Godhorn Tech:Volume1 Chapter2

Status: Incomplete

2/5 parts completed

   

Chapter 2 Section 1

Everyone feared the great power of the Wicked Gods.

Humans were the only beings that wanted that power for themselves.

He was a mess.

Back in a room of a simple wooden house, Miyabi Blackgarden could not get out of bed. He felt like his muscles had been replaced with mud.

But the morning arrived despite his protests.

“Please get up.”

It announced its presence with a polite young woman’s voice.

Helen Clockgear was not just inside his house – she was inside his bedroom.

“Miyabi, you need to get up. It’s morning.”

“Ugh,” he groaned, but not because he had low blood pressure.

That young woman provided a little too exciting a visual. Her long black hair and glasses made her look like a stickler for the rules, but then there were her clothes. The chest was left open, the part that was buttoned still left her navel visible, her tight skirt was short enough to show off her thighs, her hair decorations looked like devil horns, and the whip on the back of her hips looked like a tail. He appreciated her waking him up, but this was a little much for his adolescent heart.

He did his best to keep her from noticing his reaction.

“Helen? What are you doing here?”

“I am a Republic official. Managing people is my job.”

“You unlocked the front door with magic again, didn’t you?”

“That is not an abuse of my powers. It is a part of my job. On that note, Miyabi, as peaceful as this village is, you should really use a Jack class or better lock for your outside doors. Anyone can get through a 9 of Diamonds.”

He caught himself before pointing out she would break through that as well.

Then the (busty) glasses woman pointed toward the wooden door.

The cacophony of people working with the lumber could be heard even in here. That meant it was already past 8 in the morning. Miyabi found it easier to tell time that way than using the mechanical clock Helen had brought from the big city.

“I made you breakfast, so please come to the table.”

She left his bedroom and her footsteps creaked down the narrow and steep wooden stairs toward the dining room. His parents were not here, but that was common in this village. When one parent was home, so was the other. When one was gone, they were both out deep in the forest. He knew his boss and the older apprentices better than them.

It must not have been cold enough for Helen to light a fire in the fireplace. The morning chill woke him up before he even washed his face.

The table contained a simple breakfast of toast, salad, and ham and eggs. The simplicity was due to the magic stove and poorly-sealed refrigerator being old and falling apart, not because Helen was a poor cook.

She had apparently expected him to wake up sooner than this, but the food was not cold.

The tableware itself seemed to keep the food and drink warm. That would be more magic. He got to see a lot of convenient magic when Helen was around.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Miyabi had a mug full of hot milk (which somehow had not developed a film on top), but Helen’s cup only contained cold water as she sat politely across from him. But not because she was showing restraint; she really did like the village’s water.

“It recovers so much of your magic. Enough that you don’t even need to stay at an inn. I wish I could fill a bottle with it and carry it around with me, but I go through it so fast.”

“?”

Born and raised in this village, Miyabi had no idea what she meant, but the forest water straight from the well was apparently a rare thing for someone who had lived so long in the capital.

“So why are you cooking me breakfast?”

“I would prefer not to, if I’m being honest.” She was blunt about that. And she was approaching the ultimate decision of whether to put salt or sauce on her ham and eggs. “The Republic has no Godhorn Tech. So what they fear most is what you might do with Alma. For example, you could break off the horn and sell it on the black market. If that found its way into the hands of the remnants of the old monarchy scattered across the land, the country could be in serious trouble. So to ensure their own safety, the Republic wants to ensure all your needs are met and you are never short on money.”

“Thanks, I guess.”

“No thanks are necessary. I am only monitoring you for the country’s sake.”

She complained, but she had also refrained from adding carrots to the salad because she knew he didn’t like them. How cute could she be?

“Speaking of, where is Alma?”

The juvenile Wicked God would normally come running at the smell of food, so the curvy glasses woman explained.

“That elf dragged the poor thing outside to play.”

After eating, Miyabi volunteered to do the dishes. He hated working with the cold well water, but Helen warned him not to take it for granted. He still didn’t understand. They could get an endless supply of the stuff from the ground, so why was it so valuable? Washing dishes and his own face was a pain. It was so cold he had to wrap his aching hands in a towel to warm them before heading out to search for Alma. Helen followed him to “monitor” him as usual.

This was a small village.

It was half overgrown by the forest and Miyabi lived in a log house. Everything here was made from wood. But it really was a small village, so the roads were made of exposed brown dirt packed down by feet, hooves, and wagon wheels. Stone pavement was beyond anything they could hope for out here.

“In this village, we make a living cutting down the forest’s trees. We’re the only village out there that’s made a contract with the elves. We’re special!”

Lumberjack (Older Apprentice) was very cheerful for so early in the morning.

He worked accurately even as he smiled and greeted them. He ran his saw along the colorful pattern glowing on the magically-hovering log, rapidly shaping the desired piece of lumber. He worked alone on a tree several times taller than he was and his saw was unnaturally sharp. He had likely added on some water magic to cut with the water pressure. Miyabi could not do any of that yet.

(Special, huh?)

The village prided themselves in being left in charge of the forest by the local Blueforest race of elves. Although Miyabi sometimes wondered if the elves had tricked the humans into maintaining the forest paths, thinning out the trees, and all the other jobs they couldn’t be bothered to do.

Whatever the case, the village was hard at work for another day.

The sorcery bomb had been a very close call and the Celina and Schwarz Schütze problem remained, but he had protected this scene nonetheless.

“Please keep quiet about what happened,” quietly warned Helen, walking alongside him. His heart jumped when he felt her warm breath on his ear. “A single village boy wields a Godhorn Tech when not even the entire Republic has one. If word gets out, you can’t live here anymore. Do you want to be on the run around the clock? The remnants of the old monarchy still fantasize every night about bringing back the slave trade and they would love to get their hands on that thing.”

“So I’m a secret warrior, huh? Heh heh heh.”

“Why does that appeal to you? Sigh, boys never do grow up, do they?”

At any rate, he asked around for information on the long-eared hag.

“Hey, Miyabi! Tell that elf girl she can play in the village if she wants, but she shouldn’t use our lumber as an obstacle course!” (Lumberjack (Middle Aged))

“Sob, all I wanted was to make friends with some cute elves, so how did I end up surrounded by big burly men?” (Lumberjack (Newcomer))

“Ho ho ho. Watching Lady Alicia enjoy herself is so relaxing. Our ancestors agreed to a contract with the elves, giving us permission to cut down the forest’s trees, but it all happened so long ago no one remembers what the exact terms of the contract were. But that smile on Lady Alicia’s face is all we need to know we still have their permission.” (Elder)

None of it was very helpful.

And that old man’s lines were always long. Too long.

“Hm.” Helen placed a finger on the side of her glasses. “That elf isn’t surrounded by tourists like I expected.”

“?”

“The plays always present forests as a home to the elves and Azul Titanio isn’t that far from the Republic’s capital, so it’s known in some circles as a good health resort.”

“Azul what?”

“That’s the name of your village, Miyabi. Wait! Did you forget the name of your own home!?”

“Everyone born here just calls it the first village.”

“That’s sad. But it is a known social problem. When a long and complicated name is added to the official maps, the locals can end up abbreviating it to the point that no one there recognizes the correct name.”

That could explain why the pub and inn did such good business for a small village.

