Chapter 387: Natural Enemy, and the Orphanage.
Chapter 387: Natural Enemy, and the Orphanage.
Just what happened to that girl.
Without a doubt, that’s the power of the variants; the power of the evil god.
“That is…”
“Ah, this? A while ago, I was attacked by some weird golden monster, you see? They would regenerate no matter how many times I cut them. I began to feel a sense of familiarity with them since they’re like me. And as we kept stabbing into each other, somehow, this happened.”
“Wha…!”
What does this mean? Could the super regeneration of the purple [Crown] reacted in some way with the variants and took their power in for itself? Or…
“I become just a bit more brutal when I’m using this power, but if it’s To-yan then it’s alright, isn’t it?”
“… Did you become the evil god’s henchman?”
“‘The evil god’s henchman’? What’s that?” (Note: while Touya used the proper terms—“evil god” and “henchmen” were written in kanji—Luna simply parroted the pronunciation back in katakana.)
Luna was making a blank face… Guess she hasn’t been possessed by the variants.
“That power belongs to a twisted god called an evil god. It’s best if you throw it away right now.”
“Don’t wanna. I want to play around with To-yan with this power. Like this!”
The golden spear extended towards me like a certain golden cudgel. I drew Brunhild from my waist, and parried it away with Blade Mode.
However, the spear changed its course midair and came at me again from behind. As I dodged by jumping to the side, the spear plunged into the ground where I was.
“Ahn, a shame. I still can’t move this proficiently yet.”
That movement earlier was just like the arm-blade used by the Phrases and the variants… A troublesome fellow got her hands on a troublesome power, damn…
As I was cursing in my mind, Viola came attacking with the large scythe poised in its hands.
I received the metallic handle of the scythe with Brunhild, and let it slip past me. Towards Viola, who pulled out the scythe that pierced into the ground and tried to attack me again, I activated magic; specifically, at its feet.
“[Slip].”
“Gii!?”
Viola slipped and fell down face-first.
“Ahahaha! Viola, you look so stupid!”
Leaving Luna who’s pointing at her partner and laughing aside, I took out a crystal broadsword from [Storage].
Raising it overhead with both hands, I unleashed a [Gravity]-strengthened slash on the prone Viola.
With a loud impact sound, the slash—which is more of a smash than a slash—shook the ground.
Viola, who received that attack, was gruesomely crushed in half from its head down to its waist. As expected, it shouldn’t be able to regenerate anymore with this.
Honestly, I feel bad for this. In terms of appearance alone, Viola resembles the black [Crown], Noir, as well as the red [Crown], Rouge, that I’m familiar with, after all.
Even though they’re machines, it doesn’t feel good to be doing this kind of thing to a golem with its own consciousness.
“Eii, Viola’s grudge—!”
“Wha…!”
Luna changed her right arm’s metallic portion to a broadsword, probably to mimic me.
Even though it’s rather large, Luna swung it around easily as she came at me with a horizontal slash that threatened to slice me in half. She might not feel the weight since it’s become part of her body.
“[Shield]…!”
I noticed my failure only after activating the magic. Even if it’s a sham, that broadsword still carries divinity with it. A regular [Shield] wouldn’t do anything…!
“Guu!”
Together with the easily-broken [Shield], I was sent flying to a wall nearby.
I should’ve used my weapon to ward it off like earlier, instead of using magic.
Luna jumped towards me as I was trying to get up. Pushing her knees down on my shoulder, she got into the so-called mounted position on top of me.
When I looked up, my eyes met with Luna’s, which have a suspicious glint in them.
“I’ve~ caught~ you~. Kufufu. When I’m trying to kill each other with To-yan, my body gets hot, you know. Is this love? It’s love, isn’t it? … Ah, I’ve thought of something good.”
“Eh? Wai, whaa!?”
While staying in her mounted position, Luna smoothly untied the ribbon around her chest, and began unbuttoning the buttons one by one. Her black lace bra was slightly peeking out.
“Whu, what are you doing!?”
“It’s alright. Since I heard it doesn’t hurt for the boy. It apparently hurts a lot for the girl; I’m looking forward to it.”
“What talk is this!?”
While breathing roughly, Luna looked down at me with a flushed face and an enchanting smile. The tongue that peeked out slightly as it licked her lips looked strangely bewitching.
Wait up wait up, what the hell is this!?
While panicking, my arms were suddenly grabbed by someone. The owner of those small and cold hands was looking down at me, who’s on the ground, in reverse from above my head.
Over there was the purple [Crown], Viola, who I supposedly crushed moments earlier.
