chapter02 · 059-ep59
Episode 57: Two Ojou-samas and a Tiger Watching for His Chance (Part One)
"Good evening, everyone, desu no~."
【Good evening, desu wa~】
【Been waiting for this stream!】
【WOOOO! Another dose of Elegance today, desu wa!】
【Feels like ages since a dungeon stream!】
【A lot has happened...】
【It really has... We nearly had a civil war, the Self-Defense Forces had more scrambles, you collabed with police HQ...】
【So much happened it's hilarious】
The day after her stream introducing the police-run joint training, Karin was back for an after-school dungeon stream, her first in several days. When she reached the lower layers and switched on her floating camera, concurrents surged into the tens of thousands in an instant. Comments flooded in.
The unreal numbers still nearly made her squeak, but she did her best to speak normally.
"Now, I'd like to show you another Elegant dungeon conquest today, but first: did you watch yesterday's joint-training stream?"
【We did, desu wa~!】
【I watched the archive, desu no!】
【Honoka-sama's growth was incredible!】
【The birth of Elegant Draw-and-Obliterate lmao】
【Why did Karin ojou-sama grow stronger too, though...?】
【Mitsuki-sama was beautiful, desu no!】
【A genuine ojou-sama really does move differently!】
【She was acting oddly to the end, but that swordsmanship was incredible, desu wa!】
"Yes! Mitsuki-sama's every movement was truly beautiful and Elegant!" Karin's voice brightened in agreement. "Every little gesture and expression was graceful and refined. It reminded me how far I still have to go. There are only so many scenes with Setsuna-sama in the anime, so I could learn only so many movements from her... But THAT is what a real ojou-sama is like, desu wa!"
Karin had genuinely been moved by Mitsuki at yesterday's training. Mitsuki had continued behaving strangely afterward, so Karin hadn't been able to thank her properly or ask for more about the secrets of her Elegance. Even so, their brief meeting had taught her a great deal.
"So to grow closer to my beloved Setsuna-sama, I hope to learn from Mitsuki-sama as well from now on."
【Oh?】
【Could Karin ojou-sama finally discover genuine 'grace' and 'common sense' from Mitsuki-sama...!?】
【It's been a long road...】
【She never listened to anything WE told her...】
【After Fist-Fuck bro, Karin ojou-sama's even more suspicious of what people write online...】
【We internet ojou-samas couldn't do it, but maybe Mitsuki-sama can...!】
【Mitsuki-sama treated her weirdly cold yesterday, but she still eagerly learns from anyone she admires. That's Karin ojou-sama's strength!】
【She's so eager to learn she took her common sense from an anime, and look how THAT turned out!】
【Anyway, Mitsuki-sama might finally make Karin ojou-sama normal...!】
"So, after that rather long preamble, for today's stream I'm going to learn even a fraction of Mitsuki-sama's Elegant movements—by making myself a katana first!"
【Huh】
【Wait】
【WHY!?】
【Okay, Karin ojou-sama's eyes DID light up especially at Mitsuki-sama's sword draw yesterday, but!?】
【Weren't you going to learn REAL grace and common sense by watching Mitsuki-sama's videos!?】
【Karin ojou-sama's 'Elegance' is inseparable from 'violence,' isn't it lmao】
Mistaking the source of chat's dismay, Karin continued. "It's true that Setsuna-sama, whom I admire, primarily fought Elegantly with her bare hands. But when I think back, Setsuna-sama learned her Elegant movements through many lessons, including kendo, before she became an explorer. If I wish to follow her example, I must learn Elegance from many sources. Thus, to reach greater heights of Elegance, I need to make a katana so I can practice swordsmanship!"
【O-okay...?】
【W-well, Mitsuki-sama's refined bearing IS probably rooted in Shijou-style swordsmanship...】
【When you put it that way, getting a katana first for greater Elegance makes sense...?】
【Oh no... even the viewers are getting infected by Karin ojou-sama's theory of Elegance...】
【We need to watch Mitsuki ojou-sama's streams and recover our common sense!】
【Karin ojou-sama, please study common sense on Mitsuki-sama's channel too, not just manners...】
"Now, let's collect materials as usual!"
Ignoring chat's retorts, Karin headed out hunting in high spirits.
"""KIAAAAAAAAAAA!?"""
Screams echoed through the lower layers. Her targets today were bloody mantises, vicious giant insects that swung sharp scythes and drank explorers' blood. But their fearsome nature vanished before an overwhelming predator. Screaming, they fled, only to be caught, disappear, and leave their scythes as offerings to the ojou-sama. About a hundred of them.
Karin piled up the enormous heap of materials.
"Desu wa! Desu wa!"
Tap-tink-tap♪
"Desu wa! Desu wa!"
Tap-tink-tap♪
With her usual chant, she activated <Divine Artisan>.
"It's done! I must be in good form today; it came out exactly as I pictured on the first try!"
She had refined and compressed every bit of the materials into a single Japanese katana.
【Wha!?】
【That mountain of materials disappeared in an instant—what...?】
【Wait, did she put ALL those lower-layer materials into that one sword!?】
【Is this materials refining and compression!? The step master craftsmen do with enormous furnaces MADE of dungeon materials!?】
【Seriously, how much has Karin ojou-sama trained her crafting skill...?】
【The crafters on social media are screaming lmao】
【Even non-crafters can tell that was something absurd...】
【D-doesn't that sword have a terrifying aura...?】
"Hmm. The temper pattern, the guard, the grip... The outside looks sound, and it holds plenty of mana. Now, let's test its performance!"
Karin went straight to test cutting. What followed was hopelessly one-sided.
"There, there, there, desu wa!"
SWAPAPAPAPAPAPAN!
