《Legend of Truck-san》5-"I saved America." ③
Advertisement
Meanwhile in the divine world…
Wheel God swept off with a squeak as he saw Dracula talking to Truck-san.
“That Vranyir is useless! Let’s see what the Dracula God has to say about this!”
Dracula God’s castle is super awesome. It’s got spires and shit. You’ve probably seen lots of ridiculous fantasy vampire castles, but this is like disney castles times a thousand. Anyways, Wheel God rolls in and is granted admittance because the demon’s guarding the gate don’t really care. All of them are too cool for Wheel God, there’s Cerberus God, Minotaur God, Medusa God, etc. You get the picture.
Dracula God throws the best parties so his place is always packed. Plus, all you can eat buffet. I won’t go into the details of what’s in the buffet itself, because as you can imagine it’s for monsters. That’s way too grisly.
Wheel God entered the throne room swinging his eternally burning fire cape about because he’s cool like that. Even though he squeaks everytime he moves. Dracula God leaned back into his big velvet red throne. It’s hell velvet. You’ve got to skin a hell velvet succubi for one of those. Can you imagine how many died for an entire throne?
“Dracula God! I have discovered an imposter using your name! She’s not very dracula-like at all!”
Dracula God took in the squeaks through the air like a springtime breeze. Dracula God’s collar is high and black, his long coat stretching across his body like a blanket with comfortable ruffles poking out at every end. As he’s Dracula God and not a regular Dracula, he’s got three to four times the ruffles involved. Not so much that’s it’s not tasteful. Dracula sipped wine. When he wants blood, he has to hunt down some helpless virgin girl in another world. That’s the rules Dracula God set for himself.
“Dracula God!” Wheel God squeaked. Dracula God looked at Wheel God, as if noticing him for the first time.
“Tell me about this imposter, rubber golem.”
“I’m Wheel God! Anyways-”
“Rubber. Golem.”
Wheel God squeaked inside in rage. Dracula God had already divined his purpose here and was mocking him. However, Wheel God had nothing to lose by continuing his request.
“There’s a upstart God, perhaps you’ve heard of it?”
~Villager Girl A’s point of view~
It’s a castle! An edge lord’s castle! And I’m a maid now! I swirled around, dancing in my new outfit as I kept up the pace with a basket full of clothes. Truck-san appeared in my heart. I could barely think with the whirlwind the past few days has been, meeting an edge lord thanks to Truck-san, being saved by Truck-san, becoming a maid.
Agatha, the head maid gave me a severe look as I bustled past. Although she’s strict, it’s nothing compared to the field. Each step and breath are lighter now, since Truck-san saved my life. It’s strange though. I sped across a hastily mopped kitchen floor and slipped. In mid-air, my head hurtling toward the stone, I heard something inside me rumble.
A voice echoed out in my heart, like my own body talking, but in a stronger tone than I’ve ever heard myself say.
Secret Truck God Arts: Eternal Drifting!
It was something strange like that. There’s that “Truck” word again, the one Mechanic and Truck-san used to describe himself. I’m confused. As I was falling, I felt a floating sensation as if I could push against the air running against my maid outfit. I could control my body’s movement, somehow. Wind swirled around my body and I understood my position by instinct. My body acted as if it moved on it’s own without my input, and I landed with my legs splayed and my palm touching the ground in a three point stance. The clothing basket landed square on my butt.
Advertisement
I stood crouched in that moment, looking at my maid dress gauntlets covering my hands with a new energy rushing through them. I felt each finger move at once as I tested them, all of the sensations in unison registering in my head gave me a light sensation of heat in my chest. My cheeks grew hot as I pressed my fingers against them, trying to process what just happened.
In the space of several seconds my body itself reacted and righted itself from a simple fall. I was never agile, I would always be sore from work. Everything was awful. Existence itself as a human being was something I thought was suffering by nature. Alone, painful, and miserable. That was my life before I met Truck-san.
But in that moment, my hands against my cheeks, I felt glad to be alive. My heart pounding in my chest, it didn’t stop from that moment on. It’s been a day, but I can’t get this smile off my face. I don’t want it to leave, either.
I thought of the strange voice and resolved to ask Truck-san about it. It might know, right? If not, Mechanic seemed to have strange knowledge as well, surely one of them could explain? My curiosity was second to my energy, as I sped around my balance impeccable leaping from parapet to parapet of the castle walls as I balanced the laundry basket on one finger.
