Survival in another worl.., p.1
Survival in Another World with My Mistress!, Volume 2, page 1
Table of Contents
Character Gallery
Title Page
Copyrights and Credits
Table of Contents Page
Prologue: Survival in the Great Omitt Badlands
Chapter 1: Let's Make an Exploration Base in the Badlands!
Chapter 2: Let's Start Farming!
Chapter 3: Let's Go Exploring in the Badlands!
Chapter 4: Let's Start Preparing for War!
Chapter 5: Let's Go on a Rescue Mission!
Chapter 6: Let's Counterattack!
Chapter 7: Let's Blow Up the Enemy's Fortress!
Chapter 8: Let's Begin Our Invasion!
Chapter 9: Let's Capture Some Fortresses!
Epilogue: The War Will Continue...But For Now, We Rest
Newsletter
Prologue:
Survival in the Great Omitt Badlands
HEY, EVERYBODY. Kousuke here, everyone’s favorite survivor in another world, coming to you live from the Omitt Badlands. What am I doing? Well, y’know.
“Kousuke, put a marker here,” Sir Leonard said.
“Comin’ right up!” I replied, using my jumping technique to stack three brick blocks underneath me. I then stuck a torch on top.
Now we’d have a nice, clear view of the perimeter, even in darkness. I used brick blocks instead of wood blocks because I didn’t want gizmas to be able to break them so easily. I had a feeling that wood blocks wouldn’t stand a chance against their charges.
I could’ve cut out the middleman and destroyed the bottom two blocks, leaving just the top one there. But I felt wary about leaving a bunch of clear breaches of physics all over the place. Granted, the results would be the same if the gizmas destroyed the blocks.
After I finished placing the torch, I jumped down from three meters up and placed a wood block under my feet before I landed—just a two-meter jump, really. Thanks to the buffer, I wouldn’t twist my ankle and become zombie fodder like that one unlucky anime high-schooler. Anything higher would be a bit dicey, though.
“I’ve seen him do this so many times, but I still find it utterly bizarre,” Madame Zamil remarked.
Jagheera shrugged. “You’ve got to expect the unexpected from him.”
I think it’s the other way around—you’re way too easygoing about all of this.
“That makes six markers. Are we up for going a bit farther?” Sylphy asked.
“Yes, I believe we could even if we weren’t soldiers,” Sir Leonard replied.
“Okay, then let’s keep going for a bit longer.”
And so our foray into the badlands stretched on a bit longer. Well, we were planning to place about two more markers anyway.
“I must say, Kousuke has quite the…flexible way of thinking,” Madame Zamil said. I couldn’t tell whether her voice carried a note of admiration or exasperation. Maybe both.
“Building a road through the badlands to put up a fortress in the middle of nowhere sure is an unusual idea.” Jagheera’s tone was similar.
That was precisely why we’d all come out here to the Great Omitt Badlands. We were going to forge a safe path through the badlands and build a fortress with suitable defenses. This was the first move I had proposed toward reclaiming the Kingdom of Merinard.
It all started two days ago…
***
“I want to start working toward reclaiming the Kingdom of Merinard,” Sylphy declared during an assembly at our usual meeting place. Responses were varied.
Danan, the former royal guard for the Kingdom of Merinard, crossed his arms with a serious look on his face. His huge bull’s horns complemented his deeply furrowed brow.
Melty, the gal with the curly horns and long (if abruptly ended) civil service career, looked up in thought with a hand to her cheek.
Ira had her large eye sleepily half-opened like usual. She was a true scholar, a brilliant alchemist, and a potent spellcaster worthy of Merinard’s Order of Mages.
The fox-faced man, Cuvi, wore an amused smile. He didn’t have the distinguished work history that the rest of the gang could bring to bear, but he could outpace and outmaneuver the best scouts the royal army could muster in its heyday. Despite appearances, the dude was strong. I’d heard that he came up out of the slums; clearly it hadn’t taken the toll on him that it did most folks.
