Chapter 1: Try 4 страница

- Emptily gazing down at both of his hands that were covered in fresh blood… Merely wanting to be human –

A puppet’s memories – “…Really…too stupid…can’t even… tell a lie…” “Kurami?”

… What replied to her call was merely the breathing of someone in a deep sleep. Still fondling Kurami who was muttering to herself in dreamland, Fii began to think.

And, another thing – she gazed up at the ceiling, thinking about Kurami’s unfinished sentence. Fii remembered the face of the stupid man who according to Kurami was unable to even tell a lie.

- Remembered the face of the man whose existence itself could almost be substituted for the word “lie”.

No Game No Life:Volume 5

The face that was always cocky and smiling, that made you go on full alert at first sight of him –

“-Ah…”

At that time, Fii’s thoughts had finally run their course.

“So that’s how it is… 「The liar that can’t lie」…So it’s something like this, hmm…”

The things that man had experienced, was enough for Kurami to think that he had lived a tragic life, that sort of man

-

Why – would he want others to feel apprehensive towards him?

The unease that Fii had been feeling for a long time suddenly disappeared. The answer – the future that Fii, Kurami, Sora and others had all been fantasizing about.

As her thoughts led her to reach a point of ecstasy, a small smile gradually appeared on her face.

Immediately, a wave of sleepiness that she had not felt in a long while came over her, and she closed her eyes.

- I can’t wait.

Carrying these feelings within herself, she had for a really, really long time – for an unclear amount of years, even, not fell into such a deep sleep.

Chapter 1: Try

Part 1

“Waaaaaahhhhhh!!”

- The capital of the Elchean Federation, Elchea

The last fortress of the Imanity - The lowest-ranked among the 「Sixteen Races」

Until a mere few months earlier, it was a country on the brink of extinction, being forced down to its last city.

However now it had annexed the large maritime country, the 「Eastern Union」, and was expanding its territory at a speed never-before-seen.

A sharp, loud scream of agony came from the capital of a nation that was slowly turning from a 「Nation」 to a 「Federation」.

- In an instant.

The workers within the city that were extremely busy froze for a moment as though time had stopped completely, but it was only for an instant, and they soon resumed their work, seemingly as if nothing had ever happened.

Yep – it was a normal occurrence, and everyone there was used to it.

Everyone knew that 「That person」 was probably yelling again.

And the reason why that person was causing a commotion was probably due to a reason as normal as it could get.

Sometimes a sympathetic atmosphere would billow over the entire city, although everyone still had to return to their own workstations afterward.

“Argh!! Are you an idiot? You’re an idiot! You are an idiot, right!?”

The red-haired girl skilfully reconstructed her sentence thrice, and yelled again.

- Stephanie Dora, commonly known as Steph.

She was the head of the Dora family, possessing the title of a duchess, and she was the granddaughter of the late king as well, being a blue blood princess.

She would definitely be a ladylike woman with incredible potential in the future – however those features weren’t present at all at that moment, and she had absolutely no way to explain away the situation she was in.

No Game No Life:Volume 5

She sat on a chair, scratching her head furiously, looked up and roared loudly.

“…Who’s an idiot, des?”

This query was raised by the Werebeast that was sitting cross-legged on the floor beside Steph – Hatsuse Izuna.

Her age appeared to be in the single-digit range, being a young yukata-wearing girl with huge fox-like ears and a bushy tail.

The book in her hand was upside-down, however Steph didn’t bother correcting her.

“I mean Sora and Shiro, no, it’s me!! What did I say – leave it to me – argh!! Am I an idiot? I’m an idiot!!”

She continued yelling with her arms spread wide.

“Find the real reason why the Seirens Empress is hibernating from the library of the late king!! Leave it to me!! Isn’t this what an idiot would say!? How many books do you think there are here!? And, what I want to say is!”

She stopped for a count, and surveyed the bookshelves that covered all the surrounding walls.

“Why and how would I accept a task like searching for a book which existence is unclear so easily!!”

They were in the secret room of the late king – his secret library.

The late king had played the role of a foolish king in order to research and find out the contents of the games of other nations which involve magic or supernatural abilities, as well as how the Imanity themselves could triumph over them.

The records that he had spent his life on – the inheritance of this great man, was all displayed in this room, covering the walls around them.

