Chapter 200: D-ay
Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7583de/
Author: Hirukuma
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
The Generals of the Netherworld are as follows:
Left Arm General | Right Arm General
Pinky General | Ring General | Middle General | Index General | Thumb General
Morning sunlight streamed through the barred windows in dazzling lines. The rain which I had been half dreading did not make its appearance. In short, today’s special plan is a go.
Pitee woke up as usual and changed into her clothes while I got breakfast ready.
Since her life may be forfeited depending on today’s outcome, this may well be the last time she had breakfast. No, I mustn’t lose heart by thinking such thoughts! We will definitely get out of this place together!
I was prepared to think of another plan if Pitee was not comfortable with the current one, but she quickly accepted it.
“Pitee can’t… think of another idea, so… I’ll believe in… Hakkon…”
She placed her complete trust in me just like that. Therefore, I must rise to meet her expectations or my value as a man – vending machine, really – would be for nought.
We relaxed as we waited to be called in. When the door opened, Leader Keryoil’s party came in.
“Looks like you’re all set, shall we?” said Leader Keryoil.
Before leaving, I had Pitee stack her shields on top of each other and place them on my head like a hat.
Usually, the red and white twins were the ones moving me around, but today, Pitee was the only one pushing me along. With her <Weight Manipulation> gift, she easily handled the weight that would require two of them to move.
<Weight Manipulation> is quite a powerful Gift, but its powers are not limitless. It could reduce the weight of things up to a thousandfold, so my weight now should be around 400 grams to her.
With the added shields on top at 100kg apiece, the total weight should be about 600 grams.
She could control the weight of things she is touching. So, by stacking the shields on top of me like this, we counted as ‘one item’.
Another restriction is the size of the target. The height, width and length she was able to control were limited to 3 meters. Without such a limitation, she could have simply reduced the weight of the whole fortress and carried it around.
“[1] Don’t worry about intruders. Sulrim ordered us to make sure that no one gets up to the rooftop until after midday,” said Leader Keryoil casually as we moved down the hallway, a meaningful smile on his face.
“Absolutely no one’s getting through,” [2] said Red.
“Absolutely,” [2] said White.
“Exactly, we must follow orders given by our illustrious leader,” [2] said Vice-Leader Felmina.
I haven’t told Leader Keryoil about my plans at all. However, from the way he talked, it was as though he knew exactly what I was going to do… and perhaps he did.
Looking back, letting the twins come in and have a drunken fessing-up party may have been part of his plan, too.
Let’s not question him about this.
“Still no sign of the Middle Finger General today, I don’t think I have ever seen him before,” [2] said Red.
“That so? Same, I’ve only caught a glimpse of the Ruler of the Netherworld once,” [2] said White.
“I guess there’s only Index Finger General and the Middle Finger General here now. Best be careful though.”
The way they ‘casually’ dropped information was rather heavy-handed, but I was grateful for it nevertheless.
I am starting to become really curious about this Middle Finger General, especially since no one seems to know what he looks like. I can’t help but be wary of the guy. Since everyone keeps mentioning him, I hope my wariness turned out to be groundless fear and not a total flag…
There was a set of stairs leading to the third floor. Leader and the rest, who had followed us all the way here, lined up at the foot of the stairs with their backs facing us. [1] That’s right, they were meant to be watching the stairs and prevent people from going up.
“Well, take care out there.”
“It’s a shame that I can’t get any of Hakkon’s products anymore.”
“I should have stocked up more…”
“Do give my regards to the others. Also, show no mercy.”
I could not see their faces, but heard their smiles nevertheless.
“Everyone… thank you for… everything and… goodbye…”
Pitee bowed deeply at the end.
Without looking back, Leader Keryoil raised one fist.
“Please come again”
This is not goodbye. I refused to believe that this was goodbye. [3]
We shall meet again, surely. When that time comes…
Pitee picked me up and carefully climbed the stairs one at a time. The door to the rooftop was not latched, so she just pushed against it and went through, still holding me aloft.
The blinding sunlight was even more intense here, and Pitee’s hair fluttered in the sea breeze. Well, at least there’s a breeze today.
The rooftop area was so spacious that we could even have a sporting event here, let alone a little barbecue party.
An ornately decorated table and chairs had already been set up. Sulrim and the boy were already seated in place.
Come to think of it, I kept thinking of him as ‘the boy’ since I never did learn his name. I should ask about this next time.
“So, you are here. That human over there. If you dare make any funny moves, I shall freeze you solid. So, keep that in mind.”
“Yes… understood…”
“Now, hurry up and get everything ready.”
A makeshift tent had been set up, already with a grill made from stacked bricks. Next to the grill was a generous amount of meat along with knives and a cutting board.
Pitee carried me to a spot by the tent and removed the shields from my head.
First, I prepared a large selection of drinks. No booze unless someone specifically ordered it. I can’t have the boy mistake it for juice and… well, who knows what will happen after that?
Pitee carried the drinks over to their table.
With the minor in mind, I decided that today’s drink theme should be ‘sweet milk tea’. Surely that should be safe enough.
“Cheers! Elder Sis, let’s drink together.”
“Indeed, let us engage in some friendly chat as the meat cooks.”
Pitee was also in charge of grilling and serving the meat. From the way she handled the meat and knife, it looked like she had developed some pretty decent cooking skills from living alone all this time.
“This is a really yummy drink! Elder Sis, you must try a sip too!”
“Eh, f-from your bottle?”
“Ah, sorry. It must be bad to share drinks, right?”
“No, no, not at all! On the contrary, it is a great treat.”
