Chapter 188

CHAPTER 3 META-FANTASY THE HEROES ATTACK! The preparation room was on the first floor of the Devil’s Tower. What had once been an empty room with nothing more than a magic circle in it was… “Mweh-heh-heh… I have brought the things you asked for, O Heroes.” “Great! Well done! You can leave them there, you can!!” “…I wonder…,” said Genau Ih. “This feels like it is against the rules…” The suited skeleton helped Schira Ha unload the wagon full of things the heroes had ordered. Til, with her Great Hammer resting on her shoulder, surveyed the room. But surveying wasn’t all she did… “Ah, this place looks so dry and boring, it does. Go get us some decorations!!” “Mweh-heh… Very well. I shall prepare them at once…” In the center of the room was a large tent that housed a comfy-looking bed—and even an oven, a table, all the basic cooking utensils, and a bathroom with a simple bath and toilet. It was enough to turn the preparation room into a quite livable space—but there remained changes to be made. With the bare essentials now available, there was still much to be desired in terms of QOL that Til had asked their Demonia hosts for, but this seemed to be the straw that broke the camel’s back— Snap. “What do you heroes think you’re doing?! You aren’t even trying to climb my Tower—” The Devil finally shared his annoyance at the heroes, who seemed more concerned with setting up their new life in his Tower than with trying to clear it. Using Schira Ha as his catalyst to appear, the furball made his complaint, but… “……Now I’m really confused. What are you doing?” “Can’t you tell…?! I’m workin’…out…! Ooof?!” What he saw when he manifested was Shiro nonchalantly reading a book—no, not that. It was what was under Shiro that had the Devil so confused—she was sitting on her brother, who was struggling to do a push-up. “…I probably shouldn’t be the one to say this, but I don’t think an Immanity doing push-ups will aid you in your quest to defeat me.” Here was the hero training to defeat the Devil, and the Devil felt bad for dissuading him. “That’s it, King Sora! You finished all thirty-five sets, you did! It’s time for a cooldown, it is!!” Til was leaning against her Great Hammer while Sora was flat on the ground. “…Heh…heh-heh. You’re as silly as you look, my little devilish friend…” His arms were shaking, and his breath was ragged. A pitiful sight. But, nevertheless, Sora showed a bold grin and shouted his response! “Yeah, I’m working out, but not to build muscle. It’s to build knowledge!!” “Schira Ha… Do you have any idea what this boy is on about?” You don’t get it? Heh—I guess that’s only natural. With an even bigger grin, Sora took it upon himself to enlighten the Devil! “What is knowledge? The product of a healthy mind. Then what is a healthy mind? The product of good mental health. Then what makes good mental health?! A healthy body, that’s what does!!” “King Sora! Your cooldown is over, it is! Up next: thirty-five sets of squats!!” Til alerted Sora to the next task in his workout routine. With Shiro still on his back, Sora began doing squats as he continued explaining his logic! “More specifically!! It’s the adrenaline, dopamine, and testosterone, along with a whole laundry list of other fun hormones, that a healthy body produces naturally that turns into a healthy mind, and in turn, allows you to gain more knowledge!! Basically, by working out my body, I’m working out my mind—and therefore enhancing my knowledge!! Why else would anyone do something as strenuous as this?! Do you read me?!?” “Schira Ha, make him make sense!!” Sora’s logic was lost on the furball, who scratched his head in frustration while looking around for help. “And you three!! You’re a Flügel, and you’re an Ex Machina!! Never mind this canine—why must you stuff your faces incessantly in silence?! You don’t even need to eat!!” The Devil then turned to something even more nonsensical than the exercise routine. “Munch, munch? Gulp… Yes…we Flügel do not require food to live, but… Munch, munch.” “Report: This unit can ingest food as well as break it down for nutrition. Taste sensors also present. Report: Yummy.” “……Mmm—wait—mmm, nom, nom—please…I’ll play with you when—om, nom, nom—I finish eating, please…” The three answered him, gobbling down the