Chapter 10 — Yogiri Takatou Is Right Here!!!
Sitting in the Antechamber Area, Yogiri and Tomochika heard a voice explaining the rules of the tournament. According to the explanation, it would be a battle royale, with the final surviving party being the winner. A match would start when two parties approached within ten meters of each other, at which point they’d both be moved to another channel to fight. The winner of the match would be moved on to the next round. Victory counted as killing the entire opposing party, but the two parties could also agree on another method of deciding a winner if they wished. It was also permitted for one side to surrender.
It was different from the last boss battle they had been promised when embarking on the quest, but also wasn’t quite the mass fight to the death among over a hundred parties that Van had mentioned just earlier. At any rate, it seemed like this would lead to a faster conclusion, which was helpful. That was Yogiri’s opinion on the rules.
“So...maybe we don’t actually have to kill each other?” Tomochika asked.
“I don’t think it’ll be that easy. They’re here to kill me, after all...although, in that case, if you kill me—”
“I’m not worried about saving myself here,” Tomochika replied, immediately cutting him off.
“If I die, the world will be reset, so I guess there’s no point in worrying about what happens if I lose.”
“I can’t really imagine you losing in the first place. Well, okay, I can imagine it, but it doesn’t sound realistic.”
“I might lose because of some quirk of the rules, but I don’t think I’d die.”
“Does that mean you’re free to use your powers now?” she asked. Yogiri only used his powers to protect himself. But with this rule set, there could be a need for him to use his powers more proactively.
“I’m not really fond of the idea, but if they’re joining the battle of their own free will, they’ve got to be ready to die, right? I think of it like that.” They had likely all come with the intention of killing Yogiri, in which case using his power here was only to protect himself. Things hadn’t changed all that much.
“Okay. I’ll make sure I’m ready for that too.”
In truth, Tomochika didn’t have to do anything. If Yogiri was using his power, then all the responsibility lay with him. But even so, he was thankful for her attitude towards the situation.
“Last Boss Quest, Final Stage, Round One: Start!”
A message appeared in the air above them as an announcement played, signaling the start of the tournament. It seemed all of the participants had gathered. As he went to stand up, Yogiri noticed something sitting on the table that hadn’t been there before. It was a Philosopher’s Stone.
“Huh? Why is this here?”
It seemed Tomochika hadn’t seen it appear either. “I guess they really want us to have one with us?” she suggested.
Yogiri didn’t know what it was for, but he supposed it would be necessary for something in the future. He put the stone in his backpack and stood up. Tomochika followed his lead, heading for the door that seemed like the exit. Now, opening the door revealed a forest.
“We’ve been through a bit too much for this to surprise me anymore...” Tomochika commented.
“Yeah, I guess we’ve seen all sorts of teleportation.” They had grown far too used to suddenly appearing in strange places. Even so, Yogiri grabbed hold of Tomochika’s hand. He didn’t know if it made a difference, but he felt like it would at least keep them from being separated.
Passing through the door, they made it out into the forest. The door disappeared as expected, and there was no sign of any building behind them. They were standing alone on a path cut through the forest, a straight line free of any trees.
“I guess this is the place above the clouds he mentioned?”
I am not confident knowing our position means very much considering all the teleportation we have been subjected to, but I suppose I will take a look around just in case. As usual, Mokomoko floated up into the air, then returned and sank into the ground. After a short wait, she appeared again. “The Castle in the Sky” is an apt description. We appear to be on a stone disc approximately two kilometers across, beyond which is nothing but clouds. It seems we are in a cavity within those clouds. On top of the stone disc are a few locales, such as forests, lakes, and grasslands, and in the center is a city surrounding a castle.
“If the circle is only two kilometers across and there are a hundred parties, will we actually run into anyone just by walking around?” Tomochika asked.
There are any number of suitable hiding places available, but it should be no problem finding opponents if you wish to search for them.
“I feel like you didn’t say anything there.”
Who cares? This situation is ridiculous!
“Did you see anyone else?” Yogiri asked.
No one casually prancing out in the open, no.
As expected, no one would leave themselves so plainly visible.
“In the end, we’ll have to fight, so there’s no real point in running or hiding. How do we go about finding people?”
“I’m sure they’ll all be asking the same question,” Tomochika said. “They’re all hunting you, right?”
“I guess you’re right. Maybe we should just try shouting, then. I don’t have a very strong voice, though.”
“You want me to do it?” Tomochika sighed. “All right, fine.” Taking a deep breath, she then shouted at the top of her lungs. “Yogiri Takatou is right here!!!”
Her voice was so incredibly loud that Yogiri thought his eardrums might burst. He couldn’t help but be impressed. He had tried to cover his ears in time, but hadn’t quite made it and now had to deal with a bit of ringing for a while.
“Oh, sorry.”
“That was...incredible.”
After a bit of time, Yogiri finally let go of his ears.
While that serves well for shouting in all directions, sending it in one specific direction makes it something of a weapon on its own! Mokomoko declared with a smug expression.
“Can humans actually project their voice in a specific direction?”
“You mean...like this?” A shiver went down Yogiri’s spine as Tomochika’s voice came to him from right behind his ear.
“You are impressive in a lot of ways, Dannoura.”
Indeed. She excels in many fields, but has spent so much time exclaiming things in shock that we have not been able to see much of it in this adventure!
“You know, I’m starting to get used to all the craziness here, but I don’t think another world is a place you would normally expect someone to be able to show off their full abilities.”
