Chapter 63 : Tribulation of h.e.l.l Starting From Nineteen

The thing that was waiting for us as soon as we land our feet on the island was a giant hole and mountain .

「Buu, we got no chance at all . Sou-kun . Since you didn’t let us have a chance…you should leave the rest of this case to us . Okay?」

My heart that is astonished by the scenery in front was immediately brought back to the battlefield with Yukihime-san’s words .

「My sister is……… . . In this place . 」

Kanon muttered, eyes locked to the huge mountain before us . I could tell that she’s filled with anxiety, hope, and maybe a wish .

Unfortunately, although I wanted her to stay behind with those pirates, Kanon wouldn’t budge no matter what we said . Since that was the case, I was left with only one choice, namely protecting her while saving her sister, Lilith .

「Don’t worry, Kanon . I will save your sister for sure . 」

「…… Yes . 」

Thus, we entered that gigantic cave .

「…we don’t even get a welcoming party now…」

「… . . Ri~ight . 」

Originally, I expected to be welcomed with armies of ogres . However, the truth was different . So far nothing had happened . While I felt that it was for the best since we could safely advance further without wasting our time in battle, yet for some reason I felt something strange . The current situation was just too weird .

「B-but, safety takes priority, right . 」

Aoi-san said that despite this huge “不安/Anxious” letters written so blatantly on her face . Perhaps she had felt the same thing I did . Or perhaps it’s just due to her normal demeanor .

「Well, you’re right . Now we just need to find Lilith as soon as possible . 」

「Tokkun was scouting this area just now, but it has yet to find anything . In that case, we should advance a bit more . 」

Tokkun was another partner of Mop-san, a bird type monster . It was a really cool-looking monster about the same size of an eagle with a pair of wings created from fire . Honestly, I’m so d.a.m.n jealous of this guy’s job .

Well, disregarding my momentary feeling, we continued to advance into the islands . However, we didn’t find anything particularly special whilst whilst mapping the inside of this island . Enemy aside, we didn’t even find any living creatures during the short break we took to let Kanon rest for a while . The only thing I felt was the fact that the pa.s.sage of time seemed to be getting longer for each pa.s.sing second .

At that time .

「Uhm, it seems that Tokkun has found something ahead of us . 」

As soon as Mop-san finished speaking his words, all of us hurriedly ran ahead to the direction he indicated .

「But, just because we didn’t get to engage in combat even once ever since we entered this island, doesn’t mean that we can let our guard down . You understand right? 」

N? Were you referring to me perhaps? Were you saying that to me who’s already armed to the teeth with dual guns in both hands and a knife in my mouth as I stood in front of Kanon? [TL : Imagine Zorro with both of the swords in his hands replaced with gun]

「Well, putting that aside, what did you find? 」

「According to the image that I received from Tokkun, it seems like something huge . Anymore than that is a mystery . Well, let’s get going for now . 」

We advanced forward, following Tokkun’s track while being wary of our surroundings in case of traps . And when we arrived, the thing that awaited us ahead was a huge gate .

「Isn’t this just……… . . A gate? 」

「Ah, Sou-kun . There’s something written on top . 」

Aoi-san pointed toward the top of the gate with her slender finger . What was written on there was .

【1st Question : Give the correct reading for the following kanji . A . 埃及　B . 膃肭臍　C . 信天翁】 [TL : A . Egypt　B . Ottosei[fur seal]　C . Ahoudori[Albatros]]

…Eh, what the h.e.l.l was this . Pop quiz?　E?

「This is…a quiz . So we might be able to advance forward as long as we can solve these questions」

「Maybe…but, my apologies . I didn’t know the answer to those questions . How about you, Sou-kun . 」

「S-O-R-R-Y! 」

「Uhm, that was fast . As expected of Quick Shot Sou-kun . But it’s okay, I don’t know how to answer those questions either . 」

「Me too…Kanji is a bit . 」

Mop-san, Yukihime-san, and I were looking at each other with bewildered face . It seemed that the difficulties of this dungeon was higher than our expectation . At least it’s more difficult than the capture area boss of Okinawa, Jiiza .

『O INSOLENCE INTRUDER, LEAVE AT ONCE』

「W-WHAT VOICE IS THIS?」

「F-FROM WHERE?」

『WE ARE THE GUARDIAN OF THIS ISLAND . YOU HAVE TO Pa.s.s OUR TRIAL IF YOU WANT TO PROCEED . YOU MAY Pa.s.s IF YOU CAN ANSWER THIS QUESTION . 』

d.a.m.n IT, to think that such deadly obstacle appeared when we had managed to progress this far . This is definitely the greatest obstacle I had ever faced ever since I started playing this game . Bad, this is bad . d.a.m.n it, to think that this pla――

「Let’s see, the answer is Egypt, Ottosei, and Ahoudori . 」

「「「EH!?」」」

『…… . EH!?』

「E-EH, DID I GET THE ANSWER WRONG? 」

『N-No, You’re correct . 』

Aoi-san . So you could actually read all those kanjis . Genius, WE GOT A GENIUS ON OUR SIDE . .

『GUH, FINE THEN, YOU s.h.i.+TTY INTRUDERS MAY Pa.s.s . 』

OI, where’s your composure as the guardian from before?!

「Ah, the gate has opened . You’re So amazing, Ruu-chan! 」

「I see, Blue-san is the smart type huh . 」

Come to think of it, I did heard that Aoi-san and Midori-san’s score was really good, the exact opposite of mine and s.h.i.+nji’s .

「I’m glad that I can help even just a bit . 」

Aoi-san was really happy to be able to help us . I noticed that when I looked at her face for a while .

