Meiyaku no Leviathan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

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Would you want to see this get translated

I want to translate this
3
3%
Yes
88
93%
Maybe
3
3%
No
1
1%
 
Total votes: 95

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Meiyaku no Leviathan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by Code-Zero »

Link to project page.

Japanese name: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan(盟約のリヴァイアサン)
English name: The Leviathan of the Covenant
Label: MF Bunko J
Author: Takeduki Joe
Volume: Volume 1 released on 21st of November, 2012

Image

Since I follow MF Bunko and Fujimishobo's LN, I tend to read new series from them as well. The RAW for this one became available, so I decided to do the translation for the prologue to see if anymore is interested in translating. It seems like the author is the guy who does Campione.

Prologue
Spoiler! :
The oldest memory Hal, also known as Haruga Haruomi, was about “Dragon”.
The soaring Dragon.
The head, torso, and the legs are like that of reptiles.
Its tail was a snake. Its wings which were expanded out were like that of a bat. The colours of its scales were steel.
It was flying in the blue sky by spreading its enormous wings. It was six or seven meters tall. For a smaller species for its kind, it was supposed to be an average size.
---That was the first memory engraved in the mind and soul of the young Hal.
It was one of his few memories he has when he was very young. But besides Hal there were supposed to be many young boys and girls with similar memories.
It has been more than twenty years since the Dragons have returned.
For the generations born after that, Dragons are impressive kind of creatures despite not being rare.

Even so, it is certain that Hal has been spending his life being affiliated with this super creatures.
When he was a child, he often played with his father’s computer.
Behind his father who was reading certain texts while being piled under mountain of books with dusts covering them, Hal was playing with the computer. He was spending his time by observing videos on video sites.
The videos his father saved under favourites were all related to Dragons.
[The Day Dragons Returned], the scenery of the Dragons flying in the sky of the whole world after the Dragon-tribe awakened from their sleep from the deep sea where humans hasn’t reached yet.
[Dragon strikes, the first time], the decisive actions the Dragons which have returned did by attacking each nation from the sky.
What made it official was the [Red Dragon HANNIBAL comes!]. The live video of the dragon which flew to the Rockefeller Centre in New York called itself “The King of Dragon-tribes”, and spoke in perfect English about the suggestion for the “The law for the Dragon-tribe and Human of the Earth to coexist”.
He has been living the whole time while being surrounded by information like that.
Though, the videos the young Hal watched often were mainly Japanese anime and drama.
His father often travelled in various parts of the world. Because he tagged along by travelling around different countries, the access to internet was one of the few connections he had with his homeland, Japan.
Hal’s nickname came out naturally around this time.
His name which is a old-style Japanese name which is quite rare for the current generation, “Haruga Haruomi”.
There were basically no foreigners who could pronounce his name properly, so they came to prefer to call him “Hal”.
But when he asked his father “Did you did it on purpose?” when he named him so both his first name and last name contains “Haru”, his father replied back with a serious face saying “Playing around with the names of your children is one of the few privilege of a parent”.
Living with a father like this.
When he thought he was in Jakarta of Indonesia for six month, the next moment, he was in Brasov of Romania for a year. After that he stayed Kamchatka Peninsula for four months. Next, he stayed two long years in Tskhinvali of Georgia for….. Hal has been having a vagabond life like this for the whole time. But a lifestyle like this ended very quickly.
His father’s illness was very serious, and he passed away six month after returning to Tokyo.

Like that, Hal became a person without a single relative at the age of twelve.
But he turned away from relying on his far relatives and institutes, and Hal continued to have a vagabond life.
That’s because he thought it would be bothersome to get used to a lifestyle with rules and living with others.
What pushed him next was the thing his father left behind.
But it wasn’t money. It was knowledge. Because he was besides him the whole time, Hal knew very well about his father’s work. That’s why he decided to carry his business.
Because it was a unique job, luckily Hal’s age wasn’t a problem.
Several years passed since he has worked like father in different countries……
An incident occurred which would disturb Hal who will almost become sixteen years old. For a certain reason, he had to return to Tokyo.
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by arczyx »

I wonder will there be any people who actually choose that first option... :roll: :lol:

On a side note, actually Indonesians can spell japanese properly...
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by Kadi »

Need to read..... and luckily, I've got 2 weeks of free time! That I wanted to spend on editing Campione... and read 9S V2-current. I sense and incoming resource conflict...
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by TJP1600 »

I don't like the idea of dragons ( especially if it gets as reference heavy as Campione) and I don't like the MC design but it is Campione mastermind joey <3

Will read it if the Chinese doesn't slay me.


