Blue’s donation chapter (4/5)
Previous episode:
The Sea King has joined us.
He gave me a miniature red jellyfish as a souvenir.
The next day after our encounter with the Sea King, we went to the outskirts of the “Safe Zone”.
The group consisted of me, Ichinose, Nishino’s group, Fujita and other former city hall members, and the Self-Defense Forces. Aiba’s group is also there. It’s quite a large group.
A little further away was Sora with a small red jellyfish desperately clinging onto her head.
Oh, and Igarashi is hiding in my shadow.
For some reason, she’s been staying in the shadows on a regular basis lately……
(They are all skilled…… And they’re all high level ……)
You can say that the members here are practically the main force of the “Safe Zone”.
So, it was easy to predict the reason for our gathering.
Once everyone was assembled, Rebel stepped forward.
“I want to thank you for coming here so early. I’ve asked you to come here today for one reason and one reason only. I want to begin leveling you guys seriously.”
Leveling — that is, raising your level.
“It’s great that you were able to get Shram’s help, but you’re still not strong enough. Starting today, you’re going to be hunting more and more monsters.
“What? Are we going to fight that monster? The one that looks like a huge burning cow that Rebel summoned.”
Rebel shook her head at Rikka-chan, who raised her hand.
“I’m not going to use that for a while. But there’s no point in training if you guys can’t beat that thing. First of all, at the very least, you need to raise your level to be able to beat my Ifrit. Or should I say, until you are able to beat me?”
“Ah, I see, that means we’re still weak. Ugh! It’s so frustrating……. Oh yeah, that’s right, how about we call you Reberen! ……Not good?”
[T/N: Rebel in Japanese is Reberu and Leveling is Leberin, so she made a pun here]
“….No, it’s not that I don’t like it. I don’t really care what you call me….”
“Really! Hehe, thank you, Reberen.”
“…… You, you don’t have to thank me every time.”
Rikka-chan smiled at Rebel as she scratched her cheeks.
As expected, she is a genius at communicating. Slowly, slowly, we will close the gap.
“Muu……”
Yes, that, I’m not at all jealous.
It’s not like Rikka-chan was stolen away, right?
I quietly appeased Ichinose, who tugged at my hem with a complicated expression.
“Well, it’s a good thing that the gap between us is closing…..”
Fujita and the people from the Self-Defense Force have recently started to warm up to Rebel when they talk to her.
Their feelings may still be complicated, but the distance between them seems to be getting smaller and smaller.
While I was thinking so, Fujita raised his hand.
“When you talk about leveling up, what about the monsters? We’ve already hunted most of the monsters around here, haven’t we?”
“Don’t worry about that. I used a summon to search for them at night.”
As expected of Rebel. She works fast.
She took out a map from her pocket and unfolded it.
The map was marked with several circles and triangles.
Most of them were cities and towns, but for some reason, two places in the mountains were marked with double circles.
“These are the places where the monsters are holed up. There’s also a coordinate point for Aka-chan a little further away, so it shouldn’t take too long to get around.”
“Most of the towns……. Didn’t you find out anything about the town when you were investigating?”
When Fujita asked this, Rebel looked a little reluctant.
“…… It’s mostly the same everywhere. The city was torn apart because of the Treant’s attacks, and most of the residents were either killed by monsters or evacuated to some other place. There were four confirmed settlements – groups of more than ten people. The triangle represents these survivors. Two of them were in the same “safe zone” as this one. The number of people in each place is much smaller than here, though.”
Hearing this, everyone, including Fujita, felt a pang of sadness.
“……Only this much in the whole prefecture…..?”
“No, it’s not just within the prefecture. The situation is probably similar in Kanto, Kansai, Hokkaido and Kyushu…….”
“How many tens of thousands of people have lost their lives in this past month……”
“It’s not tens of thousands……. Tens of millions …… maybe hundreds of millions for the whole world.”
That’s right. It’s not just Japan.
The same thing is happening all over the world, Rebel said.
An army of monsters had suddenly appeared.
We were at an overwhelming disadvantage, unable to utilize any of the technology that humanity has developed.
As Fujita said, if we are not careful, nearly several hundred million people might have been sacrificed.
Once again, I realized the severity of the situation we were in.
In this extreme situation, there must be a very small percentage of people like us who have obtained a “Safe Zone” and are actively hunting monsters.
Most of them are still struggling to get food and water.
We’ve been able to secure some of that too, thanks to the emergence of people with production professions and skills. …… In case of emergency, we still have a stock of item boxes, but now that the number of people has increased, it’s not enough to burn through. This is not a permanent solution.
“So, perhaps, here and here.”
Then, she pointed to two of the places marked on the map.
The two circled places in the mountain. These are the ones I was wondering about.
“There is a possibility of a Named monster being in these two places.”
“”……!””
At that statement, everyone gasped.
“As far as I can tell, it’s a snake monster. It’s probably 40 melt long–oh, no. It is a 40 meters long monster. The other one is a spider monster. This one is about two meters long, but it has quite a lot of minions and works in packs.”
Spider and snake monsters…….
What’s a meld? Is that the unit of measure from Rebel’s world?
I’ve never seen a snake monster before.
A 40 meter long snake is totally like an anaconda from the movies.
“Kyuu–”
Kiki shivered when she heard that it was a spider monster. So cute.
Come to think of it, the monster that Kiki and I fought when we first met was also a spider monster.
Kiki was captured by a spider, and Fujita and I happened to save her, and then she joined us.
