Chaos swirled in the classroom that had begun its collapse. What Futaba Meiko remembered, was that mayhem and thinking, Ah, as she was thrown into the seemingly everlasting abyss of pitch black.
âN⊠uuâŠâ
She awoke lying in a dark place. Cold, hard, and slightly wet too, there was nothing of greater discomfort. As she was recalling the soft, warm, fit-to-her-girth king-size bed in her room, her mind returned to reality.
Fortunately, she hadnât forgotten anything. After crying a bit from the anxiety of waking up an unknown place, she was quickly able to grasp the current situation.
Apparently, they really had been brought to another world. She had been asleep inside a moss-covered small stone shrine-like building. A verdant forest peeking from the doorless, wide open entrance, opposite to which, there lay a spiral staircase running downwards.
Where should I go. Whereâd everyone go. Again, the anxieties pinched at her large chest. As she was about to cry herself asunder for a second time, Meiko realized.
âAh, right, the magic circle! From Momokawa-kun!â
Floating into her mind were, the bizarre patterns of white light on the blackboard, and the small boy with a cute-ish face sitting next her, her saviour.
The page with the drawing of his own work he had handed over so bluntly, it could be seen as some random scribblings, but right now, it was her only hope. Thankyou Momokawa-kun, saying as if praying to the LordBuddha, Meiko invoked the magic.
âOh Gods above, grant us salvation with the force of thy miracles. For we shall adhere to thine decreâ Kyaa!?â
As she had finished the recitation, a magic circle of light appeared on the back of her hand. Dazzling, and at the same time, an acute heat.
âKyaaâ! What the, a-ouch, burning!â
In truth, the degree of heat wasnât so high as to warrant such a reaction, but the abnormality in her own body made Meiko yelp, made her cry out.
Though her shrill voice echoed annoyingly loud inside that small shrine, just then, she heard a voice.
ââshall we bestow.â
Not her own. Undoubtedly, it was the voice of a third party. It rang clearly inside her head, dispelling any doubts if it was her imagination.
âTo thee, great power shall we bestow.â[1]
It was a gentle female voice. Her mind, rattled with fear and anxiety, strangely came at ease. If there existed a goddess, surely sheâd have such a voice, was how it seemed.
ââUh umm, Vo, cation?â
Before she realized, the light on her hand had vanished, and the goddess-like voice, not to be heard. Having calmed down, Meiko noticed the words that had emerged on the page with the magic circle.
Reading them, she came to grasp the circumstances. Vocation, dungeon, transfer gate. It wasnât very believable, yet she had to acknowledge reality.
âI-itâll be tough⊠but we have to get back home, with everyoneâ
After much deliberation, Futaba Meiko at last took on the resolve to enter the dungeon.
Gripped in her shaking hands was a bulky butcherâs knife. The characteristic rectangular blade sparkled with an intimidation as if saying it could make easy work of a whole cow.\nFutaba Meiko belongs to Shiramine Private Academyâs cooking club. Her hobby is food. That include both the preparation and dining of.
Being a missionary of the faith of gourmet since her younger days, her skill in the preparation of food grew along side the girth of her body. Making a lot, eating as much. It is the logical result.
At any rate, on September 20th, the Monday after a 3 day long weekend, Meiko went to class with the personal knife set in her bag like always. Surely, after school that day, sheâd again use these cherished, well sharpened knives on fine culinary creations, but by some twist of fate, they had become weapons for her self protection.
There was Kitaoji Ruriko, a friend in the same class 2-7, in addition to an adequate amount of other people also belonging to that club, but the one serious enough to bring their own knives was Meiko only.
Though she was currently equipped with the best gear, the prospect of her openly fearful and crybaby self swinging a blade almost crushed her heart. In fact, she was as her limit just holding on to the butcherâs knife. She couldnât imagine pointing it towards the violent beasts known as monsters. Even if the opponent was a chihuahua-sized stray dog, she likely couldnât do it.
