Chapter 23 — As Expected of My Master!

 From the remains of the destroyed train, they had walked about ten kilometers west. While it was a bit slower than the pace of your average healthy high school student, the main cause of their slowness was Yogiri.

 "This is why I told you to get the robot to carry us," Tomochika sighed, looking down at him. Having found a conveniently placed fallen tree, Yogiri was sitting to recuperate his strength. Despite the fact that their backpacks were basically the same weight, Tomochika was still brimming with energy.

 "I really want to avoid stirring up as much trouble as we can. What would we do if someone saw us being carried here by that robot?"

 The giant had been called an "aggressor." Although they didn't know exactly what sort of basis their necklaces used to translate, it apparently meant "invader." That almost certainly made the robot an enemy of the people of this world, so being seen together with it would have cast them in the same light.

 "That robot didn't seem like such a bad guy, though. Are you really that out of shape? You seemed strong enough when you pushed me over earlier," Tomochika said, a hint of displeasure in her voice.

 "I was forced to exercise regularly, so I'm not totally hopeless. I'll admit my stamina is kind of lacking, though."

 Yogiri had been all for hurrying when they'd first set out, but as they'd progressed, he had slowed down bit by bit and began to regularly ask for breaks.

 "Well, you never know what might happen, so maybe you should work on that," Tomochika said, sitting down beside him. "Or at the very least, we should have gotten a vehicle or something. Was there a reason for us to run away so fast like that?"

 I agree. If we had stayed a bit longer, we could have gotten a lot more out of that robot.

 Mokomoko was floating alongside them.

 "Because I saw the shadow. I told you I can sense danger, right?"

 "Yeah, you said you can see something. Kind of like Morihei Ueshiba?"

 "Who?"

 "He's an Aikido master. He can even dodge bullets, but apparently he can see something like a ray of light that shows where the bullets will go before they're even fired."

 "I guess it's something like that. But instead of light, it's more like a black line or a kind of shadow. Earlier, I saw a huge shadow hanging over the entire area around the train, so things were getting pretty intense there. The danger level was around thirty percent, maybe."

 "Okay. I have no idea what you mean by a percent, but I'm guessing it's something like a weather forecast?"

 "Something like that. Where we are now, it's below one percent, so this area should be much safer."

 "You make it sound like we're only resting now because we got to a safe place, but you really just wanted to rest because you're tired, right?"

 "We've basically made it to the city anyway, so it's fine."

 They'd known there was a station between the forest and the canyon. Hearing that, Yogiri had assumed it was some small settlement tucked away in the wilderness, but the truth had been quite different. Despite its isolated location, he could see numerous skyscrapers. It seemed like a rather large city.

 "It looks like there are no city walls. Does that mean they don't get attacked by monsters here?"

 "I doubt it. The cities in this world that don't have the Sage's protection all seem to be in constant danger."

 "You say that, but we just walked along the rails without a care in the world."

 "That's only because I kept killing all of the enemies."

 "What?!"

 "Yeah, we were targeted by some monsters and bandits and stuff on the way."

 "Tell me, then! Now I look like an idiot for just strolling along, humming a tune without noticing anything!"

 Most of the enemies had come from within the forest. The monsters were likely attracted by their scent. And apparently the trains were regularly attacked by bandits, so a gang probably had a stronghold nearby as well.

 "I didn't think it was worth mentioning."

 "This weapon is really going to be pointless, isn't it?"

 It has a number of different shapes programmed into it, but I suppose it isn't proving too useful.

 A sword had suddenly appeared in Tomochika's hand. One of the robot's internal functions was to reproduce materials in any shape it desired. Apparently, this function was mostly used to produce things like muscle fibers for itself. They were much softer than the exterior of the robot, but from a human perspective, the material could be used to make things that were more than solid enough to qualify as weapons.

 When Mokomoko had asked for a weapon, this was what the robot had produced. Normally, it camouflaged itself as a piece of clothing, but at Mokomoko's command it could change shape, doing so at such a speed that it looked like it was being summoned on the spot.

 "Aren't you supposed to be a ghost from the Heian era? How come you can use such a science fiction-y weapon so easily?"

 The Dannoura Style of Martial Arts can evolve to suit any circumstance! Recently, the main focus has been on electronic warfare. Did you not know?

 "Not even a little! Who would have thought an old-fashioned martial art would go in that direction?!"

 "Honestly, it's good to hear that you're good at things like that, Mokomoko. You said you'll be able to analyze the Gift as well, right?"

 Indeed. I managed to get about a million credits from that robot. I was able to use that to purchase the rights to the middleware used by that Battle Song system. The original Battle Song is now open source, so by putting those together I can reproduce a kind of counterfeit version of it. The Gift has changed considerably from the original, however, so it will take some time to analyze the newer version. If I can do that, it should make understanding this world a lot easier. It may even be possible to hack it to some degree.

