Chapter 2 - Paladin-sama wants to be Overpowered

After sacrificing many lives and blood, the dragon was sealed. The people declared that the era of peace was finally upon us. But they were wrong. The dragon still lives, and was building up its strength for its reckoning! The side of sacred holiness and the faction of evil darkness; the alliance that protects the Kingdom and those who seeked its destruction. If you wish to live with pride, then you must never lose. This is the era of war! The ones who fall first lose. Shuchin Private Academy Founded as a Magic education facility to seal the dragon tyrannizing the world, it’s a prestigious Magic school with an honorable and ancient history. With the abolishment of the old magic practices, the seal had grown weaker, and the powerful dragon stirred from its slumber. —— And naturally, no mere mortals would be strong enough to defeat the dragon.

After reading this far, Shirogane asked bafflingly:

「Erm, do I really need to read all this?」

Fujiwara was wearing decorative spectacles and held a pointer in hand. Dressed like a teacher, she refuted:

「What are you saying!? If you don’t remember the setting, you can’t participate in the TRPG. I won’t ask you to memorize all the nitty gritty details, but buying the official rule book is basic courtesy. Since this is made by the TG club, so you don’t have to pay. But at the very least, read through the player’s guide.」

「But, the seal weakening because of old magic being abolished is too abstract, I have no idea what it means…」

「Hold on, President. In that case, here is the terminology guide. It has pictures and detailed explanations too. Oh, Fujiwara-sempai must have drawn this. The style is similar to the graffiti on the whiteboard of the Student Council room.」

Besides Shirogane, when he heard his complaints, Ishigami handed him over a few dozen page thick booklets.

「Ughh—— That looks like a pain to read.」

「Don’t say it’s a pain without even reading it! Besides, you were the one who said you were interested in a TRPG, President!」

「That’s true, but this is going too far…」

Shirogane retorted Fujiwara, but someone stepped in and supported her.

「Don’t say that, Shirogane-kun. Setting the mood is important for things like this. Just read the guide made by Fujiwara-san.」

「That’s right, President. How much you can self insert into your role before the game starts is also a test of the player’s ability.」

The ones soothing Shirogane were Nagisa Kashiwagi and her boyfriend. The two sat closely together, and they were reading a single book together for some reason. Their faces were almost touching.

「Oh. Nagisa, look here. It says 『the ones who defeat the dragon would be entitled to any reward』. What should we do? What would you want after we defeat the dragon?」

「Ehh? Well, what should I get——」

The Kashiwagi couple who had made their relationship public were still soothing Shirogane two seconds earlier, but they were completely in their own world now.

When he saw them like this, Ishigami’s eyes turned gloomy. A moment later, Ishigami took out toilet paper from somewhere, holding it to the side of his face in a Hassō-ni-kamae stance. It was a well rounded stance great for offence and defence, and also the stance adopted by the assistant of someone performing Seppuku. 

「Ishigami! The game, focus on the game! alright!? We are on the same team!」

Shirogane felt Ishigami’s killing intent, and restraint his underclassman desperately. —— That was correct. Shirogane, Ishigami, and the Kashiwagi couples were now teammates with bonds thicker than blood.

Their goal was to defeat the ancient dragon slumbering in the old campus building.

If the four of them failed, the powerful dragon would wake from its thousand year slumber, and plunge the world into a sea of flame.

Their mission was to defeat the dragon before the seal was undone.

The fate of the world was now in the hands of these four brave heroes. ♂♂♂ It all started from a casual comment by Shirogane. This happened on the third day after Ishigami and Kaguya started pretending to be dating.

They failed to propagate the fake news of them dating. It wasn’t because their acting was bad.

According to what Fujiwara learned from others, in the eyes of the student body, this just looked like Kaguya educating and instructing Ishigami.

The plan failed, but it was unexpectedly effective too. Maybe the sender was spooked by how Kaguya was dragging the reluctant Ishigami all over the place. The mails stopped.

Although the plan didn’t perform as intended, everything worked out fine.

Ishigami was safely liberated from these terrifying times, and was playing games happily in the Student Council room. He didn’t have to be fake lovers with Kaguya anymore. Shirogane looked at Ishigami who was the same as ever, and suddenly remembered a game where the players roleplayed as specific characters.