Also kadi, go back to work you miko killer :)
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by Mystes »

So, how are the kissing scenes in that one?
Kira0802

#campione at rizon for some #campione discussions~~ And other stuffs.
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by Code-Zero »

Nice. Looks like there are some people interested in translating it.
Reading the afterword, apparently the publisher wants the author to make this series like Campione.

@Kira
I still havent finished reading it so Im not sure about the kissing yet.
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by Teh_ping »

arczyx wrote:I wonder will there be any people who actually choose that first option... :roll: :lol:

On a side note, actually Indonesians can spell japanese properly...
So far...two people...(and nope, I don't vote.)
Kadi wrote:Need to read..... and luckily, I've got 2 weeks of free time! That I wanted to spend on editing Campione... and read 9S V2-current. I sense and incoming resource conflict...
You need more Vespene gas.
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by chancs »

Though I can't discern anything from the prologue, does this need a teaser yet at this stage?
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by Undercover Dane »

Kissing is boring, instead there is...
Spoiler! :
...birthing.

And I wish I was making that up.

It does remind of Campione a bit, for example magic comes with a special talent for languages... but character-wise, it loses for now. Heavily. It's not even a fight. The tentative female lead, Asya, is a tsundere childhood friend using the same old denials and the bust of the second girl, Orihime, could be gag material. Otherwise Orihime is fine, or even good for a haremette. However the best reason to read this is Hi-tan. She's just great. I want more of her. More, more and even more. Reason number 2 that makes this better than average is the banter, Haruomi knows how to counter and make for interesting dialogues. Then again he still falls into the same old pitfalls of young men...
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by bemo1000 »

a carefree m.c. a world with tech and dragons coexisting... pretty nice of a storyline but what really interest me the most is wth is "hal"'s job. hope to see more of this in the near future
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by Kadi »

Some people seem to be interested in this, so let me give you some more info...


My Japanese isn't flawless and it's been a while since I read it, so before we get another 1800 disaster.... Anything in the following spoiler may be wrong. Terminology should also be rethought for translation.
However, in spite of the spoiler tags, the information should not negatively influence your enjoyment when reading the story. Or not-enjoyment if it's not your thing.
Spoiler! :
As can be gathered from the prologue, dragons have returned to earth. They came from some kind of parallel world/space up in space, declared they are in charge, destroyed large parts of some cities (Tokyo among them), chased humans out of some others (New York) and left mankind to adjust. I don't think they directly rule over the humans, but every now and then they attack. Along with the dragons, huge, indestructible monoliths appeared all over the world.


Dragons can be put in three categories:
Raptors - Low-class dragons of limited intelligence and power. These are what's usually attacking mankind. Man-made weapons (read: anti-air missiles, not hand-size gnus) can be used to counter-attack.
Knights - high-class dragons. Highly intelligent, highly proficient in magic and too powerful to be countered with conventional weapons. Missiles are below their notice... Every now and then, they attack human settlements, able to instantly kill thousand through death magic or summon a swarm of raptors to do the job for them...
Kings - In yet another league altogether. What every Knight aspires to be. Luckily, they are mostly content wherever they are at the moment.
(Take the terms with a grain of salt. I'm very unsure and since the dragons have their own terms, it's all messed up inside my head)

With conventional weaponry rendered useless when it counts, mankind went back to magic (which had existed in secret) for counter-measures. They restored a ritual to create artificial dragons, leviathans, and bond a girl to them and have those fight with the dragons. They also created an organization to support those fighting against the dragons and to gather knowledge on them, SAURU. Now, leviathans can pretty much mop the floor with Raptors. Part of that is that they can use what's called "Fake Divinity"(?) a few times a day which is a kind of super-powerful magic. Details depend on the leviathan. There is an element system in place (fire, water, earth, air, moon?, maybe some others, unsure). Human magi, or witches since they are leviathan-users are exclusively female, are ranked by the number of uses of Fake Divinity per day. Not even ten people can make their leviathan use it five times a day. That being said, even those class-5 witches have horrible odds fighting against a knight on their own since Fake Divinity is limited in uses while knights can keep using magic. Feel free to imagine the power of the kings...


