Chapter 55
Chapter 55
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Playboy (3)
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The moment a short cry reverberated loudly through the cave.
"Good work."
A woman in black clothes brushed past Yuri and gave a light wave as she went by.
Yuri's eyes went wide in surprise at the sight.
"Huh?!"
She was definitely the woman who had been stark naked just moments ago.
Yet in the brief interval while Yuri had been exchanging a few blows with the playboy, she had somehow picked up her clothes and gotten dressed.
It was an astonishing speed-changing feat.
Seeing her walk away, the playboy panicked and shouted.
"D-dear?"
At his call, the woman who had been leaving stopped in her tracks and turned around.
Red hair and coppery skin.
A beauty brimming with healthy charm and vitality.
She winked playfully at the playboy.
"Looks like today just isn't my day. Sorry about that—next time."
With a blown kiss from her hand, she hurled herself out of the cave.
Thud—thud-thud.
And just like Yuri had done, she kicked off the walls and ascended.
"Oh?"
From her light movements, Yuri could tell her skills were no joke.
'Well, her shoulder insignia was white. White means fifth-year, so that level of skill is only natural... eh?'
Yuri's train of thought stopped there, and his mouth fell slightly open.
He looked at the playboy in disbelief.
'Whoa, this guy's something else.'
He was called a playboy, but he was far more impressive than Yuri had imagined.
The first woman Yuri had seen was the one with brown hair and a green insignia—48th Cohort.
The next was the blonde with a blue insignia—47th Cohort.
And just now, the redhead with a white insignia—46th Cohort.
Three women in less than twenty-four hours.
This playboy had himself a girlfriend in every single cohort.
'At this rate, he's gotta have one in the 49th too.'
Yuri clicked his tongue.
Meanwhile, the playboy stared blankly at his departing lover's back.
His shoulders began to tremble.
Then he let out a hollow laugh.
"Haha... hahaha!"
Sweeping back his bangs, he glared at Yuri.
That let Yuri get a proper look at the playboy's appearance.
Deep purple hair that looked bruised.
Around 180 cm tall with solid muscle.
And above all...
'...He's handsome?'
With eyes sunken in around the sockets, giving off a strange air of decadence, he was undeniably good-looking, even by Yuri's standards.
That said, no matter how handsome, observing a completely naked man wasn't exactly... pleasant, so Yuri instinctively took a step back.
"Uh... even if we're crossing swords, could you at least put on some clothes?"
But the playboy showed no intention of dressing, even at Yuri's request.
He leveled his sword at Yuri.
"...Do you know?"
"Know what?"
"How long I've waited for today."
No, how the hell would I know that?
We just met today.
"And do you know what day today is?"
"...What day is it?"
"The day... this body of mine finally becomes a man!"
"......"
No idea what he's talking about.
But an apology seems in order.
For some reason... it pricked at his conscience a bit.
"You should've guarded the door better."
...Oops!
This damn mouth of mine went off on a tangent again?
And that unintended provocation landed perfectly on target.
"You just said..."
"......"
"...that someone who smashed through a locked door and barged in has the nerve?!"
With a fierce shout, the playboy's sword began to move.
"Feel for yourself just how hot the love you ruined was... with your own body!"
"What the hell are you babbling about?"
Yuri couldn't make sense of what the guy was saying.
But one thing.
He understood perfectly.
'This guy's... eyes are off.'
The playboy's eyes had gone a little crazy.
The moment he realized it, the playboy's sword was already at Yuri's throat.
In response, Yuri swung his beloved sword, Whitey.
Sching!
And so the fight, which had been in a brief lull, resumed.
Clang-clang.
Yuri's face hardened at the playboy's smoothly flowing swordsmanship.
'This is... kinda dangerous.'
Unlike his slightly unhinged eyes, every one of the playboy's sword paths was pristine.
And all of them flowed seamlessly, threatening Yuri in a menacing display.
'Not fast, but no breaks... and flashy.'
That was Yuri's impression as he parried the playboy's sword.
