Chapter 105
Chapter 105
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: All-Purpose Fish
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“An evil wizard… is trying to swallow the world whole.”
Ding—
Diiing...
The soft opening notes of a harp rang out.
Beautiful tones sliced through the air between the huddled children.
The storyteller strumming the harp smiled faintly and began his tale like a song.
“But look—even now, a little wizard stands in his way?”
“Ooo...!”
“Wizard...!”
The children’s sparkling eyes focused intently.
The harp’s melody flowed once more, this time with a lighter, more upbeat rhythm.
“The enraged wizard descended upon the world, intent on burning everything to ash.”
“Gasp!”
“What do we do...!”
The harp played rapidly, laced with tension.
The children’s breaths grew shallow, their small hands clasping one another.
“The enraged wizard lashed out even more wildly. He hated the world so much. He had loved it so dearly... yet the world had never loved him back.”
“Why... why would that happen...”
“Waaah...”
The music swelled like hazy, rippling waves... then gradually calmed.
The story, steeped in tragedy, quietly marched toward its end.
“In the end, the little wizard fell. The rage was too overwhelming, and the small sacrifice couldn’t reach it.”
“Such an ending...”
“But... at that moment.”
Diiing...
The harp’s melody, which had paused, trembled back to life.
A single delicate note from his fingertips flowed over the tale, followed by the storyteller’s voice.
“The enraged wizard stopped his hand. For he... had seen the little wizard’s face.”
“...?”
“The face of the hero he’d once dreamed of becoming. The image of himself from so long ago, the one he’d longed to be.”
“...So the enraged wizard... was the little wizard all along?”
“That’s right. The enraged wizard... was the little wizard himself.”
Ding...
The harp’s final, gentle note seeped into the story, leaving a lingering echo.
“But... aren’t you a bard, mister?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“If you’re a bard... shouldn’t you play poems...? Is a fairy tale okay too?”
“What I play are stories... and I love fairy tales.”
“Tell us another one quick...!”
“Haha... Very well.”
His fingertips touched the harp strings once more.
They quivered faintly...
And a more fantastical melody rang out, like wandering through mist.
“Long, long ago... there was a girl who wanted to make everyone’s dreams come true.”
“I love dreams too...!”
“Me too...!”
The harp’s notes grew even softer, spreading in a dreamy haze.
“But the girl herself didn’t know what her own dream was.”
“Ah...”
“And in that dream, a witch whispered to her. ‘Let’s drown everything in dreams. Then no one will ever be sad.’”
“...Isn’t that good?”
“It might be. But...”
The harp’s melody faltered.
The gentle tones twisted, warping into a distorted strain.
“Dreams aren’t always sweet.”
The story pressed on.
From dreamlike to fantastical.
From fantastical to tragic.
“In the end... that witch was the girl herself.”
“......”
“......”
“Hm...?”
The children huddled before the bard wore looks of dissatisfaction.
They crossed their arms, puffing out their cheeks in childish protest.
“Why are all the stories tragedies!”
“Yeah!”
The bard gave a wry smile and slowly swept his hand down the harp strings.
Feeling the notes under his fingers, he reflected on the ancient tales.
“Well... perhaps that’s what they wanted.”
Beings who could no longer understand what they had become.
Beings who could no longer understand what they once had been.
“What they truly longed for in the end... might have been for someone to understand them.”
The children fell silent.
Some pursed their lips tight... others fidgeted with their fingers.
And then...
“No more stories?”
“Hm... Well, there is one left. The tale of the greedy monster...”
“Tell that one too!”
“Erm... Sorry? That story isn’t finished yet.”
“Aww...”
Disappointed sighs erupted in unison.
One child even pretended to flop onto the floor.
“Up you go.”
The bard carefully packed away his harp and stood.
“I’ll come back once the story’s done.”
“...Really?”
“Hehe... I’m a greedy monster myself!”
He let out a mock “Rawr!” to startle the children.
...But they didn’t even flinch.
“Hm... Just kidding.”
“Boring!”
“Yeah!”
The children’s reactions were ice-cold.
They just stared at him with arms crossed and indifferent eyes.
“Your jokes are tragic too...”
“Worse than your stories...”
And shortly after...
As he finished packing his harp and prepared to leave, the children spoke up.
“They said someone’s coming to the nursery tomorrow... You think it’ll be okay...?”
“It’ll be fine, surely.”
“But... the nursery’s a place where scary people come and go...?”
Old wounds lingered.
Memories of fleeing at the mere word “noble.”
Nameless scars and a past of running away resurfaced...
“Hehe... Don’t be so scared. A greedy monster might show up, you know?”
“Eek... Stop joking!”
The bard turned his back to their shouts and hurried away.
And then...
A whisper reached his ear.
【How foolish, Kaden.】
“......”
【A tale of the ‘greedy monster’... You know that when it reaches its end, yours will too.】
“...And you’re the greedy one, Mormot.”
【That story can never return to the children.】
“I decide my own story.”
I am the master of my fate, the captain steering this soul.
