Chapter 76
Chapter 76
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: Homeward Journey
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Cough…!”
Harsh coughs poured out in rapid succession.
Her throat was swollen, of course, and even her breaths were shallow and unsteady.
“Ughhh….”
A boiling sound emanated from her throat, and her entire body trembled from the prolonged coughing fit.
Sizzle…
Faint steam rose from Amelia’s body.
Cold and heat clashing at their boundaries, spreading hot vapor over her chilled breaths.
Her body temperature… swung wildly between extremes.
“Ughhh… strawberry-flavored… nutritional supplement…”
Amelia groped blindly at the empty air with wide-open eyes, searching for a nonexistent strawberry nutritional supplement.
Her fingertips flailed through the air, her lips parched and dry.
And then…
Creak.
The door opened.
Nemesis entered, tray of medicine in hand, her footsteps echoing.
“……Nemesis.”
Amelia’s eyes flew wide open at the sight of her approaching in neat footsteps.
“Eek…! Stay away, you monster!”
Amelia strained to reach for the pillow by her bedside and hurled it at Nemesis in a sudden attack.
But…
Swish.
Nemesis casually twisted her body to one side, dodging the pillow.
Her expression unchanged.
“…….”
Her gaze fixed on one thing alone.
Amelia, her face flushed red from the fever.
Her lips quivered, her breaths shallow and ragged.
Even so, Amelia… grumbled on with defiant eyes.
“Eek…!”
Nemesis knew that screech wasn’t from pain.
Amelia wasn’t rejecting the suffering…
She just hated the medicine.
So very Amelia, as always.
Thud.
Nemesis carefully set the tray down on the table.
A motion without the slightest disruption.
Natural and familiar, like something repeated countless times.
After neatly arranging the water and medicine, she glanced sideways.
…Something unfamiliar caught her eye.
“…?”
A transparent glass bottle filled with a vivid red hue.
Placed plainly between the medicine and water, it was clearly…
Not something Nemesis had brought.
“Ma’am, this is…?”
Wary and cautious, Nemesis picked up the glass bottle.
Pop.
The cork came off.
She leaned in very carefully to sniff it.
“Sniff sniff…”
No strange aura.
The scent wasn’t irritating.
No trace of poison.
Instead, a ticklish fragrance at the tip of her nose… familiar and sweet somewhere.
It was unmistakably…
“…Strawberry?”
At that moment.
“……!!”
On the bed.
Amelia’s half-dazed eyes snapped wide open.
“What did you say!”
“…….”
“Strawberriiies!?”
Flick flick!
Her eyes darted like lightning.
And soon, her gaze locked onto…
The glass bottle shimmering red.
That strawberry-like color, the familiar sweet scent tickling her nose.
“Ooo…!”
She flailed her arms, reaching out.
Her face still pale, lips still dry… but the resolve in her eyes burned as strong as ever.
“Strawberry…! Strawberry-flavored… nutritional supplement…!”
Her trembling fingertips hovered near the bottle, circling the air.
Whether to call that sight endearing or pitiful…
Nemesis silently placed the bottle in Amelia’s hand.
“Ooh…!!”
The moment it touched her palm, Amelia buried her nose in it reflexively.
“Sniff sniff…”
Flash.
Her eyes not only widened but sparkled too.
Amelia slowly closed her eyes, steadied her breathing calmly, and then…
Gulp.
One sip.
Another.
Sweet strawberry filling her mouth, tears welled up in her eyes.
At that instant…
Sizzle…
Unlike the unstable steam from clashing heat and cold before.
It faded quietly, like smoke dissipating after violent collision…
A strange stillness, as if the extremes had finally balanced.
“Sweet…….”
A short murmur…
Crackle.
The eerie aura swirling in the room shattered and dispersed.
“This is…”
A flicker of change crossed Nemesis’s expressionless face for the first time.
She immediately placed a hand on Amelia’s forehead.
“Hm?”
Amelia looked up, bottle still at her lips.
Nemesis was stunned.
“The fever…”
The chill enveloping Amelia’s body, and the opposing heat…
Both gone.
“Wheee~!”
Amelia bounced around the room, elixir bottle in mouth.
Vitality bloomed on her face, life sparkled in her eyes.
“Tasty!”
With strawberry elixir in her mouth…
Bright droplets gathered above her clear blue eyes.
Unable to contain her joy, she bounced on the bedcovers.
Then…
“…Hm?”
Amelia’s gaze caught something.
A tiny scrap of paper tied to the elixir bottle’s neck with thin thread.
Short words scrawled on it.
[It’s not Mikuberry, it’s Mikurebi]
A familiar handwriting.
The moment she saw it, Amelia’s lips curved sky-high.
“Hehe…! Perfect score, as expected!”
No need to explain what got the perfect score.
Just…
That one short line left by someone.
That sentiment alone…
Was sweeter to Amelia than anything.
“Pass…!”
Clutching the bottle dearly, she spun around the room shouting “Pass!” over and over.
***
Squish squish.
Mikurebi climbed atop my head, tugging my hair with its two fins.
With each tiny motion, my hands carefully stacked paper cups one by one.
“…….”
In the corner of the carriage.
Sitting on the sofa, my hands piled paper cups neatly on the table.
