Translator: Ranzan Editor: JackOFallTrades
Hey, Keril.
You were talking about an adventure, and got in trouble for sneaking three people into a hunter"s shack outside of the village.
Hey, Lucia.
『Minnalis-chan, let"s practice being brides』 you said, and we helped with emergency stores of rice being handed out.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
Back then, Keril and Lucia, how did I laugh back then?
I can"t remember.
Even though I bullied Keril so much, thinking back to then, I couldn"t remember at all.
「Hey, what do you think? Daddy? What face did I make when I laughed back then?」
「Eekk…owww…owwwng… d.a.m.n…dammit…」
I asked this guy rolling on the ground like a potato bug.
His left hand was cut open, his right forearm was burned, his left ankle was crushed, his right thigh was broken in a strange direction, and his back was pierced by countless poison needles.
I left everything above his neck untouched so that I could clearly hear his fresh screams. It was quite beautiful to hear the waves of tears and anguish.
「Or, have you totally forgotten what I looked like? Is having a new life with a young wife that much fun? If I ask in her voice, will you remember then?」
「Ugh!!」
I walked a little ways away, and stepped on a girl that was gagged after begin tied up.
I can remember that she was the happiest as the village people threw rocks at my mother and me.
「S, stop it! Don"t touch my family!」
「Shut up…that line, you shouldn"t be using a line like that with me!!」
「Gah!?!」
「Who would forgive you?! Who would let you die peacefully?!」
「Eeek!」
「Suffer, suffer, suffer, lose all, as you die alone among despair and pain!」
「Gah!!」
「*huff, huff, huff* …I really am p.i.s.sed OFF.」
Saying not to touch his family.
You of all people, saying something like that.
Even though I said such a simple thing about my mother.
「Okay, let"s end this. Even if I let her live longer, it"s only an insult to my dead mother.」
「Eeppp! Eeeeek!?」「」「」「」「」
I took some brightly shimmering scissors out of my bag.
I opened them widely, and strode over her head in the dust.
I nicked the gag with the blade and the fabric in her mouth fell out.
「Hey, hey…why donchuu stop thith…? Thith is all…」
「Are you fine with those being your last words?」
「No, waith, helpth me…thorry! I"m thorry!!」
I put strength in my arms and the blades scratched the earth while closing.
「Ahah, HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Good! You"re healthy right up to the end. My mother on the other hand looked so pained as she said her last words.」
「No! Thtop! Ifth you"re jokingth…Gyaahhh!」
CLIP, the scissors resounded, and the girl"s life was to be finished.
「AAAAAAAH, AHHH, AAAAAAHHHHHH!!」
「Heh heh heh, you"re next. Time to say goodbye to this world. You"re about to fall deep into the shadows. A h.e.l.l of blood and mud that never ends!」
「…stop s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with me…, this, this….must be a dream, a dream! It"s all messed up! Because…I"ve done nothing wrong…」
Keril laughed like his dear father used to.
「You haven"t said one word of apology. …ghosts have haunted you, and now these white crawling bugs will. Until the flapping of their wings will fill this world. 『Summon – Whiakuria!』 」
What was born, with more magic than any other summoned beast, was a milky-white maggot about two inches long.
I held it in the palm of my hand, squirming, I kicked Keril rightside-up, and dropped the bug into his still surprised, open mouth.
「Minnalis, I finished what we set out to do!」
「It looks like you"re done too. I"ve finished my job too.」
「Master, Shuria. Yes, I"m finished. All that"s left is already working.」
The two arrived and I reacted to them.
Master, who had made his preparations with his sword of sin, was pale from the curse that the holy maiden had put on him.
I remembered that sad fact, and was told『even though you did so well getting revenge Minnalis, there"s still a reason that you hesitated』, and I couldn"t say anything in return out of happiness.
「So, just as I planned, we begin tomorrow. …We"ll have a great time, Minnalis.」
「I finished my job from the insect that you gave me, and I"ll help you with other backup later, so you"ll see something great. I won"t let anyone interrupt you.」
「Thank you, both of you.」
Along with saying my thanks, whoooosh, a cold wind blew.
Then, here and there, particles of white and heavy snow began to fall.
「I thought it was cold, and now it"s snowing. I see the reason why.」
Looking at the clouds and the way the snow was falling, even if it fell all night, tomorrow would be clear.