「Ishigami, have you ever played a TRPG before?」

「I have, if you mean the sort done through internet chat rooms.」

「It seems to be getting popular again.」

「I see. Oh, President, if you are interested——」

The moment Ishigami said that, someone made a strong appearance as usual.

「I heard everything you said! If you are interested in TRPG, then you should try it for yourself. I just happen to have a script that uses the Shuchin Academy as the stage.」

And of course, that person was Chika Fujiwara.

Fujiwara was holding a stack of copy paper, and wore a white sash diagonally across her shoulder. Ishigami pointed at the words on the sash, and said in surprise:

「Oh! 『TG Club』! It says TG Club! Fujiwara-sempai is actually wearing a sash that’s truthful. Or maybe, the person itself is fake?」

「Hmmp… If you want to know if I’m a fake, then use your wits and knowledge to determine that!」

Fujiwara showed a fearless smile, and handed a stack of copy paper to Shirogane and Ishigami each.

Shirogane took it on reflex, and asked:

「I am interested, but are we going to play right now? Shinomiya  and Iino are tied up with their clubs, so they won’t be coming. Can we play this game with three people?」

「Yesterday, our three members in the TG Club already play tested this game, so don’t worry. But it will be more fun with more people. Then I don’t have to be a player, and can concentrate on my role as a GM. I will find more people, so use this time to read the guide.」 

Fujiwara then ran out of the Student Council room. After 16 minutes, she brought the Kashiwagi couple who were walking along the corridor back to the Student Council room.

Shirogane, Ishigami and the Kashiwagi couple started creating their characters.

「Please select a job from this list.」

Fujiwara showed the character list with a smile. However, Shirogane didn’t know what to pick.

He could understand 【Swordsman】 and 【Mage】 . But 【Hanging Corpse】 and 【The MC’s friends who can share how much the heroines like him】 were enigmas. Those couldn’t really be called jobs.

As Shirogane felt troubled over the large variety of jobs,

「Then I will choose, 【Witch Doctor】.」

「In that case, I choose 【Spacetime Navigator】.」

The heir to a hospital and the daughter of a ship building company gave their answers.

Seeing them decide on a job so easily, Ishigami who was at a lost raised his head as if he had figured it out.

「If we are choosing jobs that way, since my father is in the toy manufacturing industry, the closest job would be 【Playing around bum】…」

「Well, my Dad doesn’t have a stable job… I shall pick 【Playing around bum】…」 

The moment they said that, the atmosphere around Ishigami and Shirogane turned gloomy. On the other hand the Kashiwagi couple were rolling dice to determine their stats, and their laughter echoed in the room.

Shirogane’s mood turned dark, and it was showing on his face.

Seeing Shirogane like this, Fujiwara shot him a fierce gaze.

「Hey, this is just a game. Don’t get depressed over strange things. Let me give you some advice. Witch Doctor is a healer, while Spacetime Navigator has a large number of maneuvering skills. I think both of you should pick combat type jobs to balance the party.」

「Fujiwara, aren’t you going to choose?」

「Right now, I’m not a player, but the GM who will facilitate the game. So you four please work hard to defeat the evil dragon.」

Shirogane chose 【Paladin】, Ishigami picked 【Dark Mage】.

They needed to determine their stats next. The dice were rolled to determine abilities like intelligence.

「There’s no need to keep rolling the dice, we can just generate random stats on the internet with a touch of a button.」

When she heard what Ishigami said, Fujiwara put her hands on her hips and sighed.

「You don’t get it. Rolling the dice is the fun part of playing TRPG. I will even go as far to say that the point of playing TRPG is to roll the dice. Isn’t it stupid to replace the dice with mouse clicks?」

Fujiwara was adamant about that, so the sound of dice rolling echoed in the Student Council room for quite some time.

After the four of them determined their stats, Fujiwara showed an expression that said 「It’s finally time」, and took something out.

「Uwah!? It’s big!」

Four giant six sided dice that had to be picked up with two hands. They were occasionally featured on a variety of television shows, where celebrities would roll them. But normally, people wouldn’t really buy them.

