"Hngh~ this is nice" (Makoto)
Now then.
I stretch my body and take a deep breath, inhaling the air of the forest.
Taking the bow with one hand, I gaze at the handmade target. The distance is, around
150m. I left the target in a place that was covered with trees and difficult to see on
purpose, so I made it so the distance isn't that far.
That I have left so many obstructions on purpose is because I want to practice with
my bow for the times when we are in the outskirts. I learned this from Sensei. Now
that I think about it, she made me consider the situations and the requirements a lot.
How nostalgic.
I take a sit.
Ah~, this moment is so good.
My mind is going blank. Hit the middle. Just thinking about that and concentrating on
it. And then, spread my consciousness.
Changing my own existence into everything that is in the path to my target.
Me, my bow, the target, obstructions, the leaves and branches as well. Gathering them
all into one self, I once again form the image in front of me.
Now, with this, I can even draw the trajectory that will take the arrow until it reaches
the target. Well even if I said this, my friends only told me that it sounded right out of
a TV program though!
I silently stand up and prepare my bow, pairing it with an arrow. For me, this is a
gesture that has been perfected. I have repeated this process thousands of times.
To become healthy, to grow stronger, to get better. Having a goal is what helps you
change.
It's not an exaggeration to say that I have passed most of my life using the bow. My
sisters were also learning martial arts. And the percent is certainly lower than mine.
It's not only because my body was weaker than other people, but it was a good part of
the reason.
As a result, I was able to change my weak body, and it had an attraction that made me
devote myself to it. I made my family worry, but it wasn't painful at all.
The first time I shot my bow in Asora I didn't hold back my power, I remember that I
blew up the whole target.
I have properly made adjustments in that part.
After I finished putting everything up together, the simulation of the result has been
done. The image of my arrow piercing the target will surely become reality.
"Fu~~" (Makoto)
My gathered fighting spirit becomes a breath and is released.
The arrow pierces the target as if it was being sucked in.
Again and again.
It's a chance that hasn't come for a while, so I shot several arrows.
And even though I am doing that, I don't feel tired at all. Maybe it's because I now have
a superhuman body, or it might be because I am doing the archery that I love.
"And the target didn't split. Hmph, good" (Makoto)
The sweat that was running down my forehead felt comfortable.
I don't know how it works, but I lift my head up and look at the starry sky of the night.
I don't know if this place called Asora is actually a different dimension that has been
created, or if it is a different world altogether. I seriously can't understand this place
at all.
If the sky and stars exist, does it mean that a universe also exists? If that is the case,
would it be the universe of this world, or would it be from my previous world, or is it
a third universe that belongs to neither of the two?
"Waka"
*Startle*
Did, I mess up again?
Why is it that when I use the bow I end up so defenseless?!
Would it be fine if instead of 'concentrating' on the line that connects me and the
target, I concentrate on the surroundings of that line?
But how would I do that?… I will try combining [Sakai] with it. I don't hate an honest
trial and error.
Oops, no good.
Now, who is it this time?
"Tomoe. And Mio too huh" (Makoto)
Maybe it's because my mind is clear, I can perceive nervousness in the movements of
those twos' bodies. Is it an urgent state?
But, I feel like Mio-san is the one that looks as if she will cry at any time. Why?
"Was that just now, Waka's bow training?" (Tomoe)
Tomoe does a serious, no, a meek face.
"…Yeah. That's right. What is it? Your behavior is stiff" (Makoto)
"Are you telling me that Waka has been doing this kind of training all this time?"
(Tomoe)
From Tomoe's face, a single sweat runs down her cheek.
What is it? What in the world is going on? Mio is beginning to tremble you know?
More like, hey! Why are you plunging onto me Mio-san?!
"Uoh?! What in the world is going on?!" (Makoto)
"Waka-sama~, you are alive! You are alive right?!" (Mio)
It seems that while she was rubbing her whole body onto me, she checked if I was
alright.
Don't tell me, an enemy raid?!
"Hey Tomoe! Don't tell me that it's an enemy raid!" (Makoto)
"…No. I am sorry for the rudeness, we saw your training just now. It was in the middle
of it though" (Tomoe)
"Huh? And?" (Makoto)
I don't understand the situation at all.
