With Ena sent off, Hikigaya Hachiman's schedule suddenly beca wide open.
After all, with one less "program" in the evening and the frequency of business at the Manseiya being quite... underwhelming, it was impossible not to have extra ti on his hands. And with so much ti, simply checking Hikigaya Komachi's howork was definitely not enough to kill it all. Even factoring in the ti spent on business training for his new lackey, Gin, there was still plenty to spare.
After all, he was training a subordinate, not teaching a disciple.
Consequently, he began to turn his attention back to the spoils of his last collaboration with the Black Prince—that divine artifact he had recovered from deep underground, which should be called the Sword of the Wind God.
Hikigaya had never forgotten that underground pyramid, even though he had eventually used it as a target to test his sword and reduced it to rubble. It certainly wasn't built by the ancient Japanese; the ti left on that structure was no less than 500 years. Five hundred years ago, the Japanese were still in the Sengoku period and absolutely lacked the capability to carry out such an engineering project underground.
Thus, a rather absurd conclusion erged—this world might truly have had an underground civilization.
Looking at the technology of the pyramid, the level of civilization wasn't low either. (The ancient civilizations of the Aricas shouldn't be considered counter-examples; that was a geographical "bla-shift.")
Underground civilizations have always been a common the in fantasy literature, a setting that theoretically began in 1692 with the Hollow Earth theory proposed by the British astronor Edmond Halley. However, Halley wasn't playing as "high" back then as people did later; at most, he theorized that the Earth was composed of multiple concentric hollow spheres, with each layer being a world, and he believed there were passages on the surface connecting to these underground layers.
But to say Halley was the first to play with the underground setting would be to look down on the ancients. For instance, ancient Indian texts once recorded an underground corridor called "Agartha," aning "the world beneath the earth," where legends say the secrets and endless treasures of ancient civilizations are buried. As for physical evidence, the Cueva de los Tayos (Cave of the Tayos/Gold Cave) in Ecuador is perhaps the most famous. This tunnel contains many ancient relics and ruins of civilizations, including a thirteen-step pyramid inlaid with an eye-shaped ornant, as well as carvings of dinosaurs.
Regardless, this theory added a lot of bricks and mortar to later fantasy literature.
Hikigaya used to just laugh off this theory. It wasn't that he was now certain this world definitely had an underground civilization—that was too big of a leap—but the fact that there
were pyramids underground besides rocks, minerals, water, and magma was sothing he had seen with his own eyes. If he had the ti, he wouldn't mind visiting this world's version of the Ecuador Gold Cave in the future.
In any case, Hikigaya had his subordinates go out to collect any remaining information regarding the Sword of the Wind God and the Sword of the Thunder God. Since he found the Wind God sword in an underground pyramid, the Thunder God sword might also be sothing related to it.
Naturally, communication between him and the Black Prince beca more frequent.
Regarding the relatively old setting of "underground civilizations," the Black Prince had clearly researched it as well, but he hadn't visited this world's Ecuador Gold Cave either. In his words, he "didn't have ti."
This sentence wouldn't seem like a valid excuse for a Campione who possessed divine speed, but it was understandable given that the direct reason for the Black Prince's archaeology was to seek the mystery of the Holy Grail. If it wasn't archaeology directly related to the Grail, he really might not have the ti.
In this regard, he and Hikigaya were completely different.
Alec (the Black Prince) scavenged items to research the Holy Grail because it was a family mission and one of the driving forces that led to him becoming a Campione. It was much like how Hikigaya liked reading ancient myths specifically to better understand his own Authorities, ensuring he could land a "critical hit" during the next PK (player kill/battle).
For Hikigaya, scavenging was purely for the joy of life.
So, although he had scavenged the Wind God sword, he hadn't spent much ti researching it—to the point that he hadn't even ntioned the matter of having Ena switch swords yet. If it weren't for Ena bringing up her desire to go train, he almost would have forgotten about it.
After becoming a Campione, it was easy for him to take a sudden interest in sothing and then even easier to forget it. The only thing he hadn't forgotten was the matter he asked Lilianna to investigate. Although there wasn't a definitive answer yet, he was very patient. Because he believed that the "ti cost" involved would eventually be paid for by soone else.
Hikigaya felt that his increasing lack of concern for ti might be directly related to his increasingly rich results in researching ti itself.
After all, he had "transmigrated" twice now.
If a person has the ability to run back to past space-ti, it's impossible for their patience while waiting to be anything but excellent.
In fact, "running back" wasn't much of a problem for the current Hikigaya. Give him an antique and the corresponding geographical conditions, and he could run back. What he was
currently researching were different "running thods"—for instance, having no dium, or perhaps not wanting to run back to ancient tis, but just a "play style" where he sets the ti slightly earlier than the present.
From the fact that he hadn't seen another version of himself up until now, it seed that his future self had either not succeeded or had succeeded in a place where he himself wasn't present.
That was quite a pity; he was actually looking forward to the mont when a God ca looking for him in the future, only to face a whole dozen of "him."
.
.
.
This particular regret wasn't removed from Hikigaya's "regret list" until Tokyo entered July—not because he t a future or past self, but because Komachi was about to start her vacation.
At this ti, Tokyo had entered the rainy season. It was either raining or so sunny it could kill you; it wasn't a good season. However, compared to the typhoon season in August, it at least sounded much better.
Personally, Hikigaya felt a sense of emotional closeness to typhoons because it was during a typhoon that he transford from a "weakling" of this world into one of its strongest living beings.
But that wasn't the point. The point was that because sumr break had started, Komachi and her friends were planning to return to Chiba—even the "paper-ball swordsman" from Kyoto was no exception.
Since Hikigaya didn't plan on going back imdiately, he had to call a car for her and her friends to ensure they got ho safely.
Komachi was obviously happy; it ant that for a while, no one would be "annoyingly an" and check her howork every day.
Hikigaya, on the other hand, listed the fact that he wouldn't be able to see his sister's pained expression during howork checks as a "priority regret."
Regardless, after sending everyone away, Hinata Inn returned to its tranquility. Aside from the manager lady who was obsessed with cleaning, only Moe remained to accompany Hikigaya.
And after being slightly unaccustod to it for about a day, Hikigaya got used to it.
Then, after a long gap of several months, he finally heard news of a God once again.
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting on buyacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting
User Comments
0 comments from readers