As always.
And unchanging...
“The master of the story... is me.”
【.........So, where to next?】
“Hmm... Who knows? How about a resort?”
【A resort...】
“We’re already all the way to the Empire... When else would we enjoy it?”
【...Not a bad idea.】
***
“What’s with the mask?”
...I’m exhausted already.
I want to go home.
No, back to the dorms.
I want to bury myself in bed and just breathe quietly.
“Can’t you take off the mask?”
You tricked me, Lamenta.
Didn’t you say masks were scary?
So why is...
Everyone crowding around this scary mask?
“Wanna play ball with us?”
“Yeah, play with us...!”
I’d barely settled on a rock that looked comfy...
And suddenly kids swarmed around me.
Each trying to get my attention in their own way...
So full of energy.
So... tiring.
-Play with us!
-Me too, me too!
...Seeing the spirits clinging to me must’ve eased their wariness.
After that, they looked at me like, ‘This guy’s not so bad after all,’ and kept talking to me.
‘Ah.’
And now... I was getting drained by spirits and kids from both sides.
If my stamina gauge were visible right now...
It’d probably be flashing red.
In the end, I...
[Rev]
“......?”
[Help me]
In the end, I called on Rev for help.
I had no idea how to handle the kids.
“Handle” felt wrong, and “deal with” was too vague.
It was just... total chaos.
“......”
Rev nodded silently.
She toddled right over to me, then picked up the spirits floating around one by one.
“......Here, take this.”
A tiny spirit cradled in her small hands.
She handed them out to the kids one by one, and it worked like magic.
The kids who’d been clinging to me instantly turned their attention to the spirits, and I could finally breathe.
“......”
And... Rev didn’t forget her share.
She’d snuck one away and hugged it tight in both arms.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Rev de Lumière ]
Affinity: 【Strange Friend】
Status: 【Positive (86%)】 , 【Negative (0%)】
■■■■■■■■□□□ (77/100)
Faction: 『Holy Kingdom』
Info:
[Volunteering at the orphanage with Adel.]
Psyche:
「...Spirit...... so cute.」
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
And from within Rev’s arms, a little spirit was stretching its limbs toward me.
A gesture begging to come closer.
A desperate hand reaching for me.
It almost looked like a cry for help: ‘Save me.’
-Eeeek......
But...
Rev refused to let go.
【Rev!】
Seeing this, Lamenta poked her head out from Rev’s shoulder, indignant.
【I’m cuter than that thing, so hug me instead!】
Lamenta poked at Rev’s cheek from the shadows.
Jealousy incarnate, as expected.
***
“Nothing else?”
“Something cuter...!”
Kids swarming like a hive of wasps.
Sticking here, then there... a dizzying mob.
One word echoed in my mind as I watched.
Fatigue.
“......”
Ah.
My head hurts.
This isn’t something you solve.
“Solve” doesn’t even apply here.
‘......Ugh.’
This break, no matter what...
I’m resting.
I’ll lie in the dorm all day doing absolutely nothing.
...Come to think of it, the student council kids said they’re going on a group trip over break.
Should I tag along?
Or just vanish quietly?
“Wheehee!”
Before I could finish the thought, the kids piled on me again.
I resigned myself and gathered mana at my fingertips.
To draw their eyes.
No... to escape this mess.
“Woooow...!”
I added color to the mana at my fingertips.
Drew pictures in the air with it... even made it burst like fireworks.
The kids cheered.
I sighed in relief amid the cheers.
‘Is it over?’
That’s when...
I realized I’d overlooked one thing.
Kids... don’t get tired.
“More, more!?”
In those clear, innocent eyes...
I hallucinated my stamina gauge draining to zero.
‘No choice.’
Yeah.
Absolutely no choice.
To survive this battlefield...
I had to deploy the last resort.
- Purrr...
My shadow stirred unnoticed at my feet...
And a tiny abyss cracked open.
Plop.
A single fish leaped out.
Its slimy body wriggling all over...
Its name: the loach.
Splash.
Then a dark-red lizard crawled up, dripping shadow.
Bahamut.
“Ooo...!!”
The kids’ eyes lit up.
They charged straight for the loach.
“Kyaa! It’s a loachie!”
“What’s this? Can I touch it?!”
Plop plop.
The loach was yanked up and down...
Left and right...
Pulled every which way.
“......”
Was it delirious?
Its big eyes... seemed even bigger than usual.
But no helping it.
I was tired, and to end this, I needed aggro.
And only the all-purpose loach could pull it off.
‘Hm.’
I nodded quietly, about to slip away from the battlefield.
Something felt off.
‘...Where’s Bahamut?’
I turned to look...
And saw.
“......”
【.......】
Rev stared at me with a blank face.
And in her arms...
Bahamut, looking twice as comfy as usual, nestled snugly.
The lizard in perfect repose.
【.......】
I gazed at the scene in silence.
...Bahamut wouldn’t look at me.
To be precise, he was deliberately not looking.
‘......’
Betraying his master.
An ungrateful lizard.