Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells Vol. 1 Read online

  Of everyone assembled before the Goddess, of course Kirihara Takuto felt that he had the right to speak.

  “So, you want us to defeat this Demon King, I guess?”

  “That is correct,” came the Goddess’s answer.

  “Hunh. And what if we don’t?”

  “Then you may never return home.”

  “There’s a way to go back?”

  “There is, but only if you defeat the Demon King.”

  “Why?” Kirihara asked bluntly.

  The Goddess signaled for one of her guards, who handed her a jet-black collar.

  “To send you back, I require Demon King Essence. This is a very special kind of magical power.” She raised two fingers. “We know of only two ways to obtain it. The first is to get it directly from the source—the Demon King’s heart. The second is to defeat the Demon King and gather the essence in crystal form when he dies, using this collar. I cannot perform the ceremony to return you to your world without the essence in some form.”

  “I don’t give a damn about your stupid kingdom or your Demon King! What’d he ever do to me, anyway?! Screw this!” Oyamada yelled. Clearly, learning the full story hadn’t chilled him out.

  The Goddess got to her knees and knelt before him.

  “Heroes, I humbly entreat you. Please, save this world,” she begged.

  “H-heroes? I-I’m a hero too?” Oyamada seemed shocked. Maybe it was because he was so used to being treated like a naughty kid by authority figures, or just because it felt good to be called a hero by a beautiful Goddess, but Oyamada calmed instantly.

  “You are our saviors—each and every one of you,” she declared.

  “E-excuse me…” Sogou raised her hand as she spoke. “Can I ask something?”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Um… M-my name is Sogou Ayaka,” said Sogou, bowing her head.

  “Oh! How very polite of you, Sogou-san.”

  “N-not at all.”

  “Please, go on. What would you like to ask?”

  “A-as you can see, we’re all normal human beings. I doubt that any of us have experience in battle.”

  Yeah…even Sogou’s martial arts skills probably won’t do much in a real fight to the death…

  “So, well…you keep calling us heroes and saviors, but…I honestly don’t know if we’ll be able to help you at all.”

  “That won’t be a problem,” the Goddess replied with complete certainty. “All of you have special powers. Powers that other humans do not possess.”

  “But…” Sogou stammered, “we don’t. I don’t understand…?”

  “Of course you don’t believe that you have powers,” she continued at the same unhurried pace. “You didn’t…until I summoned you here.”

  I don’t know how to describe it, but…it seems like she knows exactly what Sogou’s going to say before she says it. She said that she’s summoned heroes to save the world before, right? Do they all react just like this at first? Is she used to answering these exact questions in the exact same way every time—even the same words?

  “I can’t take it!!” Oyamada shouted. “There’s no way in hell this is really another world. You’ve got us on camera right now, don’t you?! It ain’t even funny! Who writes this stuff? I’ll kill ’em!”

  “Bring it forth.” Ignoring Oyamada’s outburst, the Goddess gestured to her guards again.

  After some time, a ragged-looking man was escorted into the room. His hands were bound in chains, and he looked uneasy, flanked by guards on each side who pushed him forward with the points of their spears.

  “Wh-what is that?” asked one of the girls, pointing across the room from the figure with trembling hands.

  It wasn’t a person.

  It was a three-eyed wolf.

  At least, I think that’s a wolf…

  The creature was enormous, with three flashing golden eyes and wine-red fur. It wore a rough collar attached to a heavy chain, which was gripped tightly by a particularly beefy guard.

  “This sort of beast doesn’t exist in your world, does it?” the Goddess asked.

  “Y-you obviously just painted a wolf! Screw you, that’s a costume or something! Just die already!” Oyamada had clearly made up his mind.

  The Goddess gave another signal.

  “Grrr… Grrrawrrr!!”

  The ragged man flinched as he realized what was about to happen.

  “No!! S-sto—!”

  The three-eyed wolf leaped to the attack, claws tearing into its prey.

  “Aaaaaah—!!”

