Chapter 14 — Daimon Hanakawa, Beautiful Girl Version?!
“This is a dream, correct?! Then there should be no problem if I hug you and lick you, right?!”
Hanakawa jumped forward as if to grab the two calling themselves Malna and Rilna. Perhaps because it was a dream, he flew forward easily, but he never reached them. Though he had jumped quite a distance, he fell and his face struck something like a floor. It was an empty white space, but there was still some sort of ground here. He and the two girls had been standing on the same surface, but when he looked up, the distance between them hadn’t changed.
“Huh? How could someone at level ninety-nine like myself fail to reach?” But even at level ninety-nine, Hanakawa’s physical attributes weren’t that high. The stats of a back line support character like him weren’t that well-suited to physical combat.
“Because it’s a dream.”
“It’s a dream, so everything goes exactly like we want it to.”
“So, what is it you wish from me?” Even if this was a dream, if a god was appearing to him, it must have wanted something from him.
“You know Yogiri Takatou, right?”
“Yogiri Takatou? I do, but...” Hanakawa’s current situation could be said to be a result of Yogiri’s actions. His fear of Yogiri had sunk deep into his bones, so he wanted to avoid contact with him as much as possible.
“So, like, we sent some assassins after him.”
“We sent apostles after him.”
“I imagine no matter who you sent, it was all for nothing,” Hanakawa replied. “He is just far too absurd.”
“Yeah, he’s been killing them all.”
“Even though we gave them powers that we thought could beat him.”
“Oh? For example?”
“Like a sword that can cut through anything.”
“It could even cut through things like space and concepts.”
“Or the power to destroy continents.”
“Destroying the world is too much, but just an island or a continent isn’t that bad.”
“But it was all pointless.”
“Of course it would be.” Hanakawa nodded. “Simply bringing powerful attacks to bear means nothing to him.”
Yogiri’s ability to inflict instant death at will wasn’t what made him terrifying. If that’s all it was, there would be plenty of ways to deal with him. The truly terrifying power he possessed was the ability to detect killing intent and preempt it. No matter how powerful your attacks were, you would be crushed before you could use them.
“If you are gods, should you not be able to do something about him?”
“We can.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah. I mean, we’re God. Of course we can compel lower lifeforms to obey us. So if we tell him to die, he’ll die, right?”
“Then why not do that?”
Hanakawa would have been only too happy for Yogiri to die. Who knew when he would come across him again or when Yogiri would decide to kill him? So if someone could get rid of the guy for him, Hanakawa would be ecstatic.
“But you see, just because we can doesn’t mean we should.”
“If we do that, isn’t it like admitting we lost?”
“If we killed a kid because he said something that made us angry, we’d be criticized, wouldn’t we?”
“The other gods would make fun of us.”
“Is that how it is?” Hanakawa asked.
“So we gave people powers and made them apostles, then said, ‘Go kill Yogiri Takatou!’”
“But it’s getting kind of boring thinking up new powers to give to people.”
“We thought, wouldn’t it be better if everyone thought up their own powers?”
“Umm...judging from the flow of this conversation, it sounds as if you intend to send me to kill him as well...”
“Of course.”
“Nooooooo!”
Hanakawa immediately turned and ran at full speed. But this was a dream under the control of a god. There was nowhere for him to go in this empty white space. When he finally exhausted himself and turned back around, the distance between them hadn’t changed.
“It’s impossible! A commoner like myself can do nothing against him! And why me in the first place?! There are plenty of others you could choose!”
“Because you know each other.”
“He is not someone so merciful as to spare me because we are acquaintances!”
Hanakawa had watched Yogiri kill their classmates without a second thought. Whether or not they knew each other, Yogiri wouldn’t hold back.
“You’ve seen his power before.”
“And you know all sorts of stupid stuff, right?”
“You’re one of those otaku, aren’t you? So you know what’s strong and what should be able to beat him, don’t you?”
“Please, have mercy on me! If you are willing to grant any power someone asks for, there should be any number of people willing to take my place!”
The thought of God granting a person any power they wished for was truly enticing, but it lost all of its allure if it was for the sake of fighting Yogiri.
