Editing Lugal Gigam:Chapter 1 (section)

=== Part 1 ===

Amagi Souya. Amagi Souya. Amagi Souya.

Though I’ve already forgotten how to write it, that’s my name.

An ordinary Japanese high school student…or was one, until a year ago.

I don’t know what caused it but when I was coming back home from school, I suddenly ran across these ‘Monsters’ and before I even realized it, I was thrown into a totally outrageous place.

An ancient world so far back in history that you’d get dizzy just trying to think about it, the realm of <Kiengi>.

It seems to be around the Arab region, maybe around Mesopotamia or the Middle East.

At first I thought it was a dream. I thought I was inside a game.

But reality is heartless.

No matter how much I cried and how much I shouted, I didn’t wake up. No guide NPC appeared, nor could I log out on my own violation.

Being thrown into this strange place, I literally suffered hell and finally arrived at the town of Kagushila.

Kagushila is a city state. It’s near the abolished capital of Babylon and outside its city walls lays a vast wasteland filled with ruins. 

And it seems the way back to Japan, the {{furigana|<Star Gate> |Kamul }} lies somewhere in those ruins. I heard that rumour somewhere and entrusted myself to the wish to return home. Mixing in with the ruin-raiders, I headed for the city of rubbles to survey it.

I didn’t know what to do. And even now, I don’t.

But even so, in this land with the scorching sun and muddy grounds-- <Kiengi> don’t grant anything to those who wait. If you have a wish, then you have to go after it even if you hate it.

Even if you are just a normal High school boy standing tippy toes in a dangerous place.

For example, let’s talk about the situation I’m currently in.

Right now, I’m lying down on the rooftop of an abandoned brick building right in the middle of the ruined capital, trying to hide myself.

There were many other buildings with flat roofs around. They expanded in all directions creating a ghost town.

It was midnight.

I was just watching. At the job no different from talking a walk in the park, I immediately jumped in and right now, I’m here in the old, abandoned sanctuary as a member of the investigation team. 

However, our party of 14 people suddenly ran into a monster (Because of those fools who wear greed as skin) and were completely scattered. As a result, we’re currently trembling and hiding like this in the ruins while staying awake.

With me is Kenny-san, an {{furigana|<Outsider> |Ba’a }} like me and an old man with a serious wound.

We want to escape but can’t. It’s that ‘desperate situation’ thingy.

Thanks to the full moon, the surroundings are as bright as noon.

“Keep on watch till its dawn without getting noticed……”

I half stood up to see if there’s anything strange going on and peeked through the fence.

“Nothing out of the ordinary…I guess?”

The plain brick-made buildings, which are narrowly packed together in this old city ruins are mostly short in height. Most of them are single-storey, with a few double and triple storey ones.

And there was some strange mist, like smoke from dry ice sticking to the roads that twisted narrowly through between the intervals of those buildings.

The {{furigana|<Miasma> |Ni}} that gushes out from the earth when it becomes night.

The rows of houses looked half submerged in clouds of soot like {{furigana|<Miasma> |Ni}} as only their tops could be seen.

The monotone world under the moonlight was illusionary, almost enough to make me forget about the dangers that loomed there.

Being startled by another noise from inside the ruins, I felt remorse for the millionth time.

If possible, I’d like to leave this place even a second earlier.

But a forced march in the middle of the night would be no better than suicide, we would just fall prey to those {{furigana|Flesh Eating Demons|Ghouls}} immediately.

I sighed. No, I know. It’s just a simple ‘getting one’s just desert’.

I had the chance. If I had just refused, then I wouldn’t have needed to join the investigation team for this Zarinnu temple ruins in the first place.

Shit. I was too indecisive.

But hey, no matter how small the group, there’s this thing called a hierarchy system within teams. The one under had no choice but to follow the superior’s orders; seems to be a worldly wisdom.

There’s no way a normal Japanese high school kid would be able to refuse the commands of a warrior.

