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farlynthordens · 1 year ago

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SKB Short Story 4 - O’Mikura-sama

summary of a short story published in Dengeki Bunko, Jan 2019. Takes place between volumes 2 and 3. Contains minimal story spoilers.

Hiroshima prefecture: neighbor of Shimane where Izumo and the Six Towers are. just due to nature of proximity, Hiroshima also has a fairly religion-oriented society but not as much as Shimane. It’s also considered to have some of the best public safety in Japan, but the places that people can live safely are highly limited due to it being such a hotbed for monsters of all kinds.

In the vicinity of Mikuradake mountain is a giant flying leech that is referred to as O’Mikura-sama. We’ll get back to that later. ...

Bisco and Milo pass through Hiroshima on their way down to Shikoku, purposefully avoiding dangerous areas like Mikuradake. they arrive at a town called Bakehara and look down on the bustling market streets full of delicious food.

Bisco eyes everything with caution, but his stomach gives him away. M: “You don’t need to just stand and look - we have money, you know. Let’s go eat!” B: “I’m practically a walkin’ check for 3 million sols. And I’m not dressin’ up as a girl again. We’re leaving.” M: “You’ll be fine, just take this!”

Milo pulls out prayer bead necklaces and puts one on Bisco then himself. They’re a deep red color and each decorated with the emblems of various gods. He explains that amli gave them to him, and they represent the pardoning of a crime. as long as they appear to be from Shimane, the Hiroshima officials can’t touch them.

They end up at a shop stuffing their faces with all-you-can-eat oysters until the owner begs them to leave from how much money he’s lost. Out of pity, milo pays him extra but it’s not enough to really help. bisco says he’s still hungry and asks to go somewhere else.

Out on the street, they notice a crowd forming around something. they climb into a tall tree to get a better look, and see none other than tirol starting a bidding war for a statue that she lifted from the gold tower in izumo.

The mayor, a very high class female priestess, arrives and places a ridiculously high bid on the statue. it seems like she’s going to win it, until milo shows up and calls out double her bid. tirol is surprised to see him, but smiles as she catches on to what he’s doing.

The mayor says he’s too young and poor-looking to have that much money. milo pretends to be a priest to explain away his appearance. when the mayor demands he prove that he has money, he reaches into his clothes and secretly uses a mantra to create fake emeralds.

Sometime later: bisco, milo and tirol and hanging out at a bar to celebrate tirol’s earnings. she is pretty drunk. T: “Yahaha! I didn’t think I’d get 6 mil outta that! I think that’s a new personal best!” M: “That’s 2 Biscos worth.” B: “Don’t use my bounty as a measurement system.” ... T: “We ran into each other at a reeeaaal good time. Say, Milo, yer good at that stuff. Yer cut out to be a merchant - yer strong, and yer cute. C’mon, don’t you think it’s time we paired up?” M: “Bisco, your partner is being stolen away.” B: “Why don’t you go with her.” M: “Did you know this pressure point can really hurt?” B: Owwww!! Stop... stop...!! Wait, what’s with that dead look? Are you fuckin’ drunk too?!”

Tirol offers them 1 mil in exchange for taking her along to bisco’s village so she can continue her selling there. milo says he only helped out because he heard of how the mayor steals the town’s money, and that tirol should give at least part of her earnings back to the people.

Sensing danger, bisco kicks their table up and drags all 3 of them behind it like a shield. machine gun bullets destroy the building and people run and hide.

They realize it’s the mayor sending out a hit for tirol. they escape by busting a hole in a wall, but the mayor’s assassins quickly follow.

Bisco and milo cover tirol, but can’t attack the assassins. the town is very tight and has a lot of people in close quarters, so firing mushroom arrows would cause casualties no matter what they do.

The town’s speakers blare with the mayor’s voice. she claims the statue tirol sold her was fake, and demands her 6 million back plus a 2 million sol fine.

