No Game No Life Vol 2 Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Weak Square/Setting

Part 1

Region District 6.

a table, and a number of others looking on.

marks under his eyes.

sneakers.

She was a young girl whose upturned eyes were as bright as rubies, wearing a

The young man wore the girl’s tiara around his arm like an armband.

These siblings were the King and Queen of Elchea, the final country of

The brother—Sora. 18 years old. Virgin. Unpopular. Hikikomori. NEET.

The sister—Shiro. 11 years old. No friends. Anthropophobia. Hikikomori.

…………GG

, humanity.

Is what anybody would think, if they only read this far.

In the previous world, they had set undefeated records in the rankings of over

At the top of the rankings of any game you cared to check would be a

Just who was behind it was never identified, and that gamer had become an

They were known only as-- 『 』.

[Ten Oaths].

games. By using magic which humans were neither able to use or detect, the

into a corner.

the elves. However, these two superficially possessed neither special powers

With only their strength as humans, bearing the title of humanity’s strongest

They were certainly, unmistakably, hopeless.

In [this world], however, these siblings were— the saviors of Imanity.

playing cards at the ready, spoke!!

…………Maybe GG is still a viable conclusion.

“……That’s really not something I want to have to say to the ones

She had red hair and blue eyes, and was wearing a frilly dress suitable for a

With fine clothing, style sense, and bearing, she was a girl in her late teens.

The granddaughter of the late king of Elchea, descended from a venerable

“—Have you finally cracked?”

“Rather, that would imply you’ve been acting normal until now.”

“Asking something like that so normally is what’s not normal!”

Oaths], right!”

A set of absolute laws for this world laid down by the sole god, Tet.

the ‘Exceed’— namely.

【2】 All disputes are to be resolved through the outcome of games.

equal value.

not matter.

【6】 "As per the Oath", the wager will be unconditionally adhered to.

【8】 If cheating is detected during a game, it will be regarded as a defeat.

God.

“……What about them?”

“……May I ask why you’re asking that now?”

problem?”

ear.

The fact that Sora and Shiro had come from a ‘different world’ was a secret.

servants such a great idea.

gaze.

perfectly well that when a boy’s pocket monster goes in and out of a girl’s

“……Nii, that way ofspeaking……sounds far too much……like a

“If a virgin doesn’t sound like a virgin, what the heck should I sound like!?”

extreme unpopularity and that the years he'd been without a girlfriend equaled

“A-anyway, doing that stuff will be inflicting an injury, right? Or at least the

breed!?”

immediately--

right?”

An eroge thought in a world without eroge.

“Never mind, I’ll ask someone else later, you useless woman.”

Cough cough, Steph cleared her throat.

“Ohh. How so?”

will be cancelled.”

“Eh, so like, real-time censorship of the brain?”

This may be a fantasy world, but isn’t that going way too far.

mere window dressing. Everything that we can think of or do must either

“Haah……the god of this place just does what he wants.”

--Authority sufficient enough to even remake the laws of the world on a

And by now— with that, everything in this world was decided by games.

The one who answered however was not Steph, but Shiro who was cutting

“……If mutual consent is……'conveyed’……in other, words……”

‘infringement’?”

understood.

subconscious agreement. No wonder.

“Well, I guess that makes sense. If all bloodshed was totally forbidden, there

As he thought once again that the Oaths were at least well designed, Steph

“So rather than saying that the world functions well, it’s more like the rules are

“The world 'back where we were from' wasn’t like that~……”

Even if it’s flawed and inconsistent.

“……Still, in that case, I have another question."

“Why was I able to grope your boo— never mind, that’s all.”

this meaning shut Sora right up.

“Did you just say that all this was a waste of time!?”

looking Sora.

Looking on with pity were countless spectators.

Sora and Shiro, along with these three great lords.

“……I really, really don’t want to have to see you guys naked or

The three [former nobles] had just now forfeited their entire estates to Sora

Everything they owned, literally. Not just sundry things such as land, assets

They had lost all of that in just two hours, and now were left in nothing but

“Don’t, don’t be ridiculous— if we do that we’ll have nothing left!”

“If we don’t turn things around we won’t even have any clothes! Don’t screw

Paying them no mind, Sora yawned as he spoke.

things to come this far. You were the ones who ended up throwing things like

The still arguing nobles— rather, ex-nobles, shut up at Sora’s gaze.

“……Full, house……the.....end……”

The sign that the last bastion of the nobles— their underwear had been forfeit.

The three nobles, leaders of the opposition to the wealth of reforms being put

Along with them, the movement that they had headed fell to nothing.