「Since this is a game that is played while moving around the school, it will be inconvenient if they aren’t this big. Alright, let’s go into the movement phase. Everyone please roll one die each.」

「Wait, GM Fujiwara. Sorry, but I’m a fresh beginner, and don’t really understand what the stats we determined earlier ared used for in the game. Can you explain?」

「Ah—— President, you are the type that will read the manual carefully after buying a game. Personally, I think that’s great, but for this game, I think it’s easier to explain as you play it. Relax, you can only go on an adventure without knowing once in your life, so please cherish this experience.」

「But… never mind, I get it.」

Shirogane could only nod at Fujiwara who was all smiles, but he wasn’t actually convinced.

So far, Shirogane had just been forced to read through a weird world setting, rolling dice repeatedly, and recording his stats onto his character sheet.

Shirogane didn’t understand what was so fun about that. The Kashiwagi were lost in their own world, and Ishigami was staring silently at his character sheet with a rare serious face. Shirogane found it hard to speak in such a mood.

Shirogane understood what Fujiwara was saying, but he still felt that this was too unfriendly for a total beginner like him.

It looks like I won’t be able to ask...

Feeling really alienated, Shirogane picked up a large die.

「Let’s begin… One— Two!」

On Fujiwara’s cue, Shirogane tossed out the die in his hand.

However, contrary to his expectations, the other three flung their dice up high.

Shirogane followed the rising dice with his eyes, and as he watched them fall, he noticed the sparkling in Fujiwara’s eyes.

Her face was that of someone who had tossed aside everything and was completely engrossed in something.

The dice bounced under the child-like gaze of Fujiwara, and slowly rolled to a stop——

At that moment, the gate to another world opened. ◇◇◇ Tabletop Role Playing Game, commonly known as TRPG.

Where RPG video games, a heavy hitter in the computer entertainment industry, originated from.

Basically, unlike video games where the computer would generate and calculate the results of dice rolls, all these were done manually in TRPG.

For example, when they encountered an enemy, they would roll the number of dice equivalent to the enemy’s dexterity, then roll the same number of dice as their own dexterity. If the sum of their dice roll was bigger than that of the enemy, then they would have the right to make the first move.

And the most interesting part of this game, was that the player was free to decide on anything else.

After rolling the dice when you encountered the enemy—— you could choose to set fire to the surrounding to give you the advantage in terrain; or you could scatter gold coins to distract the enemy. Just like reality, the player had an infinite number of choices.

The GM facilitating the game would then judge if these actions were logical by running it through the rule book. The rule book wouldn’t be able to list everything out in detail, so the GM would need to improvise, such as, 「Please roll a die according to your luck stats—— Unfortunately, due to a sudden change in wind direction, the fire burned around you. The enemy took one damage, and you took three damage.」 「The enemies are goblins. They don’t understand the value of gold coins, and they launched a preemptive attack against you instead.」

Unlike video games, this analog game had all sorts of restrictions. It couldn’t be played without enough players, and you couldn’t save at any moment you liked, and if one of the team members was self centered, then the game couldn’t even progress.

However, it was these constraints that brought out the charm and freedom of the game.

In this era when the gaming industry is booming, those who have never tried analog games might think it isn’t fun.

Roleplaying is also a form of acting.

The difference between TRPG and other games is the feeling of immersion it entails.

Once you have experienced the charm of this sort of games once, the dice will become the key to another world.

Choose! Whether you open the door with this key or not, it’s up to you—— ♂♂♂ 「Alright then, let me explain the game again. This is a TRPG that spans the entire campus. The final goal is to defeat the ancient dragon sleeping in the old school building. The first half of the game is the adventuring phase to collect secret treasures, and the second half is the final battle against the dragon.」

Fujiwara lifts up a finger and started explaining after they made the dice roll.

She confirmed the numbers on the dice scattered around the Student Council room, opened the paper in her hand, and then said: 「Four, four, two, one. Please use this map when you are moving. Going alone is prohibited, so everyone please decide on where to go before moving.」

It was a hand drawn map that divided Shuchin into squares. Shirogane rested his chin on his hand, nodded and then asked:

「It adds up to 11. So that means we can move 11 spaces, right?」

That was what he thought, but Fujiwara made a large cross with her arms, signalling that was wrong.

