"Now what could this be?" Yumina found something strange as we were
searching through the artifacts in Babylon's Storehouse (with the exception of
any dangerous and/or sexual artifacts).
Okay, so while it was indeed strange, I knew exactly what it was with just a
cursory glance. It was a cube with its six sides each marked with a different
number of stars (☆), from one star to six. No matter how you looked at it, it
was a die.
It seemed that dice existed in this world, too. Except they weren't called dice,
but "dicen" instead.
And they were used as a divination tool to make decisions with the guidance
of the spirits rather than a random number generator for games and the like.
"It's quite big for a dicen, isn't it?" Lu muttered after taking a look at the die
Yumina was holding. It was indeed quite big. Dice were usually about one or
two centimeters wide, even over here. But the one Yumina had was about
thirty centimeters wide. It was comically huge as far as dice go.
"Is this perhaps another artifact?"
"I'd assume so, since it's in the Storehouse and all, but..." Elze and Linze
paused their sorting of the weapons and weapon accessories and came over
this way. Oh, and if you were wondering, I had already unlocked all the chests.
Yae and Hilde were carrying over the sorted chests, but also paused to send a
curious look this way.
"Find any spec sheets?"
"No... not at all. This is all we found." All of the artifacts stored in the
Storehouse were contained in cubic chests. The artifacts, including the
blueprints, were all compressed and stored similarly through a technique
similar to my [Storage] spell.
Without the spec sheets, we'd have no idea how to use any of the artifacts.
Oh, and by the way, the spec sheets were written in Partheno, which I could
inexplicably read. According to Parshe, the inscription magic and translation
magic infused within was able to directly transmit the meaning into my brain
upon sight... or something like that. Anyway, I was just glad I didn't have to use
[Reading] to read it.
"I guess the easiest way to find out would be to just ask the manager, but...
where'd Parshe go, anyway?" Parshe, the manager of the Storehouse, was
nowhere to be found. Could've sworn she was here a second ago. Elze had just
the answer I was looking for.
"Oh, Parshe went to go deliver an artifact to the alchemy lab. She said it'd be
useful as a compounding tank or something." A compounding tank? Like for
pharmaceuticals or something? The Storehouse was Babylon's treasure trove. It
was filled with items that'd be useful for other buildings on Babylon, so there'd
be no problem redistributing them, but...
"Let's just hope she doesn't trip and break it..." That's the klutz of a manager
we're talking about. Pretty sure I wasn't the only one who was slightly worried.
"Hey, get back to work everyone! We want to get this over with at some point
in time, don't we?" Leen's voice came echoing down from the Storehouse loft.
Paula was up there with her hands placed angrily on her hips, too.
"If the Library is home to the crystallization of ancient knowledge, then the
Storehouse is home to the crystallization of ancient technology." Leen was
quite keen to see all things to be seen, it would seem.
"Since it's a dicen, it's meant to be thrown to decide something, right?
Lemme see it for a sec, Yumina."
"Ah, Sue! Wait...!" Before I could stop her, Sue snatched the die from Yumina
and tossed it into the air.
Though it may have been a die in shape, it was an artifact made by Doctor
Babylon herself. There was no telling what would happen. In fact, I was sure
that something would happen! The die bounced off the white floor of the
Storehouse before rolling and stopping on one.
"Ngh. That's bad luck." Did I mention that dicen were fortune-telling tools in
this world? Apparently six meant excellent luck, and one meant bad luck.
Sue furrowed her eyebrows and not a second later, the die started to make a
low whistling noise... when suddenly, we all got sucked in towards it. What the
hell? "Kyah?"
"W-what's going on?!"
"My liege?!" Right before my eyes, Yumina, Elze, and Yae got sucked into the
"one" star on the top of the die.
One by one, Linze, Lu, Leen, Sue, and Hilde got sucked in like a vacuum
cleaner, leaving Paula flailing around frantically before I got sucked into the die
as well.
"Dammit! See?! Of course something like this would happen!" I cursed the
name of the genius doctor from five millennia ago as my consciousness faded
away.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Oww... ...Where am I?" I woke up in a place that resembled Babylon's
garden. The flowers and the trees were bright and lively. Everyone else was
sitting around the lawn. Thank goodness. It looked like everyone was safe. But
still, where were we...?
"Touya, look at that."
"Huh? ...What is that...?" Yumina pointed up to the blue sky dotted with
clouds, where Paula's giant, translucent face peered down at us.
Up above was a faint five-pointed star pattern. Don't tell me...
"Are we inside the die?" Well, I did see everyone get sucked in, so I had a
feeling that was the case.
"Teleportation magic brought us to a reality marble... perhaps. It might be
similar to the hangar. Paula?! Can you hear us?" Leen shouted at the giant
Paula in the sky. Paula nodded and raised both fists in the air.
"We're safe! And sorry, but could you head to the alchemy lab and tell Parshe
what happened?" Paula nodded again before disappearing. She probably went
to go find Parshe. Who knows if we'll be safe, though... It's not like she could
talk... Well, I'm sure she'll be able to get the gist across with some charades. I
hope.
"Anyway, what exactly could this artifact be, I wonder?"
"An enemy-trapping artifact... perhaps?" Yae and Hilde wondered aloud as
they surveyed the area.
