Chronica Chronicle (Part 4)

One Sunday afternoon in early October, Itsuki, Nayuta, Miyako, Haruto, and Chihiro came together in Itsuki’s apartment.

It was the first time Miyako had stopped by since Itsuki turned her down. They had seen each other whenever Itsuki went to the office for anime script meetings, but all they did was exchange some quick hellos. They had both told Nayuta and Haruto that they’d work to keep the friendship going, but it was hard to act all normal with someone you had just told to butt out of your life a little.

Haruto had seen her a couple times at the office as well, but since receiving Miyako’s reply, he hadn’t been able to talk to her very much. Itsuki, for his part, wanted to stay friends with Miyako, but when they were face-to-face, he just felt awkward. He was trying to make an effort to keep it going, like Chihiro had advised, but given his lack of communication skills, saying hi and acting as if everything was normal was about the best he could do. Along those lines, Haruto acted a lot like Itsuki around Miyako.

Now that September was past and Miyako’s part-time gig had ended, they wouldn’t even have the chance to run into each other at the office. The longer they went without seeing her, the higher the hurdles to bringing things back to normal would be. She could just drift away, and in time, she’d go from being a friend to being just another person. None of the three people involved wanted that—so they’d have to reach out and meet each other, and as quickly as possible. Not just to say hello, but to sit down, have some booze, and screw around a little.

The problem was that Itsuki’s circle of friends rarely planned in advance to meet up on any particular day, at any particular time for drinks and gaming. People would just end up at his place at the same time, and before long, they’d be busting out food and games. Advance plans made it all seem kind of unnatural by comparison.

They all needed a reason to meet. A natural one that wouldn’t get everyone worked up. And all three of their minds arrived at the same conclusion.

An RPG campaign!

A game like that would force them to play over an extended time period, each session ending in a cliff-hanger. It was the perfect thing to structure a meetup around, and playing a character also separated the proceedings from real life enough that they could deal with each other like they had before the rejections. Maybe.

Wanna pick up where we left off with the RPG soon?

You mentioned you were preparing a few things for the RPG last month, but how’s that going? I’m looking forward to it.

Itsuki and Miyako happened to send those messages to Haruto on the same day—the exact same day he finished up his prep work for the next session. All three were finally on the same page. It was time to role-play.

GM (Haruto): Well, after a long hiatus, it’s about time to kick off the fourth session of our campaign.

Players: Can’t wait to start!

GM: This will be our first session in three months, so how about we recap what happened last time?

Tsukiko (Itsuki): Heh. Sure. I barely even remember it now.

Sen (Chihiro): Come on, Bro… I mean, Sis…

GM: Okay, so the four Midfield sisters were fighting another band of adventurers when a strong, powerful waitress named Nina rescued you. You started to train with her, but as a former knight from the Empire of Horn River, she has assassins after her. You managed to defeat them, but after saving Nina from their boss’s blade, Tsukiko passed away.

“Oh right, I died!”

“I forgot, too,” Miyako said, a little distressed.

One major goal for this session was to get the two of them casually talking, in order to repair their relationship. But Tsukiko Midfield, played by Itsuki, was dead. There wasn’t much he could talk about.

“What happens to players if they die in the RPG?” Nayuta asked Haruto.

“That depends on the scenario and the game system. Sometimes, you can cast magic or pay someone to revive you, like in Dragon Quest. Sometimes, that character’s out of the game for good until it ends, and you have to start playing with a new character.”

“A new one?” Chihiro said.

“Right. For example, maybe the character’s twin brother with identical stats comes running in, or the exact same character pops out of a treasure chest with no explanation and rejoins your party.”

“Oh! I see! That could work! So can you put a reincarnated Tsukiko in a chest somewhere for me, Haruto?”

“…You want a professional author like me to do something that hackneyed?” Haruto looked sincerely pained by the request. “I’ve thought about how to reintroduce you to the game, so just hang tight for a while, okay?”

GM: Deathmask, shocked by Tsukiko’s death, left the party and wandered off somewhere by herself. Meanwhile, Miyako, Sen, and Nina headed for the Elcadia Mountains. According to Nina, there’s a village populated by the Narow tribe that’s home to someone with the power to raise the dead. Will Miyako and her band manage to carry out the reincarnation?