Now, about our main characters...

There's Haruga Haruomi, nickname Hal. He's 15 or 16 and since his father's death, he's been living the life of an adventurer, searching for relics and helping with ceremonies to create leviathans (the relics are necessary for those ceremonies, they become the core of the leviathans). He's described as something like Indiana Jones. Just when he thought about slacking off after a job somewhere in Australia (his aspiration might be to retire. Soon. Unsure here), he gets a call from his childhood friend Asya (Anastasia Rubashvili... named after a Soviet wrestler!?!) who needs him to help her with some research in Tokyo. She... convinces him to return for the first time since his father's death. Back in Tokyo, his colleagues from SAURU force him to go to attend school (readers of Campione will recognize the name, Kogetsudou) where he meets heroine #2, Juujouji Orihime, and 2 regular classmates that almost desperately try to recruit him into the local club for... researching UFOs. Or rather, dragons.

Asya/Anastasia Rubashvili is one of the few class-5 witches in the world, but her leviathan partner got critically wounded and is on the verge of death ever since. Since she was so powerful, she could actually work as a mercenary, hiring her services to whoever needed her (and could pay), whereas most witches are stationed somewhere and fend off whatever attacks nearby. She goes to Tokyo for some research. She's stunningly beautiful, like the perfect lady, but that image quickly crumbles when she opens her mouth because she's just that unrefined. The amount of food she consumes are already comedic. She obviously crushes on Hal, but he doesn't appear to notice. Don't remember much else about her... except that she's so pushy towards Hal that it's easier for him to go along with her whims and refuse her and suffer for it.

Juujouji Orihime is a classmate of Hal's. She is goodness, postiveness and energy incarnate. She is the essential energetic girl with a good heart... and a huge bust, but that's secondary. That (no, not the chest) makes her very capable of handling cynic Hal. Her cousin is the witch stationed in Tokyo, so she's in the know about dragons and is about to be involved deeper over the course of V1. Just like Hal, she gets reeled into joining the UFO, scratch that, dragon research club.


Other recurring characters include the gossip classmate, the super-sized, super perceptive club leader, and 2 people from SAURU (woman superior, troll male subordinate) in Tokyo. Haremette #3 is Orihime's cousin, so pure she's likened to an angel and of the sick girl variety. As I said, she is the witch defending Tokyo, but that puts an even greater strain on her already weak body, and then there's her dislike of fighting so she's rather weak as a witch. Haremette #4 who will show up in V3 is another class-5 witch, an old acquaintance of Hal's and Aisha's and the (grand?)daughter of a famous researcher on dragons, I think. Or some other big shot in the anti-dragon world. Anyway, that will complete the main harem for a total of, presumably, 2 light and 2 dark girls.


The plot in V1 is about Hal returning to Tokyo for the first time since his father's death, working his way through the stuff his father left behind, properly going to school for the first time, helping Asya with her research, world-building. Events are set in motion when Hal and Asya take on a job from the Tokyo branch of SAURU, a Dragon Knight attacks Tokyo and Hal gets haunted by a loli ghost...
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by Neiseri »

The story is okay so far. It make me curious. It have a tsundere female lead so that is a minus for me. I prefer there are more male( to make it balanced) though like in campione.

I give it a 6 (1-10).
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by Kadi »

For a tsundere, Asya is very okay. And didn't she limit the usual tsundere antics to V1? I don't remember them from V2 as much. Or at all. That being said, I don't remember many details in the first place...