Miyabi had lived here all his life and one of his earliest memories was clinging to Alicia’s back and tugging on one of her long ears, so he had trouble understanding this talk of a health resort and traveling to see an elf. To him, the big city sounded a lot more convenient and comfortable.

And.

“Koo, kwehh!”

“Ah ha ha! Come and get me!”

He heard a joyous voice coming from the edge of the village where the forest had more or less taken over, so he took a look and then sighed.

“Finally found you,” he said.

“What are you two doing here?” asked Helen.

“O-ohh?”

For some reason, Alicia Blueforest froze with her hands in the air.

“Come to think of it, what are we doing here?”

“Koo?”

Seeing the two of them tilt their heads, Helen placed a hand on her cheek.

“Peaceful as always, I see.”

“I’m sweating bullets over here, worried my spot as the adorable mascot is at risk.” The radio complained from the elf’s chest. “Curse that vile beast. No decency at all. There might be a million faces to choose from in this world, but I only get to use one of them as an icon, you know!?”

“I want to hear what that old guy has to say. To figure out what to do next.” With Alicia, Alma, Helen, and the radio here, this seemed like the best chance for this. “What about the rest of you? You can sit this out if it doesn’t interest you.”

“Kyoo kyoo!”

“If the juvenile Wicked God is going, I might as well go too. I wouldn’t have anyone to play with anymore.”

“Vile beast! I belong at the chest of this real elf! Don’t you dare steal my position!!”

The philosopher’s stone created a staticky noise resembling grinding teeth, but Helen ignored it.

She might as well have been the village guide at this point.

“I believe Mr. Moebius is being treated at the clinic.”

Rural villages like Miyabi’s “first village’ tended to have small clinics instead of big hospitals. There was no end to careless accidents with sharp blades in the logging industry, but most any illness could be treated here. With the number of wagons carrying heavy lumber out of the village and the proximity of the Republic’s capital, any patient with a serious enough injury or illness could be transported elsewhere, weather permitting.

For that reason, rural Azul Whatever-It-Was’s log house clinic was very well equipped. It had a simple design, but it was kept extremely clean with magic. Miyabi did not like the feel of the place. It was clean, but in an unnatural way.

A creaking of metal sounded in the village’s lifeline.

It came from the axle of a wheelchair.

The tall-redheaded man wore a coat that made him look more like a pirate than a noble, but that wild impression was ruined by just the one item.

“Does that mean…?”

“Don’t worry about it. I was already planning to retire at some point.”

Miyabi was struck speechless, but Moebius Entrance himself did not seem to mind.

This world had no recovery magic.

Magic could sterilize a room or mix a medicine, but it could not directly affect the human body. It could create a medicine to heal a cold or boost the healing power of a cast holding together broken bone, but it could not heal a rare disease or serious injury that lacked a corresponding White Sorcery Item. So as destructive as a Godhorn Tech was, the user could not cheat death or serious injury. They would have to groan in pain while using magically-boosted medicines and bandages just like everyone else.

“This gave me the chance I needed.” Moebius smiled. “Passing the Godhorn Tech onto you is a burden off my shoulders.”

“…”

“Let’s get down to business.” He still sounded lighthearted. Maybe he always did. “The Sorcery Doc said I can’t talk for long. Ow…”

“And I can see why!”

“Looks like he needs medicine and water.”

On Helen’s instructions, Miyabi handed Moebius some water and medicine to drink.

“Phew. There’s no point trying to show off here, so let’s just get this over with.”

“Is this about the 11th?”

“That’s an important issue, but they’re only a shadow. They’ll have gone into hiding and we won’t see hide nor hair of them for a while. They attack on a whim, so they don’t seem to get fixated on a single target when their attack fails.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t predict what they did.”

“And a fixation on a single target would make them really easy to predict. But the 11th doesn’t make it that easy. Anyway, keep them in a corner of your mind, but you have a more immediate threat to deal with.”

“More immediate?” Miyabi looked Moebius in the eye. “Do you mean Celina Bodenburg and Armored Train Schwarz Schütze?”

“Ha ha. Memorized both of those long names already? I guess imminent death is a good teacher.”

The term “armored train” must have sounded odd coming from the carefree forest boy. Moebius sank down into his wheelchair with a mischievous smile.

“Now that the Godhorn Tech is yours, you’ll be her new target. You’ve got an idea of how she does things now, right?”

“Yeah, she wouldn’t hesitate to attack just because we’re in the village.”

“Koo…” Alma worriedly cried at his feet.

Moebius nodded.

“But unlike the 11th, Miss Celina is easy to predict. She wants to secure the continent’s safest trade route using an unbeatable power no one else dares even attack. That way she can increase trust in the Bodenburg company and raise its value. So she will not allow any other Godhorn Tech to fight on the same level as hers. That’s all she’s fighting for.”

“She really thinks money is everything, doesn’t she?”

Miyabi sounded exasperated and Moebius sighed.

“It’s not her fault. She was raised to think that way.”

Raised.

That was a simple word, but it had a somehow ominous ring to it here.

“And we’ve all benefited from it. Take a look around you. That company’s logo is everywhere.”

Shocked, Miyabi picked up some items around the clinic. The bandages, medicine bottles, and examination and treatment equipment all had the logo. So did the bed, the shelves, the cups, and the pitcher. He had never paid any attention to it, but now that he did…there it was.

The Bodenburg Company.

With the exception of the furniture made with wood, hammers, and saws, the hand-mixed medicines made from local plants, and the White Sorcery Items, almost all of the clinic’s equipment had been brought in from the big city and bore that logo.

“It’s everywhere…”

“That is a frightening level of market penetration,” commented Alicia, viewing a cylindrical package of chocolates with a frown.

“Pretty much any magical product is from them these days,” said Moebius. “And this village is more self-sufficient than most. You have that forest and the carpenters to thank for that.”

“And me,” added the elf. “You need to thank me for the forest’s blessings, boy.”

“?”

Miyabi was not sure why, but Alicia placed a hand on her chest and proudly winked at him.

Moebius continued on, whether he knew the reason or not.

“There are a lot of cities on the continent that can’t even get food and water without the company’s help. They own all the fishing rods and nets at the lakes and they control all the firewood and blankets in the snowy areas. They gain customers by offering enough convenient services for the local industries to deteriorate.” He smiled as he continued. “But you can make use of that. You know why Miss Celina fights, so you can set the perfect stage for her and guide her there. That means you can move the battle outside the village.”

“…”

“Still afraid of attacking another person? This would’ve been so much easier if you had only seen the Schwarz Schütze, but unfortunately you saw Miss Celina first.” The young man displayed his injured body in the wheelchair. “But don’t forget you already wielded the Lucifer Horn in battle and others saw it. You need to assume both Miss Celina and the 11th see you as a Godhorn Tech user. You can’t back out of the fight now. Not after asking me to lend you that power so you could save me.”

Sometimes having the power to fight caused a fight to happen.

But the boy had lived his whole life in this peaceful village and only ever thought of blades as something to cut through grass and trees, so he couldn’t be blamed for not realizing that.

Nevertheless, only his friends would listen to his complaints. His enemies would show no mercy. Celina and the massive Bodenburg Company that supported her were more powerful than the average country and they had poured everything they had into building that Godhorn Tech. That weapon’s cannons were now aimed squarely at Miyabi.

He may have been fortunate he had not known what he was doing.

If he had truly understood the threat, he might have fainted.

“Sometimes, options present themselves to you, but you won’t gain anything by sitting around until you’re out of time.”

