Chapter 9: CH 8 – Cultivating Center

Arisu was agitated. She also had just leveled up. If I am being honest though, I am a little scared. I don't exactly want to go up to her, but this is an invaluable opportunity to gain trust! I need to hug her, pamper her, and calm her down with sweet words. If she finds out I am scared of her, she might see through my deception. I do not want her thinking I wanted to manipulate her.

When she drops the spear, I got my cue. It's now or never. I walk up to her and hug her. I started to rub her back. I then realize what the issue might be, I tried to approach the subject, "That, those girls…"

She calmed down to reply quickly, "Is not Tamaki…"

While not Tamaki, maybe we could still help, I was not close to see the victim, but I asked tentatively, "Is she still breathing?"

I was quickly denied, "Her neck was turned in an unnatural way."

Arisu clutched her teeth tightly again. Then she clutched her fists, and lowered her head into my shoulder. I also started to pat her head in my embrace, and then all the flood gates were released. She cried loudly. I felt helpless, but I tried to say sweet things. "There, there, we will kill more orcs. We will find your friend and rescue her."

I felt like a despicable person at this point. After a while, Arisu said while sobbing, "There was a moment that I was relieved, thinking that it was really great that she is not Tamaki."

With all her weight pressed in me, I ended up squat falling to the floor with Arisu. With Arisu's voluptuous twin peaks tightly pressed on my chest, I had to swallow my saliva. However, the evil thought immediately disappeared, feeling Arisu's grip. She is physically stronger than me.

Arisu, in a quiet voice worded out her feelings, "That girl was killed. She was violated by the orcs and then killed, but was still being violated after death. When I saw such a scene, I actually felt relieved. I am really the worst type of person."

I disagreed in my heart, 'I would be glad too, strangers mean nothing to me compared to someone I hold dear.' This is nothing but the result of putting the most important person to you and a stranger on a scale. If it was me, I will definitely be like her and feel relieved too.

If I had the desire to abandon her I might not say anything in my heart, but I feel she already belongs to me. I guess, I need to push her off the cliff of no return. I need to remove these burdens, I need to be ruthless.

I opened my mouth feeling strange, "I would be happy to know a stranger that means nothing to me is dead when my precious someone who is alive."

I can't believe I just said that, and then I realized she was asleep. I hope she didn't hear what I said, not realizing she did hear and decided to pretend to be asleep before actually falling asleep shortly after with a smile.

I decided to get some rest too. I laid down with Arisu's head on my navel. I had feelings to sort out anyways.

I ended up deciding that I will definitely never talk to older males, but younger females could be done.

While thinking, I felt that a long time has already passed. Arisu moved. She opened her eyes, and rubbed her eyes sleepily.

Arisu yawned, "Ah~", breathing in. While wiping her saliva with her hand, "Foo~", she gave out a cute voice breathing out. Then her eyes which has been directed downward, met my eyes. "WAH!"

I replied relaxedly, "Good morning."

I revealed a pranking look. Arisu shrieked and rolled away from my lower body. After that, she kneel and kowtow to me as an apology, saying, "Sorry, sorry."

Well, I am not in a rush, "Time does not move in this room, so don't sweat the details."

"Bu, but…"

I replied cheekily, "And your sleeping face looks adorable!"

"You… You saw it!"

I laughed, "I enjoyed it thoroughly."

Blushing, Arisu kept shouting, "Please forget it!" while hitting my head after I had sat up.

Arisu then got a serious face, "Kazu-senpai, should I raise my Heal skill rank?"

I replied back, "I will be ranking up my healing magic next level up, you should rank up your spear rank to 3 instead, then we can fight even if surrounded."

She agreed and finished on the laptop. I realized I needed to also finish on my computer as I have 1 remaining SP.

Results:

Kazuhisa level 3: Summoning Magic Rank 3 to 4, Support Magic Rank 3, Healing magic Rank 1, Remaining SP: 1

Arisu level 2 to 3: Spear Rank 2 to 3, Physical Rank 1, Movement Rank 1, Healing magic Rank 1, Remaining SP: 0

Arisu took another peek at the naked body of the girl who was violated by the orcs before and killed. She shook her head, before turning to look at me.

I said, "Let's start looking for others."