We are indeed trapped in here, but... I just remembered what this situation
reminded me of. It was like the magic gourd from Journey to the West that the
Gold Horn and Silver Horn Kings got sucked into after responding to their
names. It was like that, but... We didn't respond to our names.
How did Wukong escape from the gourd after he got sucked in, again?
"Excuse me, Touya... Can we not use your teleportation magic to escape?"
"Oh, right. That." I couldn't help but clap my hands after Lu pointed out the
obvious.
Why didn't I think of that...? Wow, how embarrassing. I cleared my throat,
activated [Gate] and... nothing happened. "What's wrong?"
"I can't open a [Gate] right now. In fact, my magic's just fizzling out."
"Huh?!" Leen and Linze tried using magic just to make sure, but their magic
too fizzled out, unable to activate. Seemed like magic couldn't be used here.
"Nope. Teleportation magic won't do you any good here."
"Wh-who's there?!" The voice came from midair, where a woman appeared,
sitting in a chair.
She wore glasses and a white coat as she smoked something like a cigarette.
Her eyes looked languid, but a bold smile adorned her face.
"Dr. Babylon..."
"Huh, that's her?!" Yumina's eyes popped.
That was her, beyond a shadow of a doubt. She was a perfect match to the 3D
model of her that Cesca showed me the first night I became the master of the
Garden. Oh, on second thought, this could just be another 3D model...
"Welcome to Babylon World. Allow me to entertain you with some
momentary amusement. The rules of this game are quite simple. Just roll the
dicen and advance that number of spaces. It's that simple." A map demarcated
with square spaces from Start to Finish appeared beside Dr. Babylon. And just
like the Storehouse spec sheets, the labels on the map appeared to be encoded
with translation magic, as I could read them even though they were written in
Partheno.
Sure, I could read it, but... umm...
"What is this, Snakes and Ladders...?" Not only did dicen exist five millennia
ago, but so did Snakes and Ladders, I guess. Seems it just fell out of fashion
these days for some reason. But anyway, that's not the problem.
"Hunt five goblins?"
"Gather ten stones..."
"Do an impression of a king ape?"
"What might these inscriptions on the spaces mean?" It didn't seem to click
with the others, but I knew exactly what was going on. When you landed on a
space, you had to do what was written there! "You have three hours. If you
reach the goal within that time limit, I shall return you to where you came from.
But even if you don't reach the goal in three hours, you'll still be returned to
where you came from, so don't worry."
"So I guess we're not trapped here forever." Linze breathed a sigh of relief.
Even if we don't reach the goal...? Sounds kinda fishy. There's no way the
doctor would make a child's game mere child's play.
After I gave her a dubious glare, the 3D model of Dr. Babylon predictably
continued to speak.
"But if you lose, I'll strip you all of your clothes as a penalty. And I do mean all
your clothes, including your underwear!"
"Ugh, you're the worst!!!" Everyone cast their voices in unison, echoing the
cast die.
So in other words, if we don't reach the goal in three hours, we'll be kicked
out of here butt-naked? "What?! Are you sure this person's really the Dr.
Babylon?!"
"I'm afraid so..." I gave the enraged Lu the cold, hard truth. I couldn't tell you
how many times I'd thought the exact same thing. The doctor was the type of
whimsical person to follow through on her impulses, no matter how stupid they
might be. The fact that she was a genius only made matters worse. She
undoubtedly must've been a headache to everyone around her.
"Now let the games begin. See you in three hours." The doctor's midair 3D
model disappeared and a die the same size as the one we got sucked into fell
down onto the ground.
And at the same time, the remaining time appeared next to the map and
began counting down.
"Wh-what do we do?"
"We do what we gotta do, or we'll be stripped naked?"
"It wouldn't be a problem if it were just us, but..." Yae, Elze, and Hilde all shot
their glances at me. Well, yeah. I knew exactly what they wanted to say.
"Darling, you're not thinking of losing on purpose, are you?"
"...No... Of course not..."
"You hesitated just now."
"You looked away just now." As soon as I answered Leen's question, Yumina
and Lu immediately shot me down with their double princess glare. Just let it
slide, Touya. Just let it slide.
Obviously, I had no intention of hindering everyone else... but I had to admit, I
was thinking if we lost, we lost. Even if we got out of there butt naked, I could
just use [Mosaic] to cover our bits.
"U-Uhm... time's ticking away..." Linze snapped everyone's attention back to
the map's timer. We had already wasted three minutes.
"Not good. We can't waste time or we'll be kicked out of here naked."
"So anyway, we just gotta roll that dicen, right? Go?" Sue tossed the giant die.
It bounced two or three times as it rolled. It landed on three.
"Ah, the marks on the map..." The star mark on the starting line began to
advance on the map. To show us which space we're supposed to land on, I
guess. And sure enough, the star mark stopped exactly three spaces later.
The next moment, the die disappeared and our surroundings transformed
into a forest.
"Hunt five silbirds...?" I read aloud the text written on the space we stopped
on, and right on cue, a number of squawking silver-winged birds started flying
out from the trees.
"I guess those are silbirds?"
"Are they real?" Yumina dubiously asked as she gazed at the silver birds
fluttering about the sky. I thought they were probably 3D models... or some sort
of summoning magic, but...