Moebius then doubled over and groaned.

He had already taken some medicine, so blindly giving him another kind would be dangerous. And he appeared to know that.

“Okay, I’ve hit my limit.” He wiped sweat from his brow. “If you want some more details…yeah, you can come see me again tonight.”

Miyabi said nothing, but it was still up to him to choose.

“This is your life, so choose your own path through it.”

The village grew quiet at night.

Miyabi Blackgarden was lying in his bed staring up at the ceiling, but traversing the wood grain labyrinth with his eyes was not making him feel sleepy.

“…”

He couldn’t stand it anymore.

He held a hand to his head and sat up in bed.

In a village alongside the forest, the people were very careful with fire, but putting out the fire in the fireplace had still been a mistake. The chill of the night had crept into his room before sleep took him.

He doubted he was getting to sleep now.

“I should go ask that old guy what he can tell me.”

“Koo,” agreed Alma, squirming in the same bed.

He got dressed, left his house, and found a familiar face waiting with her back against a nearby tree. That familiar face had long ears.

“Hi,” she said.

“What are you doing?”

“Did you think you were the only one who had business with that Celina girl? The elf village might be safely tucked into an alternate dimension, but she more or less burnt the entranceway. I don’t see why I shouldn’t give her a piece of my mind.”

Alicia Blueforest gave a grumpy snort and Alma wobbled as the white stuffed animal thing nearly drifted off on its feet.

“Zzzkoo…”

“Mh, why are you so sleepy, Alma? I suppose this is late for a child, even if you are a Wicked God. If you need someplace to sleep, just leap into my chest and I will carry you around.”

“Another threat to my position!?” protested the radio hanging from the elf’s neck.

Miyabi smiled bitterly.

“Whatever the reason, I appreciate the company.”

“Y-yes, the village feels very different at night,” said the radio. “And thorough exploration is the key to adventuring. You might just find that annoying person blocking the way to the mysterious door is absent at night.”

“Now, ignoring the usual stray signal,” started Alicia.

“But don’t even think about leaving the village! You might run across more powerful monsters that only appear at night or on the full moon! Always make sure to train your party to a decent level before straying from the main story path! Don’t assume you’ll be safe just because you’re still in the early stages! And make sure to stock up on antidote items and sleep-prevention accessories before attempting to fight the alternate enemy forms!! Once those status effects get started, they come for the entire party!”

“Again, ignoring the stray signal!!”

After silencing the radio’s incessant chatter, Alicia crouched down, picked up sleepy Alma, and held it to her chest.

“Personally, I’m surprised we haven’t seen Miss Busty Glasses.”

“Let’s just get to the clinic. I want to hear what Moebius has to say.”

Miyabi did not need the radio to warn him about the dangers of the night. In the logging industry, working at night was like asking for an accident. You never wanted to enter the forest or operate a saw in the dark.

The village was quiet (except for the one establishment that served alcohol) as they walked to the clinic. With the sole exception of the pub’s lights, the starlight was the only thing illuminating their path. The clinic was wrapped in tranquility.

But something wasn’t right.

It was too quiet.

“Huh? There’s no one here.”

“Koo?”

“But could he really leave the village in that wheelchair?” asked Alicia. “The forest ground is covered in tree roots and rocks and that Celina girl just dug the place up, so I doubt he could have gotten far with that injury.”

“Assuming he isn’t endlessly going for random encounters in the hopes of finding a pink-haired succubus in a slingshot swimsuit, silver-haired brown-skinned apsaras covered only by a vanishingly thin cloth, or some other sexy night-exclusive mid-boss, then wouldn’t he be somewhere inside the village?”

Most of the philosopher’s stone’s line was incomprehensible, but Miyabi frowned at the ultimate conclusion.

Yes…

“Somewhere in the village?”

“That’s still running this late?”

“…”

“…”

The boy and girl fell silent and Alma tilted its head.

“Koo?”

The place had an entirely different aura.

The instant Miyabi hesitantly opened the door, the darkness of the night was swept away by colorful magic lights very different from his lamp at home. The din of excitement and mirth hit him like a physical blow. The young woman with her silver hair tied back in a single braid at the center of the pub appeared to be a dancer. She was wiggling her bare navel to the applause of the drunk crowd.

A full-on bunny girl greeted Miyabi with a smile. A young woman with long black hair wore a white and pink costume, including decorative long ears that, unlike the elf’s, extended vertically.

“Hello☆ Welcome to- eek!?”

Miyabi’s group looked around the noisy pub with its bunny girl and dancer.

“Now, where is that complete moron?” asked Miyabi.

“Hmm, I doubt he could have faked an injury like that,” said Alicia.

“That just means he’s such a moron that he decided to join in the festivities despite his injury.” Miyabi sounded exasperated. “Is he actually out drinking?”

“Heh.” The radio hanging from Alicia Blueforest’s neck interrupted in an unusually subdued way. “Sometimes a man gets so caught up in searching for the finest videos available that the dawn sneaks up on him. It can happen the day before an interview and it can happen the nervous night before a major surgery.”

“I’m not sure what that means, but I suddenly want to disinfect this piece of junk.”

Meanwhile, the busty white-eared bunny was muttering to herself.

“Th-they haven’t noticed. They don’t realize it’s me? G-good!!”

She clenched her fists and gave a snort of triumph before speaking up with a renewed smile.

“I am Venus, this the most popular girl you’ll find here. Welcome☆ Then again, you two look a little young for this kind of-”

“By the way, what in the world are you doing, Helen?”

“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!?”

Her scream sounded like it was tearing apart her large chest.

Had she thought they wouldn’t recognize her without her glasses?

She just about fell backwards on the booze barrel behind her and her eyes wandered while she sweated profusely.

“Cough! Cough, cough! Wh-who is this Helen? My name is Venus.”

“We don’t have time for your comedy routine, slutty exhibitionist,” said Alicia. “Just tell us where Moebius is.”

“Koo?”

“Stop it, vile beast. Honest questions like that can be like a sharp knife in the gut at times. Like when you’re using energy drinks to fuel an all-night online gaming session and you’re riding that midnight high when an ignorant elementary school kid logs on.”

The radio’s comment somehow felt like a finishing blow.

The sexy young woman (sans glasses) tried and failed to say more in her defense.

“…!?”

I swear I’m not doing this because I want to and I haven’t had a drop to drink. This is a traditional Republic method of intel gathering. You see, statistics have proven that drunks have loose lips and I can’t ignore an order from the higher ups. Ahh, why did you have to come here!?

If they could have read her flapping lips, they would have found something along those lines, but no voice ever made it out.

Miyabi’s group spotted the wheelchair they wanted among the swaying drunks and the dancer(?) sitting on the edge of the stage instead of doing her job.

Moebius Entrance raised a hand in greeting from a round table, showing no sign of guilt.

“Hey.”

“What are you doing here?”

“My wound hurt like hell, so I wanted some way to forget the pain☆”

“You know that’s like warming a bump on the head with a compress, right? There are always these idiots who sprain their ankle and try to reduce the swelling by soaking in a hot spring.”

No one was listening to the philosopher’s stone’s pointless trivia.

“If you ask me, alcohol is a disinfectant for the soul.” Moebius waved his empty glass. “Veeenus! Bring me another bottle o’ this tasty stuff! Or maybe I should get some water. Man, everything’s so tasty I can’t stop drinking!!”

