Editing Masou Gakuen HxH:Volume 10 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 2===

「Gehoh! Gohoh!」

Aine coughed because she tried to jump to her feet, and she spitted out blood.

Because she raised her body, intense pain traveled through her chest. That pain pierced through her head and for a moment her consciousness was getting far away again. She collapsed on the bed once more and writhed while pressing on her chest.

「Aine! That’s great, you are awake!」

Just what is great from this much pain huh!? Even though she wanted to curse like that but her chest was too painful, she was unable to say her words out loud.

――Eh?

Aine didn’t understand where she was. She also didn’t understand why her chest felt this pained.

Even when she was lying down, she felt like the world was rotating and her field of vision couldn’t focus.

There was a brown skinned girl wearing a joyful expression inside her blurry field of vision.

――Gravel?

Why, is Gravel in this kind of place……eh? This kind of place……where is, here again? Ataraxia? Vatlantis?

「Queen Landred! Aine recovered her consciousness! Please come and take a look here!」

「Yes yes, aa―, wait Aine-san. Don’t move around okay―」

An excessively huge breast appeared. Most of her view looking up was filled with soft-looking breasts.

――Wha, what is this? This breast monster.

Her own breast was touched by something cool and soft. It seemed this breast monster’s hand was touching her. Then mysteriously her pain was receding. And then pleasant, calming feeling was spreading inside her chest.

「How is it? Have you calmed down?」

Like a moon that was rising up from behind a mountain, a gentle-looking woman showed her face from behind the huge twin hills. Under her faint blonde hair, her drooping eyes were smiling.

「Queen, Lan……dred.」

「Ufufu, wroo―ng. The correct answer is the health teacher of Ataraxia♪」

「??????」

Aine fell into chaos once more.

「Queen, please refrain from bewildering Aine with your prank.」

When Gravel said chidingly, Landred stuck out her tongue cutely and shrugged her shoulders. Gravel peered into Aine’s face and then she leaked out a relieved sigh.

「You were lucky Aine. You would have died if Queen Landred wasn’t there.」

――Die?

「Why……did I almost die?」

Gravel smiled wryly at Aine who was responding with a vacant voice.

「So you don’t even remember that. Well, surely that’s because your memory is in chaos right now.」

Around an hour after that, Gravel slowly explained what was happening to ascertain Aine’s memory.

[[[[Image:Masou Gakuen HxH V10 BW 07.jpg|thumb]]

「I see……I couldn’t even make a scratch.」

「Yes. If there wasn’t the healing power of Queen Landred, right now you would be completely dead.」

This place was an apartment around three kilometers away from the arena. At the fourth floor of a ten floor wooden building. Even though it was made from wood, the wood’s hardness and quality were greatly different from earth’s wood. The lumber that possessed surprising hardness and flexibility could even endure being turned as material for high-rise buildings. And then the lumber was carved with magic circuit that was filled with various functions. This aspect was also similar with the culture of Landred’s country, Baldin.

Aine turned her face to the side and said her thanks to Landred.

「Thank you Queen Landred.」

「No no, you’re welcome.」

But what did she mean by health teacher? Aine thought that inside her heart, but it wasn’t even something terribly important so she ignored it.

At that time the door of the room opened and a green haired beauty entered.

「I’m home……my, Aine. You are awake?」

Former Vatlantis Empire’s Imperial Guard, and currently an aide of Gravel at Izgard, Aldea. She was holding baggage in both her hands, when she entered the room she closed the door using her butt.

「Then I’ve to prepare the meal. You need to supplement for the blood you lost and also to repair your body function.」

Aldea disappeared into the kitchen while holding her baggage.

This room was a room that was rented using the money Aine earned from her ranking’s reward. Even Gravel and the others who arrived here to save Aine were currently living nearby.

The Golden Dragon they boarded broke down when they landed in this world, it seemed that it couldn’t fly with its own power for now. In this case they could only stay here until the Lemuria group or the Vatlantis group found them.

All the residents of this world were equally warriors, there was no class system here.

However there was an hierarchical system.

Then how was that hierarchy decided?

This world was actually simple, ruled by a primitive sense of value.

What decided the hierarchy was by who was the strongest.

Ranking showed that hierarchy. All the people in this world were given a silver bracelet. The number displayed there showed the whole value of that person.

The rank was decided by pure strength. Who was stronger between this person and that person? There was a number to display one’s fighting strength that was called divinity number as standard, but that number didn’t include other factors like affinity and tactics and so on.

There they were made to fight for real. If the lower ranking person won then they would steal the opponent’s ranking, the loser would have their rank decreased by one. While that was being repeated endlessly, the ranking of everyone in this world was formed.

And then the winner had a special privilege. They would be able to steal one weapon or authority from the loser. The loser would be kicked down even further. Naturally it was also not rare for someone to lose their life.

