They left the HERO room through a door at the back and found themselves in a circular arena. There were no stands or audience, just a single stage in the center of a vast space. This was clearly going to be the tutorial battle.
Masato stood at the end of the stage, skimming the manual. He found the information he was after soon enough.
“Terra di Madre and Altura…”
The names of the swords Mamako had snatched.
The red one was Terra di Madre, the Holy Sword of Mother Earth. Borne from the earth at the moment of its creation, this sword was life itself—the origin of all existence, apparently.
The dark-blue one was Altura, the Holy Sword of Mother Ocean. One miraculous swing of this sword had tamed the great flood that ravaged the world. The manual said it was a symbol of the agreement the earth and the sea had made, dividing the world between them.
But just how good were these two swords, actually? According to their raw data:
Terra di Madre: 2× damage versus land monsters, 3× critical rate. Attacks all. Of the event items, top-tier attack. Can’t be sold.
Altura: 2× damage versus aquatic monsters, 3× critical rate. Attacks all. Of the event items, top-tier attack. Can’t be sold.
According to the entries, the “attacks all” feature worked by dividing damage among the enemies. In other words, there was a set amount of total damage one strike would do, and that amount was divided evenly by the number of enemies being attacked.
In practice, these weapons… Well…
“Watch me, Ma-kun! Let’s see what Mom can do! …Hyah!”
Mamako held Terra di Madre high over her head and swung it down.
Countless sword-shaped rock spikes shot out of the ground, thrusting themselves at the group of monsters.
“Graaaaah?!” “Kreeeeeee?!” “Uuunhf?!” “Raaaaargh?!”
The ant, caterpillar, spider, wolf, and bear monsters facing Mamako were instantly cut in half, utterly destroyed. Quite easily, in fact.
But a moment later, another pack of monsters appeared!
“I’m not giving up! I need to show Ma-kun what I can do! …Hyaaah!”
Mamako used her other hand, swinging Altura horizontally.
Water appeared when the blue blade passed, dividing into countless drops, which fired themselves at the monsters like bullets.
“Raaaaargh?!” “Krkrkrkrkrkr?!” “Guhuuuh?!” “Uuuurgh… Gruhhh…!”
Pelted with this ultrasonic water volley, the monsters were filled with holes, their bodies collapsing in the blink of an eye. The second wave of enemies was wiped out. Again, quite easily.
But the battle still wasn’t over! In the sky above, a monster’s silhouette!
“Ma-kun, now’s your chance to show me your strength! Go for it!”
“…Uhhh, okay…”
Masato closed the guidebook and waved Firmamento in the enemy’s general direction.
As he did, a crescent-shaped beam shot out of the transparent sword, chasing the enemy upward. Its path curved, following the monster’s movements and scoring a direct hit.
“SQUAWK?!”
The single sparrow-sized monster passing overhead fell out of the air, reduced to dust.
He’d defeated a monster!
Masato collapsed to the ground, weeping salty tears.
“…Sniff… This isn’t right… It’s all wrong… It’s gotta be…”
“Wh-what’s wrong, Ma-kun?! Did you hurt yourself?! Let Mommy see!”
“No! That’s not it… That’s not it at all… Augh…”
Firmamento was impressive in its own right. It shot a homing beam! Definitely pretty great. He could be sure of that. He could be proud of that. Cool.
But Mamako’s regular attacks hit all targets, and she was dual wielding, which meant she could make two-hit strikes.
His mom had easily slaughtered a dozen enemies, while Masato…
Mine was just…sad…
How could he not cry? He was fully prepared to go to bed and sulk. It was the only reasonable reaction.
Mamako came running over to her son.
“Ma-kun, cheer up! Your attack was amazing! I was so surprised when that beam went rocketing out of that clear blade of yours! You were super cool, Ma-kun!”
“Please stop trying to cheer me up. I’ve fallen as low as a man can already, and you’re digging me an even deeper hole.”