laughably large quantity of food that Steph hurriedly prepared for them at a similarly laughably quick rate. …It shouldn’t need to be said, but this was the Devil’s Tower. Which meant that everything in the room and all the space in it were a part of the Devil. What are these fools doing inside me?? Tears began welling up in the furball’s eyes when no one would give him answers— “Huff…huff… What’s the problem…my little devilish friend?” “That’s it, Sir! You’re finished with today’s workout!! You’re glistening with sweat, you are!!” “That was…a good pump, Brother… Here’s some…water…” Sora accepted a towel and some water from Til and Shiro, along with some words of encouragement, while he caught his breath. He wiped himself down— “Let’s check something real quick, okay?” —and while he did so, he addressed the Devil in a matter-of-fact fashion. “First… This room, the preparation room, is a safe zone where Demonias won’t attack us, right?” This rule was a major premise for what Sora was about to discuss. He continued. “And there are no rules about a time limit in this game, which means there’s nothing preventing us from staying here for an extended period, maybe even setting up a camp or two, right?” “I, uh…?” The furball didn’t know what to say, but Sora didn’t give him time to reply anyway! “So while there is a rule that prevents us heroes from leaving the Tower, there’s no rule that prevents the Demonia Schira Ha, who is in our possession, from going in and out to fetch things like food and water now, is there?!” “I, er…uh…” The furball continued to stutter in a stupor, and Sora finished by loudly exclaiming! “Yup! Us heroes can’t leave your Tower! Those are your rules, so I don’t want to hear any complaining if we decide to spend the rest of our days here! Capiche?!” …………, ……………………, “…Sch-Schira Haaa!!! These fools are attempting to make themselves at home inside my Tower!! Inside me!! They’re not even trying to come and defeat me!!” “Mweh-heh… You’re so cute, Your Evilness, but it is as the heroes say: There is nothing in the rules that prevents them from doing this. In fact, I, too, wish to reside inside you, if I so may.” “You too, Schira Ha?! This must be an oversight with the rules!! What kind of Devil would I be if I became a home for the heroes?!” The furball cried more as he clung to Schira Ha. Satisfied, Sora headed to the pop-up shower, where he rinsed off his sweat. Obviously, we’re not gonna spend our entire lives here. We’re only here to recoup our hope, that’s all. It happened the day before, when Sora figured out what hope meant… Or, more specifically, where hope came from…… Yes, it went back to the night before… “Heh…heh-heh… I see… Much like that heap of scrap metal, I, too, am utterly disposable… Oh, Master…how I’ve failed you… Your inept servant deserves punishment… Specifically, the kind that utilizes my body for your carnal relief…” “…Jibril’s despair is totally within character. She actually seems kind of all right…?” “…Good thing…she knows Evac… That spell’s…super useful…” With Jibril’s impromptu casting of Evac, the party left the twenty-sixth floor and returned to the preparation room on the first floor. There, Sora and Shiro stared at the now depressed Jibril. Sora, meanwhile, was mainly relieved that the spell worked. Jibril’s Evac used the entirety of her MP, as anticipated. And sure enough, with her MP pool dried up, the spell drew from her HP pool to fill in the gap—Jibril was missing nearly half of her HP as well. Either way, Evac was a success, even if it was a close call. The party made it out by the skin of their teeth, and Sora was relieved—but. “This…is your big plan B? You just brought us back to the beginning…?” “……………………” The rest of the party joined Steph in looking to Sora for an answer. “We may not even be able to get back to the twenty-sixth floor, let alone the hundredth, like this…” While Steph still had both her HP and her MP reservoirs relatively full, she certainly looked like she was on the edge of despair. “The thing is, this is exactly how we’ll make it there,” Sora responded with an intrepid grin. “According to the rules, this is a safe zone. It’s our save point. We can rest all we want here.” “…So it’s the…kind of save point…where we don’t get HP or MP back…”