Miyako (Miyako): So Deathmask is really on her own?

GM: Well, she ran off somewhere. It would only make sense.

Deathmask (Nayuta): It would only make sense. Hee-hee-hee…

Sen: I’m worried about what she might be plotting… But anyway, we’re starting out with Miyako, Nina, and me in a party of three?

GM: That’s right. Ready to begin the new story?

The Elcadia Mountains were a line of steep peaks spread across the northern region of the land of Chronica, home to countless powerful monsters evolved to survive in its harsh environment. It was hard going for a band of three women, but Nina the NPC was ridiculously strong, so they made it. Chihiro also had some skills to make food from monster meat and local plants, so keeping fed was never an issue.

However, following an ambush by an Ashura Grizzly (a terrifying magical six-armed bear), Nina was gravely wounded. Deathmask, their healing monk, wasn’t around, so there was no way to heal her with magic. Thus, Miyako and Sen were forced to protect the wounded Nina and the quite-dead Tsukiko as they proceeded up the mountain trial. Before long, their MP and healing items were exhausted, their bodies covered in wounds…

GM: Making it to the end of the trail, you find a vast clearing, a public square lined with man-made structures. This appears to be Betapolis, home of the Narow tribe.

Sen: Whew, we finally made it…

Miyako: If we had one more enemy encounter, we would’ve been toast…

Sen: I don’t think we could’ve fled without your Lightning, Miyako.

Miyako: Yeah. Good thing I learned that.

GM: So you’re in the village. What do you want to do now?

Sen: Before we search for this guy who can revive people, we need to heal Nina’s wounds. Can you tell us a little more about the village?

GM: Okay. Um, there aren’t many buildings in this village, but what structures you do see are very modern, with neat rows of low concrete buildings facing asphalt roads. It almost feels like you’ve stumbled into modern-day Japan. The temperature is low this high up, but the people walking around are dressed lightly. They look like they’re from medieval Europe, but their clothing uses advanced, durable fabric like nothing they would’ve had in the Middle Ages. The people come in all shapes and sizes—some white, some dark; some elves, some beastmen, some lizardmen, goblins, even skeletons. You also see signs on the buildings written in kanji, reading TOOL SHOP, WEAPON SHOP, INN, and so on.

Miyako: Huh? Is this really a fantasy realm?

Sen: What is the Narow tribe anyway?

GM: I’ll have you roll for Wisdom first.

Miyako: Four dice… , , , for 20.

GM: Pretty high… In that case, you know a certain amount about them. The Narow tribe is not a particular species or ethnicity, but people originally from other worlds who were reincarnated into this one. They have assorted special abilities, known as cheats, which give many of them superhuman magical or physical force, and they boast intelligence and technology well beyond the general level of the world. They appeared in this world through the Gate that exists in the Elcadia Mountains, and so they’ve built a village here. Some serve in other nations’ governments or work as adventurers, but all are pretty major players in this world.

“…So they’re a group of isekai protagonists?”

Itsuki chuckled.

“This village is bad news.”

By isekai, Itsuki was referring to a genre that had achieved great popularity on Shōsetsuka ni Narō (syosetu.com), a Japanese-language site where users post their own original novels. Basically, isekai novels star a hero who dies in the modern era, only to be reborn in another world while retaining their memories from the old one. Sometimes they were literally born as babies, sometimes their consciousness was inserted into someone already living there, and sometimes they were made into monsters, animals, even swords or vending machines or other inanimate objects—lots of different patterns existed.

Many heroes were reincarnated with unique skills or super-upgraded specs beyond anything known to the world they were in, but quite a few stories starred people with no special abilities at all, relying on their general knowledge of the modern world and specializing in things like cooking or medicine to survive. The hero’s skills, and what they did with them in the new world, varied widely from story to story, so novels that fell under the isekai genre could have a vast amount of variety.

Sen: For now, let’s find someone who can help Nina, like a doctor or a magic healer.

Miyako: Oh right!

Sen and Miyako tracked down a treatment center, quickly trundling Nina inside. Her wounds were serious enough that potions and magic didn’t work, but thanks to the nearly divine skills of a doctor who looked a lot like the actor Takao Osawa (who played Jin in the historical medical drama of the same name), Nina was miraculously saved.