"Anyway, let's just follow the instructions." I unsheathed Brunhild in Gun
Mode and set my sights on the silver birds fluttering in the air.
I fired two shots. Pew, pew! The first shot missed. The second hit the silbird,
but instead of falling to the ground, it unexpectedly just faded away in the air.
Even though I shot regular bullets. Not magic bullets, just plain old regular
bullets.
"I guess it was just a model after all. Looks like they're set to disappear when
hit."
"Touya, allow me." Yumina took out the Colt Army Model 1860 I made for her
out from her ring's [Storage] and set her sights. I had modified the gun's barrel
and grip to make it easier for Yumina to hold, so it looked quite different from
the original model.
Yumina pulled the trigger in rapid succession, annihilating three silver birds as
they flew. Amazing.
Yumina shot down the last remaining bird with her keen eye as well.
And at the same time, a chime bonged and the giant die reappeared on the
ground.
"Looks like we cleared the requirements."
"Guess that means it wants us to continue." I nodded at Linze.
Roll the die and do what's written on the space you land on. Clear the
requirements and you can advance. Exactly like Snakes and Ladders. Except we
had no opponent, so we had no turns off to relax.
"Who's gonna roll next?" Sue asked as she picked up the die. I wasn't sure it
mattered who rolled the die, but we decided an order and had Elze roll next.
"What's written on the next few spaces?"
"Let's see... Sing a song, Advance two spaces, Laugh for an entire minute, Do a
thousand pushups, Talk like a cat, Wear the provided wig... None of these look
any good."
Lu frowned as she read the map. Well, that's the doctor for you. 'Advance two
spaces.' leading right to 'Do a thousand pushups.' is just plain cruel.
"Well, I'll give it a roll." Elze tossed the die with a yelp. The die tumbled on the
ground and stopped on six.
"Yay!" Elze did a fist pump. She realized that bigger numbers meant reaching
the goal faster. Which was great and all, but...
The map indicator rhythmically advanced spaces one by one.
Once the indicator stopped on the sixth space, our surroundings changed
once more. And once again, the die disappeared.
We appeared to be inside a castle's dressing room this time. Racks of clothes
surrounded us on all sides.
The walls on either side were full-length mirrors, and there was a desk in the
center of the room. A box with a large hole cut out of the top sat atop it. There
was something written on the side of the box facing us.
"The instructions on the space say to 'wear the designated wigs'... But I don't
see any wigs anywhere."
"Maybe they're inside the box? There's something written on it at least."
"Let's see here. 'Every person must stick their hand into the box and wear
whatever they pick out.' Wait, does that mean we have to, too?" Leen read the
words on the box, a hint of incredulity creeping into her voice. She'd expected
only the person who'd rolled the die would have to participate, but it seemed
this was something we'd all be doing. It appeared we'd be sharing our fates for
the duration of this game.
"Well...we might as well do this in dice-rolling order. Elze, you're first."
"Huh, me?!" Though the hole was rather wide, we couldn't see inside the box.
There must have been some kind of magical effect placed on it or something to
hide its contents.
Elze timidly lowered her hand into the box, grabbed something, and pulled it
out.
At first glance, it looked to be a brimless black hat, but...
"This is a wig?"
"Perhaps...something will happen if you put it on?" Elze hesitantly put the hat
on at her younger sister's urging. A second later, her hairstyle was transformed.
I see now. S-So this is how it works. Heh.
"Ahahahahaha! No way! I'm sorry, Elze this is just too good!!!"
"W-What?!" I couldn't stop laughing. The wig had turned Elze's hairdo into a
crew cut. I had no idea how it had managed to make her long hair disappear,
but it had. Illusion magic, perhaps? Bahahaha, I'm laughing too hard to think
straight! The others all turned away, doing their best to hide their laughter.
Confused, Elze turned to one of the mirrors to see what she looked like. "Are
you serious?!" Elze screamed as she saw her reflection.
She tried to take the cap off her head, but it seemed glued on. I suspected
that her hairstyle would remain this way until we rolled the dice again, or until
some time passed.
"Jeez! You guys hurry up and pull your wigs out too! Touya, you're next!"
"Wait, I'm next?!" Urged onward by Elze, I stuck my hand into the box and
pulled out a golden cap. This... looks flashy.
"Hurry up and put it on!"
"Alright, alright..." I turned around and put the cap on. When I turned back,
everyone burst into laughter. What kind of hairstyle did this wig give me? I
looked over at the mirror and saw a blonde, twin tailed me staring back. Are
you kidding me...
"Now we match, Darling. Heh." Leen walked up behind me and patted me on
the shoulder. This isn't the kind of matching I wanted! "Oh whatever! Everyone,
hurry up and get your wigs so we can get out of here! Who's next?!" Trying to
hide my embarrassment, I hurried the others onward. Everyone ended up with
a ridiculous hairstyle. Linze had ringlet curls, Yumina had an afro, Lu had
dreadlocks, Leen had a pompadour, Yae had a mohawk, Hilde had a lion's
mane, and Sue ended up looking half-bald.
Out of all of them, mine might actually have been the least ridiculous. Though
I still would have preferred Elze's crew cut wig. Actually, the hairstyles
themselves weren't ridiculous, it was just that none of them fit. There were
some people who could really pull off a pompadour or mohawk.
