Chapter 14 — I Have a Bit of Experience with Torture
“Well...I figured things would end up this way eventually...”
Hanakawa was walking down a road through the forest, wearing the kung fu uniform of the Monk class. A short distance behind him were three classmates who had forced him to come along.
“Come on, Hanakawa, you should be thanking us for bringing along a loner like you,” Shinya Ushio said behind him, wearing his school uniform. His class was Eroge Master, which gave him the ability to stop time for anything he touched.
“That’s right. Being alone in this world would be pretty tough,” said Keiichi Munakata, likewise in his school uniform. His class was Eroge Meister. His ability was related to turning himself and other things invisible.
“Only otaku like us would ever let you into our group. Be thankful.” The last, bearing just as little equipment as the others, was Mitsuo Yatate, with the class of Eroge Maniac and the tentacles it gave him control over.
They had been called the Three Eroge Nobles in part one. Or so he’d heard. In part one, Hanakawa hadn’t spent any time at all with his classmates, so these were things he had heard secondhand.
“What do you mean, let me into your group? You are using me as nothing more than a canary in a coal mine. And what do you mean by otaku like you? Give me a break.” Of course, Hanakawa spoke low enough that they couldn’t hear him.
Monk was a high-level class, so it would definitely be stronger than stupid classes named after eroge later on, but at level one, there wasn’t much difference between them. Without the Gift separating them, all that was left was physical ability and skill. Apparently, Ushio practiced karate, Munakata practiced boxing, and Yatate practiced Taekwondo, so Hanakawa wouldn’t stand much of a chance if he tried to fight them. While he was happy to talk in circles around higher beings like gods and Sages, he wasn’t so good at dealing with his fellow classmates. They knew the ordinary Hanakawa, so no matter what he said, they would just look down at him and laugh.
“If you’re otaku, why are you taking martial arts? You should be doing no more than reading martial arts manga and arguing over who is the strongest.” As he muttered, he kept a keen eye on his surroundings. They were in the middle of a hunting quest, so there would be monsters nearby.
“They should be around here, right?” Ushio stopped. Hanakawa considered running away, but if there were monsters around, being alone would be too dangerous. Even if he was being used as bait, bait was useful enough to keep alive.
“There weren’t a lot of details in the quest info.”
“It was level one though, right? Finding the target is probably the hardest part.”
The quest was to hunt ten goblins. The field was an isolated island, surrounded on all sides by the sea. There was a forest in the center, which was apparently inhabited by goblins. Though this was supposed to be underground as well, unlike Base Town, it didn’t feel like it was. From the beach, the ocean seemed to stretch on forever with no end in sight.
“Regardless, be it goblins or not, I just need to defeat them so I can level up. I should have no difficulty with the three Eroge Musketeers after that,” Hanakawa told himself.
Each goblin was worth 2 DP, but that was only for the person who defeated them. The other three naturally intended to keep the reward for themselves, so he was hoping to sneak in a kill in the confusion.
“Maybe this is the wrong spot. There’s a cave over there.”
“That must be it. It’s like a temple in a video game.”
Apparently, Munakata had found something. His x-ray vision let him see through the trees, making him excellent at scouting.
“Hanakawa, there’s a cave.”
“So what?” Hanakawa headed back, rejoining the group. On their left was a stone wall with a clear hole.
“What do you mean? It’s time for you to show us how brave you are. Take the lead.”
“What? Would it not make more sense to smoke them out or block the entrance and starve them to death?”
“We don’t use cowardly tactics like that.”
“Rushing in without a plan seems equally as stupid to me.”
“We do have a plan. First, you’re going to go check things out.” They pushed Hanakawa towards the cave entrance.
With no other options, he walked over. It was wide enough for three people to enter side by side. There were signs of something coming and going, so it was definitely being used by something.
Hanakawa looked inside. “But without light, I will not be able to make much progress. Actually, is it not unnaturally bright in there?” He had expected the depths of the cave to be shrouded in darkness, but when he looked inside, he could see straight to the back.
“Looks like it’s set up like a video game,” Ushio called out from behind him. “It’s nice that you can see everything, right? Go ahead, scout it out. If you find any goblins, come back here, got it? Fighting on your own would be too dangerous.”
“Yes, I have no intention of doing that—” Turning around to look at Ushio and the others, he saw something in the trees above them. They were small, hairless, monkey-like creatures. They wore grass skirts over their faintly green-tinged skin, and they held clubs that seemed far too large for their size. Goblins.