“Um, Prince Manwhore, I don’t think Dr. Jin was the star of an isekai novel.”

“…I don’t know what you mean,” Haruto deadpanned. “This is just a super-talented doctor who happens to look a lot like Takao Osawa.”

Miyako: Um, do you happen to have the ability to revive people?

GM: “Sadly, my medical techniques are not magical in nature, so I cannot raise the dead. Only the leader of our village can do that.”

Sen: Where is your leader?

Having learned his location, Sen and Miyako hurriedly headed to his manor. The two were greeted by a skeleton wearing an ornate robe, festooned with jewels imbued with untold amounts of magical power. His sheer force of presence far outclassed any normal skeleton.

“Um,” Sen asked, “are you the leader of this village?”

Despite the skeleton’s lack of vocal cords, he opened his mouth. “Yes,” he intoned in a low voice. “I have overcome the bonds of death. You could say I’m something of an Overlord.”

Haruto’s voice was an almost perfect imitation of a certain someone, but that’s neither here nor there. Sen and Miyako quickly asked the person who was something of an Overlord to revive Tsukiko for them.

GM: “You’ve made it through an impossibly dangerous mountain range to get here… As a token of my respect for your powers and bravery, I will grant you access to my secret revival technique.”

Sen: Thanks very much!

GM: “But that could come at great danger.”

Miyako: Danger?

GM: “To revive the dead, you must travel to the land of the dead yourself and bring the victim’s soul back. It is a perilous place, infested with all kinds of undead creatures. Fail, and you will join them. Are you brave enough to continue?”

Miyako: Of course!

GM: “Very well. Then let me open the gate to this land at once.”

Sen: Oh, one minute.

GM: “Hmm?”

Sen: Can we bring items into the land of the dead?

GM: ……Let’s say that you can. You can’t use your equipment or weapons otherwise.

Sen: Okay, then give me a little bit to prepare.

GM: “All right… You had best prepare well, young lady.”

Miyako: My little sister’s way too talented…

Sen, ever the genius little sister, sold off all the monster claws and pelts and such she’d picked up from the mountain monsters, then used the proceeds to buy recovery items and the mithril pieces that Miyako’s skill Thor’s Bullet required.

In addition, Sen also negotiated with the doctor who looked a lot like Takao Osawa, having him whip up some medicine and provide some of the antibiotic known as penicillin, which he had successfully isolated in this world. Sen’s Jaldabaoth unique skill destroyed all potions and other magic-infused items, but this didn’t affect the medicine and other non-magic stuff she obtained. They may not have been as instantly effective as magic, but having a way to heal her party greatly improved their survival odds.

After preparing as best they could, Sen and Miyako spent a night at the inn to heal their HP and MP, then finally went back to the Overlord guy.

“Ah, you’ve returned. You have acted wisely, but shouldn’t you be more emotional about your mission right now? Your sister’s life is at stake.”

“I can’t afford to mess this up,” Sen declared to the skeleton, who had nearly died of boredom due to the long wait.

“…Heh. Very well. In that case, it’s time to set off for the land of the dead.”

The Overlord guy waved his staff, and then a magical circle floated up from Sen’s and Miyako’s feet, enveloping them in an eerie black smoke and knocking them unconscious.

“Nngh…”

“Where are we…?”

When they awoke, Miyako and Sen were surrounded by broad, desolate, rocky terrain. A creepy purplish-red fog covered the region, the sky shrouded in a deep darkness. This was the land of the dead.

Staring blankly at their surroundings, the duo heard a familiar voice.

“Sen! Miyako!”

There they found a swordswoman with long black hair and a gallant-looking face—Tsukiko Midfield.

“My… My sister!”

Overcome with emotion, Sen embraced Tsukiko, who gently patted Sen’s head in return.

“Hee-hee-hee! Sen is so spoiled,” Nayuta said, laughing as she picked on her a little.

Chihiro’s face reddened. “What’s the big deal?” he muttered. “It’s just a game; what’s wrong with that…?”

Tsukiko: I haven’t seen you in a while. I never thought I’d see you again.

Miyako: It was really hard to reach you! You create so much work for us, Sis! Come on, let’s get you out of here and back alive.