“Good grief, this turned out rather pathetic.”

Sitting with my back against the roof fence, I looked up at the moon of this foreign world.

Next to the moon, with the starry night as the background, a humongous tower rose from the ground wearing half of its height with brilliant silver light.

Even the lower blocks of the tower were so high it looked hazy, and the uneven surface which looked like terraces and spires were decorating the outer wall. There was nothing to compare it to so my measuring-senses were going haywire; it was definitely much taller than the sky tree.

When I think of the tower of Babel, I remember that famous legend.

It was built by a king who tried to resist the gods and thus buying their wrath and was destroyed. Till then the people all talked in the same language but following the tower’s collapse, they started speaking in different tongues.

For some reason, <Kiengi> is just like that tale; there isn’t any gap in communication. The words spoken might be from a different language but the moment it reaches my mind, it gets translated and I can understand it. The locals claim this to be the work of that tower, just like in the legends.

Though I thought it was stupid and was rather uncertain, I still haven’t found another explanation.

The grand tower that tries to reach the heavens, it’s as if it was the gravestone of the fallen city.

Babylon seems to be a metropolis in the old Mesopotamia and the current Middle East.

It’s said in the scriptures and remaining artifacts that it was once the centre of the world and was a decaying land filled with pagans.

But actually, before this town suffered the calamity from the unknown enemy and became a ghost town a decade ago, there was a huge number of people living here.

Now there’s none.

The only things that loiter here are monsters that quit being human.

Various dangers are lying in wait in order to kill the greedy, the ones called ‘Ruin-raiders’ who try to wake this city up from its slumber.

The evil souls that haunt Babylon, the past citizens who were turned into ghouls after failing to escape, the various sorts of beasts that got caught up in the {{furigana|<Miasma> |Ni}}, and the {{furigana|<Miasma> |Ni}} itself……

That’s why taking refuge in the rooftops on the ruins after sunset when the {{furigana|<Miasma> |Ni}}’s effect turns serious became the principle for the ruin-raiders who couldn’t return to the safety zone in time.

Rather than loitering about in the night, even leaving your fate up to luck and staying hidden was a better option.

While killing off the unease, they sought after a silhouette with a structure similar to a small hill that lay beyond the rows of houses.

Though the tower of Babel was overwhelming, that was also exceedingly large.

We were attacked while conducting an investigation there.

A staircase shaped structure which looked like a distant relative of the Pyramids’, reflecting the moonlight with a blackish gloss. The locals call it {{furigana|<Saint Tower>|Unil}}. The structures are called Jigrads as a whole, which are built by pilling up tens of thousands of bricks.

{{furigana|< Saint Tower > | Unil }} is the centre of sacred precincts. The dwelling places of the gods. They each have a sacred name. For example, that one which is built with those black bricks is called <Ebadonigul>. It means something like, ‘The wall that crushes all with fear’. 

It took three hours to get here from there carrying the wounded old man. This was our limit before sunset. It took our all just to get here.

We’ve escaped far enough. That’s what I’d like to say……

By the time I noticed, I was already gripping my cell phone in my right hand hard, my usual habit.

I do this since it’s the only thing that can remind me who I really am, and where I belong.

This touch of shining plastic that’s impossible to find in this age calms my unease of having nowhere to go and reminds me of my priorities.

My goal is simple. Live and return home.

It’s okay if I aim for only that……

“You’re carrying that around as usual. Don’t blame me if you drop it~”

I heard a joking voice from the back and turned around.

Kenny-san, who was also sitting cross-legged and back resting, had a grin on her face.

She, who looked like a tough heroine wearing a leather vest from one of those action movies, was also in the same situation as me. We are called {{furigana|<Outsider> |Ba’a }} ,people who lost their way and drifted here in <Kiengi> from a different age.

She had a cheerful onee-san type personality and was in her 20s. Even a head taller than the 170cm me and had blonde wolf-hair.