 "I feel like this conversation is completely leaving me behind! I have no idea what you guys are talking about at all. Who are you that you can even do something like that?"

 Yogiri had been wondering the same thing. What were those credits she was talking about? How and where did a ghost like her buy something with them? And if the Gift was a program, where was it developed? Mokomoko hadn't explained that at all, so they were completely in the dark.

 As a result of my long lifespan, I have evolved into a high-level divine spirit, an information-based life form, giving me awareness of and access to higher levels of information layers! Even in a different world, the upper-level information layers fundamentally remain the same, so knowledge of it gives me a working knowledge of all worlds, in a general sense. Accessing that layer also allows for the use of value exchange media, known as credits. That robot's home world must be one where information-based life forms are rather common. He considered someone like me to be an ordinary being, after all. In short, by manipulating the parts of that robot, I could even interact with the material world —

 "You're not explaining anything at all!" Tomochika shouted as Mokomoko's explanation continued to make things more confusing.

 ◇ ◇ ◇

 Once they had finished resting, the two of them entered Hanabusa. There were no walls or anything that looked like official entry points. It seemed they weren't limiting access to the city at all. There were, however, a number of poles around to indicate the city's boundaries. They must have been there to show how far the Sages' protection extended.

 The roads were paved in asphalt, and the buildings were constructed from concrete. It had a completely different atmosphere from Quenza, the city they had visited earlier. While Quenza was a medieval fantasy metropolis, Hanabusa looked more like modern Japan. The streets were bustling with people, coming and going with an overflowing energy.

 "So...we're waiting here for everyone else, right?"

 "Either that or we head to the capital and wait for them there. What do you think?"

 "The capital is pretty close by train, isn't it? Why don't we wait here for a bit?"

 "In that case, we'll need a base of operations. Celestina told me about a good hotel, so let's go check it out."

 "Oh, if Celestina told you about it then that's good enough for me." It seemed Tomochika had developed an unconditional trust in the concierge.

 Following the map that Celestina had drawn for them, they found the hotel in no time at all.

 "Wow, this is amazing!"

 The building was enormous, tall enough that from street level, you couldn't even see how many floors it had. The outside was rather unrefined but its height alone was enough to impress. Even in Hanabusa, it must have been one of the tallest buildings. Pushing through the revolving door at the entrance, the two of them entered the lobby.

 "It looks gorgeous, but thanks to you, I still can't see anything but a love hotel. Why did you have to say that?!"

 "Not much I can do about it now, even if you complain."

 The bright, open lobby was filled with gold fixtures throughout, lending it a high-class yet cheap-looking feel. It was crowded to the point of overflowing. While most of the people present were likely guests, a number of them seemed to be using it more as a meeting place.

 As the pair looked around the lobby in amazement, a group of people began walking towards them. When they stepped aside to make way, the group instead turned to approach them.

 "I thought so! It's Dannoura!" The speaker was plainly a Japanese boy. Yogiri didn't remember him in the least, but if he knew Tomochika, he must have been one of their classmates. Behind him were five women who all seemed to be natives.

 "What? Tachibana?! Why are you here?"

 Their classmates should have still been making their way through the forest. There was no way they could have reached Hanabusa before Yogiri and Tomochika, who had traveled most of the way by train.

 "I'm so glad you're safe! I decided to split off from the others. There was no point participating in their absurdly slow way of leveling."

 "Oh, really? Not that I know anything about that."

 Having encountered one of their classmates so unexpectedly, Tomochika was at a sudden loss for words.

 One of the girls behind Tachibana, a blonde with hair tied up in twin tails, immediately showed her displeasure. "Who is this woman? And why is she acting so friendly with Yuuki?!"

 In the face of her sudden and blatant hostility, Tomochika was even more confused. She had no idea why she was being attacked.

 "Stop it, Erika. This is one of my classmates."

 "If you say so..." Reluctantly, Erika backed off.

 "As expected of my master! Your tolerance shines so much brighter in the light of your companions' rudeness! Truly yours is a heart fit to be king!" This time, a girl with wavy brown hair had spoken up.

 "Takatou, what is up with these people?" Tomochika murmured.

 "I have no clue." The girls all seemed to be obsessed with Tachibana, but he couldn't say why.

 "Oh, I've got an idea!" Tachibana said, as if a brilliant thought had just occurred to him. "Meeting here must have been fate! Why don't you become my lover, Dannoura?"

 The moment the proposal left his mouth, the adoring gazes of the collection of women behind him turned murderous.

 "Excuse me?" Tomochika's bewilderment continued to grow unabated.