“Yes,” he cut me off. “That was my first time seeing one, but they’ve gotta be Gods. The rumors don’t even do ’em justice. Probably best not to get involved with ’em, else we get turned to dust. Can’t get judged by a God we don’t bother.”
“That’s a true phrase, but you know what’s truer? Can’t bag a lion cub unless we go into the lion’s den.”
He cocked his head, wary of my next words. “What do you mean?”
“We’ve heard all the legends surrounding them, but... Ever heard of ‘in-game items’?”
“What now?”
“You’d expect legends to be nothing but embellished nonsense, but in-game items are the real deal. Apparently, they’re legendary artifacts that only the Gods have. Treasure doesn’t even begin to describe them. They’re even rare among the Gods themselves, so much so that they could buy an entire kingdom depending on who they’re sold to.”
“Huh. Doesn’t sound real. What are they specifically?”
“The Holy Sword Excalibur, the Jewels of the Poles, the Mud Stream of Death, even the Collar of Zeus. Those are the artifacts you’ve probably heard of.”
“...You’re being serious? You really could buy a whole kingdom with those!”
“All of those belong to the Holy Church, the Merchant’s Guild, and the main branch of the Adventurer’s Guild Conglomerate. The groups that are full of Gods, in other words.”
Nathan had to gulp. “Yeah, you’re right. That’s convincing enough. So, what do you plan to do? You’re not gonna kill them and steal the items, are you? You’ll die.”
I nodded sharply at how well he understood me. “Those kids are all strange in the most apparent way. You know what I’m getting at.”
“Strange? Uh, they’re hot, and there’s a dog and a kid...”
A smile dawned on his face as it came to him. One came to my own face as well. “Exactly. We’ll go after the little girl. She can use quite a bit of magic for a brat, but she doesn’t stand a chance against us.”
“Are we gonna use her as bargaining bait for the in-game items?”
“I wouldn’t dare cross a bridge that dangerous. Once they see our faces they’ll never forget ’em. We wouldn’t be able to outrun them either.”
“So what’s she for?”
“They’re only bringing her along as their pack mule for the extermination. The chances aren’t high, but there could be artifacts in there. We’ll kidnap her when they’re not looking, kill her, and search the body for in-game items before burying it. Then, all we’ll have to do is pretend like we have no idea what happened to her and make our escape as soon as we get the chance.”
He hesitated a moment. “Isn’t that plan a little too risky to bet our lives on? Especially if we don’t even know if she has artifacts or not.”
“I guess.”
I knew he’d say that. I shrugged and asked him a question.
“Doesn’t it sound pretty exciting having your way with a woman that belongs to a God? We may well never meet one again.”
Nathan rolled his eyes at me. “There you go again. You’ve always been like this. Princesses of small kingdoms, daughters of marquesses... You sure like your high-class ladies, don’t you?”
“How ’bout it?”
“I also enjoy ruining high-class ladies. Kidnapping, sexually assaulting, killing, then burying one in the mountains? My track record is thirty-seven for thirty-seven. No trace will be left this time either.”
We both had our reasons for prioritizing “strength” since our youth. As orphans, we’d been bought by old noble hags as sex slaves and had been treated horrifically. We killed them as soon as we found an opening, then became adventurers after faking our identities. It wasn’t exactly funny that the trauma caused our sexual preferences to become just as fucked up.
We were pretty well-known within the Adventurer’s Guild.
And of course, this was a secret kept between the two of us.
“The dangerous ones are Tsukuyomi and Gabriel. We have to slip out from under them and snatch the artifacts.”
“Honestly? The artifacts are just a bonus at this point. Our real goal is the kid!”
Nathan and I locked hands in a firm handshake.
†
Shinobu Iijima
A giant plain of ice and snow served as our training grounds. The light from the sun reflected on the ground was blinding.
“Okay, Alice. According to Ms. Isabella, the first thing we have to do is control the magic power flowing through our bodies.”
In my hand was a knife I’d gotten from a Legendary Goblin. I gathered up magic in my right arm and focused it into my palm.
“And then, make the magic flow from your palm into the weapon it’s holding.”
I demonstrated my words. “My knife will get stronger thanks to this buffing spell. If we apply this to Dimensional Transport Magic—”
The magic in the knife concentrated into a point, then shot out like a ball of light and floated in the air. It slowly fell to the ground. As I watched it, I cast a defense-heightening spell onto the snow to harden it.
With that point in the center, a circle of snow with a diameter of about five meters turned into what looked like an ice-skating rink. The crackling of the newly formed ice was satisfying to the ears.
“Now, we’ll apply it to Separation Magic intended for cloning...”
I brought out another ball of light. Twenty more ice rinks appeared around us. Good job, me.
“And that’s how it’s done.”
“How exactly?!”
I figured that she’d react that way. Magic operation came semiautomatically for us otherworlders just with our levels.
Alice had learned how to use Grade 2 magic from Scrolls, but it would take a lot of time for her to be able to actually use it herself. She’d have to study diligently, then practice over and over again. It wasn’t a matter of just doing it once she had the knowledge and procedures in her brain like it was for me.
“Well then, uh, Alice...what in particular did you not get?”
“I understood gathering magic into your palm. Nothing after that. I don’t even know what buffing magic is supposed to be. You even threw in complete nonsense like ‘Dimensional Transport Magic’ in there...”
For reference, summoners couldn’t be buffed by their allies, nor could they buff them. That was by far the biggest drawback when playing a class intended for solo play.
In my case, however, I technically knew how to use buff spells, so I was able to apply that knowledge into my magic flow. I’d say it was similar to how magic swords worked. Magic could make a sword denser, or set it on fire, or something. High-level weapons tended to have magic affixations on them in the first place, so with those in the way, strengthening them wasn’t really possible.
That’s why I thought this method wouldn’t work for me at first, but then I remembered that alchemists in this world could animate golems, and it hit me.
What if I could buff my summons with the same methods?
That’s what I was testing out here. Aside from that, this was definitely necessary for Alice’s magic acquisition as well. I had Gabriel add this exercise to Alice’s daily training menu.
“No need to rush, Alice. This training should strengthen you up in the long run.”
“But, sir...” she sighed dejectedly. “We natives really are completely different from you, huh, Master Shinobu?”
“Don’t worry about it. In my case, it’s just player compensation.”
“I can’t help but worry. You were a beginner at weapon buffing just a few hours ago, but now you’re leagues ahead of me. Not to mention, I failed the selection exam...”