Capital of Elchea, central avenue.

main road which lead to the palace, making it the busiest area of Elchea.

agriculturalreforms, they were on their way home.

While walking along the high traffic road bustling with people and carts, Steph

"I mean, did you really have to go as far as taking their families!?"

you have to say about someone who's willing to bet their own wife and kids?"

"More importantly, there're far too many people here......S-Shiro, whatever

"......N-n, Nii......as well......"

down.

at noon was nothing short of purgatory.

"I, I had something to take care of, but......for there to be this many

For the month that they had been in this world, most of their time had been

As the two of them looked around suspiciously and tightened their hold on

"So, what are you going to do?"

"All the things that you received from those three."

Somehow pulling himself together, Sora replied.

who wagered them and go back to them, then they're free to do so. As for

Their goal had been the elimination of the nobles opposing their agricultural

Stripping them naked had merely been the means of removing their power.

"Um, Sora......it's my fault that I wasn't able to stop the demonstration this

help thinking...this method is going to leave grudges."

sought to rapidly revive the nation.

potential to blunder due to their unfamiliarity with the culture.

running of things to the ministers.

royalfamily.

They avoided the troubles that inherently came with government.

"We'd just stipulate policies and guidelines. The actual implementation would

problem with what we're doing, bring them to us. We'llstrip them and toss

"That's why! That way of doing things is far too thuggish!"

doing it once or twice."

Great Purge.

surprising that this is the first time we've had to do this."

conflicts of interest.

events you'd see in simulation games.

avoid tripping such troublesome flags.

"Well......we've managed to keep things suppressed up to now."

"Many nobles were initially opposed to the agriculturalreforms that Sora had

House Dora, so with their help we were able to manage things behind the

"............Eh? Ah, right."

able to convince many of our major nobles. With that the more minor nobles

wouldn't budge. Those three today were the big shots amongst them, so it

Interrupting Steph who was speaking so eloquently, Sora placed a hand on

"......Hm, it doesn't seem like you have a fever. What the- Steph, you just said

For some reason, Sora seemed terribly shocked.

doctor immediately--"

Seeing Steph's shoulders trembling, Sora cried out.

"Yes it is, what of it!?"

"No, wait, wait, give me a sec, it can't be......"

his eyes.

He swallowed painfully.

"I can't believe it, but......could it be.....Steph, you aren't actually an idiot!?"

"Y-you......I graduated top of the class from the most prestigious academy in

"But I mean-- just look at yourself!"

The only granddaughter of the late king of Elchea, a very dignified lady was

Wearing a collar, along with dog ears and a tail.

Along the heart of the city, down the main street.

happen!!"

Indeed, this morning Steph had predictably lost in Blackjack to Sora.

And that had been the super appropriate price she had paid.

such a manner.

It should be noted that in the mansion earlier, Steph had been in this get-up

"C-couldn't you have come up with anything better!?"

--There hadn't been much change from before.

Shiro held out her hand.

"U, uuu......why can't I resist at alllll!"

of this world."

unconditionally adhered to.

As Steph proceeded to lie face down on the street, she lamented aloud.

At that, Sora breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thinking that you just used "Steph" as an insult was my imagination, right!?

Ignoring Steph's protests, Sora took out his mobile phone.

quite unexpected.

country's data.

much trouble.

somewhat disappointing, if it worked the population's transition should

At the same time, they had been able to ease the employment problem

He proceeded to check off items such as 'agriculturalreform', 'industrial

"......Still, in the long term, this is only a stop-gap......"

them, fundamentally their available resources and national land size had not

Not to mention it would take at least half a year before the results of the

Even if they wanted to go as far as attempting to introduce future tech, the

"I guess our only choice is-- 'reclaiming the land'."

The time had finally come to mobilize and win back their borders.

"............"

was also quiet.

down.

"S, Sora. Everyone's staring really hurts, so let's at least talk."

".....Nn? Don't you think there's something off about the way everyone's

"Seeing someone in a get-up like this, isn't that obvious!?"

Sora noticed a subtle incongruity in the stares being sent at Steph.

In fact, rather, they stared at Sora's group as ifseeing something they'd never

"Since the king of Elchea is taking around 'someone who resembles a

......Huh?

"For the king of Elchea to do something like this, anyone would--"

"Wait, Steph with those ears and a tailresembles-- a 'werebeast'......was it?"

thus far.

With the largest territory, they were the third greatest superpower in the

Although information was sketchy, they had superb physical capabilities and

It was rumored that they even had a sort of [sixth sense], an intuition even

"--Steph, I'd like an answer as fast as possible."

"These werebeasts-- do they have girls like Steph now, with ears and a tail?"

