Chapter 9
Chapter 73 - This Is Draupnir, The City Where Furries and People Live Side By Side Harmoniously
Raw link: (24/04/2016)
Translator: twomorefreethoughts / TpstT (05/05/2019)
Editor 1: Hand of Vecna / Vecna (09/05/2019)
Editor 2: Keii (10/05/2019)
Translation link:
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Update 1: ETA for chapter 74 is 16/05/2019. – Teaser is out though.
Update 2: An ill.u.s.tration added to chapter 72 because it turns out there was one more that was relevant.
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The capital. If you were to hear that word, what would you imagine?
Chances are, since it was called the capital, one would most likely imagine a giant castle or a palace surrounded by buildings.
Laevateinn, Svalinn and Gjallarhorn. Up until this point, although the shapes of those three countries were different, there was this common feature.
The capital of Blutgang itself was a giant castle, thus it might have been an exception amongst the exceptions. However, I think the capital cities of the RPG game worlds were fundamentally the image of the western medieval kingdoms and cities.
Putting it simply, it was that, you know? Fantasy RPGs are fundamentally based on Western society.
Once in a while, you get Eastern-styled games. But those games have a distinct setting right from the very start and often the enemies were not magical beasts but youkai and oni instead.[1] Things usually went like that.
At the very least, if the magical beasts, magic, swords, heroes and the Demon Kings were to come out, that RPG world would give off a Western feeling.
Well, in essence, it's that, you know? After being told, "Now, wake up, hero!" and grabbing a sword, the outside turns out to have Edo-period aesthetics….. Well, you know, wouldn't you feel a bit off? You'd feel that something's just off.
After you received the request to defeat the Demon King and were about to storm into his castle, the castle turned out to be an Osakjo (TLN: Osaka Castle) with the presiding Demon King having a chonmage and wearing a kimono. How would you feel?[2]
And while I'm at it, what if the hero also had a chonmage and wore a kimono and said, "Sessha shall now journey to subjugate the disordered one, t.i.tled the Demon King-degozaru," now what would you feel?[3]
And the Demon King, being the Demon King, said, "Why dost thou struggle and close off a country? Exchange of culture is what I find the most joy in. Westernisation is what is most beautiful. Now be swallowed up by my culture and modernise."… wouldn't you be turned off?
It's way too weird. At the very least, I wouldn't play a game like that.
Anyways, with all that, I haven't seen an eastern-styled city lately.
For some reason in RPGs, if you go towards the East, a player would often end up finding a j.a.panese-styled country and sometimes it might even be called Jipangu.[4] However, it seemed there was nothing like that in this world.
Having said that, since this world somehow has a thing called a katana, it's possible there was a country like that in the past.
As a matter of fact, back in the game, out of all the countries founded by the players, there was a country with purely j.a.panese style.
Though… I actually waged war and destroyed it, but whatever.
Anyways, the conversation had derailed.
What I wanted to say was that if one were to imagine a "capital", they would imagine a western-style medieval city.
However, what was in front of me currently was a far cry from a western-style city.
Or rather… was this even really a capital? To begin with, was this even a city?
The place that we were at… if it was to be summarised in one word, it would be "gra.s.sland".
Although it had been overly stepped over, it was, without a doubt, a real plain gra.s.sland. There were not even roads laid out to make things easier for people to walk on.
Then, there were tent-like buildings lined up next to each other.
So what was that thing again…. Something… like the nomads of Mongolia might use.
If I recalled correctly, yurt. Though I wasn't confident about that.[5]
Additionally, there was a forest just nearby. It seemed there were also beastkins living within that.
"I wonder what this capital thing is supposed to be about."
"If the king is residing there, then it's the capital. Though, in regards to Draupnir, rather than a king, they have an emperor. So technically, rather than a kingdom, it's an empire."[6]
"Hmmm (hou)? To take the t.i.tle of the emperor, they really put themselves on the pedestal."
"There are many ttypes of beastkins. Taking flugels for example, at most there are only two different types, 'white-winged' and 'the rest', but the beastkins are not like that. There are felines-types, dog-types, horse-types, cow-types and so many countless other types like elephants and rabbits that it would be pointless to list them all. Not to mention, even within the same species like feline-type, there are many different subspecies like cats, tigers, lions, leopards, cheetahs and other finer ones."
"I see, I see. So you're telling me, even though they're all bunched up together under the umbrella of 'beastkins' due to their appearances, in actuality, they're just many different finely split species, huh?"
To Dina's explanation, I bobbed my head in a nod.
Although it was a common understanding that the world of Midgard was split into seven different races, the reality was that it only worked out that way because all the beastkins were forcibly categorised as one.
