Chapter 73
Chapter 73
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: Without Any Intention to Hide (2)
Someone asks a question.
— Anonymous "What kind of person is the Master?" Who am I?
The man who made the U.S. President use the metric system—
'Nah, that sounds a bit off. Better to just say I'm an EX-rank Awakener and a Summoner.'
When I heard President Luigi casually joking in private about using yards and pounds instead of proper units, I nearly spat out my drink.
At the same time, it really hit home just how much influence I wielded.
Maybe it was because I'd gone and tackled an S-rank Tower myself, facing the boss head-on.
Or perhaps it was the pride from bringing every single Hunter back alive from that Panama Canal raid without losing a soul.
...Either way, one thing was crystal clear to the world now.
"You've become a being who transcends the laws of physics. How's it feel, meow?"
"You'd know better than me, Goddess."
As Kiharu said while maneuvering the mouse with her cat paws to run auto-farm, people all over Earth were spinning wild theories about my abilities.
Summoning entities from inside games.
That was already public knowledge among those in the know—it had spread far and wide.
In Korea, S-rank Hero Blue Lightning showed up at NPia Corporation, snapped selfies, and streamed himself playing the game. In China, the chairman visited a game company in Shanghai to hand over a plaque of appreciation. Stuff like that was happening.
Some folks weren't thrilled, though.
They griped that the game characters acted like my personal minions, and wild rumors flew—like how the Master and his Servants were supposedly supplying mana inside Illinois.
...I had nothing to say to those types.
There were way too many tangled issues to address every single one, so instead of bothering with that noise, I was repaying it by helping clear even more S-rank Towers with their own strength.
— Fanboy#1 "Elaine live stream, pretty please!!" ...To pleas like that, I was just playing it cool and ignoring them.
In the midst of all this, I reverse-summoned Illinois from Panama and immediately resummoned her at Crater Lake National Park?
— GamerRage "Goddamn, I want powers like that." Not just gamers venting frustration at me.
Gamers were mostly just shocked that game characters had shown up in real life and were kicking ass, but some Hunters out there felt genuine envy.
Can't be helped.
What am I supposed to do about awakening to EX-rank?
If someone rags on me saying I got lucky, I'd fire back that at least I'm using that lucky power for humanity right now.
"Partner."
"Yeah?"
"Does all this crap mess with your head at all?"
"I was a bit uneasy at first, but after Dry showed me the dark web's underbelly, any shaky nerves I had just evaporated."
I got Kiharu's concern, but I'd already dipped my head into an abyss too deep to fathom.
"Didn't you feel the same, Goddess? Seeing how far human malice can go with no bottom."
"I watched from one step removed, but you're human yourself."
"That's exactly why I'm saying this. Jealousy toward an EX-rank Awakener or curses over breaking physics? I've got the guts to shrug 'em off now."
Truth was, there were far darker shadows lurking in this world's underbelly that I didn't have time to sweat the small stuff.
"That's why I want to use that 'Wish Ticket' not to bait the haters or show off, but to wipe out the depths of despair in this country—and this world."
One thing up front.
"Kiharu. According to the wiki records, which Tower started collapsing first?"
"Panama Canal. By a hair's breadth."
"...Yeah."
My bet had paid off.
Couldn't shake the feeling that Elaine and Dry had deliberately held back the finishing blow until after I'd cleared the Panama Canal S-rank Tower, but the parties involved said they'd grant whatever wish I named.
"I wanna use that Wish Ticket like this."
I laid out my vision for Kiharu, and she chuckled low while fiddling with the mouse.
"Some might say you're wasting the golden opportunity, meow."
"I know. But if an environment ever lines up for grabbing that kind of shot, I'd rather seize it as one person facing another—not waste it on a Wish Ticket."
Some might call it a twisted conviction, but at least I had no intention of treating my summons like mere summoner-beast relations.
"Same goes for you."
"Whoa. Keep this up, and I might end up settling down in the Middle East, meow."
"...What if, after an EX-rank Awakener clears every S-rank Tower, I ask the U.S. to pass a certain bill?"