And Linze's ringlet curls actually looked kind of good on her. If she had a more
domineering personality, they would have fit her perfectly. As it was, they kind
of clashed with her quiet demeanor.
Once we all had our wigs on, the dicen fell to the ground again.
Linze picked it up and threw it with all her might. It landed on four. The star
mark moved another four spaces forward.
"This one says...'Everyone say aloud the color of your underwear.' Wait
whaaaaaat?!" Linze screamed hysterically. The girls all looked at each other in
shock. I let out a wild cheer inside my heart, but kept my expression perfectly
neutral.
"Hey Linze! Why'd you have to land there, of all places?!"
"You're scaring me, sis! Don't glare at me with that hairdo!" Linze raised her
arms to shield herself from Elze's menacing stare. The crew cut made her twice
as scary.
"We simply have to announce the color of our underwear? Very well, mine is
white." Sue casually announced her underwear's color. There's a lot I wanted to
say about her nonchalance when it came to underwear, but now wasn't the
time. I figured I might as well use this opportunity to mention mine too.
"I guess I'll say mine too. My underwear's black. Alright, next." Since I was
standing next to Sue, I more or less established that we'd go down in line.
Next was Yae, who was standing on my other side. She was looking awfully
flustered, which would have been cute if she didn't have a mohawk.
"Hm?" Mine and Sue's wigs had vanished. Ah, I get it now. Once we clear the
next event, the previous event's effects vanished.
"So they'll go away once we say our underwear's color."
"I wonder if that means they won't vanish if we lie about it." Yae muttered,
looking depressed. Had Yae been hoping to get away with a lie? Knowing her,
we would have been able to see through it right away.
Normally I'd have said no one would be that cruel, but knowing the doctor
she might really do it.
I was wearing black boxers, so my answer certainly hadn't been a lie. I'd
gotten them from Zanac's shop, and they were a copy of the underwear I'd
been wearing when I'd first come to this world.
"M-My underwear also happens to be... wh-wh... ngh... r-red..." Yae's face
went as red as her underwear as she said that. She buried her face in her hands
and crouched down.
The mohawk vanished, and was replaced by her usual hairstyle. It seemed
answering really did get rid of our wigs.
So her underwear is red, huh? If I recall correctly, Yae's a fan of loincloths.
Which would mean right now she's wearing a red loincloth.
My musings were interrupted by Leen, who held out something to me with a
grin. I believe she was next in line to answer.
"What're these?"
"Earplugs. I can't sleep at night without them. Good thing I always keep them
on me. I don't suppose you could put those on for me, Darling?"
"Nice going, Leen!"
"Why did you not bring those out earlier, why did you not?!" Yae accosted
Leen, tears in her eyes. Tch, I can't believe she had countermeasures in place... I
reluctantly put in the earplugs. Wow, these really block out sound well. I never
would have expected a fantasy world's earplugs to be so well designed.
I watched as everyone said the color of their underwear, and their hairstyles
returned to normal. Tsk...
Hilde was the last to go, and after she'd finished, the die fell to the ground
once more.
"It is my turn now, I believe. Hah!" Yae added a hefty spin to the die as she
threw it. Almost as if she were venting her frustrations onto the die.
This time the dicen came up on five. Thank goodness, it looks like we're
getting through this pretty fast.
We went through a whole slew of events, including eating very spicy food
without water, dancing for a minute straight, and so on. Each of them were the
kinds of things you'd get in a punishment game. Finally, we were only a few
spaces from the goal. With plenty of time to spare, too. We'll be able to make it,
right? Though I was wondering what was taking Paula so long. She should have
been able to get Parshe by now.
"Hah!" Leen threw the dicen, and it landed on four.
The marker moved four spaces forward, and like always our surroundings
began to morph.
"Whoa?!"
"It's the beach?!" A picturesque view spread out before us. Bright white sand,
a clear blue sky, and dazzling sapphire waves as far as the eye could see.
"Is this really all an illusion?"
"The sea breeze smells so real..." Sue ran up to the water's edge and began
splashing about in the shallows.
"This must be real. The water feels completely real."
"Hmm...It even tastes salty. I wonder if space-time magic and barrier
magic...and summoning magic would be enough to make a fake sea like this."
Leen squatted down, dipped her finger into the water, and licked it.
There were wave pools and the like back on Earth, so I guess it shouldn't have
been too surprising that magic could replicate an ocean here too. Even I could
make waves with water magic.
"This is astounding... Ancient technology really is impressive." Leen was right,
this was still quite impressive. Except all this technology was being used to
make a board game...
Oh yeah, what were the instructions for this tile again? I looked at the map
and read the instructions aloud.
"Change into the designated clothes? Does that mean..."
"I believe it's these... Touya."
"Huh? Oh..." I turned around to see Lu standing next to a clothes rack that
had been left lying on the beach. She took one of the outfits and showed it to
me.
It was a swimsuit. That's about as cliched as it gets. There was another clothes
rack with men's' swimsuits. There was even a changing tent.
"Wait! This swimsuit's just a few pieces of string!"
"Apparently it adjusts itself to fit whoever's wearing it. Is this, too, a product
of ancient technology?"