  One of the girls screamed, and the shrill noise echoed through the stone chamber.

  “Urraaagh! Guuh! Aaah—”

  The man’s screams stopped abruptly, and he lay still. The wolf began feeding on the corpse, tearing at flesh with its teeth.

  One of the boys threw up.

  What happened next, though, would kill all our doubts.

  The Goddess stretched her arm toward the wolf and began to speak.

  “Oh exorcising holy fire, in the name of the Goddess Vicius fulfil your duty and purge this monster!”

  A shimmering circle formed in the air in front of her outstretched hand.

  “Fireball!”

  In an instant, the wolf was engulfed in white fire. It struggled and writhed as it tried to escape, but it was quickly consumed by the inferno and burnt to ash. The smell of charred meat filled the room.

  The boys, who’d all gathered off to one side, started murmuring to each other.

  “Th-that was real magic just now, wasn’t it?”

  “You mean sorcery?”

  “Wh-what’s the difference…?”

  “So she was telling the truth about the ‘other world’ thing, huh…”

  “She brought out that proof quick, oh man.”

  “That was incredible! I’m still in shock…”

  “It’s kinda exciting…!”

  It was weird—they didn’t seem that upset. They were acting like this was a fun way to shake up their boring everyday routine.

  On the other hand, some of the girls had started to cry. Others sank to the floor in fear where they stood. Most were just in shock.

  “Wh-what was that…?”

  “It’s gotta be CG. Or a light trick, or something. Right?”

  “Urgh…that burned meat smell… I feel sick.”

  “No…!”

  “I…I can’t take it anymore! I wanna go home…”

  Even Kirihara looked shocked. Not afraid, of course, but he looked genuinely surprised by what had happened. Oyamada just looked angry, but for once it was at himself. He’d been clinging to the idea that this all had to be fake, but he’d been unmistakably proven wrong. Being forced to accept this reality made him furious.

  Sogou was in a cold sweat, clearly shaken but trying desperately to hide it. She was comforting one of the crying girls, making soothing noises about how everything was going to be fine. She probably felt that she had to stay strong as class rep.

  Even at a time like this…Sogou’s tough.

  The elder Takao sister started talking to her twin.

  “I see…so this truly is a completely different world from our own. Perhaps thinking of it as a different planet will help us understand for the moment. So, treating that as the truth, we need to consider our best course of action, Itsuki.”

  “You’re so composed in a situation like this…you’re amazing, Aneki,” Itsuki replied.

  “Just think of this as part of your mental training. Instead of wasting our time on pessimism and panic, trying to deny the reality that’s clearly before us, we should accept this situation and analyze the rules of our new surroundings to ensure our safety. We must not let our logical thought be hampered by emotion or made dull by excessive sentiment. Right now, we should only carry as many emotions as are absolutely indispensable.”

  “I…I just can’t beat you, Aneki. I’ll never reach your level…”

  “Just keep training hard, Itsuki. You can d
o it.”

  “All right…I’ll do my best, Aneki.”

  They’re acting so calm…like, extreme levels of calm. Though I guess they’re practically from a different planet to begin with.

  Yasu seemed bewildered, but looking closer…there was a faint smile spreading on his lips.

  That seems weird…

  Zakurogi’s expression was easier to understand—his jaw was hanging open like that “Mouth of Truth” statue that people stick their hands in.

  “Uh…let’s do what the Goddess asks! We won’t get anywhere unless we decide to trust her, so we should assume that everything she’s told us is true!” Zakurogi sputtered, his terror at the spontaneous combustion he just witnessed clear in his voice. If he’d had a way to get a big white flag, he’d probably be waving it frantically.

  The man’s corpse and the ashes that were once the wolf were swept away and carried off somewhere else. We were ushered to a waist-high pedestal with a crystal set on it, and ordered to put our hands on it one by one—some kind of test.

