Chapter 71
Arc 2: Settings + Bonus
● Characters
※ The stats are purely for flavor.
※ For reference, an average adult man has a '10' in Strength and Agility, a military special-forces soldier has a '15,' and a world-record holder or gold medalist has a '20.'
※ As for the body parts I won't name, I won't say which ones they are.
'Yahiro Kota'
Race: Half-Human, Quarter-Elf, Quarter-Oni
Spiritual Rank (Level): 22
Strength: 53
Endurance: 53
Agility: 53
Mana: 53
Abilities: Scroll Creation, Demon Eye of Foresight, Mistletoe Arrow
Unique Ability: Rejuvenating Blood
Profile
The protagonist of this story. His Race is ridiculously complicated. He is commonly called 'Mongrel.'
Awakening as an ability user brought out the elf and oni blood in him, making him handsome—at least in appearance. However, trauma from his friends abandoning him in middle school, combined with society's anti-ability-user atmosphere, turned him into a loner at school.
He is an ordinary person when it comes to intelligence and swordsmanship, but he overflows with talent as an ability user.
He is currently working on a recipe for 'magic-infused paper.' He has already completed a process for making it entirely by hand, from start to finish, but what he is aiming for is something that can be mass-produced in a factory as long as the materials are available.
The cosplay selfie sent to him by Takanashi Miyu has become a family heirloom.
'Takanashi Miyu'
Race: Human
Level: 10
Strength: 22
Endurance: 24
Agility: 30
Mana: 21
Ability: Grit
Profile
The heroine of this story. A girl soldier from the future, one hundred years from now—not a boy soldier, but a girl soldier.
Though it is called the future, it is a parallel world, and nothing she does in this era will affect her world in any way.
Unfortunately, she has absolutely no talent as an ability user. Even by the standards for ability users outside Japan and England, she is on the low side.
In return, she has extraordinary aptitude for humanoid weapons such as 'Kenning.' She also has eight years of combat experience, so as a pilot she is unquestionably ace-class.
Having fought as a mechanized soldier since the age of seven, in addition to being from the future, she has little understanding of modern common sense. Her textbooks on the modern era are essentially the tokusatsu shows and anime she borrowed from Inoue Riko.
Perhaps because she lost her body in childhood, she has knowledge of sex but little sense of shame. Her views on romance are currently unknown.
Whenever she learns more about Kota's talent as an ability user, she understands that he is a different person, yet still asks him, 'Why did you die at that harbor?'
A hero of unparalleled renown sacrificed himself, allowing her ancestors to survive. In truth, it was merely a reckless act of self-sacrifice, but Miyu continues to wonder what it meant.
That aside, there's the 'K.' I won't say where. I won't say where.
She sent Kota the photograph because she is trying to establish a tradition: 'If you cosplay for a punishment game, send a photograph to the person who came in first.'
Regardless of him being a different person, he is her ancestor's benefactor and her ultimate favorite. She is determined to obtain a one-of-a-kind cosplay photo of him.
'Inoue Riko'
Race: Dark Elf
Level: 18
Strength: 47
Endurance: 39
Agility: 49
Mana: 54
Abilities: Enchantment Magic, Lightning Magic, Cursed Poison Magic
Unique Ability: Unknown (Only known to steal vitality and mana from targets)
Profile
The heroine of this story?
The poster girl of the clan 'Frau,' which Kota and the others belong to. She is called Riko-senpai, but only because she joined the clan a few days before them. She is fifteen, the same age as Kota and Miyu.
Self-proclaimed 'gyaru who is kind to otaku.' Others call her 'an otaku girl pretending to be a gyaru.'
She is caring and has excellent communication skills. She is also knowledgeable about subculture, and as a dark elf, she is quite the beauty.
If she had attended a coeducational school instead of a girls' school, she would have destroyed the emotional stability of boys by the dozen.