“If you don’t want to, that’s fine, but we’ll just leave you like this ’til you change your mind.”
“You’ll be sleeping forever, you know?”
“Wait, that is also a problem!” Hanakawa cried. “I just received a map describing the locations of the heads of the empire!”
“Of course, you’ll be set free once we get bored and let go of the dream.”
“Do you want to try an endurance contest with a god? A hundred or a thousand years is easy for us.”
“Ugh... Do you really wish such torment on me?” Their treatment of him was gentle and not the least bit scary, so they were a little better to deal with than the other unreasonable people he had encountered. But it didn’t change the fact that their decision was absolute, and Hanakawa had no choice in the matter. “Fine...I will try.”
“Great!”
“Hurray!”
“Okay, we’ll call you later.”
“So think of which power you want.”
Suddenly, he was looking at the ceiling of his room. He had woken up.
“Hmm. If I think about it, this may not be so bad. Even if I receive a power from them, I can just avoid meeting Takatou, correct?”
Basic rules started filtering into his head somehow.
If Yogiri dies, the apostles all lose their powers. However, the one who kills him will keep their power as a reward.
You will be given the power to see which direction and how far away Yogiri is.
If you kill another apostle, you gain their powers.
There were a lot of other apostles, so it should have been fine if he left it to someone more motivated.
“After all, no matter what power I receive, it will be useless. So it would be best to think of something that would have value to me even after I lose it.”
For example, a power that involved creating things. If the things he made remained, he just needed to make a lot of stuff to use after his power disappeared.
“I’m sure someone more motivated than me will come along.”
Plenty of people would be loath to lose the powers they had obtained. Those motivated apostles would do everything in their power to keep them. At least, that’s what Hanakawa thought, but there seemed to be a bit of a catch.
“In that case, if everyone chose to leave Yogiri Takatou alone, they could all continue to use their powers forever, couldn’t they?”
“Oh! That’s true!”
Hanakawa gave a surprised shout as he was startled off his bed by the sudden voice beside him. Malna and Rilna were standing there.
“Everyone was super motivated because they received a mission from God, so we didn’t worry about it before.”
“But there will probably be people who think they don’t have to fight at all.”
“Like Hanakawa!”
“Wh-Why did you appear here all of a sudden?! If you could do that, why did you show up in a dream before?!”
“For the show?”
“Gods normally appear in people’s dreams, right?” The two of them did appear to be gods after all, capable of doing whatever they wanted.
“It’ll be a problem if you take too long, so I guess we should put a time limit on it.”
“So what should we do?”
“Maybe one person has to fight him every day?”
“And if no one does, they all die?”
“Excuse me,” Hanakawa interrupted, “but, for example, even if I were to leave now to go fight Takatou, it would take me more than a day to reach him.”
After all, he had no idea where Yogiri was. Knowing the general direction and rough distance didn’t help that much.
“Okay, then we’ll give you the ability to teleport to him once.”
“Urgh...with all due respect, I feel as if I’m digging my own grave...” He should have just kept his mouth shut. But as gods, they may have been able to read his mind anyway. In the end, this was just his fate.
“So, while you’re thinking of powers, we want you to give advice to the others as well.”
“What do you mean?” Hanakawa asked.
“Just like we did a second ago.”
“We want you to show up in people’s dreams and help them decide what kind of power they want. That should be helpful in deciding on a power for yourself as well.”
“Umm, about that,” Hanakawa replied. “Perhaps it is strange for me to point this out, but I don’t believe it would be an advantage to anyone to have me appear in their dreams.”
Having Hanakawa show up when God was bestowing powers on people would just spoil the moment.
“It’s fine, leave it to us!”
“We’ll give you a good body!”
“Hiyah!”
Malna and Rilna lifted their hands towards him, making a silly noise. A glittering light shone from them, washing over Hanakawa.
“Did something change? Oh, my voice?” His voice suddenly sounded strangely high-pitched. He hurriedly turned to look in the mirror, where a young girl stared back at him. He was now a cute girl, somehow similar to Malna and Rilna.
“Okay, so we’ll have you show up in people’s dreams like that.”
“Th-This is Daimon Hanakawa, beautiful girl version?! Not that there are any traces of my original appearance left...”