I walked a few steps into the lounge. There is a staircase and walkway that is visible from down here, looking like a balcony of sorts. The sounds of rushing footsteps could be heard from upstairs, it could be that the orcs on level 2 have discovered that there are intruders. There are 2 stair paths linking to level 2 from the lounge, situated at the left and right side of the lounge respectively.

I commanded, "Arisu, if there are orcs coming from the left side, you will take care of it with a golem. I will deal with the right side with 2 golems and a wolf."

Arisu replied in agreement, "Yes."

While moving up our respective stairs, we both received 2 orcs. We managed to take the four of them out. I am guessing 8 more orcs until I level up again, and 12 for Arisu. If Arisu is right about only 10 orcs here, there should be possibly 2 more orcs somewhere on this floor.

I quickly told Arisu, "Even if we discover surviving students, we must first exterminate orcs as a priority before relaxing."

Arisu merely grunted in agreement. We continued searching for orcs, but have not heard anything yet. Just as I was about to walk past an intersection, I carelessly thought that there was nothing, and just glance there.

Arisu was alarmed, "Danger! Kazu-senpai!"

Hearing Arisu's screams, I turned my head to look again. An orc happened to show itself at the end of the corridor, and threw an axe at me at the same time.

Shit.

I could not react all of a sudden, my body was frozen. It is just like when crossing a road intersection, then seeing a car suddenly rushing out, then you will freeze on the spot. This is a human reflex. It is said in the army, the soldiers will keep training, get the habit, and completely removing this sort of reflex that is not beneficial to survival. Of course, I am not a soldier. If you insist, I am just a student in training who is not apt at sports. The axe that the orc threw, is about to hit my head.

In my eyes, reality moves in slow motion. Suddenly, my body fell to the side. When I discovered it was actually Arisu who rushed over and push me down, I have already fallen onto the ground. A painful groan was heard from the girl who tried to suppress the pain. I raised my head, only seeing Arisu pressing against her shoulder that is full of blood. It could be that the axe grazed it.

The wolf then attacked the orc killing it.

I was frustrated, "Why did you save me, Arisu!"

She was honestly confused at my anger, asking, "What do you mean by why? In my heart, the thought of 'I have got to save him' appeared, then my body automatically rushed out."

I shot back, "Because of this thought, you almost died!" Then I realized my mistake, "No, sorry, you saved me, how could I say this. I was too much, please forget those words." I breathed a breath of air, calming down.

Arisu, with a painful voice replied, "Yes, yes."

Why am I so angry with Arisu? I casted a heal spell to heal Arisu while she also used healing on herself two more times after. I almost started to self loathed myself, yes I am despicable, but I am to make sure I will keep Arisu alive and safe.

We find an open room with a bad stench. There are 3 completely naked girls on the floor, covered in a viscous white fluid. Among them, one of their hands shook, and the eyes among her messy bangs began to open as though she felt that it is troublesome.

Arisu noticed instantly speaking, "Alive! There is still one more person who is alive!"

Hearing my voice, Arisu rushed into the room. She ran over to the surviving girl and raised her torso up. After confirming that the other party still have a response, she then relaxed from the bottom of her heart. When Arisu parted the girl's hair, then I realized…

I spoke with no emotions, "You are… Shiki-san?"

Her voice equally neutral, "Gaya…san?"

Shiki Yukariko. She is my classmate, and also the vice-chairman of our class. The feelings that I had towards most of the people in the Healthcare section, if I were to say it nice and plainly, it would be, 'All you bastards should go and die.' If I was to say it not nicely, it would be, 'Go play in the street, get ran over, fall in a ditch, and die please; you bastards.'

The feelings I had for her is the same. Until now, while she did not directly participate in bullying me, but she did on occasion watch the state of affairs as it happened. In reality, anyone who goes against my enemy, no matter who, will have the same result as me. I tried to save someone and replaced their fate, however, this time there was not a person to save me. From this point of view, she is a person of reason. She just calmly avoided me with her cold look. Saying so, this cannot become the reason why I did not hate her nor not hope for her death.

She continued in her neutral and slow voice, "I see. So Gaya-san saved me."

I started saying indifferently, "You should be thanking Arisu, she was the one who wanted to come and save people," but ended up with a snarl, "moreover…"

Arisu stared at me harshly, "Wait, Kazu-senpai! Please, please get out!"

