Chapter 51 – Maiden, Get!

Chapter 51 – Maiden, Get!

Raw link: http://ncode.syosetu.com/n2211cx/52/ (2016/02/07)

Translator: twomorefreethoughts / TpstT (2019/01/26)

Editor: Hand of Vecna / Vecna (2019/01/09)

Editor 2: Keii (2020/10/24)

Translation link: https://twomorefreethoughts.com/awlba-c051/

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(Author Note)

The summary up until this point.

Heavenly Ouroboros: “You little nose pasta!”

Alioth “I keep telling you, my name is Alioth!!!!!!!!!!!!”

(Author Note end)

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In this world, there existed a species called the dragonkin.

The dragonkin could be divided into dragons and wyrms.

These were then further split into four sub-species: pseudo-dragons, dragons, dinosaurs and ouroboroses.[1]

Each of these four, in order of weakest to strongest, could be described as follows.

“Pseudo-dragon” was the classification given to mutated lizards and snakes, whose original outer appearances were similar to those of dragons. Although they were classified as dragonkin, they were technically not dragons.

These pseudo-dragons were post-mutated versions of reptiles such as komodo dragons and giant girdled lizards, which also existed back on Earth. Once they were mutated by mana, because they could only be described as dragon-like magical beasts, they became known as “pseudo-dragons”.[2]

Needless to say, the wyverns that Mars had been previously controlling were within this category as well. As a side note, before they had mutated, wyverns were originally gliding lizards.[3]

Additionally, when snakes mutated, because their outer appearances became similar to those of wyrms, they were sometimes called “pseudo-wyrms”. It was truly confusing.[4]

If one were to ask why there were such confusing and needless distinctions and categorisations, that was because, during the initial consumer release of the game, a dragon-like type of monster was embarrassingly introduced as a small-fry monster.[5]

Later on, when the background setting for dragons was established, players retorted back by saying, “Dragons already came out during the initial release”, which stumped the developers on what to do about their game lore.

The developers had completely forgotten that they had already introduced dragons as small-fry monsters.

As they could not come up with a solution to this issue, they decided to make up the confusing explanation of “pseudo-dragons” as an excuse after saying, “Those are not dragons. They’re just ‘fake dragons’ and are actually the mutated form of snakes.”

And that was how pseudo-dragons came to be a thing.

Needless to say, since they were merely reptiles which had mutated into magical beasts that outwardly resembled dragons, they were not actually dragons.

As a consequence, their abilities were not that significant, and they were merely strong-looking small-fries.

Although they were merely fakes, because their outer appearances looked “cool”, they were popular amongst monster tamers.

 

Following that were the dinosaurs.

These creatures, who had existed throughout the history of Midgard, were authentic dinosaurs that had not been wiped out like those of Earth’s.

In other words, dinosaurs were merely animals and not even magical beasts.

Notwithstanding, dinosaurs were quite strong, to the extent where they could easily eat weaker magical beasts, demons and adventurers.

At the very least, they were a significantly stronger and scarier group compared to the pseudo-dragons.

To begin with, as recent research on dinosaurs back on Earth had established that dinosaurs had feathers, I believed that the dinosaurs here on Midgard were quite different compared to the dinosaurs over there.[6]

Essentially, they looked like the giant reptiles that were often portrayed in 20^th-century artwork that depicted dinosaurs.

 

Next on the list were dragons. Fundamentally, in this world, when one mentioned the word “dragon”, this category was what they were referring to.

These creatures were also magical beasts that had been mutated by mana. However, what made them so fearsome was what they had mutated from.

That was because this category of dragons was the result of the aforementioned dinosaurs having mutated.

Even in their base form, dinosaurs were already monstrously strong, so after they mutated, they became ridiculously and stupidly overpowered.

Back on Earth, there was a movie where a dinosaur had transformed into a monster after being exposed to radioactivity.[7] This was essentially the same kind of situation.

