Isekai Nonbiri Nouka Chapter 1058: Pilot Suit and Yame’s Power

I discussed the Multipurpose Humanoid Mobile Heavy Machine, Arti-Horse, that Ursa had returned to the village with, and that Rana-san had given to her.

If Ursa had no use for it, we would have to find another purpose for it.

However, Ursa said she would be more than happy to have it.

We would still need to train pilots, though.

Would that be all right?

In that case, the Multipurpose Humanoid Mobile Heavy Machine would go to Ursa.

Let me know once you have a place ready for it.

I’ll ask Dors to have one of his subordinates handle the transportation.

-0-

At a glance, the pilot suits seemed to fall into two basic types.

Loose-fitting ones and skin-tight ones.

Based on those two types, they had been given all sorts of decorations and finished in a wide variety of designs.

Zabuton and the others were delighted by the unfamiliar designs.

And so was Yoru.

She hadn’t been able to pilot the Multipurpose Humanoid Mobile Heavy Machine because there hadn’t been a pilot suit that fit her.

It’s finally here.

Yeah, you can choose whichever one you like.

Let’s ask Zabuton to adjust the size.

Hmm?

Are you sure you want the skin-tight pilot suit?

The skin-tight pilot suits perform better?

The loose-fitting pilot suits are designed to be shared by multiple people, while the skin-tight ones are made specifically for one person?

So they’re more effective because they’re specialized for a single user.

Well, if Yoru likes it, that’s fine.

……

Klim wants one, too?

She needs one to ride anything other than Siegfried.

Well, that’s true.

But the size…

Ah, there are pilot suits for children, too.

The children’s pilot suits are generally loose-fitting, probably to account for their growing bodies.

Klim said she would have preferred a skin-tight one.

Don’t worry. You’ll grow soon enough.

As I patted Klim on the head, Zabuton came over.

What about my pilot suit?

Ah, what should I do?

I do want to ride one.

But I feel like I’d be satisfied after riding it once or twice.

It feels bad to have one prepared just for that.

So I’d rather have one prepared for Yuri before mine.

Yeah, Yuri, the Demon King’s daughter.

Whenever she comes to the village, she has so much fun riding the Multipurpose Humanoid Mobile Heavy Machine.

Yuri can operate it without wearing a pilot suit, but apparently it’s safer if she wears one.

As for mine, just prepare one if there’s time.

-0-

Yame-san has settled into village life.

Lately, she has often been spending time with the father cat, Raigiel.

The father cat, Raigiel… can’t really say no to Yame-san?

He looks like he wants to run away, but he endures it without fleeing.

Maybe that’s why the mother cat, Jewel, gets angry and demands that he be returned to her.

Lately, one of my daily routines has been calming the angry Jewel while holding her on my lap.

-0-

Now then.

There is no question that we should visit the uninhabited island Ursa prepared for Yame-san.

For now, I’d like to visit at least once before the autumn harvest begins.

I’ve been making preparations for that, but…

Since Gucci suggested it, I’d like to take either Bulga or Stifano with me, but I have a feeling Yame-san won’t like that.

I’ve heard all sorts of things from Yame-san, and I don’t think it’s right to hit someone just because it gives you good luck.

I wanted to hear their side of things from Gucci, Bulga, and Stifano… but Gucci was tied up at Doraim’s nest, and Bulga was busy taking care of Kukulkan, so I asked Stifano instead.

「Village chief, there is a misunderstanding, or rather, a difference in perception.」

What do you mean?

「Um, Village chief, don’t you think Yame is a weak and fragile devil?」

She’s not?

Bulga said Yame-san was weak.

And the story about her sealing herself away was because she lost to a general, right?

「That’s not true. Yame is among the strongest devils. I know the story about her losing to the general, but there are almost no devils who could defeat that general.」

……Really?

「It’s true. That general was incredibly strong, even though he was human.」

O-oh.

Huh?

But what about Bulga saying Yame-san was weak?

「Yame has a lot of weaknesses… so she dies very easily.」

Weaknesses?

「Yes. And she’s mentally weak, too…」

Ah, I can kind of understand that.

But hitting someone like Yame-san…

「Our attacks couldn’t hurt the Yame of the past. Of course, none of us were capable of killing Yame.」

Really?

「If I had to compare the difference in power between the Yame of the past and us, it would be like Hakuren-sama and a young Hiichirou-sama. Yame was like Hakuren-sama.」

So there was about as much difference as between a parent and child?