I stared blankly for a moment, confused, "Ah, that's right. You are a female too, I guess."

It wasn't that I was already immune to such a miserable scene or female anatomy, but I really was not big on getting along with others from the Healthcare department in general; I would view them with open hostility at worse and mild vigilance at best, at least before any other emotion. I think I did see a sign plaque that identified the room as 'Tea Ceremony Society Resting Room,' before I had entered this room, so it's safe to assume she is from the Tea Ceremony Society. I remember Arisu saying that other than them, today the people from the Tea Ceremony Society was also conducting club activities. Perhaps, because of the lack of available rooms for their club activity in the Hospitality section, they had to go over to this Cultivating Center for their activities. I also can assume that the other 2 bodies on the side should also be members of the Tea Ceremony Society, but knowing this didn't effect me or have any other meaning.

Well, her breasts are larger than my memories had previously suspected. She just seemed skinny from her usual clothes I think. Oh right, Arisu is giving me the stink eye for a while, I guess I was staring off into space for a while now. I cough, not from embarrassment, and stated emotionlessly in a neutral voice, "I will check out other classrooms, we only killed 9 orcs, one might be missing." I turned around and left leisurely, leaving the door to the space untouched.

I remember the lesson from the previous ambush, the golems are properly taking the role of vanguard, while I kept the wolf by my side. I did find another orc, I took the monster out before it had a chance to really defend properly. I didn't forget the red gem either. I had a funny stray thought though, these orcs are obviously male, so I wonder if there are any female orcs doing reverse rape. I guess I will keep the morbid jokes aside.

I found another 2 bodies, should be members of the Tea Ceremony Society. It looks like the two males were in a rush and was attempting to run away, but had nowhere to escape to. One of them seemed to have been preparing to open the window, because his hand was left on the window's lock where it was most likely chopped off by an orc. I am impressed the orc managed to get such a clean cut, I have fought plenty of orcs and I don't think… Maybe this orc had a good weapon… That is strange, I have not seen an orc with an out of place weapon. I opened the window, fulfilling this dead man's last wish. Fresh, but slightly chilly wind blew in. It seems it will be night soon, we have to hurry up and finish what we need to do before night falls, securing the building should be my priority now.

I found a staircase to the 3rd story on the opposite side of the building from where Arisu is now. It seems the door to the stairwell was tightly shut and secured. 'The information that Arisu provided is indeed correct.' I mumbled to myself.

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Then I heard some noises from the opposite side of the door, I half-yelled, "Oh, hey, is there anyone?" I don't think an orc would still be hidden, plus I have my wolf next to me. Why would an orc do such a troublesome thing like closing the door, heh.

I really yelled this time, "Are you survivors? The orcs over this side have all been killed, it is already safe."

I heard a surprised disbelieving barely audible female voice, "Really…".

Hearing the voice, I knew she was scared from the other side of the door. I skipped the process, only saying, "A lot of things happened, so me and a girl called Arisu came over here to save people."

An excited voice half-yelled unexpectantly, "Arisu!", the sudden shriek surprising me.

Having an idea, I continued talking, "Yes, she is currently opposite helping people who are injured…"

I had a stray thought based on her excited voice, asking, "Are you… Tamaki-san?"

The door knob was twisted, I heard some grunting sounds of her trying to push open the door, and with two clicks the door opened. I was going to order the wolf to hide so not as to have to explain, but didn't bother.

The girl exclaimed, "Yes, I am! Thank goodness, Arisu is fine!"

A young girl with golden twin tails rushed towards me. Her head hit my stomach like a hammer.

I groaned, "Oooh, ohh."

She apologized, "Ah, sah sorry. "

The girl hastily exclaimed as she watched me roll on the ground grimacing.

I took a good look at the golden twin tailed girl. Her size is almost the same as Arisu, but the peeks in front of her chest seems to be slightly smaller than Arisu. With deep ocean blue eyes, a high nose, and snow-white skin; she looked like a westerner. I don't think she is Japanese. I asked tentatively, a little confused, "So you, are… Tamaki-san?"

She started off casually, "Hmm, yes. You are curious about my appearance? Mesmerized? I am adopted."

Adopted, huh. I guess that also made sense. It seems like I shouldn't ask too much.

