The King Frog Fiend
“What is this? Why is the king frog fiend coming this way?! What are the other guys doing?! Weren’t they supposed to kill it?!”
Ignoring the angry shouts flying between the hunters, I focus on the giant frog.
Several hunters are in pursuit a short distance behind it. Judging by their sizes, the frog is probably around ten feet tall. It could reach the second story of an apartment building.
Unlike the frog people, this one is mostly frog. It isn’t walking on two legs—its limbs are the same as a frog’s. It’s wearing dirt-colored armor on its body, though, so it doesn’t look like an ordinary frog.
Well, anyway, more importantly, how do those flames all over it work? I think for a moment that a hunter must have set it on fire, but the frog seems fine with it. Are those fires the monster’s doing?
“Crap, it’s raging, too! We can’t get close to it!”
Oh, so I suppose those flames are on purpose. I can guess that it’s something akin to a Blessing. Man, first my Force Field, now this—is there anything Blessings can’t do?
Every time it hops, I feel a tremor throughout my machine body. It may be only ten feet tall, but it must be pretty damn heavy. Come to think of it, I’ve heard that if you grab a frog’s muscles, you can feel how hard they actually are.
I’m calmly thinking over things, but…isn’t this, like, seriously bad?
“Retreat! Everyone, retreat!”
“Ruuuuuun! Leave your stuff and go!”
Everyone immediately begins to withdraw. At first, I assume it’s going to become a chaotic, messy affair, but everyone is moving skillfully. In just a few seconds, most of the hunters have fled.
“What? Um, huh?”
Lammis is simply glancing around her, unsure of what to do. I know she isn’t good at making snap decisions, but hitting the WARM button over and over isn’t going to do anything! Calm down, calm down!
“Too bad. Too bad.”
“What? Y-yeah, you’re right. I have to calm down. Boxxo, we should run away, too!”
She finally snaps out of it. After lifting me onto her back and stepping out to run, she stops. I consider urging her on, but when I see where she’s looking, I realize why she’s still here.
“Damn, the buar won’t move! Did that thing scare it? Move it! Please move!”
I know the boar with the horn is called a buar—did it freeze up after seeing that giant frog? A deer in the headlights is one thing—but a buar scared of a frog is just silly.
If the cart carrying the wounded won’t move, then they’ll have to walk unaided. Their wounds are closed, but they’ve already lost a lot of blood and stamina. There’s probably zero chance of them being able to run and flee.
But there’s no time to hesitate when it comes to keeping Lammis safe. Her life is the most important thing right now. It will mean abandoning them, but leaving others behind in an emergency isn’t a sin. So—
“I have to help them! If the buar can’t move, then I’ll pull the cart!”
I figured she’d say that. She saved me because she’s like that. If it comes down to it, I’ll make the strongest Force Field I can, so do what you want. Even if I can’t save anyone else, I’ll save her no matter what.
She runs over to the buar cart, gently strokes the frightened buar’s back, then undoes its restraints. Suddenly, as though snapping out of a trance, the animal stampedes away.
“Wh-why, you! The buar ran away! Are you telling us to die—?”
“No! I’ll pull you instead!” shouts Lammis, interrupting the wounded person before grasping the cart’s handle with both hands. Then she clenches her teeth and takes a step forward.
Normally, one girl wouldn’t be enough to pull a cart with nine whole adults in it. But she has incredible Might, enough to carry me, a vending machine, on her back with ease. This result isn’t surprising to me, since I know that already. But…
“Hurrrghhh!”
It’s slowgoing. Her feet are caught in the quagmire on the ground, and the wheels sink heavily in it. Just being able to move it, albeit slowly, is a masterly feat, but it doesn’t count for much in this situation.
The king frog fiend approaching from behind has gotten fairly close. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before it either tramples us or laps us up into its giant mouth. Or possibly burns us to death.
If I could talk, I could tell her to put down the vending machine she’s carrying…but even if I could, I bet she’d refuse.
What now? What should we do? Is the only option to endure its attacks with Force Field? I could maybe save Lammis with that, but not the wounded.
If none of the competent folks can finish it off, finishing it off with only wounded people is impossible. The hunters that stayed behind as our escort ran away first thing, too.
Is there no way to stop it?
All we have to do is startle it or get in its way. If we can buy some time, the hunters chasing from behind should manage to get the job done. Isn’t there an item I can use right now?!
I skim through my product listing, but the tremors and cries of the wounded are steadily intensifying, making me impatient. Ah, dammit, something—anything!
A beneficial item or product in the lineup of items I’ve bought before now… Wait a second. Oh, if we use this and that, we might be able to stall the frog!
How many points do I have? Over six thousand? I can afford it!
First, I need a new function and a change. Until now, half-liter plastic bottles were the biggest I could stock, but I’m spending a thousand points to make it so that I can stock two-liter bottles as well.