As for where, 'E leaning toward F.' Becoming a dark elf made her body's physical age fourteen. She will probably continue to grow. As for where, I won't say.
Her specialty is cooking, but only dishes like those served at retro coffee shops. She is also better at programming than others her age. During Kenning's modification, she successfully installed modern cutting-edge equipment based on the principle, 'If you don't understand something, make it understandable.'
'Real Name: Ishiyama Iwako; Soul Name: Rosso Vendetta'
Race: Dhampir
Level: 21
Strength: 49 Night: 53
Endurance: 45 Night: 49
Agility: 51 Night: 55
Mana: 51 Night: 55
Abilities: Superhuman Strength, Acceleration, Increased Regeneration Speed
Unique Ability: Unknown
Profile
The third heroine, if she counts as one: a single twenty-five-year-old woman.
A blonde, odd-eyed dhampir. In the world Miyu came from, she was famous as a vicious and inhuman monster.
Despite her infamy in the future, her actual personality is quite normal apart from her chuunibyou. Her character is best described as a good person leaning toward neutrality.
She became a monster because she failed to protect a shelter during the Lycanthrope spiritual disaster, and because her mother was driven from a shelter and killed during the Zmeu spiritual disaster.
The latter happened as described in the main story. As for the former, a completely baseless rumor spread that 'she abandoned the people in the shelter and escaped by herself,' and she was subjected to that slander in the parallel world.
She also cut herself off from the outside world and became a shut-in, so in that timeline she did not belong to 'Alf.' As a result, she lost her mother in the later Zmeu spiritual disaster.
Because she was able to avoid those events, she did not become a monster and still lives as a human.
'The world' was a small place for her, but it has recently begun to expand.
As for where, 'G.' I won't say where.
She appears to have given herself the name 'Rosso Vendetta.' It is faux Italian, apparently meaning 'red avenger.'
In fact, although she attended a different department, she is also an alumna of the school Riko attends.
In addition, her abilities either exact a bodily toll as their price or are permanently active. She is a full-on infighter.
Her stats decrease slightly during the day and rise slightly at night. At night, she can also fly by consuming mana, and her regenerative ability improves.
'Tomi Komari'
Race: Cat Beastkin
※ Her stats are still unknown.
Profile
A cat-eared beauty with brightly colored hair. Her appearance is unnaturally young for her age, and her classmates secretly call her a 'legal loli.' She looks young enough that she might barely pass for an elementary-school student based on appearance alone.
Her appearance arouses protective instincts, and she speaks brightly and politely. Above all, her high sociability allows her to blend into her surroundings unusually well for an ability user.
Her true identity is a Public Security officer. Her actual age is twenty-eight.
Her 'Demon Armor' is a nun's habit, but her weapon is a Japanese sword. In her normal speech she is rather blunt, and on her days off she usually lounges around in her own room or in the room of her junior, Yasuda.
Public Security is considering both monitoring and recruiting powerful independent ability users, so she was assigned to watch Kota.
As for where, 'B.' It is unknown whether that leans toward 'A' or 'C.' Furthermore, 'B' is merely her own claim, so its truth is uncertain.
She stubbornly tells her superiors and junior, 'There's no way I can be almost thirty and pretend to be a high school student,' but they are actually worried that she looks too young for it to be believable even if she claimed to be a high school student.
The image of her passed down in the future was the result of a 'portrait of my ideal self' drawn by an investigative sketch artist who was her colleague accidentally being passed down to later generations.
Tomi herself believes—or perhaps hypnotizes herself into believing—that 'my sexiness is at least as good as this picture. In fact, it's even better,' and 'I must be giving off pheromones. The pheromones of a mature woman.'
After noticing something strange about her superior Sato, she began investigating it.
'The Tokyo Pair'
※ Their Race and stats are unknown.
Profile
The gray-haired girl 'Domeki Hozuru' and the blonde girl 'Kaneki Nanami.'