Tirol points out the mayor’s gigantic mansion on top of a hill that overlooks the town. Bisco aims his bow at it but milo stops him from firing. M: “You weren’t thinking of blowing the whole place up, were you?!” B: “It’d be easy, wouldn’t it?” T: “Yeah! Do it!” M: “No! What about all her employees?! Don’t just jump to mass destruction!” B: “...Hey, Milo... what is that...?”

A massive shadowy creature descends from between the clouds and into the mountain range where the mansion is. bisco uses his goggles to inspect it, exclaiming that he’s never seen a flying leech of that size. milo is also frozen in shock at how terrifying it is.

The leech uses the undulations of its huge body to create wind, generating a powerful tornado that lifts the mansion into the sky and into the hole in its stomach. The townspeople scream, saying that o’mikura-sama has come to devour them.

Bisco and milo call for actagawa and the trio gets on him to chase after o’mikura-sama. tirol says they should be running away from it, but the boys explain that they can’t let it destroy the town or continue further out to somewhere like bisco’s village.

They cover actagawa in glowshrooms to catch the leech’s attention. milo fires at its tail which seems to be its weak point, but o’mikura-sama is too big to take down in just one hit like that.

The leech chases them, closing the distance. they direct actagawa to the top of a hill and have him spin around so they’re facing o’mikura-sama head-on. bisco and milo fire their arrows, but not at the leech’s body - at the mountain below it.

The mountain explodes into a forest of glowing rust eaters. o’mikura-sama pauses its pursuit and sucks in the rust eaters until it begins glowing as well. T: “Oh, I get it! You’re gonna fill it full of rust eaters and bring it down with a bang!” B: “We’re not tryin’ to bring it down with a bang. ... If it’s hungry, then we’ll just feed it til it’s full is all. Don’t really wanna use my bow on a divine beast, anyway.”

O’mikura-sama becomes round from how full it is. it shines brightly in the sky, looking truly like a divine being. it then disappears into the clouds.

T: “That was an unexpectedly peaceful resolution...” B: “Well, duh! If we took it down, we’d get crushed by its huge ass body fallin’ on top of us!” T: “Yeah, but...! I’ve changed my mind about you, Akaboshi. You’re not as dumb as I thought.”

The townspeople realize that o’mikura-sama only ate the mayor. they begin praising the leech as a savior of the town and break out into celebration.

B: “I’m hungry from all that hard work. Let’s get back to eating. ... Also, you caused all of this and we saved you, so you’re gonna pay for our damn food.” M: “Bisco, that’s rude. You should say ‘we would like if you treated us to dinner.’“ B: “ Same shit! She is gonna pay for us!” ...

As milo made her promise, tirol returned some of the mayor’s money back to the townspeople and they set out for shikoku. bisco still didn’t really want to being her along, but decided to keep his mouth shut and let it happen.

Milo says he’s happy tirol is there, because he was feeling nervous about taking the mushroom keeper test. bisco says it’s nothing to worry about.

B: “We’re gonna cross a couple abandoned bridges to get across these islands. They’re pretty dangerous, so you gotta wrap your face up with this.” T: “With that nasty rag?! No way, it’ll rub off my makeup.” B: “Suit yourself ... But you’re gonna get bit by the flying fish. They’ll probably tear your ears and nose clean off.” Tirol decides to cover her face after all. ...

They managed to cross the seas with their lives and not much else. The trio finds a place to rest on land while actagawa plays in the water and hunts for food.

An arrow flies at bisco from out of nowhere and he blocks it, causing it to fly off and explode into mushroom growth a distance away. A female mushroom keeper with tanned skin appears, being followed by a number of others. She wears a lot of extravagant jewelry and carries a ruby-colored bow, and is full of smiles.

?? : “Where’s Jabi? I heard you saved him, but did just up and die anyway?” B: “He is alive. He’s in Imihama ‘cause he didn’t wanna come back here.” ?? : “Aww, what’s up with that? Well then who’s that panda next to you?” M: “I’m Milo, Bisco’s partner. I’m at least halfway decent at using mushroom keeper techniques.” ??: “Oh, his partner! You can use a bow with a figure like that?” Milo looks at the mushroom growth from the arrow Bisco knocked away. “Well, I can do something on that sort of level.” ?? : “Wooow!”