And now I’ll buy new items. I line an entire shelf with two-liter bottles of cola, a carbonated drink. It’s the kind with diet before the name, which I haven’t seen recently. I don’t need any other items right now.
I’m on Lammis’s back, so she won’t notice if I change products. For now, I’ll give her one!
“Whoa, what was that?! Did it catch us?”
“No, Lammis, it was that thing on your back—Boxxo? It looks a little different, and something came out on its own.”
Nice assist, beard guy. Lammis, please figure it out now.
“B-but why? Why give an item for free now? Boxxo, did you do that on purpose?”
“Welcome.”
“You have a plan, huh? I’ll trust you!”
Lammis releases the cart. Without hesitating, she puts me on the ground, then takes out the two-liter plastic bottle.
“Wait, it’s all bubbly… Is it that strange juice?”
She seems to remember what happened, and she’s frowning because of it, but it’s fine as long as she understands. Time for a big treat.
I drop one bottle after another into my compartment. Lammis takes them out as they come and busies herself lining them up on the cart.
Come to think of it, it’s not shaking anymore. Did something happen?
I glance toward the king frog fiend and see that the hunters have managed to catch up to attack it. But they seem like they’re in a bad spot, and they don’t have a good way to deal with those flames.
At this rate, either way, it’ll definitely arrive here very soon. That doesn’t change the fact that we need to do something.
I buy a second additional function—and now it’s time for a form change!
Light wraps around me as I begin a swift change to something different. The edges on my rectangular body disappear, replaced by a pillar-like shape.
Vivid colors splash across my lower half in a polka-dot pattern. Above that is a transparent body, which provides a clear view of my contents. It’s filled to the brim with my latest product: colorful candies wrapped in cylindrical paper packaging.
The candies are shaped similarly to stones used in Go, and there are several in one roll. They’re delicious—if you eat them like you’re supposed to.
“What? Huh? Boxxo’s gotten round and soft!”
Hey, if you say it that way, people are going to think I had a mean personality before. Wait, I don’t have time to be thinking about that. You’re about to get this candy for free, too.
“Um—oh! I should take these, too, right?”
“Welcome.”
Lammis picks up everything overflowing from my compartment. Things are going smoothly—the problem comes now. How am I going to make her…understand?
How can I convey my plan? I suppose I can only make use of what I have.
“Insert coins. Insert coins. Insert coins.”
“Huh? You gave me so many items, but you want coins now?”
“Too bad. Insert coins. Insert coins.”
“Wh-what?”
I suppose that’s nowhere near enough information. But I don’t have any other way of doing this. I know it’s absurd. But please, somehow…
“Lammis, that thing’s broken.”
“No he isn’t! Boxxo is trying really hard to tell me something!”
I feel like I could cry. She trusts me, and she’s trying to figure this out. Even if I don’t get my point across, I’ll have no regrets. Just the fact that Lammis is here now, believing in me, is enough.
“This carbonated drink. Candy. Insert coins. But not… This drink exploded on me before, right? Hmm, so if I do that again… But what’s this candy for? They came out without me putting in money, but I have to put in coins, or maybe not…”
One more step. Just one more step. Please figure it out.
“Does it matter? Get these ropes off me! I’m not dying here with the lot of you!”
That noisy guy must be the lowlife they wrapped in straw rope. I’d forgotten he exists.
“Oh, shut up already! Someone put something in his mouth and make him quiet down!”
“G-got it. What about this?”
Oh. The bearded man yelled at a wounded person, who threw an entire roll of candy into the guy’s mouth.
“Whafs fsh pshd be?! Pftooey! Did you just shove a roll of paper in my mouth? Some of it got inside— Wait, what is this? It’s insanely good! But it’s drying my throat out. Someone give me water! Water, now!”
When he spat it out, the paper wrapping must have torn, and a piece of candy dropped inside his mouth. How dare he enjoy the flavors when we’re on the precipice of death?
“Gah, shut up. Drink this, I don’t care!”
The bearded man tosses a cola over to the wounded man, who opens the top and makes the lowlife drink it— Ah.
“Bffhahhhhhh!”
Liquid erupts from his mouth. Lammis sees this and figures everything out.
“You didn’t mean ‘put coins in’—you meant…‘put these candies in’!”
“Welcome.”
That’s correct, Lammis. She tears open the paper wrapping and pours the entire roll of candy into the cola. It spurts out everywhere, getting the hunters soaking wet.
“Wh-what? That thing exploded!”
“What’s this sweet flavor…? Ack, it stings my eyes!”
Yes! This is the phenomenon that gained instant fame on video websites. If you put a certain kind of candy in cola, all the liquid bursts out like a geyser. Salt and Ramune would have worked as well, but this combination has the most force behind it. Also, this variety of cola reacts to it the best. The eruption spans three or four yards…or so those experienced with this will attest.
Now that she knows what they need to do, Lammis passes out cola and candy to all the wounded people and gives them a quick explanation. I see everyone has gotten some. We’ve got nothing to lose—let’s splash ’em!
