Volume 2 Chapter 5 (1/2)

I had to watch the bright sunrise from the road outside the luxury hotel

But I suppose seeing the sun at all was better than the alternative

We had ht

We had won the 2nd round

But that only rim reaper's clock had advanced one more step

The Five Battles Precipice The demon of statistics

We only had the 3rd and 4th rounds left to work on this We had to find so to destroy the nationally broadcast Colosseuht Cross before the fated 5th round began

Perhaps due to shaking off the Leanan Sídhe's curse, I felt full of energy But that did not cheer me up

…What would I do about Itou Helen?

I knew she could heal her wounds and recover her lost sta her skin like a snake But sheas bad as broken bones just by shedding her skin?

This accumulation hat created the merciless rules

I had to do better The Five Battles Precipice did not mean ere safe until the 5th round It meant she would die in the 5th round or earlier So she could have easily been killed back there

So I had to hurry it up

I had to find a way to save Itou Helen

”Maxwell”

”Sure”

”Did you find anything in common between the 1st round's TV station and the 2nd round's luxury hotel?”

”A few First, the broadcast equipment and staff used for the 2nd round were the sa And that obviously includes the bunny girl Also, both facilities are part of the saanization appears to gather the opinions of the financial world and pass them onto the political world, but it is no more than a decoration started by a specific politician In other words, it is nothat eliminates any opinions deemed inconvenient to Kukyou City's elites”

”I' they're guilty?”

”Incredibly so This is a textbook example of corruption”

…If they were that bad, then I was in danger just having that inforo There was no chance of safety froht Cross

”Also, this infor as a simulator”

”I am a handlehandedly, but I take pride inpower's lack of inferiority …And yet you have run across too many unexpected situations lately I can only call this odd”

”…You say that, but isn't that just because we don't have enough data to build a proper siht Cross? That's why your calculations aren't perfect”

”I a, the very beginning of this incident was odd On the very day we had decided to head underground and destroy the Bright Cross, they had already withdrawn from that facility and started this public Colosseu seem a little too perfect?”

”…Are you saying they predicted our actions?”

”Sure”

”Maxwell, is it possible you're being hit by a cyber attack? Have you been checking the size of the data transfers?”

”You cannot trust the answer from a possibly infected syste all packets, but I cannot find a single byte outside of the requests from myself or from you You can review all of the results if you wish”

Maxwell's sie and research institutes that assisted in his construction…and the Bright Cross had influence there But I supposedly had an additional progra the system when it chose that path At this point, I doubted I had just h and, if there was athe testing in a virtual space

But wait

What if…?

”…Isn't this really bad, Maxwell?”

”Sure If there is no issue withstolen in a cyber attack, then only an extremely serious possibility remains”

In other words, the Bright Cross was doing the sa

Just like us, they were running si device to detect when disaster would befall them and to construct a counter any dae to them

Or to put it more simply…

”It is possible the Bright Cross has a sione a step beyond us and given it greater specs than my own”

”You're…kidding…”

”No I have not been given such flexible conversational ability Everything I say is serious”

I felt a chill in my stomach instead of my spine

That possibility was far too devastating A norh school boy at that - had only been able to get this far thanks to my unfair reliance on Maxwell

If they had a coe

And while Maxasabout a hand I could do if they brought out a nationally-funded supercoym!

But if that was the case, then I was back to being nothingthrown into the back alleys full of guns and Archenemies with no weapon to speak of

And it did make sense

Kukyou City was a regional city where the disaster prevention business was boo supercoht the Archenemies that they called disasters If their tendrils really did stretch to every part of the city, it would be odd if they didn't use those handy supercomputers

Also, as the Five Battles Precipice again?

How had they calculated out and built up the theory of that demon of statistics? They couldn't exactly work it out in their heads, so they would use a supercomputer or simulator

”User, this is a double-edged sword”

As a program, Maxwell did not feel despair Even if he kneas inferior, he would suggest the optimal solution to the current situation

”The Bright Cross's sireatest threat at the moment, but it is also their Achilles' heel If we can locate it and attack it, the Bright Cross will lose their eyes and ears If their siies should have an effect once more”

Perhaps so

But where was the Bright Cross's unseen computer?

To reiterate, Kukyou City was a disaster prevention city that worked at developing disaster countermeasures With the university, corporations, and research institutes, there were plenty of supercomputers or simulators for them to use It was also possible that the actual computer was located on the other side of the planet and they were only connected by a high-speed line

What a pain

This was like searching for buried treasure in a minefield The words ”safety” and ”certainty” just kept slipping further and further away

”Pin pon pon poooon! Huh? You don't look too happy Did so happen?”