"These are all awfully revealing..." The girls gathered around the clothes rack
and started looking for swimsuits they liked.
I figured I wouldn't have to be as picky, since I don't much care what I'm
wearing. But when I started looking through the rack, I realized most of these
were rather bizarre.
I'm not even sure how to wear this one... It goes in a V-shape down to my
crotch...The doctor sure had some strange tastes. And this is just... a single leaf.
Just because a comedy group wore it doesn't mean I will! There was another
one that was completely transparent, and another that resembled a very tight
speedo. Finally, I managed to find a normal pair of swim trunks.
I headed toward the changing tent, then stopped. It might be a good idea to
see what happens when I get these trunks wet first. After all, knowing the
doctor, they might have ended up dissolving in water.
It turned out they were safe, so I went to go change. Inside the tent there was
a tiny chest and a small placard next to it that said "Please put your clothes in
here once you've changed." Apparently, after a set amount of time, the clothes
I was wearing and the clothes in this chest would be swapped. Which meant if I
didn't want to end up naked, I better do as the sign said. I put the clothes in the
chest and shut the lid. There was an audible click as the chest locked itself. I am
going to get my clothes back later, aren't I? As I expected, the girls took longer
to change. They do realize that if we take too long our time limit'll be up and
we'll get thrown out naked right?
"Sorry we took so long, Touya."
"Ah..." Yumina left the tent first. She was wearing a white one-piece suit with
a floral design.
Sue came out afterward, clad in a yellow polka-dot one-piece with frills.
Next came Elze and Linze, both wearing standard bikinis. Elze's was red and
Linze's was blue.
Next came Yae, wearing a purple ensemble with a pareo wrapped around her.
As expected, Yae's bust revealed its true powers when freed from the surly
bonds of her sarashi.
Hilde finally came out, though she seemed more than shy. Come to think of it,
this was the first time I'd seen Hilde in a swimsuit. She wore a frilly orange
bikini. The bottom had a skirt-like design. Hilde wasn't quite on Yae's level, but
she had some mighty fine assets.
I wondered why they had their swords, though... Then again, I wasn't one to
talk, I'd brought Brunhild with me just in case.
I also looked over to see Lu's swimsuit for the first time. It was an emerald
one-piece with a halterneck.
Finally Leen showed up, clad in a frilly black bikini halterneck. She had a more
mature atmosphere about her, but it was offset a bit by her childish body.
Much like Hilde, the bottom piece of her suit was skirt-like.
"Sorry it took us so long, there was a lot to choose from in there."
"Th-There was one outfit that was just three seashells. What was that doctor
thinking...?" She was thinking something messed up, Elze.
Hm? I smelled something. What's this? "What's that nice smell?"
"Oh, it seems like our swimsuits are lightly scented... Not too much, though."
It smelled vaguely like citrus, with a bit of mint mixed in. I wondered if this was
a normal fragrance in the ancient kingdom. Or maybe it was just something that
swimsuits were designed to have... Though I couldn't help but notice mine
didn't have any such scent.
Still, it was a rare opportunity to bring everyone together at the beach. I was a
little bit thankful to the pervy old doctor. Though I'd never say something like
that out loud.
We all decided to start rolling the dicen again. Just because we'd gotten
changed didn't mean the game was over, after all.
"The goal isn't that far off."
"We've still got around thirty minutes. But I'm a little worried about that one
space just before the goal..."
"Yeah, it says 'Must Stop'... I wonder what that's all about..." Yumina tilted
her head, but clearly had no idea. In typical board games like this, there was
often a space near the end that would make you go back to the start.
But this space said 'Must Stop,' not 'Back to the Start'... So I didn't think it was
that. If it actually does restart the game I'm gonna flip the board. I can't afford
to miss the goal here.
Even so, the wicked doctor had made this game. There was no telling what
she'd do to screw us over.
"By the way, Touya... It's your turn to roll."
"Hm? Ah, right then. Let's do it."
I took the dice from Lu and threw it on the sandy beach while giving it a
vertical spin. It rolled a few times before landing on a six.
Hell yeah!
"Wow! We are so close to the goal now, we are!"
Yae jumped around in excitement, making her two assets move in a
captivating manner. It took an iron will to keep me from staring at them. I
noticed that Lu and Yumina were looking at me with reproachful eyes, which
made me feel completely cornered.
Anyway, I brought the piece to the "Must Stop" square just before the goal,
but the surroundings remained unchanged. What the hell?
"Ah! It's saying something?!" Hilde pointed at a large square on the map.
"'Defeat the incoming enemy with only elemental magic?' What enemy?"
As I became puzzled, something appeared from the sea.
At first, it looked like a bluish slime, but a moment later, it actually stood up.
Indeed. It had legs to stand on. Though, I wasn't sure if legs was appropriate,
considering they were neither human nor draconic. In fact, they were tentacles,
which made the creature look highly... jellyfish-like.
Despite that, I couldn't help but feel that I was looking at a slime from a
certain game. Specifically, the one that could use healing magic. I mean... it
even had eye-like parts.
It was also pretty damn huge. About as large as Sango in Heavenly Beast
mode, in fact. This large slime-jellyfish was twisting its tentacles as it crawled
straight towards us.
"Th-That's a King Poison Jelly... Oh no..."