She could cut apart any number of ingredients, but something still alive was a no go. She could easily exercise her blade on seafood, like fish or octopi only.
âI-itâs fine⊠since I have the Knight vocation⊠Iâll be fineâŠâ
Futaba Meiko was granted the vocation of âKnightâ. From the explanation in the notebook, there was no problem in fighting ability, it wasnât a bad draw.
Novice skills being 3: âAbandonâ, âRepelâ, and âBlessed Bodyâ.[2]
Â
âAbandonâ: Can react to the enemyâs attack.
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âRepelâ: Repel enemy attacks using weapons or armor.
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âBlessed Bodyâ: A blessed body strong against injury and sickness.
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A simple description of her powers had been entered into her head at some point, so she could quickly understand them. However, how to utilize these 3 skills to fight, Meiko had not a clue.
It wasnât a problem of her mental faculties, her grades were on the high end in fact. But unfortunately, there was no way she could logically come to the best solutions in this abnormal situation. To add, Meiko was quite distant from the world of RPG and action games. Her minute experience of gaming only comprised of those popular among girls like that simulation with warm interactions between forest animals, and that famous puzzle game where you connected tiles with round jellies to make them disappear.[3]
She had no idea what to think of this âvocationâ with its game-like skill system.
But fortunately, Meikoâs first encounter in the dark passages of the dungeon wasnât a monster, but a familiar face, a classmate.
The person she encountered on a narrow crossroads was, possessing a slender, calm beauty completely contrasting Futaba Meiko, the class representative of class 2-7, Kisaragi Ryouko.
âK-Kisaragi-san! Fwaaâ so glad, Iâm so glad youâre here!â\nRyoukoâs ever present calm and intelligent presence even inside the dungeon gave Meiko a peerless feeling of relief.
âW-wait Futaba-san, calm downâ
Taken slightly aback by the large mass approaching her, Ryouko tries to calm the teary-eyed Meiko.
ââIâm pretty anxious about this place myself, but the goal is clear. No matter what, letâs get ourselves out of this mess and return to our world as fast as we canâ
Walking along the passage which looked hard like concrete, talking about their situation brought back a bit more peace of mind to Meiko. Most of all, Ryoukoâs strong words alighted hope in her heart that was crumbling in despair.
Kisaragi Ryouko and Meiko werenât particularly close. You could count on one hand the amount of times theyâd conversed. Still, Meiko knew. Knew that she wasnât only of gorgeous appearance, but her grades and athleticism were also outstanding. Being called âclass repâ by everyone, her skill in leadership was also a guarantee. Moreover, she showed not the slightest fear in facing the greatest delinquent Tendou Ryuuichi who had sent a dozen punks from Black high to the hospital. In fact, she had the courage to even assert dominance over him.
Invoking a feeling of both admiration and abandon at never being able to reach her height. That was the girl known as Kisaragi Ryouko.
âHey Futaba-san, have you tried out this vocation thing?â
âEh? A-umm⊠not yetâ
âI see, I havenât gone past the description either, but seems like we have no choice but to try them now huhâ
After exploring the dungeon with Ryouko for some dozens of minutes, the time had come all too quick.
It was a round open space where many paths met. Contrasting the dreary gray road up till now, it was an area of green. The walls overgrown in ivy, crooked trees spanned from floor to ceiling as if replacing pillars.
But what widened Meikoâs eyes was not the abrupt change in scenery of this place, but its dwellers.
âHa, ah⊠Those are⊠rats, right?â
From inside the slight darkness, with creepy red eyes, an animal familiar to the Japanese, it was a rat. Particularly, its size was larger than what one would imagine. It certainly wasnât something you could describe as slightly larger than normal.
Dirty gray fur, and a long, narrow, hairless tail like an earthworm. A rat from all directions, except size, which was closer to a cat. It could bite back against a cat even if it wasnât cornered.
