Go Big To Go Home: A Kaiju-Fighting Isekai LitRPG (Book 1 Complete!)

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#172

The following weekend found Mikayla, as was her wont, in the library.

There were several names that Mikayla had retrieved from the vision she'd had about Pierce Blastreyne and Nomad. Raya, Grace Hystia, Tyria, Hare. Naturally, the Nomad was the most important one, but it had also proved quite elusive. So of course she was devoting time and effort to seeking out the owners of these names.

To her surprise, the last and least important-sounding of the names was the one that had turned up the most information. Hare. Or, more specifically,

Queen Hare Kransux of the Sylvane Highlands.

Mikayla had stumbled upon

that

little nugget as an an entry in a compendium of the world's greatest historical rulers (which she wasn't surprised to find included everyone related to the king of Kuna at the time, who had authorised the publication of the book).

That was propaganda for you.

She had wondered whether or not this figure was indeed the same Hare that she was looking for, but her biography had revealed a key detail; as a princess, Hare had run away from her home country to escape a political marriage and spent two decades living as an adventurer before finally being forced to return home and take the throne by the death of her mother.

It seemed that in the region known as the Termanian Union, to the west of Guili and Kuna, there were no Kaijus and therefore the response to monsters didn't need to be as organised as it was with the Goliath Guard. Bands of mercenaries, charitably called 'adventurers' - or at least that was how the word translated - were the premier solution to monsters, banditry, and other, more esoteric issues. Mikayla stifled the impulse to feel shafted by the fact that, if she'd been dropped into this world in Termania rather than the Kaiju Coast, she could have been playing real-life D&D by now.

Then again. She had her own personal giant robot. That was definitely cooler.

Hare's adventuring party had become quite renowned for two reasons; not only had they boasted

two

Demigods, one of their members also held the rare and oft-maligned profession of

monster tamer

. Mikayla let out a low whistle at the thought. This was her first time seeing any sort of reference to monster husbandry in Raibalie. "Phoenix's Eye," she murmured, committing their team name to memory. Another thing to search for. Monster taming in general was probably worth looking into as well. After all, she'd spent months in this world now and this was the first time she'd heard it suggested that such a thing was even possible.

Her research session was interrupted by approaching footsteps. Mikayla looked up and smiled. She'd invited Lydia to meet her here for a private conversation, and the disguised harpy had been polite enough to accept.

"Good morning, Mikayla," Lydia looked across the table strewn with books and notes, and let out a low whistle. "What's all this?"

"My hobby. I'm a historian, remember? I've got thousands of years' worth of parallel world history to learn about. It's fascinating!" She wasn't entirely lying about that - really, Mikayla would have been doing a lot of recreational reading anyway. The vision had just given her particular things to focus on.

Lydia glanced across the table full of literature and looked dizzy just taking it all in. "This is very different to how we record history where I'm from,"

"Ooh, do tell!"

"Bwha? Uh. We have songs," Lydia looked poleaxed, not expecting to be put on the spot, but a wistful expression crossed her face. "Passed down from master to apprentice for hundreds of years, shared and enjoyed by the whole tribe so that our heritage is preserved,"

"Oh, oral traditions!" Mikayla nodded appreciatively. "Do you find that people forget details or exaggerate them over time? I know you can read and write, is it a cultural holdover or are most harpies illiterate? Do the songs have musical accompaniments? What sort of instruments do you use?"

Lydia took a step back before she'd even realised, startled by Mikayla's barrage of questions. "I, um . . we have drums and horns, most of my people rarely need to read so not really, and . . I wouldn't know?"

"Right. Right, sorry. I've just never met someone who actually practices oral traditions before, it's all died out in my world," Mikayla apologetically clarified. "Ahem. That is not why I wanted to talk to you. Even though I am fascinated,"

"Well, I'll tell you more at a better time?" Lydia offered.

