Chapter 60
Kenning and Takanashi-san
After making our way through the dark forest for about an hour, we had already fought more than twenty battles.
But Kenning had suffered no major damage. In fact, not a single orc attack had landed cleanly.
I mean, Takanashi-san is really strong as a pilot.
"How are you feeling, Miyucchi? Any problems with you or the machine?"
'No problems, Riko-senpai. I am unharmed, and the machine's wear is within acceptable limits.'
Kenning continued its heavy, thudding walk just as before. Apparently, everything really was fine.
An orc whose raw physical abilities matched those of a lycanthrope was being completely overwhelmed. Even though the machine had been modified, its armaments were still terribly poor...
"Miyucchi... are you, like, an ace pilot or something?"
Apparently Riko-senpai had been thinking the same thing. She asked while looking at the map on her smartphone.
'What do you think? My number of monster kills was equal to or greater than that of the aces, but the military never recognized me as one.'
"Huh, really? What, was it for political reasons?"
'I suspect they no longer had the resources to prepare an ace machine.'
"Oh, that's harsher than I expected."
'Besides, aces are sent to dangerous battlefields first and die quickly. I do not want to be selected.'
"That was beyond harsh."
The world a hundred years from now really was a hellscape.
'The fact that the world had fallen into such a crisis is said to have been largely because Japan's spirit veins were seized. That is why, if we can succeed in defending this country...'
"Even so, what can we do~?"
"We have no idea how to do that, after all~."
We were ordinary people with only a little talent as ability users. There was no way we could do anything about the country.
"...Putting aside the whole Toramari-san? Toramari-chan? matter, Grandma did make one suggestion: 'How about this?'"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know that spiritual disaster in April when five bigwigs, including the prime minister, died?"
"Yes. I remember."
I clearly remembered how a spiritual disaster had occurred in Tokyo on the very day Takanashi-san told me, 'The prime minister will die soon.' I had been so shocked that I could not move from in front of the television for quite some time.
"And since monsters had influenced the government, Japan apparently collapsed in two panels flat?"
'Two panels...? Um, the leading theory is that monsters had infiltrated the government organizations and caused the collapse.'
"Then, those ministers who died that day... or rather, their relatives..."
Riko-senpai stopped speaking there. At the same time, I heard the footsteps of a monster approaching.
"We'll talk about this later. We've got enemies."
"Two o'clock. They're approaching. The number is... two, no, three."
'Understood.'
We each readied our weapons and focused our attention on the enemies.
I more or less understood what Master had meant. It might indeed be a good idea.
Once this exploration was over, we would have to give it serious consideration.
"There are a lot of them. Should Riko-senpai and I reduce them to one first?"
Orcs were powerful monsters. But at our current spiritual level...
"Okey-dokey! I'll show you my magic!"
'No.'
Kenning stepped forward with a steel foot.
'Please let me do it.'
"...Can you?"
'Probably.'
"Got it. Then only if things get dangerous."
"Sure~. Then I'll just get the incantation ready~."
'Please do.'
While we were having that exchange, the enemies gradually came into clear view.
'Bwoooo!'
Three orcs were charging toward us with roars. One held a sword, another an axe, and the third a club.
They did not seem to be thinking about coordinating, and they were not even moving in step. But that made their movements harder to read.
However, Takanashi-san advanced without hesitation. She charged with her shield raised at the orc in the center of the three approaching separately.
'Bwaaaah!'
An axe covered in nicks came swinging down. Kenning deflected it with its shield and slipped around to the side with a gliding motion.
It followed through by slamming its baton into the defenseless orc's face.
'Ghk...!?'
With a dull crack, the monster's tusks snapped. Just as Kenning was about to follow up against the staggering orc, the one with the club attacked from behind.
But Takanashi-san spread Kenning's legs wide and dodged. From that stance, she spun sideways and swept the orc's legs out from under it.
As the orc fell, Kenning circled behind it, righted itself, and raised its shield. Immediately afterward, the sword-wielding orc leaped at it.
'Bwoooooo!'
Kenning met the brute-force slash with its shield at exactly the right moment.
The blade, empowered by inhuman strength and gravity, never got to show its true worth. The wooden shield struck its flat, and it snapped with a sharp clang.
Almost simultaneously, the baton caught the sword-wielding orc in the side of the head, carried by the momentum of the horizontal shield swing. With a thunderous roar, the monster's huge body was sent flying.
'Gwooo...!'
While stomping on the head of the club-wielding orc as it tried to stand, Kenning advanced. It raised its baton toward the axe-wielding orc, which had readied its weapon again.
'Bgaaah!'
The axe came swinging down with rage behind it. The orc's powerful arms handled the man-sized weapon like a branch.
The blade sliced through the air toward the tower shield and collided with it... No. Just before that could happen, it was stopped by a translucent wall.
Perhaps because its swing had been halted at an unexpected point, the orc's balance wavered slightly. Kenning slammed into it shield-first.
At point-blank range, the baton struck the back of the monster's head in a motion resembling a wrap shot in Western swordsmanship. The orc could not react to the powerful encircling blow, which was stronger than a boxing hook, and took it head-on.
The monster let out a short cry, and its huge body tilted. Immediately afterward, Kenning forcefully stepped one foot backward.
