CH 57.2

「Perfect. Then, it’s my turn now, I suppose.」

Summoned side by side with Goliath, Rinko’s『Armed Golem』 Aterui grabbed the rope.

Everyone forming the circle closed their eyes, gritted their teeth, and concentrated their strength.

「Voltage up! Plasma Discharge!」

Grasping Goliath’s spider rope tightly, Aterui put the power generator organ that was installed from『Plasma Thunderbird』 into full drive.

The discharged pure white electrical shock ran through the rope, engulfing the girls forming the circle.

The girls, who were sharing unison through the『Guild』, was not subjected to a friendly fire due to the effects of the skill.

On the contrary, the shared SP pool was all poured into Aterui’s power generator organ.

「Gugaaaah!」

Instead of Moby Dick twisting its huge body and rampaging, Captain Ahab, who was embedded in its head, let out a roar.

In『Lore (Legend)』 worldview, which profoundly adopted the setting of the real world, the appearing characters and monsters inherited the characteristics of those that actually existed.

The animal that served as the base for the monster Moby Dick was the sperm whale.

As the name sperm whale implied, the inside of its head, which stuck out like a hammer, was filled with a cloudy white oil called brain oil.

The high quality kerosene, which had also become the reason for whale hunting, was boiled by plasma shock that electrified the inside, causing the head to explode from the inside.

「No, no way…. My Moby Dick. The half of my body. My world is….」

Seiichi flicked the Spanish gold coin in his hand with his fingertips at Captain Ahab, who was sinking into the sea along with the scattered pieces of flesh.

「Bye, Captain…. This time, bon voyage.」

◇ ◇ ◇

「Wow, the penis is also huge. I wonder if this thing tastes good.」

「Asura-chan, that’s immodest.」

「For the time being, let’s rip it off and bring it back.」

On top of Moby Dick, which was floating on its belly in the sea, dismantling and materials collecting were being carried out.

Speaking of raid quests, the greatest merit was that you could collect an unlimited amount of monster materials, which you could bring back from the dungeon.

「Yamato-ni(Jap. Simmered beef), bacon, jerky, meat of toothed whale types are said to be gamey, but…. Hmm, I guess I’ll try making hari-hari hot pot with it.」

「Wow, wow, wow, there is one super huge ambergris!」

There was a big difference between Kurumi, who was low in tension, and Hoodzuki, who was huffing and puffing in excitement.

「The strength of the skin is not very good.」

「It was a boss with low defensive power, after all. It’s just that, it seems to have a special ability related to water, so let’s secure it. After that, let’s collect all the teeth, and while we’re at it, ask Touma-kun to take as much of the bones as he can carry, I suppose.」

「I’ll collect the blubber and oil.」

「Yes, that’s the main spoil, I suppose. It seems to be a material that’s worth tempering with, huh.」

「We, we’ve got a lot of sharks coming over.」

Sharks that sniffed out the smell of Moby Dick, which was being dismembered, are coming along and gathering even underneath the Neo Pequod.

「By any chance, could these all be magic weapons?」

「Yes. It seems that these are pretty high quality, aqua-attribute harpoons.」

「As expected of a super class raid boss! It’s so sweet.」

「It’s just that, they’re all cursed, though….」

「Ah… But this one looks really strong.」

「Otoha-chan, s, stop~.」

「Let’s just collect the ones that look good, shall we? It would be a fortune if we could remove the curse, after all.」

「Yeah.」

Cursed weapons would cause interference to one’s mind, but if it was just a brief contact, one wouldn’t necessarily receive any influence.

In rare cases, though, there were also those who had a weak resistance against such things.

As Touma was pulling them out and throwing them into the Item Box, Shizuka, who was glued to him, was replenishing Toumanium on his back.

That Shizuka and Touma both shuddered at the same time.

One harpoon that was no different than the others.

It by no means boasted any flashy ornamentation, and no conspicuous aura could be sensed from it either.

An unassuming whale harpoon that blackened into dark color.

「’Whale Harpoon Crawling from the Deep (Over-Envy Gear)』

「… I don’t need it.」

「Hmm.」

『Innate Armament (Origin Gear)』, which was considered the greatest among magic item grade, possessed a characteristic where the item chose its user.

All the more so if the『Karma』 inscribed on the gear was powerful.

If the user didn’t have a good affinity with the gear, let alone unable to bring out its full potential, it might even harm the user.

On the other hand, if they had a good affinity, it was said that the gear would call out to the user.

That harpoon was tossed into the Item Box along with the others.

「I see a ship!」

「A ship!」

Miharu and Natsumi, who had remained on the Neo Pequod to serve as the lookout, pointed to a white sail that could be seen on the horizon.

「It’s the Rachael, isn’t it? With this, I believe this raid quest is also completed.」

「It’s dad’s ship!」

「Yeah, it’s dad’s ship!」

Two children jumped out from the cabin of the Neo Pequod.

Younger than the party members, the two boys didn’t look like the kind of men of the sea that would be aboard a whaling ship.

The flag collected ahead of time by Shizuka and the others’ ship.

They were characters from Moby Dick that shouldn’t even exist.