  Even our worst troublemakers were quietly following orders now. As the Goddess prepared to call us up by our class numbers, a few hooded attendants approached to help her. This Goddess had thrown in our faces exactly how much danger we were in—I, at least, had zero desire to resist her, and I could only assume the rest of the class felt the same.

  I wonder what she’d do if I did? Maybe she’d get me with that fire spell…she seems like somebody who gets what she wants by any means necessary, and she’s obviously got the power to back it up.

  First in line, Amakawa laid his hands on the crystal. After a moment, it glowed with a blue light, and a murmur rose from the gallery. The Goddess smiled and clasped her hands together.

  “You have potential,” she said.

  The hooded other-worlders who surrounded the Goddess strained to inspect us, their eyes gleaming in the light of the crystal as each of our classmates took their turn. The tests continued much the same, until Oyamada’s turn.

  As he touched the crystal, it glowed a blinding red under his hands—the brightest light so far.

  What do the colors mean?

  “Such strong light!” the hooded figures cried out in praise.

  “Oh!” the Goddess exclaimed joyfully, “this is positively wonderful!”

  “I don’t really get it, but…I guess I aced the test, huh? I could get used to this other-world gig! Oyamada is hot stuff over here! Guess I’ll just have to be hero enough for all of ya!”

  Oh god…“hot stuff”? He’s acting like an obnoxious jerk, as usual…but I can’t totally blame him. That glowing rock thing just told him he’s the best. Who wouldn’t be happy to hear that?

  Oyamada got to be king for the day—for maybe thirty minutes. Then Kirihara laid his hands on the crystal.

  “I-impossible! Th-this can’t be…! H-how…?!”

  There was flash of golden light—the hooded figures jumped back in surprise.

  Ka-crack!

  The crystal shattered and fell to the floor in pieces.

  “T-to think someone could break the measurement crystal!” one of the hooded figures exclaimed, excitedly wiping sweat from his brow.

  “Whatever. So that was good, was it? I’m not surprised.” Kirihara deadpanned.

  The Goddess smiled broadly and clapped her hands together.

  “This is marvellous, Kirihara-san! You’re an S-Class, the highest rank possible!” she declared.

  S-Class? Sounds pretty important.

  “I thought this was another world—you still give alphabet grades here?” Kirihara asked suspiciously.

  “I’ve used terms you’re familiar with to make this easier for you to understand,” she replied.

  “Hmm. Why’s S-Class the highest?”

  “The ‘S’ stands for ‘special’, of course.”

  Kirihara scratched his head.

  “Hunh. Right…it’s not like I did anything special to get it, though. I just touched the crystal, same as everyone else.”

  Kirihara’s circle of fans gazed at him with even more admiration.

  “He’s so cool! I knew he’d get the best rank!”

  “Takuto-kun is still someone special in a whole other world~! ♪”

  “He’s so wonderful!”

  “Protect me, Takuto-kun!”

  Kirihara let out an exasperated sigh.

  “Breaking some crystal doesn’t make me special…it’s just a thing that happened, yeah?”

  Oyamada sidled up to the Goddess.

  “Wh-what class am I, then?! I’m hot stuff, right?!”

  “You’re an A-Class, Oyamada-san.”

  “And what’s above A?!”

  “That would be S-Class.”

  “One step away from the top…” he said, gritting his teeth. “Aw man, figures I can’t match up to Takuto…”

  The Goddess signaled for another crystal to be brought in, and the fragments of the old one were swept away.

  The measurements continued.

  “N-not possible-! This is—”

  Another wave of disbelief rippled through the hooded figures when Sogou Ayaka took her turn. Her light pulsed brilliant silver, and…

  BOOM!

  The orb shattered into dust, sending a cloud of fine powder in all directions.

  “Cough, cough—Th-the crystal…again?! I’ve never seen a reaction like this, Goddess!” one of the hooded figures spluttered.

  The Goddess smiled again, elegantly wafting the dust away from her face.

  “Two S-Class heroes in one group…this is truly remarkable.”

  Sogou and Kirihara have the same power rating, then… They really are 2-C’s main characters.