She was originally a police officer in New York. After I got to know her, she helped me, who didn’t know which way was left and right in this unknown era, a lot. In other words, she is something like my savior.

“Don’t you also have those pistols strapped with you all the time?”

“Well, yeah.”

Kenny-san shrugged her shoulders. Just when I thought she was going to rotate her arms toward her back , she drew those automatics and aimed them towards the darkness. As expected of a police officer from New York City. She’s totally an expert.

“Out of bullets though. Just a lucky charm now.”

This person’s real partner was the crossbow leaned against the fence beside her. But she still never let go of either the pistols or the holsters.

“If I let go of it, I feel like I might actually forget. It’s the same for your cell phone right?”

“…Yeah.”

Everything I had equipped was from <Kiengi>.

From the top, I had a T-shirt type coat along with the misshapen trousers. In addition, right now I have a sleeveless leather vest for ventilation and exercise, leather guards on my arms and legs, and leather boots; I’m in complete search mode.

No matter how hot the climate might be, even I can’t start from a nude loincloth fashion though it’s completely OK here. So got no choice but to put up with the itchy feeling of leather and wool fabrics.

The problem is I’ve completely gotten used to that itchy feeling.

The taste of the food in this foreign land.

The mysterious Tower of Babel that lets us understand each other without any problems even though we are speaking different languages.

The scorching sun that burns the skin, the smell of the dry wind and the desert.

The black magic that controls {{furigana|<Truth>|Me}} and the phantom beasts that should only exist in fairy tales.

The town of Kagushila where greed, passion and ambition whirls non-stop, and its people.

And finally, the {{furigana|<Saint Tower> |Unil }} that stands still in the middle of all there.

Somewhere and at sometime, I had completely grown used to the lifestyle here and have accepted that this is ‘real’.

I somewhat understand.

Just like this, I’ll forget all my incompatibility and there’ll be a time when the only place I can remember my homeland and the faces of my family is in my dreams. No, it’s already close to that point.

Waking up in the middle of the night, clutching my chest hard because of my narrow mind that can’t look forward, it’s already unbearable.

I want to return to Japan.

“I’ll definitely get back. Like hell I’ll die in this country of swords and magic!”

As if cutting off my unease, Kenny-san strongly vouched,

“Yeah, me too, for the both of us. Cause we have luck on our side. We cut through that today too didn’t we? So don’t worry.”

She said that. And I finally realized I shouted out that I had in my mind. Was I making such an anxious face?... Guess I’m still half a man.

“It’s okay. The sky’s starting to clear up. And I don’t think those dangerous guys will follow us this close to Kagushila. And in case of emergency, we can just run all the way to Anzu First Gate.”

Our headquarters, Kagushila was surrounded by high walls and was built to be able to perform the task of a fortress. As long as it’s situated at the outskirts of Babylon, firm guarding is an absolute must. Even the Anzu gate that faces the ruins isn’t open between sunsets to sunrise unless there’s an unavoidable reason.

So even if we forced our way through, we wouldn’t be able to enter. But nevertheless, the closer we get, the safer it gets.

“….So, how’s the {{furigana|great chief|Sudanda}} doing? Is he alright?” 

There was an old man lying down in front of the cross-legged Kenny-san. He was wearing a fabulous reel vestment with embroidery all over the place and a cluster of decorations. 

All the while he’s totally blacked out.
	
Laashi.IL who wore a priest’s garb was the leader of the investigation team. Because of the wound, he could no longer move on his own.

The upper half of his knitted beard was brownish soil coloured but the flanks were dyed in blood.

“Well, he won’t die. The bleeding stopped. I don’t know about any internal injuries but he didn’t vomit blood either… At any rate, we have no choice but to drag Laashi back.”

Though she spoke rudely, she still looked at him worriedly.

The ruin-raiders who search the ruined city of Babylon where danger always looms for treasure joined together to form factions. These are called {{furigana|<Parties>|Ildam }}.

