Chapter 15 : The Bewilderment of Yaksha Princess
Reanscild PoV
The smell of demon incense.
Weakening my wit and recognition with aphrodisiac made from dried Yadoriyorukusa*. [TL : Name of plant written in katakana, the rough translation is “Parasitic Evening Weed”] Usually it"s used as aromatic essence by mixing it with incense, but one can gain stronger effect by directly ingesting it.
While looking at that burning incense in front of me, I, who was rendered immobile understood the reason for this.
I couldn"t even shake my body.
I kept looking at the incense that burned on the wall, wondering how much time has pa.s.sed.
Even my sense of time has become muddled due to the incense"s effect.
Part of my head and heart was already muddled and unable to make a clear judgement.
Someone send me a message from my brother after I left Lord Barlunt"s office.
What did that royal knight wanted to tell me I wonder.
I couldn"t remember the important points of it. How pathetic.
What did I do after that I wonder.
When I came to, I was already in this place.
Nothing should have happened to me since my clothes are still neat and tidy, but what is the intention of the mastermind I wonder.
No good.
I couldn"t think straight.
Those ideas kept scattering in my head.
The one thing that I could remember is just the happy face of my dear brother.
Why did that strict brother of mine make such a face?
「Idiot brother. Traitor」
My articulation seemed wrong too.
My father was killed by the demon race.
My mother was killed by those d.a.m.nable humans.
My brother and me smeared our bodies with mud and decided to live while holding our breath in order to disappear into the darkness.
We robbed many others lives for the sake of our own survival.
My dear brother and I lived supporting each other, in order to not be swallowed by the blood that flowed in our veins.
A sword was for the sake of our survival. A killing tool.
A tool to cut our enemies and rob them of their lives.
Why did you seem to enjoy swinging such a thing?
I felt jealous, hateful, and bitter inside.
Why were you making such an expression?
Why did you seem to enjoy it?
Why were you looking at that girl with such a look on your face?
Dear father and mother aren"t with us already.
Both humans and demons aren"t our allies either.
Didn"t you say that the two of us are going to support each other?
Didn"t we decide that we"re going to lend our power to his majesty?
I couldn"t accept this.
I wouldn"t let you to make that kind of face.
And yet, why did you seem so happy?
「Idiot brother. Traitor」
Though I should have thought about the other matters, those kinds of thoughts kept appearing in my mind.
I"m so pathetic, miserable, and low.
I couldn"t help but feel reluctant.
I hate myself.
I hate my dear brother.
I hate Lefiysama the most.
Please don"t steal my dear brother from me.
Please don"t steal his majesty.
Please just go back to your human world.
Please stop destroying my world.
「No. I shouldn"t…….. Think ………… About such things」
In fact I want to say my grat.i.tude.
I really enjoyed it.
It"s not like I have to live for the sake of killing others.
For you who taught him that he could swing a sword with such feeling till he forgot the pa.s.sing of time.
I want to feel that way too.
Being loved by his majesty, dear brother, and everyone.
I want to become like Lefiysama.
「Found ya! Not in here! ? I was sure that she was here! 」
「Failed again huh! Please wait a minute! 」
「NOAAAAAAAAAA! THE CEILING IS COLLAPSED! SHALL WE GO THIS WAY? 」
「WAIT! WHICH WAY ARE YOU GOING! ? 」
It seems there"s a ruckus outside of the room.
They"re too noisy for someone who came to replenish incense.
What"s happening out there I wonder.
「Uwaaa! What the h.e.l.l is this room! IT"S FULL OF SMOKE! 」
「LISTEN TO ME HERE! PLEASE DO NOT OPEN ANY ROOM AT YOUR OWN CONVENIENCE! I"M GOING TO CONFIRM THE SAFETY FIRST! 」
The door of the room flung open.
The smoke that filled the room flowed outside. My breathing became far lighter after that smoke flowed out of the room.
「THERE YOU ARE! Reanschild! Are you all right?. ? 」
Someone with flaxen hair was approaching me from the other side of the door.