「Yes, just like that day.」
Yes, let it snow all it wants.
「Hee hee hee…」
Hey, Lucia.
This is how I"m mocking you.
If I mock you like this, will you remember the way I used to laugh?
「Yes, tomorrow will be a blast. In a white h.e.l.lish world, that past day will finally be finished.」
Yes, and your world will end as well.
☆
After seeing Minnalis" violence, it"s been 10 days since Ukei-kun whisked us away.
Whooosh, a cold wind hit my face, and I awoke from a light sleep.
「Hm? Leone, you"re awake. How do you feel?」
「Horrible. Don"t ask the obvious. And after all of this, you"re not going to use -san when you call me?」
「Well, it really doesn"t matter if I call you with -san now, right?」
In the middle of the forest near Kikitto Village, we sat in an old, torn-up hunter"s shack in the howling rain.
Since this shack is only used during warmer weather, there was no one around save us.
We were tied up on a floor with only straw spread over it, and sometimes the cold wind would stream through holes in the shack"s walls.
「Who"s fault do you think this is?」
「It"s all yours, right? I warned you, all of you, that you couldn"t reach her. The reason we"re here is because of all of your choices. Without that, we"d just be hanging out in the city again.」
「…if you all weren"t obsessing over revenge, then none of this would happen.」
「Hah hah hah, don"t make me laugh.」
Ukei-kun just laughed without any interest in what I said, as he sipped some tea he had heated in the fire.
「What do you mean, make you laugh. With all the power you have you could choose any path you wanted, why…」
「…phew. Well, let me tell you my story. I can"t wake up well, so when I try to go back to bed my sister rips off the sheets. My father"s the same, bad with waking up, so my mom yanks his ear to wake him up. My mom"s clumsy too, as many time as she tries she keeps on burning the toast. And at school, I just act like an a.s.s with my buddies. Lately, my teacher knocked all of us over the head with his fist. Any generation can feel that life, right? Now, everyone I know I can say that I treat seriously.」
「…if so, then you should live so you don"t do anything embarra.s.sing. Could you even show yourself to those others with the way you act now?」
「Yeah, the way I am now. I couldn"t show them, nor would I want to.」
He was honest about that, no exaggeration.
It wasn"t just that I could see colors with my skill, but the way he looked nostalgic over his previous life looked real.
The way he said 『He was looking for a way to go back to the old world』, wasn"t a lie at all.
「Hey, so stop. You may go back to the old world someday…」
Because I thought it, but my lecture was responded to by these words,
「But you know, that has no relation to me now. All of those who I don"t want to show myself to are dead. The compensation for me being summoned to this world are the 200 people related to my summoning and the five or six people I have a blood bond with.」
If those words were true, then going back to his old world was meaningless.
「…what does that mean?」
「I was summoned at my school. Before the morning homeroom, even before I could do anything, a magic circle spread around my feet, and I was bathed inside a wall of light. In other words, the people around me then were my friends and old teachers.」
He seemed to be monologuing, while we were all just listeners to his tale.
I was going to open my mouth to speak, but, any words I was about to use seemed to disappear.
Even though it wasn"t about me, the words just seemed to crumble, as they seemed so trifling inside compared to what he was about to say.
「Hey, you said I could do this all over, right? If that"s so, then maybe this time I could be saved. Give them back then, my family, my friends, my life. Hey, give them back, all of it, just erase everything here, and let me redo it all over.」
「…I…I…think…」
「…sorry. You can"t do anything about it. I envy you from the bottom of my heart, to be so positive that you can say from your heart that you can save someone, I envy, envy, envy you, I"m so jealous of you that I can"t think straight.」
I could see the envy in his eyes when he looked at me.
Like he was lost and looking for something far away, the color of yearning.
「No matter how much I try to warn myself, no matter how pitiful I think that I"m acting, even to the point of screaming out, I…I…」
Now that he had let all of his emotions out and had nothing left, I could feel nothing but pity and compa.s.sion for him.
I couldn"t say anything, couldn"t form the words, something like the sound of closing.
「Well, this and that are different though. Your and my break time are over. Time to open the box of『l.u.s.t』and put you in.」
With those words, my body shuddered uncontrollably.
