Chapter 176
A leader’s entry on stage is pretty standard regardless of the organization
It looked like a huge j.a.panese sliding door .
After following Ouka up some stairs, we ended up in front of a somewhat imposing door .
There was a drawing of a crow on the sliding door, which added to make it all feel like I was in front of the door of some game’s last boss’ room .
At last, huh?
“Please be very careful around here . Black Princess’ companions are known to take excessive care of her, but I don’t know exactly how overprotective they will be towards a human . ”
“She was the one to summon me here . At least I know that much . ”
Keeping Ouka’s advice at heart, I stared at the sliding door .
As I did that, the door started opening by itself, as if it had noticed we were there .
Back at the castle gates, Ouka hadn’t been quite clear about what kind of person this Black Princess was .
I had seen so many different youkai on my way here, so I honestly had no way to tell .
As that question bounced on the back of my head, the door opened completely .
The first thing I see were some people dressed just like the gatekeepers we met when we first arrived at this castle, and then there was someone who was sitting elegantly behind them .
“I’ve been waiting for you two . ”
She had a clear tone of voice . It sounded inviting, so Ouka and I walked into the room and met the youkai .
“Long time no see, Lady Black Princess . ”
“It’s been a while, Ouka . ”
Ouka knelt in front of the sovereign of her kind, and Black Princess smiled delightfully .
So this was Black Princess, huh?
A black-haired woman wearing a beautiful black kimono, with crow wings on her back .
Without those wings, she could have pa.s.sed for a regular woman .
However, the whole deal with her being “big” as Ouka mentioned earlier didn’t seem to apply .
Or that’s what I had thought . The moment I took a good look at Black Princess, everything became clear .
Those are… certainly big .
I may find it hard to say this, but I… I found myself unintentionally staring at those two big things on Black Princess’ chest .
Was this what Ouka was trying to say? I mean, what does she think about her sovereign’s b.r.e.a.s.t.s?
This goes without saying, but it was kind of rude to be staring so much .
Black Princess looked at me, who was then staring at her face behind my mask as I stood next to Ouka .
“You’re a typical person, aren’t you?”
After looking at me, Black Princess turned her attention to the sliding door .
“Thank you . You can go now . ”
“Yes, Ma’am!”
The soldiers who had been standing by the sliding door for some time were excused, and they left the room .
After that, it was just Black Princess, Ouka and I left inthe room . Black Princess quickly turned her eyes to me with intense curiosity .
“No one should bother us now . Can you take off that mask?”
She seemed rather interested in seeing my face for some reason .
I looked at Ouka as if asking her what she thought about Black Princess’ request, and she nodded .
Well, it should be okay, then .
With Ouka’s green light, I took off my fox mask .
Upon seeing my revealed face, Black Princess let out a ‘Ohh’, and with great curiosity left her chair and got closer to me .
“A real human, huh? It’s been a while since I’ve seen one this close…”
She seemed nostalgic as she looked at my face .
Black Princess then placed her hand on my face and drew her own face close to mine with the innocence of a child that sees something for the first time .
She was somewhat different than what I had expected .
As she touched my face, I humbly kept standing upright as I started to think .
I had imagined she would be a bit more hostile than this, but I couldn’t sense a single bit of hostility from her .
Black Princess may be just like Ouka, in that she bears no ill will at all towards humans .
As I was thinking about that, I started to notice that something was. .h.i.tting my upper body .
Thinking it strange I turned my eyes down for a moment and there I found those two huge things I had been trying so hard not to look at for some time .
I tried to divert my eyes right away, but even amongst youkais, women seem to have a sixth sense for telling when you’re looking at them, so she quickly noticed and took a step back .
“It’s embarra.s.sing, please don’t stare so much . ”
Black Princess’ cheeks turned red and she shyly crossed her arms, covering her chest .
Just as I hurriedly tried to deny what Black Princess said, I felt a sudden pain in one of my legs .
“Lord Yato?”
I had received a warning shot from a squinting Ouka’s elbow, and I ended up holding the upper part of my leg in pain .
It hurted a lot, quite a lot…
“I’m sorry…”
“Haha, come on, don’t fight, you two . ”
Black Princess smiled gently after seeing Ouka and I arguing .
She seemed to have interrupted us on purpose so that it would stop right there .
“It seems Ouka isn’t being manipulated by you, huh?”
Black Princess seemed relieved .
“Can you tell?”
“I’m very good at noticing these things . I can tell if someone is being manipulated just by looking at them . ”
“Your magical powers are truly impressive, Lady Black Princess . ”
By ‘magical powers’ did she mean that she was very good with mental spells, like curses or something like that?
“And while I was touching your face, I checked you up a little . You have a considerably strong power lying within you, don’t you? You may be trying to hide it, but your spiritual power is truly unusual . ”
So when you came to touch my face, it was so you could do that?
For someone with such a shy and calm tone of voice, she was unexpectedly cunning .
This spiritual power she was talking about was what in other worlds is known as “magic” .
After feeling my magical power, far from fearing it, Black Princess calmly went back to her chair .
“Pleased to meet you . My name is Black Princess, and I’m the leader of this city . Welcome to the capital . Though even if I say that, you may not feel very welcome here, Mr . Human . ”
“Well, you’re right . ”
I knew that only too well .
After finishing her greeting, Black Princess moved onto the main subject .
“The reason I had called you here today was about Ouka herself . I now know that she wasn’t manipulated by you, but while that may be true I still can’t be at ease just yet . ”
“Why is that?”
“He may still be deceiving you, Ouka . ”
“Ah!? Please wait a moment!”
Ouka, who had been kneeling down all this time, suddenly stood up as if unable to overlook what Black Princess had just said .