Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Resentment Pursuit -1
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"Hey, Pingbalrez. Came to visit you in the hospital."
I bought a box of fruit and stepped into the hospital room. The room was spotlessly clean, and Pingbalrez lay in the bed pressed right up against the wall, dressed lightly with a bored look on her face.
Her arms were wrapped thickly in bandages.
Our eyes met. There was no verbal greeting, but if you looked closely into those seemingly numb pupils, you could sense a faint glimmer of gladness. It was as good as exchanging hellos without words.
I let my gaze drift a little lower.
Pingbalrez was wearing thin cotton top and bottoms so sheer you could almost see her skin through them, and even those weren't properly buttoned. Her fully exposed cleavage sparkled in the sunlight.
I slapped a self-imposed mosaic over my retinas.
Pingbalrez spoke nonchalantly without even thinking to cover herself up. If anything, she grabbed her collar and flapped it around for good measure. It teased at revealing more without quite doing so, but thanks to the mosaic, I saw nothing anyway.
"Succubi have aphrodisiac effects in all their bodily fluids. Without my suit to suppress my allure, you'd better watch yourself."
"Should I wear a mask next time?"
"Or maybe take it off altogether."
She's really fired up today.
She must have been bored out of her mind lounging in this hospital room, because her banter was more aggressive than usual. I couldn't bring myself to get mad and call it a treaty violation—not when every glance at the wounds on her arms stabbed at my conscience.
I hadn't inflicted those cuts myself, but she'd gotten hurt protecting me, hadn't she? I pulled an apple out of the basket.
"Want me to peel this for you?"
"You gonna feed it to me by mouth?"
"Why use your mouth when you've got perfectly good hands?"
"Men's hands tend to be all rough and calloused."
Damn it.
Figuring I should shut that mouth first, I peeled the apple diligently. Modeling a mana blade makes it easy—just spin it around, and the flesh separates cleanly.
I picked up a slice and shoved it into Pingbalrez's yap, which had been spouting nonsense.
Crunch crunch. She obediently took the apple and ate it. I'd been ready to smack her if she stuck out her tongue while I fed her, but...
The apple must've tasted good to her. It was just something I'd grabbed randomly, but she devoured it so eagerly that I tried one myself.
"...?"
It crunched, sure, but it wasn't sweet. Does she have a hobby of eating tasteless stuff?
"Pretty bored, huh?"
"Yeah. They usually assign at least one nurse, but it seems something came up at the Defense Bureau today. Everyone rushed off saying they were busy, and no one's around."
"Ah... probably because they caught the Magic Tower Master."
"That makes sense."
Pingbalrez nodded in understanding. I fed her a few more slices, then asked about her condition.
"Hurt bad?"
"This kind of injury heals quickly, but since the opponent was a black mage... it'll take a few more days to purge the contaminated mana."
I'd heard that black mages, who fuel their power by crushing others' souls, end up turning their own souls and mana into ragged messes.
That twisted mana lingering in the wounds apparently slows healing. A passive debuff that reduces recovery—annoying enemies.
"Guess you'll be bored a few more days. Does it hurt?"
"That's... fine. But there's a more important problem than pain."
"What?"
"No one's here to nurse me, and I can't use either arm."
"...Right."
Pingbalrez quietly turned her head. Following her gaze, I spotted a gourd-shaped bottle on the table. A water jug?
"Thirsty?"
"I need the bathroom. Badly."
"...?"
I thought succubi were half-spiritual beings who didn't need bathrooms.
After Pingbalrez's "I'm actually a dream demon" coming-out, I'd researched succubi all the way back to ancient texts.
Knowing your friend's race helps avoid awkwardness between species. Even humans have cultural differences; it'd be worse across races.
I knew succubi had tails that emerged when drawing on dream demon powers—weak points in several ways, so handle with care.
So this "I need the bathroom urgently" line was just her messing with me.
Indignation surged to the top of my head. Betraying my goodwill like that. She'd probably aim for my conscience next, whining about her sore arms once I panicked with a "How could that be?"
Chicken race it is, then, Pingbalrez.
"Alright, which way's the bathroom? Let's go."
"...?"
A flash of bewilderment crossed Pingbalrez's eyes before vanishing quickly. You're flustered too, huh? All the more reason to press on.
I won't back down until you admit with your own mouth that you were bluffing...!