Dragons had huge and durable bodies, as well as the ability to breathe fire. As a consequence, even if some average players back in the game banded together to challenge a single dragon, they would have to struggle through a difficult battle.

In particular, dragons that had mutated from carnivorous dinosaurs were especially dangerous.

Using the likes of the Seven Luminaries as an example, even if Mars cloned himself ten times and challenged a dragon, he would still lose against even a single one.

 

Notwithstanding, there was another monster that overshadowed those already overpowered monsters.

And one of them was currently right before my eyes – an ouroboros.

 

[Heavenly Ouroboros]

Level: 1000

Species: Ouroboros

Attribute: Sun

HP: 10 000 000 / 10 000 000

SP: ∞

STR (Strength/Attack Power): ?????

DEX (Dexterity): ????

VIT (Vitality): ?????

INT (Intelligence): ????

AGI (Ability/Speed): ?????

MND (Mindpower): ????

LUK (Luck): ????

 

I used my Observing Eyes to check its status, but just this time alone, I was happy that I could not see anything.

Its HP was at an extremely high value, the likes of which I had never seen before, and its SP was particularly scary, as it was set to infinity.

In other words, it was one of those common situations in games where “only the enemy can use whatever and however many skills they want to use”.

Perhaps this was because the ouroboroses were considered to be the protectors of the world, so they could tap into the world’s power an unlimited number of times.

 

“The Five Ouroboroses… actually exist, I see.”

 

I had heard of the term “The Five Ouroboroses” before. Although they were only mentioned in the lore, I thought that I had already known enough about their existence.

But looking at the thing that was in front of me, I understood… that it was not good.

It was something that must never be woken up, something that was out of our league.

I will say it bluntly. Even with Ruphas’s specs, I did not feel like I could win against that thing.

I would probably be able to put up a good fight, but I would still lose due to the overwhelming difference in our HP.

Even assuming that I was able to constantly dish out my maximum damage output, it still felt like “I won’t be able to defeat it unless I could attack it 101 times.”[8]

 

Just maybe, it might be possible to defeat it if I teamed up with the entirety of the Seven Heroes while they were in their prime…

 

Even though it was merely sleeping, I could feel how dangerous it was in my bones.

I could feel the tingling sensation of danger just by looking at its sleeping face.

 

“Normally, they are eternally hibernating. However, when the world itself faces a true peril, they will wake up and fulfil their duties to protect the world.”

“So the reason why I sealed this place was to contain this guy?”

“In practice, my containment barrier doesn’t have the power to seal an ouroboros. However, by maintaining the state of its surroundings to remain the same, whatever happens outside will not be sensed by the ouroboros, and thus it will be deluded into thinking that peace is still being maintained. The reason why I drove everyone out of Vanaheim back then was to prevent people from becoming collateral damage in the one-in-a-million chance that the ouroboros awakened from its slumber.”

“… Just a while ago, Aries and others went on a rampage, but…”

“I was also dumbfounded and flustered. Good thing it didn’t wake up, but… if it had woken up, my efforts over the past 200 years would have gone down the drain.”

“A-apologies.”

 

My palms were sweating as I appreciated the good luck that we had had.

I had neither thought nor expected that there would be a slumbering dragon here, but if it had woken up due to our uproar a moment ago, it would have been game over for all of us.

Or maybe not. It might have been possible for us to successfully run away.

 

“Do Merak and the others know about this thing’s existence?”

“Even amongst the flugels, only a few of them know about its existence. Of course, I assume that Merak is one of the ones who know about it. However, they believe this ouroboros to be a guardian deity of some sort.”

“A guardian deity… I see, so the water dragon in Svalinn, Levia, is an imitation of this.”

“Yes. It is a fake deity that Megrez created using an ouroboros as a model. That’s what Levia is.”

 

A guardian deity… huh.

Indeed, Levia had a kind of majestic aura that deserved that title.