Hanakawa tried to warn his classmates, but before he could speak, the creatures jumped down.
“Gah!” With an awkward cry, Ushio crumpled. The blow had been powerful enough to cave in his head, pushing it down into his neck.
“Huh?” Hanakawa froze at the unexpected development. He hadn’t expected someone to die so quickly out here.
“Ushio! What happened—” A spear emerged from the undergrowth, punching through Munakata’s back.
“Dammit! Tentacles!” Yatate got his bearings, summoning tentacles from the ground. They easily grabbed the club-wielding goblins, but that was all they could do. The goblins were able to shake them off, ripping the tentacles apart in the process. Yatate’s tentacles were thin and weak at this point. He couldn’t summon anything useful at level one. He screamed, sharing his senses with the tentacles he summoned, any pain they suffered transferring to him.
With Yatate and Munakata disabled, two goblins moved in to attack them. The rain of clubs and spears made short work of the Eroge Nobles, but that didn’t satisfy the goblins, who continued to strike them over and over.
“This is all wrong! Was this quest’s difficulty rating not level one?!” Hanakawa cried.
In the end, they had underestimated the game. Their previous experience had led them to be too cavalier about the threat that goblins posed.
“In this situation, the only thing I can do is run— Gah!”
Hanakawa was sent flying as he was struck from behind. Something had emerged from the cave and attacked him. Thrown back to the road, Hanakawa picked himself up off the ground. He hadn’t taken that much damage thanks to the kung fu uniform he wore. He had made it to the equipment shop before Ushio and the others had found him.
“Heal!”
Healing a little of the damage he had taken, he looked back at his fallen party. Three goblins stood there, staring at him. His classmates had been beaten to the point where they were totally unrecognizable.
“I-I am glad I took the time to gather some equipment. They took this world too lightly!” Things had gone well for them in part one, so they had figured they would be fine in their school uniforms. They had even made fun of Hanakawa for trying to cosplay.
“At any rate, I need to find a way out of this situation!”
Hanakawa withdrew a staff from his item box. His item box had been emptied upon entering Cavern Quest, so this was a staff he had bought at the equipment shop. Holding it in front of him, he put up a shaky guard.
“I have Staff Mastery, so I should be a master at this! But it does not seem things are working that way!”
He had figured once the staff was in his hands, he would start using the relevant techniques automatically, but nothing like that was happening. He had no idea what the mastery skill even did. However, it seemed the weapon was causing the goblins to be more wary, as they didn’t rush forward.
“With my healing ability being this weak, I will not be able to force my way through. Spirit Projectiles!” Hanakawa bought time to gather his mind. The power of his Spirit Projectiles increased as he collected himself with the Spiritual Refinement skill. Even at a low level, if he had time to build these skills up, they should still be quite powerful.
Letting go of the staff, he faced his palm towards the goblins. A ball of light flew out from his hand. At the same time, he immediately turned and ran. If he followed the road back, he should make it to the beach, where the gate to the town was. Even if he failed the quest, he should be safe if he could make it that far. Rather than trying to fight against three enemies, escape was the best solution.
However, he quickly found that running wasn’t an option either. An intense pain shot through his right leg, causing him to stumble and fall. After rolling for a short while, he came to a stop. A spear was sticking out of his flesh. One of the goblins had thrown a spear at him, and it had unfortunately hit his leg. Hanakawa tore the spear out and began to cast his magic.
“Heal! Damn, all that does is lessen the pain a little!”
He wouldn’t be able to run anymore. There was no way he could escape with an injured leg.
“Is this...the end? After overcoming so many obstacles! Remembering all that now makes it feel like my life is flashing before my eyes!”
Picking himself up, Hanakawa looked behind him. The goblins were running at him, one unarmed after having thrown its spear, the other two wielding clubs. They had dark smiles on their faces, and something sticking out of their eyes.
“Wait...huh?”
As Hanakawa watched, dumbfounded, the goblins’ heads fell. A red line ran through their necks, neatly disconnecting their heads from their bodies. They dropped to the ground, motionless, blood spurting from their necks.
“Oh! Look, it’s Hanakawa. What are you doing here?”
“Uhh...if it isn’t Carol!”
At some point, Carol had appeared beside him in her red ninja outfit. Standing behind the fallen goblins was Ryouko Ninomiya in her samurai garb.
“You ask what I am doing here, but is this not my quest? How were you able to appear here?” Carol demanded.
“Looks like different quests can still end up on the same field,” Ryouko replied. “We’re here looking for mushrooms.”