Even though I promised to follow Truck-san anywhere, I didn’t really mean that. How could I leave everything behind? Even if I had nothing in Drum Tree Town? I felt a strange connection with him when we fought that fire giant. I can’t explain it, but it was like I felt Truck-san enter my soul. I didn’t like it, but my fear that my savior would be destroyed was stronger. I put on a brave face and said nothing to Truck-san, we had a fight to win. Until I heard Truck-san talking in town. It’s booming voice announced it would be leaving. I couldn’t take it.
As if there was a line connecting me to Truck-san, my body moved before I did and ran to him. I couldn’t believe what I was doing, before the words came out of my mouth defying my own expectations and thoughts. Then, meeting the edge lord and Mechanic, I had nothing but worries sharing Truck-san’s cabin with them.
But now, all of that doesn’t matter. I’m not sure why it mattered in the first place. I leaped from parapet to parapet of the edge lords castle. It’s amazing, but I guess I was always this strong? Or is this the strength of love? Am I in love with Truck-san? I don’t get it at all, but this feeling is telling me it doesn’t matter!
Guards in the courtyard of the edge lords castle are whispering about me. I can hear you just fine. A fat one talked to a tall one.:
“Is that the new maid?” said the fat one.
“Small thing, where does she get that energy?” said the tall one.
“She’s from Drum Tree Town, apparently. More like Dumb Tree Town if you ask me…” the fat one grumbled.
People make that joke all the time. It’s tiring. I slipped down the castle wall with ease, riding my shoe down the wall as if it was natural kicking up a cloud of dust. My smile didn’t break at all as I gave them both a glance and kept moving. It’s a huge wall. Am I even human? Who cares.
“Did you see that?” the tall one said.
Advertisement
“...maids are amazing,” the fat one’s eye’s grew big.
“I don’t think maids can do that…” the tall one’s eyelids narrowed.
This maid can!
~everyone’s favorite Truck-san~
I hung out with the lady Dracula. Took her for a drive. Time spent driving is the most valuable time in the world. Although, I have no delivery to make, sometimes the delivery is the journey itself, right?
We had a nice chat, she seemed standoffish at first but now she’s bouncing around the cabin as we ride around the outskirts of her city.
“Wai~! Wai~!”
She’s making strange noises with the window down, the sun beaming down on her. Dracula is enjoying the sunlight. For some reason, isn’t that wrong? Where did I get that idea? I shook the thought away with the roar of my engine, puttering in circles. Then, a portal appeared! Again?! I swerved and called upon a my Eternal Drifiting ability, even though it’s the second time using it I pulled it off splendidly and spun to a stop! Take that, divine world portal! Not this time!
“Eh? What’s that?” said Dracula.
A large fellow wearing a cape and clothing similar to Dracula’s appeared. Is that her dad? Wait, is her dad a god?!
“Greetings, Truck God.I am Dracula God. It seems you’ve done me a favor, bringing to my attention such a poor example of my Dracula name! You disgust me, Lady ‘Dracula!” said the not-vampire dad.
Screw this. I had enough trouble with Mountain God the other day!
“Uh, goodbye,” I turned my wheels away from the portal and switched my clutch, speeding off. This guy sounds like nothing but trouble. Lady Dracula’s face is pure white, that doesn’t look good. Little stammers are coming out of her mouth and she’s shaking. Dracula God versus Lady Dracula? I don’t get it. I sped away, hearing Dracula God’s voice from portal trailing me from behind.
“Ignoring me, Truck God? Seems I will have to invade this world and end your pathetic stint as a God, along with that imposter!”
What followed was an evil laugh that went on for way too long.
“...Dracula...God?” Lady Dracula whispered.
That’s right. Dracula God’s coming after both of us, apparently, for some reason. Gods are strange. Does that include me?
“Enough, Truck-san! Dracula and you will die!”
Dracula God spread into mist and drifted into the wind from the portal. That’s not fair at all, I can’t even see him now.
“Why?!” Lady Dracula complained in my cabin.
I spun my tires on the run as a mist congealed into Dracula God in the horizon before me, holding out his hand.
“Think you can run me over, Truck-san? Just try it!” Dracula God roared.
