Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? - Volume 9 - Chapter 2.04

Part 4 

—[No Name] Community grounds, the small shack facing the reservoir. 

It was a clear day with the smell of spring in the air as they consolidated the situation near the water's edge. At the same time, they were having tea with the pancakes and tea that Lily had prepared for them. 

Lily, who wore her chef coat, was sitting in a seiza as she cocked her ear towards Asuka to ask. 

"I've tried out this new recipe of the seaweed pancake. May I ask if it is to your tastes?" 

"Mhmm, yes, it is really tasty. Thank you." 

Asuka was dividing her pancake into small bite size portions before picking them up to put into her mouth. 

Whereas Yō who was taking huge bites out of it found it unthinkable as she asked, "But, I really didn't expect for seaweed to be found in this world. Does the world of Little Garden have a sea somewhere?" 

"Yes, there is a certain sea in the south that is very famous. And well, because the North have very broad frozen rivers, I'm not too sure about them..." 

Lily's kitsunemimi drooped while Asuka and Yō nodded and smiled as they were taken aback by the information. 

"Little Garden is quite wide huh? So long as we improve the fame of the Community and the name of Jin-chan, there might come the day that we will be welcomed by the famous Communities of the sea." 

"You are right. For that purpose— Let's try to solve this Gift Game together." 

Having had a well-rested afternoon nap, Asuka and Yō read the contents once more. 

[–Name of Gift Game: "RaimundusLullus"— 

Participant qualification B: The Kind 

Opponents: The Great. 

The Heir 

The Strength possessor. 

The Intelligent 

The Determined 

The Virtuous 

Conditions for defeat: Losing the [Geass Roll] is equivalent to losing the participation rights. 

Conditions to win: Gather all the "Plates of Lullus" and you shall receive the glory of the truth. 

Additional information: The Game will begin when all participants have finished their preparations. 

The end time for the Game is when all other contestants have been defeated. 

Oath: Respecting the above information, swearing upon our glory and flag, this Gift Game is hosted by [Thousand Eyes]. 

"Seal of [Thousand Eyes]"] 

"A golden [Geass Roll]... it sure is written in a special style huh?" 

"Mhm. The contents also seem a little special. Do you know something about this, Izayoi?" Yō asked through her mouthfuls of pancake. 

On the other hand, Izayoi was giving a curious expression as he stood akimbo and in a slightly soft and disappointed mutter, 

"... Mah, it's nothing too difficult to comprehend. Come to think about it, the contents are also nothing too unusual", he replied. 

"Is that so?" 

"Aahh. Although the numbers do not add up, but this figure here refers to the smallest unit recorded in the "Lullus technique". The Latin alphabet assigned to us is the mark that represents that unit." He replied while casting a doubtful glance towards the Golden Plate. 

The [Lullus technique] is simultaneously the name of the game as it is a term to refer to the secret technique of the alchemist ‘Raimundus Lullus'. And among the terms, the smallest units are the following nine. 

B: Kindness 

C: Greatness 

D: Inheritance 

E: Strength 

F: Wits 

H: Morals 

I: Truth 

K: Glory 

The language where these acronyms reside and combine as one is a portion of the [Round Plate of Lullus]. 

"There is this Latin alphabet of the "B" carved into the top of the participant's eligibility right? This is the Latin alphabet to represent the word of ‘kindness'. The guys who attacked us earlier also had a similar Latin alphabet carved into their golden plate, so I can't be wrong about that." Izayoi explained while pointing at the apprehended aggressors. 

They were no longer in the game due to their failure of holding onto their Golden Plate. Although it was alright to let them off now, but they were still the ambushers who had snuck and infiltrated the lands of another Community. Even if the act was committed in the midst of the game, this was clearly a violation of rules. But with the negotiations of Izayoi and the others, in exchange for the condition of not reporting to the [Floor Master], they were to repent for their actions through the transaction of forced menial labour for a set number of days. 

Izayoi walked towards the villains as he questioned them once more about the details of their disintegrated Golden Plate. 

"You are sure that the participant eligibility that was carved on your Golden Plate is that of the "Participant qualification D: The Heir" right?" 

Using a high tone to talk down to them, the dog ears of the man drooped in fear as he answered. 

"Ye, Yes. Regarding that point, it is absolutely right." 

"Good. Next question. Did you temper around with the Golden Plate or was it already like that when you received it?" 

