#557 Pandora’s (Not So Empty) Box

Hey, it’s me.

We’re bored out of our minds during winter with fewer things to do.

After I finished all the chores and put Junior to bed, I was free.

I wanted to give Platy some alone time, so I went outside and found people amusing themselves in the winter season. 

“Ohhhhhhhhhhh!!! Beanssssssssssssssssss!!!”

“Even in the cold, the natto bacteria is doing fine.”

It’s Letasreit and Horkosfon.

What is this inseparable duo doing in this cold weather?

“Research! We’re trying to find out if any beans thrive in winter! We’re going to sow them and see what happens!”

“If our hypothesis is correct, it will help improve the food situation, so it’s important to test it out.”

Their passion for beans is too genuine.

Letasreit, the princess of the ruined Human Kingdom, used to be a selfish and domineering young lady, but as she lived here on the farm, she awakened to the wonders of agriculture and devotedly grew beans.

...Or rather, she awakened to the marvel of beans.

Letasreit is devoted to bean farming and grows various kinds to the point where she is the best bean handler around.

She plows the fields with the natto-loving angel, Horkosfon, as her partner, daring not to use hyper fish fertilizer—which accelerates crop growth—but to cultivate normally, keeping a detailed record of her progress.

I can picture her compiling this record and publishing a book revealing the secrets of bean farming.

And it’ll be titled, “Our Beans, Your White Shirt, and I.”

Such being the case, Letasreit is as enthusiastic about growing beans in winter.

“I can’t wait to grow fava beans again in the spring! I just LOVE them! They remind me of my early days!”

“They were the first beans you grew, after all.”

Letasreit hoes the field with her partner, Horkosfon.

Then suddenly, something falls on her out of nowhere.

Literally. From right above.

Something large and square fell from the sky and hit her directly on the head as if it had been calculated to fall there in advance. 

Assaulted overhead by the unidentified object, Letasreit is crushed under it.

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

“Letasreit! Are you okay, Letasreit?!”

As expected, Horkosfon panicked and rushed over with me.

The mysterious object that came from the sky squashed Letasreit perfectly, so much so that it could be considered part of a grotesque crime scene.

But...

“Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”

Letasreit is strong.

Instead of being crushed, she lifted the object and threw it to the side.

It was an impressive action bearing a close resemblance to a barbell lifter.

“What was that?! Don’t tell me... an assassination attempt on my noble life? This is bad news, Saint! Gather a team of bodyguards to protect my fragile body!”

“You don’t even need bodyguards.”

You can easily protect yourself even if an assassin comes to kill you.

Chances are, you’ll even overwhelm them.

How did she become so strong?

Is it really because of the beans, as she claims?

“But seriously, what was that just now?”

I look up.

I see the vast blue sky with a few clouds.

What in the world could have fallen from that high up in the sky?

“Let’s check it out.”

What hit Letasreit and she hurled afterward was the size of a person.

It was...

“...A box?”

A box made of thick wood with a sturdy metal frame.

It even has a cover, and the only other box I’ve ever seen that looked this secure was...

“Treasure chest!”

“Treasure chest!”

“Natto chest!”

Only Horkosfon came up with a different answer.

The heck’s a natto chest?

“I believe it would look great and make the natto taste even better if I fermented it in such a magnificent box. Imagine the brilliance of natto if I did that.”

Each natto grain would emit a golden glow, almost like gold coins...

...like that’d actually happen!!!

“Either way, if it’s a box, let’s see what’s inside! If it’s a treasure chest, all the more reason we should open it!!!”

A pirate’s way of thinking, huh?

Anyway, the sudden appearance of the treasure chest caused us to pause our work.

Letasreit, fascinated by the box, immediately puts her hand on the cover and tries to open it, but...

“Hyup! Hm? Ngh! ...Huh? Nghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...!!!”

What’s wrong?

Letasreit’s arm trembles as she grabs the cover, but there’s no sign of it budging. 

“I can’t open it!”

“That’s impossible.”

I thought that with Letasreit’s current strength, she’d be able to destroy it and pry the chest open even if it had a lock.

What kind of a super-secure vault is this that even Letasreit’s superhuman strength can’t open?

“Step aside, Letasreit. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Holly! I leave it to you!”

The angel Horkosfon takes over her partner.

She readies her signature mana cannon.

“I will focus my cannon to fire an ultra-precise shot, destroying only the part that appears to be the lock. This should open the box.”

You’re as reliable as ever, Horkosfon!

As expected of the most powerful race alongside dragons and Lifeless Kings!

“Firing mana cannon!”

Shoot!

Unfortunately, the mana cannon she shot bounced off the box and flew off in a different direction.

“Ack! That was close!”

That ricochet almost hit me instead!

“Not even a dent from that attack...!”

“Can’t you fire a stronger one, Holly?”

“I wouldn’t say I can’t, but if we increase the power too much, there is a possibility we’ll blow up the entire box, including its contents...!”

That won’t do...

But if neither Letasreit’s superhuman strength nor Horkosfon’s laser beam could do anything, this must be no ordinary box. 

Maybe we should ask Sensei to investigate it for us?

Before I do, I decided to give it a try myself.

...And it opened easily.

“HUH?”

Everyone, including myself, was surprised.

“Aw, come on, you guys, it was easy to open this whole time! Why were you pretending to struggle so much with it?” 

“We weren’t, swear! Actually, how were you able to open it just like that, Saint?! Did you use a trick or something?”

Like warming up the lid?

I dunno, it opened so naturally to me.

“That aside, now that the box is open, let’s check the contents. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of natto it contains!”

“I wonder about that...”

But I feel just as excited as them now.

All right then, once and for all—what’s inside the box?

“*chuckle* ...A job well done for undoing my seal!”

A hand, shoulder, torso, and eventually an entire body emerge from the opened box.

Out of the box came a person.

And not just any person, but a gorgeous woman clad in armor like a warrior, with a glaring look in her eyes and an ambitious expression on her face.

“Pandora, the one who was given everything, has finally broken the seal of the gods! Now is the time I rule the world with my power! If I am the woman who was given everything, I am qualified to have the world as well!”

“...”

“Ow!”

The mysterious woman from the box is immediately whacked on the head by Letasreit.

“Letasreit, it’s not nice to hit a stranger.”

“But she reminds me so much of my old self!”

That still doesn’t give you an excuse to hit her.

Well... you yourself received a punch to the gut from Platy when we first met you, though.

---------

in case anyone forgot, letasreit calls kidan 'saint,' thinking that's his actual name.

'our beans, your white shirt, and me' is a reference to a song by eri hiramatsu: our room, your white shirt, and me