I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 12 Page 4

  Anyway, I’d gone across the street to recruit Shirley, who was now serving as the helmsman of our deep sea operation. Rain was a mermaid, so having her around while we were in the water was always reassuring. I’d wanted to invite Fam along too, but she’d gone out to play with her friends for the day. As such, Shirley’s assistant, Garnet, had stayed behind to mind the house until Fam returned. The rest of our crew was made up of everyone else who’d been hanging out at my house.

  “We’re ready to dive now,” Shirley announced from the captain’s chair.

  “All right, let’s do this,” I replied.

  Her submarine made from cutting-edge space technology descended into the ocean with terrific speed. In no time at all, the water on the other side of the windows was pitch black. It was actually pretty scary, but Shirley had reassured me that her submarine could stand up to any and all conditions on Earth, so I put my faith in her and her machinery. Moreover, it seemed like I was the only one worried...

  “We haven’t been to the bottom of the sea since we went to Ryugu Palace on Berano!”

  “It’s a lot darker here than it was there, though.”

  “On Berano, we light up the turtlebus routes for the tourists.”

  Everyone else was excitedly reminiscing about our time on Berano. As for Corona and Rachelle, who hadn’t been with us back with then...

  “This is my first time seeing the bottom of the sea.”

  “Heh heh heh, I wonder how much love energy I’ll get to soak up here!”

  They were both looking forward to our deep sea expedition, although the dumb angel was drooling over something that didn’t really have anything at all to do with the ocean.

  “...”

  But while everyone else was in high spirits, Chirika was sitting cross-legged on the floor... away from the group and with a sour look on her face. I figured there was no helping the bad mood part, but I knew it wasn’t good for her to be isolated like that. Making up my mind, I left the cockpit and walked over to her.

  “What do you want?” she asked flatly without even bothering to open her eyes as I sat down next to her.

  “Nothing, I was just wondering what you were up to.”

  “I’m not up to anything... Though if it weren’t for you dragging me along on this misadventure of yours, I’d be out searching for a way to save Princess Izuko right now.”

  Ouch... Cold, but okay. It was true that I’d asked her to come along with us instead of searching for a way to return to the past, and I’d apparently earned her ire by postponing her story for Sherlyn’s. That being said, as long as she was a heroine, that meant I was the only hope she had. I knew why she was upset, but I still couldn’t just leave her by herself, which was why I’d brought her along... But now it seemed I’d completely lost her trust, leaving us at a diplomatic stalemate.

  “Do, uh... Do you want something to drink? How about some juice?”

  “No.”

  Ugh... We were barely gonna get through a conversation like this, much less resolve her story. I was feeling discouraged, but forced myself to buck up and try talking to her again...

  “...”

  And the only answer I got was silence. Hmm, was there something I could bring up that would get her to talk? Anything would do, really, but it wasn’t like I knew her all that well... All I really knew was that she was a samurai of impressive skill and that she wanted to save—ah, that’s it!

  “Can you tell me about Princess Izuko?”

  “...!”

  There, Chirika finally reacted. Hearing the princess’s name, she opened her eyes and turned to look at me.

  “Why do you want to know about Princess Izuko?”

  “Well, your happy ending depends on the safety of Princess Izuko, right? So I’d like to know anything I can that might help me save her.”

  I was going to save her; that’s what I needed to remind Chirika of in order to get her to open up to me.

  “Princess Izuko saved my life,” she said.

  “She saved your life?”

  “That’s right. I was not born to a family of warriors. I’m a mere commoner from a small village deep in the mountains. My parents were nothing to speak of, but I lost them at a young age when bandits raided our village.” Chirika recounted her past, speaking slowly and steadily with a far-off look in her eyes as she recalled those dark days. “Then, the local lord stepped in and subjugated the bandit threat. Princess Izuko spotted me at the time and picked me up.”

  “So that’s what you meant when you said she saved you?”

  “Yes... Thanks to the princess, I was able to remain by her side as a playmate. And when I grew older, I began learning the way of the blade so that I might protect her and return the favor. It was my absolute honor to be promoted to her personal bodyguard.”

  “I see.”

  So all that training she’d put in to learn things like the Silkworm Slash was ultimately for the princess. And that was no modest feat... Princess Izuko must have been really important to Chirika for her to dedicate herself like that. No, to say she was dedicated was an understatement. Princess Izuko meant everything to her. That must be why it was so hard to accept me putting off helping her to go on this ocean adventure for Sherlyn.

  “Thanks, Chirika. That gives me a much better idea of your relationship with the princess.”

  “Good.”

  “So, next is... Let’s see... To save the princess, we’ll need a way for you to return to the past, but we’ll also need to defeat the Gold Yaksha, right? Can you tell me more about him?”

  “I told you everything earlier. He’s a filthy fiend that kidnapped the princess to hold her ransom.”

  “So you don’t know anything else about him?

  “Anything else? Let me think... This is merely conjecture on my part, but I suspect that he may have once been human.”

  “Really? How can you tell?”

  “As a student of a fighting style that teaches the ways of chi, I am sensitive to the presences of others. And his... There was a faint hint of something human mixed in. There’s also his face. His visage is terrifying, but possesses features that are still somewhat human.”

