2.4 School Meals and Sora
Sora follows Shiloh and his classmates to the school cafeteria. The cafeteria itself is divided into three floors. According to Asia, “The first floor is for 1st years, the second floor is for 2nd years, and the third floor is for 3rd years.”
Sora trembles, waku waku, with excitement at seeing students gathered around the somewhat large, round tables. My school didn’t have school meals.
The moment Shiloh and Sora’s classmates enter the cafeteria, every student inside stands up and stares at them.
“?” What a reaction… “Hey, did I do something—”
Shiloh and the others ignore the stares and head for an empty table. Sora can only guess about the situation of his classmates as he exchanges glances with Yami.
A menu is on the table. It lists various types of food like, rabbit soup, fernen, and goblin skewers.
Sora gets lost from all the options. He says, “Any recommendations?”
Ray trembles, piku piku, as he musters his courage to say, “Eh, etto, the rabbit soup…”
Rabbit soup… the rabbit should be a low leveled monster which has its meat boiled in a stew.
Sora says, “Great, I’ll have a rabbit soup.”
Yami says, “Me too.”
Asia then calls over a nearby French maid. Sora looks at the cute girl and, Uwahh, a maid-san…
The maid says, “May I take your order?”
Sora says, “We’d like five bowls of rabbit soup.”
“Certainly, I’ll be a few minutes.”
“Then, we’ll wait.” Once the maid returns, Sora asks for an extra bowl.
The maid says, “Of course,” and returns to the kitchen.
Asia then asks a strange question. “Why did you ask for another dish, desu no?”
“Did you forget about Sura?”
““Eeh!?””
Sora is then told that pets have their own exclusive feed. That does make sense. Dogs get stuff like dog food… but what would a slime get?
He says, “Really? Well, that’s way too troublesome to bother over. Sura can have the same thing as me.”
The maid soon returns with the extra bowl.
Sora gets ready to eat. The bowl’s contents is a consommé filled with rabbit meat.
Ray says, “So tasty…”
Shiloh says, “Delicious.”
Asia says, “Desu no!”
Two men with wolf ears, beastmen (beast), approach them while baring their fangs.
Uwah, they looks like trouble… I shouldn’t get involved with them.
One of the two grins as he says, “Ah? What are you “drop outs” doing eating here?” He then looks around and adds, “I’m pretty sure you “drop outs” don’t belong here. What do all of you think?!”
““Yeah! That’s right!””
Shiloh and the others bite their lips with frustration as everyone says, ““Get out!””
Ah—h, so it’s like that. How annoying… Well, it’s not like they’re attacking me.
The wolfman turns to Sora and says, “So who are you? A transfer student?”
Sora ignores him and continues eating. “….Mogu mogu.” He then begins drinking his soup.
An anger mark appears on the wolfman’s face just like in a manga. He says, “Bastard! Don’t ignore me!” He slams the table.
—Don
Since Sura is the only one still eating, her bowl is the only one that spills rabbit soup over the table as it flips through the air. Unable to do anything, she can only stare at her spilled soup.
Sura doesn’t have a face, but Sora knows she’s sad. How could I not? She’s always with me.
The wolfmen laugh at the scene. “Ha, ha, how wasteful! It completely spilled all over the table!”
“Say, what’s a small fry slime even doing this far north!?”
Sora rises saying, “Shut up.” He won’t stay quiet if his important companion (Sura) gets bullied. “You called them “drop outs” just now, right?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“You say “drop outs,” but isn’t this school a gathering of drop outs?”
The wolfman flush with anger and strikes Sora. “You bastard! What was that?”
Sora looks around and see that the surrounding students are also drawing closer. I honestly didn’t think they’d get that riled up.
He says, “Prostrate yourself before me, “drop out.” Gravity Manipulation [Gravity Control].”
Sora increases gravity on the first floor. He only spares Yami, Sura, his classmates, and the maids.
—Don
While most students drop to the ground, some continue to eat their meals unhindered. He didn’t make the gravity too strong, those with some power would be able to resist it.
Sora says, “So this is all you can take, how disappointing… Hoo, you can still glare at me?”
“Agh agh…”
Sora increases the pull of gravity. Moans, not shrieks, overflow from the cafeteria. While some students pass out, others wet themselves.
…This should be enough? I want to keep punishing them, but anymore and they might die.