But come to think of it, all of the secondary characters in school are girls, aren't they? ... Hal, the guy from SAURU and the dragons aside... I can't think of any named males...?
"Oniichan... Did you just have your own ignition?" - Rika
『また兄さんに騙されました・・・・・・。これで通算482回目ですよ』-さくや
「お金持ちだから」-巣鴨涼
『もきゅ!』
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by Neiseri »

Kadi wrote:For a tsundere, Asya is very okay. And didn't she limit the usual tsundere antics to V1? I don't remember them from V2 as much. Or at all. That being said, I don't remember many details in the first place...


But come to think of it, all of the secondary characters in school are girls, aren't they? ... Hal, the guy from SAURU and the dragons aside... I can't think of any named males...?
Yeah, I prefer a balance of the sexes. It's also true if it's most males.
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Re: Meiyaku No Rivaiasan (The Leviathan of the Covenant)

Post by Kadi »

~60% of V1C1P1, for everyone's enjoyment (or not-enjoyment if it's not your thing):

It's wiki-formatted a bit, but don't put it on the wiki just for this. I may continue working on it some day, but no promises. I don't guarantee 100% accuracy or beauty, but I think I got the gist of it. Mostly. Also, again, this should not become the absolute foundation for this series's terminology. Some details need to be considered more deeply (竜 vs ドラゴン. There seems to be a difference... later), some terms warrant a second opinion (TPDO) and some terms are just mehhh (Leasehold Land, Asya)
Spoiler! :
Chapter 1 - To the hometown where dragons are