RPM hit max. I shifted the clutch. Dracula God, if you want a ramming, here I go! Ground shredded under me as my tires made the grass below into a mist. As I sped into Dracula God’s outstretched hand, my body shook. I felt a strange sense of weightlessness. To my surprise, he didn’t budge, but I did. The world spun around me, the ground suddenly below. I’m flying? I’m flying! Lady Dracula is screaming and holding her head! I’m a flying Truck facing Dracula God and Lady Dracula and my truck self are in danger. I’ve got to do something! Come on, crazy magical whatever powers within! What did I say last time?!
Roar, my engine!
Secret Truck Arts: Mechanoid Form
Truck Arts? Wasn’t it Truck God Arts?! Something’s off. My body changed to humanoid form, but this one felt different. My memories I gained from Villager Girl A due our telepathic link during the fire giant thrummed in my mind. I hit the ground on my steel humanlike legs, skidding across the open plains kicking up a mist of dirt and glass.
The wind blew, and I stood. I checked out my form, comparing it to my memories. I can’t tell what’s different, but don’t I look less human and more like- a robot? Like the robot Mechanic was making? Information fed into my head, my body telling me it’s specifications and limits. Just as I understood my inner workings as a Truck, I understood the Mechanoid Form’s abilities. I pointed at Dracula God, the wind blew the grass about between us.
“I have no reason to fight you. But, if you’re going to get in the way of me saving Driver-san, then…!”
Dracula God smiled, his small form belied an aura. It lingered behind his smile, a demon in the wind, easily greater than my massive humanoid size and pitch black. Can I win? No, I have to win! Driver-san!
I advanced. A single step into the ground burst my form forward, and in a second I made my fist drive into his tiny body.
Secret Truck Arts: Delivery
Again, no God?! No Package either?! What’s going on! I felt my fist stop, as if mocking me Dracula God held back the fist pushing into him with my massive frame with a pinky. Dracula God’s grin deepened.
“This is what’s wrong with young gods. You don’t even know your own power, but a minor god like you, even at your full potential, would be worthless again a concept god like me! I’m not any Dracula, Truck-san! I’m Dracula God, the Dracula God! Secret Dracula God Arts: Bat Blazer!”
Tiny portals with sigils opened behind him. Thousands of tiny bats shot out, forming into streams they flew towards me lazily, igniting with flame. They exploded on contact. One by one, I felt the explosions rocking my form backwards as I took heavy damage. In desperation I threw myself away carried by the force of the pursuing bats and broke into a full on escape. What can I do?! Run away, that’s all!
The flaming exploding bats chasing me, my worries focused my mind on my ability name from the voice inside. It wasn’t Truck God like last time. But, Dracula God said Dracula God Arts? What does that mean? Why could I use Truck God Arts back th-
Oh. I had someone there with me, in my cabin, I had a telepathic connection with them! Villager Girl A! Damn it, she isn’t here! But… Lady Dracula is!
“Lady Dracula! Help me! If you allow it, I can connect with you and use your power!” I whispered through my cabin radio.
She looked up from her balled up position in my driver’s seat. Her face, scared. She furrowed her eyebrows and grinned.
“I didn’t even think about fighting back, Truck-san. Whatever you’re going to do, I’m with you!”
The telepathic connection started up, a vast amount of information flew into my head. I’m… hungry? For blood? Weird.
I switched back into truck form and floored the accelerator. I needed more speed! More speed!
Secret Truck God Arts: Engine Overdrive!
The ground shot away from me as the flaming bats turned into specks. Dracula God disappeared into the distance. I’m not going to fight you if I don’t have to, Dracula God! Go pick on someone else!
Still, I better tell Mechanic…
“Amazing, Truck-san! I’ve never gone this fast before!” Lady Dracula cheered from the cabin.
She looks happy now, that’s great. It must have been scary, being attacked by some strange god all a sudden. The surroundings were a blur, but I managed. GPS. Destination, edge lord’s Vranyir’s castle.
~the Dracula God’s point of view~
Truck-san disappeared.
“Huh…”
I murmured that in surprise, unable to help myself. My hand went to my gray beard immediately, stroking it in thought. No way I could find him without Cerberus God now. That speed is… there’s no doubt. It’s on the level of God Ability. What’s more, he was able to use it without saying it out loud! Wheel God lied to me.
Now, I had expected to see something interesting from Truck-san, that was my true purpose here, and to my delight, I did.
“He’s the Truck God. I see. No wonder Wheel God risked his rubbery neck for this. Still, I can’t help but want to see how far I can push him.”
I grinned
“It seems I’ve found a new toy. Time to gather my army…”
It’ll be a grand show, next time, Truck-san!