"The concentration that Waka does before shooting the arrow, or I don't know if that
is the correct way to call it, but it's the time when you are sitting" (Tomoe)
"Aha?" (Makoto)
"The presence of Waka suddenly became thin, it was as if you meshed into the
surroundings" (Tomoe)
"Aha…" (Makoto)
And what of it?
"It's not 'Aha'! That, that means, Waka's consciousness died, is what it means-de gozai
masu!" (Tomoe)
Hearing my affirmation, Tomoe made an incredibly intense shout. It was a daily
practice that I have been doing for more than 10 years. Why would I die?!
"Eh? Why would I die from that?" (Makoto)
"For people to stop their consciousness and scatter it, that is a state you can only reach
when you are dead or in a state close to that!" (Tomoe)
"I-Is that so?" (Makoto)
Even if you tell me that, it was self-taught, but it is my own way to concentrate.
"Waka-sama… Waka-sama suddenly disappeared from the party. When we stealthily
left to search, your presence suddenly became thin, and then, as if melting away,
disappeared-desu!!" (Mio)
She was weeping while a grand amount of tears ran down.
Oou. Mio-san is crying.
I, have done something bad… I think?
"Ah~ Uhm, I am sorry for leaving the party ahead of time, but this is something that I
have been doing in the past, it's like confirming my archery, or like, to calm my heart.
So there is no need for you to worry…" (Makoto)
"…Waka, Waka said that you were just concentrating. What does that mean? Are you
telling me that you call dispersing your consciousness, concentrating?" (Tomoe)
The infuriated Tomoe asked me a question while placing a hand on her forehead. Her
temples were pulsating, and even her veins were showing.
What? I may have worried them but, is it something that would anger them up to this
point?
"Yeah, when I calm down my mind and turn it blank, I extend my consciousness to the
target, and when I collect the target, bow, and me, into one I…" (Makoto)
"Waka!" (Tomoe)
"I am still talking though?!" (Makoto)
"Are you telling me that you dispersed your consciousness up to that place and then
recomposed yourself?!" (Tomoe)
"That is what I am telling you am I not?!" (Makoto)
It's more like firing it than dispersing it though.
"…Wa~ Waka, I have solved a numbers of the recent mysteries" (Tomoe)
She abruptly changed the subject.
"What is it this time?" (Makoto)
"Everything is the fault of Waka's bow training. You called it archery right? That is the
reason" (Tomoe)
"What are you referring to?" (Makoto)
What, is it suddenly great detective time?
"The increase of Waka's magic power. In reality, it should be impossible. Because there
is an upper limit or fixed after all. Even if you do a large extent of training it will still
be at a normal level, even as you grow up it won't increase" (Tomoe)
Tomoe that was hanging her head down with a hand on her forehead, looks at me
firmly. It was like a cut-in from P4*.
"However, on the day that Waka made a pact with Mio, your magic power was already
incomparable to the time when you did a pact with me. And after that, the 'maximum
capacity level' was increasing at a crazy pace" (Tomoe)
"Wasn't it that your eye measured wrong?" (Makoto)
"That possibility is null. I have been comparing your magic power since the time I
made a pact with you after all. And even now, the pace in which the Draupnir dyes is
getting faster" (Tomoe)
Uh, that is certainly true. The time it takes to become red feels like it's getting shorter.
I thought that some trigger was the reason that made it that way though.
"And then, Waka…" (Tomoe)
"What?" (Makoto)
"Right now, Asora has gotten bigger" (Tomoe)
"HAH?!" (Makoto)
Making such a serious revelation so suddenly! Didn't I ask you to investigate it last
time and you told me that it was still an unsettled matter?!
"It may be unbelievable for Waka, but that characteristic concentration of yours has
doubled your own magic power" (Tomoe)
"DOUBLED?!" (Makoto)
"What Waka was doing is close to suicide in our eyes, but for Waka it should be
something habitual. That's why we were looking at it for a while without interrupting,
and it has become certain" (Tomoe)
"Like I would kill myself by just concentrating!" (Makoto)
"The dispersing of Waka's consciousness and its reforming, and, as if matching it, the
size of Asora increased at once. Since now, it has done so approximately 5 times. Even
though it's been a while since it has occurred" (Tomoe)
"Are you telling me that a river or a mountain has been created once again?!"(Makoto)
"No, it only got bigger-de gozai masu. It will most likely experience a geographical
change when you make a pact with a new servant" (Tomoe)
"…Hey, are you serious? Are you telling me that I can't pull my bow calmly from now
on?" (Makoto)
"You don't enter such a deep state of concentration when you are in actual combat
right? In actuality, it didn't produce any increases when you did so" (Tomoe)
"So the lever is triggered when I do archery in a calm manner. Well, even with that it's
still troublesome" (Makoto)
"We will think about a countermeasure for that in the future, but the problem is the
increase in magic power-de gozai masu" (Tomoe)
"Eh?" (Makoto)
Is there something worse than Asora getting bigger? Magic power amount?