Sen: Right. But how do we get out?

GM: Okay, Tsukiko, let’s do a Wisdom check. Try to hit… Let’s call it 12.

Tsukiko: Right, I have 9 Wisdom, so two dice… Wait, I need to roll two natural sixes?

GM: No, as a denizen of the land of the dead, you’ve got some base knowledge about this place, so I’m adding 4 points to your roll.

Tsukiko: Oh, I can achieve that, maybe… Um…, for 8… Just barely!

GM: Okay, Tsukiko knows how to get back… A little ways ahead, there’s a cave that connects to the living world. Make it through, and you’ll be back where you were.

Sen: A cave in the land of the dead? Something tells me that’s really dangerous.

Tsukiko: Don’t worry. I swear I’ll keep my sister safe.

Sen: Um… Thanks, Sis.

Miyako: Whoa! What about me? I’m a sister, too!

Tsukiko: You’re a big sis, not a little one. Figure something out yourself.

Miyako: Hey!

Tsukiko: Heh. I’m kidding. I’ll protect any kind of sister!

So the reunited trio set off into the cave. They quickly found a broad path inside, the walls emitting a pale light that made the environs fairly visible. However, they could hear a continual cycle of groans and screams from afar, filling them with fear.

They spent nearly an hour navigating this winding path.

GM: Okay, time for an Intuition check for all three of you.

Tsukiko: Oh great, now what…? I got , , for 11.

Miyako: , , for 8.

Sen: I have four dice, so…, ,, for 17.

GM: Damn! That’s a crit. Well, so be it… Sen notices something unusual. Looking closely at the wall up ahead, she can see something wriggling on it. Soon, the three of you realize that humanoid things, several of them, are crawling out from inside the wall. Their flesh is burned, their bones visible in spots. They’re clearly dead, but their eyes burn with life, guttural groans coming from their mouths. Each is armed, and they move briskly, like well-trained warriors.

Miyako: Are they…hostile?

GM: Pretty hostile, yeah! Since Sen noticed them, you avoided being pincer attacked from the sides, but the only way through here is to defeat them. Time for battle.

Tsukiko: Bring it on, you zombie freaks!

There were nine monsters in all—triple the players’ party, but none were nearly as powerful as the creatures encountered in the Elcadia Mountains.

“I can defend against all your attacks!”

As Tsukiko served as a tank to attract the foes’ attention:

“Now!”

“Energy Bolt!”

Sen fired poison-tipped arrows, venting her anger after having to flee from the magical creatures on the mountain, while Miyako cast attack magic of her own. They took out the undead, one after another.

Miyako: Wow, fighting is so much easier with a tank!

Sen: Here, Sis, use this medicine.

Tsukiko: Ah, thanks.

Miyako: Okay, how about we use a finisher skill to take out the last one? I want to use my railgun!

GM: It’s not a railgun; it’s Thor’s Bullet. Remember?

Miyako: Okay, for accuracy… , plus 10 for 17.

GM: That’s a hit. Roll for damage.

Miyako: That goes for… , , , , plus 34 for 58.

GM: That, plus a 20-point bonus for rolling two sixes… 78 damage. That’s…quite literally overkill.

Sen: Great job, Miyako!

Miyako: Thanks for buying me all that mithril.

GM: Okay, so the remaining undead is burned to cinders by the overwhelming electric charge and vanishes. Congrats, you win!

The party was attacked by several other undead hordes, but Sen’s quick-wittedness kept them well-stocked on the item front, letting them fight without facing serious danger.

“…I thought I balanced this to be on the harder side,” Haruto said, grinning at how smoothly it was going.

“Heh. That’s my little brother… I mean, sister for ya!”

“Eh-heh…” Chihiro bashfully smiled.

Before long, the group reached the exit to the living world. All they had to do was proceed through the gate, bathe in the light, and Tsukiko would be revived. The three looked at one another, nodded, and held hands as they walked through. In the next moment, they were enveloped in a blinding light, and…

GM: When you open your eyes, you’re at the Overlord guy’s mansion. “Ah, you appear to have made it back.”

Tsukiko: Oh, you’re the fellow who’s something of an Overlord? You have my thanks. Now I can be with my sisters again.