“Wha, don’t tell me it can even regenerate from that state!?”
“Viola won’t die from something to that degree, you know? Since it can’t feel pain, its regeneration is even faster than me, after all.”
I had definitely crushed its brain, the [Q-crystal], and its heart, the [G-cube], so why…!
Suddenly, the sound of something dropping to the ground with a *pasa* entered my ears; and when I turned my eyes back from Viola, the figure of a fully naked Luna straddling me, backlit by the sun, entered my eyes.
“Hyowaaaaaaaaah!?”
My whole body goes rigid from shock, or something else. Could it be because of the heat from her red face, Luna’s glasses have become clouded; her smile now looks somewhat obscene. Under the scorching sun, the blinding naked body glittered from the sweat drops rolling down.
“Wai, wait wait wait! What are you doingggggggg!?”
“Ahn. Don’t struggle so much.”
When Luna had opened up my shirt, she lowered her waist on my exposed stomach. It’s obvious, but Luna isn’t wearing anything. Which means, on top of my belly, there’s—
“T, te, [Teleport]!”
“Harya?”
I escaped from that spot with a [Teleport] without even setting a target coordinate. I dropped down in a rolling position onto the desert ground about ten meters away.
Th, that was scary… In a lot of ways, scary…
“Nmou. A shy one, aren’t you, To-yan?”
“That’s not the problem!”
I can’t do this. This girl is too dangerous. She’s like a natural enemy for me. If I’m caught, I’ll definitely be done in!
And anyway, since I’ve already completed my purpose here, there’s no reason to stay any longer!
“Farewell!”
“Ah, mou…”
While hearing the voice of Luna echoing in my ear, I used [Teleport] to transfer directly to the holy capital.
I had intended to exit in a backstreet alley, but probably because I was still flustered, I ended up on top of the roof of a building instead.
Amidst the voices of children and yelling of old men that I could hear from below, I calmed my rough breathing while lying down on the roof as-is.
“That was scary…”
I felt what it means to be a frog being stared at by a snake, or something like that… My heart’s still beating away at a furious pace, you know. I was about to have something precious taken away…
My throat’s dry… I took out some chilled fruit water from [Storage] and gulped it down.
Haa… Delish. That calmed me down a little.
Fo, for the moment let’s just go back. I’ve gotten what I came here for anyway. I’ll have Dr. Elka do some tuning up for them… Who should I entrust these two to as their new master, I wonder.
It’s fine for it to be me, but since they’re from the same series as Fenrir, it’s possible that no jamming would occur if Dr. Elka becomes their master as well.
Fenrir should be glad about the new comrades too.
As I stood up and tried to transfer back to [Babylon], I remembered about the treasures I took from the bandits.
Oops, there was that too. Since I’m at the holy capital anyway, let’s go around giving those money to the orphanages.
“The closest orphanage… It’s right here?”
When I searched for [orphanages], a red pin fell down on my current location. Seems like the roof I was on actually belonged to an orphanage.
No wonder I kept hearing the voices of children and the yelling of some old men since a while ago.
…The yelling of some old men?
I casually looked down from on top of the roof.
Three thuggish-looking men were shouting at an auntie and some children.
“Like I’ve been saying, Ms. Director, the deadline is tomorrow! Can’t you just pack your stuff up and get out with the brats by today?”
“That can’t… If we’re chased out of here, then just where would the children live afterwards!?”
“You think we care about that!? Just go to the slums or something!”
I don’t really understand the details, but I can tell they’re trying to chase the children out.
Still, those old men really do look ill-natured. Oh?
A black golem carriage stopped in front of the orphanage’s doors. A man got off the carriage that was pulled by a multi-legged type golem.
“Boss!”
“You guys are still dragging your feet, huh. Something like those filthy brats, just chase them out already, you idiots.”
When the man called boss by the others took out a cigar from his pocket, one of the three men hurriedly came forward and lighted it with a match.
He’s a rather rotund man over thirty, and wearing a Chinese-style changpao-like long gown. A pair of gold-rimmed glasses that showed off his bad taste, a balding head, and two strands of catfish-like beard beneath his nose… O, ya?
What is this? I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere…
…Who’s this guy again?
“Zavit-san, I’ll definitely return the money. So please…!”
The old auntie, who’s likely the orphanage’s director, clung onto the man with gold-rimmed glasses. However, the man called Zavit simply flung away the arms that were clinging to him with disgust, and spat on the ground.
Zavit… Zavit, you say…?