Though this time a special party was assembled because of the request of the council, the chief Laashi.IL was originally a leader of a group large enough to wrap Kagushila around his five fingers. 


Other than me who was just a helper, Kenny-san was originally part of Laashi’s group. Since the investigation team was like that now, she was probably thinking of at least bringing Laashi back at all costs.

It was supposed to be a simple investigation. We were hired to confirm the rumours of strange shadows appearing in the Zarinnu temple and the flickers of lamp light that were sometimes seen. We were told that.

But now even the {{furigana|<Great Exorcisrt>|Mashyumash }} Laashi.IL had become immobilized.

If he’d just die then we wouldn’t have to do something ridiculous like sleeping outside in Babylon though………

A thought like that suddenly crossed my mind.

Cold-hearted? Maybe. Ah- damn.

I clenched my cell-phone once again.

I don’t want to die either. And I don’t have any relations with Laashi other than this. 

Truthfully speaking that is. I didn’t really want to risk my life for someone like that; the motivation just wasn’t there.

“It would’ve been better if the cleric got out but…”

“……Those guys can take care of themselves.”

Her mouth was bent in a ‘へ’ shape and she slowly closed her eyes as if trying to convince herself. Then she suddenly opened them and boldly smiled, “Well, it can’t be helped if we’re uneasy. We can just spend the time till sunrise cheerfully and when the {{furigana|<Miasma>|Ni }} resides, we’ll return to Kagushila. What comes after that, we’ll think after that.”

Good god, this person really was tough. Well, if she wasn’t like this then she couldn’t possibly continue the Ruins-raider business.

“Haha, ro—ger~ But you guys are going to negotiate with the council and properly haggle pays right?”

The request for the <Ebadonigul> temple investigation this time was quite unusual. The council of three that manages Kagushila issued it. It was a relief that the reward was definite but because of the course of events, it would be unbearable if they were to be stingy.

“Of course. For a dangerous job like this, if we don’t squeeze out as much as we can, then we won’t be satisfied. In the first place, that much offering a day is….”

Kenny-san who was wagging her tongue constantly in irritation suddenly stopped speaking. She suddenly snapped her fingers as if remembering something and fixedly stared at me.

Eh? What?

“Oh that’s right, boy!”


She mischievously smiled like a stray cat that found a mouse and said,

“I was thinking about asking you for a while but if it’s okay, won’t you answer this Onee-san’s question?”

Wait Wait Wait.

I could only think of one possibility after hearing this person’s sweet talking.

It’s no joke. I have to warn her here clearly.

“Roger.”

“Is it true that that cute goddess of Kagushila is your lover?”

“Don’t you have the decency to even think about this kind of stuff for a second before asking?”

Guh. She immediately plunged into the core without holding back. But the demon in front of me simply ignored what I said. No matter what option I choose, seems like the next development is decided. What is she? A king in a nationwide RPG?

“Is it true?”

“W-W-What are you saying! That’s so stupid. She’s a goddess you know! There’s no way she’s has a relation with me!”

I averted my eyes sub-consciously at her lukewarm gaze filled with curiosity that could even be scripted as rudeness. And that easy to see through suspicious behavior was regrettable even for me.

“Fu~un? But that’s not what I heard~”

She brought proof!? Who was the one that leaked this info!!!

“I sometimes see her from the queue during the prayer but that girl called Raquell really seems divine right? And she’s not a marionette either. The council really does bow their heads to her. She’s like a dressed up doll, she’s too cute, even though she looks like us, it’s like she is worlds apart.”
 
“I-Is that so? I really didn’t notice…”

“He~y Souya. You’re not really good at feigning ignorance.”

It’s none of your business! I’m at a naive age!

And besides! Calling her divine is too much. Raquell, that fellow’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“Just spit it out. Hey, we got enough proof. Ho~re.”

There was a red-lined scribble on the left hand that Kenny-san reached out.