Furthermore, this rat would, in reality, be able to make easily bite apart any cat. Since, in place of canines that facilitate chewing, its mouth was equipped with 2 sharp fangs like that of a saber-tooth tiger. It proclaimed its threat by releasing grinding sounds from its fangs and lines of saw-like teeth.
This kind of rat monster had appeared before Ryouko and Meiko. And in great quantity.
âNo way⊠S-so manyyâŠâ
Her large stature ashaken, Meiko completely stiffened in fear. Forget attacking, she was currently the best tasting prey, one who couldnât even run away. And not even lacking in filling. The rats were practically drooling a river at the sight.
No reason for holding back. They probably hadnât scripted it out, but the rats, widening their eyes and mouths, all at once, began to move.
ââIce Sagittaice arrowâ[4]
Just then, though her spine was frozen stiff, Meiko felt a real coolness on her skin. Right after, shingg, a shrill sound entered her ears. And then finally, she came to understand what had occurred before her.
âWow⊠you can really use magicâ
\nââI see, Kisaragi-sanâs vocation must be Ice Mage thenâ[6]
With a proper vocation, I guess you can fight like that. I feel a bit of jealousy boiling up, but if I was in her shoes, suddenly able to launch ice magic, I have doubts itâd go so well.
Itâs highly likely that when these large rats with overgrown fangs, lets call them âFang Ratsââ when this pack of fang rats was so easily done in, it was undeniably by the superior talents of the individual Kisaragi Ryouko.
I had this thought from before, or should I say, I had indirectly felt it. That she was of the same type as Souma-kun or Tendou-kun. High-specâed, normieriajuu, thereâre many easy words to describe them, but in the end itâs that. beauty, brains, body, and even personality is top notch, winners in life.
âDirect attacks with ice arrows, and a cold air emission area attack. Full points in versatility huh⊠on that point, thereâs 3 novice skills so she must have another one. Futaba-san, do you know?â
âEh, umm⊠Sorry, I donâtâ
Her brows arching as if troubled, Futaba-san made an apologetic face. Iâm not blaming you ok, so that face is a bit troubling for me.
Giving a nice and gentle follow up line here mightâve been the perfect thing a man could do, but unfortunately, my deficiency in handsome-points makes that action unavailable. I thought about how to reply for a few seconds, but ended up with nothing in particular. Pathetic.
ââŠYou not knowing probably means it was an always passive skill, or maybe she was intentionally keeping it from you.â
My âPain Returnâ and âIntuition Pharmacyâ worked without any chants or special actions, they were the always-active type. Futaba-sanâs âBlessed Bodyâ must be the same.
âAh sorry, I kinda interrupted your talkâ
Up till now, the plotâs going in an enviously easy dungeon capturing direction. We havenât reached the scene where she, Futaba Meiko, is left absolutely bloody at the fairy square.
âYeah, so then, you seeââ
Really, what horrid truth will spill from that mouth of hers? I already donât have a good feeling about this, but yet, keep listening to Futaba-sanâs tale.
 \nÂ
[1]èČŽć„ł/kijo, an archaic 2nd person Japanese pronoun. Untranslatable so âtheeâ.
[2]Skill names⊠ăèŠćăăăćŒŸăăăæ”äœă, I donât know if thereâs any commonly used English translations for these, but thatâs what I have. âAbandonâ seems to be related to Monster Hunterâs âReckless Abandonâ by name, and âBlessed Bodyâ, is sometimes refers to a (sexy) girl with good proportions.
[3]So basically, Animal Crossing, and Bejewelled.
[4]Iâll put the attack name meanings up as ruby text on occasion.
[5]Baby spiders.. is this a Kumo ref? I hope!
[6]Back to Kotarou POV. On that note, I wonât be announcing these changes in POV anymore, itâs kinda obvious and feels like Iâm insulting the readerâs intelligence. If you think itâs necessary, let me know.