For example.
"'Polygamy up to the number of S-rank Towers cleared is legal.' If they made a law like that."
"Heh. Already in the works, meow?"
"Nah, not yet. Just giving you a heads-up first. Right now... gotta handle this issue."
Click.
I tapped the keyboard, launching a very special program Dry had whipped up.
"Meta for Fixers."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ [Meanwhile, at a public elementary school somewhere in Pennsylvania.]
"Teacher, will the Master come to our town too?"
"Who knows. Probably up to the government."
An American elementary classroom.
Instead of lessons, the TV blared a video from the government's YouTube channel.
"Whoa!!"
"The ship's sliding sideways!!"
Illinois's Panama Canal dungeon raid.
Footage from drones and Hunters' body cams had been swiftly edited and released to the public, shocking viewers everywhere.
"Teacher, how can a ship run up a waterfall like that?! Huh?!"
"It's magic."
"Whoa! Magic! Awesome!"
The kids went wild for the word "magic," while teachers stifled bitter laughs at scenes shattering everything they'd learned about physics.
Gravity pulled straight down, yet the ship treated the vertical wall like flat ground.
[Arghhh!!]
[Damn it, intercept those ghosts!!]
Wonder what it felt like for those who lived it—not just on video.
Hunters from the West appeared most in the footage over East or Central, but even they cursed the Panama Canal S-rank Tower's brutal battlefield.
Viewers and fighters alike couldn't miss it.
"Whoa! Drift!"
For a dungeon so nasty even a full S-rank party might worry about clearing it, they not only nailed the transition portals to the next stages but pulled off a boss fight hammering it with remote barrages.
"Without Illinois, that Panama Canal Tower would've just floated there forever, right?"
"Totally. That Clione thing flying around freely in the air—who could've cleared it easy besides Illinois?"
Even kids watching TV knew.
If not for the Master's Illinois, success wasn't even on the table, let alone collapse.
Anyway, the Tower was cleared.
America had taken one more step toward safety.
Even if two S-rank Towers in the West were still uncleared.
"Alright, everyone. Back to our books—"
BOOM!!
Before the teacher could finish, an explosion rocked the room.
"Lockdown!!!"
At the sudden blast, kids instinctively dove under desks. The teacher, staggering, locked the door and dropped the blinds over the windows.
"Wh-what...?"
Screeeam!!
Screams from outside.
Some kids hyperventilated but swallowed hard realizing the danger. The teacher dashed to the window, crossing herself frantically, and peeked through the blinds.
"!!"
What she saw confirmed it.
This wasn't some news headline—it was a grave Tower-era crisis unfolding right there.
"Br-break!!"
Visible from the school: an A-rank Tower—not S-rank, but towering over a factory like a monolith—shaking violently, something spilling from within.
Screeeeech!!
Dozens of magic beasts.
Several meters tall, with black hair cascading down, limbs far longer than their torsos spidering across—the monsters crawled from the Tower, poised to drop onto the ground below.
"Ah... aaaah...."
The teacher despaired.
A shooter? Hunters could handle it. But a Tower break? Only Hunters could stop those beasts.
And right now, Pennsylvania had none who could tackle that swarm pouring out.
Even an S-rank from D.C. would take too long.
"God... if you exist, please save us...."
Before the prayer ended.
Flash.
A blue light flickered.
KABOOM!!
Something forged of blue mana engulfed the beasts, detonating in a massive blast that vaporized them instantly.
"......!!"
The shockwave should've shattered windows, but it was mana wind—intangible.
"What... the hell...?"
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "...It works, as expected."
I'd panicked at the sudden break, but it activated perfectly.
"...What do I even call this? Magic ICBM?"
The Tower stood intact, but every beast that broke out had its HP zeroed and wiped clean.
"Ha, haha."
From the West Coast to the East.
"...I dunno anymore."
I didn't know, but one thing was sure.
'Illinois, you're the best.'
Summoning Illinois over all those beautiful girls? Definitely the right call.