「In—— correct. It has nothing to do with the sum of the dice. When moving in the campus, each zone is assigned different difficulties. The corridor is two, the field is three, they are distributed like this carefully. There are three dice greater than two, so you can move three spaces in the corridor.」

「How troublesome.」

Ishigami said immediately after Shirogane complained,

「Don’t worry, there are many games with similar rules. I will tell you where we can go in the beginning. I’m sure you will get the hang of it in no time, President.」

「I see, I hope you’re right——」

Shirogane sighed in relief, and Fujiwara suddenly leaned in from the side and said:

「Oh by the way, according to the setting, when a six is rolled, one of Japan’s prefectures would be swallowed into a temporal rift and vanish, so please be careful. As the dragon’s seal is undone gradually, the Scale Maiden won’t be able to use her energy to stabilize the timespace spectrum. The prefectures might also disappear if the players take specific actions too, so please keep that in mind. Also, if the 46 prefectures other than Tokyo disappear, then the dragon will be revived before all the secret treasures are collected. Your team will then be forced to fight at a disadvantage. So take care to leave at least one other prefecture during your adventures.」 

「—— My apologies, President, I retract my earlier statement. The rules set by Fujiwara-sempai is more chaotic than I expected. I’m sure that we will encounter many unreasonable things.」

As the cheerful Fujiwara introduced seemingly random rules, Ishigami looked at her with a face of a daughter in puberty listening to her own father telling lewd jokes.

「I-In any case, let’s start moving. How about the 【Library】, isn’t that the closest from here?」

Kashiwagi said in a chirpy voice to sooth the atmosphere.

「That’s true. I can’t think of any good answer, so I agree with the 【Library】.」

「If this is a normal game, then the zones nearby will normally be set to a lower difficulty to accommodate beginners. I think we can go to the 【Library】, assuming that this is a normal game, of course.」

「Since Nagisa already said so, I don’t have any objections either.」

The other three concurred, so everyone headed for the Library. They followed the spaces drawn out on the map and moved three squares, then rolled the dice again. After repeating this for a few times, they walked pass a male and female student walking shoulder to shoulder.

「Oh, it’s the President. Hello——」

「Yes… Hello.」

The two of them smiled and nodded at Shirogane as they passed by, and Shirogane returned the greeting as he hid the dice behind him unconsciously.

He was breaking out in cold sweat, afraid of being treated as a suspicious person for playing some strange game on campus. In that moment, Fujiwara suddenly shouted:

「Okay—— encountered a couple! Everyone, please roll your dice!」

「Ehh? But why… whatever, here.」

Fujiwara counted the dice rolled by Shirogane and the others, then shouted:

「The sum of the dice rolls is ten. If you roll less than twelve, one of the prefecture will vanish because of the lovers’ taunt. Tokushima Prefecture is lost in the temporal rift this time.」

「The lovers’ taunt is too powerful!?」

4,000 km2 of land and its 750,000 residents vanished because of the couple’s taunt. It might just be a game, but that still sounds unpleasant.

「There’s probably an encounter whenever we pass by anyone. It might be a better strategy to pick routes with lesser people, instead of heading straight for the destination.」

Ishigami analyzed the game calmly. He picked up Shirogane’s and his dice, handed one to him and said:

「But we are just two spaces away from the Library, so we should continue. Let’s think about the next destination and route after getting the first secret treasure.」

「Yes, that makes sense. There might be a specific order and condition to gather the secret treasures, we have too little information. In any case, let’s carry on without changing course.」

「I think so too.」

The three of them accepted the sudden change readily, and Shirogane felt alienated again.

「O-Okay…」

The game continued without any regards for his thoughts.

「Oh, we can get a recovery item in the nurse’s office, shall we go there?」

「Nurse's office!?」

Ishigami’s shoulders shook violently.

「What’s the matter, Ishigami?」

「No, it’s nothing, but can we not go to the nurse's office…?」

「Considering the final battle at hand, shouldn’t we get that recovery item?」

Kashiwagi stated her opinion readily.

「Well, actually——」

Ishigami told them what happened on that day.