The woman, named Usha, is a shamaness. she guides the trio to her group’s camp. tirol immediately jumps into trying to sell them things, but bisco stops her because he knows mushroom keepers are too gullible.

Usha comes up to milo and inspects him closely, saying she’s jealous of his nice skin. U: “What on earth had to happen for a guy like Bisco to get a prettyboy partner like you? Tell me, how did you two meet?” M: “...So, he broke into my clinic and took me hostage. He said he’d kill me if I made a sound, and he was honestly really scary...” U: “Sounds like just straight up robbed you!” M: “Right?! And then to escape the people following us, he...!” U: “He blew the place up?” M: “Yes!!!”

Milo then storms over to bisco, seeming angry. M: “Pay me back for my clinic!!” B: “What’s with you?! That happened forever ago” M: “Now that I’ve thought about it, you never made good for that. Partners are supposed to always be equal [even] aren’t we? Now sit down while I do the math on this.”

Bisco gets dragged away as usha laughs her ass off at him, but she feels like she can see how they work well together.

Other notes

Mikuradake is a real mountain

Bakehara does not exist irl. its name literally means “monster’s belly”

Bisco thinks of their friendship with tirol as 腐れ縁 which means an undesirable yet inseparable relationship

Tirol isn’t good at swimming

#sabikui bisco #rust eater bisco #sbkb summary series #akaboshi bisco #nekoyanagi milo #ochagama tirol

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farlynthordens · 1 year ago

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SKB Short Story 5 - The Prodigal Daughter of Banryou-ji

summary of the final short story published in Dengeki Bunko, Mar 2019. starring tirol! takes place between volumes 3 and 4. contains very minimal main story spoilers.

OCHAGAMA TIROL: A merchant girl with a distinctive pink, jellyfish-like hairstyle. The great-grandchild of High Priest Ochagama. HIGH PRIEST OCHAGAMA: An old man with fuzzy white hair. A semi-immortal with great power who oversees Banryou-ji, and is currently over 140 years old. THES: A young boy shadowing the high priest. Despite his youth, he's a high-ranking trainee monk. STORY: In Iwate prefecture lies a sacred mountain - Mt. Banryou. The high priest who runs the head temple of all sects has come down with a 70-degree fever and is confined to bed. No remedies are working and his condition worsens by the minute. As everyone begins to lose hope, the high priest's great-granddaughter appears after having split from the temple 10 years ago.

As stated on the intro page, high priest ochagama is stuck in bed with a fever. the 70 degrees (CELCIUS) fever is no joke. the temple is full of people running around in a panic, all doing various things to try to help him like bringing food or changing the cold towel on his head. he seems to not be getting better no matter what anyone does.

The young monk Thes is making his way back after having gone to collect special herbs. thes is described as having superhuman abilities, like being able to run straight up the vertical mountainside. he wears a bright yellow robe with wide sleeves, and has a bob cut. like amli, he has straps on his eyes to keep them open (and on both, not just one).

Thes arrives and makes ochagama eat the herbs he brought. they're enbi's herbs* and are known for being a miracle cure-all, but even these don't help reduce his fever.

The priests argue over different ideas for what to do, but are stopped when a large man named Poclo walks in, who is a high ranking official. he gives a sarcastic greeting and states there's no point helping ochagama, since he's so old that he should have been expected to die any day now. because of poclo's position, he'd become the next head priest if ochagama were to die.

Tirol suddenly comes in and everyone is shocked. they all refer to her as "the young lady/milady." she points out their rudeness for not bowing to a descendant of the ochagama line and they all do so. however, she tells thes that he does not need to address her formally or bow to her.

Tirol says that the fever is being caused by a buildup of power inside the body, so they just need a way to absorb the excess power from high priest ochagama. this had happened to him before, and the cure was eating hellfire moss..... which only grows in weeping child ravine.

If high priest ochagama dies, thes must die as well as his shadow. because of this, he says he isn't scared to risk his life to do whatever it takes to save him. ...