His great work was compiled in over a thousand books, completely filling up the library.

Even though they were already arranged according to the date written – there was yet to be any hint of when the late king had approached the Seirens, so they could only inspect them one by one. Steph let out an anguished cry upon realizing that was the task they had to undergo, which was – what had happened earlier.

And the worst part was –

Steph pointed towards Izuna with a pained expression on her face but no tears to fully express it – the Werebeast who was holding a book upside-down.

“What the heck does Sora think Izuna can do? She can’t even understand Imanity!!”

“Steph-kou, you’re really loud, des. Doesn’t it look like I’m learning now, des.” ^[4] - What?

“C-could you please wait? What did you call me just now?”

“…? Grandpa said that Steph is a duchess before, des.”

“Why did you have to shorten it!? It makes me feel extremely insulted!” ^[5]

“…Why, des? Steph-kou.”

Izuna looked over at Steph with her head tilted.

“Ah, aaaaahhhhh, don’t insult me with your round, ignorant eyes!? If I open the door to a new world by accident while sleep deprived, how are you going to make it up to me!?”

Steph banged her head against the corner of a table in frustration, however Izuna replied coldly:

“Steph-kou, stop it, let’s get to work, des. Grandpa is still waiting for us, des.”

“…Guh…y-you’re right, there’s no use lamenting like this.”

Yes, her grandfather – Hatsuse Ino was being held hostage by the Seirens.

Izuna was tired as well, but even she was trying her best to learn the Imanity language, so Steph had no right to complain – Steph took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself down.

After which she corrected Izuna.

No Game No Life:Volume 5

“Speaking of which, Izuna…that book’s upside down.”

“…! I-I knew that, des. I-it was on purpose, of course. Des!?”

Izuna hurriedly flipped her book right side up, while Steph continued to correct her.

“Also, even if you really didn’t mess up it’s fine, but the Imanity language is different from the Werebeast language, it’s read horizontally!”

“-? There’s a difference between reading horizontally and vertically, des?” Izuna widened her eyes with a curious expression on her face.

“…Izuna, I’ve never asked you before, but how old are you?”

Izuna began counting off numbers from her fingers slowly after hearing the question. She replied with an unconfident question:

“I…I’m supposed to start counting from zero, right?” - Steph instantly understood.

It was completely reasonable that Izuna would be so close to Sora and Shiro, because they were essentially the same kind of people.

They were geniuses at video games, however they knew nothing else other than that. Steph sighed and passed her another book.

“…Izuna, you should start from this one.”

“What kind of book is this, des?”

“It’s a book that I used while I was still studying to learn the Werebeast language, it’s in a game format between the two countries –“

“Oh, I understand, des.”

Upon hearing the word game, Izuna immediately snatched the book from her and began flipping through it at a furious pace.

Steph approved of her newfound motivation, and knew she was actually trying her best.

But if she read that fast she probably wouldn’t understand anything – Steph looked up at the ceiling and let out a long sigh.

“A…anyway I need to search one by one –“

Just as Steph was undergoing her solemn revelation… Grumble~~~~

She heard a noise and voice that made her revelation instantly dissipate.

“-Steph-kou, I’m hungry, des. Bring food, des.”

As though a switch within her had been flicked, Izuna spoke suddenly to Steph and closed her book with a loud smack.

She was motivated, energetic, and wanted to save her grandpa. But despite that, she actually said – bring food.

Izuna requested that with her huge round eyes that didn’t carry any malicious intent.

The young female Werebeast scratched her large ears with her feet while continuously waving her bushy tail from left to right.

Steph was forced to make a decision upon seeing her unbelievably cute appearance. One, forget everything and just collapse.

Two, make food for this inexplicably cute creature.

No Game No Life:Volume 5

After struggling with herself for some time – her sleepiness finally succumbed to Izuna’s cuteness.

“A-alright… you can’t do anything with an empty stomach anyway… I’ll just make something simple to eat with the ingredients I have at hand.”

“Mm, I really want to eat fish, but I’ll restrain myself, you are forgiven, des.” Just like that, Steph dragged herself slowly out of the library.

…Coming back to the main topic, you all still remember that this is Elchea, right?