Then there was Sir Leonard, his lion’s face twisted up in a self-satisfied grin. He’d once been a member of Merinard’s nobility and a famous warrior as well. Soldiers quaked in their boots at the mention of Leonard the Twin-Fanged.
Madame Zamil, the lizardfolk, studied Sylphy’s face, her own expression unreadable. She had once instructed people in spearmanship back in Merinard, and it was said that her skill as a fighter matched Sir Leonard’s.
Lastly, there was the ogre, Shemel, who had once been a highly ranked adventurer, wearing the most savage expression out of everyone. She had red skin and two horns growing out of her hairline. She was huge, somewhere in the neighborhood of two and a half meters—even bigger than Danan and more than enough to make me look like a shrimp at 175 centimeters.
Between these folks, Sylphy, and yours truly, we made a council of nine.
Cuvi was the first to voice his opinion. “Aww, Her Highness is finally in good spirits again.”
“I’m all for it. I’m fed up with those pigs from the Holy Kingdom looking down on us.” That made two yeses from Cuvi and Shemel.
“I, too, support this endeavor. We cannot allow them to continue trampling the soil of our motherland,” Sir Leonard said.
“My spear is at the ready for whatever our princess desires,” Madame Zamil chimed in.
“I would also like to vote in favor,” said Danan. “But, realistically speaking, there are just too many problems that need solving first—most importantly, whether any of said problems are solvable.” Knowing the importance of his position, Danan was being wary.
Well, he has a point. I’ve only been in this world about two weeks now, and even I can come up with at least three things that would need to be addressed.
“It will take time to gather enough supplies to be ready for war. Even if we manage to secure aid from the elves, there’s a limit to how much they will help us. We’ve already put a huge strain on their village.” Melty shook her head, a frown on her gorgeous face.
She was in charge of distributing rations to the three-hundred-plus citizens of Merinard who were here in the elves’ village. It seemed they were barely scraping by as it was; there was no way we could afford to stock up for a war. I had to agree.
“We’ll be fine if we just use Kousuke’s powers,” Ira said, having read Sylphy’s and my intentions.
“Exactly. To speak plainly, Kousuke’s the key to solving all of our problems,” Sylphy said, then turned to me. “Kousuke, I feel bad for relying on you so much, but I need your help.”
“I’ll gladly do whatever I can.” There was a limit to how much I could do. Probably. It was important to be cautious just in case.
“Then let’s itemize our issues. The first one I can think of is the Great Omitt Badlands.” Everyone present nodded at Sylphy’s words.
“If I remember correctly, it takes about ten days to cross on foot. We should set out at sunrise, find a place where we can set up a base while it’s still daylight, and build it. Basically, we should be making fortresses,” I suggested.
There were many ways to protect oneself when going out exploring in survival games, and the safest and most reliable one was to build a base. It had to be a safe building with the necessary furniture for spending the night. It was also good to have stockpiles of food and medicine as well as spare weapons and such, in case of emergencies.
“That’s easier said than done, but…” Danan chuckled awkwardly.
Melty’s lips tugged up in a smile. “With Kousuke, that might actually be possible.”
Uh, Melty, you’re scaring me with that look.
“If we are going to do this, then let’s build a road as well. If we can send a wagon back and forth, we can transport supplies without having to rely solely on Kousuke,” she said.
“Are you serious?” You want me to make a highway that’s six blocks wide and long enough for a ten-day walk? Absolutely not! I’d never have enough time or materials!
“We can worry about the road later,” Sylphy cut in. “It could be used as a route for invasion. We should focus on that after we reclaim the kingdom.”
I knew I could count on my mistress! Uh, wait a minute. Worry about it later? Does that mean she’s hoping I’ll build it at some point in the future? Best not to think about it. Yeah.