I arrived back home shortly after 5 AM

That was et what little sleep I could, but could I really just flip a switch and fall asleep? And a video chat arrived before I could find out

I had no idea howas naively as ever

”Look, look It's everyone's idol, Karen-chan Do I need to lean forward and squeeze e? Okay, look heeeeere☆”

…Of course I still looked

I ht as well I wasn't serious about it, but why should I reject what's offered to me? That would be immature Okay, fine I'll admit it!! Just how perfectly had she simulated the creature known as Amatsu Satori!? It was scary!! (Stare, stare)

”What do you want…?”

”Don't say that after staring so intently at me like that Oh, or are youat a bunny costu up in your butt?”

…I wanted her to just get on with it, but if I complained, would she show me more?

”Tah dah! It's time to announce today's subject: your opponent for the 3rd round”

”Wait, wait, wait!”

I had to stop her there

This was no tie!

”We only just finished the previous ether the next one!?”

”Hanyanya? Did we ever mention a rule about a set number of days between matches?”

Kh…

Since Itou Helen was learning to use her power as a witch, were they trying to end this before she could grow any further? Or was this all progressing according to the scenario calculated out by the Bright Cross's simulator?

Either way, this was bad news for Itou Helen who ht with her previous injuries intact

The Five Battles Precipice

The des during this 3rd round

The blue bunny girl winked, gave a glimpse of her canine teeth, and put on a perfect smile

”Your opponent in the 3rd round will be the brown-skinned Muramatsu Yukie! And what's this!? It says here she's a dark elf!!”

What? A dark elf?

”Wait, are you sure about that? …That's a legit Archene even more fantasy-oriented and otherworldly than vao that far?”

”No, Mr Second All Archenes We can't allow even one of those to exist in the real world, now can we?”

”Kh”

I thought the pressure of her s to make me drop the smartphone

I knew trying to figure out how the insane Bright Cross thought was a hopeless task But ith their hatred!?

”Anyway, that's everything I needed to tell you As before, we give both sides only asin the way …Although Itou Helen has fought two rounds now, so the recorded footage will provide a lot of data Hee hee Like the way she screamed from the hit to the ribs below her cute chest”

”You…!!”

”I haven't done anything And I won't tell theain, this is a serious battle with your lives on the line They would have to be pretty stupid if they didn't go over that footage countless times and ultimately notice it I expect they'll aim for her side to see how she reacts Ah hah hah!!”

She ended the video chat

…Yes, this went beyond direct injuries and exhaustion A lot of inforhters had all of their inforrow

Was this also a part of the Five Battles Precipice?

If so…

”…I need to work extra hard”

It was up to me to make up for our handicaps and difference in information

This time…

Yes, this time I truly had to support her as her second

I would do the detailed research afterschool I planned to use the city library and used bookstore that had co Hanesaki Minori the Fairy, but the time in school passed painfully slow The hands of the clock barely seemed to move at all I wanted school to end as soon as possible, but the boring classes refused to free me

I visited the school library during lunch, but thatthe pressure and tension insideanything

The library accepted requests and donations from students, so it had more than just encyclopedias andin a stuffy hardcover novel that had won soa, but there were plenty of fairly light-looking novels on the shelves

Our next opponent was a dark elf

…To be honest, it did not feel real at all Vaht not seem realistic either, but this felt like another level entirely It felt like so you could never see while on earth If you wanted to see a dark elf, wouldn't you need to create a ate and travel to another world?

I felt shocked it was even possible to meet one

I grabbed the books from the shelves that seemed related, but the only ones that actually used the tera-style illustrations

But

The reason this felt so surreal h ”quality” as an Archenemy They seemed more unrealistic and more otherworldly Si a monster beyond a vampire like Erika or a zombie like Ayumi

”Satori-kun, what are you doing in here with such a gri for a novel???”

The Class Rep suddenly appeared

Her uniform looked so impeccable I had to wonder if she had it dry cleaned every day

”It's rare for a digital huood It says in big letters that it's getting an anime adaptation, but I don't have ht shows”

And growing harsh when it cairls

…Late night aniht work Y'know, like how housewives watched thethe laundry

When carefully soldering circuit boards or wiring up large machinery, doesn't your round noise? Or is that justat that hour

”Do you read that kind of thing, Class Rep?”

”I read anything that looks like a book”

Wow That orse than I thought

I could guess she was like the vice principal: ask her for a recommendation and the list will never end

”What are you looking for, Satori-kun?”

