Chapter 401 part 1
Day 94 – Morning, White Weirdo Inn
Last night, I went on full Highschool Boy Hatenkokai in an unstoppable and unprecedented rampage without tentacles, going through all the limits, like in the heaven-piercing triumph, punishing evil and delivering justified punishment with a super earnest effort.
This is exactly what Highschool Boy’s true 『破天荒解』(Hatenkōkai) is all about. 『天荒』(Tenko) originally refers to uncultivated or desolate land, overgrown with weeds, ravaged by famine and neglect. 『解』(Kai) refers to a person who has passed the provincial exam in preparation for the Chinese imperial exam. In the province of Jingzhou, no one had passed the provincial exam for so long that when Liu Zei finally did, they said he had 『conquered untouched land』 (破天荒解). From that anecdote, the phrase came to mean accomplishing what no one else had ever done before. Over time, it evolved to describe doing something in a way that defies all logic or convention. Well, to sum up this morning’s situation in simpler terms: I’m getting glared at.
((Staaaaaaare))
Yes, apparently the sheer destructive power of Highschool Boy’s main body, wrapped with all sorts of effects, was so overwhelming that the two beauties were completely ruined in the most delightful way. They haven’t fully recovered even when the morning came, their faces still flushed red, and both of them squirming shyly in a pretty cute way, but this doesn’t feel like the right atmosphere for a follow-up attack. I’ll stick with just a good morning kiss. A little tongue shouldn’t be an issue. Any lower, though, and I’d probably get scolded. Shame.
「Morning~! Did you sleep well, or rather, you were so busy going asleep, waking up, bouncing around, and screaming that I should probably say: welcome and good morning? Back in the day, I’d heard people say beds creak, but this was something else entirely. The bed was making metallic noises, those telltale signs of fatigue cracks forming under stress, the resonance of metal failure that sounds like something straight out of a mechanical engineering textbook. The epic battle between alchemy-powered reinforcement and the onslaught of metal fatigue was honestly touching? I was reforging and patching it mid-action, but… this bed took quite a beating, huh?」
While reinforcing and repairing the bed with alchemy, constantly adding more iron as needed, there were parts I couldn’t reinforce fast enough, so I kept stitching and patching on the fly. Now, the bed looked like a warship with decades of combat behind it. It had the majesty of a fortress that had weathered countless battles. It had become a fearsome, imposing bed, rough around the edges, but definitely stronger and more durable, but design-wise it’s totally ruined.
Feeling refreshed, I made my way down to the dining hall… Wait, sorry, I must’ve walked into the wrong room. Wait, no, this IS the dining hall! It’s just the inn’s regular old dining facility, where you’re supposed to eat meals like a normal person! For some reason this bright, wholesome morning scene feels like I’ve stumbled into some shady brothel, but this is definitely the dining hall.
「「「Good moooorning~」」」
「Y-Yeah, good morning… No, wait, what’s with those shameless outfits? Just what sort of shady job did you suddenly get into?! What are the rates? No, not what I meant, why is everyone wearing sexy mini-dresses this early in the morning? It’ so suspicious even enemy forces would be like, 『Th-this is clearly a scam!』 and retreat in fear! This is such a sly trap that it’s literally pumping with a predatory aura? And I’ve only got 40 Ere on me? This looks expensive?」
The moment I stepped into the dining hall, it was full cabaret. I know how strange that sounds, but it was very cabaretish. Yeah, undoubtedly cabaretish, so cabaretish that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it formed its own cabaret space. Just sitting down here would probably result in a giant fruit platter being served and a five-hundred-million Ere bill handed to me. Crap, I need to go to Playking and mug him for a hundred million Ere coins! Yeah, 40 Ele’s not gonna cut it.
「We’re not starting any shady job or anything!」
「「「Yeah, yeah!」」」
「It’s just that we couldn’t have worn these with the boys around!」
「「「Blame the manufacturer!」」」
「Also, why do you only have 40 Ere?! What about the inn fee?!」
I got scolded. I ended up confessing without thinking, and when I opened my wallet to pay the lodging fee, all I had were 40 stone coins. Not iron, not silver, but 40 stone coins? After the war ended, I picked up so many gold coins I couldn’t even count them, and now I don’t have a single one left? And yesterday I didn’t kill even a single monster, so I had no income. Every morning, I get pouches full of gold coins from the Adventurers’ Guild, the general store, the weapon shop, and various workshops, but as soon as I indulge a little in living large, I instantly find myself on the brink of poverty, gasping as a laborer, but I don’t even have time to lament my hardships since I also spend my nights working hard too. I’m a magnate burdened by quite a lot of workload.
「Wait a moment, the reason might be in everything at yesterday’s bargain sale going on credit? So I didn’t get any actual cash? Those mini-dress girls are kind of culprits here too, you know? And for the record, there is a boy here? Me. I’m probably still a Highschool Boy, and if skipping class without permission becomes a problem, then that would mean the rest of you aren’t highschool girls anymore either, but that whatever-highschool still has dozens of students missing without explanation. Shouldn’t they be doing house visits, or I guess in our case, inn visits, or rather isekai visit? But there is no sign of them? What the hell do they think their students are? Honestly, what the world has come to?」
「「「Wait, the fact that you’re calling it 『whatever-highschool』, just what were you taking the school for?! You seriously went there without even knowing the name?!」」」
I mean, it was the kind of bland, unremarkable school with such a painfully generic, forgettable name that makes zero impression? Probably? I think?
With nowhere safe to rest my eyes in this suspicious JK cabaret setting, I quietly focused on making breakfast, while making full use of Rajingan-san. Sandwiches, mushroom soup, and Fruit Punch-san for dessert.
「「「It’s Fruit Punch-san! Finally, it’s Punch! Punch! Punch! Punch! Punch! Punch!」」」
No, that chant is not the kind that high school girls should be doing, so maybe stop? At the very least, if you actually include the fruit, it softens the impact a bit, so please use the full name, or FP-san would be too pitiful otherwise? Or at least, that’s what I thought, but just thinking it got me glared at! Feelings are fleeting and short-lived it would seem?
「「「Itadakimaaasu~」」」
Today, the church group is heading into dungeons under the girls’ guidance.. It seems they’ll be splitting into two teams, with Armored Pres-san and Dancing Girl-san joining as observers. I got some flak about how nothing good ever comes from leaving things to me, but let’s not forget, it was those two who bowled with the nuns inside an iron ball, and who dual-wielded them before throwing them in a dart competition? They’re always making that look『sheesh, here we go again』 like they were not involved, but THEY were the ones doing this stuff, okay?
(Jiggle-Jiggle)
It’s just me and Slime-san heading out. For the sake of daily life, we’ll be gathering mushrooms and digging up mithril in the forest, a magnate shouldering burdens and sorrows of the working class. Come, face the full force of my rage, sorrow, petty grudge, and boredom!
The iron dust scattered throughout the area became electrically charged, unleashing a storm of lightning in all directions, a raging current Deathmatch In the Evil Forest. As I listened to the electrified goblins’ mysterious screams, I continued gathering mushrooms in the forest. Slime-san ricocheted like a pinball between the trees, bouncing at high speed while wrapped in lightning. The monsters of the Evil Forest fled in panic, being wiped out one after another by the electrified Slime projectile, a rather noisy mushroom-gathering session.
As I thought, using a medium allows for high output with less energy. Fire Bullets, too, with the projectiles prepared in advance, both efficiency and destructive power went on a whole different level… Would I get in trouble if I launched a coin after flicking it into the air with my fingers? [1: Heya, Toaru Kagaku No Railgun…]
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