“Eek!? U-um, I really don’t want to go back to that table…”

The bunny jumped enough for her large chest to jiggle vertically, but Miyabi was coldhearted.

“Helen, this guy’s being a pain, so get over here.”

“At least call me Venuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus!”

The tearful bunny rushed over.

Moebius hummed while pouring more amber-colored liquid in his glass. He would probably be here till morning if they let him.

“If I recall.” Miyabi got down to business. “You said you would tell me some secret plan to lure Celina away from here if I came to you tonight.”

“Finally worked up the nerve, huh?” The man took a teasing tone. “Well, she might be a sheltered girl, but that Godhorn Tech’s power is the real deal. You can’t hope to search out the 11th with her after you.”

“I get that, but still…”

“What, don’t like the idea of fighting a girl?”

“…”

“Oops, I’m outta snacks.” He made it sound like that was more important than any mysteries of the world. “Sorry, but could you grab me a cheese plate? At Mach speed! Oh, do you know what Mach speed is?”

This seemed like a job for sexy Venus, but Miyabi glanced over to see her slumped over with her soul halfway out of her mouth. She apparently had her hands full already, so he had no choice but to get up and do it himself.

He approached the counter.

“Here is your snack plate.”

“Thanks?”

It came out as a question because the large plate made from the village’s wood was handed to him by an unfamiliar young woman with her navel showing. She gave off a sophisticated aura, or maybe refined was the better word, but he doubted she was native to the village. She was the dancer with her long silver hair tied back in a single braid, yet her behavior was surprisingly elegant now that he met her face to face. She had the same upper class feel as Celina, yet here she was working in a pub. She seemed so mysterious and rare.

A faintly sweet aroma reached him whenever her long braid swished behind her, but that would be due to a type of seduction magic, not perfume. It was the same basic idea as when Helen had pushed her large breasts together while clasping her hands in apology after breaking a plate at his house. It worked its way to the forefront of his mind despite the mixture of smells from the food, drink, sweat, and heat filling the pub.

She waved a hand with a smile.

“My technical job title is waitress. My name is Iris Tempinvy. If you’re interested, make sure to ask for me☆”

The teenage boy was very interested but was short on guts and money, so he grew red in the face and froze up. A woman of the night was too high a hurdle for him.

He took the large plate and returned to Moebius’s table with movements stiffer than a clockwork doll.

“Can we please get down to business now?”

“It’s nothing fancy.” Moebius’s words dripped with confidence. “First of all, the Bodenburg Company is the world’s largest company. They judge everything based on its business value. Even Celina’s attack on me was only to advertise her own Godhorn Tech.”

“Advertise?”

Miyabi frowned.

That girl lived in a completely different world from him, but he had to try to understand it. He wanted as much information as he could get. Especially when this could mean the village’s destruction as soon as tomorrow.

“Having a Godhorn Tech is just that big a deal.” Moebius smiled, rocking side to side in his wheelchair. “The Bodenburg Company was built up in a single generation, but that causes some people to underestimate it. Especially by the royal, nobles, priests, and priestesses who tend to cling to musty old tradition.”

Miyabi only looked more skeptical since none of the people on the list sounded like anyone he would ever meet, but he grasped that there was apparently a world out there where people worried about that kind of thing.

“That’s why the company is rumored to have spent a fortune getting a Wicked God horn. They wanted power that the rest of the world would pay attention to.”

“So they have a Wicked God horn and Godhorn tech for business purposes?”

“But what does that matter?” asked Alicia.

The elf surreptitiously reached for a glass full of amber-colored liquid, so Miyabi slapped the back of her small hand. He didn’t know her actual age or her alcohol tolerance, but she looked younger than him and he had felt like he needed to stop her.

“The customer is always right, hm?” said the radio hanging from her neck.

“Exactly.” Moebius’s smile vanished there and they could only hope that was not just part of being drunk. “I’m sobering up now. Hey, grab me some water.”

Helen was still out of order, so Miyabi was stuck with the task. He made a mental note to avoid this position in the future.

The highlight of last time found him again.

The dancer named Iris winked at him from near the counter and even leaned against him this time.

“What’s this? Stuck running errands again?”

“Hyah!!”

“Ah ha ha. You sound even girlier than me! Anyway, what are you discussing all serious-like over there? Is it about magic? Well? Is it!?”

She had apparently heard an awful lot over the pub’s noise. Maybe it was true what he had heard about people who worked with alcohol tending to well informed. But there was a sharpness behind her cheer that suggested she only danced and had not had a drop to drink.

He somehow managed to shake free the temptation of the dancer blowing him a kiss and he returned to the man with a glass of water in hand. It wasn’t often the world felt quite this unfair.

“Now.” The young man looked surprisingly calm after drinking down the cold glass of water. “As hostile as the company can seem, they will shake your hand with a smile if you can work out a deal with them. And that includes the company’s young heiress. Take advantage of her professionalism and you should find a way out of this.”

“Heh heh heh.”

Venus laughed weakly with her head hanging limply back. What was she even looking at? She may have been staring at the magic-powered ceiling fan in an attempt to hypnotize herself and erase the night’s unpleasant memories.

However, the shiny white and pink bunny actually had something to add to the conversation.

“But that only works if you have something valuable enough to draw the interest of that giant company. No offense, but I don’t think this city’s lumber is going to cut it.”

“Oh, he has something,” stated Moebius. “Something Celina would be desperate to get her hands on. Something that would directly influence the world’s power balance.”

“Koo?”

“Wait…”

Miyabi could not believe it.

It did fit the conditions, but could he really make that choice?

“You’re telling me to sell her your Lucifer Horn!?”

“Don’t forget, it’s yours now.”

That correction did not sit well with him.

“When you write her the letter to lure her away, you only have to tell her you have a Wicked God horn for sale. The company already has the one Godhorn Tech to show off, but with all their influence, they still could only build just that one.”

It had the power to change the world, but that did not have to be done with direct violence.

Miyabi Blackgarden held that power in his hands.

Moebius winked and smiled.

“So not even the Bodenburg Company could ignore a chance at buying another, right?”

Chapter 2 Section 2

The forest had maintained its overall silhouette even after all the ripping and tearing it had undergone. Several masses of a dark metal were linked together outside that forest.

That was the armored train known as the Schwarz Schütze.

It was 500m long and more than 20m tall, it was as sturdy as a decent-sized castle, and it carried enough firepower to break through the front gate of an old-fashioned stationary fortress.

It looked like someone had taken a giant train and a warship and combined them in a flask. The train itself was in fact made using alchemy. A girl in a black dress adorned with golden embroidery and red gems stood alongside the swiveling main cannon equipped on its roof.

“An anonymous letter.”

She was Celina Bodenburg.

A quiet crinkling came from the object the high-class girl held in both hands.

“No signature, no seal, and no documents to lend it any credibility? Someone does not know how this business works. Yet it was wiped clean to prevent me from reading the writer’s residual thoughts. I would never normally agree to something so suspicious, but with such dangerous merchandise, I can see why they would be cautious.”

She smiled a little as she spoke to herself.

“Another Wicked God horn would be nice. If this a trap, I can teach them a lesson with the untouchable Schwarz Schütze. And if it is real, I reap the benefits. Hee hee.”

A group had gathered at the boy’s house during the day.

Miyabi, Alicia, Helen, and Alma were there.

They could not bring Moebius along because of his wheelchair. Plus, he seemed to think of himself as retired, so at the moment, his hangover was probably turning him into a puke machine.