The Rachael, a whaling ship of the same type as the Pequod that had sunk into the sea, was coming along.

「Dad!」

「Dad!」

「Oh, my sons! My sons! I thank God for letting us meet again!」

The captain, holding his two sons in his arms, looked up at the sky and shed tears.

Touma, standing next to Shizuka, could do nothing but scratch his cheek in silence, as he was unable to grasp the situation.

The object the captain was praying to was probably different, though.

「And then, a hundred gratitude and blessings to you all who have kept your promise.」

「Captain Gardiner.」

「… You have performed a miracle. Not only did you locate the sons who should have been meant to never be found no matter what, you even slayed the demon of the deep.」

「That’s….」

Shizuka, the only person in the group who knew the story of Moby Dick, choked on her words.

In the ending of the story, Captain Ahab was unable to slay Moby Dick, and ended up getting reduced to an underwater cemetery along with the whaling ship Pequod.

Those abroad of the Rachael were nothing more than support characters who continued to look for their stranded sons.

「Bless you. Blessings from all of us characters. Please, please accept it by any means.」

「Thank you, Big Sisters!」

The captain’s sons, who had suddenly jumped out, smiled at the members of the Neo Pequod.

*Bzzt* A vibration, as if something huge had started to crumble, began to cover the world.

The surface of the sea began to softly scatter and rise into the sky.

Like a sea firefly, it created a spectacle of blue, faint and fleeting illusory lanterns.

「We can finally go home. We can finally be free. Thank you so much for saving us!」

Bursting into a pure white glow, a number of lights returned to the sky.

◇ ◇ ◇

The raid conquering afterparty was very much a blast, but it was readily concluded.

No one objected to the idea of holding the party again on another day, as half of the members had ended up falling asleep.

It was a perfect conquest over a super class raid quest, one of the 『Lore (Legend)』 category at that, which was said to boast a high conquering difficulty as it required complicated procedures.

If the quest had been registered on the academy’s official bulletin board, it would have been a brilliant achievement that the academy newspaper would have printed an extra issue of kawaraban (tile block printing).

Though, for the Orders of the Divine Workman (Adept Orders), who didn’t wish to stand out any more than necessary, there was no problem.

「So, well, Senpai. I’m sorry, but that’s how it is.」

「It can’t be helped, I guess. Well, giving you a face, I will refrain from submitting a report from my side.」

In front of the entrance of Asagi-sou.

Two boys were speaking in a hushed voice.

At the entrance, Asura, who was wrapping her souvenirs in her own furoshiki, and the female members, who were feeding her boisterously, were lively.

「More importantly, be sure to watch over that boy properly, okay. That is… already too far beyond human standards (Over-Irregular).」

「Doggy-senpai is pretty much the same, though.」

In the off chance they lost their reasoning and turned into a rampaging monster, there would be a need for someone to deliver judgment.

In order to manage the students who had been granted a great power in the form of class, the academy side had taken various measures.

「I can relate that it’s a hard role, but when push comes to shoves, be sure not to let your emotions get the better of you and ending up choosing the wrong decision, okay.」

「The same goes for you, right?」

「… You’re, right.」

「I’ll come again~.」

Asura, carrying a furoshiki on her shoulder in a good mood, was wagging her tail.

Her face, blissful upon being fed, did not look very much like that of the president of one of the academy’s leading A-rank clubs.

「I’ve kept you waiting, Kaoru-chan~.」

「Geez, did you properly thank them, I wonder?」

「Yes. They said next time they’re going to make Yamato-ni and bacon and hold a Hari-Hari hot pot party!」

At the not-so-credible affirmation, Kaoru, who let out a sigh, lined up next to her.

On the way back from Asagi-sou, which was barely maintained, the moon that illuminated the night sky was serving as an outdoor lighting.

「It was an interesting raid quest, wasn’t it~? And everyone was such a good kid.」

「You’re right. This time, it was in the form of us ending up intruding upon them, but next time, I’d like to properly join hands with them on a quest.」

「Yeah. Ah, that’s right. I heard from those girls. Kaoru-chan, you ate a lot of delicious food, didn’t you? That’s not fair~.」

「Oh my. Weren’t you also treated to all sorts of meals by Touma-kun, Asura-chan? Otherwise…. I was really worried, you know. Worried that if you go berserk the next time you starve again….」

「Hmm~, uu~, hmmm~… How should I put it, I no longer feel karma that much, I suppose?」

Perhaps she didn’t understand it herself, Asura tilted her head and wagged her tail.

「Well, maybe it’s because I’ve eaten the huge whale to my fill.」

「Is that so?」

「Yes. That’s why, we can still be together, right?! Huh, fwah… What’s wrong?」

Kaoru hugged Asura’s petite body, which did not even reach his chest, along with the furoshiki she was carrying.

Getting held with her legs dangling in the air, Asura tilted her head.

「It’s, nothing… Let’s do our best, together, forever. Asura-chan.」

「Yes. Ah, I got a lot of sweets, too, you know. Let’s eat them together when we get home.」

「Yes. I’m looking forward to it.」