Having said that, once a creature had too much of that kind of majestic aura to the point where it destroyed everything in its surroundings every time it moved, it simply became a destructive deity.

At the very least, personally, knowing that there were four more of these things around, I thought that it was even more of a reason why I could not come to admire them as guardian deities.

Am I not wrong? Think about it.

If the Goddess suddenly felt like simultaneously taking all five of these guys out on a stroll, the world would end right there.

Just by moving, their surroundings would be destroyed and people would die. Something like that was no longer a guardian deity. It was a deity of destruction.

A guardian deity – this thing was too enormous to call it that.

 

“In the past, milady planned to end the Goddess’s scenario. But, even if it was milady, there was no chance of winning against the Goddess and the five ouroboroses’ combined might at the same time. Therefore, milady decided to plan ahead and seal the five ouroboroses first. Furthermore, you decided to take down the Demon King before unifying and gathering the whole of Midgard in order to combine their might to challenge the Goddess to a war.”

“… Once the world is in grave danger, they will awaken – is that what you said? What is the criteria for the world to be considered in grave danger? At the moment, the demons have already driven the humanoids into a corner. Is the world currently not considered to be in grave danger?”

“I also do not know. However, I believe the criteria are based solely on the Goddess’s judgment of the situation. The fact that she has not once in history decided to wake the ouroboroses up means that she has either never considered the world to be in grave danger, or…”

“Or that she approves of the situation, is that what you’re trying to say?”

“Exactly.”

 

Her approval, huh. That was honestly still one of the better cases.

The worst-case scenario would be that she was actively promoting it. If she was personally ordering the demons to attack the humanoids – that would be the absolute worst-case scenario.

And judging by the world’s current situation, there was a high chance that it was indeed the case.

Anyways, the Ruphas of the past was certainly reckless…

Regardless of what could be said about her, she was definitely aiming too high.

There was not much to say, as, let alone the Goddess or the ouroboroses, she had been defeated by the Seven Heroes before she had even managed to defeat the Demon King, after all.

 

“Are the others also being sealed?”

“Correct. After receiving an order from milady, Tauros the Bull is in charge of the Earth Ouroboros. Aquarius the Water Bearer is watching over the Fire Ouroboros. I am responsible for the Heavenly Ouroboros. And lastly, the Wood Ouroboros is being sealed by Gemini the Twins after they each drove ou… after evacuating the original citizens of the land.”

“What about the Moon Ouroboros?”

“The Moon Ouroboros alone has yet to be found. It should be somewhere in this world, but…”

 

The Moon Ouroboros, huh.

It couldn’t be living on the Moon as its name might suggest, could it? – I momentarily had such a thought, but convinced myself that it couldn’t be the case.

Considering that the Sun Ouroboros was on Midgard and not actually located on the Sun, the Moon Ouroboros should definitely be here somewhere as well.[9]

In other words, should the Goddess feel like ordering it to move, it was currently in a state where it would be able to take action.

No, perhaps it had already started moving and no one had noticed it yet?

 

“Thank you for letting me know, Parthenos. Let’s return to where everyone else is.”

“Understood.”

 

In any event, I was curious as to why the Ruphas of the past had sought to pick a fight with the Goddess.

Various affairs that I did not know about kept popping up one after another, and I did not even know what was what anymore.

But there was one thing that I understood now.

“The Goddess’s scenario”, a “rebellion”, and “the Goddess’s tricks”.

Now that it had come to this point, even an idiot like me could figure out what was happening and why I was here in this world.

For the Goddess, Ruphas Mafahl was most likely a very, very troublesome existence.

She was an annoying existence for her.

And of course she was. There was no other way to describe a person who was plotting a rebellion in a world that had been created by her.

Thus, the Goddess played some sort of little trick to seal the memory of Ruphas, who was being resurrected.

And that little trick was – me.