These girls saved many lives through their extraordinary accomplishments during spiritual disasters and incidents in Tokyo.
They are talented ability users and adventurers, each powerful enough to leave their names in history. However, because they are minors, their personal information has not become public, and Miyu has not realized who they are.
The titles passed down to the future are 'Blind Valkyrie' and 'Saint of Betrayal,' respectively.
No one yet knows what those titles mean. Not even the people from the future.
The two are childhood friends and extremely close. As for where, Hozuru is 'E.' Nanami is 'B leaning toward C.' As for where, I won't say.
● Monsters Appearing
'Crazy Boar'
Strength: 21
Endurance: 23
Agility: 24
Mana: 7
Abilities: Pain Dulling, Acceleration
Profile
As its name suggests, this is a boar-type monster that charges as though insane. Apart from its enormous size—large enough to be mistaken for a calf—it looks little different from an ordinary boar.
It has enough power to roll over a parked one-ton truck with a side-on body slam. However, this is a suicidal attack using its Ability; the recoil cracks its bones, and it is certain to destroy itself after only a few charges.
Even so, this monster never stops charging.
'Living Armor'
Strength: 23
Endurance: 28
Agility: 17
Mana: 11
Ability: Mana Detection (Minor)
Profile
An empty suit of Western armor. It is actually a type of undead.
It is relatively intelligent for a monster and acts in coordination with others. Like golems, it operates according to the theory, 'If a name describes the body, then the body describes the name, and the name is power.' It disappears once its armor has been damaged beyond a certain point.
The first treasure Kota and the others found inside a dungeon was something the dungeon created based on an item this monster had once used to maintain its armor.
'Kalikantzaros'
Strength: 16
Endurance: 14
Agility: 19
Mana: 12
Ability: Night Vision
Profile
The monster Kota fought during a joint request.
It resembles a goblin and is small in stature. Even so, it possesses physical abilities greater than those of a military special-forces soldier.
It cannot understand modern languages or numbers, so that trick is unavailable now. In life, however, it truly could not say 'three,' and if someone addressed it in its own language, it would stop while endlessly muttering one and two, just as the legend says.
'Polevik'
Strength: 28
Endurance: 28
Agility: 25
Mana: 22
Ability: Form Alteration
Profile
A monster made by hardening mud with plant roots and fungal hyphae. From a distance it looks like an old man, but up close it has remarkably broad shoulders and considerable thickness. Its physique is like that of a short bodybuilder.
It has a mouth but does not need to breathe, and its Ability lets it compress its body to achieve a high degree of stealth. It can also surprise opponents in the middle of a swordfight by compressing itself or, conversely, extending its limbs.
However, anyone with a Demon Eye can easily determine its position from the flow of its mana.
'Orc'
Strength: 45
Endurance: 40
Agility: 35
Mana: 20
Abilities: Pain Dulling, Acceleration
Profile
A giant standing around three meters tall. Unlike the orcs in recent fiction, it has a muscular body covered in dark-brown fur. Its appearance is like a mixture of a boar and a giant.
Its Ability and fighting style are very similar to those of the Crazy Boar, but it has enough intelligence to use weapons.
It is a monster beyond the ability of ordinary adventurers to fight, but Miyu in the modified Kenning overwhelmed it.
'Zmeu'
Melee Type
Strength: 50
Endurance: 50
Agility: 32
Mana: 23
Abilities: Superhuman Strength, Hardening
Mage Type
Strength: 30
Endurance: 35
Agility: 40
Mana: 50
Abilities: Fire Magic, Mana Detection (Weak)
Profile
Monsters of the dragonkin. The melee type is a giant around two and a half meters tall, while the mage type is around two meters tall.
The mage type is relatively more intelligent, but both possess intelligence comparable to that of humans.
The melee type fought Kota and the others using ancient martial arts, while the mage type combined modern weapons with magic.
In the world Miyu came from, 'goblins were the first to learn human weapons and tactics,' but in this world, the Zmeu will be recorded as the first monsters to learn them.
