Surviving a Shounen Manga

The Ramirez Scramble (2)

“It’s… finally completed.”

Cormier observed the dark blue ‘robot’ standing in front of him and let out a soft sigh.

He’d been working on this request from Squatjaw over the past ten days.

Finally, the commissioned prototype of the ‘Multifunctional Armoured Cavalry’ was finished.

Of course, it was far from ‘perfect’.

Countless defects had cropped up during production, and since this was Cormier’s first time handling the new metal that’d been used to make the bones and body, he had no idea what side effects might appear.

Moreover, to build the energy reactor, which acted as the core of the machine, Cormier had searched high and low for a material that wouldn’t cause rejection while interfacing with the new metal… but all in vain. Even during the last test, whenever the reactor had been fed energy, some of the metals that made up the body had transformed.

To be honest, it wouldn’t be strange if it underwent rapid unscheduled disassembly anytime during operation.

In the first place, he’d never made something so unique and complex in such a short period of time.

But even so –

‘Eh, it’s not like I’ll be the one riding it.’

Cormier smiled with pride.

Even just being able to meet the absurd demands Squatjaw had issued made him feel a surge of pride.

Cormier even felt that his skills had undergone an amount of growth over the past ten days that could compete with what he’d achieved over the past few years. That was how much this experience had been worth.

If he had to describe the robot in front of him in one word, it was a ‘monster’.

There were only two infused functions: the passive trait of ‘solidity’, and the active ability of ‘amplification’; but this was a dangerous artefact that nothing he’d built in the past could hold a candle to. It could raise the combat power of its passenger by at least a factor of ten, although that was just an estimate.

To be honest, Cormier was wondering even now, how something like this could’ve been built.

‘How the hell did he come up with this…?’

Cormier was the one who actually built it, but the idea had been his.

Yeah, that was the issue here. That guy was crazy.

Or… a genius.

Then,

“Crazy, huh…”

A smirk spread over Cormier’s face at the word.

There’d been a time when he’d had to listen to that same word, day in and day out.

Suddenly, a new thought popped into his head.

Along with that guy… Cormier wondered if he could make something even bigger in the future. He thought… it might be pretty fun.

But soon,

‘Khm, khm, I almost bit the bait.’

Cormier shook his head quickly.

It was a crap idea, a bullshit idea.

His work over the past ten days completely deviated from the industry cutting-edge ‘universal design’ pattern.

The normal way was to refine the original materials to extract their fundamental characteristics, assemble the skeletal framework, then add in the flesh and accumulate the various characteristics into useable functions. Conversely, Squatjaw’s requirement revolved around creating one single ‘core ability’ at all costs. He’d even had the audacity to throw a bunch of new metals and nonsensical drawings at Cormier that the designer had never seen before.

Every day had been a constant cycle of irritation, doubt, anger, and amazement.

Working more with the man would definitely bring shame to his own moniker. It even reminded Cormier of his hellish past with a certain senile old coot.

“… Haah.”

To be honest, aside from all that, he still couldn’t trust the guy. Cormier didn’t know how Squatjaw knew about him or his relationship with the ‘enemy’, or what Squatjaw was trying to do here in this city…

Every time he thought about the man, a throbbing headache was his only reward. It was impossible to guess the true identity hiding behind that squat jaw and jovial smile.

So, Cormier always tried to keep in mind that Squatjaw was only one of his clients, and that his current work was simply a process in order to get the Ramirez.

“The Ramirez…”

In fact, it was as if it’d already fallen to his hands.

Squatjaw had said he had to take it away for a few days, but he’d bring it right back afterwards.

Cormier didn’t really think the man was lying. While he’d been working, that guy had left the Ramirez to him and didn’t even look at it.

And even if it were a lie, it didn’t matter. He had insurance in place.

In fact, the reason Cormier didn’t leave this place right away was not just because of the Ramirez. Rather, he was more curious about what’d happen once the ‘monster’ in front of him was boarded.

The sight felt quite exhilarating even just to imagine.

“When are you going to start?”

That was then.

Fwoooosh-!

A great sound could be heard coming from outside.

When Cormier hurriedly left the warehouse, he saw a single beam of red laser shooting towards the sky.

It was a signal. Marking the beginning of the upcoming battle.

The Ramirez Scramble had begun.

“Alright.”

He also needed to slowly start preparing himself.

Returning to the warehouse in a hurry, Cormier started checking the ‘monster’ for the last time.

It was when I took a step towards Kiriko.

Tiling–.

[Adventure King serialization resumed]

[Chapter 29 – The Ramirez Scramble’s Treasure (2)]

[Belongs to the realm of the ongoing chapter]

[Hiro is the subject of character evaluation in this chapter]

Two things suddenly appeared in front of me.