What the hell was this shit… ahh, god damn it, this truly was a pile of shit.

I really was just an unnecessarily extra presence.

I was just a gimmick to blanket out the real Ruphas and serve as a lid to prevent her from being able to reach her goal. That was the “new role” that the Goddess had granted to me![10]

By using an outsider like me as a blanket, she had managed to seal the real Ruphas and even caused the original goal to become lost and forgotten.

But I did not understand… Why me?

If Ruphas was in the way, it would have been better for her to use someone else who was devoted to the Goddess.

In any event, my journey now had an additional objective. No matter what, I had to meet up with the Goddess and make her tell me why she had gotten me involved in all of this.

… No, that was wrong. It wasn’t really an additional objective. I had just finally “acquired” one for the first time.

Until now, I was just someone who had been doing this and that and going with the flow without any real objectives in mind. I had never left the starting point until now.[11]

In all likelihood, even that was one of the tricks that the Goddess had employed. She had most likely purposely chosen someone who moved aimlessly and according to their whims.

Someone who was optimistic and went with the flow without worrying about anything… There was no doubt that she had purposely chosen an idiot with that kind of personality.

In other words, someone like me.

Happy that I had been summoned into another world, I had felt like going on a journey, so I did. Then I found out that the Twelve Heavenly Stars were causing havoc, so I decided to gather them together because I felt like it. I knew that I wouldn’t move around at all if I didn’t have a “goal”,’ so I created a “goal” on a whim and just went with the flow otherwise.

 

But this time, it was different.

I wanted to know. I wanted to know why the Goddess had brought me over from the other world. Why she had chosen me over anyone else.

I couldn’t let things slide without at least finding that out.

And most of all, I could not feel good knowing that I was being used by someone, somewhere, without even knowing the reason why.

The reason why the Goddess had put me inside of Ruphas’s body was because Ruphas was an annoying existence for her.

Therefore, I was used as a way to blanket out the original Ruphas.

Then… then it was fine. If that was what the Goddess disliked, then that would be what I would do.

I would find out what Ruphas’s original goal was and I would do what she was originally going to do.

If I did something like that, then even the Goddess would not stay silent.

Without a doubt, she would come into contact with me.

As such, I was going to put my all into chasing after myself (Ruphas).

I would follow in her footsteps and achieve what she was trying to do.

This was not due to my sense of justice. It was also not because of what one would call courage, and of course, it was not out of concern for the distressing future of this world.

It was simply a grudge.

 

It was simply my retaliation against the Goddess who had gotten me involved in this.

 

*

 

After we regrouped with Dina and the crew, we decided to leave Vanaheim.

Considering the reason why the seal had been placed in that location, there was nothing left for us to do there.

We were also orally informed of the locations of the other sealed ouroboroses and the respective Twelve Heavenly Stars from Parthenos. Therefore, if there was no other location that we needed to go to in the future, we could give them a visit.

According to Parthenos, the reason why it had to be given verbally was because “we don’t know where the Goddess is hiding.”

 

“Please take care, Ruphas-sama. The Goddess possesses a special power called Avatar. The Goddess will not move on her own. However, she has the ability to create a clone based on what she thinks is ideal as well as incite people into doing what she wants done. In other words, you may think that some random villager is an ordinary and powerless individual, but that person may turn out to be the Goddess in disguise.”

 

That was what she said.

There were three locations where the ouroboroses were being sealed.

Firstly, the location where the Earth Ouroboros was sealed was the underground world Helheim, also known as Hell.

One might recall that Hell was where Aigokeros had been born. It was a high difficulty dungeon where a great number of devil-type monsters resided.

Although it was unknown if it was true or not, it was said that the souls of deceased evildoers also cycled back and reincarnated here. Nevertheless, it was an undisputed truth that evil spirits sometimes appeared as enemies in Helheim.

This place was sealed by the Bull, Taurus.

