I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 2 Read online

  “Yes. My ancestors have protected the seal for tens of millions of years, according to lore.”

  “Wow, that’s a long time. Satsuki, when were humans born on the surface?”

  “About 7 million years ago, I think.”

  Hmm... So maybe the mole people and surface-dwellers were both human, but had different ancestry? They had shining eyes, after all.

  “But why is the seal being broken all of a sudden? If the monster is a living thing, it should weaken as time passes, and it’s lasted this long, right?”

  Tetra shook her head, confused.

  “We don’t know. But the seal is also tens of millions of years old. Maybe it’s not as strong as it used to be. If the Monster found some way to restore its energy, it might be able to break the seal.”

  “...And if the monster revives, it’s going to destroy both your underground village and the surface, huh?” I glared at the roof as I spoke.

  My opponent this time was a “monster” from the age of gods, huh?

  “Is it possible to seal it away again?”

  “...I’m sorry. I don’t know how.”

  According to Tetra, the traditions on how to restore the weakened seal, or to redo it, had been lost from their village. That’s why she’d come to the surface.

  But Satsuki and I had a trick up our sleeves.

  “I’ll be right back,” Satsuki said as she stood up and left the guest room.

  Satsuki was the mage who wielded the Magic of Omniscience. She had the access rights to the Akashic record, the annals of everything that had happened in the universe from the dawn of creation to the present day. It would be easy for her to recover a lost tradition.

  The existence of the magic she used was a secret, so she couldn’t use it in front of other people, but soon she would be back with the knowledge to seal away the Monster. In the meantime, I tried to come up with a way to explain how we found out...

  But when Satsuki returned, her face was pale.

  “Satsuki?”

  I was concerned by how my childhood friend looked, but she ignored me and stared at Tetra.

  “...?” Tetra tilted her head and looked apprehensive.

  “...Satsuki!”

  “Oh!” Satsuki gasped as my shouting snapped her out of her trance.

  “...It’s no good. The seal requires a special tool, and it can’t be used anymore,” she whispered as she returned to her seat.

  “...Seriously?”

  Even with Satsuki’s knowledge, I was still empty-handed. Since I’d thought that all I was going to have to do was find out how the seal worked, it came as quite a shock.

  Did that mean I had to fight the “Monster Who Defied God” head-on? No way. I’d turn tail and run if it came to that.

  I was out of options surprisingly fast.

  “Jeez, come on...”

  It would have been nice to find an item or a sidekick for once that could just take care of the story for me.

  “Peep peep peep!” R was sticking her bottom half out of the ceiling and playing “Reverse Inugami Clan” as she imitated the cry of a bird.

  As I thought about grabbing her by the ankles and yanking her out, there was a knock at the guest room door.

  Was it Tsumiki? I stood up and headed towards the door that divided the guest room from the hallway...

  “Hey. Do you need me to taste test... something?”

  I opened the door and froze. It wasn’t the Nozomiya waitress who was standing there. And it didn’t look like one of her parents, either.

  It wasn’t even human.

  “Hello. I’m Bah. Nice to meet you.”

  On the other side of the door was what looked like a creepy-cute version of a super-deformed elephant, holding some kind of weird stick. Almost like some sort of fairy.

  “I’m coming in!”

  Bah flapped his elephant ears and slipped through the air right past me into the room. I was too shocked to stop him.

  “R-Rekka? What is that thing?”

  “Huh?!”

  The girls responded to the creepy-cute elephant thing by immediately backing five or so meters away from it.

  “Hello. I’m Bah. Nice to meet you.”

  He repeated the introduction he’d given me, and then landed on top of the futon where Tetra had been sleeping.

  “Hm?”

  There appeared to be a comically large bandage on his back. I was a little perplexed, but there was so much else weird about him that I didn’t know if I should bring it up.

  “Wait, who are you?! Do you want something from us?!”

  “Of course I do. That’s why I’m here. And I have a name, you know! It’s Bah.”