At the same time, he felt an inexplicable sense of crisis.
'This isn't the end.'
A strong premonition told him the real thing was just beginning.
And Yuri's premonition proved spot-on.
Shimmer-shimmer.
The playboy's sword began to shimmer with a red aura.
With it, the sword tip traced out a single form.
Like the nib of a pen dipped in red ink.
'This is...?'
The sword's trajectory drew a single petal.
Clang!
The playboy's sword, deflected by Yuri, flowed onward and drew another petal.
Clang!
One petal.
Clang-clang-clang.
Another.
Yuri tried to stab in and disrupt the flow, but the playboy's sword persisted relentlessly, steadily stacking up red petals.
Until at last.
Rustle.
A single flower bloomed around Yuri.
It was...
'A rose?'
A rose in shades of red.
A brilliantly beautiful crimson rose that could captivate anyone at a glance.
The moment he was surrounded by it, Yuri's instincts issued a warning.
This is dangerous.
In that moment of crisis, cold reason flashed in Yuri's eyes.
'This... is an Illusion Sword!'
Illusion Sword.
That was how Johan had put it.
[Illusion Swords are just gimmicks weaklings mix in to compensate for lacking power or speed! ...Or at least, that's what I'd like to say, but the Illusion Swords of certain families—especially those refined over generations of research—are absolutely not to be underestimated.]
Johan had explained that the sword arts of families who had honed a single Illusion Sword over long years transcended mere visual trickery into something else entirely.
'The boundary between illusion and reality vanishes.'
And the pinnacle of Illusion Sword arts that Johan had described was surely this rose before his eyes.
The rose illusions adorning Yuri's surroundings were both illusion and reality, each petal a razor-sharp sword strike infused with qi.
No doubt countless others had been trapped in this rose prison and suffered for it.
But Yuri was different.
'Sure, it's a tricky technique to break. But...'
Even now, his instincts were warning him of the Illusion Sword's danger.
Yet in stark contrast, Yuri's mind was calm.
'Compared to the frenzy Mu-chi showed me, or the brutal bars of that prison... this is laughably crude, isn't it?'
Redner Family secret footwork technique.
Cloud Step.
Shh-shh.
To pierce the axe-spear art—Frenzy—he'd needed Brain Wing.
But this rose prison? He could slip out with just a casual Cloud Step.
As Yuri escaped the rose prison, the playboy's eyes gleamed.
"You dare run away?"
With that, the playboy's sword began moving with even greater precision than before.
A sword that flowed faster, more refined.
Small roses began blooming around him again, one by one.
Yuri faced it head-on.
His face drained of color.
The reason was simple.
"G... gross."
A stark-naked man...
A guy with something dangling between his legs, and every time he swung his sword, red rose illusions popped up.
It was a truly horrifying scene.
Yuri fled in disgust while the naked man chased after him relentlessly, refusing to let him go.
Finally unable to take it, Yuri yelled.
"Stop chasing me, you playboy bastard!"
"Hah, rude. Playboy? What an ill-fitting title for me."
"Not a playboy? You meet not two, but three women in a day—what else do you call that? Three-timer! The women would love hearing you're cheating! I'll rat you out!"
"You don't understand. The women I meet know my love isn't directed solely at them, and they choose to meet me anyway."
"The women... know you're two-timing and still go for you? And forgive it?"
"Two-timing is the wrong word. I'm simply sharing my love with all of them. Giving it equally fair."
"...What a load of crap. Bullshit harvest this year."
"And one correction to what you said."
"......?"
"Not three. Four. That's how many women I love."
"No way the last one's... 49th Cohort?"
"How did you know?"
The playboy spoke matter-of-factly, without a shred of shame in his eyes.
Yuri felt his common sense crumbling.
But thanks to that exchange, their fight lapsed into another lull.
And in that moment.
"...Hm?"
A glint passed through the playboy's eyes as he stared at Yuri.
"Now that I think about it, you're... the owl guy."
"Owl?"
"Who else perches in a tree at night if not an owl?"