"No, we didn't ... Ah, but we did hear the instructions that the content would be a little bit different for each respective Community that it is assigned to!" 

"Ho?" 

The dog eared man, who was trying to lighten his sentence, obediently answered the questions. 

Aie?? KuroUsagi tilted her head in surprise. 

Having found that piece of intelligence from their interrogation, the problem children turned to look at KuroUsagi at the same time. 

"... Oi, KuroUsagi. Was there explanations of that sort?" 

"Aie? Well, that, Wait a moment! Or maybe they did say it too!" 

"That is really vague for a reply. To actually skip over the explanation of the rules that was said by the Host, doesn't that make one feel less than enthusiastic about it?" 

"Mhm. At this stage, if we are unable to clear the game, it will all be KuroUsagi's fault." 

Asuka and Yō's retort caused KuroUsagi's ears to fall in dejection. 

On the other hand, Izayoi stood akimbo as he asked for more clarification on the game from the villains. 

"Then, besides that, did they say anything else about the game? Did they hint on any game rules about having to fight and wrest it from the others?" 

"Eh, Mhm. I did hear that it is of importance to gather all seven types of Golden Plates to successfully clear the game. And for the battle for the Golden Plates, it must follow the minigames hosted by the possessors of the Participation eligibility......" 

"... Hou, and that would mean that you guys who have used brute force to try wrest it from us, would be Participants who have broken the rules, am I right?" Izayoi's gaze had sharpened and intensified in an instant. 

Having dug their own graves, the villians frantically huddled tighter. 

Grinning devilishly, the problem children trio seem glad about having caught the weakness of their opponents as they started to poke at it. 

"Ojou-sama, we must really tip our hats off to these guys! If it were just a simple intrusion onto our lands, we might be able to process this with discretion. But to think that they would dare to violate the game rules hosted by [ThousandEyes] too!" 

"That's right. I would have suggested a week of forced labour to be enough to forgive them... But since this is the case, it would be much different right, Kasukabe-san?" 

"Mhm. For the clearing of the fields, we might just have to work them for a whole year or so." 

*Eek!* The villains gave a pitiful moan. 

They were undoubtedly serious about it. 

KuroUsagi pitied the villains as she continued the topic. 

"But to think that it is through the style of minigames. We do not have any prior experience of participating in this sort of game, do we?" 

"Mhm Mhm." 

"But, I did hear of it before. I remember that it is through the clearing of many small scale games right?" 

KuroUsagi nodded to affirm Yō's words. 

Small scale games— were simplified games hosted within the umbrella of another game. 

Using the style of many different games with their accompanying different sets of rules as the style of game play, it was a game that required the combined efforts of the Community to win all the games till the end. 

"Hmph~...Mah, we have already gotten the fundamentals of the game. In other words, the disintegration of the Golden Plate is due to the illegal acquisition of the Plate without the process of clearing a minigame?... Hmph. It sure is an average game after all huh?" 

Izayoi, who was a little worked up about it, had now returned to his suspicious regard for the Golden Plate. 

Come to think about it, the [Technique of Lullus] did not have much presence in the Round Plate other than the fact that it appears as the symbols of the Latin alphabet. It was hard to believe that this was a Gift Game that would allow one to get their hands on the secret of alchemy known as the [Gold Transmutation technique]. 

(There should be some sort of inner workings in this right?... In addition, this is something hosted by that Shiroyasha, it shouldn't become some sort of boring event right?) 

It was Izayoi's belief to participate in any sort of game with fun in mind. However, the game this time had only left him with a sour premonition. Moreover, the contents of the game did not match up to the title of [RaimundusLullus] and that was bothering him. 

Up till date, these sort of Gift Games were hosted by Communities that were related to the game. But it felt a little off when this sort of alchemical Gift Game was hosted by Shiroyasha and it made Izayoi hesitant. 

Yet, there was this nagging feeling that it would be a pity not to go along with the game. 

(The acronyms, Latin alphabets carved on the Golden Plate and the words that are born from the acronym that represents the [Technique of Lullus]. They hinted at the formation of words as being similar to the units that formed the material world, which is the key to encourage the birth of new concepts.) 

"Conditions to win: Gather all the "Plates of Lullus" and you shall receive the glory of the truth." 