  “Don’t give me some typical anime answer! A weird creature just showed up out of nowhere and I’m not even really sure what to do about it. Should I call the local news?”

  “That wouldn’t be very nice. I’m here because I’ve got information you need. Shouldn’t you hear me out first?”

  “...”

  Not all that long ago, I would’ve flung Bah out the window, pulled the covers over my head, and told myself it was all a dream.

  But right then and there, I needed something—anything—that could help me solve this story. And so I sat down in front of Bah, determined to listen to what he had to say.

  “So, what did you want to tell us?”

  “Well, first, I want to confirm something. Are you Rekka Namidare?”

  “Yeah, that’s right.”

  “Yes, good. I’m glad to hear that. I only know your name from rumors, so I didn’t know what I was going to do if I had it wrong.”

  Had I done something that would make fanciful creatures like him gossip about me?

  “All right, I’ll start with the most important thing.”

  Bah shot me a creepy-cute smile that gave me goosebumps.

  “Rekka Namidare. I’ll lend you my power, so become a magical girl and defeat the Monster Who Defied God.”

  “......Huh?”

  The whole room froze. Obviously.

  ▽

  “Huh? I thought magical girls were what you called mages in Japan.”

  “That’s only in anime and manga!”

  Evidently Bah was a foreigner. Maybe a foreign fairy?

  People who weren’t from Japan had all kinds of weird ideas about the country. Some of them supposedly even thought that half of Japan was composed of ninjas.

  “Well, that doesn’t matter,” I started, trying to get the conversation back on track. “So who are you? Tell me your real name, not just your nickname.”

  “Aww, but I went to all the trouble of changing my appearance and name to be like a magical girl mascot character. “ Bah sighed, looking extremely disappointed. So much so that his face looked like he was about to breathe poison. “Okay, I’ll tell you who I am, then. I’m Bah. ‘The Perfect Beast,’ Bahamut.”

  Come on. Who calls themselves perfect, normally? But that name... I was sure I’d heard it somewhere before.

  “B-Bahamut?” Satsuki, who was still keeping her distance, shouted in surprise.

  “Hmm? Satsuki, you know him?”

  “Know him? Bahamut, behemot, behemoth... There are many names for it, including the Perfect Beast, but it’s a huge creature from the age of myths whose body was so large that it covered the earth. Are you saying that’s you?”

  “That’s right. If you don’t believe me, why not ask your Akashic record, omniscient girl?”

  “?!”

  Satsuki’s face was flushed with shock once more. So was mine.

  “Oh, but if you want to look it up, try where the ‘Bahamut That God Created’ is right now, or something conditional like that. If you try to access the hundreds of millions of years of my existence at once, it’ll probably fry your brain and turn you into a vegetable.”

  “Wha?!”

  A vegetable? Seriously? This magic was serious business, but I didn’t realize it could be dangerous.

  “Wait!
Hang on, Bah.” I cut him off and whispered into one of his big elephant ears, “...How do you know about the Magic of Omniscience?”

  “Like I said when I introduced myself, I’m somebody amazing. I can use magic, too. Even so, it took me a little while to find you, but...” Bah said proudly.

  “That is amazing, but this magic’s a secret, so don’t go telling people about it, okay?”

  I glanced behind me.

  “?”

  Tetra must not have known much about magic, because she simply looked confused. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her, but I didn’t want people finding out that Satsuki was heir to such powerful magic.

  “I’m sorry. It wasn’t the magic I was interested in, so I didn’t think about it.”

  “Sheesh...” I sighed and glared a little at Bah. “Fine. She already knows now. Satsuki, do as he says and try it out.”

  “Okay.”

  “But if it’s dangerous...”

  “It’s fine. Like Bah said, if I limit the search, it’ll mean less information flowing into me.”

  “I hope so...”