At that time Steph could have just collapsed without a care in the world and leave Izuna’s meals to the chefs in the kitchen, however she had completely forgot about this selection. Steph lifelessly trudged out of the library, while Izuna followed her with her tail still waggling, and no-one bothered to remind them about it.

Part 2

Let’s switch the scene – to twenty thousand meters in the air.

Sora began thinking at an altitude almost three times as high up as the Himalayas. How should he describe the scenery in front of him?

- First, please imagine a Rubik’s cube.

Then hand this Rubik’s cube that requires a certain level of intelligence over to someone that is pretty far off from that certain level of intelligence.

After being forcibly taken apart by a pair of pliers, the splinters of the Rubik’s cube would then be splattered all about the floor.

Now resist the urge to complain, and repeat those previous actions about a thousand more times. So? Do you get it now?

The scenery was arranged in such a fashion – which was the scenery around Sora.

“Welcome to my hometown located on the back of the Phantasmas, the floating city – Avant Heim.” With her back facing the small mountain of splinters of Rubik’s cubes.

Jibril introduced her 「City」 with a sweet smile on her face, while Sora responded dumbly:

“Um, I’m pretty sure that all the cities I know of at least have roads in them.”

The scenery around them was knitted and woven with countless gigantic cubes stacked upon each other. In the eyes of a renowned artist, there would probably be some meaningful theme to it.

However, regretfully, the eighteen-year-old mortal virgin Sora could only describe it with one word. Which was – chaotic.

“Anyway, Jibril – let me say this about the Flügel.”

“…「Unobstructed spaces」…are important…”

- Sora and others began working at the same time as Steph and Izuna.

To discover the true conditions to awaken the Empress of the Seirens – so, in order to carry out comparison and evaluation with people that had underwent the same game, they had went to the one place in the world that stored the most information.

Which meant – the city of the Flügel, Avant Heim.

“Ah, Master, don’t stray too far away from me, as the air here is somewhat thin.” Sora and Shiro nodded complacently after hearing Jibril’s words.

Also Sora had absolutely no idea of how they should proceed from there.

“…Right, if only the Flügel stay here, there isn’t a need for public transport services at all…”

No Game No Life:Volume 5

In the 「City」 below them, there weren’t any doors, windows, nor roads. To be honest, beings that could move about without any form of restriction didn’t need those things. Although they could understand that, the fact that the entire place was constructed with huge, countless cubes denied people any sense of perspective, and since they had nothing to compare the place to they couldn’t gauge how exactly big it was.

“…It’s not like a city…it’s more like a jigsaw puzzle…”

Shiro expressed her easily understandable thoughts, after which she mumbled while looking up:

“…The sky is…blue?”

At twenty thousand meters up the place should be at the doors of outer space, so they shouldn’t be able to see blue skies at all…

“Avant Heim is a Phantasma ranked second among the 「Sixteen Races」. This race is ranked even higher than the race that is the source of the Elemental Galleries in this world – the Elementals, and they are organisms completely independent from all normal forms of reproduction. To put it simply… Avant Heim is another world entirely, that’s all you need to know.”

Even though the air in the atmosphere didn’t seem to be enough for her Masters – Jibril still continued to explain.

“”Hmm…I see – I don’t get it.””

Sora and Shiro nodded as one with the same focused expression.

“No matter the Flügel or the Phantasma, you lot completely refuse to work along terms comprehensible by others, and that for some reason makes us feel relaxed.”

After a line of sarcasm, Sora looked towards the horizon, and saw something under a particularly tall tree – could it be that his eyes were deceiving him… probably not, there was something underneath that appeared to be a dragon skull, and it was decorated lavishly and carefully as well, then left there in the open just like that –

“…Jibril, I don’t understand the art direction of this city at all.”

“What!? This place will eventually be the throne of the Masters, to think that you’d actually dislike it, it really makes me disappointed…”

Hearing Sora’s grumbling, Jibril replied somewhat dispiritedly.

“Speaking of which, you should probably save this girl right?”

Sora spoke while pointing towards –

“Aaaaahhhh, the sun! The sun! I’m going to melt! I’m going to melt, burn and evaporate!”

Plum was crouching down with her body scrunched up into a ball and her hood covering her face while crying continuously.

“Ah, I’m sorry… I completely forgot about you, are you still alive?”

