Chapter 25: Information
[Edited By: Arthur300000 and ArchmageNaoki]
It turned out that everyone got at least one achievement, and the prize I got from my achievement is a penguin keychain. Cherry seems to really want it, so I offered it to her, but with a red face, she declined. She said the little penguin should be staying with me.
"Kuro-Chan! Do you want to exchange your prize with me?" My sister ran to me with a nurse figurine as the award for her achievement. "Maniac Nurse: Deal the most damage in your team by playing nurse." She might not have seen what happened earlier because she was the last one who exchanged her prize.
"NOOOOO!" As expected, Cherry was screaming and started bawling in front of the theme park which took us a while to calm her down, and I had to promise her that I’d keep the penguin keychain.
We rode the shuttle bus back to the city center in high spirits. Well, most of us. It was around noon when we arrived at the city center. On the bus, the kids were talking about the adventures they had. I also organized the pictures I took with my communication device (I'm going to call it a phone from now on). There are a lot of good memories in there. I just noticed that I was smiling when looking at those pictures. Well, I never had this kind of experience in my last life so it couldn't be helped that I smiled a bit.
"Why can’t you just become an adventurer?" I asked Vicky as I saw her making wand swinging motions from the corner of my eyes. She also seemed happy about casting a spell when we played with the kids.
"I don’t want t-, I mean, I can't." She was startled by my question. "I don't have any aptitude for casting spells and my reflex is terrible." It turns out that Vicky also tried to be an adventurer but she can't because of the test result.
"Not everyone can be an adventurer, even if they tried. Me for example, I can’t even use monster core powered devices because my brain can't calculate fast enough." Vicky explained further when she saw my confused look.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know that." It seems I’ve stepped on a landmine, so I apologized for being insensitive.
"It's ok Kuro-Chan. Besides, cooking is a kind of magic by itself." She smiled at me.
We arrived at the city around noon, and everyone was hungry. So we chose the closest restaurant to the station. It looks like a Japanese restaurant. I think, it might be a byproduct of an Outsider who came and re-invented soy source here. I’ve never been in a real Japanese restaurant before so I don’t know how authentic it is. The only experience for me with Japanese cuisine was some sushi my father bought from a supermarket in my past life. That time he was celebrating something that I don't remember anymore, so I got a bit more expensive meal than usual. Of course, I like them because it's an upgrade from my mundane meal which I never had the second time.
However, to my dismay, the sushi in this world is inexpensive. It's only one credit for two pieces. Moreover, they have all the luxurious type like fatty tuna, salmon eggs, eel, sweet shrimp and puffer fish. Maybe it's because of how vast this world is and the existence of storage devices, so the ingredients were plenty. Of course, I would stay away from puffer fish that Sophia ordered as her first dish. There are also some monster toppings like flying fish's ovary and flying urchin's egg. Well, it might be proper sushi, but anything with flying in its name is a monster in my book. Those children also enjoyed their kid's set menu which looks like a small piece schnitzel with a flag on top. The reason I called it schnitzel because it doesn’t smell like pork at all. There was also custard as dessert for them.
I've never tried authentic sushi before, and my only one experience with supermarket sushi should not be counted as authentic. Anyway, I order fatty tuna first because I heard it was the most expensive one in my former world. The result doesn’t disappoint me. The fish melted in my mouth, and the taste was impossibly rich. Combined with the fresh wasabi and perfectly flavored rice, it has blown away my past sushi experience. I also tried another type, but none of them could beat fatty tuna. It's the right choice of the restaurant after all. My lunch only cost five credits, and my sister was paying for me again.
After the meal, we visit a landmark of this city after that. It's a crystal garden where the battle between the hoard of black dragons and the human army took place decades ago. The place has a layer of multicolored crystals everywhere. When I look closely, the crystals are around one to two centimeters thick. Some are jagged, and some are as smooth as a drop of water. It's a beautiful place, but imagining a fight that can cause everything to turn into glass it becomes a horrifying scene. Isn't this power comparable to a big nuclear explosion? There is also a sign warning tourists not to pick those crystals up and only to walk on the specified trail. They also explained that due to the residual magic from the battle, the temperature around here is always warm so there was no snow covering the fields around the crystals.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The next place we visit is a museum of magic. We’re there because Sophia needs information for her report. The entrance fee is free for students. There are many interesting objects and artifacts from ancient times that took most of the children's attention. However what interests me most is an outsider exhibition in the corner. There are history and information of many Outsiders. Several of them came from my former world. However, not all Outsiders came from games. For example, the oldest one on the record claimed that she came from a story of Cinderella. However, she is not Cinderella herself but one of the stepsisters. I don't know if she was the original or 'Disney' version, though. There’s also a robot that looks like R2-D2 from Star Wars they recovered from the bottom of a lake and displayed inside a transparent case. Poor guy.