“Okay.” Miyabi Blackgarden got them started. “Let’s set out for the designated location.”

“That would be the inn town to the north. There is a major landmark there, so I doubt we will get lost. If all goes well, it should only take a few days.”

There was no point in asking why they had chosen somewhere so far away.

Their top priority was keeping any largescale battles away from Miyabi’s village, so choosing somewhere closer for travel convenience would defeat the purpose of the entire charade. Helen knew a lot about the outside world, so he had let her choose the location.

That selfish girl would be happily on her way to the designated location right about now. It was kind of cute to imagine.

“Curse that Celina,” said Alicia. “She takes care of everything once you’re her business partner, doesn’t she?”

They left the simple wooden house and cut across the village that was half overgrown with greenery. On the way, Miyabi glanced over at the pub. The rules of day and night were reversed there, so it was entirely silent now.

There was a notice posted on the door: Our dancer is sleeping. Don’t wake her!

“What, hoping to see Venus again?” teased Alicia.

“P-please just forget that!!”

The glasses woman grew red in the face and flustered. That apparently qualified as a nightmare for her.

As for the clinic…he decided it was best not to take a look inside.

But the curtains at one of the windows parted and Moebius greeted them as casually as if he were simply delivering a forgotten item.

And for some reason, the dancer from the night before, Iris Tempinvy, could be seen through the window next to him.

“Hee hee. Don’t worry about Moebius. I will be taking very good care of him.”

…Why?

Miyabi looked legitimately confused.

Her pretty navel was so bright he felt like it would bring tears to his eyes if he was not careful.

Where had this come from? Had they engaged in some adult form of communication that an adolescent like him could not hope to understand or even imagine!? A bare-navel dancer was too much for him! How did you even go about getting to know someone like that!?

But…

“Hee, hee hee, hee hee hee hee. After losing my position as guest magical researcher in that snowy kingdom, I began a life as a dancer, showing off my body night after night to earn enough to fund my research, but now I’ve stumbled upon a guinea pig who won’t break so easily. The authorities will never notice a thing in this backwater village, so I should make real progress with my research into supposedly impossible recovery magic.”

(Okay, yeah. I’m not getting anywhere near her.)

Even naïve Miyabi could figure that much out.

Maybe Moebius was oblivious to her intentions and maybe he was into that, but for now he spoke down from the window.

“Oh, right. One other thing.”

“?”

“There’s something you need to watch out for now that you have a Godhorn Tech. Using that much power can sometimes distort space-time and you’ll find someone who looks exactly like you challenging you to fight.”

Was that a joke, or was he serious?

Miyabi was not sure, but Moebius had one last thing to say.

“It will keep happening as long as you hold onto your Godhorn Tech – even after 100 challengers or 1000. It’s like a curse to punish you for being the strongest.”

A wide open world awaited him outside the village.

He had often entered the forest, but he rarely went the other way.

This had to be an insignificant plain in terms of the entire continent.

The road was not paved with stones, so the brown path meandering all the way to the horizon looked like it was made out of nothing but wagon wheel ruts.

Still, the rolling green hills of the plain and the horizon below the blue sky felt like a new world entirely for Miyabi Blackgarden.

He wished none of this had happened to him.

But if none of it had happened, he knew he may never have thought to leave the village.

“Koo,” cried Alma at his feet.

But Miyabi blinked.

“Hey, what’s with you? Where did you get those clothes???”

Alma had looked like a white stuffed animal, but it looked different now. First of all, it was colored a bright green. Its texture also looked a little different. It appeared to be wearing a raincoat with a snake motif.

But when he picked the creature up and tugged with his fingertips, he felt a springy resistance. That appeared to be fur.

“Hmm.” Alicia put a hand on her hip. “Alma must change form based on the environment. That form is similar to the Quetzalcoatl, a wind element Wicked God. Maybe Alma can feel the wind more in this open field than when surrounded by trees in the forest. But I never knew Quetzalcoatl was so round and adorable. Ah ha ha!”

“Changed form? Like a tree frog???”

“It may be less like a frog or chameleon’s colors and more like what happens inside an egg or chrysalis. Alma is a juvenile, so their entire body is still developing. I expect they will slowly figure out what form to take after learning more from their surroundings. Oh, Alma! You transform and you’re still cute as can be!!”

The hobbyist researcher elf only seemed to care about observing this one subject. She held it tight and rubbed it against her smiling face, forcing Alma to push her face away with its small front legs.

Then there was the young woman who had a firm grasp on reality and how to survive there.

Helen used a magic called Magnet Search to transform her sewing set’s needle into a weak magnet by running it over the tip of index finger.

“Let’s see, that way is north, so based on the map of the area…”

“Huh? Helen, that metal railroad running to the horizon is the path Celina took, right? Wouldn’t it be faster to follow that?”

“She isn’t taking the shortest route. Not to mention that those are the very obvious footprints left by our enemy. We already know she wants to fight you, so she’s probably left at least one trap for you. For example, she could have buried an alchemy shell with the fuse swapped out for one that will only detonate after detecting the approach of your control sword.” Helen could be scarily cool-headed at times and she shrugged here. “Either way, the standard method is to search out a safe path by comparing what you see around you to your map. But do keep an eye out. A wild Beast Nova could attack after sneaking up on us.”

“Hm. A Beast Nova, huh?”

“Why do I get the impression you don’t appreciate the threat there. Also, simply losing your way is dangerous enough. Getting lost out here is a very different experience from getting lost in the safety of your village.”

Miyabi thought about a number of things while walking on and on toward the northern inn town. There was a world out here that he never would have seen if he had not taken this step. Same for the animal and carnivorous plant Beast Novae they occasionally encountered. He would not have seen any of it if he had not set out to do so.

Meanwhile, the elf was half in tears.

“Can you two please stop using that discriminatory language!? Beast Nova might be technically defined as any lifeform not in your traditional encyclopedias, but you humans just use it as a catch-all term for everything that isn’t you! Which means you’re calling us elves ‘beasts’!”

“Shut up and fight! Do you want to die!?”

“I could tell you were panicking, but nice job slaying that Beast Nova, Miyabi!” Helen shouted, stabbing her thick short sword into a giant carnivorous plant rustling around on the ground.

These attacks were hindering their progress a lot. They had barely moved at all on the parchment map. Why did that distance of about three clips never seem to shrink any? Was it the scale? As they walked onward with weapons always at the ready, the sun was soon about to set.

The orange blaze in the sky was so bright Miyabi could only stare in bewilderment.

“How many more monsters are going to show up come nightfall?”

The elf used a different term, which was apparently acceptable to her. Perhaps Beast Nova was too broadly defined, whereas there was a clear distinction between a monster and an elf.

“Well, we were never going to cover this distance in a single day anyway,” said Helen.

“But if we sleep here, we’ll be surrounded by monsters!” protested Alicia. “I just know it!!”

Miyabi listened to the irritated voices while tracing his fingers along the sword he wore over his back.

That was the Lucifer Horn’s control sword.

“Moebius did mention some kind of hideout we could use. He called it the Horn Fortress. It’s a small island surrounded by magical barriers or cracks in the world or something.”

“You mean we would ride the Lucifer Horn there?” asked Helen. “Now there’s a scary thought.”

The idea of flight was unfamiliar to them since they had lived their entire lives on the ground. Anything beyond climbing a tree sounded terrifying. Traveling at high speed through the sky was downright unimaginable.