Advertisement
- In Serial161 Chapters
Shini Yasui Kōshaku Reijō to Shichi-nin no Kikōshi
On one spring evening when I was eight years old, I, Erica, Duke of Aurelia’s daughter, realized something.Huh, I have reincarnated into a fantasy world, haven’t I?Moreover, it was the romance-fantasy girl game that had the reputation of being bloody, 『Liber Monstrorum ~Phantom Beasts and the Winter Princess~』The face reflected in the mirror was that of the villainess character of that game.After repeatedly harassing many characters, including the heroine, she would die without exception, signaling the beginning of an event called the bizarre incident. She was a villain who deserved to get the consequences!—I absolutely don’t want a destiny like that, though?No, for me who has remembered the memory of my previous life, there would be no such thing.In my previous life, I was harassed immensely by an irrationally angry yandere man who proclaimed ‘She is absolutely in love with me.’My cause of death, too, was from being stabbed by another yandere man who I only had talked with a few times……Now that I have become the haughty villainess Erica, I shouldn’t encounter more misunderstandings like with the previous life’s yandere men anymore, right……?In that case, it will be fine as long as I deal with the death flags that I may have raised myself.All right! First of all, before the bizarre incident begins at the Magic Academy, I will strike down the death flags accordingly!!—Or so I thought, but it seems that I am about to die.Eeh, how did this happen—!?
8 308 - In Serial20 Chapters
Sword System Academia
2/17 NOTICE: I'm putting this on hiatus, possibly permanently. I didn't want to spam with an "update chapter", so hopefully here and in the story blurb will get enough eyeballs. There are a couple reasons for ending SSA for now. 1) I wrote the next chapter but wasn't happy with it. I've been less and less satisfied with SSA's quality the more I thought about it. Part of the reason is... 2) I am seriously thinking about trying to publish some novels to help pay the bills, since I don't have my other source of income anymore. I have never asked for anything from SSA readers, no money, not even a review or rating. SSA is written for fun to amuse myself, primarily, and I would kind of feel bad actually charging someone money for something as unserious as that. I don't think it is good enough to ask anything in return. To use an analogy from music, SSA is more like a jam session with a bunch of friends. You're just chiling and having fun playing some music. I mean, if you are Mozart or even Eminem, your jam session is good enough to sell, but for an amateur beginner like myself, haha, no. If I want to publish something, I feel like I need to go the proper route of practice and rehearsals, which might be more similar to a classical concert performance. With SSA, I work from worldbuilding notes and a loose outline, but what you are essentially getting is the first draft with lots of so-called pantsing. Pushing out a web novel like this also means it is very difficult to go back and improve things without breaking everything else downstream. I wanted to try this "jamming" approach, as it was a good way to teach me about another aspect of writing, but to move forward, I think I need to hone my "classical" techniques, which emphasize rewriting, or at least, revising outlines. 3) While I intend to try to make $$$, my actual current goal is to "get gud". I've spent a lot of time recently trying to understand the self-publishing industry, and I'm pretty sure I can make some money by using short-term strategies with my current amateur skill level. But I've seen too many authors come and go/burnout, and really, the only way that I think I can enjoy writing and still make money on a long-term basis is to become a better writer. And the next step for me, which I haven't done much before, is to spend more time on rewriting and outlines. That is pretty much antithetical to the way SSA is developing. I've always been kind of 20/80 plotting/pantsing, but I want to spend a lot more time outlining before I even start writing. SSA jam sessions don't really fit my goal anymore. If you're curious about what's next, read on... Among other regrets, I regret not finishing SSA. It's the first story I've dropped, but then again, it's the first web novel I've attempted, so I suppose that's not a surprise. I don't think traditional web novel formats suit me that well. The whole SSA story I had loosely planned (beyond a first book or major arc) is way too large as well. Big story = good for neverending webnovel with Patreons, bad for penniless and fickle writer like me. I am currently outlining a complete trilogy to another story in great detail. I want the story to end concisely, and I also want the chance to really spend a lot of time on the full outline to spot pacing problems, character issues, lost themes, and so on. I'll still share this story on RR. What I intend to do is finish book 1, flash-publish the whole thing here for a few weeks, then publish on the big Zon. Repeat for books 2 and 3. The upcoming story will be about crafting heroes. The backdrop is an isekai-like setting, where elves will summon humans to their world as heroes, but the whole hero crafting business is still in its infancy. The elven