They do--is what Steph was about to say.

"......So what you're saying is, this country, the 'Eastern Union'--"

"Is filled with girls who look almost exactly like humans, who have animal ears

in this world-- is that what you're saying?"

[4]?

conquer all those kemonomimi

! Immediately!

Drawing his phone as if unsheathing a sword, Sora opened the task

Seeing him enter 'Conquer kemonomimi kingdom- To do: Now', Steph burst

"Hey, w-what are you on to! Our own country isn't even stable yet!"

third greatest power.

"Silence! I will obtain both the land and the kemonomimis! It serves both my

perfect plan!"

"Which way to the Eastern Union!? Call a carriage right now!!"

His sister, holding his hand, muttered one word.

"Uu--guuu......!"

--Yes. They had already thought about all this before.

declared war on the world.

silent.

move......"

again.

The silence was hard on Steph again.

morning--"

......But there was no reply.

"........................eh?"

ground.

"Eh? Huh, they......left?"

Part 3

They had just come out from a library situated in one of the labyrinthine alleys

Then they had visited a café, and now Sora and Shiro’s hands were full with

“Despite our plans to deal with the food shortage……it seems the stockpiles

From the central avenue they had entered an open plaza, where they had

The plaza didn’t have the vibrance one would expect, however.

With just a look, they told plenty about Elchea’s current situation.

would have broken out by now.

“……Nn. It seems……there really...was no harvest……”

“--What’s.....strange.......is—“

guuuuuuuuuyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyssssssssssssssss!!!!!!”

“Ah, Steph. Where’d you go. We were looking for you, y’know?”

leaving me in the middle of the city while wearing a collar and dressed like a

Steph cried with teary eyes.

“Please! Grant me this single wish! Let me hit you a good one just this once!!

“W, well……Shiro smelled something good and was pretty out of it for a

on to the leash, then before I knew it, you were gone……”

As Shiro gave a thumbs up and spoke with her mouth stuffed full of donut,

“So, well, Shiro had no ill intentions either, so please forgive us.”

know!?”

“First tell me why I lost!! If you don’t, I won’t be convinced!!”

"--……Huh?”

“T-there’s-- no way in hell!! Are you making fun of me!?”

hesitation.

Considering this came from the one who had forced her into it, there wasn’t

Steph, today, was in top form.

Yet being pressured by that intense glare, Sora relented.

He never ceased eating, however.

“Card counting. Simply put, it’s assigning a number to cards. For example 2-

“……? What do you gain by that?”

“You can 'predict the next card'.”

As Steph suspiciously pondered whether that was magic, Sora leisurely

“By keeping track of the cards which have been dealt, one can anticipate the

probability of which cards will come next'. If you can reliably do that, you

“Ha, haah~......”

She seemed to have forgotten both her loss and her being forced to ‘sit’ at

As if wanting to write everything down, she took out a notepad.

“W, wait a moment!! Isn’t that just cheating!?”

“If playing smart is cheating, then does that make something like predicting

“T-that’s……”

cheating, but he decided not to mention that.

appropriate case.”

“Y-you noticed!?”

“It’s something Shiro’s already caught me doing countless times. Well, thanks

Sora, who had at heart truly wished to lose, spoke with a sigh.

Not only had her cheating been uncovered, it had been taken advantage of as

According to the [Ten Oaths], simply being caught should have already

Yet for her [cheating having been used to actively beat her] caused Steph,

However, something suddenly flashed through her mind.

Wouldn’t she have a chance of winning then?

Still lying on the ground, Steph looked up and shouted defiantly.

“You……right after what happened this morning? What are you betting for?”

himself.

“Alright let’s do it (immediate answer).”

“……Nii, game....details…..”

would lose to Steph!?”

If the siblings were together, whoever the opponent was, they could see

“……Shiro, will, play also……as……『 』.”

If Steph carried out her challenge, it would be against the full might of

Not a problem, she thought.

Victory would always be 50/50!

Steph probably—didn’t see.

Although seemingly expressionless, the clear fire which burned deep within

“Fufu, I don’t mind. Then let’s do this, the game will be—!!”

“A guessing game on— whether the next person to step past will be a man or

Hearing the game, Shiro thought for a moment then answered.

“As you wish! 【Acciente】!”

Heaving a sigh, he looked at Steph with distant eyes.

The result was……9-1.

“T-this is wrong! Winning 90% in a game of chance, what did you do!?”

“—Did you think that everyone was just aimlessly walking past that corner?”

“I’ve been watching the interval of people passing through while we were

male-female ratio Shiro calculated factoring population density, employment

people purposefully passing through here.”