  So the Gold Yaksha used to be human, huh? I knew Ai, who’d turned from a cat to a yokai... But I didn’t realize that humans could do that too. I’d have to ask Satsuki about that later.

  “So, if he used to be human, then there must be some reason he turned into a yokai, right?”

  What was in the Gold Yaksha’s past that had driven him to become the Gold Yaksha? I rubbed my chin in deep thought, but Chirika snickered.

  “Man needs but little incentive to stray from the path of humanity. He was most likely so consumed by greed for wealth that it transformed him into a monster... Disgusting.”

  “...”

  With a name like “the Gold Yaksha” and a reputation for kidnapping people for ransom, yeah, it seemed fair to assume it was something along those lines... But nevertheless, I felt like she was jumping to conclusions a little too soon. Well, that could all be researched later.

  “Okay, so how strong is this Gold Yaksha guy? You said he infiltrated the castle alone when he kidnapped the princess, right?”

  “...”

  Reminded of her failure to protect the princess, Chirika’s indignation and fury flared up. She fought through it and continued talking to me, though the expression on her face said it all.

  “Firstly, he moves with the agility of a monkey despite his large build. He climbed the outer walls of the castle in the middle of the night and snuck directly into the princess’s bedchamber.”

  “Okay, okay... So that means the Gold Yaksha kidnapped the princess without fighting anyone, right?”

  “No. I chased him to the Hidden Mountain where I faced him in combat so that I might fell him and retrieve the princess.”

  “Okay, okay... Huh?”

  “His skin was as tough as steel, and—”

  “No, hang on a minute.”

>   Something about what Chirika had just said caught my attention, so I had to interrupt her and rewind a bit.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I was just wondering,” I said. “Based on your story, it sounds like you chased the Gold Yaksha and fought him alone...”

  “That would be correct. What of it?” she asked with absolute confidence.

  “Okay, okay, okay... Hang on. The princess got kidnapped, right? Isn’t that the kind of thing the lord usually sends the whole army out for?”

  That’s what I’d been assuming had happened this entire time, but it seemed I’d had the wrong idea. But who just goes chasing after a monster all on their lonesome? I know I could never do that.

  “Why did you go and fight the Gold Yaksha alone?”

  I tried to nicely suggest she’d been a little reckless, but...

  “Protecting the princess is my duty,” was all she had to say.

  I could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn’t think anything of putting her life on the line for her job. Gosh, what was I supposed to do with her? I thought her dedication to the princess was impressive before, but now I was starting to think it was more of a danger.

  “...What?” Chirika asked, fidgeting uncomfortably under my fixed gaze.

  “Hey, Rekka.”

  But just then, Hibiki walked over.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “Shirley’s saying we arrived at our destination. Get over here.”

  “All right.”

  “...”

  After my brief exchange with Hibiki, Chirika rose to her feet and retreated further away to sit silently on her own again. While I was worried about her, our immediate situation had to come first, and so I followed Hibiki to the cockpit.

  “Heya, Shirley. Hibiki says we’ve reached Atlantis?”

  “We’ve reached the coordinates Satsuki gave me, yes.”

  I tried looking out the submarine window, but everything was still pitch black.

  “Let’s increase our visibility,” Shirley said.

  She then pressed a button on the console, and all of the lights directly under the front of the submarine came on at once, illuminating our surroundings. Then...

  “Oooh!”

  Yeah, then we could all see it. The massive sunken ruins of a city sat before us on the ocean floor. Despite its current state, it was easy enough to imagine how grand the city must have been in its heyday. Buildings that looked like houses stood in organized rows, and the roads between them neatly navigated the whole affair.

  “Wow... This is amazing,” said Chelsea in awe.

  “According to the Akashic Record, Atlantis sank here some 1,500 years ago. It’s one thing to learn about it, and another thing altogether to see it here in person...” remarked Satsuki.

  “Yeah. I’ve explored lots of ruins as a treasure hunter, but there’s really something special about places like this.”

  Chelsea and Satsuki were both staring out the window in amazement. And rightfully so. Surely this would be considered one of the greatest discoveries of all time, but unfortunately I had no interest in that right now.

  “Shirley, based on what Satsuki was able to learn, the ritual hall where the curse was cast on the crown is inside a temple. Could you search the area for anything that looks like one?”

  “Certainly. That shouldn’t be too hard to find,” Shirley reassured me as she commanded the submarine’s controls to begin the search.

  Satsuki had been able to get us coordinates for the temple specifically, so we shouldn’t be too far off from it...

  “There. I believe that’s it.”

  In a few short moments, Shirley shone one of the sub’s spotlights on a magnificent-looking building. I certainly would’ve believed it was a temple.

  “Satsuki, can you tell me if that’s it?”

  “Give me a minute.” Satsuki took a moment to confer with her magic and make sure we were in the right place. “Yup, this is the temple.”

  “So now it’s a matter of getting inside. Can you take us in, Shirley?”

  I looked to our helmsman for an answer, but she looked somewhat conflicted.