“I-I’m not trying to! I mean… L-look, let’s start by standing up! Together we’ll finish this tut…toot… Oh, what was it called again…?”
“…Toot-toot train.”
“Right, that! I did one of those once, with a friend. It was that Funnel Fan game.”
“It definitely wasn’t. And this isn’t like that! We’re not all standing in a row, for one.”
“Th-that’s true—I suppose now’s not time to reminisce. Um… Well anyway, we’re done here, so let’s go see what’s next! I’m sure it’ll be a hoot!”
And with that, Mamako grabbed his arm and tried to hoist him up.
Masato brushed her off.
“M-Ma-kun…?”
“If you want an adventure so bad, why not just go on one yourself? You’ll get out in the field and might find yourself surrounded by a bunch of monsters, but with your firepower, I’m sure you’ll be fine. Go knock that prologue dead.”
“Firepower? I don’t have any fire powers. I’m not exactly a Bunsen burner, you know!”
“That’s…not the kind of fire I mean.”
Firepower was your attack stat. The same fire as in firearms—guns. Maybe a bit too advanced a term for his mom. Whatever.
“Sigh… Look, just go already. Leave me alone.”
“B-but…”
Masato was just done. Done with all of this. He’d have given up on breathing if that had been an option. He flopped down on the ground, pretending to be dead. Corpses didn’t answer their moms.
“Sniff… Ma-kun… I—I don’t know what to do when you get like this… Oh, wait!”
Mamako reached out and picked up the guidebook Masato had dropped. She began flipping through the pages, searching for a needle in a haystack.
“There has to be something in here… Strategies for when your hero son doesn’t want to adventure with you…”
“As if a guidebook would have such a specific strategy like that!”
“‘When he learns that you can perform two-hit multi-target attacks, your son will be overjoyed. He’ll give you a big hug and beg you to adventure with him.’ Well, that’s not true! You weren’t happy at all, Ma-kun!”
“…I admit, most people probably would be.”
“They would?!”
“Well, yeah. It’s a high-firepower AOE, right? And it does two hits! If you ran into a player like that, you’d super want them in your party. You’d pay to have them join.”
“Then…why aren’t you happy? Is it…?” Mamako thought for a moment, then it dawned on her. Reluctantly, she asked, “Is it…? I’m sure this isn’t true, but could it be…because I’m your mom?”
“That is exactly my problem… Can I ask you something?” Masato sat up, facing Mamako.
He tried his best not to be mad, not to yell at her. This was important.
“Could you explain this?”
“E-explain what?”
“Everything. All of this. Explain what’s going on here. You know, don’t you? That king dude said they’d filled you in ahead of time. That government lady told you something, right?”
“Well…”
“To be honest, just getting thrown into a video game is already pretty nuts, but I’m all in favor of that, so I’ll let it slide. But this is pretty different from what I’d imagined that scenario would be like. And the key difference there is that you’re here with me.”
“I’m sure other moms get thrown into video games with their sons sometimes…”
“They don’t! Not ever! It isn’t even possible! If that happened all the time, it would be a nightmare! Moms have no place in young men’s fantasies! They’re just in the way!”
“Humph. Now you’re just being mean, Ma-kun. I’m hopping mad right now!”
Mamako puffed her cheeks out, sulking. “Hopping mad.” Geez, she’s cute.
No, no, wait, wait! That’s my mom! She’s, like, forty! Well outside the acceptable range of “cute”! Not the point anyway!
“Cut it out! Stop messing around and answer the question!”
“R-right! I’m answering!”
“Why are you here with me? What’s going on? Explain it all. In detail.”
“B-but… They said I shouldn’t explain at first… They said we should adventure together, and the experiences we had would build on one another, and eventually you’d figure it out yourself…”
“Come on! Just tell me! I’m frustrated enough as is! Please, Mom… If you don’t, I’ll…”
“Y-you’ll what?”