She continued being cheeky, interrupting my important internal monologuing, "And, you can call me by my name directly! Arisu's friend is my friend!"

Wow, uhm, I looked at her, about to say, 'Like I would make friends,' but held back when I looked at her earnest eyes Forget it, after all Arisu is going to be mine eventually. I guess I could say something along that affect. I introduced myself, I explained how she can call me just like Arisu, and then our relationship, "Me and Arisu are partners and comrades who kill orcs and monsters, but we can explain the specifics later."

The girl, Tamaki, energetically exclaimed, "I understand, Kazu-senpai! Please take care of me!" She had a cheerful smile, and her twin tails swung like the ropes of a swing.

Ah, she is just like a ball of joy as bright as the sun, or at least I thought so in my heart. If I stared too long, I would probably go blind and needed to look away.

Tamaki suddenly asked, "Ah, then Arisu? Uhm."

I had preemptively expected such a question at some point. I pointed in a direction and said, "She is on the other side of the building, but can you wait for a while?"

She asked, confused, "Why?"

I continued to explain, "Well, uhm, she is treating someone who is injured…"

Realization hit her, she nodded with a sinking face. I knew this was expected too, as Tamaki has been waiting on the other side of this door, what had happened on level 2, she should know very well herself. Even so, she held her breath and quietly hid here patiently. In my opinion this is an extremely smart action. I will admit being smart and forsaking morality or justice for self preservation is not equivalent or can be calculated and shortly understood; I could imagine the damage it does on the psyche of someone who wants to help others, but I can believe in her for now as I can imagine it being a torturous time.

Actually, I am surprised I can empathize with her. Super actually, if Arisu is the first Heroine in the story, then obviously the second heroine would be Tamaki! I had just met up with Shiki Yukariko, and I know the original Kazuhisa would have never trusted her to be a heroine; so I guess she has some purpose in the original story as a plot device to deal with something. Based on my inherited memories I know that she is naturally good at leading and that I would have originally never lead a group of people, so maybe she would be useful to lead in my place while I am the figure head. That seems the most likely, I am so logical and smart; and narcissistic it seems. I guess this means I should rescue all the girls in the Hospitality section. I can see myself doing that, but I do not see myself helping the Healthcare section though. Well, maybe if I received benefits, maybe ask for red gems. Yes, I am a mercenary and will do it for monetary compensation. I can also ask for protection fees and tribute from those weaker than me. Will I become what I used to dislike and hate, absolutely, can you eat and survive on morals? Even before the monsters, my morals had died.

Tamaki informed me of her plan, "All right! I have to inform the others."

I was surprised and brought out of my revery of planning and thinking, asked, "Uh, what? You, Others? There are still other survivors upstairs?"

She confirmed, "Yes, we are all hiding together."

Tamaki turned and was preparing to go and inform the others when…

ROAR! A roar, an oscillation of loud sound, vibrated the air. It felt like a shockwave of danger.

Tamaki fell over. Ah, her panties are showing, and it's black. Definitely against the school rules, not that it is important, but I took notice.

My instincts tell me that the roar was a challenge from the enemy. It definitely found the dead orcs. I think this is the boss orc who roared, and based on the male I found earlier with a cleanly cleaved limb next to the window, I think this orc definitely is not limited to a strong weapon, but is likely highly skilled in combat.

I make sure explain in a commanding voice, "Tamaki, you must close the door now. Then hide."

Tamaki was confused by my commanding voice, "Eh, uhm, but…"

I continued with the same commanding intonation, "Arisu and me will think of some methods. Until you get my permission, do not open the door. Am I clear?"

Tamaki timidly replied, "I, I understand!"

I turned my back from Tamaki, then sounds of her panickily closing the door was heard. I took my summons off to the side with me, and I ran to interior balcony and open staircases looking down to the lounge. I saw Arisu also rushing out from the classroom opposite side of the balcony from where I was. I crossed eyes with her, we had a non-verbal agreement to fight. I looked out from above, and I crossed eyes with the orc that looked up. It had evil red piercing eyes that seems to be locked on to me. That is an orc with a bronze colored skin instead of pink. In it's hands was a giant axe that is higher than it, and it is bigger than the other orcs besides it by another size.