Well, of course it was. Even if they're the same beastkins, there was no way the lion-based beastkin and rabbit-based beastkin were of the same species.
There were even those animals like tigers and bears who lived within the forest.
However, if we were to count all of those different species, there would be well over a hundred different humanoid races it would create a strange situation where majority would be some sort of beastkin. I a.s.sume that was why it was all bunched up as one.
"The ruler who commands over all the different beastkins. Hence, that is not a position of 'king', but the emperor. At least, it seems that is the logic to their claim."
"The ruler who stands above the kings of many different races, hence he is the emperor, huh. I see."
"To think there's someone that disregards Ruphas-sama and claims the position above the king, how irritating….. Such an obsolete country, maybe I'll drown it in poison right this instant."
Although I was fairly satisfied with the reasoning from Dina's explanation, it seemed Scorpius was not pleased with it at all.
I quickly grabbed and put her under control as she said some dangerous thing and took on a battle posture.
"Cease now, Scorpius. It's a fact that the current me is not a king. It matters not to me that a random person decides to call themselves an emperor, sovereign or monarch."
"Aaaannn, as expected of Ruphas-sama! How so merciful and benevolenttt!"[7]
As soon as I stopped her, she very readily retracted her insane aura and returned to sticking onto my arm.
And that… It was only because of my specifications that I did not feel anything. If it was someone ordinary, their arms would be feeling quite numb.
Anyways, you can stop clinging onto me now, there was a slight fear of not knowing what she would do if I said something like that.
…. Maybe I was too hasty in adding her back as a companion?
"However, what Scorpius is saying also makes sense. The t.i.tle of an emperor who stands above kings is only suitable to someone like Ruphas-sama who had ruled every country. What do you think, Ruphas-sama? Once you retrieve all of the 12 Heavenly Stars, you can once again rule the world and at that time call youself the Emperor!"
"For a crab, that was a good suggestion. In that case, how about we rename the Tyrannical Way 12 Heavenly Stars as Imperial Way 12 Heavenly Stars when that happens?"
"Aah, that sounds cool!"
In the back, whilst ignoring the person in question, the crab, the goat and the sheep were getting heated up.
Haven't I been saying that I'm not interested in dominating the world anymore!? Why should I repeat the same mistake!?[8]
If I did something like that, I'm going to become the last boss route again and be beaten by the Hero-san.
To be ganged up on by the Hero, the Demon King
The Hero-san's still weak right now, but his cla.s.s selection is really busted so… just by becoming a level 1000, he would become the same strength as me![9] These hax-tier cheap cheats should be limited to a reasonable degree!
Ah, there are also Benet and Leon so… I'll get hacked five ways. Yeah… definitely not happening.
"Well, those things don't really matter. More importantly, can you figure out where the reception for the hunting festival's registration is?"
"I think it'll be fine if we head where the people are flowing into."
"Then we'll do that."
I decided to accept Dina's suggestion and tag along with the wave of people.
It's really an irrelevant thing, but my get-up this time was a full-body cover, so I was in suspicious person mode.
After all, in this place, there were also elves and flugels. I could not say for certain that there would not be anyone who remembered what I looked like.
Fortunately, because there were adventurers and travellers from all over the place, I did not stand out too much.
Amongst the other adventurers, there were some very eccentric ones that they might even have been able to say, "So what?" There were some really eccentric appearances. Compared to those people, what I was wearing was far better.
If I were to get specific, there was even an idiotic man who was wearing bikini armour.
You… even if the effects are just that good, I still question whether….
I get that this isn't a game and you can technically equip female-only equipment as a male if you really wanted to, but…..
"Ruphas-sama, that person…."
"Don't look at him."
Virgo was pointing her finger at the bikini armour and was trying to say something, however, I covered her eyes and turned her forward.
It was fine that such perverts do not enter into your vision. It was poison for the eyes.
"Anyways, the beastkins are really quite diverse. That guy, Dubhe, did really well in unifying all these people."
As I looked around, I was really made to feel how diverse and numerous the number of species categorised as beastkins were.
The more I looked around, the more I felt there were a lot of them.
Starting from the ever-standard cat and dog species, there were even lizardman-looking reptilian species.
Considering those were also under the beastkin umbrella, it was quite surprising.
Additionally, I was able to confirm half-humans when. I saw humans with animal ears and tails.[10]
Well… if I had to point out something, it would be that especially for the half-breeds, their appearances looked a little like sakayaki, and I thought it did not match them well at all.[11]
Who was going to benefit from the rabbit-eared middle-aged man with a beard? Were they going to start flying as they said mama mia in the air?[12]
"If I may say something, those no-brain beasts would never have been able to achieve such a difficult feat. I would like to state that they merely stole the governance that Ruphas-sama built up."
