Surviving a Shounen Manga - Chapter 63

He was a weird one.

The yellow-coloured beast, which I still wasn’t sure was actually a mountain cat or not, was just standing in place, staring at me.

Without a single sound or the slightest movement.

Those bright red eyes simply stared at me, unmoving.

He was clearly no wild animal.

As per the setting, most wild divine beasts were hostile to humans – and the more isolationist ones wouldn’t even hesitate to pre-emptively attack humans intruding on their territory.

But, let alone attack, he didn’t seem to even hold any particular hostility towards me. What shone in those red irises was something closer to indifference.

This left me with a strange impression, as if I was looking at a machine, rather than a living being. It might’ve been a bit hyperbolic to say, but all interest and curiosity seemed to have been erased under repeated mental domination.

Leaving only a lifeless serenity that didn’t fit a wild divine beast at all.

And above all else, Coocoo’s horrified reaction was the evidence.

Coocoo’s wings had been trembling ever since the beast had appeared. With his head bowed down, he looked quite anxious.

But it wasn’t fear that gripped him, I felt. Rather, he seemed to be in pain, recalling some old trauma. The thought that those ‘bastards’ had come to catch him again had triggered a panic attack.

I gently held Coocoo’s wings.

“… Squatjaw?”

“It’s alright, what are you shaking so much for?”

“Ah, but these guys….”

“It’s alright.”

After a while,

“… Haah, damn it.”

Fortunately, Coocoo seemed to have calmed down a bit.

“That yellow beast. You know him?”

Coocoo shook his beak at my question.

“I don’t. It’s just, the smell…”

“Smell? Does he smell like them? The organization that captured you?”

Instead of answering, Coocoo turned to yellow cat. It looked like he was trying to remember something.

And then –

“… It’s not just him.”

Said something odd.

“What’re you talking about?”

“He didn’t come alone, damn it.”

Coocoo was falling into a panic again. His trauma ran deeper than I thought.

Hmmm.

Basically, there might be several people nearby who also controlled their own divine beasts, and there might be a few more divine beasts besides this yellow cat.

“Tch…”

Ignoring the cowardly and mentally unstable pigeon, I turned to the yellow cat, who was still blankly staring at me.

It was difficult to imagine. That this guy was also a divine beast.

I decided to start up a conversation.

“Hm, hey, yellow cat. Can you even speak?”

I waited for a while, but no answer came.

But I didn’t give up. Even if he couldn’t speak, I thought he might be able to understand my words.

“Did you come here for us? Where’s your master?”

All the divine beasts I’d seen in the original had been like that. Although few of them could speak, all of them, without exception, could communicate with their masters. Between humans and beasts, the intelligence of divine beasts was closer to the former.

And soon,

Purr–.

The guy made a small noise.

Sounded like agreement.

“So, you did come to visit us… What’s your purpose?”

The guy slowly turned back. Then he shook his head a couple of times, like signaling us to follow.

What should I do?

The approach was very different from what I’d expected, but it was clear that ‘enemies with divine beasts of their own’ had come a-knocking. Not one, but several.

‘Isn’t… the gap a bit too big?’

The first wave had been small fries, but the ones who’d followed right after were honestly a bit concerning.

After thinking for a while, I called out to the princess.

“If I don’t come back within a couple of hours, start moving. I’ll follow later.”

“Why, what… is it because of that beast?”

“Yeah. The bad guys who’d imprisoned Coocoo have come to chat. It’s no big deal, so don’t worry.”

“But…”

“Don’t get caught up in this mess for no reason just because we’ve been together for a while. You have enough enemies already.”

“…”

I’d had no intention of leaving the princess by herself, but this was different. These guys were the only enemies with a different purpose. They’d come to get Coocoo back, and didn’t care about the princess at all. It’d be cleaner and quicker to solve the problem without worrying about her getting caught up in it.

Of course, she’d have to protect herself properly during the period.

“If you’re in danger, remember to call the old man.”

“… I’m not weak either, you know.”

“Yeah, alright. Then, take care of yourself.”

A character can’t grow if there’s no crisis, anyway.

So, I wasn’t against exposing the princess to a little danger, although it wouldn’t do to go overboard.

“Remember. Two hours.”

Grabbing Coocoo, I followed after the yellow cat.

The yellow cat guided us to a nearby forest.

Crossing the thick woods, we reached the depths, an empty patch of land covered with fallen leaves.

And, there –

“Ah, there you are.”

A man in a flashy outfit was standing there.

He was wearing a white coat embroidered with different colours, like some kind of a stage magician costume. If it was a deliberate choice of fashion, I could only applaud his taste as being quite unique. Both his cheeks were painted with rouge, completing the foppish look.

Well, if this was the organization’s uniform, that’d explain a few things.

He spoke.

“You know me, right?”

It was an absurd way to start the conversation.

“How could I? It’s my first time seeing you.”

This guy had never even appeared in the original.

“Oh, I mean, you know what I’m here for? Right? You must’ve heard it all by now.”

He pointed to the left pocket of my cloak. Where Coocoo was nestled.