“What’s going on?” Hanakawa was still stunned.
Carol had thrown shuriken at the goblins. Once they had struck the goblins’ eyes, Ryouko had charged directly at them, slicing through their necks. It was simple in hindsight, but Hanakawa hadn’t seen any of it happen. It had all been over before he even realized it had begun.
“Are you two not supposed to be level one as well?”
“Yes, but enemies like this are no issue for us,” Ryouko said as she approached.
“Yeah, enemies like this aren’t that difficult even in another world.”
“Ohh...ah! Then could you perhaps help me in hunting goblins?!”
“Sorry, we have to look for mushrooms.”
“We just figured we would help since we saw you being attacked on the main road,” Ryouko added. “We have no intention of staying with you any longer.”
“Th-Then, how about in exchange, I help you with your quest?”
“Is there anything we gain from you helping us? Looks like your friends are already dead, so you should just go ahead and cancel your quest.” Carol spoke with frigid eyes, entirely unconcerned with the deaths of her classmates.
But Hanakawa knew that if Carol and Ryouko left him here, his chances of surviving in this world would drop drastically. Even if he managed to kill ten goblins by himself, despite how powerful they were, he’d only earn 20 DP. If he wanted to live, he needed to pay the Life Tax, so he would need a consistent source of DP. In short, he would need to enter even more dangerous situations, which would require help from someone more experienced. Meeting these two was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He couldn’t let this chance pass him by.
“Ah, merits, you say? You could bring me along as something like a mascot...or perhaps I could walk ahead, drawing danger away from you?”
“Having you around would just drag us down, though,” Carol said casually.
“Ugh, are my own endearing qualities not enough here?!”
“Endearing qualities?”
“Ah, please do not pry so deeply into them. It will only make me more depressed. Oh, that’s it! I may not have physical value to you, but the information I can provide is a different matter! Definitely! For example, I know where Sir Takatou is!”
“Then maybe we’ll just take that information from you and leave.” At some point, Ryouko had appeared directly in front of him, the tip of her sword pressed up against his neck.
“You are quite a bit rougher than I expected, Ryouko!”
“We looked through our channel as much as we could but couldn’t find him. How come you know where he is?”
“If you do not take me with you, then I will say nothing!”
“I have a bit of experience with torture. I’m also pretty good at figuring out if you’re telling the truth.”
“Fine! I will tell you, so please stop poking me with that sword!” Unable to bear the feeling of the sword pressed against his neck, Hanakawa folded immediately. “At some point, someone put a Philosopher’s Stone inside me without me knowing.”
“What do you think, Ryouko?”
“He doesn’t appear to be lying. I guess we’ll have to take him to Takatou after all.”
“Hmm. But the only thing we need is the stone itself, right? We should be able to rip it out of his chest.”
“I cannot stress how frightening it is for you to speak of me like nothing more than a pig!”
“But if we just hand him the raw stone, there is a chance of earning Takatou’s displeasure,” Ryouko disagreed. “Hanakawa is technically a classmate.”
“We could just tell him we found him dead on the road, so we grabbed the stone from him, right?”
“Umm, excuse me, Carol. Could you please stop trying to find excuses to kill me? I would very much like to side with Ryouko on this.”
“No, if we can’t pass off the lie, things will get much worse. I think we have to take him with us.” Ryouko sheathed her blade.
“Th-Thank goodness! Would you like me to lick your boots, Ryouko?”
“I never paid much attention to him since he wasn’t interesting in the least, but he really is an annoying person, isn’t he?”
“So will you help me with hunting goblins, then?” Hanakawa asked.
“No. We don’t have time for that; you’ll have to cancel that quest. We only need two more mushrooms, and then we’re heading back.”
“Found them!” Carol said, picking mushrooms from the roots of a nearby tree.
“Then it looks like our quest is complete.”
“What? Surely there is no need to hurry—”
Suddenly, their surroundings turned dark, prompting Hanakawa to look up. Something enormous was floating in the sky, big enough that he couldn’t tell what it was at a glance. To compare it to something, it looked like a collection of huge, raw organs that had been ripped out of someone’s body. It seemed to be alive, but besides that, they couldn’t tell anything about it as it moved through the sky. Countless entrails followed along behind it, along with something swelling and shrinking like lungs.
“You may have wandered in here without thinking, but there’s tons of things like that around, so we don’t really have time to hang out,” Carol explained.
“Ah, very well. Let us return, then!” Hanakawa suddenly wanted to get back as soon as possible.
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