"Totally!" Mikayla paused, shaking her head to clear out the errant thoughts. "So, anyway. Lydia. I have an . . unreasonable and selfish request, so feel free to shoot me down if this is a tribal taboo or something -"

"Mikayla, when I came to Cloudscraper, I scarcely dared hope that I might find a friend who knew what I am and was still willing to befriend me," Lydia offered a warm smile. "After that, I can at the very least hear you out, whatever it is,"

"I want to copy Ivory's Engravings," Mikayla rushed out. "I want a Companion Core of my own, have since I knew it could be done, but I don't want to buy a pet just to kill them and Companion Cores apparently can't be traded around, and Allis - my Engraving teacher - said that she could help me make one if I could find one to use as a template, so . . it kinda fits, too,"

Lydia's face had tightened as she explained, but her expression softened again as Mikayla continued. She held out a pouch for Lydia to peer into. "This Pearl came from a Giant Roc. A really strong one. Me and Keldie had to kill it, but I didn't really want to, and I think I put it through a lot of pain that I didn't have to, too. So I don't know if there's anything left of that Roc in this Pearl, but maybe if I can give it a new life as a Companion Core then it might . . make amends, a bit, somehow,"

Mikayla looked back up at Lydia, who was deep in thought. "So, um . . can you help me?"

"This is a much more serious request than I was expecting. But not for the reason you think," Lydia answered. "Because . . well, here. Look at my Cores," She offered her Core Controller, peeling back the fabric cover that usually kept it concealed, and Mikayla peered at it. Unlike every other Core she'd seen to date, which were exclusively gemstones, these Cores were made of some solid, yellowed material. It almost looked like . .

"Are those Cores carved from

bones?"

"You can tell just by looking closely? If it's so obvious to you, then," Lydia winced. "Well. Yes. They are. In the Clanlands, we do not have dwarves to mine Cores for us, and very few will trade them to us. So we created our own method of fighting the Kaijus off, our own Engraving style. Bone Engraving is our trump card, one of our most hallowed secrets, and the elders were very emphatic that I'm not to let anyone look too closely at my Cores. I have no objections to you using Ivory as a template, but letting such a figure as Allis Ruogang see these, learn that such a thing can be created . ." Lydia's emotions wrestled all over her face.

"I get it. Don't worry about it, like I said it was selfish and unreasonable. I'll figure something else out," Mikayla shook her head.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Lydia wrestled with herself. "Wait. There's another way,"

Mikayla hesitated. "What do you mean?"

"Could you copy Ivory's pattern

without

your teacher's help? Without her being involved at all? And can you swear not to tell anyone that Bone Engraving is possible?"

"Of course I won't," Mikayla solemnly promised. "And . . I can try," She hummed. "But not right now. I'm too new at Engraving," She didn't like admitting it, but . . she also didn't want to waste hours of Lydia's time just to try again and again to create an exact copy of Ivory's pattern. "Is it alright with you if we just shelve this for a couple of months while I build up my skills and we'll talk about this again . . I dunno, closer to the end of the year?"

"Of course," Lydia smiled. "You're my friend. Thank you for being so considerate,"

"Oh no no not at all you're being way too generous already!" Mikayla blustered, flushing.

"No I'm not! It means so much to me that you know about me in the first place and still want to talk to me so how could I begrudge you some help?"

Mikayla hesitated, smiling bashfully. "Okay, okay, we're going in circles. We're both each other's good friend and are happy to help one another get stronger. Agreed?"

"Agreed!" Lydia took a chair, taking another look at Mikayla's research. She did an awkward little shuffle and eventually sat down sideways, and Mikayla tried not to stare. A stolen glance between the legs of the harpy's chair told her that Lydia's tailfeathers were hanging over the edge. A slight frown tugged her lips as she considered that; every chair in Guili was equipped with a tail hole to accomodate yaoguai. Were Lydia's tailfeathers too wide for that? Was she squashing herself into an uncomfortable hole every time she sat down to as to not blow her cover?

Was she that afraid of people finding out the truth, that this seemed like the preferable option?

"Mikayla?"

"Huh?" Mikayla started, realising Lydia had said something whole she zoned out. "Sorry, uh, fog in my ears,"

Raibalie euphemisms go!

"What did you say?"

"Just asked what you were researching,"

"Oh! Well, my current project is about trying to track down the activities of this really famous group of adventurers from six hundred years ago,"

"Oh. Uh. Why?"

"For fun," Mikayla casually lied. Even if she didn't quite trust Lydia with her secrets - which was possibly a bit hypocritical, but oh well - she

absolutely would

do something like this for fun, and had in the past. So the falsehood came easily and without a hint of guile.

Lydia cast her a concerned look, then shrugged it off. "I suppose that's fair enough. What have you found so far?"

"Their name was Phoenix's Eye, and they -" A slight gasp escaped Lydia's throat at the name.