Why this record differs between the two worlds is currently unknown.
● Boss Monster
'Scorpia'
Strength: 65
Endurance: 65
Agility: 55
Mana: 70
Abilities: Superhuman Strength, Fire Magic, Mana Detection (Moderate)
Profile
The mother of the dragonkin and their commander.
She fought Kota and the others using martial arts, weapons, and magic. She was an extremely intelligent monster and might have mastered modern language completely if she had had another month.
Scorpia generally maintained the stolen guns herself, and the mage-type Zmeu also maintained their own guns under her instruction.
Her enormous forearms were particularly sturdy parts of her body and could withstand attacks equivalent to an anti-materiel rifle.
Her flight speed was approximately 140 kilometers per hour. However, that was when flying in a straight line without a thought; in combat, it was around 100 kilometers per hour.
If this monster had been accustomed to handling guns, or if Kota and the others' regenerative abilities and scroll magic had not caught her off guard, there is a strong possibility they would not have been able to defeat Scorpia with their current strength.
● Q&A
Q.
What does Kota have in mind when he talks about 'a way for non-ability users to recognize monsters'?
A.
Use two cameras and attach magic-infused washi paper to one of them. Project the monster's shadow with a magical flare, then capture it with the washi paper. Combine the images from the two cameras with AI and display the shadow and scenery simultaneously on the screen... something like that.
Rather than a way to 'inform people that monsters exist,' it is more a way to 'identify monsters and defeat them.'
Q.
Who is the ability user known as the Kanto serial killer?
A.
Just a pleasure killer.
He has no special past and no special background. He was simply a person with special powers who was swallowed by those powers and fell into evil. That's all.
That is precisely why it can be said that any ability user is in danger of ending up like this.
Q.
Does your Level increase when a human kills another human?
A.
It does. However, the efficiency is quite poor. Stronger beings contain more nourishment—or, rather, experience points.
Well, if the human opponent was a powerful ability user...
Q.
How fast can Rosso-san and Scorpia fly?
A.
Rosso-san can fly at around forty kilometers per hour in a straight line by herself. She is not used to flying, and her Spiritual Rank is still in the process of growing.
Scorpia can reach around 140 kilometers per hour at most. During combat, she needs to evade attacks and aim, so it is around 100 kilometers per hour.
Q.
Can't Kota make a scroll that lets him fly?
A.
Scroll Creation-san
"I already know the spell itself. However, I lack the output needed to write it down. Train your Spiritual Rank."
Q.
Why does Kota want to make magic-infused paper that can be manufactured in a factory?
A.
The 'quantity wins battles!' theory. Once mass production of scrolls succeeds, a certain weapon might be unlocked...
Q.
What are the uses of magic-infused paper?
A.
First, it allows non-ability users to recognize monsters. Though a better method may be developed eventually.
Second, the 'simplification' of scrolls should allow people other than Kota to write them... probably.
Third, it is not revealed in the main story.
Q.
How difficult is it to make magic-infused paper?
A.
'When an ability user does everything by hand from start to finish'
Build a Ga●dam in a dedicated factory.
'When everything except preparing the materials is done by non-ability users'
Mass-produce a Zi● in an ordinary factory.
Q.
What is the difference in talent between ability users?
A.
Soul capacity and output.
Large capacity and output do not affect intelligence or personality. If someone never awakens as an ability user, they probably will not affect physical ability either.
It is 'talent that is normally unused and cannot be perceived.'
That is why some intelligent people are also powerful ability users, while some unintelligent people are powerful ability users, and some intelligent people are weak ability users.
Furthermore, the larger one's capacity, the more knowledge related to a single Ability flows through the spiritual veins from the Akashic Records, while greater output increases physical ability and magical power.
Q.
What kind of Unique Ability does Rosso-san have?
A.
The details will come later. It is simply an extremely difficult ability to use for someone on the side of good.