"With the current amount of magic power that Waka possesses, it would be easy to
make a pact with a mountain of existences in our level. Even though you needed close
to half of your magic when you made a pact with me" (Tomoe)
Eh.
"Okay, listen well please, Waka. Your current magic power amount, can only be
compared to…" (Tomoe)
Eeeh.
"…Most likely, Goddess class. No, there might be a chance that it would even surpass
that in the near future" (Tomoe)
Eeeeeh?
Bug class magic power? What is that? Are you telling me that I have enough magic
power to rival a God?
That means it would be even harder to hide it! It would increase my burden even
more!
Gyaa! It has surpassed the dimension of hiding myself with a mask! Even though I
already made up my resolve to take it off, a new problem has surfaced!
"Anyways, please suppress it. I recommend changing your Draupnirs every day. I will
tell the dwarfs to prioritize on making the equipment" (Tomoe)
That 'In the worst case scenario I will be asking them to make equipment with
absorbing functions as priority', is what she said.
"Just, why did it come to this?" (Makoto)
"The problem is most likely the dispersing of your consciousness and reforming of it.
When Waka does that, you experience dead, and it turns into a situation where you
are being born once again. At that time, your maryoku goes from zero to a sudden
increase, is what I think" (Tomoe)
By dying and reviving the magic power separates? And by repeating this process it
doubles and doubles and doubles and then doubles again? What's that, it's not sweet
at all.
"This Asora as well" (Tomoe)
There's still more?
"The circumstances are changing. If we go by this assumption, the Asora that has
become bigger after doing a pact with Waka, there is a chance that Waka will
unconsciously 'create a world' that is close to your original world" (Tomoe)
"World, creation?!" (Makoto)
"We also don't know about this, but there are a lot of things here that existed in Waka's
world, so we can infer that" (Tomoe)
"No no no no, using just that as evidence is a bit…" (Makoto)
"Yeah, but the stars alignment is something that I can't understand at all. If this is the
starry sky that Waka knows of, then it means that this is a new world of Asora that
Waka has created. Then I could understand why the world changes whenever you
make a new pact. Because when the creator adds a new servant, the worlds' laws will
increase after all" (Tomoe)
Starry sky.
Yeah, it may be a wishful observation, but this should be a completely different sky
from the one in my memories. That's right, as expected, I don't want to believe such a
crazy thing like me creating a new world after just a few days of arriving to it.
Yeah, hm, yeap, a sky I don't know of. It's fine right? The constellations.
I am not versed in that area, so I don't know if Ursa Major was a small W or if it was
an hourglass. Like Aquarius, Gemini, Sagittarius. I only remember the shape of those.
"Ursa Major, Cassiopeia, Orion" (Makoto)
I-I-I found them?!
The arrangement is a mess though. There is a constellation at that part! It may be
ignoring the seasons, but it is certainly there!
"It seems that, there is a resemblance in the sky huh. I am happy that the mystery has
been solved, but I have to put my hands down to this" (Tomoe)
"Bug, no, the Goddess?" (Makoto)
"Yeah, taking into account the temperament of that Goddess. If she knows of this, she
would most likely move to eliminate Waka" (Tomoe)
Well yeah, if it's that Goddess, she would certainly do that. She might even use the
heroes. This is not an ambition of mine. Certainly not.
"Let's hide it for now and think about a counter measure for it" (Tomoe)
This samurai great detective.
Now that I have restraint my magic power completely, for now I should hide it. I really
don't want a confrontation with the heroes.
I should take a break from archery for a while. Then that means, being able to shoot a
lot today was some sort of blessing.
Yeah, a blessing. At least it reduced the chances of having the last boss attack suddenly.
Optimistic mind, optimistic mind.
Ah that's right, as soon as I get to meet the medicine related people that Rembrandtsan will present me to, I will go to Academy Town.
And while I'm at it, I should live the life of a student. Ahaha, ahahahaha~~!