Translator: Rihn
Editor: Zioming
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Short Story 8: What Went on Behind the Scenes as the War Began (Top)
Author’s Note: It’s a 3-part short story this time; the second part will be posted at 12:00 and the third at 18:00. This part is from the point of view of one of the heroes, Kino Aichi. She appeared in Side Story Chapter 1 (though in name only).
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My name is Kino Aichi (female). I was just your average high school student, but for some reason I am now being called a hero in another world.
…Yeah, I know. I’m not someone who deserves to be called a hero… If you’re wondering why, it’s because I, …It’s because we, who have been summoned to this world, from the bottom of our hearts don’t really care about what happens to it. I mean, there’s no way such people can be called ‘heroes who will save the world’, right?
“Grrrr… Grah!”
“Kuh, it’s coming! Everyone, dodge it! Guhhh!!”
Shouted one of the male heroes who holds a blessing that’s well suited for battle. He wields a large sword which he used to block the monster’s incoming attack.
At the moment, we are being attacked by a monster in a certain forest. Although we are lauded as heroes who wield exceptional power, in reality, what a group of mere high school students can actually accomplish doesn’t really amount to much. And as proof of that, even in our current situation, with over a dozen heroes present, we are still struggling to deal with a single monster.
“Kino-san! What’s going on!? Wasn’t this supposed to be a safe route!?”
A girl who became a hero the same as me clung to me while crying, causing me to shake my head. I said it was a relatively safe route. Don’t go making things up on your own. Since monsters exist in this world, there probably isn’t a single place that is completely safe.
“Gwah!”
The boy struggling with the monster was finally overpowered, and was sent flying. The giant wolf monster looked at us appraisingly. …I guess it’s trying to decide which one of us to eat first.
“If even he couldn’t stop it, what can we do!? …What should we do!?”
“How should I know!? If I knew this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have come along in the first place!”
The boy who was blown away was a member of a sports club back in our home world, and was by far the one with the best physique among our group. But now that he was down for the count, the rest of the heroes became completely panicked, having no one but themselves to rely on. …Pathetic. If these people are heroes, then it’s seriously the end for this world. …Then again, it’s a world where Demon Lord exists, so it’s hard to say if it isn’t done for, to begin with. It can’t be helped. I don’t want to, but I suppose I’ll fight too.
When I was summoned to this world, I received an incomprehensible power called a blessing. Honestly, I don’t really like to, but it would be a waste to not use what I have.
“W-what the?”
Turning towards the male student who was blown away, I activated my blessing, “Colour Variation [Ten People, Ten Colours]”. It’s an ability that lets me fire what looks like coloured soap bubbles from my fingertips, giving a variety of buffs and debuffs, depending on their colour, to whomever they touch. By the way, if I shape my fingers like a gun, in exchange for not being able to fire multiple bubbles at the same time, their velocity increases significantly, so it’s indispensable for hitting enemies.
Just now, I shot the male student with ‘White – Recovery’, followed by ‘Red – Attack Power UP’, ‘Green – Defence Power Up’, and ‘Blue – Movement Speed Up’.
“T-this is… Power is welling up inside me. With this, I can do it! Uoooo!”
“Grr!? Guooon!”
Empowered by the buffs, the boy once again threw himself at the monster. Granted, he was still struggling with it, but he did seem to have the upper hand this time around.
“Kino-san! What did you just do!?”
I ignored the girl shouting at me and moved in on the monster as well. Approaching from its blind spot, I fired at it with ‘Yellow – Paralysis’, ‘Purple – Sleep’, and ‘Grey – All Status Down’. As soon as those hit, the monster’s movements became noticeable duller. Unfortunately, I failed to put it to sleep outright, but it seemed to be struggling a lot more now, so I guess it still had some effect.
“The monster’s movements became sluggish. …In that case, I can defeat it!”
“Grr… Graaaah!!!”
“Uwah!?”
The monster jumped back to withdraw from the fight, then jumped towards me instead. It seems to have judged me a bigger threat. …Wow, I’m honoured. (ED: In monotone)
However, coming closer to me was the worst move it could possibly make. I shot a full salvo of ten bubbles from my fingertips, all of them debuffs.
“Guruon! Grr… ZZZ…”
Having been hit directly by all of them, the monster’s resistance was finally overcome and it fell asleep.