"""————"""
There weren't even any screams. With the basic form she'd learned from Mitsuki, Karin's slashes cut monsters and the very air around them, killing them silently. Bullet grasshoppers were bisected. A minotaur's severed head was sliced again in midair. One after another, monsters whose bodies should have been greatly reinforced by mana were cut like tofu.
【YABEEEEEEEEEEEE!!】
【Karin ojou-sama's become a wandering sword murderer lmao】
【Even the musou video games aren't THIS one-sided!】
【Some monsters don't seem to notice they've been cut...】
【Karin ojou-sama slices up their heads right after and 'teaches' them they're dead, so it's fine!】
【A sword compressed from a hundred lower-layer drops, Karin ojou-sama's strength, and Shijou swordsmanship... We knew it would happen, but this is TOO one-sided...】
Chat cheered the slaughter Karin, naturally, suffered no damage in. Gradually, though, their excitement gave way to confusion.
【Wait... Isn't something odd?】
【She even broke into a monster house and chopped everything up, but the blade isn't losing its edge... If anything, isn't it getting SHARPER!?】
【Wait, what!? Is Karin ojou-sama improving her swordsmanship as she goes!?】
【No, hold on, my side effect is whispering to me... The sword's mana goes UP every time it cuts a monster...!? What is this...?】
【Side Effect bro!】
【If even Side Effect bro says that, what on earth is going on!?】
"Hmm... Splendid! It performs even better than I'd hoped!"
Karin beamed, unfazed by chat's confusion. Then she answered their questions.
"I used the bloody mantises' own nature to give this katana a magical effect: the more monster blood it drinks, the sharper it gets! And I made it heal small chips in its blade by drinking blood too. Both seem to work perfectly! Now I can practice swordsmanship all I like without bothersome maintenance, desu wa!"
【WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!?】
【That ALSO solves weapon wear, one of the big dungeon-exploration problems alongside water and food!】
【Normally maintenance supplies take up a ton of space!?】
【I'm sure there's a limit, but that performance is outrageous as usual lol】
【That's a straight-up cursed sword lmao】
【I'd expect to be cursed just holding it...】
【Aha... so refine and compress a hundred bloody mantis scythes, and you can make a weapon with exceptional staying power! Priceless information, desu wa!】
【Nationwide dungeon exploration is about to get way more efficient starting tomorrow! Right, master craftsmen across the country?】
【Don't ask the impossible!】
【We can't just whip up deranged, pervert-Elegant weapons like that!】
"Good, good. This will do nicely for now... Oh, come to think of it."
Admiring her sword, Karin suddenly remembered something.
"Japanese swords are given names, aren't they? I must give this one a proper name. Hmm..."
After a little thought, she declared, "I've got it! A sword that drinks blood to grow stronger... I'll call her the 'Famous Sword Chupacabra-chan,' desu wa!"
【!?】
【What kind of name IS that!?】
【SOOOOO LAME!?】
【Karin ojou-sama's naming sense, as ever, lmao】
【Please learn naming sense from Dungeon Alive too, not just Elegance!】
¥20,000
Please, sell ME the right to name it! Such a beautifully crafted, powerful sword deserves a genuinely cool name! I beg you, desu no!
【Someone even superchatted about it lol】
【With that national-treasure appearance and incredible performance, you can't blame them for wanting a proper name...】
【W-well, at least it's a hundred times better than Fist F●ck...】
【Stop using the scammer's trick of putting negative one thousand beside negative ten to make us choose negative ten, desu wa】
"Wh-why!? It's an adorable name, isn't it!? This time it doesn't even mean anything strange!"
There was a bit of controversy over the naming at the end, but—
【Name aside, I kinda like the katana-and-dress combination!】
【Thanks to Mitsuki-sama's coaching, her movements are beautiful too. It looks fantastic, desu no!】
【Of course we respect Karin ojou-sama's admiration for Setsuna-sama, but this is fun once in a while!】
【Even Setsuna-sama used lots of different equipment in the power-crept final arc... A katana now and then is fine, isn't it?】
(Oh! This is more popular than I expected, desu wa!)
Her katana-based conquest had gone over better than expected. Quite a few viewers wanted to see her wield it next time too.
(I'd like to focus on barehanded fighting like Setsuna-sama, but this channel exists to entertain everyone with 'Elegant dungeon conquests.' To keep it from getting stale, I could mix in this sort of approach occasionally if people want it!)
"Very well! Since so many of you want to see it, I'll use little Chupacabra-chan for my next dungeon conquest too, while I train my swordsmanship!"
【Oh! Sounds great, desu wa!】
【The name's making you treat it like a pet lmao】
【I'd love a collab with Mitsuki-sama】
【But Mitsuki-sama acted oddly toward Karin ojou-sama...】
【She DID give permission for Karin ojou-sama to mention her on stream, right?】
【Mitsuki-sama's behavior is so inconsistent, I can't make sense of it!】
【Whatever happens, I'm looking forward to it, desu wa!】
(Now the question is which dungeon to visit next time... An ordinary one might not put up enough of a fight... Oh, I know! I'd like to make a sheath too, so the Shinagawa First Dungeon, where slash-resistant monsters often appear in the lower layers, would be perfect!)
With her next stream decided, Karin was in high spirits. Still buoyed by Chupacabra-chan, after ending the stream she secretly made another katana whose crafting process she couldn't quite show on camera, then happily returned to the surface.
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Sorry, but this episode ran rather long, and between my health and other issues, I'm splitting it into two parts. Next time: Mitsuki-sama, the grubby little Gon the Fox.
Also, the health issue is a very troublesome chronic condition I've had for a long time. It's a difficult illness heavily affected by my surroundings, not overwork, so please don't worry about that. (Writing full-time, I actually have plenty of room in my schedule even including answering comments.)