Sora releases Gravity Manipulation [Gravity Control] while saying, “Next time you bother my companions, I won’t hold back.”
His classmates look at him with refreshed expressions as he sits back down. Shiloh’s eyes shine as she says, “That was amazing!”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, it was great—” The wolfman attacks and she says, “Look out!”
Sora stands and reaches out with his left hand. It’s with his artificial hand created by Vera, but he can somewhat tell that he’s grabbing the wolfman’s face. The wolfman releases filthy screams, “Agh, agh, agh, agh!” as he’s lifted off the ground.
Now what do I do? While wondering that, the board chairman [Lydia] enters the cafeteria.
Ah! She must have heard the noise. That works.
The board chairman [Lydia] says, “Uwahh! What happened!” Sora throws the wolfman at her. She catches him with one hand while saying, “Sora-kun!!! I’m the board chairman!?”
The surrounding students all bow their heads to the board chairman [Lydia]. The wolfman, however, hangs limp in her grasp. Having fainted, his eyes dangle open with the whites of his eyes showing.
Sora says, “Be quiet, I don’t care about any of that. Just take care of him.”
“You don’t care….? Well, fine, then, how about telling me what happened?”
Sora, finding the task too troublesome, leaves it to his classmates. Meanwhile, he calls over the maid and orders Sura another bowl of rabbit soup. Once he returns his attention to the table, the board chairman [Lydia] is for some reason focusing on him. His classmates all wear apologetic expressions.
The board chairman [Lydia] says, “Sora-kun, I understand your circumstances, but using magic and skills on school grounds is a violations of our rules. That’s why, after this, come with me so we can discuss the situation. It’s troublesome, but since you caused this incident, I believe we should talk.”
That sounds like it’ll be difficult. “No way. That’s too annoying.” Besides, what school regulation did I violate? You haven’t explained a single thing to me.
“Please.”
“No.”
The board chairman [Lydia] lowers her head for a deep bow as she says, “…Not even if I do this?”
The surrounding students raise their voices in confusion. They say, “Why is the board chairman bowing to him?” and “That board chairman is?”
The board chairman is the most recognized person on the academy. Her lowering her head to a random student appears strange to everyone else.
Sora gives in to the painful expressions on everyone’s faces. “….I’ll go.”
The board chairman [Lydia] raises her head the second he agrees. On her face is a grin, nyari.
Sora says, “You! You tricked me!”
The board chairman [Lydia] takes Sora’s hand while saying, “What’s this about? Anyway, let’s go!” Since she’s an S rank, she easily pulls him along despite him trying stand his ground.
Sora is taken to a conference room. The inside is smaller than the round table in Maou’s Castle. Seated around a reasonably sized round table are some adults. Are round tables popular in this world? More than that, they gather up way too fast.
The board chairman [Lydia] draws an empty chair and sit down. She says, “Everyone, thank you for gathering. While I believe all of you already know the reason for this conference, I’ll go over it just in case—”
Once the board chairman [Lydia] finishes, a bald headed person with a long, thin, face speaks. “A pupil who enrolled just today already violated a regulation? We’ll have to provide strict discipline.”
Sora doesn’t pay any attention to the following deliberation. They can expel me or I can drop out, either one is dandy.
The board chairman [Lydia] calls out his name. “Sora-kun, is there anything you’d like to say?”
Sora, despite not knowing the situation due to not paying attention, speaks his mind. “Well, to start with, no one ever told me the school regulations.”
“Ah…”
–Cute Star shall be taking temporary leave. Rehearsal for a role in the .hack translation keeps her too busy–
Sora isn’t punished. Responsibility for the situation falls to the academy due to not having instructed him over the academy’s regulations. Truthfully, Sora is a bit regretful over the matter. Well, whatever.
Once the conference is over, he returns to the classroom to look for Yami and Sura. He finds them enjoying themselves. Yami chats with her classmates while Sura hops side to side.
Seeing them reminds him of something he decided. Are they healthy?
Yami notices Sora and takes small steps, teku teku, towards him. She hugs him while saying, “Masta, welcome back!”
“Ye- yeah.”
Asia says, “Welcome back, desu no!”
Shiloh says, “You’ve returned, welcome back.”
Ray says, “We- welcome back.”
Sora becomes bashful at everyone’s warm reception. He separates from Yami and summaries the details of the conference. Afterwards, they talk about this and that until the beginning of the afternoon lessons.