Some of the Outsiders are famous people like heroes of the era, some of them became this world's catastrophe, and some of them have become a millionaire. Mr. Tamotsu, for example, he proclaimed that he came from "Boku no Pico"... What is that? I have no idea. Anyway, he is currently a great business tycoon who owns a lot of popular theme parks and restaurant franchises. He also owns the theme park and restaurant that we visited today.
Although most of them are not voluntary disclosed and most of the world they explained on the document is unknown to me, I found one pattern is that no two Outsiders came from the same story or game. There is also no record indicating that they are ordinary people who got a new body like me. But I'm suspecting that some of them did. Well, some of their stories in this world and what they claim are entirely opposite. For example, a guy who said that he was Rambo has become a fashion designer in this world.
"Know anyone from your world?" My sister was suddenly asking me.
"Not as an individual." I shook my head. "However, there are some of them I recognize."
"So, you know what Boku no Pico world is?" Sophia wanted me to explain that world to her. She said, "It must be a wonderful world." Well, it might be for you, but I'm trying to forget that day when I mistook it as a slice-of-life anime and watched it. So, I shook my head.
The great wizard hall of fame exhibition is also interesting. There is a record of a woman who invented the interference field, a guy who created the system for the modern magic device, an old man who cast "Great Universe Unification" spell, etc. Some of them are Outsiders. However, the majority of them are from the local population.
I tried to look for the reason why Outsiders were transported to this world, but I found none. Maybe it was also missing in the history of this civilization. Also, it's impossible for me to deduce something at this point. Everything is too random. If a sentient being tried to summon people to do something, why this random? Why don't that thing summon Jedi Knight from Star Wars but summon this R2-D2 robot instead? Why not Cinderella but her step sister? And why Rambo? Why me as Dragonborn? And why Boku no Pico? Sophia also doesn't fare better than me, but she said that she has enough material to make something up.
On the way back, my sister also paid for the train ticket for me. I began to think that her spending behavior is also problematic. If she is with a man, she might lose all of her money on some gold digger. I will have to find some time to talk to her about how to spend money properly, like buying more panties for example.
We arrived at our town at 5:15 PM and it's snowing again. Anyway, we escorted those kids to their houses together. However, when I got to Bree's house, her mother tried to return my 5,000 credits to me which I was reluctant to accept. Nevertheless, I took it. Well, it's 500 panties, you know? And she said they would be alright, so thank you very much. After that, we have nice warm tea and cookies at Cherry's house. Her family seems to be well-off since she has a butler in her home. She also showed her room to me that was full of stuffed toys. It gave me an idea to give the fluffy toys in my room to Bree. Well, girls like those things, right? When we leave Cherry’s house, we say goodbye to each other and return home.
""I'm back~"" My sister and me say in sync. This house’s habit is infectious.
""Welcome home."" My mom and brother also return the greeting. My dad hasn't come back from work yet. It seems he had to do overtime today.
"Perfect timing Kuro, I finished programming your device and just synchronized the energy absorption device for mom. Here, let me give your device back first." My brother gave me two gun type devices, both of military grade. The first one is futuristic looking with three programming slots for spells. I’ll be using this gun to fight monsters. Another one is a big black pistol that has only one programming slot, but it has extremely high gain. This one I’ll use to fight people. I learned from the field assignment that when fighting with people, high spell intensity is very important. I could end the fight a lot sooner if my spell couldn’t be blocked. However, fighting with monster high output or more destructive the spell is the better. Of course, some monsters also have some kind of field protecting them, but that field is weaker than what people have. I also wished to have a preprogrammed auxiliary device. However, none of the auxiliary devices I have has a programming slot.
"Also, don't let other people touch your pre-programmed device. This kind of device is susceptible to sabotage. A lot of people have died or lost a limb because of that." My brother warned me, so I store those gun type devices immediately. Can I trust him? Well, I don’t think he would gain anything from killing me.
"Thanks, and what about mom's device? Can we take a walk outside now?" I ask about her because it's the least I can do to return their kindness. My consciousness told me not to, but my conscience is glaring at me if I just do nothing. My mom smilingly gave her hand to me. She has a thin white glove on her hand and a strange rune on her palm.
When I took her hand, I could feel my Magicka draining rapidly. It's about the same rate as my regeneration. That means when I am holding her hand my magic regeneration rate would be practically zero. However, it would be alright for walking around the peaceful city.
"Where do you want to go first, mom?" I smiled and ask her. When said that my brother was smiling from ear to ear and my sister jumped up and cheered loudly. My mom was wiping her tears from her eyes and hugged me tightly. "Thank you, Kuro-Chan" is what she said.