“I’ll be dead in a few seconds! My power is decreasing drastically!!”

For a Dhampir like Plum the sunlight was fatal to them; and she appeared to be barely fending off the sunlight with her magic, but that magic itself seemed to be siphoning off even more of her energy.

“That’s it, Jibril, it’s not good to keep Izuna and Steph waiting, so just fly us over to the place where all the information is concentrated. Also, for Plum, it would be best if it’s indoors –“

“OK, so please grasp my arms, and then –“

She appeared somewhat nervous – but yet her expression was simultaneously unreadable as well, and she grasped onto Sora and Shiro’s arms and spoke:

“…Masters, I understand that it’s extremely rude for me to raise such requests – but could you please agree to two requests of mine?”

“…What is it, it’s rare that you’re this serious.”

No Game No Life:Volume 5

“- Please don’t be disappointed, and please believe.”

…Sora didn’t understand her at all.

And Jibril merely spoke this one sentence, then shouted: “That thing over there.”

“Y-yes!?”

Plum who was referred to as “That thing over there”, replied with only her eyes showing themselves from beneath her hood.

“I don’t mind leaving you behind here – so could you please hurry up?”

“Ah, I’ll be there right this instant, don’t leave me –“

Plum hurriedly stood up and dashed over, and in the instant she grabbed onto Jibril – the scenery changed as well.

Part 3

There – it was probably within one of the cubes they had saw from a distance earlier.

The place they were in was even more solemn and immense than the Elchean National Library Jibril had hogged for herself – it was a humongous library.

The high-perched ceilings appeared to stretch up to ten stories high, and the interior was designed like an ancient ruin, with stone-made pillars and stairs, intersecting corridors and curved walkways with intertwining vines growing all over them.

And – those things that looked like 「Pillars」 were actually bookshelves.

On the other hand, there was random memorabilia scattered around the entire place as well, and stairs and walkways arranged in impossible fashions like a surrealist M. C. Escher painting were all over the place – and what lit them up was, gigantic fixtures of painted glass that were definitely not on any walls, as well as infinite amounts of floating lanterns.

It was a dream-like yet elegant place – but it was a blasphemous library completely incomprehensible to the likes of the Imanity.

But leaving that aside for now, Sora spoke while pointing up at something:

“…Jibril, that was probably your doing, right?”

It was probably the effect of the large amount of air that Jibril had transported for the sake of Sora and the others.

The library (of sorts) appeared to be ravaged by strong winds, and large amounts of books were dancing about in mid-air in spiral patterns.

However Jibril looked over at that with a smile on her face and spoke:

“Don’t worry about it, Masters, the owner of this place is the creator of the 《Book Equality Law》.”

Sora looked up at the dancing books, and remembered why Jibril had took over the Elchean National Library – or rather, the reason why she had left Avant Heim.

Due to the fact that they had collected too many books, the books were overwhelming Avant Heim – and they chose to deal with it by passing the 《Book Equality Law》 in the name of eliminating unnecessary books.

“Her books are the Flügel’s books, I am a Flügel, so her books are my books.”

Her triple conjugations proved her Takeshi idealism, and she continued with a smile on her face: ^[6]

“Even if this small accident here was caused by me – or was it on purpose? I believe that she has to consider all these factors before she can 「Decide」, but of course she is extremely kind and tolerant, being able to forgive my mistakes, of course. Even if there are books within the stash there that cannot be copied, reproduced and are the only remaining copies in this world, that’s how it is ♥”

So she could only damage those books because she owned them as well.

No Game No Life:Volume 5

- Speaking of which, regarding the 《Book Equality Law》 from earlier, Jibril really couldn’t forgive its existence.

After which –

“Aaaaaahhh~! The books! All the books I haven’t finished~~~~!!”

Everyone looked towards the source of this outcry.

While the one standing there was –

“…Whoa…”

Even Shiro couldn’t help but cry out in awe, and the person standing there was – an extraordinarily beautiful young girl.

The halo spinning around on her head, and the wings stretching out from her waist suggested that she was a Flügel just like Jibril.

However the pattern drawn in the air by her spinning halo was even more complicated than Jibril’s.

The largest difference between them was that she had a single horn protruding from her jade-green hair.