Shiro, who had memorized all of the appropriate data and made all the

Seeing that V, Steph finally felt something akin to hostility……but more

“A-a-aren’t you taking this way overboard!?”

from a corner, just how serious are these two!

question.

There could only be one answer——‘[as far as it takes]’.
“……And, so……”

Shiro, victorious, announced her request as per the bet.

“——heh!?”

However, she had already agreed under the Oath.

Number six of the [Ten Oaths], "As per the Oath", the wager will be

An absolute agreement—there were none who could go against it.

Paying absolutely no heed, however, Shiro took her panties. As a result,

[6] and face completely

The one panicking all over, however, was Sora.

“……Shiro is……an 11……year old child, so……I wouldn’t, know……”

Remaining expressionless, she put a finger to her lips and tilted her head.

Not to mention, the sight of that girl with panties on her head was drawing the

As a result, Steph’s panties were displayed for all the world to see……

However, Sora, feeling a sense of mercilessness from his younger sister,

“H, hey, for some reason, Shiro, you seem particularly severe today? Are you

“……Not, really……?”

Looking bored, Shiro responded with lidded eyes.

She had requested not for ‘the command’s cancellation’, but for ‘Sora to

……the reason behind that should have been obvious with a bit of thinking.

Still in a bad mood, that 11 year old girl went back to reading.

--Meanwhile.

"Fu, fufu......this is nothing......that day when I lost to Sora, I had already

Father, mother, grandfather......

Fufu, ufufufufufu. As Steph laughed under her breath, she turned to face Sora.

scary."

She really didn't seem fine, but Shiro asserted so with panties stillfirmly on

All of a sudden, Steph fell to the ground again while pressing down her skirt.

through her mind again.

in this world.

A prediction is, in the end, still just a prediction.

out of ten'.

"S-s-Sora! A, a-another match, another!!"

flustered voice.

Already being forced to act like a dog, now with her underwear removed.

something R18.

"I don't mind!! If temporary defeats like this are the price for bringing you two

A glimpse of how Elchea had been pushed this far to the brink could be seen.

"We'll guess how many seconds it takes for that bird over there to fly away,

With another flourish, Steph pointed.

Perched on a house roof was a white rat--or maybe a pigeon.

chance-- what will you do!)

But even that's fine. If this will allow her to close the gap between them--!

"Allright. Same wager as before. 【Acciente】-- yes, what?"

Caught off guard by his ready acceptance, Steph hesitated momentarily.

more than a minute.

value.

However, as if he wasn't even listening, Sora spoke as he picked up a rock.

He then immediately made an overhead throw.

The rock, thrown at fullforce, whizzed right past the pigeon.

"......Right......it's Nii's...victory."

her head.

"W-w-wait just a moment!!! Isn't that cheating!?"

"I don't believe any rule had been set which [disallowed provoking the bird

"Wha--"

How, how childish—however much, aren’t these siblings far too childish!?

“—There is [no such thing as luck] in this world.”

No...such thing?

“Rules, premises, wager, physiologicalstate, ability, timing, condition……all

defeat before the game has even begun. There is nothing left to chance.”

It was nothing more than a word used for an unforeseen, unpredicted result.

His eyes never leaving his book, Sora continued speaking fluently.

“……Um, there are 52 cards in a deck, so it should be 1/52.”

from the bottom of a new pack?”

“The initial order of cards in a new pack is set. In other words, when you

deck you will be guaranteed an ‘Ace of Spades’.”

Steph tried desperately to refute him.

you?

“That’s exactly it. If you’re aware, that ‘1.92%’ becomes ‘100%’. The one

walk away with the definite win.”

“Do you get it? There’s always a way to win a game. That was why you lost

—“

With a sullen face, Sora declared.

…………eh?

“This past month, we’ve been going through countless books that cover the

There’s not an exploit to be found. Good grief, just what have you guys been

“Eh, uhm……what, do you mean?”

playing games?”

Steph asserted without a doubt.

“For example, let’s say we challenged the nekomimi kingdom—er, the

Evidently he hadn’t given up on that yet.

some sort ofsixth sense.”

“If they can do that then bluffs willfallflat, and bargaining would also be

Ranked dead last at 16th of the 16 races of the ‘Exceed’, Imanity had no

Meaning that in order to fight and win against the other races who could use

“Without adequate ‘intel’ on the enemy, we can’t even begin to consider a

Yet in spite of that—the information Imanity had on the other races was far

Naturally, since if they were found out it’d be a disadvantage, the other races

For all that however, it was stillfar too little.

that fact.

But the other side knew perfectly well just what Imanity was capable of—

The playing field of those ‘invisible parameters’ was completely uneven.