There we go again with those dangerous remarks… It was clear that she was immersed in her own world and ignored the rest of us. Well, now is as good a time as any for a form change.
I quickly transformed into a <Coin Locker>, took out the vegetables that I had already prepared in their various tote bags and reverted back to my original vending machine form.
The whole thing took only about 10 seconds. Looks like Sulrim did not notice; she was too focused on sipping on the half-drunk juice and did not notice my actions at all.
I chose one of the Yakiniku sauces from the vending machine’s selection and set it down on the table. [4] It functions as an easy barbecue sauce for the unmarinated meat stacked up on the table.
Pitee was kept busy cutting and grilling the meat and vegetables before serving up choice morsels on plates. Personally, I believe that barbecue is best when grilled by yourself. I guess some people just like the convenience.
Time passed without any problems. The Yakiniku sauces were rather salty and the two of them ended up consuming a lot of milk tea.
It was now about an hour into the barbecue, so it was about time.
“What’s wrong, Elder Sis? You look uncomfortable.”
“Do excuse me, I need the bathroom.”
Nice, all that milk tea is finally showing its intended effect. Caffeine is a diuretic, and since she had so much tea, she would need the bathroom sooner rather than later.
“Then, let us go together. I need to use the bathroom too.”
He had no choice but to go everywhere with her due to his curse, but [4] the way he worded it made it sound as though he was going willingly with her.
This was the opportunity I had been waiting for. Finally, they were leaving the rooftop area.
“Pitee was it? Don’t even think about trying anything stupid. Escape is impossible. Even if you managed to get down from the roof, we’re on an island in the middle of the ocean.”
Sulrim threw down those words before disappearing through the door.
After making sure that they had really left, Pitee dashed over to me.
“Hakkon… hurry…”
“Ye-es”
The actual battle starts now. I immediately transformed into the <Balloon Vending Machine> and started filling up the inside of my <Barrier> with helium-filled balloons. I can produce one fully inflated balloon in three seconds now.
I’d prefer to have at least a hundred balloons, so it would take me at least 300 seconds or five minutes… which cuts it pretty close.
Considering how much time it takes for her to go to her room, do her business and come back, I estimate that we should have at least seven to eight minutes window to work with.
[5] After I had the required number of balloons, Pitee put me down on my side, placed me into the shields that had been stacked together like a pair of shallow bowls and climbed in with me. The balloons held in by my <Barrier> bobbed gently above us. It was quite cramped within the shields, but there’s no choice. We just have to put up with it for a bit.
We already tried this once in our ‘room’, but hopefully it will work just as well right now.
“Pi-tee”
“Pitee will… activate the skill… now…”
Hands pressed against my side, she activated <Weight Manipulation>.
Because my body was touching the shields as well as Pitee herself, everything within the vicinity of my <Barrier> suddenly became lighter. The helium inside the balloons floated us up in the air, and a strong sea breeze soon blew us off the rooftop.
Even so, we were moving too slowly.
If Sulrim were to return now, she could still shoot us down with an ice arrow or something. Therefore, I did another form change and transformed into a <Coin-Operated Vacuum Cleaner>.
I extended a nozzle through the <Barrier> and forced air through it.
The make-shift air jet propelled us forward, and the rooftop quickly disappeared from sight.
When the entire base had shrunk to the size of a man’s hand, the door swung open, and a pea-sized person dashed out. However, it was already too late.
Hello? That person seemed very angry and was shaking their fist at us, but it was too far away to hear anything~
Oh, look. They are now throwing ice shards at us, but we were too far away~
“We did it… Hakkon…”
“Ye-es, thank you”
Thus endeth our great escape from the enemy base. Although points are being drained to maintain the <Barrier>, with over 1 million points at hand, we should be good for a whole day at least.
However, I can only maintain the <Coin-Operated Vacuum Cleaner [6]> for a couple of hours. After that, I would have to return to the basic vending machine form for one and a half hours. Before that happens, I must make sure to get us as far away as possible.
[5] After a while, I angled our floating ‘boat’ downwards close to the surface of the sea. That way, it would be harder to spot us. Not to mention, if something went wrong, we would at least be close to the landing ground.
[5] By the way, instead of going a straight line all the way, I adjusted our path several times to ward off pursuers.
As we were cruising a few meters above water, I wondered whether we would encounter an island soon. It would be great if we could find a settled island. However, for now, there was nothing but the open sea as far as the eyes could see.
It would be great if I could be on land for the one-and-a-half-hour cool-down period, but if not, we can only stay drifting in the breeze without an air jet to direct us.
“Ah… Hakkon…”
Hm? Did Pitee see something? An island?
“What… what is that?”
Though I could not see her eyes that were hidden under her bangs, from the way she was facing… I turned my gaze the same way and saw something that was not part of the relentless sea.
“It is… coming here…”
What used to be a formless black dot was getting larger and larger. Have our pursuers caught up with us? But, how do they manage such speed on the rough waves? The wind? But, there was no sign of a sail…
I tried straining my sight, and eventually, the small dot grew larger, and I could see a dorsal fin cutting through the water, throwing up sprays of water behind it.
[Gumihou: Can’t have a sea arc without a Jaws scene]
[1] Adjusted dialogue details to make it more in-character
[2] Dialogue tags
[3] Adjusted for language-related issue. Here, Hakkon said he refused to say ‘sayonara’ because he could not pronounce ‘na’ in the first place. Replaced it with similar sentiment
[4] Added details
[5] Adjusted details for dramatic purpose
[6] It was <High Pressure Washer> in the original, but it was probably a typo
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