An elite orc! A special orc! I do not know if we can defeat it! It first sent it's 14 minion orcs to attack us first. Maybe we can level up from it's minions first, then have an actual chance to kill the special elite orc. Plus, I think we can have an advantage fighting in the narrow hallways. My golems can defend and block well enough. I think the wolf is at a disadvantage in the hallway though. I knew that once I leveled up, I would be able to summon a Rank 4 soldier with the extra 10 MP. I was prepared for battle!

I had decided to have the raven and a golem assist Arisu, and given that Arisu had a high quality spear I was confident in her keeping her ground. I had 2 golems and the wolf on my side. I was still using my cheap bamboo spear, I then casted the three Rank 1 support spells on myself. I was able to slowly whittle down the numbers on my side. We had 7 orcs pushing up the stairs on both sides, I have only managed to kill 2 orcs and they kept pushing. I have been slowly retreating backwards up the stairs. The next moment the elite orc gave a command and the orcs started retreating. I held my ground, but then I looked over and saw Arisu giving chase. She killed 5 of her 7. Wait!

I started to run down the stairs on my side in chase of the orcs again. I yelled, "Careful Arisu!" I was a beat too slow, the bronze orc used the axe to hack down the support to the stairs. I felt the treamer as the building shook rigorously. I had almost fell down the stairs. Arisu lost her balance, rolling to the first floor. The golem with Arisu was missing an arm, but the raven looked fine. The next moment two orcs ran towards Arisu, the golem blocked them while Arisu killed an orc. I hear the wonderful trumpet and the androgynous neutral voice saying, "You leveled up!". My vision blurred white, just like always.

I was in the white room with Arisu, I immediately scold her, "Arisu! You almost died! You should have stayed at the top of the staircase. The golem that I sent with you has protected you from serious injury just now!"

Arisu was looking down at the ground, not daring to look up at me. She was pouting. I started to rub her head.

I started to talk a little more gently, "Arisu, you need 4 more orcs to level up, you will not be able to rank up your spear, but you can instead rank up movement Rank 1 to 2. That will increase your survival chances compared to the physical strength rank 2. I think even at Rank 1 you have less strength than an average orc, and at Rank 2 you will still have less strength than that special orc. However, I think with movement rank 2, with my support magic the boost will be further pushed. I can cast both Haste and Physical Up spells on you. You should become explosive in speed! I will try to block some of the attacks of the special orc and you just need to finish him off. Don't forget to use healing and remove pain on yourself. We can do it!"

Arisu agreed, "Hai!"

Results:

Kazuhisa level 3 to 4: Summoning Magic Rank 4 to 5, Support Magic Rank 3, Healing magic Rank 1 to 2, Remaining SP: 1 to 7 to 0

Arisu level 3: Spear Rank 3, Physical Rank 1, Movement Rank 1, Healing magic Rank 1, Remaining SP: 0

As soon as we were back I first had the wolf rush any orc it could. I then saw Arisu kill the other orc next to her. I had new spells with Rank 5 summoning; summon elemental, deportation (returns some mana from unsummoned familiar), and summon armor. I had the general knowledge of the four types of elementals I could summon. I decided that I needed to summon a wind elemental to speed up Arisu even more, plus I had the feeling that the elementals were fairly powerful in general. I used deportation magic on the grey wolf before it had made any real contributions, and then summoned a wild elemental. It had instinctively started to assist me and my other familiars. I noticed I was slightly quicker too. I think Arisu was a little too far away to get the buff, but we would be moving towards her as quickly as possible. The wild elemental had instantly killed an orc. I had a feeling that Physical Up wouldn't make the elemental faster, considering it did not have a physical body, so I ended up only casting Haste on it. Then I remembered a support magic I have not used up till now. I used the Rank 2 spell Smart Operation from supporting magic. If the elemental was to be described before, it had strength equivalent to Arisu in attack power. Now, it was like it had three heads and three pairs of arms.

I hear the trumpet and I know Arisu leveled up. My vision blurred white.

I found Arisu slightly injured. I went ahead and started to heal her, knowing full well that she will be injured again after we leave the white room.

Arisu explained that she was receiving the speed buff from the elemental and was able to just barely manage to keep up with the movements of the special orc. If she could also receive Haste then she was confident to win. She asked if she should rank up physical instead if she was already fast enough.