I was honestly impressed with Dubhe, however, Libra cut in from the side with harsh words.
You really are merciless against every one of the 7 Heroes except Mizar.
"Ah, I can see something resembling a line. Look, everyone's lining up."
"Looks like that's our destination."
When we followed where the people were going, we found a line formed by various travellers.
At the end of the line was what looked to be a reception, thus it seemed like there was no mistake in a.s.suming that this was the right place.
We put ourselves at the end of the line and decided to wait until it was our turn.
"Yes, with this, the registration is complete. The hunting festival will happen tomorrow so please take things easy tonight."
After deciding to register for the hunting festival, Sei received a number plate from the receptionist and nervously stored it into his pocket.
After leaving Svalinn, the Hero's group came to Draupnir in search of information.
It just happened that at this place, there was a hunting festival which gathered many travellers, adventurers and merchants precisely at the right time.
They had decided to change their destination to this place in the hope of finding someone that had information on Ruphas's whereabouts and at the same time, to test Sei's ability.
Additionally, this place also happened to be the birthplace of their party's strongest member, the Sword Saint Friedrich.
After Sei told Friedrich he wanted to talk to Ruphas before deciding anything, Friedrich became very meek like a cat which was borrowed from a neighbour. The party's decision matched up when it was decided that part of the reason for coming to this place was to cheer Friedrich up.
"There's quite a lot of different types of people."
Sei looked at all of the travellers that were in that place with great interest.
Brawny warriors with heavy armour. A woman who wore things that a dancer or performer might wear.
A rabbit-eared, bearded man. A fullbody jet-black swordsman who perhaps believed himself to be really cool.
And lastly, a perverted, very muscular and buffed up person, who despite being a man wore female-exclusive bikini armour.
"…… Yeah, really. There's a whole variety of people. Are all the adventurers like that?"
"Well no. That's definitely a an unique case. So please don't put us in the same category as that thing."
To Sei who was saying something with awe, Jean became fl.u.s.tered and quickly reeled him back to reality.
Subsequently, Sei's party split into two groups to move around.
The first group consisted of four individuals: Jean, Nick, Shu and Sei. The purpose of this group was to protect Sei while registering him into the hunting festival.
The members of the second group were Gants, the party's vice captain who had recently grown two more nose hairs, the tiger, Cruz and Ricardo. This group was currently running around gathering information.
The Rangers' squad who are always sneakily moving around in the shadows had quickly gone to make reservations at the inns.
"Oi, look, Sei. That group has so many beauties. I'm so envious of the guy that's with them."
As if to change the topic, Jean pointed at one party of people that were in the line.
He was pointing to a group which consisted of a very suspicious person enveloped by a full red mantle and a hazardously well-proportioned lady who was clinging onto that mantled person. A cute white-winged young girl and another cute girl with rainbow-coloured hair.
An elderly gentleman who had a monocle on and a handsome man with a red vest.
Lastly, a blue-haired beauty and a maid with brown hair who gave off a stiff feeling and stood quietly by.
…. What is this? What's up with this party that looks like it has no common point?
Ah! When I thought the handsome man wearing a red vest got close to the person with the red mantle, he got punched by the maid.
"They look like a bunch of weird ones, but they're probably very high-levelled. That s.e.xy lady's intense look is very arousing."
"Ye, yeah, it's definitely a gathering of beauties."
"Right? Anyways Sei, which one's your type?"
"Eh?! Well, no, I don't have something like a type…"
"Don't hide it, don't hide it. Let me say what I think. Your type is either the white-winged girl or the girl with the rainbow-coloured hair. Hey, you actually like the ones who give off the quiet and shy feeling, don't you?"
Jean had Sei locked under his arm and was coercing Sei whilst saying, "Now, reveal everything!"
At this time, Sei thought that although Jean was typically very nice and sociable, he was a troubling person at times like this.
However, at this moment, Jean suddenly released Sei and made a "hmmm" sound as if to ponder on something.
"Wh, what happened?"
"Mmm? Well, I have this feeling as though I've seen them somewhere before. But I don't think I'll forget them if I ever saw a beauty like that before. ……. Maybe it's just my imagination?"
Jean tilted his head as if it was something strange, however, Sei was thinking he was just imagining things.
Having said that, Jean was definitely not someone in possession of a good memory.
Jean was the type of man who had even forgotten how he recently got his hands on the items he had.
As such, Sei believed this time was also just because of his forgetfulness.