I remembered of this back and face.
「Wait, please hear my story! 」
「To think that they"re burning such things inside a closed room. What in the h.e.l.l is their head full of」
When the air in the room changed, I noticed that my head had cleared a little bit.
I"m trying to confirm the two that entered the room again.
That"s strange.
The incense shouldn"t have a hallucinogenic effect.
I met the person I don"t want to meet the most.
The person that shouldn"t be in this kind of place.
Why are you here?
Why have you come to save me?
「Lefiysama and……………. Carlile?? Why? 」
「E? What"s with that reaction. Why you say? Because you"re cute but…………」
Lefiysama is blushing when she sees me.
Though I didn"t know what she was thinking inside her head from the very beginning nor what she was thinking about now.
I wish that this was just an illusion.
「THIS IS!? COULD IT BE, DEMON INCENSE!」
「DEMON INCENSE? 」
「A dangerous drug. Please leave this room, Refiysama! ! 」
「EH? E? Dangerous? The dangerous one is the smoke?」
「It"s dangerous. In short this is the kind of thing that make you feels intoxicated. Even us in the royal guard won"t be able to stand properly if we inhale this smoke」
「Wooah, that"s sounds really dangerous. Can you stand Reanschild? ……….. You can"t huh. I"m sorry.. I"m going to take you a slightly forceful way then」
Lefiysama raised my shoulder.
She"s trying to carry me with that slender body of hers isn"t she.
「This way, Reanschild-sama. There"s too much smoke in here. We must hurry, don"t lose your way」
Carlile is also shouldering me from the other side.
It seems that they"re going to leave from this smoky area immediately.
It seems that I inhaled too much smoke.
What about Lefiysama?
When I"m worrying about Lefiysama"s condition, Carlile legs gave up first.
「Aa– This is bad. This dose is too much you know. I"m starting to feel dizzy」
「Are you okay? Carlile-san. Shall we move? 」
「Rather than that, I wonder why you are so calm, Lefiysama. Didn"t you enter that room long enough?」
「That incense was a bad news, but I don"t feel anything special from it. Is it because I can hold my liquor? 」
I don"t think liquor has anything to do with this.
Lefiysama approached me.
Don"t come. No.
「No. Just………….. leave…………. me, please run away from this place」
Only escaping from this place wasn"t enough.
The demon incense wasn"t just affecting us.
There"s a killing intent that swelled up from inside the darkness.
I flung away from Carlile"s back and landed on top of Lefiysama"s back.
Though I could somehow react to that killing intent, my body could hardly move since the smoke is still around this place.
I felt a terrible heat from my left shoulder to my back.
「Reanschild! 」
Though I can hear Lefiysama"s scream from nearby, my body just wouldn"t listen to me.
We should close the door to stop the smoke since the killing intent from my back flared even bigger.
There"s a loud and dull sound that shook even the ceiling of the labyrinth.
「It"s a labyrinth troll! We need to leave this place! 」
Carlile slammed his body against the labyrinth troll, it seems he"s trying to push the troll to the wall.
The labyrinth troll glares in our direction from amidst the dust clouds and scattering mold.
「Demon incense, can call monsters too」
「It"s okay, don"t talk anymore! Hold on tight!! 」
Lefiysama is keeping a strong hold on my left shoulder.
Please spare my left shoulder. It"s really painful you know.
Though Carlile stabs at the labyrinth troll with his sword, the labyrinth troll"s body is as tough as rock and his sword glanced off and fell to the ground.
It seems he was having a hard time moving his limbs too.
And yet he could fight on even ground with a troll, as expected of a knight trained by my dear brother.
Carlile tried to fling the labyrinth troll.
Are you an idiot?
Where do you think we are?
This place is an ancient labyrinth, the ceiling and walls are old you know.
The labyrinth troll roars while hitting on the wall.
「AH」
I could hear the scream of that idiot Carlile from the other side of the rubble from the collapsing ceiling.