“A-amazing…”
“So that’s the ‘Soap Artisan’, Kino Aichi, huh….”
I don’t really like the name, so I’d like them to stop calling me that…
More importantly, the monster won’t stay asleep for long, so let’s hurry up and finish it off. I drew my dagger and brought it to the base of the monster’s neck before slitting its throat in a single motion. The sleeping monster opened its eyes as it breathed its last breath. Apparently, that was enough to take care of it.
Since it was already dead, I cut open its chest to extract the magic stone. As expected of a monster of this class, it had a pretty nice one inside. …Why are the other heroes looking at me as if they had just seen something terrifying?
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Other than the aforementioned encounter with a monster in a forest, we didn’t face much trouble, and so we managed to safely arrive in the Holy City (and capital) of Elgant Holy State, a large country located far north of Eludia Kingdom that had originally summoned us. It’s a place that’s fully dedicated to following the teachings of the Goddess. (ED: Previously mentioned in Short Story 7 – The Shrine Maiden’s Oracle)
“So this is Elgant Holy State, huh…”
“The pure white buildings are quite beautiful.”
It was these heroes’ first time visiting this country, so they were understandably overwhelmed by its scenery. Well, it’s a place that really embodies the ‘holy feel’ that you often read about in fantasy stories, so it’s not that surprising for people to react this way on their first visit. As for me, I am now based in this country, so I’m not overwhelmed any more. …No, I guess we didn’t get overwhelmed on our first visit either.
“Everyone, welcome to Elgant Holy State.”
The person who welcomed us was Shippouin Kanna-senpai, a second year student who was said to be sure to become the next student council president back in our home world.
“S-Shippouin-senpai… What Kino-san said was all true…”
“So beautiful… I’m glad I followed you…”
“As expected, it’s like a painting…”
As soon as the heroes saw Shippouin-senpai’s face, they let out voices of admiration. …Well, it’s not unreasonable, seeing as Shippouin-senpai is a natural born winner. She’s a person who has both a good face and figure, a brilliant mind, and is good at both academics and athletics. She pretty much embodies all the virtues that most regular people strive for.
Her well-defined face is framed by long, beautiful and lustrous hair, and her body’s proportions are simply outstanding, especially her breasts. Compared to mine, …no, it would be wrong to even compare Shippouin-senpai, who would make a gravure idol run away crying, to me who is below average, even for my age. (ED: “Gravure idols are glamour models in Japan who are generally more provocative than regular models and idols, though not to the point of posing nude.” ~wiki)
Like, we’re talking someone who’s smart, athletic, and always excels at everything she does. …I mean, I did hear there was one other boy in second year who was also pretty crazy (in a good way), and while he didn’t stand out as much in class, he was pretty awesome when it came to sports. Although he didn’t belong to any club, he was athletic beyond compare, and had a major interest in aikido, naginata, jujitsu, and a wide range of other martial arts. Apparently, he was always at the centre of everyone’s attention during PE (That is, according to what I’ve heard from a girl who was in the same class as him).
And as if it were only obvious for a person who already had all that, her family is also super rich. She’s the daughter of the president of a large business group that controls a number of companies, meaning she’s a genuine lady, and not a mere upstart like myself. To put it bluntly, she is a perfect superwoman with but a single flaw.
“As you may have heard from Kino-san, there will be a briefing for everyone at the central temple of Elgant Holy State concerning your future. Please understand that this does not mean that everything will be the same as it was back in Eludia Kingdom.”
“””Y-yes…”””
The heroes, who were captivated by Shippouin-senpai’s smile, could only give such an empty reply. Sheesh, it must be troublesome for Shippouin-senpai to be so captivating even to members of her own sex. …Well, the irony here is, that, even with her endless charm, she is still utterly powerless against her one true love…
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After guiding the heroes to the temple, Shippouin-senpai and I returned to the mansion we live in. I’m sure those heroes would be super jealous if I told them that we live together. Oh, and I don’t mean it in a yuri way. There are no boys allowed because there are only 17 girls living there, but there’s nothing yuri about it.
We are simply comrades who share the same goal.
Now, I was pretty tired, but it was still my duty to give a report, so we went straight to the mansion’s office. Inside, we found several girls who were all busy doing paperwork.
“Once again, Kino-san, good work. It was close, but it seems you somehow still made it in time.”