"It's probably just your imagination. Anyways, we should get going."
"No wayyy… I'm sure I've definitely met them before…. I wonder where it was….."
Sei held and dragged Jean to the inn where they were staying for the night as Jean continued to look behind him even at that point.
Even though the distance between them was ever so close, it was yet to be the time for them to meet each other.
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(Author note)
[A very irrelevant note on the background setting]
As a matter of fact, in Midgard, there existed a lot of pitiful creatures who look like humanoids but are not categorised as one.
For example, an existence very close to beastkins, an insect-type insect species also exist. However, it seems that just because they look unsettling to look at, they were categorised as a magical beast.
Particularly, those like G and fly species are particularly unsettling that even the magical beasts run away from them.[13]
(Author note end)
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[1] Youkai in English would most probably correspond to supernatural folklore ent.i.ties. There's too many kind of youkai so it really can't be summarised in one word. Youkai are also often called "ayakas.h.i.+", "mononoke" or "mamono" in other series.
The term "youkai" and "ayakas.h.i.+" was often used in Inuyasha.
The term "ayakas.h.i.+" is often used in x.x.xHolic.
The term "mononoke" is used in… Mononoke Hime:3 I believe it was also used in Nurarihyon no mago, but don't quote me on that.
The term "momono"….. is actually magical beast lol.
As for oni…. Well oni is oni.
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%8Dkai".
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni".
[2] Osakjo "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Castle".
Chonmage = topknot… sort of… "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chonmage".
Kimono: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimono#Men's_kimono".
[3] Sessha is "I", in archaic warrior speech form. Similarly, degozaru is another archaic warrior speech form, that gets tagged on at the end of the sentence. Err… yea, just sticking to the raw. The sentence in the " is a totally whack, but that's intentional. Raw: (『拙者(しゃ)これより魔王なる狼藉者を成敗に出掛けるでござる』)
[4] "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_j.a.pan#Jipangu".
[5] Yurts look like this; "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yurt".
[6] Kingdom and royal capital is written in the same way as (Outo), and this Ou is the Ou representing the king that I had previously explained in the footnote. Play on word, saying that rather than a "capital" (i.e. kingdom) it's an empire because it's being controlled by an emperor. Additionally, emperor "usually" stands above kings.
[7] Raw: Changed from raw a little. – "You have such a large vessel". - [器が大きいですわあ]
[8] Raw: "Why should I step on the same rut!?" - pretty much means "why should I make the same mistake that someone else (I) made"
[9] Remember that to get the Hero cla.s.s in the game, they needed to max out all the swordsman cla.s.ses. Which only one person in the game did because of how useless and weak it was, yet after they got the Hero cla.s.s and gained 200 level, he became one of the most strongest player in the game. For those that's not familiar with the MMO system, this is because most of the time, the cla.s.s depends how much "stats" you get when you level up.
E.g. Beginner cla.s.s like…. Err idk make one up… like Swordman might only get a total of 1 points to the stat per level and higher tier cla.s.s like Swordmaster might get 10 points per level. This would be because to get the Swordmaster cla.s.s they would have had to waste 200 levels on Swordman, effectively meaning a player can only get 200+2000=2200 points at level 400.
Reminder from earlier chapters: The author's saying that the first 4 cla.s.ses that you have to max out don't give much boost in stats. To make things worse, because they're all "swordsman" cla.s.s, the skills they have are all the same. Meaning the player will have a very situational skills with no flexibility and little utility, leaving them at a disadvantage compared to every other player in the game. Yet just by getting the Hero cla.s.s at level 800 and levelling it to level 1000 (total of 200 levels) they will get more than enough to compensate for all the disadvantage they had to suffer up to level 800. Ultimately making them stronger than average level 1000s. (So if 200 levels of Hero is capable of making up 700 levels of disadvantage - yes 700 not 800, it's a MMO logic… imagine how many stats Sei can get with 1000 levels of the same Hero cla.s.s)
So… Ruphas is saying the cla.s.s is so busted that if they had the cla.s.s from level 1, just by levelling it to level 1000, without buffing/doping, they would be able to match her stats which was doped to the extreme.
[10] Raw is slightly different for these 2 sentences here, but I don't know how to word so it's been changed a bit. It has pretty much the same meaning.
[11] Sakayaki is a partially shaved hairstyle for men during the Edo period. "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%95%E3%81%8B%E3%82%84%E3%81%8D".
[12] Reference to Mario
[13] I think G stands for c.o.c.kroach. Since it's Gokiburi in j.a.panese.. Raw: [特にＧやハエの蟲人は魔物であっても逃げるレベルでキモイ。]
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