[Going Home is Scary]
It takes about a day and a half to get to the academy.
We stayed overnight in a town halfway, and our return journey was about to end.
We’ve now reached the top of a gentle hill from where we can see the familiar city where the academy is located in the distance.
Considering Freon’s walking speed pulling the carriage, we should be able to reach the academy in a little over two hours.
It’ll be quicker if I abandon the carriage Iris and Ethel are on and have Freon equipped with Three-Sky Series and run in the air… but that’ll likely make them flip out, so I drop the idea.
“Ha~. We’re finally back,” Ethel remarks.
“It feels like it’s been a long time,” says Iris.
“Dammit. Why would you need permission to buy gunpowder? Even though I could pay them triples…!”
“Do you have an abnormal physical condition in which you’ll die if you don’t cause trouble wherever you go, Tōru?”
“Sakurai-san, you’re unexpectedly wealthy, aren’t you?”
“Hm? Well, I sell all drop items and materials I got while leveling. I rarely use my money for anything other than for living expenses and I don’t buy expensive weapons either, so it just keeps piling up.”
As I say so, Ethel exclaims “He~, hm~, hou~,” while looking at me like a hunter looking at their prey.
I forgot it in the Elf Territory, but Ethel is a money-grubbing priest. She intends to save money to live an easy life with her mother.
In the original game, the way to raise her affection toward you is by giving her money or buying her stuff.
While gold is nothing but data in the game, it is a cold hard currency here.
I’ve got no intention of gaining her affection, so I’m determined to tighten my purse strings and never loosen them no matter what.
You’re not getting a single gold from me!
“Well, I’ll refrain from taking money from you guys. You’ve helped me a lot.”
“Hou. That’s admirable of you, money-grubbing elf. Let me give you some pocket money as a reward.”
“Eh! For real?! Yay!”
“Sakurai-san???”
Shit, I reflexively threw 100G.
I always gave her money to earn her affection whenever I saw her in the game. Was it because that routine had been ingrained in my body?
“By the way, the first thing we should do when we arrive at the academy is to make an appointment with the principal to give him our report. Don’t you run off somewhere on your own, okay, Tōru?”
“I know. I’ve got to figure out a way to destroy the changing room, anyway. I can wait while I’m doing that.”
“Sakurai-san, please stop that line of thinking. We first have to talk it out with the principal, the requester. If you acted without permission, your reward would be gone with the wind, you know? Since you’ve worked hard to keep your promises back at the Elf Territory, let’s try a little harder. Okay?”
Tch, I guess I should listen, then.
After all, I learned the importance of keeping promises through this incident.
As a result of doing my best to keep my promise to Amanai, I earned the goodwill of the Tyners before I knew it, and I also gained the cooperation of Ayako and the daemon.
Not to mention, although many unexpected things happened, the situation rolled to my advantage in the end, and my experience points (Joseph) even came back to me on their own even though they had grudgingly escaped in the middle of the battle.
This fact proves that ‘fate favors those who try to keep their promises’.
“Besides, the achievements you get from keeping your promises are powers in and of themselves! If you have achievements, people will turn a blind eye to some violence and crimes you did! I made the cathedral overrun by monsters, but I never got scolded at all! Those who try to keep their promises, fate as well as the world are on their side. And for those who’ve made achievements, society is on its side! It is as they say, ‘the good you do for others is the good you do for yourself’!”
“That’s the worst way to put it, but I can’t refute it.”
“If only the exchange rate for canceling crimes with achievements is made clear…”
“If it is, the world will end, you idiot.”
“Just when I thought you had taken a step forward, why did you end up taking a step backward instead, Sakurai-san?!”
Eh, is there something wrong with my understanding?
Having the conclusion you’ve made based on personal experience denied feels unpleasant.
Then tell me! What’s wrong with my whole understanding?! All you know to do is deny my opinions, just shut—o, ooh?
“Eh, woah, what the hell?! It’s shaking, the ground’s shaking?! Woaaaah?! Aaaaaaah?!”
“Hi-hihiiiin?! Hihi, hiiin?!”
“The ground, the ground is shakiiiiiiiing?! Sakurai-saaaaan, hewp mweeeee!!!”
“This should be magnitude 5-6—wait, no, it’s getting higher?! Both of you, hold your head and curl up!”
The earth shakes at that moment.
It is so sudden, without so much as an omen.
Loud rumblings mix with the girls’ screams. The earthquake disturbs not only my vision but also my internal organs.
As intense nausea rises from within my body, the surrounding air feels like it has solidified and gives off an intense feeling of oppression. My breathing becomes unnaturally shallow.
The shaking is so strong that I can’t even stand up and it throws me off the coachman’s seat and into the back of the carriage.
I hit my head on the luggage or something, but the shaking keep coming one after another regardless of my pain.
I hear something, but I can’t tell if it’s the sound of the earth cracking, the screams of Iris and Ethel, or the sound of the carriage breaking.