Maybe it was possible, but they did not have to test it out now. Nothing would be quite as foolish as attempting a potentially dangerous challenge and then actually dying when there had been no real need to do it at all.

So they took a more realistic option.

“Let’s search out a body of water before it gets dark. We can set up camp there.”

“Hell yes!! Now we’re setting the stage for a bathing scene with the moonlight shining on bare skin!! What kind of fantasy story doesn’t have some nudity in it!?”

The radio raised its voice while swaying back and forth at Alicia’s neck.

But this was not as simple as a kid’s sleepover party. They were out in the middle of the plains – that is, nature. This was nothing like the maintained village, so they could not find anywhere that would shelter them from the elements.

“Helen, don’t you have some magic to shelter us from the rain?”

“And let you leech off of my magic all night long? I don’t think so. Besides, the tent has some weak monster-repelling magic.”

“Hold on. That won’t make Alma or me feel ill inside it, will it?”

On capable Helen’s sharp instructions, the others cleared the tent’s planned location of rocks, but it was plenty cold even before the sun had set. They only had a fabric tent waterproofed with a wax coating, so it had no heater and Miyabi was worried if they would survive the night.

“Wh-what do we do once night falls?”

“Gathering food comes first,” said Helen.

There were no fruit trees around and the lack of food for animals meant none of them either.

In fact, any location without Beast Novae would naturally have no other animals either. Alicia Blueforest belatedly paled at that realization.

“W-we’re in serious trouble, aren’t we!?”

“Just kidding. Tah dah! I brought 4-5 days’ worth of preserved food just in case. The meat and fruit are dehydrated, so they’ll stay good for a while.”

Their somewhat early dinner was tough.

The extreme focus on preservation meant the oblong bread was so hard Miyabi thought he was going to dislocate his jaw chewing it. He could probably equip it as a weapon. The same went for the dried meat and fruit. Eating was supposed to be refreshing, but the more he ate, the more it dried out his mouth. The stuff was pretty awful without a cup of soup to go with it. The novelty was winning out this time, but eating this same thing for days on end would drain your spirit.

“I should probably prepare a trap tomorrow,” said Alicia. “Or catch some fish if we come across a river.”

They were going to spend the night there, so it was time for the tent.

“Let’s do this.”

Helen opened a small bag on the ground and something large expanded from within. The movement looked similar to popup book, but the end result was clearly too large to fit in the bag. The contents included a tallow lamp, a metal grilling plate, a barrel, a water filter full of pebbles and activated charcoal, a large wooden bucket, a washboard, and the rolled-up tent they were actually interested in. And beyond the camping items were a set of small spice bottles, makeup, a toothbrushing kit, some bath products, and more.

How had that all fit in there?

Miyabi’s dazed stare earned him a puzzled look from Helen as she grabbed the tent bag. This was so ordinary to the sexy glasses woman that she had never imagined someone would question it.

A moment later, it hit her and she explained.

“Oh, this? It’s just magic. Compress Cargo is a must for any trip☆”

“Wait! If that exists, why do I always have to carry all that heavy work equipment and firewood on my back in the forest!?”

“Nothing good comes of taking the easy way out before you build up sufficient strength,” said Alicia, sounding exasperated.

“That’s right. And,” added Helen. “Compress Cargo is far from perfect.”

Had she decided he would start making impossible requests if he got it into his head that magic was all-powerful?

“No matter how much you train, there is always a two second delay between accessing the items and selecting one, so keeping your combat gear stored like that can be a deadly mistake. Plus, the magic can only store so much. The size compression ratio is only around 100:1 at the most.”

He was a little curious what kind of past Helen had lived if a two second delay could be deadly, but Granny Alicia said something more attention grabbing.

“Technically speaking, it is not compressing the matter through application of an external force. The shape of the Palette Dice is wound up for storage and then extended again once you pull it out.”

“Palette Dice?”

“That is the smallest unit of all the world’s matter. They used to call them ‘elements’ way back when.”

Alicia winked in a needlessly smug way as she showed off her alchemy knowledge.

According to the little elf who was trying to act the big sister, examples included rock, metal, and snow. There were as many Palette Dice as their were types of matter and what looked like sand or soil was actually made of particles too small to see even with a magnifying glass.

“This stone here is actually made of countless particles. There are so many of them that you would see spiraling ribbons expanding in every direction if you could take a peek into that miniscule world. But that means there is a lot of wasted space there. By winding and folding up those ribbons, you can reduce the apparent weight and size. Think of it like a leaf versus a leaf bud.”

Miyabi couldn’t make any sense of it.

“Hmmm. I don’t get any of this alchemy stuff. It’s like reading a poem while trying to do math.”

“This is not limited to alchemy. The operation of Palette Dice is crucial for a witch’s cauldron and the empire’s magic automata. Honey and chicken seem like their flavors would clash, so why is honey chicken so delicious? Because of the bond that forms within the hot frying pan. …Anyway, because this magic packs things in by reordering them at the lowest level, anything too complex ends up a jumbled mess and can’t be restored to its original form. Yet the magic can only be used to put things in and bring them out, not to intentionally mix them together. It’s really just a quick help while on a trip, so it has a lot of flaws. For example, authenticity is everything for art and antiques, so their value would plummet if you used this on them.”

“Hm? That actually sounds kind of dangerous to me.”

“It is very dangerous. Which is why the magic is made to forcibly expel anything alive. Life cannot be made lighter or smaller. Well, with the exception of the legendary alchemist’s Holy Gate.”

“So you see, Compress Cargo won’t work on a house or castle because they are too complex and have too many parts,” said Helen.

“The same goes for firewood. As you should know from the technique of grafting, cutting down the forest’s trees does not fully kill them. But you can use Compress Cargo to get ticks out of a filthy blanket.” Alicia winked in an exasperated way as she gave an explanation for the boy who had never traveled before. She then lowered her voice to make one more addition. “You can say the same thing about the Wicked God horns that give off such great power even after being broken off.”

Once the sun had fully set, the radio started to celebrate in the moonlight.

Under the much-appreciated guidance of Outdoor Expert Helen Clockgear, they had set up just the one tent.

“Ha ha ha!! Too bad, Miyabi. As the only boy, you’re stuck with a lonely night outside. Kids at home, are you sick of this G-rated dreck, yet? Well, you’re in luck because a very adult night is about to begin! And Miyabi? Don’t feel too bad. While I spend my night resting between four amazing breasts and awash in the sweet scent of the girls, I will make sure to enjoy it enough for the both of- ahh!!”

The radio was the one casually tossed out into the cold.

“Yawwn. Okay, let’s get to sleep, boy,” said Alicia. “You too, Alma.”

“Eh? What?”

“Miyabi, scoot in closer,” said Helen. “The tent isn’t very big.”

“~ ~ ~!!!???”

He was dragged inside the tent, which had no walls or partitions of any kind.

When people gathered in a single space, heat also gathered. Especially when those people were an elf and a young woman. So it had not been too cold to sleep.

Nevertheless, Miyabi Blackgarden did not get a wink of sleep.

He was pretty sure they didn’t have to put him in the center…but that was not the reason.

“Hey, um.”

“Yes?”

It was still before dawn, but Alicia responded when he addressed her on his right. Her distinctive long and pointy ears were twitching. They were picking up this threat too, so Miyabi paled in the darkness.