  “Tetra already heard, so I’ll go ahead and do it here.” Satsuki closed her eyes and activated the Magic of Omniscience. “...Yeah. It looks like the real Bahamut is here in the room with us. Not that I can believe it.”

  “You really were someone amazing?”

  “Hahah. Yes, but behold my current form. No need to show me the respect I’m due. Just call me Bah.”

  He had said earlier that he’d changed his appearance. It was a little hard to imagine his true form when what was sitting in front of us was a creepy-cute elephant fairy.

  “...Wait, why’s a creature that’s so amazing going to help us?”

  “Basically, I want revenge on the Monster Who Defied God.”

  “Revenge?”

  A not-so-cute word came out of his super-deformed mouth.

  “The true identity of the Monster Who Defied God that’s sealed in Jizu Village is Leviathan.”

  “First Bahamut, now Leviathan...?” Satsuki whispered.

  “Um...”

  Again, I had no idea what she was talking about, so I had to ask.

  “Leviathan is a monster that’s often spoken of as a counterpart to Bahamut. Just as Bahamut is called ‘The Perfect Beast,’ Leviathan is called ‘The Strongest Beast.’”

  After hearing Satsuki’s thorough explanation, I understood most of what I needed to know about Leviathan.

  ...Wait. “The Strongest Beast”?

  Talk about an ominous name. I bet something like that could destroy the surface a dozen times over. To be safe, I had Satsuki look up Leviathan’s location. But just like Bah said, it was sealed in Jizu Village.

  “Both Leviathan and I were created to be devoured by the gods as a sacrifice at the end of time. But...” Bah looked down.

  A chill ran down my spine.

  I could sense a powerful emotion coming from him as he stared at the floor. It made my hair stand on end.

  “Leviathan was the Strongest Beast, and had a cold, cruel personality. It destroyed the earth’s surface just for its own amusement back then. And then it stole something very important from me.”

  Revenge—that’s why he’d said he wanted to work with us.

  But how long ago was this “back then” that he was talking about? We were talking millions and millions of years... He’d probably kept his hatred building up that long.

  It was a span of time so long that I couldn’t even get my head around it. Just trying to imagine it made me feel like I’d go crazy.

  “Okay. If that’s what’s going on, let’s work together to defeat the Monster Who Defied God.”

  “...Thanks. You’re a big help!”

  “No, thank you.”

  In reality, if our opponent was “The Strongest Beast,” its counterpart was the strongest ally we could have.

  We shook each hands—in Bah’s case, it was more like his front limb—and swore to work together to defeat the Monster Who Defied God.

  “Alright, let’s get started. Rekka, I’ll lend you some of my power.”

  “Thanks, but what power is that, exactly?”

  “Well, it’s half magic. I’ll power up your basic abilities severalfold, and make it so you can use area of effect attack magic that will work on Leviathan’s vast body. Or can you already use area of effect attack magic?”

  “Huh? Of course not!” Why did he think I could use magic? I didn’t know, but I made it clear that I couldn’t.

  “Okay, close your eyes for a second and stay still.”

  “Sure.” I closed my eyes as I was told.

  “——···—·—·······——”

  Bah chanted something, and my body was suddenly struck by a strange feeling. It was hot, warm, and exciting—like power was welling up from within me. It was weird. Eventually it stopped, and I opened my eyes again.

  “Are you done?”

  “HAH!” Satsuki burst out laughing.

  She had one hand over her mouth and was holding her stomach with the other. She was squirming and trying her best to stifle her laughter. It was a rare sight for my childhood friend to laugh like that.

  Tetra was looking away from me, too, holding her hand over her mouth and shaking. There were tears in the corner of her eyes.

  “That’s going to make for a very surprising before/after photo set,” R said flatly, with no expression on her face.

  “What’s going on?”

  I looked down at myself—and burst out laughing just like the girls had.

  A colorful dress that was so girly it was depressing.

  A frilly, lacy skirt that gave no thought to ease of movement.

  Boots with tiny angel wings.

  A shining, magical stick in my right hand.

