoke.
My body was in perfect condition. Thanks to my unique Gift, I was free of injury and illness, and I wasn't starving. This body even repelled curses.
In that case, it had to be psychological. Unfortunately, there were too many possible causes for me to know which.
Was it when a monster turned my mother into a monster and she devoured my father?
Was it when I couldn't save my mother after she became a monster, and cut her down with my own hands?
Was it when I ran my sword through the heart of that person, who shouldn't have been a monster?
Or... or... or———...
Even in front of the enemy, I kept running through pointless thoughts. Even though, behind me, the last evacuation ship was preparing to leave port.
Apparently, mechanical trouble still kept it from leaving the harbor. They'd struggled even to gather fuel to run the ship. It was only natural, in a sense.
I couldn't understand their words, but these monsters seemed to be mocking and provoking me. Or maybe they were inviting me to fall and become one of them.
If I didn't want to die, obeying was probably the right answer. But even that didn't matter.
No, come to think of it, there was no need to fight either. I'd been helping people all over out of a pointless sense of duty, but in the end even that had been meaningless. This, too, was probably a meaningless fight.
Then wasn't it fine to put down my sword? Wasn't it fine to finally rest?
Come to think of it, how many days had I gone without sleep? How long ago was the last time I'd rested my back on the ground outside of combat?
My sword's tip pointed at the ground. The two monsters, with nothing on their faces but mouths, seemed to sneer.
They were saying something. Were they laughing at me? Or were they praising it as the wise choice, on the surface?
Whatever. I was tired. I didn't want to see anything anymore.
Strength drained from the fingers gripping my sword. The hilt was only hanging on by chance.
I could hear footsteps. I could hear screams. Both were gradually growing louder.
Among them, for some reason, there was a sound that rattled my head strangely.
"——, ———!"
Shut up. Let me sleep. I've done enough already.
Isn't that fine? I'm just an ordinary person. The heroes are someone else. On the way here, I saw many people who deserved that name. And all of them either died or went somewhere else.
I'll just sit down. This filthy concrete ground seems like the finest bed there is.
Sit down, lie down. How good would it feel to fall asleep?
"——! ———!!"
So be quiet. Please.
Human words don't reach me anymore anyway. I can still read letters, but voices...
"—lp!"
Words...
"—elp me!"
Anymore.
"Help me!"
...Damn it all.
'GAAAAAAAAH!?'
The sensation of tearing flesh traveled up from the sword I swung.
When I opened my eyes, the black monster had lost the right arm it had apparently been reaching toward me.
Despite its appearance, its blood looked just like a human's. Even at a time like this, I was a little surprised.
'You! How dare you!'
"Shut up."
It felt like the first time in a while I'd heard human speech. What bad luck that it was a voice that grated on my head like this.
The voice I'd heard earlier had been a child's shrill voice too, so my mood couldn't have been worse.
It should have been the worst.
'You half-dead WRETCH!'
I saw through the pale one's lunging claws with foresight. I ducked and dodged with a sideways spin, and used the momentum to tear through its torso.
I grabbed the bisected monster by the neck with my left hand and raised it in the direction I had "seen." Almost at the same moment, the pale-blue flames the retreating black one had fired struck my "shield" head-on.
'GAAAH!?'
'You...!'
I hurled the burning half-dead thing at the black monster as it tried to retreat further.
It was supposedly its comrade, yet the monster knocked the body away with its left arm. If it had caught it, it could still have used it as a shield.
'Dam—'
I drove my sword into the black one's heart and twisted. Spilling dark red blood from its lipless mouth, the monster seized my right arm.
'You'll... regret this...! Don't think... you'll die... easy...!'
"I figured."
I twisted the blade and tore the monster apart just like that.
Bathed in a rain of blood, I looked at the monster army, which had drawn somewhat closer than before.
I should have been in a foul mood... and yet, somehow, my body felt light. Like a feather.
"———Come on."
As if my voice were the signal, the monsters let out a roar all at once and surged toward me.
From behind me came the sound of a steam whistle. Without turning around, I swung my sword.
Ah, good grief.
Looks like sleep will have to wait a little longer.