「Not as much as with Versa-sama, but Yame is an older devil than any of us.」

I-I see.

So it was like a child playfully pestering their parent.

And hitting her was just part of devil culture?

「There is no such culture. We hit Yame for her own sake, too.」

What do you mean?

「Yame stores up attacks when she is attacked.」

?

「Simply put, she remembers the attacks used against her and can use those same attacks herself. Yame can endure them with her natural durability, so she doesn’t die. That means her opponent ends up getting hit by their own attacks…」

Ah, an invincible ability?

「No, no. She has a mountain of weaknesses. One of them is that she can only attack as many times as she has been attacked.」

So if she’s punched ten times, she can only punch back ten times.

「Yes. But since she can store them, she gets attacked by people she isn’t fighting so that she can build up a stockpile of attacks.」

I-I see.

「It is true that hitting her brings good luck, but that’s bait to get people to attack her.」

So that’s what it was.

「Yes. That’s why Yame deliberately moves around in ways that encourage people to hit her.」

Come to think of it, she did ask me if I’d like to punch her.

I turned her down, though.

So was my understanding of Yame-san completely wrong?

No, wait.

……What about dragging her around?

Yame-san said that Gucci and the others used to drag her around even though she hated it.

「As I said earlier, Yame is among the strongest devils, but she has many weaknesses…If we leave her alone, she can be killed, or die, surprisingly easily.」

For her safety?

「Even if she is killed or dies, she will come back to life, but she isn’t mentally resilient. It becomes troublesome.」

Really?

Ah, no, I suppose she is troublesome enough to seal herself away after losing.

「Well, we did want to show off our own abilities, too.」

For all that, you don’t seem to show much respect toward Yame-san.

「If we showed her respect, wouldn’t that make Yame a target?」

Ah.

「Back then, we were causing quite a commotion, so we had a lot of enemies, one way or another.」

So you protected her by dragging her around with you.

「That was the intention…But I can’t deny that people mistook her for one of our companions and started targeting her even more.」

Oof.

「We also dragged her into the trouble we caused and asked her to clean up after the messes we made…」

Hmm.

Putting her through so much that she would faint just from seeing your faces…

「Gucci-sama and Bulga really like Yame. So, um, you could think of them as puppies that simply can’t control themselves.」

I couldn’t help imagining two large puppies that would crush Yame-san beneath them.

Hmm?

Is Stifano not quite as bad?

「I like Yame, too.」

Another puppy joined the group.

-0-

The decision about whether to take Bulga or Stifano to the uninhabited island was left to Yame-san.

According to Stifano, even if Yame-san didn’t like the idea, she wouldn’t refuse.

And that’s exactly what happened.

-0-

●Gucci’s Assessment of Yame

Gucci: 「Most devils are surprisingly difficult to kill, practically immortal. So Yame, who is famous for being 『unkillable』, is very strange and interesting.」

Yame: 「Just because I’m interesting, don’t think I’ve forgotten how many times you tried to watch me die! And you’ve used me as a shield more than anyone else!」

-0-

●Bulga’s Assessment of Yame

Bulga: 「She takes my full-power attacks without dodging. Amazing!」

Yame: 「That doesn’t mean it’s okay to ambush me while I’m sleeping. It’s not like it doesn’t hurt!」

Bulga: 「I heard you don’t actually take any damage, though?」

Yame: 「Obviously I’m just pretending it doesn’t hurt!」

-0-

●Stifano’s Assessment of Yame

Sti: 「One of Yame’s weaknesses is… Normally, when you realize your own attacks are being returned to you, you’d weaken your attacks or stop attacking altogether, right? When that happens, the only attacks Yame can use are the ones she has already stored from other people, so it’s difficult for her to actually win. Yame isn’t that fast on her feet, either, so if her opponent runs away, she can’t chase them down.」

Yame: 「I, I’m just letting them go. They’re not worth my time!」

Sti: 「Since she doesn’t win very often, devils who don’t know her underestimate Yame… and then Gucci-sama gets really angry about it.」

Yame: 「Really?」

Sti: 「Yame beat Gucci-sama to a pulp once.」

Yame: 「T-that was because he got stubborn… and he’d just been attacked by a dragon right before that.」

-0-

●Prada’s Assessment of Yame

Prada: 「The reason the devils began serving the dragons was partly because the dragons were trying to figure out what to do about Yame. When the devils decided to serve the dragons, the dragons immediately started asking, 『Where is Yame?』」

Yame: 「Huh? Really? I didn’t know that.」