“We’ll walk during the day and spend the night encamped in a new fortress. That way we have a genuine shot at making it through the Great Omitt Badlands without incident,” Sir Leonard said.
“But gizmas don’t just attack at night. We don’t know how safe we’ll be on the road,” Shemel pointed out.
“We’ll just have to bring enough people who can fight along with us, then. Luckily, we’ve got those crossbows Kousuke made for us. Based on the body count everyone racked up during the gizma raid the other night, they work well for just about anyone. We’ll manage one way or another,” Madame Zamil said.
The three of them were the warriors of our group, and I was inclined to follow their lead. Still, we’ll be in big trouble if we get ambushed, no matter how many extra fighters we’ve got along for the ride.
“We can use harpies as scouts during the day too. We’ll manage,” Ira added, as if anticipating my concerns.
Ahh, harpy scouts. Harpies had extremely good eyesight. They’d be a great asset out in the badlands, given that there was hardly any place to take shelter. That said, their night vision wasn’t great—all the more reason to hunker down in the evenings.
“Totally.” Cuvi nodded in agreement. “As long as we can have the harpies playing spotter and marking targets, we can riddle them with bolts.”
He was on the right track. If our people were strapped up with crossbows, they’d be able to turn any gizma into Swiss cheese before it got too close.
“While there will be many difficulties in store, first things first: We’re going to wind up using a lot of clay. I need as much as possible, so could someone please make sure I get it?”
“Very well. I shall stockpile food as well,” Melty said.
“And I’ll see if I can get the elders to increase our share of rations,” Sylphy offered.
***
Far north of the Black Forest, where Kousuke and his companions lived, an armored knight was giving a report to a squat man inside a castle. The rotund fellow was dressed in the pure white garments of a priest with ornate golden embroidery. His ensemble spoke volumes about his status.
“So, did you manage to quell the attacks by those hideous bugs?”
“Yes, sir. We effectively utilized Your Excellency’s strategy and repelled them without sustaining any grievous injuries.”
“Heh, is that so?” A gleeful grin spread across the archbishop’s face. His plan to lure out the gizmas, along with the elderly and wounded from their stock of demi-humans, had worked.
“What should we do about the survivors?” the knight asked.
“Finish them. Make their departure as painless as possible.”
Leaving them alive would be a waste of resources. Surely they would be satisfied, having served us humans until their last breaths. May their virtuous deeds suffice to earn them the right to be born as humans in their next lives.
“How do our soldiers fare?”
“Morale is high, and they have plenty of experience now.”
“In that case, let us continue to the next phase.”
“And what might that entail, Your Excellency?”
“Your target shall be the Black Forest across the Great Omitt Badlands. Gather your troops and resources and make ready.”
“Yes, sir! You can count on me!” The knight clapped a hand to his chest in salute before turning on his heel to leave the office.
“Mwa ha ha… The Witch of the Black Forest is not to be feared. Even if she is a witch, she’s still just one woman. We should be able to do something about her.”
The rotund archbishop cackled in his opulent office. There was the soft sound of a water droplet splashing, but the archbishop didn’t notice it over the sound of his laughter.
Chapter 1:
Let’s Make an Exploration Base in the Badlands!
WE PREPARED TO DEPART for the Great Omitt Badlands to scout and construct a base. Our party consisted of me, Sylphy, Sir Leonard, Madame Zamil, Jagheera the cat beastfolk scout, and Pirna the harpy scout. Pirna was flying ahead of us.
“I must say, Kousuke, this bolt-action rifle is amazing!”
“Don’t start shooting at everything that moves, now. I don’t have a reliable way of producing the bullets yet. Also, make sure you pick up the cartridges after you fire them.”
“I know, I know.” Jagheera grinned with her infantry rifle in hand. It was one of the three bolt-action rifles I’d made for our expedition. I had another, and the final one was in my inventory as a backup weapon.