“Yeah. You’re villains. You catch divine beasts and put curses on them. Bad guys who lure adventurers and attack them.”

At my words, he giggled, and then broke into full-blown laughter.

“So you do know.”

“And now you’re targeting me.”

“Right.”

He stopped chuckling and stared at me.

Then –

“Originally, I didn’t intend to meet you here, but I guess I ran out of patience.”

He pulled out a bell from his pocket.

As he shook it, the yellow cat slowly approached and stood next to him.

“I saw it.”

“What?”

“That throw.”

“… You mean that rock?”

Then –

“Rock? Ah… yeah, that guy was dumb as a rock, you mean? It’s true. Boasting like that, when he couldn’t even notice the difference in strength between you two?”

He giggled again.

Hmmm.

From the looks of it, this guy hadn’t even seen me in the preliminaries.

And come to think of it,

“But… are you the only one here?”

Oddly enough, I couldn’t feel anybody else nearby. Not even any beasts.

I looked around.

It was puzzling. Why was this guy here all alone?

This wasn’t just because of Coocoo’s words, ‘not alone’.

Because I thought there had to be more than just this guy and that yellow divine beast to such a vicious group.

“Are you really the only one?”

“Oh, why?”

“I’m wondering if you’re dumb as a rock, too, since you can’t even notice the difference in strength between us.”

“…”

Appearance is one of the most important criteria for determining an opponent’s strength in this world.

If you’re handsome, you’re strong, if you’re stylish, you’re strong, and if you look larger than life, of course you’re strong.

Naturally, there’re a lot of exceptions, and the accuracy drops a lot towards the end of the storyline. Because all the characters that appear are strong, the emphasis on personality becomes more important than appearance.

But, only for ‘humans’.

For divine beasts, appearance is a strict criterion for judging their strength.

To make it simple – the smaller and cuter it is, the more powerful it is.

Does it look cute enough to just eat up? Then it’s strong enough to easily crush an S-class adventurer.

Of course, the true body, once revealed, can be large and imposing. But in general, it needs to look pretty and cute. That’s the condition of being a powerful divine beast in this shounen manga.

And it’s a formula that doesn’t change all the way to the end.

The yellow cat in front of me did feel quite strong, but he lost just from the appearance. Too bad, but he wasn’t small, and he wasn’t cute either.

In other words, it’d be difficult to get rid of even the most inexperienced adventurers with just this one divine beast. As long as they’re adventurers, they must possess some ability.

And, to say the least –

“You don’t think… you don’t think I’m in the same league as those idiots you beat earlier?”

“If you have friends nearby, call them in quickly. Don’t end up regretting it later.”

This rock-head who couldn’t even notice the difference in strength between us, wasn’t enough for this job.

If I were to divide the current characters in terms of strength, with a very simple grade system –

1. Weak

2. Normal

3. Strong

4. Monster

I was naturally at the fourth level, a ‘monster’.

To be more specific, among the characters that currently existed, there was no one who I thought could threaten me, except for Karl Zayed.

The reason was simple. Because it was still early, the worldview hadn’t been expanded enough yet, and strong enough characters hadn’t had the chance to come up on stage.

The power balance of this world was forever set based on Leo, and Leo’s current power was at level 4, a fellow ‘monster’. No matter how strong a villain appeared right now, they wouldn’t be at a level that Leo couldn’t beat. The balance would break otherwise. The Huntington Bandits that Leo and his party faced in this chapter, were the same.

In a nutshell, there was no one who could be considered stronger than Leo right now, except for the two (me and Karl Zayed) who’d ranked higher than him in the qualification test.

Of course, this wouldn’t last very long.

The power scale in a shounen manga isn’t static. There inevitably comes a time when the characters rapidly grow stronger, a ‘period of upheaval’ that also heralds an ‘expansion of the worldview’.

A time when the main character is given a new environment and goal, the stage expands dramatically, and a gaggle of new characters show up. Characters who’ve only existed as ‘settings’ till then, are realized in the world and reveal their presence.

When that time came, Leo’s rating would also be naturally adjusted, from the fourth level, ‘monster’, to ‘normal’, the second level from the bottom; and in severe enough cases, even to the lowermost level, ‘weak’. On the other hand, all the new characters would be at either level 3 ‘strong’ or level 4 ‘monster’.

In other words, even though I was at level 4 right now, a ‘monster’, when the time came, I too would have to drop in level.

The most turbulent time next in the schedule was the chapter where the ‘Scramble for Ramirez’s Treasure’ would take place. From that point on, my strength would rapidly drop, enough that even staying at level 3, ‘strong’, might get difficult.

And even if I somehow raised my rating to level 4 ‘monster’ again, once I crossed the King’s Road and entered ‘Midland’, I’d again fall back to level 1, ‘weak’. Same as Leo.

In sum, once powerful guys started appearing one after another in the not-too-distant future, my strength would become nothing special.

But not yet. Right now, it was hard to find someone stronger than me, anywhere.

And therefore –

“Hahaha! Where’s all this arrogance coming from? Just from beating those horse thieves earlier? Do you even know what’s next to me right now? It’s called a divine beast, a divine beast! It’s not like the pigeon you’ve got with you, it’s not restricted, it’s a real divine beast!”

