Chapter 114 - The Trail of Bravery
There was something at the entrance of the dungeon we reached after rock climbing.
It was a weird creature whose torso was stuck to a pitch black spherical object.
The black mass, which seemed to be the head, had round noses and round cheeks in addition to its eyes and mouth.
“Welcome to the Cave of Bravery! The thing a hero most needs! That is Bravery! For that reason I shall test your bravery from this point on! Ah, I’m this trial’s mascot character, Ananman!”
“AnXanman?” (Tl: Anpanman https://anpanman.fandom.com/wiki/Anpanman_%28character%29)
“No! I’m Ananman!”
Seems like that head was wholly made out of sweet bean paste.
“By the way, the outside is made out of smooth sweet bean paste and the inside is made out of mashed sweet bean paste.”
I wonder if he wrapped bean paste in bean paste……
Akane’s eyes were sparkling.
“Amaaazing! If we get hungry could we cut up your face and eat it?”
“Eh? Isn’t it your parents’ job to feed you? Why do I have to do that?”
……Looks like we can’t get away with that.
“But, cutting up my, my face lolol isn’t that too grotesque? Lololol Where did you find this girl? Lololol”
We got dissed by AnXanman……..!
“Why is a copyrighted character like that even in this world?! Besides, he’s kind of awful!”
“……It looks like he’d traumatize the kids”
“You should apologize to AnXanman and Yanase-sensei”
“I don’t want to be told that by someone who’s dressed like you, you know? Looks like you’re already good enough to be a hero, huh? You don’t even need this trail, do you?”
I don’t want to be told that by a guy who’s exposing his sweet bean paste like this.
『Master, there’s a saying for this. “Same Difference”』
“…….Rather than brave, isn’t his sense of shame just nonexistent……?”
And Megumi was the harshest.
“Now, for the first challenge! If you can cross over to the other side you’ll clear it!”
Ananman pointed towards a gigantic hole whose bottom couldn’t be seen.
Out of it stuck many pillars with which, if one used them as footholds, one could cross over to the other side.
“Waah, scary~!”
“I, if we fall from there, we’d die, right……?”
“……Hiiih”
The pillars were just big enough to serve just one person as foothold.
The distance between every foothold was at most two to three meters, so one could easily move to the next if one jumped.
However fear might freeze up one’s legs.
It’s certainly hard to reach the other side if one isn’t brave.
“I’ll go first”
Akane easily jumped from pillar to pillar.
“F, for her to be so composed……”
“Ah, Akane-chan has absolutely no sense of danger after all……”
“…….”
Although scared, both Kyouko and Megumi followed after her.
Akane already went past the half point.
Kyouko, who was a “Swordsman”, was also doing well.
Megumi was the most scared but she did her best to proceed.
All three of them surprisingly were okay with high places.
As for me, I was still at the starting point, lying on the ground looking up their skirts rolling up while they jumped. A glimpse of their panties!(Tn: Panchira) Real Highschool Girls’ panties!
By the way, right next to me was Ananman trying to behold their panties in the same posture. Ooh, a kindred spirit!
“What are you two doing?! Die!”
The sword Kyouko threw got stuck in Ananman’s head.
All four of us have savely crossed over to the other side.
“You did your best, didn’t you! You cleared the first challenge!”
Ananman said as such, still having a sword stuck in his head.
His head was made out of sweet bean paste so it shouldn’t hurt but it looked pretty surreal.
“Well, there’ll be more challenges like this, so properly do your best (sniff)”
Ananman who cleaned off the bean paste snot from his nose saw us off.
Looks like he only served as a tutorial.
Though we didn’t really need something like that, let’s not question it.
“……There wasn’t really a need for that mascot, was there……”
Aah, she said it.
We proceeded to go through the cave.
Then suddenly our vision turned pitch black.
“Kyaa, wha, what!? A blackout!?”
“No, there wasn’t any electricity to begin with”
Until a little while ago, visibility was secured by the dungeons mysterious power.
But now it’s completely dark.