Suddenly that look of a young boy disappeared, and was replaced by a dark and hollow skeleton.
Then, from Ukei-kun"s mouth, a high-pitched child"s voice emerged that was nothing like his.
「—Let"s play. Let"s play. Let"s play.
—If you wanna garden, I"ll make one for you. If you wanna gallows, I"ll make one for you. If you wanna box, I"ll make one for you.
—Gasp and sing and melt and fester and cut and fall, show me everything you give.
—Dreams and present mixed together, everyone play.
—A brilliant colored box, a simmering gorgeous gorgeous box, a box with something like a jewel inside.
— 【The Sinner"s Sword / A Maiden"s Colored Box】」
In an instant, allsound had disappeared as if they had swallowed.
「『Ahah hah hah, outside. Ouuut side!』」
A girl about seven appeared.
Her hair was down to her waist and shimmered in an array of the rainbow.
Her skin was so white that it was almost transparent, and dressed in a similarly colored one-piece, she laughed innocently.
She had something on her hand like a shimmering rainbowed wristband that was connected to Ukei-kun"s right hand.
「『Hey, hey, let"s play, brother…let"s play!』」
Her innocent voice almost sounded like a changeling’s.
「Ugh, dammit, this sucks.」「Ugh, no!」「I want to wake up from this nightmare.」
At her voice, Dan and the others began to awake on the shack"s floor.
「Well, seems I have to face these four again. Let"s play, l.u.s.t. 『Ultra Colored Vacuum Box』」
「「「「Ugh!」」」」
The next instant a jointless gla.s.s box sealed us in.
No warmth, cold, just inside a sticky half-transparent liquid, with strangely no difficulty breathing. However, our skin was covered in gooseb.u.mps as our magic was sucked out of us. The first moments felt exhilarating, almost like heaven. However, we all knew the truth.
For those that had magic in their bodies, this was the kind carrot before the cruel club.
「Guwaaah?! Aghhhh, stop! Stop! Stop this!!!」
The first one that crossed that line was the one with the lowest total MP and magic resistance, Dan.
「Agh, gaaaah, uggghhh」「Ah! Hah, no! No more!」
Next was Xank and Spinne reaching their limits.
「Agh! Stop! I"ll take everything instead of them! Just let my party go!」
「Sorry, can"t do that. I can"t get enough just from you for my purpose. I have to use all of you for a while to get all the MP that I need, so give up.」
Ukei-kun simply refused my pleas.
My consciousness began to become fuzzy, and after a while, even the magic I tried to regenerate had been taken from me.
「Relax, this time is the last. I have all the magic I need. And after I"m done with this, you can drift off to sleep.」
As soon as he had spoken that, my MP reached its bottom.
In an instant, the pleasure returned again and my gooseb.u.mped flesh seemed to reach the limits of almost melting.
Something seemed to be flowing inside of me just as my magic had flowed out.
『Stop the pain it hurts it hurts so much help me I"m scared and sad and alone I want to be saved and to cry and it"s dark and I"m alone and I don"t want to be because it"s cold and rotten and I want to disappear and die and die and die and die and die and die and die and die and die and die and die and die』
「Aggh, stop! Don"t go inside of me!!」
Minus, minus, minus.
Just one drop made everything black, just one drop of liquid condensing everything into black.
Through my skin, into my muscles, my blood vessels, throughout my whole frame and around my heart and gnawing every particle of my body.
A pain that I couldn"t resist or become accustomed to, that flowed inside of me over and over for days.
I tried to think of something, something that would help me maintain my consciousness.
No, I didn"t even want to keep that.
「『Ah, everyone is enjoying the inside of my box, here, take it. I"ll turn it into magic for you.』」
「…no, that"s too strong, l.u.s.t. Just a little pleasure. We can"t wait three days. The magic that you produce has enough『Shroud of Shadow Spirit』in it. For all of them, you have the duty to show them all. You don"t need to make it so strong that you crush their consciousness.」
「『Whaa? But, but, it feels so good, I don"t wanna, I don"t wanna!』」
「Don"t be selfish. Just listen to what I tell you.」
「『Hmph, okay…』」
The little girl with the rainbow hair stuck out her pouting mouth and then spun her finger around.
「Agh, cough cough!!」
And while the discomfort didn"t disappear, the pressure suddenly lessened.