I replied, "Honestly, unless you want to compete in physical confrontations, you only need speed and finesse. I think you should either save your skill points for Spear 4 or use it on Movement Rank 2."

Arisu then replied, "I could also raise Healing magic to Rank 2 and save the 1 skill point to get Spear Rank 4 my next level up when I am level 5. I wanted to ask what are the spells you learn at Healing Magic Rank 2 first though."

I personally would have preferred if she was going to be 100% damage and let me have the roles of support and healing, but I have the feeling that I only think that, because of the excess skill points I have. If I think about how in the original story I would have had less, then I think I would not have had any Rank in healing. Arisu would have definitely taken healing magic as her role given her disposition, and I think there is likely to be a situation where this is going to be needed. Matter of fact, I think I should also raise my Healing magic to Rank 3 next level.

I explained, "Well, at Rank 2, there is a cure poison and a shield called flower coat. After we leave the white room, go ahead and cast flower coat on yourself. I will cast Haste as soon as I can. I'll then have all my summons finish off the last 6 orcs, you focus on the special orc. Once I take out the 6 orcs I will have the summons suicide if necessary to take out that special orc."

Results:

Kazuhisa level 4: Summoning Magic Rank 5, Support Magic Rank 3, Healing magic Rank 2, Remaining SP: 0

Arisu level 3 to 4: Spear Rank 3, Physical Rank 1, Movement Rank 1, Healing magic Rank 1 to 2, Remaining SP: 0 to 3 to 1

Arisu glowed green, she was casting a shield on herself. I noticed she was injured again, just as I expected after leaving the white room. She was able to reflect one the special orc's blows. She is obviously losing in the confrontations though. I had the elemental take out another orc, 5 to go. I had the golems taking the attention of the normal orcs while I waited for the correct timing when I am to mentally command the elemental to attack. While I could also use my wooden spear, I knew that I would be of more use paying attention to the situation. I stopped running when I was within the range to cast Haste on Arisu. While I was out of breath, I had the raven dive to make an opening for the elemental. 4 to go. I then decided to also help to speed this up. I lunged at one of the orcs while the elemental was going to also attack. We managed to hit a vital, I then commanded the raven to help Arisu, I wasn't watching her fight, but I could guess she needed the help. It was 40 seconds later when the last regular orc fell. I then had the damaged golem charge the orc, to give Arisu a moment of relief. I then casted a heal on Arisu just because, I think it would help and I have the Mana.

I took a good look at the special orc. The special orc was bleeding on his arm. The raven was dead, the partially damaged golem was eliminated. Arisu was also panting and looked more than a little fatigued, she only looked mildly injured with some blood on her hands apparent. I gathered what little stamina I had myself, commanding the remaining summons to go all out.

I yelled to motivate Arisu, "We are going all out!"

I made a battle cry, the golem in front should be able to tank 2 maybe 3 hits depending how he gets attacked from the special orc.

I stabbed towards the special orc. The golem made an opening for me. My wooden spear only scratched the skin and couldn't pierce it. The elemental landed a wind blade on the special orc's arm, it was bleeding heavily. Arisu then managed to launch her spear into the neck of the special orc. While it looked critical or vital, it was not quite fatal yet. I needed to push harder. I decided to target the eyes of the special orc, but I missed landing my spear in his mouth. Arisu managed to dislodge her spear while the orc was enraged and made his second attack on the golem in front of me. The elemental landed a wind blade across his neck. I then noticed the crazed look in the orc's eyes as it looked at me in hatred. I decided that I needed to do something quick. I summoned two ravens to pluck out the orc's eyes or at the very least distract him. I used my broken spear to try to hit his face again. The orc swiped at my spear cutting it in half, the golem helping to keep the blade away from Arisu's weapon's path. Arisu managed to pierce his neck again in the same spot crushing his wind pipe for sure. The orc knocked on the golem while the elemental swiped another wind blade on his neck, getting an inch deeper. Arisu was trying to wiggle her spear for leverage on the special orc who was superior in strength. Finally, when the golem fell apart, the wind elemental almost decapitated the orc who soon fell over where the golem was.

I hear the wonderful trumpet and the androgynous neutral voice saying, "You leveled up!". My vision blurred white, glad the nightmare fight was over.

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