“I mean, if we left anything, you’d look gross.”
“True enough!” Hanakawa agreed. He didn’t feel all that bad about it.
◇ ◇ ◇
If no one challenges Yogiri Takatou for a full day, all apostles will die.
You will each be able to teleport to an area near Yogiri Takatou one time.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Chainsaw Shield Boomerang!”
The chainsaw shield flew forward and back, cutting through three mohawked men. Vivian caught the returning shield out of the air. She had gotten used to it by now. Behind her, Maanu was using a morning star to smash other similar ruffians. Another man wearing black plate mail cut apart distant enemies without even drawing his sword. These three, along with the plump man pulling their wagon, made up the remnants of the royal family hiding in Kadan. Though the entire city worked together to keep them hidden, these four were the only ones with any relation to the royal family. But that was just the portion of the family hiding in Kadan. Vivian wasn’t the only one to have escaped. The royals had scattered across all of West Ent, waiting for their chance to return.
“It seems we’re finished here.”
Although it had been an easy fight, Maanu’s voice seemed despondent. They were traveling through a wasteland on their way to the Elven Forest. They had been attacked by a band of ruffians and had cut them down. Their mohawked foes had once been citizens of the kingdom.
The people of the old kingdom were divided into two groups in West Ent: townsfolk and ruffians. The townsfolk lived by meager means, providing help for adventurers. Ruffians attacked the townsfolk and were killed by adventurers. The empire had given those roles to them. Though the ruffians were weak-willed enough to turn to a life of banditry, that didn’t change that they had been citizens of the same kingdom. It was normal to want to avoid killing them.
“There is nothing to be done about it,” the man in black armor said. “Even if they were once our citizens, they will not listen to what we have to say.” He was a knight of the former royal guard, Gale. Feared as the Black Knight, he had studied under a Swordmaster and obtained the rank of Heavenly Blade.
Aside from the rank of Swordmaster itself, swordsmen were divided up into nine ranks: Absolute Blade, Demolishing Blade, Thunderous Blade, Resonating Blade, Heavenly Blade, Dragon Blade, Royal Blade, Beastial Blade, and Steel Blade. Heavenly Blade was ranked fifth. The rank of Royal Blade was one that could be reached with effort, and described a person with the ability of an ordinary master. Those holding ranks of Dragon Blade or higher possessed either the talent of a genius or had received a rare Gift, propelling them past the usual domain of human ability. In short, the ruffians who had fallen in this wasteland never stood a chance against him, as he possessed a transcendental level of swordsmanship, something ordinary people could never match.
“Lady Vivian, could you please remain close to the cart? The barrier means nothing if you leave it,” the plump man pulling the cart, the barrier mage Nicholas, begged her. A barrier had been set up around the cart specifically to hide her presence.
“What is the point now?” she replied. “We’ve already been discovered. We just need to hurry up and reach the Elven Forest.”
“Lady Vivian, it would be best if we didn’t have to face additional enemies.”
Gale didn’t approve of Vivian joining the fighting either. The kind of moving barrier they were using was rather small, so if she moved around too much, their position would be discovered. And if they were found, an Emergency Quest would be issued and adventurers would be dispatched.
“Vivian! I told you not to do anything!” Maanu shouted.
“How come you are the only one who doesn’t call me ‘Lady’? You don’t have to pretend we’re ordinary townsfolk anymore.”
“I’m not going to start calling you ‘Lady Vivian’ now!”
“Oh, another revelation!”
“Don’t try and change the subject!”
“No, I’m serious. What? If no one challenges Yogiri, we die? That’s ridiculous!” A new rule had just been added.
“Let us hurry,” Gale urged them onward. “If we don’t make it by the scheduled time, they will leave without us.”
Something strange had happened in the Elven Forest. Taking that opportunity, the royal family had gathered from across West Ent to assault the region. Even if they kept the presence of the royals a secret, the empire would grow suspicious if it saw a large group heading towards the forest. They couldn’t turn back now.
“Yes! Towards our objective, the World Sword Omega Blade!”
“Why are you blurting that out now?! Idiot! You idiot!”
“But no one is listening.” Vivian began to tear up.
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