Diary Entry 30

After spending the night in jail, the constable said I was free to go, thankfully that vendor decided to not press charges. As I walked around the streets of Tortoise Island with my new gauntlets (yes, I did manage to get them), I occasionally came across some adolescent muttering or talking to the air. This wouldn't be a problem except I would accidentally catch words like "reincarnated" or "transmigrated" (I really should walk in noisier places, I hate listening to conversations I don't wanna hear). When this happened, I would look around to see if a friend or relative was around keeping an eye on them. If there wasn't, I would notify the local authorities. Oh, I probably should explain the lack of privacy for these kids.

There is a sort of mass delusion that affects a portion of the youth living on the Talamh Aisling continent that appears upon reaching adolescence. It goes by many names, but Chunnibyou, Isekai syndrome, and Transmigration disorder are the three most common ones. Adolescents that are affected are known as the Madtouched, as they behave as if they were touched by the Mad God itself. These kids should be monitored closely for their own safety, as they have a huge tendency to display a lack of common sense. And after what later became known as "The Fossil Fuel Monster Incident" (which lead to the first ever documented battle between Rank 20 monsters, maybe my editor- er, I mean friend, will make me explain that in a later entry), any of these teenagers attempting to create new technology or improve current inventions should be kept under surveillance for your own safety!

Symptoms of the delusion are extremely diverse, but the usual signs can include getting emotional about food, especially rice, mumbling about games, status, systems, or cheats, and finally, as I mentioned before, a lack of common sense (whether they never had it or seems to have disappeared, both count). The Madtouched may be convinced that they are supposed to save the world or some schlick. However the biggest red flag that you need to watch for is a Madtouched talking about being immortal or "respawning" in which case they are to be taken into immediate custody and taken to a Temple of dÚsachtach before they try to kill themselves to prove their claims.

I actually have an acquaintance who is suffering from this. His name is Tanaka Hiro, a samurai-in-training from Sakura. He is under the delusion that he is a victim of a 'Hero Summoning from Another World' conducted by a girl named Needha Gyro. I say it is a delusion because I know for a fact that Hiro is not from another world as his mother is in the same book club as mine. I also know that Needha is his childhood friend, so I wasn't sure what his problem was with her. All she does, is chase him with legal papers. According to him, the papers are a slave contract that will bind him to her forever but I think he is exaggerating.

There was one time I ended up having to save Hiro, and to a lesser extent, Needha. Hiro's mother had approached me one afternoon saying that Hiro and Needha had gone off to test a new weapon had made in the nearby forest. She asked if I would go keep an eye on them and since I didn't have anything better to do, I agreed. Changing myself into a Pyre Wolf, I tracked them down to a nearby forest.

Thankfully the two weren't too far in. The two kids were currently fighting a Mountain Cleaving Bear. Hiro was trying out the weapon he had made, which turned out to be a pistol, but it obviously didn't have any effect on a monster ranked 3 on the Dangerous Scale (the scale that monsters on their danger level, the highest recorded rank is 20 at the time of this entry). Even worse was the fact that they didn't seem to have brought any other weapons, just the one pistol between them. Seriously, the kid just has been training at the Kenshin Dojo for a few months by this time, and yet he didn't bring his sword, but a useless "firearm" instead!?

When the bear had knocked them to the ground I had decided to intervene. Still in my Pyre Wolf form, I first launched a fireball then circled around. As the bear turned around to deal with the fireball, I got behind it and attacked the back of its legs. The bear roared and turned around just as my fireball hit the back of its head. The monster actually lurched a bit from the impact, but it didn't fall, then again it is quite sturdy. Now enraged, I had to jump back in order toto dodge the destructive swipe from its claws. As I jumped back, I let loose a quick torrent of flame. I then circled around again to bite the bear's legs again.

I managed to repeat this strategy for a little longer until the bear decided to mix things up. As I was circling around to bite again, the monster slammed the ground creating a seismic shockwave that stunned me for a while. Thankfully, by this time, the kids were conscious by now. Needha distracted the bear while Hiro grabbed my hot wolfish body (I couldn't resist the pun, sorry). No longer stunned, I resumed launching fireballs and flame torrents at the monster while Needha held its attention and Hiro was relegated to providing support. Working together, the bear didn't last very long.

As the bear fell, I changed back into my human form, and walked over to Hiro who was celebrating with a victory dance. I got his attention with a head chop (just thinking about it back then, I really wished I had Tear-jerker back then). With his eyes starting to water, he turned around while clutching his head and said, "What was that for, Aniki?"

"Where do I start? Let's see, first you didn't bring your regular weapons, you know the ones you are being taught to use at that dojo. Second, you made your mother worry enough to come get me. And third, you tried to fight a Rank 3 Mountain Cleaving Bear with a pistol! Did you eat Daredevil Leopard meat today or something?" With that, I gave him another head chop.

"I'm sorry for causing trouble, Aniki, I thought I could make a better projectile weapon. Since we already have cannons, I figured we could make uh, smaller versions- wait, how did you know it is called a pistol?"

"You think you are the first one to come up with the pistol? Countless inventors in the Temples of dÚsachtach have tried to get them to work but these "bullets" as they are called are just too small for to attach any sort of enchantment. The only reason cannons work is because the cannonballs are large enough, actually more than large enough to add necessary enchantments to. Really, the only way your pistol is going to be any kind of effective is to use bullets casted from pure silver or pure mythril. Of course, those bullets would only be effective against the undead and don't even get me started on the cost! And Needha, why did you encourage Hiro to do something so reckless and stupid?" That last bit was because I caught Needha agreeing with me behind my back, looking all sagey. She was in just as much trouble as he was.

"What do enchantments have to do with this Aniki?"

"I don't quite understand it myself but then, I don't make weapons do I? Now let's go home, your mother was worried." And with that I took the two kids home although I made them drag the monster carcass by themselves. Poor Hiro then received a or two punch on the top of his head from his mother when she found out what had happened.

It wasn't until later I discovered the answer to Hiro's question about enchantments from my mother. It turns out weapons without an enchantment are only effective against monsters of Ranks 1 and 2 on the Dangerous Scale. So the only way to damage a monster of Rank 3 or higher is to used an enchanted weapon or magic.

Oddly enough, whenever you ask a foreigner from another continent, they seem to have never heard of such a problem where they live.

Anyway, I gotta go look for some work, until next time diary.