Her wings that appeared to be woven from streaks of light flapped in the air, and her appearance as she did so appeared unbelievably sacred.

But her appearance as she was flying about and struggling to collect all the books that were flapping about in the air, as well as her expression that hinted she was about to cry, was completely different from Jibril’s icy cold demeanour when they had first met – instead she was extremely cute.

- Phew, phew…

She panted intentionally, then landed beside Jibril and spoke:

“Ugh~ Jii-chan you’re mean-nyan~”

A saddened expression appeared on her face which immediately shifted to an angelic smile.

“Is this what I think it is-nyan? Is it those pranks that people play on their loved ones-nyan? Aww~ Jii-chan I haven’t seen you in so long~~ nyaaaaa!?”

Jibril brilliantly teleported away in order to dodge her flying lunge towards her.

Upon seeing her crash into a pile of books, Jibril spoke blandly from behind Sora:

“- Masters, I’ll introduce her to you, she’s the one that approved the dastardly 《Book Equality Law》, the head of the 「Council of the Eighteen Wings」 of Avant Heim, the 「Full Representative of the Winged」 that has the right to make the final decisions regarding the country’s affairs –“

She sighed and continued –

“Azrael-senpai.”

- She introduced the motionless girl with half her body buried in books to Sora.

…

“…How should I put this.”

“The Flügel…are interesting…”

That girl was the full representative of the race that was ranked in sixth place, brought death with them wherever they went in the past, and used to be god-killing weapons?

Sora and Shiro mumbled to themselves, having had their expectations completely crushed.

- At this time, the young girl that was buried in the pile of books earlier, maybe because she had teleported, she had already hugged Jibril tightly while rubbing her violently with her cheeks over a span of time so short that no-one present had noticed.

No Game No Life:Volume 5

“Nyan~ Jii-chan is so mean~ I haven’t seen you for so long, but you’re still as cold as ever~~~~ but! That’s fine too!!”

“Azrael-senpai is as annoying as ever as well.”

Jibril spoke with a smile on her face despite having her cheeks violently jerked about.

- Although Jibril would usually reply sarcastically, this time she outright insulted her, which was rare.

“Nyan~ I’ve said I’m not your senpai, call me nee-san, neeeeee-saaaaaannnn~~!!”

Azrael flew about in the air, drawing a figure-eight around Jibril.

“Jibril isn’t a particularly good case but is it really ok for the full representative of the Flügel to be someone like this?”

“…Nii…you have the right…to say that?”

Shiro looked coldly at Sora, however everyone present ignored that line.

On the other hand, Jibril spoke coldly while being pestered, harassed, and having her cheeks rubbed:

“Azrael-senpai, I gave a request for today, please allow the Masters to browse the library –“ “I refuse-nyan~ unless you call me Nee-san, I’ll deny all your requests~ ♪”

Jibril replied in frustration:

“If you explain why you’re rubbing my cheeks, and allow the Masters to browse the library, I’ll consider it.”

“Because Jii-chan is cute! Explanation over, and I’ve allowed them-nyan!! Alright, now call me Nee-san ♥ -“ She spoke while lunging towards her, while Jibril teleported away from her outstretched hand.

“So Masters, I’ve already acquired her permission, please browse this place freely. This is the personal library of the 「Representative of the Winged」, among which countless books have been acquired through the cursed law by taking the books of others, so there’s not a single place with more information than here.”

“Y-you’re mean!! Jii-chan went back on Nee-san’s promise with you-nyan~!?” Azrael appeared devastated, and her voice was layered with immense shock. Jibril replied with a flawless smile once again.

“I said that I’d consider it, and after some consideration, I’m not going to ♪”

“Waaaah~ Jii-chan never used to cheat others like this-nyan~ - and whose fault is this-nyan?” - Glare~~~~

Her tear-filled eyes shot over to Sora.

The power in those eyes appeared as if that gaze alone could kill.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Sora, this is my sister Shiro, please take care of us.”

“…Take care…”

Those two completely ignored her gaze as they were used to it from Jibril.

Upon seeing their reaction, Azrael let out an interested “Oh?”, while Sora pointed at Azrael.

“What does she mean by Nee-san? Jibril, you’re the sister of the full representative of the Flügel?”

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14