Unlike earlier, Sora decides to stay without the need of any encouragement. However, since he’s already familiar with the contents of the lecture, he plays the role of the boke[1]up until he hears, “Eh~, that allowed for slaves to be treated like property—”[2]
Slaves as property…?
Slaves, according to Elias’s memories, are living beings without dignity, rights, or freedom. Their owners possess complete control over their lives and can use them as free labor or for prostitution. They are perceived as nothing more than things. Where I lived, it was natural for everyone to be treated as equal.
For Sora, the idea that someone is a slave (a possession) fills him half with disgust and half with curiosity. Are there any cute slaves? This is another world. I could buy some cute slaves and make a harem… right? …I could go tomorrow.
Class ends while Sora entertains such thoughts. Yami approaches him and sits on his lap. She says, “Masta, what are you thinking about?”
“Hm? Nothing much.”
“Masta, you’re a pervert.”
“Eeh? What are you… well, that’s fine. More importantly, did you enjoy the lesson?” Once tomorrow’s hour lesson ends, I’m checking out the slave market. If Yami enjoys these lessons, then I’ll just have her come by herself.
“It was fun!”
Sora strokes Yami’s head while saying, “Really? You’re such a good child.” He continues to stroke her hair and explain tomorrow’s plans.
Yami is dejected, but says, “Understood.”
Sora then decides to stay for the remainder of the day’s lessons. Yami did say she enjoys them.
–Since Cute Star is busy, say hello to Noble Diamond, once I learn how to make him–
Sora becomes aware of a serious problem once it’s time to go home. He gathered Yami and Sura, but we don’t have a home to return to.
They are in the Kouhalia Kingdom while their inn is in the Lunega[3] Kingdom. Travel between the two places takes a day. What should I do…?
Asia hurries over and says, “Yami-chan is staying in my room, desu no!”
Sora says, “Hold on, Asia. What do you mean your room?”
“Eh? I’m talking about my room in the dormitory, desu no.”
“Oh, the dormitory.” Sora wants to tsukkomi with, What dorm!? Regardless, he’s relieved to discover they have a place to stay. He then says, “By the way, do you know who I’m rooming with?”
When it comes to dorms, they’re allotted by pairs… If I’m roomed with a beautiful girl, I might cross a line—
Asia says, “I’m pretty sure it’s with Gin-senpai from the second year, desu no!”
“…Really? Thanks.”
Sora separates from Yami and heads for the dormitory. It reminds him of a high class hotel with verandas beside the windows and a clear chandelier hanging in the lobby. Lots of maid-san keep the place sparkling, pika pika, clean.
A maid approaches him as he enters. She has black hair cut in a bobbed style and gentle eyes. She says, “Welcome, are you Sora-sama?”
Sora is startled by the maid suddenly calling out to him, but he feigns calmness. “I am.”
“Excellent! Well then, please follow me. I’ll bring you to you room.”
T/N: Anyone else disgusted with Sora this chapter?? Sure, considering his age and life style, his curiosity on slavery is natural. Wanting to start a harem would be natural, but it’s completely out of sync with what his personality has been revealed to be. It could just be him acting tough, but he still disgusting. He may redeem himself somewhat if he burns the slave market to the ground… Also, I really can’t see Yami just separating from him for a night. Her character is more the, “Get out of my way, I’m going to masta’s room,” and then literally take the shortest path there by walking through walls. By the way, anyone else think Gin-senpai is that wolf guy from earlier??
-Gandire Alea
1 The fool in a comedy routine.
3 I may have misread this as Nelga Kingdom in earlier chapters. I’ll be going back to double check and make the corrections if needed. If I miss any, let me know.
thank you for the chapter, we will try to understand our MC sora has all the memories of elias and this makes him not keep the personality of the earth complete, after receiving the memories of elias he changes several points of view, and Elijah must have seen many things in the world, in some novels they say that slavery in this way of life is not so bad, it is rather the way slaves are treated like work rights, such as not being beaten or raped, well think if some were not slaves would be thugs or die of hunger, remember that these days is a disgusting act, more remember that we can not save all people a fact as we can say would be parts of the African continent.
Sorry my english.
Thanks for the insight
Thanks for doing this chapter!?
I’ve done a little reflection on my perspective of the MC since last chapter.