Shippouin-senpai praised me for my hard work again. I nodded strongly at her words. It really was close.
“Since I’ve asked you to do something pretty unreasonable this time, please take a longer break after this.”
I nodded once more at Shippouin-senpai, who was smiling at me calmly.
“Thanks to you, Kino-san, we were able to help all the heroes who didn’t wish to participate in the war flee to Elgant Holy State. Thank you so much.”
I shook my head. It’s not something to be thanked for. Shippouin-senpai’s goal is also my goal after all.
My mission this time was to gather all the heroes who didn’t want to take part in the war between Eludia Kingdom and Kastal Queendom, and help them escape to the far away Elgant Holy State. When we received news that Eludia was planning to invade Kastal, we hurriedly contacted other heroes who by then have already spread out throughout various regions of the country, confirmed their future intentions, and brought those who had no wish to fight in a war against humans to Elgant Holy State in a way that wouldn’t be noticed by Eludia Kingdom.
Considering the nature of this mission being the facilitation of the heroes’ escape, I was chosen because of my blessing that allows me to do a variety of different things, and not just fight. For example, the ‘Black’ soap bubbles that I have just recently become able to use have the effect of concealment. By using them on the heroes who chose to flee, we were able to evade the surveillance that Eludia Kingdom had deployed.
Of course, it was still not an easy mission. There were many heroes who wanted to join the war, as well as those who turned on me, calling me a traitor. Not to mention, many among them had combat-oriented blessings, making them a major pain to deal with.
When this mission was first decided, the biggest obstacle was the existence of Sanokia Kingdom, a country located between Eludia Kingdom and Elgant Holy State, that’s infamous for its government being utterly corrupt. Understandably, we thought it would be nigh impossible to get them to help us with our plan, however, the situation changed drastically when we talked to Mizuhara-senpai, a fellow hero, who is active in the country, about helping the heroes who were against the war escape from Eludia. Mizuhara-senpai talked to the king, who had just recently been enthroned, and was able to secure the full cooperation of the entire country. I mean, I already knew that Mizuhara-senpai is an extraordinary person, but for her to even be rumoured to have played a major role in the recent coup-d’etat… (ED: Mizuhara Saki last appeared in ‘Side Story Chapter 4: The Sword Saintess’)
Anyway, with the help of Sanokia Kingdom, we somehow managed to get everyone out of there before the war started. We were also able to gather a lot of information on the war, and, no matter how you look at it, it is hard to justify the claims Eludia Kingdom is making. Well, we don’t have the power to protect the heroes who choose to take part in such an unjustified act of aggression, nor do we have any obligation to do so.
To begin with, we are just high school students. It won’t change no matter how many times they will call us heroes. It is simply wrong for a country to make us fight in a war, not to mention one that’s waged against another human country…
“It is unfortunate that there are heroes who would willingly take part in a war, but in a way, It may be just right.”
“Honestly, if such people were to stay around, they would only cause trouble for other heroes in the future.”
One of our comrades, Igarashi Mei-senpai, spoke up in agreement with Shippouin-senpai. She has a dignified face, a tall, well proportioned body, and a mature vibe that often times makes me wonder if she’s really the same age as me. If the two of us were to stand side by side, we would probably look like an older and younger sister at best. I myself may be below average, but even without that there are several among my comrades who have looks so out of the ordinary that I often find myself feeling inferior to them.
“Yes, I do feel sorry for them, but they will have to fall at the hands of Kastal Queendom in the upcoming war nonetheless.”
Shippouin-senpai spoke of the deaths of our schoolmates as if they were already decided, without any change in her expression.
“Yeah, it’s only obvious that Kastal will win.”
I nodded without hesitation at Igarashi-senpai’s remark. Normally speaking, there would be no conceivable way for Kastal Queendom, which doesn’t have a single hero, to win against Eludia Kingdom, which has more than a hundred, but all of us here still firmly believe that Kastal Queendom will win. No, we know that Kastal Queendom will win. And that’s because…
“There is no reason for Kastal Queendom, where Shindou-sama lives, to ever lose after all.”
All the girls present nodded in agreement to Shippouin-senpai’s words. Kastal Queendom has Shindou-sama. It is simply not possible for a country he sides with to be defeated by mere heroes.
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Author’s Note: There are always things going on in the shadows behind the war.
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