mage researchers are figuring out how to imbue heroes with power, while the heroes are trying to figure out how to use the powers that they gain. Humans are the best hero templates because they are blank and have no intrinsic magic. Or at least that what the elves thought. The human MC has his own secrets... There will be some similarities with litrpgs, but I would call it more a progression fantasy or gamelit story. For example, the stats are very low, at least initially. Say we have a stat called Str. Going from Str = 1 to Str = 2 is a huge deal. Also, going from Dex = 0 to Dex = 1 is an even bigger deal. I guess you could call it a "low-stat litrpg", haha. Also, the heroes won't be gaining stats simply by killing things or leveling up. You can't increase stats arbitrarily, either. There will be rules to how stats can increase, and how they work with each other. The elven mages will be figuring out these rules in order to craft stronger and stronger heroes. Some inspiration will be from cultivation magic systems, but there won't be overt cultivation, at least for now. A theme I really want to explore is the idea of interactions. That includes things like hero crafter vs hero, tactics vs strategy, skill synergies, racial interactions (dwarves, elves, etc), and son. Yeah, so hero crafting. I'm super excited about this project and venturing into publishing. If you want to check out the upcoming story, you can follow my RR author profile to see when it drops here. Finally... THANK YOU TO EVERYONE! I'm very sorry that SSA is stopping, but I hope at least some of you will find the next story at least as enjoyable, if not more. Thanks to all the readers who gave SSA a shot. Big hug or solid fistbump to all of you, whichever you prefer! I hope this message is not a downer but an upper, because I am psyched!! -purlcray -------------- BLURB: Talen, youngest Master of the Koroi, makes his way to the Empire's capital to salvage his clan's fate. But the bustling city has few opportunities for the traditionalist. For the old sword clans are fading. With the rise of alchemy, gold can purchase strength that ordinarily took years of training to cultivate. Sword artists, once rare and accomplished, are quickly growing in number, especially among the wealthy noble class. Even with such alchemy, though, no one has advanced to the rank of Grandmaster in countless years. Talen's true dream is to walk the path of a sword artist to the very end while fulfilling his clan duties. And then the Swordgeists return, fabled founders of all sword arts, gods who had touched the world long ago and vanished. These myths turned into reality warn of a coming threat. Alongside this warning, they issue an invitation to the Sword System Academy, a path to power beyond the mortal realm. But first, they will hold an entrance exam... Story notes:Sword System Academia blends elements of western and asian fantasy such as xianxia and litrpg. I took parts from different genres I enjoyed and twisted them into my own creation. There will be an explicit system, both of the litrpg kind and the hard(ish) magic kind, but it is embedded within an academic structure that will develop over the course of the story. This is my attempt to design a unique type of system, the System Academia.
8 153 - In Serial279 Chapters
Onward To Providence
Pylo was a woman of trade and travel! She had set out for a life of adventure and exchange with strange new life. She would make deals and exchanges with new fools and new civilizations. She would boldly swindle like no one had swindled before.
8 226 - In Serial11 Chapters
Space Games: Training Phase
Meet our MC, or well, what he calls himself (B.E.O.R.G.E.L.) or Beo for short. He was shipped off into a space station where they are to play games in simulations, Survive. For every survival they would gain points to upgrade themselves, In-game and in real life. They can exchange points for entertainment as well. Join Beo and whatever friends he make in his training phase, for space is a heartless being that will crush and kill anything she can get her hands on. (Any and every tag marked may or may not be true. Second time writing a story on this site, My first one would be [Frontier Online], so check that out if you want to. I will try to make each chapter longer than [Frontier Online] as well. Lucks to everyone, including me)
8 211 - In Serial24 Chapters
Miraculous Magic Academy {COMPLETE}
Marinette has been going to Miraculous Magic Private Academy since she was 4 years old. On her sixteenth birthday, she discovers that she is the chosen one, a type of witch that has special powers that no other magic being has. A chosen one is the most powerful magical being in the whole universe. But what Marinette doesn't realize, is that she is in horrible danger. The dark side of magic wants her on their side. If you have a chosen one on your side, your side will rule over all of the universe. But they only want her for her powers.What will Marinette do?
8 148 - In Serial12 Chapters
I Owe You Some Champagne (Usnavi x Reader)
You had always had a crush on Usnavi, ever since you first met him in his bodega. One day, you finally build up the courage to ask him out, after your best friend, Benny, pushes you to. But things don't go exactly how you planned... Will you be together in the end?
8 205