"Leen? You know about this thing?!" Her voice was shaky, so everyone looked
at her with worry.
"It's a magic beast with great vitality and tentacles that have both a weak
paralyzing poison and a lightning that it uses for offense. King Poison Slimes
don't actually attack people, but they're amphibious, and they often go ashore
to eat citrus fruits — a favorite of theirs."
"Citrus...? Hold on a second! You don't mean that..." Elze turned pallid and
glared at Leen.
"That's exactly what I mean. It's coming towards us because of how we smell
right now. Our swimsuits are drenched in the scent of citrus." Leen forced a grin
as the rest of us became dumbfounded.
She played us like a damn fiddle!
All of us present shared that exact same thought.
That damn pervert had accounted for everything.
"It's coming!" Hilde's cry made everyone split up. She readied her sword, Yae
unsheathed her katana, Lu took her twin blades out of her ring's [Storage], and
Elze equipped her gauntlets from the ring on her neck's chain.
Wait... Will the magic on them even work?
"What shall we do?"
"Well, we could distract it by throwing our swimsuits away..."
"There's no way we're doing that!"
"I-I know! I'm just thinking out loud!" Elze turned beet red and strongly
rejected my suggestion. Well, it wasn't like I expected her to agree. Still, our
actual clothes were in a locked treasure chest.
"Guess we'll have to do it."
"A-Are you sure?" Linze looked at me with an unpleasant expression.
Hey, I'm with you here. I don't want to fight this crawly, slimy thing, either.
"You know we're losing if we take too long, right?"
"Uwah... I-I don't want that. Entwine thus, Ice! Frozen Curse: [Icebind]!"
"BLRLRLRLRLRLRLR!" The poison jelly raised a weird voice as it detached its
freezing tentacles from the rest of its body and escaped Linze's spell.
A moment later, the torn tentacles were exactly as they were before. Is this
regeneration? Or healing magic? The damn thing seems more and more like the
slime from the game.
"BLRRR!" The poison jelly then formed a cross with its tentacles and launched
a lightning bolt.
Whoa! That was close! "Haah!"
"Yahh!" Hilde's sword and Yae's katana sliced off its tentacles... only for them
to regrow again.
"Nhh?!" Yae went in for another cut, but this time, the tentacles remained
attached.
It doesn't work? But that's a blade imbued with blaze? Upon further
inspection, I noticed that Yae's katana was covered in something slimy — likely
one of the poison jelly's secretions. Hilde's sword was in a similar state, and it
was clear that it had made their blades dull.
Not missing the opening in her defenses, the poison jelly wrapped its tentacle
around Yae's leg.
"Wha-?! EHHHHHH?!"
"Yae." Suddenly, the jelly flipped her around and began swinging, which, of
course, made her things swing along with her.
Crap! Get a hold of yourself, Touya!
Despite being held upside down, Yae didn't let go of her katana, which was a
testament to how much of a samurai she was.
Anyway, the poison jelly, likely aiming for her swimsuit, extended another one
of its tentacles.
"GYAAAHHH! S-STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY FROM MEEE!" Though her blade
couldn't cut, it could still repel, so she used her godlike sword arts to keep the
slimy appendages away.
The fact she was doing it despite being upside down seriously impressed me.
"Yae!"
Hilde ran to the tentacles to save Yae.
Oh, right, I have to help, too! I fixed Brunhild's sights on the eye-like thing and
fired a few bullets at it. I thought that was a weak spot and expected it to suffer
great damage, but the bullets merely sank a bit inside and were soon ejected
into the sea.
I'd expected the eye-like thing to be a core or something, but when I shot it
again, the result was exactly the same. Realizing I was wasting bullets, I decided
to shoot the tentacles holding Yae instead, but all I got was a clicking sound.
I'm out of bullets!
"[Reload]...! Wait, ah! My bullet pouch is in the chest with my clothes!"
Damn it! I was too careless! I wasted all my bullets! Linze and Yumina didn't
even have their guns, so they obviously didn't have any bullets, either.
"HYAAAHHH!" The scream made me turn, and I saw Hilde, held in the same
way as Yae. Hers were the second largest after Yae's, but their swaying was just
as tantalizing.
Crap! Keep a level head, damn it!
"Come forth, O Light! Shining Duet: [Light Arrow]!" Several bolts of light
escaped Linze's hands. A few of them landed on the jelly's head-like part, but it
didn't look like they had much of an effect.
"Poison jellies are highly resistant to magic. I don't think even a [Fire Storm]
could beat it." As we clenched our teeth in frustration, Leen explained why the
thing seemed so strong. Man, no jellyfish should be this much trouble.
"HYAAAHHH! Hey, you little...! Let me go!"
"KYAAAHHHHHH!" I turned to the screams again and noticed that both Elze
and Lu had joined Yae and Hilde in hanging. After looking at and comparing the
sizes of their swaying chests, I concluded that the new entries weren't
particularly distracting.
"Dunno why, but I'm kinda angry!"
"Same here." Oh no, they noticed the intricacies of my gaze and began
directing some sort of dark aura towards me.
Thankfully, they were too preoccupied with deflecting the tentacles reaching
for their swimsuits, so the aura soon began to disperse.
Phew.