Mikayla paused. ". . And you know that name,"

"Ah. I have, ahem, heard of them, yes," Lydia confirmed.

"Can you tell me anything about them?"

"They feature quite heavily in one of the songs of my tribe. Many centuries ago, they came to the Clanlands, chasing down a . ." Lydia shivered. "I'm not quite sure what word suits best. Criminal? Monster? Demon? Whatever it was, we remember him as the

Burkhananchin

,"

Mikayla digested that, looking back over her texts. "That is not a name that has come up,"

"It wouldn't have. The scholars of Guili never thought there was anything worth paying attention to in my people's 'backwards superstitions'," Lydia rolled her eyes. "But it's not a name. It's a title, one that entered the lexicon of the System,"

Mikayla was immediately fascinated by the fact that such a thing was possible, but there was a more immediate question to ask. "What does it mean?"

"God Hunter,"

". . . Well. That's ominous," Mikayla glanced back at the pile of books that weren't really getting her anywhere. "Do you know that song? Could you play it for me?"

Lydia winced. "I remember

most

of it? I can try,"

<=====}—o

It wasn't long until they were seated in the yard behind the girls' dorm house, with Lydia crouching over a drum and Mikayla trying to contain her excitement.

"I can't perform it properly on my own, I'd need someone on a horn and ideally some backup singers too," Lydia apologetically added.

"Oh don't worry about that, this is awesome. Whenever you're ready!" Mikayla eagerly encouraged her.

Both of them were oblivious to each other's true feelings; Mikayla was worried that she'd overstepped and asked too much. After all, it felt like Lydia was going to a lot of trouble for her and not getting much in return. However, Lydia was thrilled and flattered to have one of her closest friends taking an active interest in the culture of her people, a surer sign of friendship than she'd ever expected to receive.

So she smiled and started to sing.

"On the winds of the south the Burkhananchin came, at the head of a horde that knew nothing but pain,"

Her claws rapped out a three-count beat on the drum.

"Armed with iron teeth and a dragon's skull, he came to hunt and he came to cull,"

"The rivers burned and the mountains cried, and even the insects that looked at him died,"

"Our mightiest fell on that darkest of days, for Burkananchin saw even gods as prey,"

The tempo of the drum shifted, becoming more upbeat.

"The Tribelands were rent by his furious charge, but when all seemed lost a new hope loomed large,"

"As Burkhananchin broke down the gates of Barzakh, a ray of light came and struck him in the back,"

"Strange champions came, falling out of the sky. The heroes told us to call them Phoenix's Eye,"

"Thunder made manifest silenced the horde, their leaders cut down by a radiant sword,"

A radiant sword? Had that been When Many Hands Wield One Blade?

"Endless flames cleansed the taint left by their trail. The heroes of rainbows would surely prevail,"

Mikayla started. Rainbows? Well that all but confirmed it. {TEAMWORK} had been part of this battle.

"But Burkhananchin's cunning was worse than his might. While his servants were killed, he himself took flight,"

"The doors to the Sanctuary of Orgil were crushed, and Burkhananchin's . .

um," The drumbeat faltered, Lydia's features tightening.

Mikayla looked up. "What's wrong?"

"I . . I'm sorry. I don't remember the next line," the harpy apologetically shook her head, swallowing reflexively. "It was . . um . . something about a claw that ripped open the sky . . Oh!

And the champion of rainbows laid down and wept, for his triumph had earned him nothing but regret,"

"What?" Mikayla started. "That's a pretty abrupt tone shift,"

"Yeah, no, there was a line about,

Burkhananchin's most deadly blow struck true,"

Lydia rubbed her head, hiding her eyes. "I'm sorry, that's all I've got . ."

Mikayla swallowed her disappointment. "Don't be. That was really interesting!" It had given her a lot to think about, too. The 'champion of rainbows' was Pierce Blastreyne, surely. Thunder made manifest, endless flames, a claw that ripped open the sky - could those be allusions to the other members of his adventuring party? She'd already heard that there had been a monster tamer on the team, so the 'claw' possibly belonging to a tamed monster didn't seem that farfetched.

"I think I want to visit your home and hear the whole song someday, though. And all the other songs, too,"

Lydia smiled. "Really? Then I'll take you there, after we've all graduated. Or perhaps even during the end-of-year break. I think my clan would like you,"

Mikayla grinned. "Deal,"