This ranking decided the value of everything. That was to say, social status and income also wholely depended on one’s ranking.

For example Aine who ranked 133rd won against Frei who ranked tenth, so Aine’s ranking became tenth rank. The loser Frei fell to eleventh rank from tenth.

However, surely Frei would be unable to fight in his condition. He couldn’t accept other warrior’s challenges and he would loss by default continuously. And then what would he become? His income that was provided from Odin would stop and his living place taken away. He would be evicted from this city and live out in the wild, he could only obtain food by hunting wild animals and eating the grass under the snow.

Other than Aine, Gravel was at rank 450th. Aldea was at rank 382nd. Aldea’s rank was higher than Gravel was because Aldea was looking forward happily to matches one after another.

This ranking was applied to all people, so Landred was also not an exception. But, Landred was a non combatant so she quickly gave up against others every time she fought, her ranking fell until several tens of thousands lower. Even so she was able to survive thanks to the income Aine, Gravel, and Aldea earned.

Those who didn’t have anyone to rely on would do business with the warriors, for example providing food or alcohol, maintaining weapons or body, and so on. They would endure like that with bare livelihood.

In this world, there was no one who could escape from this ranking system.

It was unrelated with their own will. Whether Aine or Gravel, when they noticed they already had a silver ring put on their wrist. When someone was summoned to this world, a ring would be fitted on their hand naturally.

This was the admonition, shackles that Odin imposed on them. As long as this ring was on them, Aine and Gravel were a part of Odin’s world, they couldn’t escape from that curse.

But, not everyone was grieved because of that. Aldea wearing an apron showed her face from the kitchen.

「But, this place is rea―lly a good place isn’t it. I wonder if it’s fine if we just live here forever.」

She was seriously thinking that so she was hard to deal with. Gravel replied with a fed up voice.

「Then you will stay here behind all alone? I’m going back to the original world.」

「Ee~ don’t wannaaa. Gravel, you too stay together with me here.」

Ignoring Aldea who behaved like a spoiled child with a wheedling voice, Gravel was going to replace Aine’s bandages. Aine stared at a spot on the ceiling before she murmured with a firm voice.

「I……will absolutely return to the original world. To the world where Kizuna is.」

Gravel’s hand that reached towards Aine stopped.

「……Queen Landred. Can I ask you to do the rest? I’m going to help out Aldea.」

「Yes yes. Leave it to me~」

Queen Landred’s personality completely slackened because of life in Ataraxia huh, thinking that Gravel smiled wryly inside her heart. But, the person herself didn’t hate that change of herself.

Aldea leaped at Gravel and took her arm with good mood.

「Ufufu♪ As I thought, Gravel is fine with me aren’t you?」

「Don’t hug me every time.」

Aldea didn’t even get discouraged by that tone and she leaned on Gravel while heading to the kitchen.

「Then Gravel, can you wash the vegetables?」

「――I get it.」

After entering the kitchen, Gravel took out a vegetable that resembled a potato from the paper bag Aldea carried and turned on the tap at the sink.

「Hey Gravel?」

「I know. You want to say to take the sprout out too when I peel the skin right?」

Aldea put a slab of meat on top of a chopping board, and then she took out a knife from a drawer.

「Do you, have any prospect of winning against Aine?」

Gravel washed away the dirt sticking on the vegetable with the water flowing from the tap.

「What are you saying? There is no need to fight against Aine right? From what happened before we understood that defeating Odin is not realistic. We can continue to live just by protecting our current ranking. What’s left is only to wait for help. There is no need for us to raise our ranking deliberately, much less a fight between comrades…….」

Aldea put her knife on the meat and started to slice.

「That’s not what I meant.」

Gravel put the vegetable she had finished washing on a plate and took out one more vegetable of the same kind from the paper bag. And then she stared fixedly at that vegetable.

「……I wonder.」

Water continued to flow from the tap, flowing down to the drainage.

Gravel suddenly made a smile and put down the vegetable, she then returned to the room where Aine was sleeping.

「Aine, you think your throat can take in food?」

「I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t have any appetite but……but if it’s necessary for recovery then I’ll wash it down my mouth.」

She answered Gravel with a wry smile.

「Let’s make something that won’t be too heavy. Queen will also be eating right?」

Queen Landred joined her hands together and smiled.

「Wa―i. I’m happy. My children, all of them are scattered everywhere and I’m lonely.」

The Baldin group had few people among them that could fight, many of them were operators. Therefore they weren’t fighting and worked hard to contribute by trying to investigate this world. They walked until every corner of this city, investigating if there was any data regarding this world’s origin and Odin.

Gravel confirmed Aine’s complexion one more time before returning to the kitchen.

She really understood how Aine was feeling. Because similar to her, she also wanted to meet him so much it was unbearable.

However――,

Returning to their original world, then reunited,

And after that?

――What will happen with me at that time?

Such thinking suddenly passed through her heart.