I’ve never experienced such a big earthquake before, even in my previous life. I can do nothing but hold on with my companions clinging to me until it’s over.
After a long, indeterminate amount of time has passed, the earthquake finally subsides. As I take deep breaths, the discomfort caused by my semicircular canals going out of order slowly recovers.
“Hey, you two okay?”
“Uh… ueh… my stomach feels queasy… uuuh.”
“S-Sakurai-san! Your head! It’s bleeding!”
“What? Oh, it’s just a small cut I got from hitting the luggage or something, it’ll recover on its own. Freon! You okay!”
“Bruhihiiin.”
Looks like everyone is safe. One of the wheels of the carriage is broken, and our luggage is scattered everywhere, but there’s no serious problem.
If this was in the middle of the town or the forest with trees growing around, I wonder what would have happened… it can be said that we were lucky, in a sense.
Still, to think the carriage would break when we’re already so close to our destination. Would it be quicker to head to the city and call over someone who can fix it?
When I raise my eyes while thinking about such things—I, we, become lost for words.
“What is… that monstrosity?” Ethel mutters quietly. As she says, ahead of our gazes, there’s a being that can only be described as a monstrosity.
It must have appeared along with the earthquake, standing in the center of the city. Looking from a distance, I guess it’s roughly 200m tall.
It appears as though it’s made from piles of countless concrete blocks, shaped like a human without a head.
Its upper body looks as though it is covered by plain western armor.
Its arms are also made of block structures, curving from the upper arm to the wrist.
However, it doesn’t have hands, the surfaces of the wrists are flat like a mallet.
Meanwhile, the lower of the body looks like thick skeletal legs, giving off a primitive yet powerful impression. To better imagine it, think of mechas’ internal frames.
When it lifts its leg, I can see the large, flat foot supporting its entire body, which has been hidden by buildings.
Just by taking a single step, it makes the earth rumble and quake so heavily that it can be felt from where we are.
And every time the giant moves, it spills things into the city from several holes in its arms.
They look like clumps of mud of sorts. I’m not sure what they are, but at the very least I can tell that they’re bad news.
I have no knowledge of this monstrosity.
It is a completely brand-new ‘something’ that didn’t even exist in the original game.
“What the hell is that?! That giant thing?!”
“Is that the cause of the earthquake?! People in the city are in danger!”
Ethel and Iris panic, but I just keep silent and stare at the monster… at the headless giant.
Yeah, it didn’t exist in the original game.
But upon closer look at the giant, I can get a hint of its identity.
For example, a familiar structure is visible around the giant’s neck.
It must have been brought along when it rose. It’s the building built to protect the entrance to the first floor from rain and wind.
Another example is the holes in its body and the things that fall from them.
When I look closely, the number of holes matches the number of secret passages I know, and the clumps of things that fall from there break apart in the air and transform into silhouettes of monsters I’m familiar with.
Another example, another example, another example.
I can see many hints, and they lead me to one conclusion.
“…Iris. Can you use your magic to repair the wheel and then make an ice horse to take you to the city?”
“Eh, ah, yes. I can do that.”
“Then, I’ll go to the city first! Freon! Let’s go!”
“Brfun! Hihiiin!”
I grab my luggage bag, pick up my weapon, and then get on Freon and kick his belly.
Despite the rough treatment, Freon understands my will. He snorts and starts running with all his might.
“Wait, Tōru! Don’t be reckless and do things on your own?!”
“Sakurai-san?! Wai-hya?! So hot?!”
“Shut up! I’m in a hurry!!”
Paying no heed to their words, I take out the Three-Sky Series and attach it to Freon, and the horse instantly becomes a flying horse.
Ordinarily, we would have to run on the level road, but using the cloud road created by the effect of the Three-Sky Series, we take the shortest route, going in a straight line to the giant.
“There’s no mistaking it…”
I bend down to reduce the wind resistance, even if little.
The wind that hits my body should feel terribly cold in proportion to the speed, but my body is hot from the anger that boils up inside me.
“That’s mine…”
I can do nothing being so far away from it.
That’s why I have to hurry to get to it. I know that, but my anger leaks out of my tightly clenched mouth.
I’m soon no longer able to hold it in, and, driven by my anger, I let out the loudest roar I’ve ever released since I was born into this world.
“—THAT’S MY DUNGEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!”
The giant is the ‘Academy Dungeon’.
Why or how it became like this, I don’t know.
But from the information I got from Joseph and the mayhem taking place in front of my eyes, I’m sure Nanashino Katsumi and his faction who blocked the academy dungeon are behind it.
“I’M GONNA KILL YOU! EVERYONE OF YOU WHO PUT YOUR HANDS ON MY DUNGEON! I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL ALL OF YOUUUUUUUUUU!!”
I’ll slay them all.
The extremely strong killing intent contained in the simple words become my one and only driving force.