"......?!"
"We've met twice before, haven't we?"
Yuri's eyes widened at his words.
'He knew I was there?'
He'd thought he'd completely suppressed his presence, but the guy had known.
Twice, even.
That was when it hit him.
'Wait a sec?!'
Yuri raised a hand, realizing something.
"Um..."
"A question, owl guy?"
"You... knew I was there... and still did it?"
"Did what?"
"You knew I was watching and still... with the woman..."
"Shared a kiss?"
Nod-nod.
Seeing Yuri's head bob up and down, the playboy wore a subtle smile.
He brushed his lips with his thumb, giving a wistful look from his eyes.
With his looks backing it up, the gesture created a pretty decent atmosphere.
If only he weren't buck naked.
If only he didn't say what came next.
"You know, owl guy, sometimes people crave a new thrill."
"......?"
"For example, not the usual everyday kiss, but a thrilling one shared while someone's watching?"
"......"
"Heh-heh-heh-heh."
Letting out a lecherous chuckle, the playboy fondled his lips again.
Seeing it, Yuri nodded.
'...This guy's no mere playboy.'
That clinched it.
He wasn't just a playboy.
He was a perverted playboy.
"Shall I explain in detail? Care to hear?"
The perverted playboy took a step forward.
Yuri raised his sword, face stiff as if facing a mortal enemy.
"Don't come any closer, you pervert! One more step... and I'll kill you. Twice!"
Hiss!
The black cat bristled all over and started snarling.
At some point, the situation had bizarrely reversed.
Now Yuri was baring his fangs with killing intent toward the opponent.
Hiss!
Meanwhile, the playboy—who had been chasing Yuri and swinging his sword just moments ago—regarded him with mere curiosity.
"Haha, why run?"
"I said don't come!"
Grrrr!
Facing the sharp, murderous aura pouring from Yuri, the playboy calmly stroked his chin.
A line of doubt crossed his face.
"But owl guy... who are you, anyway? Never seen your face before."
"None of your business!"
Kyaa!
"Let me see... First time was the west coast, right? Second was near the central sector?"
"Don't you dare pry into who I am, you filthy pervert!"
"Hm... No insignia either? Don't tell me?!"
"......"
"You're a 49th Cohort who lost his insignia?! That's why you couldn't do the dragon-skin shedding?"
"Yes, that's right. I'm 49th Cohort, but I lost my insignia..."
"...Except there's no one like you in the 49th."
...Is this bastard messing with me?
Yuri steeled himself.
Today, either that pervert dies or I do.
We're settling this here.
But that resolve scattered at the perverted playboy's next words.
"I see. You're 50th Cohort."
"...Why jump to that conclusion all of a sudden?"
"No insignia, right?"
"I'm 49th who lost his insignia..."
"And crucially... you don't know my name."
"......"
"If you did, you wouldn't call me a playboy. I'm pretty famous, you know?"
"......"
"Your attitude like you've never seen me before. And me never seeing you. That alone proves you're not from this mainland originally. So what else could you be but 50th Cohort?"
...This guy's sharper than he looks.
Yuri was at a loss for words at the playboy's keen insight.
In the meantime, the playboy crossed his arms and looked at Yuri with wonder.
"But... how are you here? The dragon-skin shedding can't be over already."
His gaze matched the one Kokko from the special squad had given Yuri.
"Amazing. A 50th Cohort still in the middle of dragon-skin shedding crossed the lake to the mainland... Hm?"
The playboy's head suddenly drooped as he muttered to himself.
He kept repeating "crossed the lake?" over and over in that posture.
After a long while, as if realizing something, his head snapped up.
"Hey, owl guy!"
"What."
"Wanna make a deal with me?"
Yuri sighed deeply at the playboy's sparkling, expectant eyes.
"Haaa... fuck."
Deal or no deal.
Anything.
Just...
"...Put on some pants."
* * *
"Hey, darkie!"
Yuri's rather lengthy reminiscence shattered into pieces at the sudden grating voice.