“They’ve come to play, haven’t they? I can sense something outside the tent! Is that the radio’s curse or something!?”

“Sh! Be quiet, Miyabi!”

Helen was also awake on his left. He did not hear her rummaging around, so she must have still had her glasses on. Did that mean none of them had gotten any sleep?

There was good reason for that.

The wax-coated waterproof tent was thick, but still only a single layer of fabric, and they could hear a deep growling from the other side. The clacking footsteps told them whatever this was had thick claws capable of tearing through the tent in a single strike.

Miyabi gulped while lying motionless in the tent.

“That sounds like more than just one.”

“This isn’t a cheap tent,” said Helen. “What happened to the safety features? The outside should be covered by a monster-repelling magic circle while we sleep.”

“Oops.”

The two humans glared coldly at the elf.

Her long ears twitched and she poked her index fingers together in front of her medium-sized chest.

“Funny story about that. Um… (I’m sorry, but those beast-repelling spells are so imprecise they would also repel a pretty elf like me from the tent and I figured there wouldn’t be any real monsters this close to the village anyway, so…ah ha ha.)”

“Miyabi, on the count of three.”

“Got it, Helen. We can chuck this moron out of the tent as a diversion. What’s the point of an immortal elf if she’s dumb as a brick?”

“I’m sorryyyy!!” sobbed Alicia while clinging to Miyabi.

The green stuffed animal creature only now rubbed its sleepy eyes and gave them a puzzled look.

But even if they did use the elf as an offering to nature, Miyabi and Helen had nowhere to escape to. This was a wide-open plain, so there were no walled cities or cliffs that would stop a beast from pursuing them. They knew they could not outrun a legit beast, so the elf’s noble sacrifice would be in vain. They would all die soon enough.

“Miyabi, Miyabi.” The glasses woman, whose skillset included cooking and assassinations, beckoned him over. “Assassination magic includes the Sleep and Confusion spells. Let’s take some random food – yes, like this leftover soup in the pot – enchant it, and throw it outside. On this part of the plain, we’re probably dealing with Shadow Hyenas, a type of Anti-Zombie that will eat just about anything. They aren’t very smart, but they’ll go straight for any tasty-looking food.”

“Oh, this is sounding like a real plan. What can I do to help?”

“Kick that stupid elf outside to buy me enough time to finish the incantations.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am. But wouldn’t it be faster to just enchant her?”

“I said I was sorryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!”

The boy only said “yes” or “right away” to every instruction, so he seriously prepared to kick Alicia out. But then…

“Ahhhh ha ha!! Could you travelers use a hand!?”

A strange voice came out of nowhere.

It spoke human language, so it probably wasn’t the Beast Novae. And sure enough, they heard several explosions and shockwaves outside the tent, followed by the cries of the monsters.

And these cries were all pitiful whines and shrieks.

The group in the tent exchanged a glance.

“Wh-what now?” asked Alicia. “I think something’s happening out there.”

“If we can communicate with whoever this is, it’s a step up from before,” said Miyabi. “I get the feeling that approaching them like a normal person won’t get us anywhere, though.”

“But if they have even half a brain, they’ll probably check inside the tent if we don’t say anything!”

Miyabi slowly opened the tent flap and poked his head out.

Monster corpses littered the ground.

They had black fur and red eyes (were they Shadow Hyenas?) and Beast Novae like that would be terrifying to run across. In fact, any wild animal bigger than a large dog would be. Yet these had fallen by the dozens.

Someone stood at the center of the KO’d beasts.

She stood proud and tall.

The beautiful woman of around 20 wore a red dress and had her long black hair parted behind her head with the ends braided. But the bight leg showing from the bold slit in her skirt and the gloves over her hands were too aggressive to simply describe her as alluring and sexy. Not to mention the humongous axe taller than she was with its blade scraping against the ground.

When their eyes met, she grinned like a child and gave him a peace sign. She was a very different kind of beautiful young woman than Helen. For example, Helen’s tight skirt provided the hope of seeing something without ever quite providing a glimpse, but the wide slit in this woman’s skirt was very generous when it came to glimpses of her black underwear. Which was a problem. Especially when they were black! But she didn’t seem to care at all.

“Hello, travelers. That was a close one, huh?”

“Oh, maybe she isn’t that weird after all. No one with an axe could be a bad person.”

“(Miyabi,)” whispered Helen. “(I know you grew up in a logging village, but you have to know that reasoning is absurd. If you saw a masked serial killer, would you walk over to shake their hand!?)”

“(The poor fool has fallen for the Curse of the Shadow Panties,)” added Alicia. “(You need to break free!)”

But the red dress martial artist (with black underwear) showed no intention of attacking them. Still smiling, she pointed here and there.

“If you don’t mind, could I borrow that firewood? You lucked into a whole lot of Beast Nova meat, but you can’t eat it all before it rots, can you?”

“D-don’t talk about eating Beast Novae in front Alma and me. That’s discriminatory language! And that bright smile only makes it worse!”

Alicia held green Alma in her arms and trembled. The stuffed animal creature only looked sleepy.

The red dress woman ignored that, held a hand over the remains of their campfire, and magically started a new fire. Something like smoke burst out and then then the collapsed beasts were transformed into meat on the bone in no time at all.

That was the meat processing magic called Target Cooker.

It only worked on dead animals, so it had no effect on living targets. It eliminated the painstaking processing of draining the blood and removing the organs, but the fur, fangs, and any other “inedible” parts would vanish into thin air. The professional hunters in Miyabi’s village avoided using it for that reason.

Since it worked on anything “dead”, it could also be used on the rotting Undead type of monster, but that was forbidden.

“I’m Victia Magnumfist.”

“Are you?”

“I’m working to establish a self-defense style I’ve developed so anyone can travel safely and comfortably, but I haven’t had much luck so far. So how about it? Learn my techniques and you’ll never find yourself in that sort of trouble again.”

“That sounds wonderful, but how long does it take to learn these techniques?”

“Ah ha ha! Don’t be so cautious. I’ve designed my training methods with beginners in mind. Anyone can learn it with ease after only three or so broken bones and about half a year living on the border between life and death!”

“…”

“And I’ve been feeling pretty lonely, so I would love an apprentice. How about it? You’d be Apprentice #1, so I’d make sure to give you extra TLC!”

Miyabi was sorely tempted by those large boobs, that bared thigh, and the black underwear, but he caught himself. Could he really keep up if he was asked to play with bears or tigers? He also had to wonder what exactly her idea of TLC was. He would be all for it if it meant learning some pinning techniques that involved a lot of close body contact, but he had a feeling it would not be anything that fun. The instant he agreed, he just knew something bad would be coming his way. Something real bad.

“(Hey, Miyabi,)” whispered Alicia. “(We need to neutralize her. Do you think you could convince her to give up that axe?)”

“Oh? You have a sharp eye, Miss Elf. Your suspicions are correct: I am even stronger in barehanded combat. The axe is a handicap to slow me down. Ah ha ha!!”

“…”

They all fell silent this time.

This was extremely bad.

She was harmless now while she was laughing, but they knew they could not afford to make her mad. In fact, they had heard a few explosions outside the tent, but did this mean she hadn’t used any magic for that?

Miyabi laughed with the ugliest smile he had made that day.

“Ha ha ha. Today’s not a good day for me, so maybe next time?”

“Ah ha ha. Let’s do it now.”

“Today’s a bad day. Next time?”

“Ah ha ha.”