GM: “No need to thank me. While you were in the land of the dead, some rather…interesting things happened. Hee-hee-hee…”

The suppressed laughter was rather ominous, but the party nonetheless decided to visit the treatment center to see Nina. But Nina wasn’t there. According to the doctor who looked a lot like Takao Osawa, she had set off to track down her little sister. Her life may have been saved, but she was in no condition to be moving around again…

Then the doctor revealed another bombshell. A Narow mercenary visiting home said that Nina’s little sister, Tina, was spotted…about a year ago. Although Miyako and her sisters only spent a few hours in the land of the dead, over three years had passed in the real world.

Sen: Now what? Should we find Nina?

Tsukiko: No, I’m more worried about Deathmask. We gotta track her down now.

Nayuta beamed and hugged Itsuki.

“I’m so happy you’re thinking about me!”

He fought her off, face turning red. “N-no! I’m worried about Deathmask! Not the girl playing her!”

“But, Nayu… I mean, Deathmask, what are you doing?”

Nayuta gave Miyako’s question a mischievous smile.

“You’ll have to wait and see.”

Staying in the Narow tribe’s village wouldn’t uncover any new clues to Deathmask, so the trio decided to descend the mountain. The way up had been tough going, but the Overlord guy’s magic whisked them straight to sea level in a flash.

The group then spent the night at a nearby inn, where they caught up on the past three years.

“One year ago, the principality of Lightning suddenly declared war on the Empire of Horn River. They conquered the empire’s cities one by one, rapidly expanding their territory.”

“Lightning…?!”

This came as a shock. The principality of Lightning was a vassal of Horn River awarded full autonomy, and their Lightning Army was lauded as the most powerful in the land. They were not cooperative with the empire’s rapid invasion, often refusing to participate in their joint operations with other labels. Armies. Whatever.

The other nations, struggling in the face of imperial pressure, had begun to act in tandem with Lightning, setting off skirmishes across the continent…and in the center of all this was a single young girl who appeared in the principality three years ago. With her powers of persuasion and penchant for pornographic activity, she had cajoled most of Lightning’s ministers into spurring the nation and its military to war, all but controlling them from the shadows. The principality was de facto under the control of a young trickster—by the name of Deathmask Midfield.

Miyako: Deathmask, what are you doing?!

Deathmask: “I Maxed Out My Charisma to Take Over the World”—hee-hee! Sounds like an isekai title.

GM: …To tell the truth, Deathmask and I engaged in a quick private session over Skype yesterday, and this is how it turned out. I set the hurdles pretty high for her, but she kept rolling criticals on me…

Tsukiko: So you’ve taken over Denge—um, Lightning? That’s crazy.

Sen: That’s why she kept boosting her Charisma when she leveled up, I guess.

“This young girl turned to the dark side after her sister was killed, only to turn into the demon lord who destroys the world… Doesn’t that excite you, Itsuki?”

“Heh…” Itsuki regretfully nodded at the beaming Nayuta. “Yeah. It’s a good twist, I have to say.”

GM: And that wraps up the story for this session! What will the sisters do when Deathmask has transformed so much in the past three years?!

Following a quick level-up round, the session drew to a close. Nayuta might’ve stolen the show at the end, but during most of the story, Itsuki, Miyako, and Haruto were chatting away like they always did.

Later, the five sat at Itsuki’s table—no awkwardness at all—as they talked over what happened and what was waiting ahead in the campaign. The secret mission Itsuki, Miyako, and Haruto each had in mind had been carried out well enough, they thought.

“Oh, right, Itsuki!”

After they finished eating, Nayuta spoke up near the front door.

“My books are getting turned into an anime, a live-action film, and a manga, so I think I’m gonna be busy for a little while.”

“Wha—?!”

Itsuki was speechless, and so were Miyako, Haruto, and Chihiro, for that matter. Everybody in the room (except Nayuta herself) knew how much of a bombshell Nayuta Kani’s work getting adapted into other formats was.

“I may not get to show up here as often, but don’t start cheating on me with Myaa!” she admonished Itsuki with a frown.

“Um, okay,” came the languid response. And with that, Nayuta Kani—the ultimate trickster, making waves in the game world before triggering her real final weapon into real life afterward—headed home.