One was a message announcing the start of a new chapter, and the other was…

“Don’t move.”

I looked at the guy who’d appeared out of nowhere to stand in front of me.

As soon as the Ramirez’s location was revealed, the man with an expressionless face showed up.

He was earlier than expected.

Magic Weapon Jimus.

He didn’t feel like Gronyan.

His power level wasn’t enough to shock me to silence.

But that didn’t mean I could take him lightly.

Basically, this guy wasn’t a fighter, and the source of his power wasn’t his body.

Besides, I knew very well how dangerous he was. He wasn’t called ‘weapon’ for nothing.

Behind him, three subordinates with ‘canes’ floated leisurely in the air.

‘They’re fast.’

They weren’t the only one who’d suddenly appeared.

Whooooosh–.

Someone was flying in at close to the speed of sound.

Like Magic Weapon Jimus, he too was a familiar figure.

Cyborg Gelop.

As if waiting only for this moment, the two powerhouses who’d become the mainstays of the scramble appeared at the same time.

I scratched my head.

‘Hmm.’

In fact, I’d hoped these two would appear a little later. I wondered if it would be possible to keep Kiriko down now.

In the original story, the fight between Kiriko and Capone didn’t actually happen at the start of the scramble. Quite a bit of time has passed by then, and the fight had entered the second phase, with all the riffraff already filtered out.

This was a typical growth cliché of shounen manga, because before he met the final obstacle called Capone, Kiriko needed to climb through several large and small hurdles. The probability of him awakening immediately was close enough to zero to be called a rounding error.

So, I was going to let things cook a bit before introducing myself…

‘Damn, this sucks.’

With these guys appearing on the scene right away, my scheme wouldn’t work.

I stopped walking towards Kiriko, and stepped back a bit.

Then I asked Jimus, who was blocking my way.

“Who are you?”

Of course, I didn’t ask because I didn’t know.

But character introduction was a necessary process, and I also had to think of the readers.

“I am Jimus. From Northland. Looks like you’re the one in the rumours, who got the mirror. Like I heard, you’ve got a weird jaw.”

What an outrageous guy.

“So your first impression depends only on looks? What a dull fellow. And, is that all?”

“What?”

“Is that all you have to say about yourself?”

What I wanted was more detailed information about the guy. Like his nickname, ‘Magic Weapon’; why he came here from Northland, or how strong he was.

The readers needed stuff like that to become interested, right?

Then Jimus grinned,

“You want me to announce my own information in public? Funny. Are you going to tell me everything about you too? Is there even a brain in that skull of yours?”

Thankfully, he asked the question I’d been waiting for.

“Whoa, I guess I did forget to introduce myself.”

I coughed, cleared my throat, and shouted out loud.

“Hello! My name is Hiro. I’m the leader of the adventurer team that dazzled the world this year by securing the top spot in the Adventurer Qualification Test, and a general of the Skull Empire of Eastland… and I’m also the Ruler of Gibrante, called the King of Smugglers by some. Only that Ramirez isn’t mine. Everything else in this city is mine.”

I finished with a grin.

“What is that guy…?”

“K-, King of Smugglers?”

“Isn’t that… Capone’s nickname?”

“Come to think of it, that fedora hat… that’s Capone’s symbol!”

“Maybe that guy! Did he kill Capone and devour his organization!?”

Very appropriate reactions erupted from all sides.

Sounds of surprise, astonishment and disbelief.

In addition, basic descriptions and the reasons behind Capone’s notoriety, started pouring in.

That he was the boss of the mafia in charge of smuggling contraband from Northland, that he had thousands of subordinates, and that he even had connections inside the government.

Of course, it was actually a custom-made reaction.

There was no way I could’ve naturally gotten a response like that. Not with just a single bluff.

In fact, I’d already told Haka, whom I’d met in the shadows a while ago.

To ask his subordinates to give me an on-the-spot reaction like this at the right moment.

I’d thought they’d only say a few words, but their acting was better than expected.

And so –

“Oho… so you had a reputation after all? The rumour that some random fool got the mirror was a lie, I see.”

“…”

“But don’t even think that such a bluff will work on me. I am one of the five executives of the Magic Engineering Academia that controls half of Northland, Magic Weapon Jimus!”

The results were quite satisfactory.

The five executives of the Magic Engineering Academia.

Of course, the specifics of what this background meant would be known at a later date, but the readers would remember this.

Somehow, I thought this guy might be a useful character.

“If you understand, I’ll take the Ramirez.”

“What are you talking about? You think this is Northland? Who’ll listen to you If you just say that? Magic Engineering Academia? What even is that?”