He had a strange dream, and when he woke up, he found someone tending to him. On closer look, the face of that person was——

「Oh I see. You are saying that the one tending to you is a set of bones, huh.」

「I definitely heard Shinomiya-sempai’s voice. But when I opened the curtains…」

A set of bones were standing there.

Shirogane felt a shiver just from recalling that scene.

「That sounds like the 【Visiting Skeleton】.」

Kashiwagi clapped her hands and said. Shirogane asked after hearing that:

「Visiting Skeleton?」

「Haven’t you heard of the seven mysteries of this school?」

The moment Kashiwagi said that, Fujiwara raised her hand and answered happily.

「I know that too〜【Moving Painting】, 【Invisible Piano Sonata】 and stuff like that.」

「There’s also the 【13 stairs】, 【Suicide Tree】, and the 【Wish Fulfilling Ring】, I think.」

The two girls counted the mysteries with their fingers cheerfully.

It seemed that most schools would have seven mysteries, but Shirogane had not heard of them before.

「Hmm—— so there are such things too. I never heard of it.」

When she heard Shirogane’s mumbling, Kashiwagi smoothed the atmosphere for him:

「President joined from outside after all.」

「I didn’t know about it too…」

Ishigami said in a lonely tone. He probably didn’t learn about such rumours in school since he doesn’t have friends, and he was getting depressed over it.

Shirogane asked the girls in order to divert Ishigami’s attention:

「By the way, I counted only six, what’s the last one?」

「Hmm hmm, do you want to know?」

Fujiwara snickered with her hand over her mouth.

She was teasing him instead of telling them the last mystery.

Sensing that Shirogane was getting irritated, Kashiwagi said:

「Those who encounter the six mysteries will fall from the roof and die… something like that.」

「Be careful, Ishigami-kun, you have five left♪」

「Give me a break…」

The pale Ishigami answered gloomily.

Shirogane wanted to divert Ishigami’s attention, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

In any case, it would be bad to continue talking about these spooky mysteries.

「Well… since there’s a skeleton in the nurse's office, we will be drawn into an unnecessary battle, which makes taking the recovery item a moot point. Let’s skip it this time.」

Shirogane suggested a little forcefully to stay away from the nurse's office, and there were no objections. ♂♂♂ After successfully getting the secret treasure in the Library, Shirogane’s group headed for the rooftop.

As for the key to the rooftop, there’s one in the staff office, the principal's all access key counts as one, and the head of the astronomy club probably made a spare one too… so there were three keys.

The game zone extends to the roof, but without a key, they had to use the platform at the staircase leading to the roof as a substitute instead.

The rules at a staircase were: everyone rolls a die, and the sum of the rolls was equal to the number of steps they could climb.

「Let’s roll, one—— two.」

Everyone rolled the dice on Shirogane’s cue, and the sum was twelve.

「Ch—o—co—la—t —e—」 

Despite being the GM, Fujiwara was walking in front as she skipped up the stairs.

Followed by Shirogane and the Kashiwagi couple.

「Okay, this is the second checkpoint. There’s an item called the 【Small stool】 on the rooftop—— hmm?」

Fujiwara turned back in surprise.

「…Ishigami-kun, what are you still doing there?」

The others were already on the platform, but Ishigami stopped one step lower for some reason.

「Huh? Because the dice roll was twelve, so we can only advance twelve steps, right?」

「……」

Fujiwara was quiet for a moment, then said to Ishigami with a smile:

「Really now, Ishigami-kun, don’t crack such bad jokes.」

「No, it’s you who counted wrong, right? I basically can’t mess up when I deal with numbers.」

Ishigami refuted with a stiff smile.

However, Fujiwara made a serious face:

「Yes, it’s hard to imagine Ishigami-kun making a mistake in counting… so I thought you were joking.」

「Like I said, you are the ones who counted wrong…」

「That’s impossible.」

Fujiwara denied firmly.

「Because, there are only eleven steps in this stairs.」

「Huh?」

「The dice roll was twelve, so you can climb up even if you miscount by one. But Ishigami-kun, you are standing on the tenth step. If you miscounted, that means… you are off by two?」

Ishigami and Fujiwara stood face to face.

Because they were one step apart, their height was the same.

「Let me ask you again.」

Fujiwara looked straight at Ishigami.