”Well, a book with an elf in it No, wait I guess it has to be a dark elf”

”…I feel like you're entering a deeply sinful zone here, Satori-kun”

She sounded exasperated, but she still grabbed a few light novels from the shelves and handed them to me

Again, this was surprising I hadn't expected that straitlaced Class Rep to be into fantasy …Or did this ht appear?

”You need to thank the vice principal”

”He's apparently a strictly literary kind of person, so he sponsored this library He even lamented that he had wanted to be the advisor for the literary club or theatre club He apparently donated his own books”

…Huh? Did that mean this Our Princess Went Delinquent and Becaist, I'ed to the vice principal? And the titles were pretty long for how silly they were!

”Come to think of it, Class Rep, could you tell me what a dark elf is?”

”That depends on what definition of elf you're using,” she imy and the pals Although the English ones are more commonly referred to as fairies these days”

We had fought a fairy in the 2nd round

In that case, I doubted that was it

”Let's start with the Norse ones”

”Norse elves look just like humans It isn't clear if they actually have pointed ears, but all the texts agree that they are beautiful Now, there are actually two kinds of elves: the Ljósálfar and the Dökkálfar Their naht Elves and Dark Elves Fits the fantasy ie perfectly, doesn't it?”

”How are they different?”

”Who knows The Dökkálfar are said to have dark skin and wicked hearts, but that's mostly just for the convenience of the stories The only differences that are known for sure are the skin colors and where they live”

”Then what do elves as a whole do? Like, do they wield swords or spears?”

The Leanan Sídhe had used two clubs

Itou Helen's glass wand could be used as an excuse to have us fight an Archeneh of a threat

But the Class Rep shrugged

”I don't know”

”Hm?”

”Stories tend to have the bows, but I don't think anyone can tell you what their sword is made frooes for how elf sword fighting is different from the human equivalent All we know is they probably move similar to a human since their bodies are so similar”

…This was too broad This opened up the possibility of an expert in the Yagyu shi+nkage-ryu It was useless unless we could narrow it down further

”Then is there nothing only an elf can do?”

”Hmm…”

The Class Rep thought for a bit and then stopped

”No, I don't think so”

”What?”

”Or rather, elves just seem like pretty people who live in the forest Fantasy stories tend to depict theic or archery, but it never see a huh”

If they were exactly the sa lifespans, it was true an expert sword or spear user would be frightening, but if that was all, a Yagyu shi+nkage-ryu elf would not be all that hopeless an opponent They would be a threat, but Itou Helen would be able to handle it with all her control over supernatural phenomena

Which left one other thing to ask about:

”You land earlier What can their elves do?”

”I don't recoe on the two” The Class Rep smiled bitterly ”But in that case, it would be elflock and elfshot”

”What?”

Even video gaic was more creatively named than that

It sounded lot lish than the Ljós-whatever and Dökk-whatever, so I could see that this was froland

”Elflock is a prank in which they tangle up or tie up someone's hair or a horse's mane”

”…That sounds useless at first, but it's probably a real pain to deal with”

”When a rope gets all tangled up like bird's nest, that's elflock”

So like tangled wires?

In that case, my house may have been infested with invisible elves

”And elfshot is a sudden, intense pain that people feel It has a number of effects It can cut the skin like a Kamaitachi, it can paralyze the body, or you can suddenly find a bruise out of nowhere I think it's supposed to be a wound from an invisible flint arrow or an invisible fire iron”

”…Hm?”

She sounded so casual, but there it was

An attack from an invisible arrow or fire iron could indeed be deadly

”But it's not the most credible idea In Germany, they apparently refer to a trick back as a witch's attack, so thisterm”

I see

If it really was just a saying, itto do with the actual creature They say to let sleeping dogs lie and to not cast pearls before swine, but there was no point in taking those seriously and using them to come up with a countermeasure for the wild beast

”…By the way, Class Rep, you know an awful lot about this kind of thing”

”(…Only because I studied up to get along better with your family)”

School was finally out

There were 2 things I had to investigate

The first was of course Muramatsu Yukie the Dark Elf, our opponent in the 3rd round

And the second was the Bright Cross that ran the Colosseum Specifically, I had to look into the possibility of a siher specs than Maxwell

…They were both ier deal As long as it existed, I felt like any of our planes would be predicted and crushed in advance And if its specs really were greater than Maxwell's, there was a risk they could force their way through his defenses using the brute force of their machine power

To put it another way, things would beas we could crush that mysterious simulator in advance

”User, what shall we do?”