Still, the situation was dire. If I charged in with Brunhild, I'd end up just like
Yae.
I could do something if Null magic was allowed, but... "Touya, something has
me curious..."
"What is it, Sue?" I turned to her, hoping to hear some sort of weak point
she'd figured out.
"I'm merely wondering why you don't call Kohaku and the others. Can't we
use summoning magic here?" "...Come forth, Darkness! Bring out my Desired
Heavenly Beasts of Covenant: [Sango, Kokuyou]...!"
Hey, I didn't forget, okay? I formed a magic circle on the beach, and it soon
began releasing a black mist. A few moments later, the mist cleared, leaving
Sango and Kokuyou floating in its place. Considering our enemy, I felt that these
two were a better choice than Kohaku and the rest.
"It's rare of you to sssummon usss, masster."
"Hm? Are we inside a subspace?"
"Sango, Kokuyou, can you do anything about that thing?" The spirit turtle and
black snake slowly turned to where I was pointing and then, with a pop of
smoke, returned to their true forms.
Is it just me, or are they bigger than before? "Massster, mind telling usss what
we are looking at?"
"Wah?!"
"Hyah?!"
"Bhuh?!"
"Kyah?!" After a single glare from Kokuyou, the poison jelly let go of the girls,
creating four splashes.
It also felt like the jellyfish started shaking and became pale.
Or was it always like that?
Sango took another step forward.
"I don't know the circumstances, but you seem to have mistreated our
master's ladies."
"Ohh dear me, that'sss not ssomething we can tolerate, isss it? You ready for
what'sss about to happen?" Kokuyou's dagger-sharp words made the poison
jelly squirm and run to the sea at incredible speeds. I think it's actually running
on water.
"DON'T YOU DARE RUN FROM ME, YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!" Following the shout,
Kokuyou launched a blade of water that quickly reached the poison jelly and
split it in half.
It's pretty impressive that its power didn't drop from this range.
As I stared in amazement, Sango and Kokuyou returned to their mini forms.
"Master, ladies. We took care of the lout, so rest easy."
"Hey now, Sssango dearesst, I'm the one who took care of it. Massster, any
praisse you're giving sshould go to me."
"Thanks, you two." I expressed my gratitude and pet their heads. Suddenly,
both of them disappeared. Thinking that they were forcefully unsummoned, I
tried calling them again, but the magic seemed to be sealed again.
Oh crap, I almost forgot about the girls. They dropped in the water after a
while of hanging upside down, so I had to check on them.
"Wait, stop right there! Touya! Don't move from where you are!"
"Eh?" Hilde popped her head out of the sea and told me to stay away. What?
"M-My swimsuit was taken by the water when I fell! Please stay there until I
find it!!!"
"S-Same here..."
What?! The girls on the beach went to help Hilde and Yae search for their
swimsuits.
Elze and Lu were just fine, though... Did it have something to do with size?
Impacts cause wilder shaking when they're big, so maybe that made it slip to
the side and... I looked away from the sea and considered the important things.
After some time, the swimsuits and the clothes in the treasure chest should
be exchanged, but we were on a limit here. That damn jellyfish sure was a time
waster.
Speaking of that thing, it was the enemy sent after us, so defeating it gave us
the dice.
"Well, the next square is the goal, so we're rising up regardless of what we
get."
"Sorry for the wait!" I turned to the voices coming from the sea and saw Hilde
in her complete swimsuit again. Yae, however, was hiding her chest with a
purple cloth tied around it. Is that her pareo? So they didn't find it, huh?
"Let's hurry, Touya. They've been poisoned by the jelly."
"What?!"
"It's paralysis poison. Really weak, too, so its effects should go away with
time, but we should still reach the goal as soon as possible." Leen explained the
situation while looking at the affected girls, who were all sitting down.
According to Yae, it felt like the leg the jelly grabbed had gone numb, and she
compared it to a long time sitting in an uncomfortable position, and it didn't
sound the least bit pleasant.
I took the dice, rolled it, and got a one, putting us right on the goal. We had a
total of three minutes left, so it was safe to say that we made it.
The piece moved to the goal, which caused the scenery to change. We all felt
the switch overwhelm our senses, but the result was perplexing, as it was just
another beach.
"Eh?!" I couldn't help but voice my shock. After all, there was a gate saying
"GOAL" about a hundred meters away from the shoreline.
Eh?! Just reaching the goal square wasn't enough?!
"H-Hey, can you girls run?!"
"Th-That would be a harsh task..." Yae answered with a forced smile. What do
I do? Sue, Leen, and Yumina wouldn't be able to carry the paralyzed girls,
meaning that I was the only one who could do it!
"Linze! Take Yumina and the rest and carry Lu to the goal!"
"O-Okay!" Lu was the most petite of the four, so she wouldn't have been that
much of a problem for them.
"I'll carry the rest! You first, Elze!"
"Eh! Wh-? Me?! Hyah?!" Ignoring her protests, I took her from the side and
raised her up in the so-called "princess carry."
Not a second later, I started running towards the goal.
Khh... Sand isn't easy to run on, and she's actually heavier than I tho— I felt a
sudden pressure on my skin. Elze's silent stare hurt me deeply. The feeling of
her skin on mine made my heart beat, but I tried my best to ignore it and just
run.