 

Next was the Fire Ouroboros. This guy was sealed in the very far reaches of the south… In what was currently serving as the domain of the demons — The eternally burning land of Muspelheim.[12]

The protector of this seal was Aquarius, the Water Bearer.

Aquarius was an important person who could wield water arcane magic, but it seemed that they had been sent a long ways away.

Well, fortunately, with regard to people who could use water arcane magic, we still had Dina.

 

Last on the list was the Wood Ouroboros. The current residence of this guy was the land of the fairies, Alfheimr.

It was a forest of light which the fairies originated from. And in the game, there was nothing but fairies and spirits acting as enemies there.

And the ones who had sealed this place were Gemini of the Twins.

Just as their name suggested, it was a strange star where two people served as one. Due to their existences, the Twelve Heavenly Stars had a dumb composition where there were “thirteen individuals even though they were called the Twelve Heavenly Stars”.

In any event, meeting up with them would have to wait.

There was no point in me just casually showing up in the sealed locations, nor was there anything for me to do in those places. Additionally, it was not as if they were burdening people by being there.

For now, I was planning to find the other Twelve Heavenly Stars who were in the domains of the humanoids.

Having said that, if I recalled correctly, Alfheim was still barely within the domain influenced by the humanoids, so I did not mind giving that place a short visit.

 

“I apologise, Ruphas-sama. In truth, I also want to go with you, but as you can see, I am already deceased. As such, I am no longer able to be of use to you.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I appreciate your will and conviction to continue showing your loyalty even after death.”

“Your kind words are too much for someone like me. However, please don’t worry. Although I can’t personally go, I will send Virgo with you in my stead.”

“Wha?”[13]

 

Due to Parthenos’s remark, Virgo was taken aback.

It seemed that Parthenos had neither informed nor checked up with Virgo about it.

Oi, Parthenos. Was it really alright to send her out without even saying anything to her?

 

“She’s still inexperienced, but I have taught her all of the basic minimal skills that she needs to know. I’m sure that she will be of some use to you.”

“Umm, grandma. I still don’t know anything…”

“My grandchild, listen. I don’t approve of you wanting to stay and live in this forest. Just go out and have a look around the world. Right now, it’s something important that you should do.”

“Ehhhhhh…”

 

Parthenos pushed the unconvinced and unenthusiastic Virgo into Tanaka and decided things on her own.

Well, yeah, it was not as if I did not appreciate her coming along.

Considering that Parthenos had already passed away, a new Maiden was required, and since she was already over level 300, she was considered a very superior personnel by the standards of this age.

Furthermore, since she was not a demon, if she was nurtured properly, she could naturally reach level 1000. Thus, it was not a dream to say that she could potentially become one of the next Twelve Heavenly Stars in the end.

If we continued to power-level her and left the role of stopping the enemy to her, eventually she should reach the level cap.[14]

Additionally, as she was a flugel, she should know how to use divine magic like the back of her hand and have naturally high base stats. She could also fly.

Yeah, not bad at all.

 

“Well, it would be great if she herself is willing to come… Are you fine with it, Virgo?”

“Uuuuuuuuu… well, since grandma said things like that already, even if I try to stay behind in the forest, I’ll just get chased out… So, pl, please take care of me from now on.”

 

And just like that, the second Maiden, Virgo, became our new comrade and travelling companion as we left Vanaheim behind.

The sight of Parthenos waving her hand behind us until the very moment we could no longer see her left a lasting impression.

I did not know what to say, but I supposed there really were those types of people who were energetic even after their deaths.

I guess it would be a good idea to come back and visit her the next time I was in the area.

 

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(Author note)

Ruphas: “Just out of curiosity, what weapon do you use?”

Virgo: “Eh? I usually use things like a staff or a cane.”

Ruphas: “Ohhhh, she’s a normal sensible person… (deeply emotional)”

 

Parthenos when she was still young: “Everyone! Have you gotten your large logs!? Then let’s go!!”