  One replacement crystal later, the measurements were back underway. The next surprises were the Takao sisters—though they really weren’t that surprising, I guess. Itsuki’s light glowed yellow, shining much brighter than all the students before her. I could see the Goddess’s excitement rising.

  “Another A-Class—this makes two! Astonishing, truly! Two S-Class and two A-Class heroes…this group already has the greatest potential I’ve ever seen!”

  Next, Takao Hijiri laid her hands on the crystal, spreading white light that illuminated the whole room with its glow for a long moment before fading.

  “Th-this is incredible…” the Goddess said with wide eyes, trembling with excitement like jelly in an earthquake. “Th-three S-Class heroes…! We’re usually lucky to get one! These are the best results I’ve ever seen!” With tears in her eyes, she spread her arms wide in ecstasy, puffing out her ample chest in triumph.

  So I guess she’s prone to overacting.

  “Well then, let us continue! Next, if you would!” she called out with another elaborate sweeping gesture.

  After Takao, the results all came out average for a while, and the responses from the onlookers were much less enthusiastic.

  At last, it was my turn—Mimori Touka.

  I stood in front of the crystal, nervous, feeling measured and probed. I slipped my hands over the surface of the orb.

  I swallowed hard.

  Beneath my hands, a faint light rose within the crystal. It was soft—weak, even. Purple in color.

  Gold, sliver, black, white…those were colors that I thought of as having special meaning.

  Purple, huh…

  Mine was the only purple result so far.

  What does this mean…? This is the weakest light anyone’s had so far, isn’t it?

  “Next! Place your hands upon the crystal!”

  The Goddess didn’t even react—she moved on, ignoring me completely. It was the first time that had happened, too.

  I don’t even deserve a comment? Seriously?

  “Excuse me, but…is my class—” I tried to say.

  “Next~!”

  Ignored. Again. It’s like I’m not even here.

  I walked slowly back to my place.

  A background character. Even in this world, that’s
all I get, huh?

  This is reality, though. Not like being summoned to another world would make a guy like me special. This is who I am.

  I’m Mimori Touka. That should be enough. But there’s always a hierarchy, in every time and every place. It’s always there, and you can never escape it.

  My test was followed by a handful more average results—all apparently better than mine, at least. The Goddess kept up her busy commentary on each measurement, even if she ended up repeating “Oh, how splendid!” more than a few times.

  At long last, the final student stepped forward to be measured.

  “It seems we found all the big hitters in the first half,” she said, raising a hand to her cheek. “But three S-Class and two A-Class heroes…? Simply marvelous. I can’t expect more—that would be greedy!”

  The final student was Yasu Tomohiro. He placed his shaky hand on the crystal, took a deep breath, and swallowed. Watching him, though, I could see a quiet confidence hidden beneath the anxiety. It was like Yasu knew that his fate was in the orb’s hands, and accepting that gave him a kind of calm.

  The hooded figures recoiled in shock.

  “It…it can’t be!”

  The orb was ingulfed in jet black, sending billowing dark smoke up into the rafters.

  “Goddess! H-he might be…”

  “It appears so. It has been a long time since I’ve seen the crystal react this way…not since the Hero of Darkness upset it all those years ago.”

  Yasu’s mouth curled into a smile, which widened into a smirk. Then he let out a peal of laughter.

  “I knew it… It was about time,” Yasu said. A sudden change had come over him—in an instant, the nervous Yasu I’d known had disappeared. Boldly, he turned to the Goddess.

  “Tell me my rank, Goddess!”

  “You are an A-Class hero,” she answered.

  “Hmph. Same as Oyamada. I figured that sinister black smoke would make it at least an S, but still…”

  Oyamada drew himself up indignantly, and turned on Yasu.

  “What was that, Yasu?! You wanna try again, but show some respect this time? You get some half-decent results and you’re a big man all of a sudden?!”

  For a moment, Yasu drew back—maybe out of habit. But he recovered quickly and returned a rebellious smile.