Upon reaching the goal, I placed Elze on the sand and dashed back to the
other girls.
On my way, I passed by Lu, being carried by the four unparalyzed girls. They
did it by holding a limb each, and it didn't look the least bit pleasant, but there
was nothing that could be done about this.
I raised Hilde from her sitting position and carried her on my back. Dashing a
hundred meters while princess carrying was really taxing, so I decided to switch
to this.
"T-Touya... A-Am I not heavy...?"
"Nooo, not at all. This is nothing... to me..." Despite what I said, my breath
was becoming ragged.
Man, I've been relying on [Boost] too much recently. I should really work out
more...
The poor surface, the blazing sun, and the two mounds pushing against my
back tired me both physically and mentally. Her breasts weren't touching me
directly, but there was only a single piece of cloth separating us, meaning that it
wasn't hard for me to feel both their softness and warmth.
Somehow hiding the pounding in my chest, I successfully brought Hilde to the
goal.
That left only Yae. Right as the girls finished carrying Lu, I dashed back to Yae,
and it was becoming really hard on my lungs and stamina.
I picked up Yae the same way I did Hilde. Her large — clearly bigger than
Hilde's — breasts attacked my back, but the pareo over them was thick enough
to make them significantly less powerful than Hilde's. I can bear this.
"A-Are you all right, Touya-dono?!"
"I... I'm... Fine!" I could barely even talk at this point. Honestly, I was probably
at my limit. My legs were shaking, and I felt like I could trip at any moment, but
I went too far to fall now, so I mustered my vigor and continued moving
forward.
I'm so close...! My leg sank into the sand, making me tilt forward. The goal
was just a few steps away, so I decided to jump towards it.
"Hyah?!"
"Bgrh!" Yae's weight overwhelmed me. As my face became buried in the
sand, someone took me by the arm and pulled me in.
Ow ow ow, hot hot hot! Apparently, my leg was still outside the goal. They
could've been a bit more gentle, though...
"W-We made it..."
"That was close." Linze's and Sue's voices made me look up and see that the
countdown was stuck at one second. That was too close for comfort...
"Congratulations on reaching the goal. Unfortunately, you are victorious. I will
now send you back to where you were. Feel free to play again whenever you
have the chance." Dr. Babylon's voice resounded from out of nowhere, and the
hot sand beneath my face was replaced with a cold floor. We cleared the game
and came back to the Storehouse.
The swimsuits we were wearing were replaced by our original clothing.
"[R-Refresh]..." I cast a stamina-healing spell on myself. Energy re-filled my
body, and the lethargy from before vanished like it was never there.
"Oh man..." That was horrible. That pervy doctor had no intention of letting
us reach the goal.
"I'm sooo tired... Touya, refresh me too..."
"M-Myself, as well, please."
"Same..." All the girls were tired, so I didn't hesitate in complying.
After that, I took the dice on the floor.
"Yeah, we're sealing this away. This artifact is a menace." I put it in the
Storehouse's safe box and locked it inside. As I breathed a tired sigh, I suddenly
heard hysteric voices from behind me.
"Eh?"
"Wha—?!"
"Heah?!" I turned around and saw the girls touch their own bodies, as if
looking for something that's missing.
Wh-What?
"Wh-Why? Why?!"
"Hey, what's wrong...?"
"STOOOP! Touya, don't move from where you are! Stay, boy!"
What am I, a dog?
Still, I did as she told and stood still. What happened?
"...Let me ask you one thing, darling. When we changed to our swimsuits, did
you put your clothes in the treasure chest?"
"Eh? Well, I did, yeah." I answered Leen's question as honestly as I could.
If I didn't place my clothes there, I wouldn't have gotten them back, right?
"And did you put your underwear in the underwear box?"
"What? I don't remember anything like that."
"Khhh... There's the problem. We've been tricked." Leen, her cheeks rosy,
clicked her tongue. What does she mean? "Our tent had a chest for clothes and
a chest for underwear... And we were wondering why there were two, but..."
"Eh?"
"We didn't get our underwear back." Sue told it like it was, and the rest of the
girls turned red and hung their heads.
Eh? So they're all going commando right n—?
"T-Touya, you turn around and count to a hundred! Look at us and I'm
punching you!"
"Ah, s-sure!" I quickly turned and heard them all run out of the room. That
damn pervy doctor never does anything good, does she? Wait, am I really
supposed to count to hundred all by myself? This is making me feel empty.
But wait, what happened to their underwear? Could it be that...?
I looked towards the sealed dice.
...Touya, no. Discard your wicked thoughts. They lead only to ruin.
I began counting unnecessarily loudly.
Once done with that, I got curious about Paula and went to the alchemy
tower, where I saw her vigorously gesturing to Flora and Parshe.
"Table? Book? Hmm... I don't really get it."
"I think-a she's talking about windows. Square windows!" She was probably
trying to tell them about the dice, but the two were too dense to figure it out.
Hell, she didn't even have to tell them anything. She could've just pulled them
over...
I tapped her shoulder to tell her that it's enough, but for some reason, that
just made her irritated and got her to gesture with even more intensity.
Later, I'd heard that Paula was seen doing a heated one-man show, which, in
my opinion, showed just how much of a hard-worker she was.