“Today bad.”

“Now good.”

No matter how ugly he made his smile, he couldn’t get through to the smiling dress woman. They all realized this was never going to end unless he said yes. Worse, her fist was clenching tighter and tighter even though she was still smiling. Her limit was fast approaching.

Helen whispered with worry coloring her face.

“(Miyabi, Miyabi. Why not test out that thing here?)”

“What thing?”

“(That small island surrounded by magical barriers or cracks in the world. Was it called Horn Fortress? Anyway, that hideout only you can use. Why not call in the Lucifer Horn, scoop her up, and carry her off as an inactive party member? We need to put as much distance between her and us as possible. I don’t think she means any harm, but keeping her around will only lead to trouble.)”

That idea hadn’t occurred to him.

This was a journey of firsts for Miyabi Blackgarden and now he stabbed his control sword into the ground.

“Lucifer Horn, do the thing Helen just described!”

It flew in.

“Okay, everyone! How about we start with the basics? Don’t worry, I’ve gone through it all myself. When you break your first bone, your body will figure out on its own how to heal it as good as new!! …Oh?”

The woman finally noticed something was amiss.

A long, long wire dangled down from the Lucifer Horn, which caught Victia Magnumfist’s red dress on the back of the neck.

Then it flew off.

“Ohh? Wait, what is this? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!?”

Her scream vanished into the night sky.

Miyabi’s eyes widened at what he had done.

“Ehh!? That’s how it retrieves party members!? I never want to fly like that! I want something fun, like riding on a broom or on a dragon’s back!”

Apparently, the Lucifer Horn could not slowly descend for them.

They had acquired a reliable new party member, but Helen was staring off into the distance.

“I-is she even still alive after that?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it.” Alicia Blueforest showed no mercy. “It’s basically impossible to kill a moron.”

After a few heart-pounding nights camping out, it was the third day of their quest.

They were all exhausted by the time they arrived at the northern inn town.

“Ughhh. I-I never did catch a single fish,” complained Alicia. “I’m so sick of those dried foods! Give me something hot to eat!!”

“…”

“Oh? What’s wrong, Miyabi?” asked Helen. “Hee hee. Feeling homesick already?”

The capable glasses woman failed to realize how he felt after getting so little sleep. Unbeknownst to her, she tossed and turned in her sleep a lot, so his face had been violently attacked by her boobs time and again during the night. And to turn that seduction into a finishing blow, she had a bad habit of reflexively jabbing a knee between his legs whenever he stirred. It was all well beyond what he would consider a reward.

There were several rusted railroad tracks left on the ground, but they all had developed gaps in places. Miyabi could not imagine why the trains had stopped traveling through here. The town itself had a lot of windmills and water storage tanks. He could tell the people left here had stubbornly clung to life even after they were cut off from the outside world.

There were a lot of people.

Were they from the village, or were they here to buy some junk? Miyabi had grown up in a village where everyone held the same values, so he found it strange to see such a mixture of people wearing different clothes and eating different foods.

“I don’t like the air here.” The elf sounded sick as she looked to the gray metal houses and stores made from gathered junk. “I miss my forest.”

But they had no time to rest.

A dark colossus already towered above them.

It was 400m long…or was it 500? And it had to be at least 20m tall.

That was the strongest power that worked to keep the trade routes safe and secure. The train was loaded with boxes and barrels, but did those use the Compress Cargo magic that had fit so much inside that small bag? If so, how much cargo was it carrying across the continent?

Helen consciously calmed her breathing before speaking.

“So that’s the Schwarz Schütze. It really is big.”

“It’s more conspicuous than the entire inn town,” said Alicia.

But this meant the girl waiting for them was surprisingly faithful to her promises. They had made sure they could complete the trip with time to spare, but would she have kept waiting even if they were late?

“You think that thing’s conspicuous? Then check this out: a real life high-class girl. That’s the thing about a fantasy world – all the girls belong to some rare type or another!”

The radio was right.

One of the many side doors silently opened. She must have decided they were approaching the train to meet her, not just gawking from afar.

“So you have finally arrived.” Celina Bodenburg, the rich girl who valued money above all, brushed her blonde hair back from her shoulder. “Punctuality is a crucial part of running a business, so even if you have a Wicked God horn to sell me, I don’t have all day to-”

Her words stopped.

They caught in her throat.

“…”

Her eyes bulged out.

She looked like she couldn’t even breathe as she pointed at them.

“Ah, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!? Y-you!?”

She even had tears in her eyes.

What kind of connections was she making in her head?

“So the new horn in the letter was…no, the entire letter was a lie, wasn’t it!? Of course it was! What ‘new horn’ could anyone have found other than the one in the odious Lucifer Horn!?”

She squeezed her eyes shut, clenched her fists, and lightly pummeled Miyabi’s chest. Even though she had a Godhorn Tech right there. Miyabi was dumbfounded.

“Argh, enough of this!”

The short-tempered elf brought her fist down on the new money girl’s head.

“Ughh.”

Celina Bodenburg sobbed for a bit, but then the wiring in her brain seemed to reconnect. Without warning, she grabbed her bayonet-equipped hunting rifle – the control gun for the Schwarz Schütze.

The boy stared in shock.

If she stabbed that into the dry ground or the rusty and incomplete tracks, then the world would be destroyed around them.

“So this was a trap, was it? Control gun, connect to the horn core. Tactical open!!”

“Wait, wait!” shouted Miyabi. “I really did bring a Wicked God horn for you. Just hear me out!!”

“You…what?”

Her surprise was overwritten by his proof.

With an explosive roar, a colossal form cut by overhead.

“Bomber Lucifer Horn.” He spoke the name of his card. “I ended up with it by pure happenstance and it’s honestly too much for me! But I can’t just throw it out. I want an expert to take it off my hands. Is that so hard to believe?”

“…”

Silence followed.

Was she taken aback, or suspicious?

“A Godhorn Tech is extremely powerful. That doesn’t seem like enough of a reason to get rid of one.”

“Even thought it means having people like you after me all the time? I don’t want to go on some rampage across the world; I just want my normal life back.”

Yes. In Celina’s money-focused worldview, there was no advantage to giving up a Godhorn Tech. But what about the disadvantages of keeping it? Calculating risk was a part of business.

“And Moebius agreed to this?”

“He neglected to mention how dangerous it would be.” Miyabi shook his head like he was washing his hands of all this. “If he can pass it off to me and escape, then I should be allowed to do the same! Please, just give me my life back!!”

“…”

More silence.

But the temperature was different this time. She seemed to be assessing him.

“Well, I can do that for you if you want. Have the Lucifer Horn land according to my instructions.”

“You mean it!?”

“But there is an etiquette for such things.” She winked. “Just continue to follow my instructions.”

Character Profiles

Iris Tempinvy

Age: 17

Sex: Female

Height: 159cm

Originally invited to the magically-weak Arsenal Kingdom as a guest magic researcher, but in her desperate attempt to research the theoretically impossible recovery magic, the kingdom decided she was using public funds to fund a hobby and she lost all national support. She currently earns enough as a dancer to fund her own personal research.

Victia Magnumfist

Age: 20

Sex: Female

Height: 163cm

Female martial artist working to develop a simple-to-learn form of self-defense that provides peace of mind to women and children on long journeys. However, her idea of “normal” is terribly skewed by her unnatural physical strength that could be called a form of inborn talent.

Meanwhile at Horn Fortress

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