 

(Author Note end)

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[1] The official explanation by the author is given in the end-of-chapter author note of chapter 27. But here are 4 pictures of my interpretation in the following order [Pseudo-dragon -偽竜], [Dragon-竜- western dragon], [Dinosaur-恐竜] and [Ouroboros-龍- Eastern dragon].

[2] Here is what komodo dragons and giant girdled lizards look like.

[3] Here is an image of gliding lizards

[4] Ok… so… in Japanese, both Western and Eastern dragons are called “ryu(u)”. If you wanted to talk about a “dragon”, both (竜) and (龍) can be used interchangeably (just as we use the word “dragon” to describe both “dragon” and “wyrm” in general conversations). Having said that, as you can see from the images above, there’s a distinction between the “giant lizard dragon” that is often depicted in western media/literature and the “dragon with a long snake-like body” that is depicted in Eastern media/literature. Here the author split the dragons into four types and used the two written forms to separate them into different categories (sub-species). In the translations, we will be using the word “dragon” to mean the “western dragon” and “ouroboros/wyrm” to mean the “eastern dragon”.

Bringing it back into context, the author used “fake ryu(u)” for both “pseudo-dragon” and “pseudo-wyrm”, but again, the written form is different. That is the main reason the narrator (Ruphas) is saying it is confusing, because in Japanese it’s literally the same (the process of mutation, origin, when saying it out loud, using “ryu” which is used interchangeably, etc) except in the written form.

Furthermore, “wyrm” will be used to describe a snake-like dragon and ouroboros will be used to refer to the 4th type of dragonkin.

[5] Probably one of the following; (1) closed beta (2) open beta (3) the base game without DLC (4) the base game before any updates (… pretty much CBT(1)/OBT(2))

[6] Special thanks to a commenter who linked me to an article about this research;

“https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140724-feathered-siberia-dinosaur-scales-science/”.

[7] Godzilla

[8] I don’t know if this is a Japanese proverb or a reference to something. I google’d it but it seems to be some reference to a Japanese online MMO?

[9] Sun Ouroboros (日龍) = Heavenly Ouroboros (天龍).

[10] Refer to chapter 1. “Would you like to be granted a new role?”

[11] Literal translation “I had never landed my feet on the ground.” (地に足が着いていない)

[12] “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil”. The Nine worlds that surround the tree Yggdrasil in Norse mythology “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_cosmology#Nine_Worlds”.

Asgard: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asgard”. Home of the gods (Odin; Thor etc). Valhalla is within Asgard.

Vanaheim: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanaheimr”. Home of the Vanir, a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom and the ability to see the future. (i.e. second tribe of Gods)

Alfheim: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81lfheimr”. Home of the light elves (i.e. fairies, fae, elves).

Midgard: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midgard”. The Norse name for Earth, home to humans.

Jotunheim: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6tunheimr”. Home of the giants.

Muspelheim: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muspelheim”. The realm of fire.

Svartalfar: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svart%C3%A1lfar”. Home of the dark elves.

Nifilheim: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niflheim”. The realm of ice and cold.

Nioavellir: “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ni%C3%B0avellir”. Home of the dwarves.

[13] The author used “「ゑ？」”, which is… a character that’s no longer used in Japanese. It’s pronounced “we” and was used in olden times. The author’s pretty much trying to convey “Eh?” but in a way where Virgo is fumbling. So the English equivalent would be like… “What”, “Whaa?” “Wat?” or “Wut?”. I don’t know which version is better or more fitting, so I just picked one on a whim.

[14] Power levelling is when a player just mindlessly levels their character. There’s a few different methods, but the one that applies here is the most common one – mindlessly grinding/killing enemy mobs and gaining “experience points”. Even more relevant is how Ruphas or others in the party can grind for Virgo and she gets EXP whilst doing… nothing, really. Level cap means the maximum level possible.

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