There were several spider monsters at that time, too.
I wonder if spider monsters are basically monsters that fight in packs?
Back then, I had a lot of trouble with the threads, and this time, I’m sure it will be even tougher since it is a named monster.
“So, the members heading towards each monster will be…..”
Rebel scanned us for a moment.
“Fujita’s team will take care of the snakes, and Towada’s team will take care of the spiders.”
“”……””
The members of the city hall and the Self-Defense Force raised their voices at this comment.
I guess they thought we were going to eradicate monsters in other towns and contact the surviving community.
“What are you surprised for? Did you really think that the kids would be in charge of the Named monsters while you would be in charge of the small fries?”
“! ….No, no, we didn’t …… mean that.”
“You did, didn’t you? Because Kazuto and Rikka are much stronger than you. You’re right, if you think about it only in terms of strength. You’re not wrong. The odds are much higher that way. But what does that mean as an adult? Especially as a self-defense officer protecting the people?”
“……”
She directly hit the sore spot.
At these words, several members of the SDF huffed and clenched their fists in frustration.
They must have been ashamed of themselves for unconsciously choosing the easy way out.
Then Towada stepped forward.
“….I’m sorry. But that’s misleading. The monsters lurking in the mountains are certainly a threat, but destroying the monsters that are roaming the streets is an equally important mission. There is nothing wrong with them wanting to save as many lives as possible, and they can’t be blamed for that.”
“Yes. But without power, you can’t save anyone. You can’t save anyone if you don’t have the power. …… You can’t put your short-term interests ahead of your own life and lose everything in the process.”
“…… I’ve learned that the hard way this past month. I don’t know how many times I’ve cursed myself for my inability and put my life in the hands of people I should be protecting.”
“If that’s what you think, that’s great. That’s why I want you guys to take care of the Named monsters. If you can survive this battle, you will be stronger than ever. As you level up and evolve, you won’t be tormented by a sense of helplessness. I apologize for the harsh tone I used. Don’t worry about the town. I want you guys to focus on leveling up.”
“…… Understood.”
And so the two named monsters were assigned to Fujita and Towada’s groups.
So, are we going to be in charge of the town with Nishino’s group?
To be honest, I don’t think Ichinose and I will be able to raise our levels that much after defeating a few goblins and orcs, but …….
At that moment, Rebel looked at us.
“Kazuto, Natsu, Rikka, and Nishino. And the glasses holed up in the shadows. You guys are on a special menu.”
She beckoned us to join her.
And then there is Igarashi, who is typically hiding in the shadows. You can at least call her by her name.
“Special menu?”
“Well, your friends can handle the town. There are no monsters we haven’t seen before, and they will have that zombie kid, Iver, and Shram’s kid – Red Jellyfish, right? They will also have that child with them so they should be able to handle it.”
Well, I certainly don’t think that the goblins, orcs, and zombies in town will be enough to defeat them now.
If Ono, who has his unique skills, and Aiba, an otherworlder, and the red jellyfish are added to the mix, there’s no chance of that happening.
…… For a moment, that intelligent zombie crossed my mind.
If anything does happen, then it will be because of his involvement……
“Don’t worry. At least the town you’re heading to doesn’t have those zombies you talked about. Also, Iver and the red jellyfish have emergency escape skills. You don’t have to worry about them.”
As if she had read my thoughts, Rebel followed up.
Well, if you say so much, it’s okay.
“So, what are we going to do? Are we going to head somewhere where there are other monsters that might be stronger?”
“No, we’re not. Well, that would also be fine, but after yesterday’s conversation with Shram, I’ve come up with a more efficient way to raise your level. It’s going to be a real battle.”
A real battle ……?
So, are we going to fight the monster that Rebel summoned?
Sure, that would be tougher than fighting some of the named monsters out there, but then we’ve been doing that for awhile now.
“Yes, that’s right. But you will not be fighting a summoned monster.”
Once again, Rebel shook her head as if she had read my thoughts.
Then she pointed at herself and said,
“It’s me that you will be fighting.”
“…..huh?”
As we gawked at her, Rebel’s smile deepened.
“Maybe the next negotiation with the Wolf King won’t go as well as the one with Shram. It will definitely be a battle.”
I’m sure it will. He wants to settle things with us.
It will definitely be a battle to the death.
To be honest, I don’t want to fight, but in this situation where war with the otherworlders is imminent, he is too big a factor to leave as an uncertainty.
Whatever form it takes, it has to be settled.
“That’s why I’ll be your opponent. The highest-ranking sorcerer in the other world, the “Death King” Rebel Lebenherz. I’m sure you’ll be able to find a way to make it work.”
“Uwa…?!”
The next moment, a tremendous amount of energy was released from Rebel.
This is certainly ridiculous ……. My body could not stop shaking and cold sweat started to trickle down my back.
I can’t think of a better person to train with to prepare for the fight against Schwartz.
“This is great. I’ll have to work hard not to die before the fight against Schwartz, Ichinose.”
“…………”
“……? Ichinose?”
There was no reply.
When I turned around to see what was wrong, Ichinose was on all fours throwing up all over the place, Rikka had fallen on her butt and was shaking, and Nishino-kun had fainted with his eyes wide open.
………Is this going to be okay?
Anyway, this is how we started our training for our battle against Schwartz.
[A/N: Thank you for reading. I will quickly finish this training arc. Books 1-4 and Comics 1-4 are now on sale.]
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