  An opal of hope on my chest.

  “WHAAAAAAAT THE HELL IS THIS?!”

  I screamed. But I was pretty sure I knew.

  It was obviously, clearly, plainly, and unmistakably a perfect magical girl costume. That’s right. I was dressed as a magical girl.

  If there was one flaw with it...

  It was that I was a guy.

  “THAT’S A FATAL FLAW, THOUGH!” This was no different from crossdressing.

  “What’s wrong? Is there a problem?’

  “There are lots of problems!” I yelled at the confused, creepy-cute elephant... Wait, wasn’t my outfit even worse than his?

  Tetra and Satsuki were both still laughing.

  I decided the best place to start was to demand an explanation for the getup.

  “I thought for sure that when you gave someone magical power in Japan, you turned them into a magical girl.”

  Wait, that’s what he said at the start! But I thought he’d realized he was wrong!

  “What can I use this magic to do?” I asked, putting my embarrassment aside to get to the heart of what really mattered here.

  “Just like I said before, you can use explosive, offensive magic that will affect a wide area. Try it out.”

  “How?”

  “Well, start by opening the window.”

  “Hmm, okay.”

  I opened the window.

  “Now point with the stick.”

  “Hmm, okay.”

  I held the stick straight out.

  “Tell it to explode.”

  “Hmm, okay.”

  That sounded simple enough. Um, ex—

  “And everything you see will explode.”

  “Are you trying to get me to blow up the town with my test fire?!”

  That was close! I almost destroyed the whole town.

  “Then why not point it at the sky?”

  “I’ll do that.”

  I looked up at the night and aimed for a random cloud.

  I had no idea how strong it would be, so I figured maybe I should fire a less powerful shot... If I focused on making it weaker, could I do that? I gave it a try.

  And... KA-BOOM!

  And
, man... It was a huge blast—a hundred times bigger than summer fireworks.

  “Wh-Wh-Wh-What was that explosion?!” I heard Tsumiki yell from downstairs.

  Yeah. Sorry. That was me.

  But Bah seemed to think nothing of it.

  “Huh? How strange... That was several hundred times weaker than I’d planned.”

  “What kind of dangerous magic did you give me?”

  I whopped him on the head with my stick.

  “Hmm, Rekka Namidare. Were you holding back just now?”

  “I hit you as hard as I could!”

  “No, I meant with the magic.”

  “Huh? Well, yeah. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

  And I was damn glad. If I’d fired it off at full power like Bah had told me to, who knew what the shockwave would’ve done to the town?

  “I see. Then it looks like the power I gave you is working.” Bah nodded, satisfied.

  No, I was gonna fight a beast called the “Monster Who Defied God,” so it was good to have powerful magic, but...

  “But can we at least do something about this skirt?”

  “Hmm, if you want. But that outfit has self-defense capability and gravity reduction built into it. It will take a while to create something new.”

  “Grr... That’ll be a problem...”

  If we waited too long, Leviathan might break the seal.

  Leviathan was a huge sea serpent. If Bahamut was big enough to cover the earth, Leviathan was big enough to swallow the sea. If the two of them fought, even if we beat Leviathan, it would mean serious damage to the earth’s surface.

  But Tetra said that the space beyond the seal was huge. The size of the earth, even. If possible, that’s where I wanted to fight the beast.

  “And then there’s Food Champion, too...”

  “Huh? What’s that?”

  “Oh, right. I didn’t tell you, Bah.”

  I gave Bah a brief summary of the Namidare bloodline and Tsumiki’s story. While I was at it, I told him that we didn’t have a way to win the Food Champion tournament.

  “Well, you know what? I think I can help with that.” Bah slapped his stomach with his long nose. “Just like I said before, Leviathan and I were created as offerings to the gods. Our meat is more delicious than any of your human food. Once you defeat Leviathan, you can use it to cook something that’s sure to win.”

  “Ugh... But are you serious?”