His speech and behaviour gave credence to the hypothesis that his dumbness indeed approached that of a rock.

Waving the bell in his hands, he whispered something into the yellow cat’s ear.

Then, the yellow cat slowly walked forward.

I looked at him and didn’t take any action. There was no reason to, because I didn’t think he was a threat.

However, the guy in the flashy outfit seemed to think that I was frozen with fear.

“Hey, if you stand still, you’ll get eaten. Do you know what I just said to this cutie?”

He giggled, giving me no time to answer, and answered himself first.

“I told him to eat one of your feet first. So be careful. He’s got pretty sharp teeth.”

He wasn’t that funny, either.

“Let’s hope you’ve paid more attention to this kid’s feet than mine.”

I pointed to Coocoo.

“If I catch you, can you remove that thing from his ankle?”

The guy replied with a grin.

“I’ll let you know if you can beat my cutie.”

And then,

Growl!

The yellow cat rushed towards me.

At this point, I was indeed a little flustered, because he was slower than I thought.

He didn’t even use his unique ability.

Just bared his claws and ran at me with open jaws.

‘Like a cheeky little kitten.’

I lightly dodged the front paws that came flying and grabbed him by the neck.

Growl–?

Then I spun him around a few times.

Gr-, growl…?

And then –

“Here, take him back! I’m strong, but I can’t control my strength very well, you see?”

I threw the yellow cat back at the guy who was still staring blankly as if he hadn’t figured out the situation yet.

Gr-, growl!!!

Whooosh–.

“Wai-, wait a minute…”

Of course, I didn’t stand still either.

While the yellow cat was sailing through the air, I was already rushing  at him

“Huh!?”

The man’s face, up close, was full of surprise and bewilderment.

“What’re you so surprised about? This is just the beginning.”

I grabbed him by the neck.

“Stop!”

I felt a flash of heat behind me and hurriedly backed away.

Then,

Bang–!

A fireball struck where I’d just been standing.

“That was dangerous. This is why I told you to wait.”

“Yeah, you idiot! I told you to unseal the divine beast’s unique ability as soon as you meet an enemy who looks strong.”

Turning around, I saw two men who looked like they were in the same party, walking out of the bushes.

‘Ah, so that’s how it is.’

And next to them were two big cats that looked like they could be brothers of the yellow one. The fireball seemed to be the work of one of them. Smoke was still rising from his mouth.

One of the two newcomers shouted at me.

“Who are you!”

“Huh?”

It was a rather odd question.

I scratched my head.

“Isn’t that what I should be asking? It was you guys who followed me.”

“Shut up!”

…?

While I was feeling dizzy from this deluge of absurdity –

“… Bastard! I was careless just now, but it’ll be different from now on!”

The owner of the first yellow cat cried out with anger. A very typical line for an extra.

“Now, has everybody gathered? This is all of you?”

I asked, tilting my head.

“Heh, your luck’s now run out.”

I was feeling puzzled. Were these guys really all of them?

To be honest, the two new additions didn’t make them much more of a threat. I might need a little more time, but the ending wouldn’t change.

But I was feeling a strange sense of incongruity. As if there was still something more left.

Although very faint, there was a sense of crisis.

Why?

It took a little while, but I managed to pinpoint where the source of that discomfort came from.

It wasn’t far. Right from my left pocket.

Coocoo’s trembling hadn’t stopped. Not yet.

I glanced at his shivering, silent form.

What was making him tremble?

Not the humans in front of me, or those beasts. I was sure of that. There had to be somebody else out there somewhere.

I looked around eagerly.

The idiots in front of me were still talking, but I ignored them. Because they didn’t matter.

‘Obviously there’s another guy, somewhere here…’

That was then –

… Huh?

As I was scanning my surroundings, something caught my eye.

It only flashed in my vision for a moment, but my head naturally stopped in its arc.

And unconsciously, I gaped.

That was how strong the presence was.

It was a black cat perching on a tree branch in the distance.

Even though the darkness had descended, I could clearly notice him even through the thick cover of trees. How absurdly beautiful he was.

This cat… was crazy.

And in that moment, I was sure.

That guy was the culprit. The reason why Coocoo was still shivering.

At the same time, the black cat also seemed to notice my gaze.

He jumped off his perch and padded closer.

“N-, no!”

“W-, we can take care of this!”

“You really don’t have to come out…”

The black cat didn’t respond to their cries.

Instead,

“Who are you?”

He spoke to me.

I was so surprised I even forgot to reply. I just stared blankly with my mouth agape.

However, this was not because of what he said, nor because of the revelation that the leader of the pursuers was a divine beast instead of a human.

It was because I found the appearance of the black cat quite familiar.

Heterochromatic eyes, that gleamed in the dark as if an emerald and a sapphire had been embedded into his shiny black coat.

A large red ruby ​​hanging from his neck.

A cat I knew from the original.

[A speciality of the Southland National Park, commonly known as the ‘Jewel Cat’].

I carefully called out his name.

“Nero?”

In an instant, the black cat’s paws froze.

… His eyes widened in surprise.