Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Bondaress's Famous Specialty (4)
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'Dangaleon wasn't just making a fuss, huh?'
Watching the two infant spirits face off, he'd thought all that talk of a clash between mighty beings was just the usual exaggeration. But to think it was truly an event on the scale of engulfing the entire city...
Suddenly branded the culprit behind city-wide destruction panic, Rishir panicked.
At the same time, he felt relieved.
After all, in the Goose mansion lately, whenever anything happened, the culture was to just go, "Rishir? Oh, Rishir," and accept it on their own terms.
So there was no need to break a sweat explaining this ridiculous—yet massively disruptive—happening to them.
"Anyway. That's how it went down."
Rishir said, looking at the group focused intently on him.
Nod.
It was the nod of utter trust, demanding he get right to it.
"..."
But what came back was an awkward silence.
They took a sudden moment for self-reflection, feeling a regret that wasn't quite regret.
Ah.
I've been overdoing the "Rishir? Oh, Rishir" bit lately.
I got arrogant, thinking I fully understood him.
"Rishir. If it's all right... could you explain in a bit more detail? Just in case we don't know."
Palag spoke up cautiously.
It was true they held their usual special expectations toward Rishir.
True they'd been ready to understand and accept on the spot.
But this exceeded even their imaginations.
A clash between two spirits brimming with immense power.
They'd figured he'd at most point out the cause or solution to the incident. But "our kids"?
They thought:
Maybe, just maybe, this time it's Rishir who's mistaken?
"..."
Seeing their reaction, Rishir felt inwardly wronged.
You guys do it all the time usually. But when it matters?
"..."
Seeing Rishir's reaction, the group felt inwardly wronged.
No. There's such a thing as degree.
In the awkward atmosphere, Rishir's explanation began.
Truth be told, it was hardly an explanation fit for the occasion.
Summoning two spirits with no mana prelude whatsoever.
Introducing one—the abomination that had driven the hero party to the brink of ruin.
And crucially, claiming these tiny little spirits were behind the whole mess.
"Hmm..."
Even Palag and a few others who vaguely knew the spirit's identity showed dubious reactions.
"I understand. I'm only cautiously guessing based on the timing myself—no certainties yet. So, shall we recreate the situation? If it turns out to be my mistake and we ignore the real cause, letting disaster strike, that'd be a problem too."
The rationality they'd briefly shelved to face Rishir was on the verge of rising up.
"W-Wait...!"
It was quashed.
The spirit mages directly linked to their spirits cried out in alarm.
The terrified spirits began convulsing.
Suddenly, wind howled through the room, flames flickered up, frost crept over the windows, and the walls shook.
It was the perfect picture of panic-stricken terror.
"My god, what in the world is happening!?"
Rishir's eyes went wide as he expressed shock.
The spirit mages were dumbfounded.
Why are you saying that?
We should be.
In any case, the spirits' vivid reactions proved Rishir's words true.
Rishir. He was innocent.
He really was the culprit behind the incident.
And so, the clash of those two mighty auras that could have doomed the city ended as a mere happening.
"That's a relief."
As Rishir said, truly fortunate.
But why was that?
Everyone else's expressions, save his, were profoundly complicated.
"By the way, Rishir. That abomination suddenly turning into a spirit—what's the story?"
Dray and Palag, maintaining composure as authorities, asked him.
"Ah. Perfect timing!"
"Oh."
Was the secret about to be revealed?
The mystery of the abomination's spiritualization!?
All eyes lit up as they leaned in to hear Rishir out.
"That asking left hand. Last evening, it looked like it was using up all its power and dying."
"Oh. So then?"
"So I shared some of my energy with it. And today, it was suddenly like that."
"Ooh. So then?"
"Why did it turn out like that?"
"?"
No.
You're asking us?
"?"
"?"
A round of traded question marks.
"Ah."
Rishir nodded.
His expression held consideration and understanding toward them.
-You wouldn't know. It's fine.
It was the kind of look that seemed to convey those words.
No.
It's not that you might not know—it's obvious you wouldn't.
So you need to tell us—
"..."
They felt wronged and exasperated.
Rishir felt wronged.
The atmosphere was such that he noticed and skipped the dining hall, returning straight to his room.
'Well, skipping one meal won't kill me.'
He finished a simple evening training session, then cleansed himself in the attached private bath.
As he prepared for bed.
"..."
"Hm?"
A presence from below.
Looking down, the purple girl spirit was tugging at his pants.
"Mung...i? What's wrong?"
Rishir called her still-awkward name and asked her intent.
"..."
She silently raised her right hand.
"Huh?"
Rishir's gaze focused there.
The girl spirit's right hand had an unusual shape.
"Ah."
Soon, Rishir recalled the last sight of the asking left hand.
Its finger joints bent backward.
If all the left hand's finger joints were reversed, wouldn't it look like that?
"Doesn't that hurt to move?"
"..."
As answer, the girl clenched and unclenched her tiny right hand repeatedly.
Surprisingly, it seemed to move without issue.
Then.
The girl spread her fidgeting right hand and placed it over her face.
As if to show it off.
"Hmm..."
Striving to grasp the meaning in the girl's action, Rishir unconsciously muttered.
"Why can't she talk?"
"..."
Was it his imagination?
The girl's pictorially emotionless face briefly seemed aggrieved.
-Choo-in!