「You are joking, right?」

Time seemed to freeze right then.

A short while later——

「O-O-Of course——! I was just thinking about toki soba and didn’t count p-p-properly!」 

Ishigami who was obviously getting distraught climbed the last step—— the thirteenth step.

Kashiwagi muttered quietly: 「That’s the second mystery.」 ♂♂♂ 「Ahh—— a wild monster appeared!」

Fujiwara said and pointed to the maths teacher.

The maths teacher said 「Who's a monster!? I’m the one being harrassed by monsters, that’s me!」 and left.

It seems that meeting teachers would be treated as encountering monsters. The battle couldn’t be avoided even if the teacher left. Fujiwara furrowed her brows, and explained loudly to stir up the fighting spirits of Shirogane and the others:

「Since the dexterity of Zama-sensei is one, the players can make the first move. Please move in the order of highest to lowest dexterity within your team. First will be the Spacetime Navigator.」

「Oh, I’m up.」

Kashiwagi who got named by Fujiwara checked the guide a little panicky.

「In battle, roll the number of dice equivalent to our own combat stat, right… Let’s see, my combat stat is two, so lend me your die.」

「Do your best, Nagisa——」

Kashiwagi borrowed a die from her boyfriend, then tossed the dice with all her might. However, the results were one, one.

「Oh, it’s a fumble… but this game doesn’t have such a setting, so this is just a normal failure. Zama-sensei defended the Spacetime Navigator’s attack with his set square, and took no damage.」 

「Ahh… I’m sorry, everyone.」

Kashiwagi put her hands together and apologized cutely.

「Don’t worry, Nagisa. The Paladin will be up next, he will definitely cut the monster down in one hit.」

「Ehh, by Paladin, you meant me right? So I just have to roll the dice? The same number as my combat stat…」

Shirogane wanted to check his character sheet, but it took a lot of effort. There were too many pages in the guide, which obfuscated his search. Fujiwara couldn’t stand it anymore and said:

「President’s combat stat is five.」

「Five… I can’t hold five, the dice are too big!」

「Then roll them two times. Roll three of them first.」

Shirogane followed Fujiwara’s instructions, and borrowed the dice from the Kashiwagi couple. Including the one he had, that was three. Shirogane’s hands were full with just that.

Ishigami couldn’t hand his die to Shirogane, and fidgeted with his die and muttered:

「It’s too hard to play 5D6 with such big dices. If you want to retain the flexibility of setting a character’s combat potential, wouldn’t it be better to set the smallest unit to 1D3 or 1D2, instead of 1D6??」 

「That’s unnecessary! If we use 1D3, that means the result is the same whether you roll 3 or 4! The idea of simplifying the gameplay is good, but if we do that, then what’s the point of the six sided design of the dice? And in this sort of game, it’s more fun to roll more dice!」

「… I don’t get what you are arguing about, but I’m going to roll.」

Fujiwara and Ishigami squabbled as usual, and Shirogane who couldn’t follow their pace let go of the dice and allowed them to drop. Even with that, the dice pumped full of air still bounced all over the place.

「Ah!」

Fujiwara’s eyes that had turned triangular from being mad at Ishigami, reverted back to a smile when she saw the result of the roll.

「Six, six, four! That’s a double critical hit, President!」

「Erm, won’t the prefecture disappear?」

「A temporal rift will only happen during movements. When you roll a six during combat and evasion, it will be counted as a critical hit, giving you one more dice roll. So President, you can roll four more dice.」

Kashiwagi clapped her hands and said:

「Oh, Shirogane-kun, you are amazing!」

Including Ishigami’s die, Shirogane picked up four dice this time.

「Uwah, that’s too many, I can’t carry all of them!」

「Just roll with it. Rolling dice is a matter of guts!」

Cheered on by Fujiwara, Shirogane rolled the dice. Some female students who just happened to be passing by were surprised by this scene. Shirogane nodded at them and apologized, and heard Fujiwara yell: 「Another six!」

「President, you can roll one more.」

The grumpy looking Ishigami, smiled when he saw Shirogane’s dice roll. It was a rare cheerful smile, not an expression that Ishigami would normally make. The lanky Ishigami had a face that looked younger and gentler than his actual age.

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