10-5 When Kamakura Calls

“Grandpaaa—! Where did you go—!”

Wh—what?

Huh, a child?

But taking a closer look, this child somehow looked familiar…

“Dad! Where have you been?”

Y-you are—.

You are that dragon man who fought me during the A-rank exam.

Ahh, now that I look properly, his wife was here too.

“Hm? You are definitely the one from the A-rank exam.”

And on top of that!

D-dad, did you say!?

“Ohhh yes indeed. Jenny-chan. It is Grandpa, you know—”

Grandpa picked up his adorable half-dragon granddaughter.

Hey… old man.

“Ahem.”

His Highness the Crown Prince gave a small cough, looking slightly troubled.

“Oh, my apologies. Now then, honored guests, this way please.”

Even though he was just about to begin an important ritual he probably did not perform very often, he still had his granddaughter in his arms, and on top of that his son and daughter-in-law naturally came along too.

I urged His Highness the Crown Prince onward and followed after them.

And then I saw a shocking sight.

Th-this is… a shrine?

A bright red torii gate, and an approach lined with stones on a gravel path.

Naturally, a dragon ornament sat enshrined over the hand-washing water.

And the dragon design was clearly recognizable as an Ancient Dragon too.

Which part of this was Kamakura and the Great Buddha?

Gods and Buddhas were completely different things.

Well, a foreigner probably would not question it in particular, and besides, the people who came here were not foreigners but people from another world, so I guess anything went.

Come to think of it, he had been dressed in something like Japanese clothing.

He seemed to be the sort who valued atmosphere.

But he was not dressed like a Shinto priest.

Well, even in Japan, I was never quite sure where you were supposed to buy something like that.

The shrine had a shrine office, and they were selling protective charms and such.

Who in the world was buying those things?

Were there even worshippers coming here at all??

But that person was me.

I ended up buying some.

And quite a lot of them, too.

The scent of Japan made me nostalgic, and before I knew it.

And I thought I would give them to the children at the Beast-Ear Garden.

At least let those unfortunate children have the protection of the first king and his allied dragon.

I might as well buy some for the others too.

Before long, Antonio might need one for safe childbirth prayers too.

I should buy that while I am at it.

While all that was going on, it seemed the preparations for the “Crown Prince Rite” had been completed.

But when I went to see it, I was struck speechless.

That was!

“It is just an omikuji fortune slip!”

Good grief, so all he had to do was climb the mountain alone, steel his nerves against a dragon, draw an omikuji, and go home?

Was this a test of courage at some mountain shrine or what?

Well, I suppose that still made it look suitably impressive.

But I managed to buy Japanese-style shrine charms in an unexpected place too, so I guess that was fine.

And the charms too—perhaps because of the one selling them—felt very efficacious, or rather, unmistakably miraculous.

“Listen well, future king. Hear this carefully. From among these, you must draw the one that says ‘When Kamakura Calls.’ However, you may draw only once. Face it with your whole body and soul.”

Seriously, Takeshi.

That is insane.

Or rather, no matter which one he drew, the thing that came out was the same?

Having every single omikuji be a great blessing had no style at all.

As His Highness the Crown Prince poured in his determination, the magical power emanating from the omikuji box also intensified!

Amazing!

Hm?

What was this feeling?

Ah.

This was that exact feeling from when those spirits were greedily sucking away my magic power.

When I appraised the omikuji box again in that state, it said, “As a unique skill possessed by the artifact, if there is someone nearby with powerful magic above a certain threshold, it can draw up and use that magic as a boost.”

I had been had~.

So that was the king’s real reason for summoning me.

He must have thought of using my magical power for this effect at the very last moment.

Well, fine.

His Majesty always took care of me.

But this meant he owed me one!

And you too, Takeshi Funabashi.

I have most certainly accepted your challenge across a thousand years.

If it was something you made, it would easily endure a little overload.

And if it was a magical tool, then even if it broke, I could probably somehow fix it with the Regeneration skill.

I thoroughly—no, very thoroughly—kneaded up magical power, then while carefully making sure it remained properly invisible, I secretly blasted that power into the omikuji box in a directional emission.

Man, this was actually a little fun.

It almost felt as if Takeshi and I were fighting side by side in a contest of magical power.

The omikuji box was now shining so brilliantly with magical light that it looked ready to explode.

His Highness the Crown Prince, who had his eyes shut and was concentrating with all his heart, did not notice at all.

Was even the radiance filtering through his eyelids not enough to disturb his focus?

This was truly the dignity of one who would be the next king.

And Professor Mari looked a little flustered.

“A person with no restraint × another person with even less restraint. That is the one multiplication I really wish had not happened~”

Then the whole surrounding area shone brightly, and a torrent of light burst forth as if exploding.

By the time it subsided, an omikuji was in His Highness the Crown Prince’s hand.

But it was not just an ordinary omikuji.

When I appraised it, it said, “Super Besmagil Omikuji Paper.”

At that, even I burst out laughing.

What an absurd thing we had ended up making.

Serves you right, Your Majesty.

Go ahead and clutch your head in despair over how to handle this thing!

We did it.

I raised my right hand high and shared an air high-five with the imaginary Takeshi from a thousand years ago.

Mari was clutching her head, and Ars had a look on his face like, “I cannot believe this.”

His Highness the Crown Prince at long last managed to finish this troublesome “Crown Prince Rite,” and had a relieved expression on his face.

But you would only be able to make that face for now.

How heartwarming.

Mari was glaring at me with an awful expression, but I did not care.

When I checked my MP, a bit over half of it had been eaten up.

Roughly two undecillion MP.

That was almost the same amount of magical power that had been consumed by all those spirits throughout the world.

If I used that much MP, how much material could I normally create?

Even if it were Besmagil, the amount produced should have been incredible.

If it were turned into standard-sized Besmagil swords, it would be about one hundred thousand of them.

And that had only generated enough for a single omikuji slip, something equivalent to one sheet of paper.

It really devoured magical power like crazy—or maybe it was just horribly inefficient.

It had almost the same nature as God-type magic, but even that had never consumed magical power this absurdly before.

Still, that must have only been possible because I poured in that ridiculous flood of magical power and drew out the latent potential of the omikuji box handcrafted by Takeshi Funabashi to its utmost limit.

And since that earnest prince had prayed with single-minded devotion, the artifact his ancestor left behind responded to that as well.

Even with my power, there was no telling whether I could ever make something like this again.

And things like this absolutely never accepted copying either.

In any case, with that, the “Crown Prince Rite” concluded safely.

After sharing various Japanese foods with the dragon family and chatting with them for a while, then saying, “See you,” we decided to take our leave from the sacred mountain by teleportation magic.