In exchange, it is absurdly powerful when used after falling into evil.
Do not say, 'He's the classic guy who's strong as an enemy but weak once he joins the party!'
Q.
Does Kota look delicious from a monster's perspective?
A.
Lycanthrope
"A5-rank Matsuzaka beef...!?"
Wulvhezin
"Prepared by a three-star chef...!?"
Zmeu
"The finest steak, and on top of that...!?"
Scorpia
"Not to mention an incredible vintage liquor...!?"
Demi-chan
"A walking food-based terror attack. It's the kind of premium meat that makes you blurt out, 'That's basically lewd.'"
Q.
Does Miyu look delicious from a monster's perspective?
A.
The monsters
"You could eat her. It's not like you couldn't... though it's also not like you could."
"If the alternative is starving to death, sure, we'll eat her."
"She's an ability user, but she's barely any different from a non-ability user, or maybe even worse. Why does she look so unappetizing...?"
Demi-chan
"Organic waste. It might feel like looking at the scraps of vegetables in a sink strainer while starving and thinking, 'Ah—no, well... maybe... barely.'"
Q.
Are stronger ability users more delicious from a monster's perspective?
A.
Demi-chan
"You can't say that without qualification, but basically, yes. Monsters are more or less clumps of mana. Souls are clumps of mana too, so the larger the soul, the better it is to eat and the better it tastes."
"Even a non-ability user can be delicious enough if they have talent as an ability user but simply have not awakened. In other words, people in Japan and England are nutritious and delicious even when they are non-ability users."
Q.
Is Demi-chan a monster?
A.
Demi-chan
"I'm everyone's idol☆"
Q.
Don't the two people in Tokyo seem more like protagonists than Kota?
A.
Kota is the center of this story, but it has not been decided who is at the center of that world. Him, them, or perhaps someone else...
Well, I don't think I can write an ensemble drama, so Kota will basically remain the protagonist.
Q.
Why is Demi-chan watching those two!?
A.
Demi-chan
"Speak Japanese here."
Q.
Won't Kota's parents become adventurers?
A.
Neither of them will, as long as they have decent jobs.
In Japan, adventurers are currently viewed as something like 'hunters who also work as miners.'
If his mother had not supported him by saying, 'Maybe the oni blood has increased his desire to fight,' Kota might never have become an adventurer.
Their talent as ability users is around upper-middle level.
Q.
How advanced is golem technology in the world of the story?
A.
It will probably appear in the story eventually.
Q.
How was the black-boxed core of Kenning created?
A.
Several geniuses and hundreds of gifted people created it while their lives were being threatened by monsters.
More specifically, they completed it on a space station so it would not be affected by the spiritual veins, then sent the data to Earth and mass-produced it based on that data.
Almost immediately after the data was sent, the monsters that detected it shot down the space station. The developers died as well, but every one of them died smiling and flipping off the monster that had teleported into outer space.
● Bonus
'Takanashi Miyu's Timeline. Or the World Where Ishiyama Iwako Fell'
I sit on the sofa and watch the television in the living room.
'The suspect Ishiyama Iwako, who remains at large, has still not been found. The police are appealing for information—'
'Today, we welcome crime journalist Ketsu-san to discuss her crimes.'
'The suspect Ishiyama Iwako attacked members of the extremist organization "Calamity," stole the weapons they possessed, and is highly likely to have used them in her crimes.'
'A dhampir is generally understood to be a cross between a human and a vampire, but in practical terms, it is a vampire. The activation of its mana, you see, comes from its monster blood—'
'People in the city are expressing concern.'
'It really is terrifying! If they suck your blood, you become a zombie, right? The police need to do something quickly.'
'Did Ishiyama-san really do that? I saw her once before, and she didn't look like the kind of person who would do such a thing.'
'If someone dies after being bitten by a dhampir, their mana may reverse and turn them into a type of monster—a zombie. It is said that suspect Ishiyama controlled zombies and used a large number of firearms.'