If I remember correctly Sora ended up in a situation of being caught up in — what he would consider — a strange world with strange things; so it becomes obvious that he simply tries to adapt and survive, especially after having been back stabbed by the queen. Following that event was the training period to become OP. Which was abruptly interrupted by a transition to deciding to meet the Demon King, a time skip return journey from the Demon King’s castle — where he’s supposedly become more like a Demon King himself, and then an abrupt transition to a school arc.
It’s fair to say that in between all those skips in the story is where context on Sora’s character is lacking. It suggests that he went through a lot of transitioning where none was mentioned. And it’s because we’re being left out in the dark about these changes to Sora’s character that we feel that this is too sudden, or that the author just can’t make up his mind.
Looking at the way this story is progressing leaves me to believe that the author has all of these awesome story ideas in mind, but is too lazy to include them in his story. I believe the author runs the scenarios in his head and then only writes out the conclusions as he pleases, thinking it’s enough. It’s also obvious that the author just wants to run through as any cliches as possible from what I can see.
But one of my biggest concerns is that the author is running ahead of his own story. Plot developments are left unfinished or simply forgotten, characters have no personality, the MC has become frivolous in accordance to what seems to be the author’s random mood swings, and finally even the setting and theme are either obscure, or nowhere to be found at this point. There are a number of things left unsaid in the plot such as reasoning, foreshadowing, dramatic suspense, and most of all a foundation upon which the story could build. For instance what happened to the situation with the queen? Did Sora not have friends he cared about and would have wished to return to? What about that time where he met a former comrade of the previous Hero? Why would he not want to learn more about the queen or about his friends’ predicament? Why must the author leave us hanging and think he can rewrite what could have been an awesome Fantasy into a Slice of Life joke!? It frustrates me to no end to read stories like this.
Overall, I would rate/describe this as a low quality rip-off of a similar — but far more engaging — Novel: Shinka no Mi. (The Web Novel is good, but the Light Novel is definitely better). To that end I hope that — if there is one — the Light Novel adaptation for this Web Novel is far better than what I’ve read so far. I will state however, that this is by far not nearly the worst novel I’ve read. I do find it interesting, and will continue to read it until that interest (or boredom) runs out.
Thanks for the chapter!
Well, I was surprised by the sudden “slave harem” talk so didn’t think about it… and tbh seeing these weird things is a bit refreshing after my recent reads.
And yes, I also think Yami would really go through walls to meet him, maybe she accepted because she likes the girls (yes, not really convincing, I know).
Well… Hm… I think I kinda understand where the mental leap was. “Slavery is disgusting” is the knee-jerk reaction because we’re taught it’s wrong. There were places that actually weren’t too bad about slavery like ancient Athens (and there were more places where it was pure evil as far as I’m concerned). “It’s another world…” When in Rome, do as the Romans do. At the very least, he can go visit the slave market to confirm whether it’s really as disgusting as he thinks it is… And he’s under no obligation to treat slaves like slaves if he buys one he likes.
… But my personal guess is he’ll enjoy the lessons too much to leave and go slave shopping.
Thanks
Gandire,
I think the general problem with trying to get a grasp on Soras personality is just that this series is a bit cavalier with what details are important and what aren’t. Overall i still find this enjoyable to read and thank you for the translations, but the pacing feels far too fast which can cause problems with actually defining a characters motivation. Sora is initially disgusted by the thought of slavery but then thinks about getting slaves, so the problem is we’re missing the transition between these two diametrically opposed ideas. There may be more of an underlying reason than what we were given on the surface but the author doesn’t quite expand enough into that.
Anyways thanks for the new chapter.
Thank you for clarifying. (Not sarcasm) Your right, I was not putting two and two together on this being the author’s first book. Hopefully, he get’s better. There was some improvement in this book,
The only possible excuse I can think of for Sora is that his Insanity Mode skill or w/e it was called, has a passive effect on him over time instead of an active only effect. I mean, it’s really hard to follow the train of thought with pacing this bad after all.
It’s probably inconsistent bad writing, but we can hope it’s something a bit bigger than that, right?
On a side note, I can’t really understand where Sora’s backbone goes half the time, or where it comes from the other half.
Thank you for clarifying. (Not sarcasm) I was really confused about his inconsistency.
That makes a lot of sense, but I wish the author really meant it that way. If not I wish someone would tell the him of this so that he can at least avoid a terrible mistake.