“Looks like this is the next challenge”
“S, scary, isn’t it……”
“I don’t know which way to goー”
“Hey, everyone’s here, right?! You are, right?!”
“We’re here, we’re here. First of all, it seems like we can hear each other’s voices. So let’s proceed while talking to each other.”
“Do, don’t ever leave me alone!?”
Kyouko’s fine with high places but looks like she’s not good with the darkness.
“Hiih!? So, something soft touched my hand just now!?”
“Calm down. That was me”
“Wh, what, it’s just you……”
“It was my butt though”
“Nooooooooooooo!?”
“If you’re scared, you can grab it, you know?”
“Why did you put it as if you told me to hold your hand?!”
The darkness went on for some time and before long, it became brighter.
“We cleared the second challenge. Easy peasy, right?”
After that we steadily cleared the other challenges.
I’ll omit the specific details but let’s just say, each of them was a challenge of bravery.
We finally reached the last challenge.
“You did well reaching this place. This is the last challenge”
“Ah, it’s AnXanman”
Ananman appeared again.
Looks like he came here before us.
“So, what’s its content?”
“Fufufu, about that…… it’s to defeat me!”
Suddenly Ananman’s body began to grow.
His muscles swelled up.
The clothes he was wearing were ripped apart.
“That‘s…… Master Xshi“ (Tn: Master Roshi)
That‘s right.
He exactly looked like Master Xshi firing a full powered Xhameha.
“I see, so that means you‘re this dungeon‘s Boss, huh?“
“That‘s right. If you‘re able to defeat me, that means you’ve completely cleared this trail. But if you were to loseーー“
The now muscular Ananman spoke with his now deep voice.
His tone also changed.
“ーーmeans dying in this place“
The atmosphere surrounding him changed as well.
He‘s serious.
“Wai, wait……“
“……He, he looks strong…..“
Kyouko and Megumi unconsciously moved backwards faced with this intimidating air.
However, the entrance gate was firmly closed. One can‘t leave because this is the Boss room.
“You won‘t be able to defeat the Demon King like this, you know?“
The muscular Ananman took a step forward.
And then,
“Fire Lance!“
“ーーAjii“
A fire spear hit Ananman‘s head.
Of course it was the “magician“ Akane who unleashed it.
“Hot, hot, hot!?“
Ananman, whose head caught fire, threw himself on the floor and rolled around frantically trying to extinguish the fire.
“…….Eh?“
“…….?“
Ananman, who somehow managed to put out the fire, stood back up.
“Ho, hooh. There are some brave people among you as well“
Although he tried to act tough, his voice sounded as if he were in pain.
Looks like that single attack caused some serious damage.
„Again!
„Ah, wait a secー“
„Fire Lance!“
„Gyaaaa!?“
Ananman raised a scream and ran away.
„………Could it be that that guy is actually weak?“
„Looks like it“
„I told you to wait, didn’t I?“
„Fire……“
„I surrender! I‘ll surrender so stop already!“
Ananman quickly raised the white flag.
However, Akane ignored that,
„Fire Lance!“
„I told you to stop, didn‘t I?!“
„Eating roasted sweet bean paste is delicious, isn‘t it?“
„Could it be… that you plan on eating me?!“
„Yup“
„No, no, no, wouldn’t one usually lose their appetite when one sees this figure?!“
„Not really?“
„Please lose it!“
Ananman changed back to his previous appearance.
„Fuh, Good grief, that‘s why the youth of today is……Anyway, I‘m very weak as you‘ve seen. I’m short, the moral is that you shouldn’t let appearances deceive you. No matter how strong an opponent seems, don‘t ever falter and never give up. This is an incredibly important part of being a hero.“
He was unexpectedly honest.
Apparently, he only looked strong and one would look right through if one had the courage to stand up to him.
„That means……“
„Yeah, you spectacularly cleared the Trial of Bravery! Congratulations!“
With this we safely broke through the first trial.
„Hey, can I really not eat you?“
„I told you, you can‘t, right?!“
„How mean. After I even went through the trouble of roasting you!“
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login