「Since it’s written “1st” question on the gate, there might be another question waiting ahead of us . 」

「Yeah, you’re right . We’re counting on you, Blue . 」

「Ye-Yeah .   Leave it to me . 」

Thus, we went through the gate . As expected, there were no enemies beyond this point too . And, after we walked for a few minutes, we arrived in front of another door and heard the same mysterious voice from before .

『O INSOLENT INTRUDERS, ANSWER MY QUESTION IF YOU WANT TO Pa.s.s THROUGH THE GATE』

This time, I’m definitely going to be the one to answer this question . Changing this burning pa.s.sion into energy, I focused my attention to the letters written on the gate .

【2nd Question : Amongst the va.s.sals of Daimyo Oda n.o.bunaga, name the four people who were hailed as the four heavenly king of Oda n.o.bunaga . 】

F^$#K, LIKE h.e.l.l I KNEW ABOUT THAT!　WHAT THE h.e.l.l WITH THIS QUESTION WHOSE ANSWER COULD ONLY BE KNOWN BY ODA MANIAC!

「s.h.i.+bata Katsuie, Niwa Nagahide, Takigawa Kazumasu, Akechi Mitsuhide . 」

『…… . . You may pa.s.s . 』

……… Aoi-san, turned out you’re a historian too .

The three of us, Yukihime-san, Mop-san, and I were looking at Aoi-san with respectful gazes while we progressed onward .

And as expected,

『O INSOLENT INTRUDER, I’M DEFINITELY GONNA SEND YOU BACK TO YER MAMA THIS TIME . 』

What this tension for . Oi, voice of heaven .

【3rd Question : Answer the next english word with j.a.panese . A . obduracy　B . apostates　C . profligacy】

G.o.d D$#%^&MN IIIIIIIIIIIIT!　WAS THIS ACTUALLY A SECRET MESSAGE FROM THE MANAGEMENT SIDE TELLING US TO STUDY PROPERLY AND INSTEAD OF JUST PLAYING GAMES? IT’S TOO REASONABLE TO THE POINT THAT I COULDN’T EVEN TALK BACK .

「A . Ganko, B . Hais.h.i.+nsha, C . Rouhi . 」

『…… . Correct . 』

Aah, he just gave a short reply this time huh . Aoi-san seems like a cheat code in my eyes right now .

Yosh, let’s go ahead .

『EEI,THIS PLACE WILL BECOME YOUR GRAVE! 』

THIS GUY HAD BROKEN .

【4th Question : 5+5+5+5=555, complete this equation by drawing one line . 】

This b.a.s.t.a.r.d, how dare he changed his method?! This was a blatant attempt to sabotage Aoi-san!　What the h.e.l.l was this question?! By the way, I didn’t even know about this . That face… . . Maybe Aoi-san felt the same way as me . F&*&k, this guardian is playing dirty .

「Strike a line on the leftmost『+』 and made it into 『4』, right? [TL : 5+5+5+5 = 555 —> 545+5+5 = 555, that’s the answer] 」 [E/D: …swirly eyes~]

『…… Yes . 』

Yukihime-san replied immediately! ?　How did she know the answer of that question with just a single glance?! My train of thought has completely frozen when this side of her was revealed to me . When this question was answered, the guardian completely lost his cool .

「That was amazing, Yukihime-san . 」

「Fufufu, I’m the best when it comes to this kind of question . 」

Thus, we kept advancing forward, pa.s.sing through one gate after another with Aoi-san answering most of the questions with Yukihime in between . Finally, we arrived at the last gate in which we heard the depressed voice of heaven .

『Gu-Guuuu…… . This is the last gate . The thing thou wish art beyond this gate . But it won’t be so easy . Now, I’M DEFINITELY GONNA SEND YER BACK TO YER MAMMA TIIIIIITS . 』

Oh whatever, this was the last time I was gonna hear the voice of heaven anyway . No need to fret over this, but I’d at least remember you .

【10th Question : The official names for Bangkok, the capital of Thailand . 】

… . . It shouldn’t have official name right . Mop-san might know about it? Well, nevermind, I didn’t think he’d know . 　Yup, the face he made was the exact resemblance of mine . As for Yukihime-san―― It was the kind of face someone made when they’re reminiscing about their long forgotten memories .

Thus, Aoi-san was our last ray of hope in this . However, I felt sorry for our over-reliance to her in this matter . However, we had no other choice . There’s only her .

But the name that she spoke of was beyond what I could imagine

「Krung Thep Maha Nakhon – Amonrattanakosin – Mahintharayutthaya – Mahadilokphop – Noppharatratchathaniburirom – Udomratchaniwetmahasathan – Amonphimanawatansathit – Sakkathattiyawitsanukamprasit…… . That’s all . 」

THE HECK?! WHAT WAS THAT SUPER LONG NAME!　It didn’t feel like a correct answer . Or rather, how did you remember that super long name, Aoi-san?

『C-Correct』

We raised a delighted cheers when we heard the feeble tone coming from heaven’s voice .

「We did i~t, you’re amazing, Ruu-chan . 」

「You are the best, Blue-san . 」

「Blue-oneechan…… . . So cool . 」

「Ah, thank you」

Blue thanked the three for their praises with a flushed red face . Then, her eyes met mine .

「Thanks Blue, you’re the best . 」

「Hau! ?　I-I’m just happy to be able to help . But, this is just the beginning」

「Yeah, the real thing began from this point . 」

After congratulating her, we looked at the gate again with serious look on our face .

『……… To think that you can pa.s.s my trial so easily . Go ahead, foolish one . But be aware thou are bound to regret thy decision after pa.s.sing through my trials . 』

I didn’t know what it meant . But we had no intention to back off from the very beginning . We’re going to do what we needed to do, and that was to take back Kanon’s smile .

Thus, with burning determination, we walked pa.s.sed the gate .

TN : SO Yeah, study properly and get back to this chapter