“… Ignorance, too, is a sin. Just accept this as the fruits of your karma.”

“What an outrageous bastard. And I said it pretty clearly just now. Only the one who defeats everyone here can take that mirror away.”

“I’ll take it first, and then kill them all. The result’s the same in the end, no?”

“Eeh…”

He was a lively fellow with a lot of energy.

“Um… well, indeed. Then try it.”

I quietly avoided him.

Along with a waving gesture that indicated I wasn’t going to disturb him.

“Hah… so you won’t get in my way?”

Jimus gave me a final glance, then looked around.

Everyone was paying attention to him.

He also seemed to notice that he’d been chosen as the pioneer for this demonstration.

Soon,

“Bring it to me.”

“Got it.”

Hearing Jimus’ command, one of his men flew into the air.

Eventually, just as his subordinate’s hand was about to touch the drone holding the Ramirez –

At that moment,

Poof–.

A pure white light came out of the drone like an explosion.

“Ugh!”

The guy hurriedly backed away, but it didn’t look like he had been hit. He just looked himself over in bewilderment.

That was then.

“Look over there!”

“In the air!”

The people pointed to the opposite side from where Jimus’ man had jumped from.

There, like a hologram, another afterimage from the light emitted by the drone was flickering. And surprisingly, there was a clear image could be identified.

It was the ‘cane’ that Jimus’ subordinate, who’d jumped up just a moment ago, was holding.

Most people didn’t seem to notice immediately what it meant. They were just murmuring between themselves, saying things like like ‘What is that?’ and ‘A wand?’

However, the members of Jimus’ team had apparently understood very clearly what that scene meant. The faces, which were originally bleak, had turned remarkably pale.

“Now do you understand?”

“… A petty trick.”

Instead of answering, I laughed and shouted.

“Hello again, everyone, can you see it? That wand is the weak point of the guy who just jumped at it. Remember, everyone! Maybe you’ll have a fight with that guy later? Just take that wand away or break it. Then that guy is done for.”

Then I turned my gaze back to Jimus.

“Didn’t I say? Defeat everyone here first, and then you can take it. There’s a high possibility of suffering a loss otherwise, don’t you think? Or… have they already seen it? You’re all from that Magic Engineering Academia, aren’t you? Maybe those staffs are universal weak points for your type?”

“…”

In fact, I’d had Cormier whip up the image projection device fairly early in the game. To project the reflection of Ramirez’s surface into the air.

Capone had also utilized it in the original.

Of course, not for preventing access to it, but rather he’d made a projection beam to find out other people’s weaknesses.

By now, a deeper sense of tension had begun to pervade the audience.

It was natural that they weren’t being hasty anymore. Some might’ve had an impulse of taking a quick peek at the treasure before, but now they knew that the risk was bigger than they’d thought.

Perhaps it was only now that most of the audience here were recognizing the Ramirez for the first time, as something to be won in battle, instead of stolen.

In any case, it elicited silence and tension from everyone.

Now it was time for the second step.

I caught everyone’s attention again with a cough.

“Come on, come on, don’t be too nervous. Are you all on tenterhooks, thinking that everybody here is an enemy you need to eliminate? You don’t have to.”

Then, everyone looked at me with questioning eyes.

“I thought, what if everyone keeps looking at each other, and the fight doesn’t start? So I thought up some rules, nothing fancy. It’d be better than all of you tiring yourselves out, watching everybody else.”

Then I pulled out three small spheres from my arms.

They weren’t anything special. They were just small projectiles with an independent power source.

“See these? I’ll now throw them into different areas. Each one is a token. It symbolizes the right to claim ownership of the treasure. The deadline is two days later at noon. As long as you’re holding one of these at that time, you can fight for the Ramirez.”

My intentions were simple. Divide the place into areas and drive the people here.

Also, to create a situation where the strong could pair up to fight each other.

Because I thought the readers would appreciate it. A tournament was inherently cleaner and more fun than a confusing grand melee.

Of course, I had still another hidden reason.

That was then.

“How can I believe those rules?”

Jimus asked a question.

“Aren’t you in control of the Ramirez right now anyway? What if you escape while we’re away?”

“That sounds boring. Didn’t you hear my introduction? I’m the ruler of this place, where am I going to escape to? And don’t worry, the Ramirez will stay right there, up in the air.”

“…”

“I set the rules because I wanted to finish this fast. Let’s quickly get rid of the riffraff, and only those who are true contenders will remain to fight it out.”

After that, no further questions came my way.

Then,

“Here they go –!”

I threw the spheres to the east, west and south respectively.

But no one moved right away.