It was a 7.92mm-caliber, magazine-fed rifle with a five-shot clip. The gun was 1,100 millimeters long and weighed 3.9 kilograms. It had four-groove, right-hand twist rifling. The initial velocity of the muzzle was more than twice the speed of sound at 760 meters per second, and its effective range was 500 meters.
Bolt-action firearms like this one were durable and highly reliable. The design was… Well, I wasn’t enough of a gun nerd to be able to distinguish between these kinds of rifles. However, it was famous enough. It was the kind used by Short-stache’s country during World War II.
It would be hard to mass-produce these at present. Making one of these took eight whole hours. It could be possible if I made more workbenches and had them all crafting guns at once, but that was easier said than done. And that was to say nothing about the material cost.
I was fairly certain I would need to upgrade the workbench somehow. I could try to push through with sheer numbers, since I had no idea how to do the next upgrade for the workbenches yet. I assumed I’d have to acquire some kind of motive power. Perhaps I could make something like a steam engine, building off of a water wheel or windmill. I made a mental note to ask Ira whether there was some kind of magical engine we could slap together.
I had a moderate amount of lead, copper, and zinc, which were all necessary for making the bullets and cartridges. However, that made ammunition for two or three guns at best. I didn’t have nearly enough to keep two to three hundred guns loaded.
On the other hand, I was able to make far more gunpowder than I’d anticipated. Gathering soil from the bathroom was incredibly arduous work, but thanks to everyone, I’d been able to build up a healthy stock of gunpowder. It was truly a win-win. Explosions were so cool!
“I find those weapons to be extremely noisy. They aren’t to my taste in the slightest,” Sir Leonard said.
“I don’t like them either,” Madame Zamil agreed.
Evidently, they weren’t fans of the bolt-action rifles. Maybe they had a gut feeling that these weapons would drive warriors and knights like them to extinction. Once dozens or even hundreds of these were made, a valor was transformed into an antiquated curio.
“I admit their power amazes me.” Sylphy didn’t like how loud it was either, since her long ears were so sensitive. The sound of a gun going off must have been too much for her.
Speaking of which, these guns were powerful enough to take down a gizma in two shots—that was how much of a game changer they were. Jagheera and I shot one bullet each at a gizma’s head, and that was all it took to kill it. Its partner met the same fate. From the looks of things, that level of lethality didn’t drop off until somewhere beyond the hundred-meter mark.
It must have been a huge letdown for Sir Leonard and Madame Zamil, who had proudly brandished their weapons, as well as Sylphy, who had smoothly unsheathed her Pale Moon. Jagheera promptly discarded her crossbow obsession to fixate on the new hotness.
We walked for about another couple of hours, stopped so I could put down another marker along the way, then continued the trek until we reached a small hill.
“Hmm, this is a pretty good distance away. Seems like a nice spot, doesn’t it?” Sylphy said.
“You speak true. I believe this hill would make a sound place for a fortress,” Sir Leonard replied.
I had to agree. We were in the middle of the badlands with hardly any obstacles, and the elevated position would give us a better idea of the lay of the land as well as make it more defensible than anywhere else nearby.
“Very well, then we shall rest here. Kousuke, start building afterward. We’ll keep watch and do some investigating in the meantime,” Sylphy commanded.
“Aye aye, ma’am.” I took out tables and chairs and started getting food ready.
Jagheera blew a whistle, making a shrill noise that could be heard far in the distance. She was calling Pirna back.
First, it was time to fortify myself with a meal. Then it was happy fun base-building time.
***
“Hmm, this is pretty good. You made this out of minced meat, right? Reminds me of bif. It’s been so long since I last had some,” Sir Leonard mused.
“I like how you can eat it with your hands,” Jagheera said.
“This is quite easy to eat,” Pirna added.
The three of them had their cheeks stuffed with hamburgers. This was the recipe:
Hamburger——Materials: Bread × 1, Vegetable × 1, Tomato × 1, Meat × 1