"Hm? Dangaleon. What is it."
-The abomination is beseeching Your Excellency!
"Abomination? She's a useful one now... whatever that is. Call her by name properly. Anyway, beseeching? What for?"
-To dare crave Your Excellency's energy!
"Energy?"
-It says it wants to fill its emptied vessel—having used all its power—with Your Excellency's energy! Such boundless greed!!!
"Eh, sharing energy is no big deal. It doesn't wear out."
-How merciful!!!!! It feels infinite fulfillment at serving a being like Your Excellency!!!
"Ah, Mungi says that?"
-I do!!!
"Ah. Okay."
Words insufficient, it suddenly manifested as a fervently burning grayish-white fireball.
Ignoring such Dangaleon, Rishir followed the girl's lead and brought his hand to her.
"..."
She pressed her face to his palm.
"Face, not head?"
"..."
Nod.
Rishir shrugged and placed his palm over her small face.
Energy transmitted through him.
Moments later.
The girl backed away from his palm.
"All done?"
"..."
Nod.
And a bow.
After expressing thanks following affirmation, the girl headed somewhere.
The purple cloth where she'd originally been kept.
It was spread out on a desk.
The girl climbed atop the desk and curled up.
Just like a gargoyle glaring down at intruders from a parapet.
"...Wouldn't it be better to just come in instead of like that?"
-It seems to need time to contain Your Excellency's energy! Your Excellency's inner world is no easy place!
"Really? There's a dangerous zone like that in my head?"
Rishir's expression, watching the girl, was nothing but complicated.
A midnight forest is dark enough that each star embedded in the sky feels like a bright lantern.
There were those illuminating such a dark forest.
Flutter.
The knight order's flags fluttered in the eerie night wind.
In a wide forest clearing. Campfires blazed here and there.
Crackle.
Squires and servants.
They sat around the campfires, tending to the knights' gear.
Crackle.
The knights.
They sat around the campfires, polishing their own gear or sharing stories with comrades.
Everyone was doing their own tasks.
It certainly seemed so at a glance.
However.
In truth, their hearts were elsewhere.
On the campfire that seemed to burn the brightest amid the many.
On those gathered around it.
The hero party.
"Hero."
Among them, a woman with a youthful face cautiously spoke up.
"...Yeah?"
The woman sitting opposite responded a beat late.
At one side of the campfire sat the woman called the hero, alone.
On the opposite side, the rest of the party huddled together.
It revealed the distance the party members felt toward the hero.
Separately, their gazes toward the hero brimmed with goodwill and interest.
It revealed how much they longed to grow closer to her.
"Is something... fun happening?"
"Fun?"
"No, it's just. You've been smiling faintly now and then."
The kind hard to see from her usually.
The woman swallowed the last bit, gauging the hero's mood.
The hero pulled her gaze from the campfire and looked at the party members opposite.
Even in the warm glow of the fire, the cynical air etched on her face remained.
The factor making the party feel distant from her.
Also the factor making them admire her from afar.
Seeing the hero like that, the party recalled the expression she'd just made.
A smile.
A cynical smirk mocking others.
That much was usual.
But this smile held an emotion rare for her.
Pleasure, perhaps.
That was why the party couldn't hold back their curiosity and spoke to her.
The hero they knew fundamentally kept distance from others.
Even they, her party members, could count on one hand the private talks they'd had.
Her personal history?
Insanely curious, but that cynical air forbade casual prying.
Even when mustering courage to ask, the cold reply was always, "What good would knowing do?"
And yet such a hero!
Staring into the campfire with a deeply meaningful smile.
A smile like reminiscing a fond memory.
Or recalling someone who made her happy just thinking of them.
What on earth was she thinking?
They were dying of curiosity.
"Was I?"
However.
That lukewarm response.
Her uniquely hard-to-approach aura cut the flow.
The party members' conversation stalled.
The hero's gaze returned to the campfire.
"..."
But soon, a chuckle slipped from the hero's lips.
That smile formed again.
"Our next destination."
"B-Bondaress, right!?"
The hero starting the conversation!?
The party seized the chance.
"Yeah. Bondaress."
Did their earnestness work?
The hero smiled once more.
The brightest smile they'd seen since joining her.
At the rare sight, the party's eyes widened.
"Wonder if someone I know is there."
"S-Someone you know...?!"
Some nearly jumped up.
'No way a guy!?'
Shouting it, even.
"The last place they said they'd head to before parting from me was there. Bondaress."
I wonder if they're doing well.
The hero murmured pleasantly.
"C-Could it be...!"
"Yeah?"
The woman who'd first spoken mustered courage.
"If you reunite with them, what do you think you'd say first!?"
Was it a guy?
If a guy, what relation?
It was the best question, refined from boiling curiosity and self-restraint.
"Hmm."
The hero seemed pleased by the question, pondering with evident delight.
At length, she spoke.
"Ask if they regret not following me?"
She fiddled with her holy sword playfully.
"Re-Regret...!"
The party members—and knight order members eavesdropping from afar—let their imaginations run wild at her answer.
Then.
The hero Roera pulled her gaze from the campfire and looked into the distance.
"..."
Her lips moved repeatedly.
Her head kept turning, her expression vividly shifting.
As if rehearsing words to say.
Two syllables.
The party and knights strained to guess the two-syllable word the hero was practicing.