Tirol and thes fly her new pink escargot plane to weeping child ravine. the plane is attacked by a swarm of umbrella octopi, but tirol blows some up with missiles and thes uses mantras (that sound like citymaker abilities) to explode them.

Thes thinks about their childhood together at the temple. since they were close in age, thes was assigned to be tirol's overseer. tirol would often drag him into situations they weren't supposed to be in. remembering it makes him feel a strange mix of emotions...

A pipe snake then bursts thru the clouds after them. thes says they need to eject and let the snake eat the snail shell part of the plane. tirol is very upset since she had just bought it and it cost many thousands of sols.

Thes has a dream where he remembers the night tirol ran away from banryou-ji. he wanted to come with her but knew he couldn't leave the temple. he wanted tirol to tell him to come along, but she didn't want him involved in her way of life. They hug, and he tells her to find new friends who will protect her on her journey.

He wakes up in a dimly lit cave with tirol. she tells him that they happened to land right on a spot where the hellfire moss was growing.

Tirol says that thes also broke out into a magic buildup-induced fever while unconscious, but she already cured it with the moss.

Thes asks how she knew about this treatment, and she explains how a boy with an impossible illness was once brought to their temple and high priest ochagama showed her the cure. the boy then turned out to have incredible latent powers, and became ochagama's shadow. as you'd guessed, it was thes himself.

Tirol has a dark spot on her skin from where she brushed against a poisonous plant. she pulls out one of milo's ampoules from her bag and uses it. she says she also has some explosives that bisco made.

Thes: "So you did indeed make some good friends after all." Tirol: "Huh?! ... It's just all happenstance. I don't think I'd call us 'friends'..." Thes: "I had heard whispers of it, but it seems it's true that you did make some truly incredible friends. ... To think that your first friends would be the man-eating Akaboshi Bisco and Nekoyanagi Milo... But I suppose you wouldn't have become friends with anyone if they were not like those two." Tirol: "The hell's that supposed to mean?!"

They return to the temple just in time to find poclo readying to kill ochagama with a poison injection. thes uses his powers to knock it away and it stabs poclo in the neck instead.

Tirol makes him beg for an ampoule to cure the poison, not letting up until he hands over 300k sols.

They give the high priest the moss and he starts feeling better instantly... but everyone rushes out of the room as they realize all of the stored up power in him is about to burst out.

A giant pink beam of light shoots up through the roof of the temple and into the sky. once it clears, thes rushes back in to check on ochagama, who seems to be in good spirits again.

Thes tells him that tirol came to visit and she's the one who came up with the plain to save him, but then they look around and realize she's gone.

Thes finds her at the gate. looking at her, tirol hasn't changed much visually in 10 years but it's clear how much stronger she's become as a person. Tirol: ".......Tell great-gramps I said hi..." Thes: "I will." Tirol: "...And you stay well too..." Thes: "I will." Silence. Thes: "Tell... Akaboshi and Nekoyanagi that I hope you all remain friends..." Tirol: "Ugh, tell them that yourself!"

After tirol leaves, some priests come running up to thes, saying they talked to ochagama about the issue of who his successor should be. they say he agreed to have thes become the official successor, which would prevent others like poclo from trying to assassinate him again to gain power for themselves.

Thes internally seems conflicted, as he understands why tirol would leave to see what's out in the world and not be confined to the area of the temple. however, he agrees to go talk to the high priest about the issue.

The priests take him away, thes giving one last look out to the desert and thinking that he'll one day see tirol again.

THE END

Other notes:

*Literally enbi-gusa, yet another mention of that fire god who mushroom keepers (at least bisco's tribe) worship.

It seems like most sect leaders don't think well of Amli and the Kusabira sect.

The citymaker command that thes uses is said to be a spell he learned directly from ochagama.

Tirol refers to her friendship with Bisco/Milo as "kusare en" just like Bisco did in the previous short story.

The way thes's POV of tirol is described, it seems like he's had a crush on her for a long time.

#sabikui bisco #rust eater bisco #sbkb summary series #ochagama tirol

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