‘certain defeat’.

an undoubtable, definite loss.

angle of attack and just been sitting around the past month.”

“S-still.”

Unable to let that go unchallenged, Steph painfully retorted.

But.

“Hey……if we screw up [even once], [everything’s over].”

ground.

--One moment.

Yet in that moment Steph clearly saw, the ‘frustration’ which fluttered across

Such behavior was rarely displayed, so the truth was easily looked past.

burdened upon the shoulders of these siblings.

gamers Imanity had.

The meaning, the weight.

--That by their own two hands, they could be the *end of millions of lives*.

breath.

"--Even after all this we don't have a single 'key' which would lead to a

Being so nonchalant though, they had some tremendous nerve.

......When.

"......What? Why's it suddenly......dar--"

Even Shiro opened her lidded eyes, and took the donut from her mouth.

Instead, as if gouged straight from the earth--a huge rock was floating there.

Wow, so Laputa really exists.

No matter how you looked at it, it was ripped straight from a certain anime.

--Come to think of it.

had seen plenty ofsuch drifting islands.

Only Sora and Shiro had been surprised; everyone else was just

"......This world really is something else......this pace is also a 'bit much'."

"Ah, this is your first time seeing it isn't it."

"That, is 'Avant Heim'--one of the Phantasma species."

What had looked like just a bare rock, actually had fins sticking out of it.

A question sprang to mind.

sunlight* and *right to airspace*--those 'Phantasma'?"

The Exceed.

Pointing towards the sky, or rather the (for now) Laputa, Sora yelled.

how does it even communicate in the first place!? If Pa** had said not only

with pitiful eyes!!"

Steph spoke flatly.

"Flügel--A, Aah, 'Avant Heim'......So that's it?"

16 Races

As Sora watched the Phantasma 'Avant Heim' drift away.

Something written in the books he had been reading before sprang up.

In the former Great war they had been created by the gods to kill gods, the

After the 'Ten Oaths', their combat capability had ostensibly been sealed.

territory remained a soaring sky city.

gambling' but due to their thirst for knowledge in order to collect information

personal individualscale.

They were one of those who could be led out by the bait of Sora and Shiro's

They had been the race Sora had kept an eye out on foremost since coming

However.

have any way to contact them huh."

Information with which they could take on all the other races--the 'Bounty of

Imanity in this world however possessed no flight technology.

And with allsaid, publicly announcing the 'knowledge of another world' Sora

It was still too early to reveal that trump card Elchea--that Sora and co

Hearing Sora's troubled mutters, 'Eh?' went Steph.

............------

"Rather, I guess......it's better to say there's one staying here?"

"In all the libraries of the country, I never once read something about that!?"

after all."

However his lidded-eyed sister must be feeling the same thing.

".....T, tell us more."

the 'Great National Library of Elchea', and ended up winning all the books in

I seee~~♪

"You idiots [bet knowledge and practically put it on a silver platter], are your

If they had no knowledge--no 'information', they could not hope to overcome

Betting like that would be similar to throwing away your sword and shield

To say the least, 'pure stupidity'.

attempted a flustered response.

idea......"

"What had been the 'bet'!?"

heard!"

To Sora, those were actually not bad conditions.

"So he went ahead and lost, depriving us of basically all our

Tearing at his head, Sora shrieked at Steph.

manuscripts or anything!?"

"Budget!? What the HELL did the budget have to do with this!!"

"......Nii......Elchea......paper, tech......and, literacy......rate."

As someone who lives in modern Japan, this may sound unbelievable but.

They knew from the data that Elchea was similar in that respect.

manuscripts would have been a massive budgetary constraint--

give them the highest priority."

"Ah, of course......what memos?"

At that however Shiro, with lidded eyes and panties firmly on head, doled out

"......Nii......cheating, again."

Entering another task into his mobile, Sora sighed again.

Was actually really well educated for these times......but.

"How in the world do you play games if you *can't even read or write*. Is

"Knowing six or 18 languages like you guys is far more weird!"

six languages should be the [bare minimum]!"

"--N, never, mind. Steph."

"According to our references, the [Flügel traditionally, only play, one game]."

Therefore Sora had only really been looking for a confirmation, and Steph

"Then, the next task, is clear."

"If we make good speed, by leaving now we can be back by evening. Steph,

"Eh, alright?"

--'Retrieve Imanity's knowledge'.

Sora's fingers danced again.

Just earlier.

Ranked 6th--the god killers.

As Steph stared stunned at Sora's back, who had declared 'it could be done'.
Sora, taking Shiro's hand, walked forth

Chapter end