Even so, my blank mind still couldn"t form thoughts, as I was still trying to inhale something from this box and my throat cried out for air.
「Play around, l.u.s.t. 『Empty Picture of the Box』.」
The moment his voice echoed, the box suddenly had structure and seemed to separate itself from the rest of the world.
「Where…is this?」
In my indeterminate thoughts, I looked down onto a powdered forest surrounding a village.
「『Hey, is this a playground? A playground? Disappear!』」
「W, wait!!」
Without looking at Ukei-kun trying to stop her, she reached out her arm into the void and the forest disappeared with a sound.
It was almost like how a child mischievously puts a handprint on a wall, lightly.
「『Ah hah hah, it"s gone!? Gwahh?』」
Her echoing laughter suddenly broke.
Fwip, her rainbow-colored hair wrapped around her neck and began to choke her luxurious throat.
「Hey, l.u.s.t. This isn"t YOUR playground…you get that?」
「『Mnng, mggh, hmmmgh!』」
Her little feet were flailing in the air as she uncomfortably nodded her head in understanding.
「Well, now Minnalis" revenge begins. You can watch it all happen too.」
「…no way, this place is…」
Even in my dull sensations, my thoughts returned, and I understood what was set before us.
I could closely see the place that was placed before my vision.
Closed inside the box, the village there before me, was without a doubt, Kikitto.
☆
So that Leone and the others could see, I used the power of 『l.u.s.t』and made a small garden with which to view Kikitto from. I had gotten angry when l.u.s.t selfishly destroyed the forest, but we were far from the village then anyway, and so I found a place separated from the place that I isolated Leone"s party so that we could watch the revenge occur.
After isolating those children, Shuria told me inside that she was already approaching and was fine.
With that I could relax a bit, and looked down on the village again.
As I did, the village church broke apart splendidly into a mountain of debris.
This had to be the beginning of Minnalis" work.
Well, time for me to get to work as well.
In order to fulfill the scene Minnalis wanted to the maximum extent.
Then, I said in the lowest, gruffest voice that echoed downwards.
「—I want to bury it all in mud. You"re tired so don"t move. Don"t come into this narrow world.
—Don"t move. Don"t move. Don"t move.
—Don"t touch, don"t run far, don"t make me move.
—Let"s all do this loosely. Let"s all do this calmly.
—Until this long flowing creation has come to an end.
—【Sinning Sword / Slow-Mourning Cavern of the Creator】」
What appeared was a large man the looks of a dwarf but the size of a troll.
He had the look of a blacksmith, and he had hammers of silver and gold hanging, darkened, from his sides.
From metal rings around both of his shoulders, a long belt of leather straps were held by his hand.
「『I can"t make anything without materials, let me go. Let me go back.』」
He was hanging in the air, as he turned back, looked at me, and said.
「Don"t say you want to go back so soon, Sloth. Once you make one thing in your shop you can go back to sleep, so do what I say.」
Sloth was earnestly was trying to go back inside of me, but I took out my 『Cursed Poison-Blood Knife』and threw it.
「『…you"re way worse than my previous master.』」
「The one before that used you was a rich 『Guilt Stick』. Beggars can"t be choosers, a guy like that had no right to you.」
Just having the 『Cursed Poison-Blood Knife』was enough to show that I meant business, so I sighed, and looked down from the garden that 『l.u.s.t』had created.
「Create the 『Black-geared factory』!」
「『Ah, this is so tedious!』」
Clunk, Sloth grabbed the two hammers over this meaningless village and went to break the knife I threw into bits.
He broke it into bits and then broke that into smaller bits as the small pieces were crushed into glittering dust.
Surrounding this village that looked like a miniature were shining walls of spinning black gears.
With this, the village was now surrounded in a slowly spinning factory of 『Sloth』.
I looked at Leone and the rest and said,
「What you all tried to stop me from doing, you"re about to see with your own eyes.」
「…」
I looked away from the wordless Leone and sat cross-legged, looking down.
I would keep this factory spinning while I rested and enjoyed watching.
I would endure the pain of the curse the holy maiden put on me, and continue to draw the power that Leone and the other had given me through the 『Shroud of the Shadow Spirit』.
「Have fun and do whatever you wish, Minnalis!」