Look closely, and it’s a fairly elaborate tower.
Stacked with care for structure and balance.
Mikurebi watched from my head, flapping its tail, mouth flapping too.
In a voice only I could hear.
“Easy.”
‘I did it all.’
Even playing along, stacking the cups—all my hands.
Yet it struts like it did it.
“As expected, I am great.”
Swish swish.
Proudly wagging its tail, I couldn’t help but think.
‘Why’s it been like this lately?’
What to say.
Much closer than before—way clingier.
For example…
It used to only ride my head when moving together, but now it lives up there…
Yanking my hair with fins, tapping my head with its tail to get reactions.
Like skinship…
‘…Weird word choice.’
Not quite ‘skinship.’
Just… overly intimate now.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
【Fragment of Lust】
■■■■
: ■■■ love from spirits.
■■■■
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
‘This why?’
Ever since absorbing part of the 【Fragment of Lust】, Mikurebi’s behavior changed for sure.
It was willful before, sure…
But now it outright occupies my head.
I quietly gazed at Mikurebi preening atop the paper cup tower.
And there it went, flapping its mouth again.
“Gasp in awe, human.”
Fins on hips, utterly triumphant.
Then…
Slip.
“Eh?”
It wobbled, then crashed with the cups…
Boom.
Plummeting in an arc under the table.
“Pfft.”
From afar, Carnel smirked at Mikurebi.
Rustle.
I turned; amid the fallen cups, only Mikurebi’s head poked out.
Mikurebi sulkily crawled back up my body, resettling on my head.
And…
Creak.
“Ugh.”
The carriage jolted; Mikurebi arced again.
Crashing back toward the cups.
“Hm…?”
“What’s that?”
Violet rubbed her eyes, sitting up; Carnel tilted her head, rising too.
Creak!
The carriage door burst open.
The coachman panted heavily.
“Miss… the spirits…!”
At his shout, I looked out the window.
Irregular flows scattering in the breeze.
From afar, blood-red shadows… drawing closer.
‘Witch again?’
Looks like… corrupted spirits the witch scattered haphazardly.
They’d stumbled upon the carriage by chance.
“Groooan….”
Violet stretched her waist, stepping out.
Carnel followed wordlessly, steps indifferent.
‘Tch….’
Too awkward to stay alone… I quietly trailed behind.
Step.
Beyond the threshold…
A horde of corrupted spirits leaking blood-red shadows.
Around fifty, give or take.
“Carnel. You wanna?”
“Bothersome.”
“Me too.”
Facing the corrupted spirits, the two casually shoved first dibs back and forth.
I watched quietly, then…
“Little bro, you too.”
[?]
…Sudden summons.
At Violet’s gesture, I approached reluctantly.
Carnel and Violet extended hands simultaneously.
“Rock-paper-scissors. Loser cleans up all.”
“….”
With corrupted spirits creeping closer, rock-paper-scissors now.
…Impressive, in a way.
“Ready… rock… paper…”
Just before Violet shouted “scissors”—
─────!!
A human shape flashed past faster than light.
Then, a single meteor-like streak slicing the sky.
- KABOOM!
“Familiar mask, so I came to check…”
An explosion wiped half the spirits instantly… followed by a familiar voice.
“Long time no see, Adel?”
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Klaus ]
Attribute
: 「Light」
Skills / Traits
: 【Severing Torrent】
: 【…】
Unique Skill
: 【Meteor Light Dance】
: 【One Flash, One Step】
: 【…】
Unique Trait
: 【Growth-Type Protagonist】
: 【Adaptive Protagonist】
: 【…】
Stats
: Stamina : 23 (B)
: Strength : 21 (B)
: Intellect : 24 (B)
: Willpower : 20 (C)
: Mana : 19 (C)
Talents
: 【All talents grow due to 「Growth-Type Protagonist」.】
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
The protagonist, Klaus, now grown tall.
He swept the spirit horde in a flash of light, smiling at the familiar faces.
“President and senior here too?”
“Oh… hey, junior?”
“Nice to see you, senior.”
- KABOOM!
Another explosion.
Turning, platinum hair flying…
A girl wiping blood-red shadows from her blade.
Charlotte von Iris.
Her mere arrival shattered the remaining spirits.
“O~ Lady Iris?”
Violet pressed her forehead, staring blankly.
Charlotte approached quietly…
“……Hello.”
Bowing shyly to Carnel and Violet.
Step.
Klaus sidled up naturally beside her.
I nodded silently at them.
‘They get along.’
“Mm-hm.”
Mikurebi nodded atop my head, agreeing.
During their Iris Ducal stay, Klaus and Charlotte had clearly bonded.
Then Klaus hesitated before speaking cautiously.
“Um… sorry to ask right away after so long…”
“…Yes?”
“Could you give us two a ride?”
“……Huh?”
Carnel and Violet glanced at each other.
Then simultaneously, their eyes turned to me.
“…….”
…Silence.
A long, drawn-out quiet.
Just moments ago, these two had obliterated corrupted spirits in seconds.
Protagonist and lady arriving with perfect timing, overwhelming flair.
But…
From their mouths came…
“Too far to walk.”
“No…… money…….”
Thus, the duo who’d arrived so coolly.
Fell from elegant heroes to pitiful beggars in a few lines.