‘Souya is a liar (He’s a liar).’

“Gununu…. Curse you Dorothy---“

There were many among the {{furigana|<Outsider>|Ba’a }}’s in <Kiengi> who possessed special skills or abilities. Kenny-san was also one of them. She was protected by a female guardian angel called Dorothy.

Dorothy’s messages were bull’s eye most of the time. In fact, the reason we were able to escape the danger in <Ebadonigul> was thanks to that. Of course this time, she also hit the mark.

“We have enough time. Should we continue this till morning?”

“Ugh…..I guess I don’t have a choice. Kenny-san, you seem to be misunderstanding something.”

“Hohoo~? A misunderstanding?”

“Certainly Raquell…er…Raquell-sama and I know each other. That’s right, I’ll admit that we’re acquainted. But that’s all. I don’t know that the leader and Gwen-san said but we just chat with each other sometimes, nothing more.”

It was more like, she had her eyes one me, or she was following me around.

But if that got out, then I’m certain it won’t turn out to be good. My wish of not wanting to stand out and pushing aside all the misunderstandings and troubles will be broken into smithereens.

“So can you please keep it a secret?”

“Fu~un. I don’t mind but I think it’s useless. There were rumours in the bars here and there that the goddess has taken a liking to the new-comer at Murakami’s place.”

“Eh!”

A sudden jolt in my system! Seems like I was the only one not aware.

“Hey, was it that shocking? But isn’t it okay either way? Another rumour will just brush it off soon. And isn’t the {{furigana|<Mistress>|Elsh }} of Kagushila some kind of grand godhead and a special kind of god of {{furigana|<Fear>|Ni }}?”

“About that, I don’t really know anything at all” 

“I heard that she was also the reason other gods don’t have anything to do with Babylon.”

“Yeah, she’s got this atmosphere around her when she’s not talking but when she does, it’s like she’s the polar opposite. Like, acting on her whims, kind of like an egoist, maybe impudent. I really don’t know what she’s planning but can’t say she’s that different from us.”

By the way, this was a rather conserved way of saying it.

In my head, the impudent victorious smile of that show off scarlet haired girl popped up.

Really, that girl’s way too free, always dragging me into her plans whenever she’s bored. On top of that, she could stick with it if it was a little trouble but was bad at the management. She always decides everything on her own. She’s like a small child always showing off.  She’s pretentious, and always gets angry whenever she wants. She also has a large appetite.

“Hohou~ In other words, ‘I’m the only one who knows the real her.’ Right? Thanks for the feast, thank you very much. That’s a really chummy relationship, wow.”

“…Can I hit you?”

And Kenny-san coughed her throat clear as such strangely.

“Well, being so close with a goddess like that, there’s bound to be some positive sides too, no? Like if you have a wish, then getting it fulfilled. Returning to your original world for example?”

Of course, I’ve thought about that. I’ve asked her. I asked her so persistently that it finally turned into a squabble.
	
“……Seems like that one’s impossible. They say the {{furigana|<Star Gate>|Kamul }} wasn’t something that could be opened with just a few powers. And also, I don’t really feel like turning it into a request….”

“Nn? Why? There’s got to be some benefits!”

An unexpected Kenny-san. But she soon nods her head several times as if she got it.

“Haha~n. A guy’s vanity? Come to think of it, you’re also at an age when you’d like to show off your coolness a bit huh?”

“Wha- Kenny-san. Right now you’ve definitely misunderstood something! It’s just since it won’t be a Give And Take, I’ve also put some thought into it and—“

“Hey hey hey, don’t be too shy now. Well, if it’s like that then that’s also okay. If you don’t feel like settling down then it’d better with the least of hindrances. And from that reaction, you don’t seem to be the Lugal either.”

An unfamiliar word. But seems to be slightly different from an individual with high status.

“Lugal? What’s that?”

“So you don’t know this either huh? From what I heard it’s---“