Chapter 2
Jingai Musume 2
Getting a Grasp of the Status Quo
So what exactly happened?
The answer to that question was surprisingly simple: I reincarnated .
My death was a boring one . It wasn’t accompanied by any extenuating circumstances . I wasn’t involved in any sort of major incident, nor was I intentionally killed for any particular reason . I simply died in just another everyday accident . And then I was reborn .
I never met any sort of God . I wasn’t informed that I’d been killed . But I was certain that I’d died . The sensation was still vividly ingrained in my mind . I could still recall the feeling of the truck crushing my bones and mutilating my body beyond repair . I could still feel the blood and pain simultaneously seep from my body as my consciousness slowly vanished into the abyss .
A shiver ran up my spine as I recalled it . It was far too explicit a memory for it to be fake . I really had died . Taking a deep breath, I calmed my nerves and stopped myself from trembling . I chased the unpleasant memories out of my mind and set them aside . No good was going to come out of dwelling on the past .
When I came to, I found myself in what could only be described as a throne room, one filled with expensive looking chandeliers, walls, and pillars . There weren’t any windows, and it honestly seemed quite small for what it was . Behind me sat a single throne . It wasn’t overly decorated or particularly gaudy in any which way . Rather, it gave off a sense of majesty . A large blue carpet ran from one end of the room to the other . I followed it with my eyes as I observed the room in its entirety . There were very few ornaments placed within . The only expensive looking thing was the door that lay at the end of the hall .
All in all, the room gave off a sort of sinister feel . It looked like the kind of area that would likely be accompanied by a demon lord or some other sort of final boss, with the only difference being that it seemed a bit small .
My mind was blown . I couldn’t help but blankly stare as I slowly took in my surroundings . It took a good while for me to finally recover and realize that I needed to get a better grasp of my current situation .
I stood up . And as I did, my line of sight changed .
“The heck is that?”
I immediately spotted a rainbow coloured gem as I got to my feet . It was situated right behind the throne, and seemed to be be radiating a colourful light . The gem was circular, and seemed to be just a bit smaller than a basketball .
For some odd reason, I decided to reach out and touch it . I had no idea why I made the decision, but I did .
“What theaaaaaaaaaarrggh!?”
A head splitting pain assaulted my mind the moment my fingers touched the orb . It was like my brain was being tampered with against my will . Unpleasant, unnatural sensations coursed through my body as I fell on my hands and knees . Tears began to spill from the corners my eyes .
All I felt was pain . It hurt so bad I couldn’t see straight; the world had started rocking back and forth, tilting left and right . I felt nauseous, I almost wanted to vomit .
The hellish headache persisted at full strength for several seconds before slowly beginning to abate . It came and went in waves, fluctuating in intensity every few moments .
“I…see…”
I managed to squeeze out a few words between rapid, shallow breaths . I felt as if I’d suddenly been injected with knowledge, as if a dictionary had implanted itself inside my brain .
And that was exactly what had happened .
“Menu . ”
I recited one of the words the dungeon itself had taught me . A translucent, glass-like pane appeared in midair, materializing itself right in front of me . The knowledge I’d suddenly gained informed me that the menu I summonened was adaptable . Its appearance would change based on its beholder; it would morph in such a way that it was always appear as intuitive as possible . I used to be an avid consumer of video games, and for that reason, the dungeon seemed to have judged the that its menu should appear like that of a game’s .
If I was a goblin, it probably would have manifested as something along the lines of a stone slate instead, given how primitive they were .
I still felt a bit dizzy, so I placed a hand against my forehead to prevent the world from staggering as I looked down at the menu options . It seemed to have four buttons: Status, DP Catalogue, Dungeon, and Gacha . [1]
The last of the four immediately grabbed my attention . Rolling a gacha and trying my luck sounded tempting, really tempting . That said, I understood it wasn’t a good idea for me to try it without first obtaining a more robust understanding of my current situation .
For the time being, I decided to start off by checking out my stats . I manipulated the menu by tapping it, as I would a smartphone or other touch device .
“Wait… I’m an archdemon?”
Well, so much for being human…
[1] I didn’t localize this term because I feel that it’s already used enough in English . If anything, localizing it would make less sense . Anyway, for those that don’t know what these are, they’re machines with capsules inside of them . The capsules contain toys, and you never know what you’re going to get until you insert your money and give the thing a spin, but the prizes are sometimes listed somewhere if you look for them . They are commonly used in video games, particularly MMOs and asian mobile games, and typically function as a premium feature for paying users . Wikipedia link here for those that are still confused .