  “According to the data I’m getting from the ultrasonic scans, the temple is supported by pillars that are too narrow for the submarine to pass through.”

  “Then can you figure out where the ritual hall is?”

  “I’m not sure. I know next to nothing of magic, so I can’t even say for sure I’d recognize one if I saw it,” Shirley said with a defeated shrug.

  “Want me to look it up?” offered Satsuki.

  “No,” I replied. “We don’t want you running out of mana too soon. There’s still too much we don’t know right now.”

  We’d made that mistake before. Satsuki’s Magic of Omniscience was a very powerful tool, but it needed to be used wisely. We’d be in a real bind if we needed it down the line and didn’t have it.

  “For now, Shirley, search everything you can with the submarine. Anywhere we can’t get with the sub, we’ll just have to go out and explore ourselves.”

  “Are you sure? Deep sea diving requires specialized training.”

  “Crap... Really?”

  That was a problem.

  “Hibiki, can you do it?”

  “If we were just talking regular diving, sure. But I haven’t had any deep sea training before either,” she said with a shake of her head.

  If Hibiki couldn’t do it, I was hoping treasure-hunting Chelsea might have some clever devices meant to help search underwater ruins... But she shook her head too. It was starting to seem like we were running out of options. I started scratching my head when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder.

  “Rekka.”

  “What’s up, Rain?”

  “I heard everything. Just leave this to me.”

  Rain placed a hand against her chest proudly and nodded with an elegant smile full of confidence.

  ▽

  For a mermaid like Rain, diving—even at depths like this—was child’s play. She accepted a waterproof mic and flashlight from Shirley, transformed her feet and legs into fins and a tail, and then disembarked from the submarine.

  “Can you hear me, Rain?”

  “Yes, Shirley.”

  Shirley used a mic in the cockpit console to radio Rain, who was still just outside the sub. She wanted to check and make sure everything was working before Rain actually entered the temple.

  “All right, it seems the mics are working. Now, how about your flashlight? Can you turn it on?”

  “Yes, it seems to be fine.”

  Rain turned her flashlight on and off to demonstrate. Really, she had the flashlight and the headset, but no other gear to speak of. Unlike us regular humans who would need oxygen tanks and rebreathers and whatnot, Rain was born ready to be in the water. Anything like that would only weigh her down.

  “So, that girl is a yokai too...” murmured a skeptical Chirika.

  “I thought she was quite striking... But a mermaid, huh? How elegant,” remarked Sherlyn, her eyes sparkling.

  Their reactions were polar opposites of each other.

  “So, uh, Sherlyn’s not surprised to see a mermaid, huh?” I whispered to Chelsea, who was standing next to me.

  “She’s from a magically inclined family like mine, so she’s pretty worldly when it comes to the unusual. Not to mention she’s open-minded to begin with.”

  “I see.”

  Come to think of it, when she found out Chirika was a genuine samurai from the past, she was more excited than surprised, too.

  “All right, Rain. Could you check underground first? We’ll be waiting just outside for you.”

  “Understood.”

  Following my request to a T, Rain headed straight for the underground level of the temple. We could follow her into the temple with the submarine, but that was about it. We parked in the wide open room before the inner sanctum.

  “This feels almost like the front courtyard of the temple,�
�� Hibiki murmured as she looked out the window.

  “Yeah?” I said, looking out the window too. “Check out all those broken statues and things.”

  They were all crumbled to pieces, making it impossible to tell what they really were originally. Since we were in a temple, I figured maybe statues of gods?

  “This is Rain reporting. I’ve made it underground, but there’s... a jail? It looks like the underground layer is some kind of dungeon.”

  “A dungeon? In a temple?”

  That strange combination gave me a bad feeling.

  “If there’s a dungeon, doesn’t that mean the king of this land lived here?” Corona asked rather suddenly—and rather strangely, I thought.

  “The king? What makes you think that?”

  “Oh? Do you do things differently? In my castle, I always threw rebels in the dungeon.”

  Corona and I both looked at each other in puzzlement, but fortunately Satsuki was able to step forward with some answers.

  “Atlantis probably didn’t have separation of church and state. The king likely also had judicial power—that is, the right to judge crimes.”

  “But this is a temple, isn’t it? Why would a king live in a temple?”

  “Hmm... In ancient times, there was the Yamataikoku, where religion held the greatest power. Maybe Atlantis was the same way?”

  In other words, the king was also the priest and the presiding judge?

  “Whatever it was, this place really is incredible.”

  “We’re going to revise world history when we get back...” Satsuki said with an exasperated sigh.

  I had plenty more to ask her, but just then...

  “KYAAAAAH!”

  The blaring sound of Rain screaming came in over the console.

  “What’s wrong?!” Shirley asked immediately.

  “Gh-Gho—”

  But Rain cut out before she could finish answering.

  “Shirley!” I called out.

  “We’re charging in!” she immediately responded.

  Shirley then flattened the control stick, throttling the submarine into the inner part of the temple. It was as big as it appeared to be from the outside, but all of the pillars holding it up made it impossible for us to do anything other than squeeze ahead. We went as far as we could, but it didn’t take long for us to be completely stuck.