Chapter 2 (Patreon)

“So good.”

Ragnar Kagenou ate the crepe Riko Amanai had “willingly” bought for him, looking completely at peace with himself.

“Damn it! You’re a grown man, and you’re making a middle schooler buy you food!”

Riko stared at her flattened wallet with the expression of someone who wanted to cry, yet somehow couldn’t.

“Quit whining. Here, I’ll compensate you with this Gekota keychain.”

“Ge—Gekota… Hah. Haha…”

Riko looked down at the Gekota keychain in her hand and let out a laugh despite herself.

Apparently, when someone was pushed past the point of speechlessness, laughter really did come out first.

“What? You don’t like it?”

That was strange.

A certain electric middle schooler he knew in another context would’ve treated something like this as treasure.

Logically speaking, they were both middle school girls. Their tastes shouldn’t have been that different.

“Only an elementary schooler would like something as childish as a Gekota keychain!”

Riko had no idea how lethal those words would be to a certain railgun-using girl somewhere out there.

Truly.

What cruel words.

Even so, Riko still accepted the keychain.

After all, she had already paid for the crepe to get it, so if she threw this away too, then she’d really be left with nothing.

“Ugh… my living expenses for this month…”

Clatter!

While Riko was muttering to herself in grief, a shower of gold coins suddenly smacked right into her.

“Wah—! What are you doing?! Wait… gold?!”

“So much gold!”

Watching Riko immediately clutch the pile of gold coins with a glowing smile on her face, Ragnar smiled faintly and took another bite of his crepe.

“Well? Is that enough compensation?”

“It is! More than enough!”

But the next second, Riko forced herself to put away that unrestrained smile and shoved the gold coins back toward him.

“Ahem. I don’t care about your gold. Hmph.”

Wanting the gold had been a perfectly honest reaction.

But once she remembered what was waiting for her—

…the shine of it suddenly lost its meaning.

Ragnar might not have believed a line like that from anyone else, but from Riko, he could.

After all, as the Star Plasma Vessel, a girl who was supposed to be offered up to Master Tengen, money had already stopped meaning much to her.

“Take some. I’m not exactly short on it.”

“I’m not short on it either.”

Ragnar gave a helpless shrug as he watched Riko deliberately turn her face away.

“Then what do you want?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll tell you once I’ve thought about it.”

At that point, Ragnar remembered something.

He still had a system.

It never spoke, so its existence was so quiet he had almost forgotten about it.

He slid his left index finger downward through empty air.

A column of interface buttons immediately appeared along the left side of his vision.

Info: 【Ragnar Kagenou】 【Red Bar】 【Blue Bar】 【Green Bar】

Friends: 【None】

Map: 【Tokyo, Japan】

Noble Phantasm: 【Gate of Babylon】 (Quadruple Seal)

【Chains of Heaven】 【True Name Release requires 800 points of Cursed Energy】

【Display information panel in the upper-left corner of the retina as a permanent entry?】 【Yes / No】

“Oh. A permanent display? That’s convenient.”

“Confirm.”

【Settings successful】

The larger interface disappeared, and the longest bar alone remained in the upper left of his vision—the red one.

The green bar was about half the length of that, while the blue bar looked so short it was almost pitiful.

Name: 【Ragnar Kagenou】

Red Bar / HP: 1000/1000

Blue Bar / Cursed Energy: 50/50

(Opening one 【Gate】 of the Gate of Babylon requires 1 point of Cursed Energy; maintaining one 【Gate】 also requires 1 point of Cursed Energy.)

Green Bar / Stamina: 500/500

So that meant—

He could keep twenty-five Gates open for an extended period of time.

Or open fifty of them at once in an instant.

Wouldn’t that turn Cursed Spirits and curse users into pincushions?

That definitely counted as good news.

Thank God it was the Gate of Babylon.

If it had been some other Noble Phantasm, this amount of Cursed Energy probably wouldn’t have even been enough to activate it.

“…Wait. Why is half of my Red Bar black?”

Status Abnormality: 【Calamity of This World】

After HP reaches zero, the black HP will immediately restore half of the red HP.

(Once per day.)

“Guardian angel—no, wait. Calamity of This World?”

Ragnar’s expression turned subtle.

What the hell was he supposed to make of that?

What was he now?

A walking disaster?

If he stopped suppressing it, would this so-called calamity really be enough to drag the whole world down with him?

“…But isn’t Cursed Energy supposed to be produced from negative emotions?”

The system answered him immediately.

【The host may only increase Cursed Energy by killing Cursed Spirits, Jujutsu Sorcerers, and Curse Users.】

【Exorcising a Special Grade Cursed Spirit increases it by 1000 points.】

【Exorcising a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit increases it by 500 points.】

【Exorcising a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit increases it by 10 points.】

【Cursed Objects, Jujutsu Sorcerers, and Curse Users follow the same standard.】

At first, Ragnar thought it seemed acceptable.

Then he looked again.

And immediately rejected that thought.

“Like hell that’s acceptable.”

What kind of absurd difference was that?

How did it jump from 10 points for Grade 2 all the way to 500 for Grade 1?

And below Grade 2, there was no gain at all?

That was ridiculous.

It seemed he’d have to keep a low profile for a while.

Breaking the Gate’s seals would require a vast amount of Cursed Energy.

For now, he should deal with the problem right in front of him.

He still didn’t know when Riko would be taken away.

Should he help her?

Or just stand by and watch?

After closing the system, he realized Riko had been staring at him for a while now.

“…Am I that handsome?”

“Yes—no! You! You stopped spacing out for once.”

That clearly surprised her.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

Ragnar casually patted her on the shoulder.

“Go where?”

Riko looked confused, but still followed after him.

“No idea. You lead. I’m not familiar with Tokyo.”

So it really was like that…

Riko’s eyes lit up a little.

She had finally gotten a chance to go out.

“Is there anywhere you want to go? Kabukichō?”

Riko nearly choked on the suggestion.

“You really say outrageous things so casually. Amanai-san is still a proper girl, you know. That kind of place is absolutely off-limits.”

“I thought rich blond delinquents like you all enjoyed places like that.”

“Please throw that stereotype away.”

Ragnar was blond, yes.

But he was absolutely not a delinquent.

And besides…

A king shouldn’t lose face by going to places like that.

…Wait.

Why had that thought come so naturally?

Ragnar Kagenou was Ragnar Kagenou.

So where exactly had that “king” nonsense just come from?

A dull ache started pressing against the back of his skull.

“…Tch.”

Forget it.

There was no point overthinking something like that now.

Better to let things settle on their own.

Still…

Since he looked suspiciously like a certain golden self-proclaimed king of heroes, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to act a little more arrogantly.

For example, using a more distinctive way of referring to himself.

Like Riko did.

Perhaps—

“This king…”

No.

Absolutely not.

“Amanai.”

“What?”

“This is boring. Isn’t there anywhere more interesting?”

Riko stopped walking for a moment.

Then clicked her tongue.

“Tsk. What a pain.”

“Hey. What was that face for?”

“Nothing. I said I’ll show you around.”

At that exact moment, a system notification appeared.

【Riko Amanai has become your friend.】

“…A friend?”

Ragnar reopened the system interface and found Riko’s portrait now added to the friends list.

Not only that—

Her location had also been marked on the system map.