They were still watching the situation.

“I spelled it out very clearly. The deadline is at noon, two days later. Come to the factory area with your token. Two days later, one of the four people there will get to have the Ramirez.”

Then someone asked –

“Four people?”

“Ah, I already have one. Well, if you want to entertain me, you can aim for mine.”

I took a sphere out of my pocket and waved it for all to see.

And then –

“Oi, Kiriko! Come meet me. I’ve got something to tell you. Come alone, you hear? Don’t even think about bringing your stupid zap-happy friend.”

Shouting my final words, I turned back and started walking.

Of course, the nerves on my back were thrumming with tension.

What would happen now?

Then,

Rustle–.

Jimus and his men began to move toward the east.

Next, Karl Zayed stepped south.

‘Great!’

After that, many adventurer teams began to slowly leave. Of course, not everyone moved to a specific direction. Now that I’d confirmed that they had a little time to spare, they were probably thinking that there was no need to rush.

Soon after, Cyborg Gelop, who’d been silently watching the situation, also left.

“Leo, let’s go snatch one at random.”

“Kiriko, you too, beat up Squatjaw and bring one!”

“Don’t be in a rush, Mister Kirikidiot. We’ll be fine getting a token on our own. And no matter what Squatjaw says, let the words go into one ear and out the other. Got it?”

“M-, Mister Kiriko… Do you want to go together…?”

The Leo Adventurers also began to move.

Except Kiriko, who alone followed me.

All done.

So far it’d been a success.

Still, one variable remained.

Gronyan.

Among the powerhouses, only he still hadn’t moved.

In fact, the author’s actions were the biggest variable.

According to the original story, Leo and Jimus would pair up to fight, and same for Karl Zayed and Gelop. Cormier wouldn’t show himself right now, and Gronyan would go to the last side. Then he’d be able to comfortably seize a token by himself.

In fact, it was because of him that I divided the tokens into four. Three might’ve worked too, but I’d been afraid that the guy would chase after me first if that happened.

To be honest, I didn’t want to deal with that guy and Kiriko at the same time.

‘Go, just go somewhere else.’

Of course, I didn’t outwardly show any sign of my inner turmoil.

I pretended to be the picture of calm.

Go… Go!

And then,

“… Phew.”

That guy also started moving.

East. It was a direction no powerhouses had gone to.

The split was just right.

So far it’d all gone as per plan.

“The problem is from now on…”

The factory zone.

In front of Jean’s warehouse.

“Squatjaw! You’re late!”

“I’ve been waiting for a long time!”

“What’re you planning!”

The goblins had already arrived first and were waiting for me.

The ones who’d followed me all the way here were seventy-three in number.

It was a huge number.

More than being grateful, I was even surprised.

I immediately started to separate them into teams.

“Now, now, listen to me. Blessed of the God of Mischief, or the God of Lies, come this way.”

I pointed to my left.

Then,

“Bluffs and whimsy, stand there at the middle. And those blessed by the God of Sabotage, stand to my right.”

They quickly sorted themselves into tidy groups.

Of course, there was no point taking them at their word.

“Real pranksters and liars, don’t be silly and stand in your proper place. Chinuavi, please sort them out. Those who don’t stand properly don’t get any toys.”

Then, most of the guys on the right-hand line quickly moved away.

Honestly…

Next, I distributed the ‘equipment’ I’d prepared to the goblins.

“Wait, what’s this?”

“You bastard, what am I supposed to do with this!”

“Give me a gun, you son of a bitch!”

In your dreams!

“Alright, alright, now just wait a minute.”

Leaving the goblins to Chinuavi, I went into the warehouse alone.

Now was the key moment.

Alone, I focused and called ‘Him’.

‘Are you there?’

…

‘Hey?’

…

‘Are you listening?’

After doing this for a while,

– What?

After a while, an answer came from the Disruptor God.

‘More than a thousand people, all of them moving under a common rule. All the conditions you requested have been met. Right?’

– How shameless. You made those rules yourself, right? You call that meeting the conditions?

‘Are there any problems?’

These were the two specific conditions that the Disruptor God demanded. ‘You must periodically interrupt a specific situation’.

With numbers and rules.

– Hmm, so?

‘Please give me one thing.’

And since the purpose of my actions was clear in a situation that met the conditions,

– If you’re making a request… it has to be for the purpose of sabotage. You understand?

‘Of course.’

– Then tell me.

I could claim one thing from the Disruptor God… it be a power, a weapon, or anything else.

“Could you please let me use the masquerade ability?”

Editor’s Notes:

None for this chapter.

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We’re finally past chapter 100! Huff huff. Somebody’s on fire. (That somebody is me.)

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