“Don’t touch me with your dirty hands, grandma! Do you really not understand the fact that this place already belongs to us [Papillon]!? I’ll give you ten seconds. Disappear right now along with those dirty kids over—”
“Aaaaah! I remember now!”
Upon hearing the keyword of [Papillon], I finally managed to drag the figure of that man up from the bottom of my memories. And originally, I had wanted to keep it there forever, too.
When he saw me, who had suddenly raised my voice while standing on the roof, the other side also pointed towards me while raising a scream-like “Hyoeeaaaaaaaaa!?”
Zavit Grant. The man who was an executive of [Papillon]… Or not, I guess he’s already the chief now. It’s reasonable for me not to remember him. I had effectively only met this guy for a couple of minutes, after all.
[Papillon] was the organization that Silhouette-san and others in the [Black Cats], whom I’m working with, used to belong to.
Zavit was persistently harassing Silhouette-san in various ways in order to obtain the information management division she managed.
I had casted a “curse” on that Zavit in order to make him shut up.
It was a curse that would slowly paralyze parts of his body whenever he or his subordinates become involved with Silhouette-san’s group.
[Papillon], under the cursed Zavit, immediately left the city Silhouette-san and the others were in. I didn’t expect them to run all the way to the neighboring country, though.
Compared to before, it feels like they’ve lost some degree of cohesion as an organization. That reminds me, when Silhouette-san left, apparently quite a few others also washed their hands of [Papillon] as well.
I jumped down from the rooftop and landed in front of Zavit and the others.
Even as his face paled visibly, Zavit opened his mouth falteringly.
“Wh, wh, why are you bastard here!”
“Just a coincidence, really. You’re still doing bad things like before, huh. Should I prepare an even stronger ‘curse’ this time?”
“Hii!”
Zavit made a run for it in front of my eyes. Seems like the effects of the “curse” hasn’t reached his lower body yet.
“[Slip].”
“Bugeryah!?”
Zavit fell forward with strong momentum and bashed his face on the pavement.
“You bastard!”
“What did you do to the boss!”
“Shut it. I’m in a bad mood today, don’t get in my way. [Gravity].”
“““Gufuu!”””
I used [Gravity] on Zavit’s three underlings as they jumped at me and made them fall down onto the ground.
“Oi.”
“Hyes!?”
“How much does this orphanage owe you?”
“T-three white gold coins; thi, thi, this is a proper collateral collection, you know!? I have the deed here!”
He pushed a piece of paper that he took out of his breast pocket towards me. Fuun, it does look like the real deal… Three white gold coins, huh. Around 3 million yen?
If they cannot return that sum by the deadline which is tomorrow, this land would become the belongings of [Papillon], apparently.
“Well, whatever. It’s money I was planning to donate anyway. Here, three white gold coin.”
“Eh?”
I passed Zavit three white gold coins which I took out of [Storage]. He’s probably aiming for the land rather than the gold, anyway. Sorry to disappoint you.
“You’ve got no problem with this, right?”
“Eh? No, wai—”
“If you have, then I guess it’s time for another ‘curse’—”
“Hyoeeeeeee!?”
I was joking, but when Zavit heard that, he jumped up with great vigor and dashed at full speed back to his golem carriage, before escaping from the orphanage as fast as he could.
“Bo, boss—s!?”
The three hoodlums, after I released the [Gravity] on them, ran out the door of the orphanage while chasing after Zavit. They sure do run away fast.
“A, ano, just who are…”
The director-san of the orphanage nervously called out to me.
I picked up the deeds of the loan Zavit dropped, and burned it to ashes with fire-attribute magic.
“I was told to donate these to orphanages by a certain person, you see. I’m planning to go around to other orphanages as well, so don’t mind it.”
“Donate…! That huge sum!?”
“I don’t know about the details as well. Three white gold coins’ worth is gone from this, but please take it. I hope this would help your management of this place.”
I made up some random talk that would fit—not all of it is a lie, though—as I passed seven white gold coins to the director.
Now then, when I checked, there’s apparently five other orphanages in the holy capital.
Since I’ve already said it, let’s give ten white gold coins to each of them. The gold hoarded by the bandits would fall a little bit short, but if I sell some of the jewelry they had then it should be enough.
I also passed some snacks to the children on the side before leaving the orphanage. I remember director-san bowing down to me deeply at the end.
Alright, let’s quickly go around to the other orphanages before returning to Babylon.
I’m going to take a break after that. I don’t feel like doing anything more today. Healing. I require healing-nano desu.
As I shook my head to try to dispel the image of a girl’s naked body that’s floating up in my brain together with the scorching sun, I opened a [Gate] that connects to the next orphanage.
- Pixel