Everything started 2 months ago.
Back then, the calendar read February.
The middle of winter... is probably what someone living on the northern hemisphere would think. At that time Hal was in Australia on the southern hemisphere, and in a town by the ocean at that.
It was truly the middle of summer. Looking up, the sky was blue, high and the clouds radiantly white.
The sun was burning, but that just strengthened the summery feeling of liberation.
And the sea. The transparently blue, beautiful ocean. The white sand.
It was a town where you could enjoy all summer had to offer with a short walk to the beach. You couldn't call it a metropolis or even a city, but not so rural you'd go bonkers.
Not too quiet, not too busy.
Hal had come here for work.
... Dragons coming from the moon and the stars and striking urban areas like natural disasters had become frequent nowadays.
For that case the local authorities of advanced nations had created a manual with details on evacuation.
Furthermore, to make sure those evacuations ran smoothly, elaborate drills were common sense, too.
But it would be better if there were more ways to defend oneself.
However there were no military installations near this town. And while it was at the ocean, relying on the patrol fleets of the TPDO, the Terran Pacific Defense Organization<!--地球平洋防衛防衛機構-->, had its limits.
Under these circumstances, people wanting an 'insurance' were everywhere.
The main gig of the '''organization''' Hal belonged to was selling 'knowldedge' to those people.
When Hal had come here after being introduced through the organization, it had been winter on the southern hemisphere. All the time until summer, akin to Indiana Jones Hal had bustled about several places throughout Australia and finally succeeded in his mission. He passed to the 'Burial Accessory'<!--副葬品--> to the local authorities and was free to go.
Whether the woman chosen as suitable could actually become a 'mage'<!--魔女/マギ--> was not yet clear.
But that was outside Hal's control.
Taking a rest for a while and having a leisure vacation was just right.
Thus, for a start, Hal entered a cafe by the ocean and while he was sipping on his mixed fruit drink, he got the call that would start work anew.<!--全てをご破算する電話がかかってきた-->
"...Asya, huh."
The touch panel of his portable terminal showed the name of the caller.
Anastasia Rubashvili.
Born in Georgia. Nickname Asya. Childhood friend. Vitriolic best buds. Hal didn't have many friends, but a longstanding mutual friendship connected him with her.
Hal touched the display to pick up the call.
'It's been a while, Haruomi. Are you well?'
His childhood friend's voice was lovely and clear.
Also, in actual appearance, her beauty matched her voice.
Still, it was quite the challenge for him to perceive her as a girl. Maybe it had to do with how often he had observed her easily consuming 2 kilos of steak and, 'because she's not that hungry', following that up with 3 plates of galbi<!--<ref>'''Galbi''': Koren dish *wiki link*</ref>-->.
Anyway, Hal answered his at least superficially frail childhood friend.
"I feel quite peachy<!--translator's request: the peachy must be protected--> over here. I just finished my job here."
'That's good news. Actually, there's something I want your hel'
Beep. Hal had hung up.
It hadn't been a conscious action. His bdody had just moved by reflex.
'Can I have an explanation why you suddenly hung up on me?'
When she called again right away, Asya's voice was still lovely, but it had a sting.
"Sorry. I felt you were a beast intruding on my sanctuary. It was an accident."
'That doesn't explain anything. And don't call a pure maiden a beast!'
"Alright, I'll explain... I think I already told you, but my dream is to quickly save up enough money and then spend the rest of my days retired in a peaceful town."
Hal could hear a light sigh across the phone.
'That one? I remember you wanted to archieve that by the time you are thirtyfive?'
"Yep. Ever after I won't work and just spend my time on my hobbies."
'I think for someone in his teens, that lacks a fatal amount of dreamishness.'
"Does it? I think for a life design, there's nothing more dreamlike, and if I ask random on the streets, I'll probably get much agreement."
'Oh, many people will agree, but few among them will be in their teens.'
Rather than sharp, Asya's tone was light.
She seemed taken aback. Not paying her any heed, Hal continued.
"Anyway, that's my dream. And the place I'm at now is ideal. It's rather peaceful and it seems quite pleasant to live here. Then there's the ocean nearby."
'You call it ideal, so...'
"Exactly, this is a perfect place for my retirement. ...Asya, I finished a job just now and I'm in a place where I can realize my ideal. Thinking about the near future, too, don't you think it's normal for me to go a bit on vacation here?"
'Now that you mention it, where you are now's the time for summer holidays, isn't it...'
"And then you start talking about 'help'. That just has to be talk about work. So I hung up. To keep the boorish beast out of my holy sanctuary..."
'Please don't describe your excuse for slacking off as holy.'
"I want to become a being that's leisurely idling around. Ask someone else."
'I refuse.'
Their stances remained polar opposites.
Asya set out to break the deadlock.
'There's some personal research I want to do, so in the near future I think of going to New Tokyo and make that place my base of operations for a while.'
"Research? In New Tokyo of all places?"
'Yes. But I don't know the city well, and I've heard there is not much support staff from S.A.U.RU.'
S.A.U.R.U. is the research institution Hal and Asya belong to.
To oppose dragons, they revived a 'metaphysical knowledge system', research it and aim to spread it throughout the world - it's a kind of secret society.
"Nowadays Tokyo is just some provincial city. It should've declined a lot. What's the point in stationing a lot of staff there," Hal said lightly.
More than twenty years ago, 'The Return of the Dragons' and the First Strike happened.
In the one-sided treaty at the end of it, more than 200 places all over the world became leasehold lands to dragonkind.
The Tokyo Leasehold Land was one of them.
Japan's capital had been moved further inland.
'But I'm sure with just one reliable comrade, it will be very different. ... Haruomi, that's your birthtown, isn't it? I think I've heard you have your own house there. Now, about the help...'
"I haven't been there for three years, and I don't plan on going now."
Hal quickly refused even before Asya had finished talking.
'That's where, you know, think of it as helping your childhood friend.'
"Friends are something you keep in your heart."
'Coward.'
"Feel free to call me a fiend."
'Allow me, then. Fiend! Demon! You are truly trash, the worst kind of Itsuki!'
"Having a young girl call me like that gets me a bit excited."
'And you're pervert, too!?'
"Heh."
'At least go through the motion of denying the last one!'
Now, how do I get zzhk to work for me on this...


P.S.: Yes, I know Asya is the official spelling from the color pages, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.
P.P.S.: Awesome word filter is awesome!
"Oniichan... Did you just have your own ignition?" - Rika
『また兄さんに騙されました・・・・・・。これで通算482回目ですよ』-さくや
「お金持ちだから」-巣鴨涼
『もきゅ!』
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