Such appears to be the next mission of the Dannoura Way. There was no way your ancestors could have predicted the rules that govern an entirely different world.
“I don’t think they should have. I really hope this isn’t something I have to go through twice.”
That aside, it seems some groups are approaching.
Yogiri looked around but found no one along the path. It seemed the attack would be coming from the trees. However, with his ears still paralyzed, he had no way of predicting where they’d come from. In that case, he knew he would be better off relying on Tomochika’s sharper senses to find the enemies before they approached, so he looked over to find her searching the forest blindly like he was.
“You hurt your ears with your own voice?”
Perhaps a little self-control should have been exercised?
“Right?! Sorry, I shouldn’t have just yelled out like an idiot like that!”
“It’s fine, if they come towards us, it’ll still work out.” He didn’t know whether it made a difference, but Yogiri picked a direction and focused on it. Picking up on the idea, Tomochika turned and looked the opposite way. As they waited, they saw a person slipping through the trees.
“Huh? Is that Hanakawa?” With his unique figure, he was easy to recognize. Behind him were Carol and Ryouko. The moment he recognized them, the three of them vanished.
“Takatou!” Tomochika shouted, looking ahead. A noblewoman with her hair in long curls stood before them. It seemed she had just appeared out of the forest, so she had likely closed within ten meters. In short, it wasn’t Hanakawa who had disappeared, but Yogiri and Tomochika who had been moved to another channel. The scenery around them hadn’t changed, so it seemed that, like the town, there were plenty of identical areas set up.
“Did you say something about Hanakawa?”
“I saw him for a second, but we can ignore him for now.”
“We can, huh?”
“So, how exactly are we going to do this fight?”
Up until now, they had assumed it would be a fight to the death, but according to the rules announced earlier, they could pick another way to resolve the match as well.
“Oho ho ho ho! I propose we settle this with a no-holds-barred death match!” the woman replied with a sharp laugh.
“Wow...what is with this rich girl template?” Tomochika shifted back slightly. It seemed she wasn’t interested in associating with the stranger.
“That’s just the default, though,” Yogiri called back to the woman. “Can’t we talk about another way to settle this?”
“Absolutely not!” she answered instantly. It would be impossible to reason with her. “My vengeance shall leave you crushed and shattered! You will come to regret the very day you were born! Prepare yourself!”
Though she claimed to have some sort of grudge against him, she otherwise seemed to be in good spirits.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Yogiri Takatou is right here!!!” An incredibly loud voice rang through the forest.
“Was that Tomochika?”
“That sounded like Dannoura...”
Hanakawa and Ryouko made the observation at the same time while their party of three was discussing what to do next.
“I guess searching for people to fight was too much of a pain, so their plan is to call the enemies to them!” Carol said.
“I’m not sure you could call that much of a plan,” Ryouko said. “But at least it makes it easy for us to meet up with them.”
“Is it safe for us to do so?” Hanakawa asked. “They might kill us right away in order to go straight to the next round...”
“But if we wait around, another party will get to them ahead of us,” Carol replied. “I don’t think we have much other choice.”
The call had been quite loud. There was definitely going to be more than one party going to investigate. Though the others had no evidence that the voice they heard was telling the truth, if there was a chance it was, they had no choice but to go there.
“Then I suppose we should go in this direction!”
Hanakawa and the two girls ran off towards the source of the call. Though he had raised the possibility of Yogiri killing them to get to the next round, he was confident that wouldn’t happen without warning. He was optimistic that if he reunited with Yogiri, everything would work out in the end.
Slipping through the trees, they took the shortest possible route. As a Monk, Hanakawa’s physical abilities had greatly improved. Although it was through dense forest, he could move quickly and easily. Ahead of them was a break in the trees where what appeared to be a road cut through the forest. Standing on that road were two figures who appeared to be Yogiri and Tomochika.
But just as Hanakawa had thought that they would make it, the two figures vanished. The group continued out onto the road, but as expected, their quarries were nowhere to be found.
“What happened?”
“Looks like another party got there first after all,” Carol said.
“I see,” Hanakawa replied. “So they were moved to another channel.”
They looked around the area, but there was no sign of Yogiri anywhere. There were traces on the road that showed someone had been standing there, but no clues as to where they may have gone.
“I suppose we have no choice but to meet up with them in the second round, then,” Ryouko said.
“And how are we going to manage that?” Hanakawa asked.
“We could just wait here for someone to show up,” Carol answered.
“I see.” Hanakawa nodded. “There should be plenty of others coming to investigate the source of the noise, after all.”
Listening to the forest around them, they could hear the sound of movement. It seemed quite a few parties were closing in. Suddenly, a shadow jumped out of the trees. For a brief moment, the scenery around them wavered, but it soon turned back to normal. A party had approached within ten meters, so they had been moved to another channel.
The newcomer clicked his tongue. “You guys are my first opponents?”
Hanakawa was a little taken aback. They had been confronted by a group of small children. “This looks...like it will be a bit of a challenge, in a manner of speaking.”
At the head of the group was a boy who looked about ten years old. Behind him were two girls who appeared to be about five or six, and another boy who looked even younger. The boy in front seemed to be their leader, and he was glaring at them with open contempt.
“Wow, they’re adorable!” Carol exclaimed.
“True...but were they really one of the groups at the pyramid?”
They must have been one of the groups that had stayed away from the discussion at the center, as it would have been very difficult for Hanakawa to forget seeing them—all four of them were beastkin, sporting prominent cat ears.
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