'"Valhalla" has refused to cooperate with the police regarding suspect Ishiyama. At the recent press conference, its representative, who stated that she was innocent—'
'Could "Valhalla" be hiding her? Perhaps ability users and monsters are... Ah, no. Never mind.'
Society's hostility toward ability users only grows by the day.
I turn off the television and look at my smartphone. Two pieces of online news are flowing past.
One concerns the terrorist attack committed by Ishiyama Iwako. The other concerns the ability-using high school girls in Tokyo who arrested a serial killer.
Until last week, both were treated as equally important news. But a case that has already been solved and a case in which the suspect is still on the run and killing people who used to live nearby are treated differently.
The image of ability users had briefly recovered, but Ishiyama Iwako only made it worse.
I glance at the time displayed on my smartphone and let out a sigh without meaning to. Once today ends, school starts again tomorrow.
Honestly, I don't want to go.
Monster. Potential criminal. You never know when they'll go berserk. No, maybe they're secretly eating people behind the scenes...
Rumors like that are circulating.
In my grade, people do not gossip much, perhaps because of Tomi-san in the neighboring class.
But the voices from other grades that I hear while walking through the halls, and the looks my classmates direct at me—they are impossible to bear.
I was never the type who liked school, but now I feel sick just walking along the route to school.
No, not just the route to school. I feel awful simply walking around the neighborhood.
What if someone is glaring at me? What if they throw a rock at me eventually? What if I am arrested for a crime I did not commit?
...Maybe I should pretend to go to school and head to 'Alf' instead.
I do not want to talk to my parents much about it. They protect me so I will not hear what people say, but I know that neighbors and coworkers say all kinds of things to them. I do not want to burden them any further.
No, but... would the master accept me? And they are paying such high tuition for me, so I cannot just...
Besides, can I really make a living solely as an adventurer? Something that appeared suddenly could disappear just as suddenly. With that in mind, an academic background must be important.
Then, after all...
"Sigh..."
How many times had I sighed in a single day? Thinking about that made another breath escape my mouth.
Without realizing it, my gaze drifts to the envelope left lying on the desk.
The ability-user support organization, 'Valhalla.'
I do not know where they got the information, but it had been placed in the mailbox at home. Its contents invited me to participate in a discussion among ability users.
I had no desire to go. I could not bring myself to trust organizations like that. It might be prejudice, but still.
Yet my heart wavers from time to time.
Because in a space reserved for ability users, I can breathe more easily.
When I am at Café 'Alf,' I can smile naturally. I like spending time trading jokes with Riko-senpai and chatting with the master.
It is not that home is uncomfortable. I simply feel vaguely guilty toward my parents, who are working so hard. More than anything, it feels as though the eyes of the neighbors reach me even through the walls. I cannot settle down.
Unpleasant thoughts keep surfacing.
"...All right."
I make a small sound and stand up to shake them off.
I will write a scroll to change my mood. Since it requires concentration, it will keep me from thinking about anything else.
I put my smartphone in my pocket and head toward my room.
When I step into the hall, my mother is on the phone. I cannot help hearing her voice.
"Yes... yes... So neither my son nor I have killed anyone... Um, that's why the police coming here was also..."
I start to speak, then stop. I suppress the urge to take the phone and yell at the other person, and head to my room while making my footsteps as quiet as possible. I know that if I said anything, it would only make things worse.
How many times a day do calls like that come? I do not know. I do not want to know.
Right now, I do not want to think about anything.
────Ping.
Just as I close my bedroom door behind me, my smartphone rings.
Is it a mobile-game notification, or perhaps Riko-senpai? I check the screen.
"...Huh?"
Displayed there is a name that feels almost nostalgic now.
The message says, 'People on television have been saying all kinds of things about ability users. Are you okay?'
It is an email from a friend who had distanced themself from me out of fear.