‘Gather', and the other ‘I: Truth', ‘K: Glory'. These elements exuded a vaguely suspicious aftertaste to the whole event that kind of bothered Izayoi. 

(Mah...it is only that much and I should not think too deeply about it should I?) 

He gave up in impatience. To be able to line up the similar words together but be unable to draw a connection between them would make further thoughts useless and so it was best to leave it aside for now. 

On the other hand, the girls' group have placed Izayoi's worries aside as they were getting enthusiastic about the whole event. 

"Since we now know that it is a battle to wrest it from the others, let's take action immediately!" 

"That's right... we need to gather the seven types. We'd better hurry." 

"How are we going about this? Do we split up to challenge the minigames of the other Communities?" 

"YES! We are fortunate to have four of our fighters of [No Name] who can best a thousand each! This is because KuroUsagi have also asked Leticia-sama to help us out. So, for the sake of acquiring those golden plates, KuroUsagi would like to request for you guys to go your separate ways for the task!" 

Saying that, KuroUsagi sprinted towards the Community's Main building like an escaping rabbit. 

The trio who were left behind exchanged a look with each other, seemingly helpless at the turn of events. 

"Although KuroUsagi seemed really enthusiastic about it... What should we do now? If I were to put it bluntly, this is a very suspicious game." 

"Having doubts about Shiroyasha's game isn't something that we have only experienced today. No matter what kind of unimaginable truth which may lie in wait for us, we will never get to find that out if we were to stay out of it." 

"...just saying that it sounds fishy from the start." 

Yō just gave a wry smile at their conversation. 

Izayoi had a bored look on his face, took a few steps as he prepared to set out—Suddenly, he turned back with a sly smile. 

"No, there's another way. If it is a boring game, then we can just add value to it." 

"Aie?" 

"Wha?" 

Asuka and Yō queried at the same time. 

Izayoi continued on his way as he laughed heartily to toss them a challenge. 

"No matter what boring end it might be in hold for us, this is still a game that Shiroyasha hosted after all. There should surely be some reciprocating rewards in wait for us right? — So how's this? The person who gets the most of the seven Golden Plates gets to have the sole ownership of the prize. How's that sound?" 

"Ara. Doesn't that sound interesting?" Asuka gave a smile in reply to Izayoi's challenge. 

Yō also nodded her head as she gave a thumbs up while supplying her own suggestion. 

"But it would be boring with just that condition. The loser.... Shall have to serve the victor for a whole day." 

"I see... Don't you feel that it is a little too harsh?" 

Asuka was backing away a little. If it turned out to be a race of getting to the various minigames hosted in various areas, it would be a harsh rule to impose on her, who lacked the mobility of the others. 

So Yō gave it some thought before clapping her hand as she hit upon an idea. 

"Then, the victor... can make KuroUsagi serve them." 

" "That's the one!" " 

"That's the one! My foot! You bunch of Bakaaaaahhhh!!!" 

*PakPakPak!* The folding fan in KuroUsagi's hand was working overtime. Stowed under her armpit was Leticia whom she had fetched from the Community's main building. And it would seem that she was in the midst of her maid chores as the cleaning cloth was still grasped in her hand. 

Leticia, and her gorgeous hair that seemed easily mistakable as golden silk, gave a sigh while seeming in a daze but raised her right hand that held the cleaning cloth. 

"Regarding that game, count me in." 

"Wait, Leticia-sama?!" 

"Okay, the maid has entered the fray! If Leticia wins, KuroUsagi will have to do the chores of a maid for a day!" 

"Then, let's change the name of <RaimundusLullus> to the <The competition for the Authority to gain KuroUsagi's servitude>." 

"Mhm, you two, let's get to the streets quickly!" 

The trio completely ignored KuroUsagi's tsukkomi as they split up in the free zone. 

And due to the unexpected turn of events, KuroUsagi's rabbit ears have turned a shade of ashen white as she stood in a daze. 

She had not thought that things would turn out this way. 

KuroUsagi turned to Leticia apprehensively, 

"Well, ...Leticia-sama, you are kidding right...?" 

Clapping her hands around the completely panicking KuroUsagi's shoulders, Leticia assured her, 

"There's naught to worry. I shall tutor you on the job of a maid, so just be prepared." 

"Isn't that like a fully motivated attitudeeee—-?!!!" 

*Pak!* the sound of the folded fan making a sorrowful slap resounded in the overgrown forest.