A sound like a thick timber breaking echoed through the forest. But it had not come from the machine.
The steel foot kicked the base of the club away as the orc spun around and tried to sweep Kenning's legs.
The baton smashed into the crown of the club-wielding orc's head as it knelt. With a loud impact, the monster collapsed facedown.
'Bgyahhhhh!'
With its comrades down, the remaining orc charged, broken sword in hand.
The fact that it did not choose to retreat was impressive, to say the least. But reality was merciless.
Using the wheels in its soles, Kenning smoothly dodged to the orc's left. The monster immediately shifted into a horizontal slash, but its elbow was caught by the shield.
The baton slammed into its exposed head.
After a sickening crunch, the orc collapsed. Takanashi-san turned Kenning's main camera all the way around, but all the orcs, including the two that had fallen earlier, had already changed into black mist.
Three magic stones were all that remained.
"...Otaku-kun."
"Yes?"
"Are we... maybe useless this time?"
"Riko-senpai has navigation and scouting, at least."
"And Otaku-kun is collecting the magic stones and handling backup scouting. Plus, you're our insurance."
"But Riko-senpai does that too..."
As we stood there surrounded by an awkward atmosphere, Kenning turned toward us.
'I did it.'
For some reason, I felt like Takanashi-san was puffing out her chest with a smug expression inside the cockpit.
＊ ＊ ＊
About an hour and forty minutes after entering the dungeon, our exploration, which had also served as Kenning's test run, came to an end, and we returned to the blockade.
We had defeated twenty-six monsters in total. Since Takanashi-san had defeated every one of them, I thought she would take the entire reward... but she refused.
She said that the clan's policy was to divide the magic stones among everyone who entered, that it was only possible because we had had Kenning modified, and that having combat strength available in an emergency was important.
She was so earnest about it that I decided to accept the reward for eight magic stones. Takanashi-san took the remainder, since the total could not be divided evenly.
I felt a little guilty receiving eighty thousand yen despite having done almost nothing. Well, nearly half of it would disappear into taxes and such.
"Hey... How about the three of us get something to eat before we go?"
I somehow understood that Riko-senpai felt the same way.
She made that suggestion as we left the blockade, and I nodded.
"Yes. All right."
"If you two think so."
Takanashi-san nodded along with our exchange.
On the way to the bus stop, Riko-senpai leaned close to me. A faint, unfamiliar scent drifted from her hair. I was not knowledgeable about such things, but it was probably shampoo.
I was caught off guard and my heart skipped a beat, so Riko-senpai spoke to me in a low voice.
"When we pay, I'll cover it as the senior in the clan. Is it okay if you and I split the cost afterward?"
"Understood. Thank you."
I glanced at Takanashi-san. Her expression revealed little, but she seemed to be in a good mood.
I wanted to do something to reward her for her performance this time.
"All right! Then let's hit some random family restaurant, boys!"
"Understood. However, Yahiro-san is the only man here. 'Boys' is inappropriate."
"Come on, Takanashi-san. It's just the vibe of the moment."
"Then, girls!"
"Yes. In that case, there would be no problem, depending on Yahiro-san's outfit."
"Wouldn't that be nothing but a problem?"
"...?"
"Yeah. Let's stop making that puzzled face."
Even if I said I wanted to reward her, I wasn't going to do anything like that, okay? The person appearing in the future's social game was someone else, got it?
Future people were scary. Thinking that, we took the bus toward the area near the station.
"Um, I think there's a family restaurant around here..."
"Riko-senpai, move farther toward the edge of the road. It's dangerous."
"Sure~."
The three of us moved toward the edge of the road while looking at our smartphones.
Oh, right. Before we searched for a restaurant, I needed to email my parents to tell them I would be home late.
...I absolutely had to remember to email them that I was on my way home before getting on the train.
It was good that my parents got along so well. It was, but I thought there had to be limits.
After sending the email with a slightly distant look in my eyes, I happened to raise my head. At that exact moment, someone came out of a nearby convenience store.
She wore a dowdy tracksuit and had a stoop, but she had a good figure. She shuffled along in sandals, a plastic bag hanging from her left wrist and a small paper bag containing fried chicken in her hand.
The woman was eating fried chicken with a toothpick in her other hand as she walked. Her mismatched eyes met mine.
No, I mean, this person...
"Uh... Rosso-sa—"
"Here!"
She closed the distance at tremendous speed and shoved a piece of fried chicken into my mouth. Oh, it was delicious.
...Wait, wasn't this an indirect kiss? This toothpick had been in her mouth until just now...
As my heart went thump, she thrust her face toward mine.
"I mean, you and I are meeting for the first time. I-I definitely wasn't thinking, 'Watching anime made me start craving convenience-store fried chicken. But that doesn't fit my interpretation of demon-world nobility. If I'm wearing a tracksuit, I guess that means I'm not a noble!' or anything like that."
She had just explained everything. Were there really people this obvious?
"So, please keep this between us..."
"Oh? I thought Otaku-kun was being hit on, but it's just Rosson."
"Eep..."
"Hello."
"Eeeeeep...!"
Unfortunately, I was not alone here.
Riko-senpai stared in shock, while Takanashi-san gave Rosso a small bow.
When Rosso-san in her tracksuit saw them, she turned completely white.
Must be tough, being such a strong yet fragile creature.