"Let's go. Just pull down my panties, and I'll handle the rest."
"No need help bathing? Coat your arms, and water won't touch the bandages."
"I won't say no. You'll scrub every nook and cranny thoroughly, right?"
"I'll clean you inside and out, so don't run away on me..."
I walked down the hall shoulder-to-shoulder with Pingbalrez. We both knew it was bullshit. But a man has times when he can't retreat.
My steps felt heavy. But I needed to crush her momentum at least once. I'd been on the losing end lately, hadn't I? Gotta manage my record.
The best defense is a good offense. Threaten with a bold dribble—show her she'll get countered if she pushes too deep.
We'd reach our destination soon, and if neither chickened out...
"Wh-what are you two doing?"
"...?"
"...?"
We ran smack into Yuna coming out of the bathroom.
"Uh, um, well."
"I was just getting some help walking since it's hard to move. You can head back now, crazy wizard."
"Y-yeah, okay. I'll go ahead, Tower Master. Don't forget we have that meeting later, right? See you then. Take care, Pingbalrez."
She bolted.
Pingbalrez and I scattered like lightning. Total chickens, but the Tower Master showed up right on time to save us. No win, but no loss either—that's something.
"Her arms are the injured ones, though...?"
The Violet Magic Tower Master's small voice echoed alone in the now-empty hall.
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It'll take a few days for Pingbalrez's injuries to heal.
Also, if you ask where she belongs, it's the Defense Bureau. She'd been helping me out by broadly interpreting her orders to protect me, but she's from another department originally.
Second Prince Irid said he could assign Defense Bureau agents, but if we uncovered secrets we didn't want spread in the process, it'd cause all sorts of headaches.
"...?"
Above all, it seemed the Tower Master didn't want that.
So, tracking clues and smashing black mage bases would be just me and the Tower Master. We'd compile the intel and share it with Second Prince Irid.
From the info scraped from the black mage's brain, we picked the underground sewers. They were prime candidates for hidden facilities anyway, and the Defense Bureau seemed eager to hand it off.
Think about it: demolish a building, and no one cares if it stays rubble. But mess up the sewers, and you fix them ASAP. They're critical for the city's sanitation.
Budget and time for repairs mean no big spells down there.
One fireball could chain-explode everything—black mages would be the least of our worries. We'd have to call in the Golden Tower for massive earthworks.
But who are we? Masters of illusion magic.
The ones who could handle it most quietly without wrecking infrastructure.
"Flower scent?"
"Hm... lavender?"
"This strong?"
"A bit heavy. Lighten it just a tad."
We strolled the sewers side by side, chatting amiably. Illusion magic wiped out the sewage stench.
We silenced our footsteps and cloaked ourselves in perception and light illusions.
"Hologram: Sewer Rat."
Scouting with illusion-rats for support.
Crown Hall's sewers split into inner and outer. We were in the outer—the non-noble districts.
Still decently maintained, if not pristine. Solid upkeep overall.
I coated my hand in mana and touched the wall. Layers of grime, and beneath, Golden Tower reinforcement magic.
"Tower Master, if black mages are hiding here, they'd use existing space or carve new."
"If existing... we'd have found it. It's not neglected..."
"So they dug tunnels."
"Th-then... they'd erase or fake the Golden Tower reinforcements."
Find the spots without magic. We nodded and subtly pulsed mana waves, analyzing the echoes.
'Golden Tower Mage Lieri was here' feeling... nah.
Botched construction, not erased.
This one...
"Uh, Tower Master. Here."
"Th-there?"
Here.
We spotted awkwardly overlaid Golden Tower reinforcements. Black mages beyond, probably.
My specialty's illusion, so cracking reinforcements stealthily was beyond me. I tapped the wall and asked the Tower Master.
"Can you break it, Tower Master?"
"Y-yeah. I can. I'll smash through. Follow close."
"Yep."
First time fighting in sync with her.
I'd rarely even seen her fight. Just glimpses of her firing Yunades Beams from the mansion. Made me a little excited.
I prepped support spells and Answer Echo Succession for small fry. Alright then.
The Violet Magic Tower Master. Illusion mage at the pinnacle of sublimation.
How would Yuna Yurensuto Violetiris fight?
"Hup."
Boom-!!
The Tower Master slammed the wall with a mana mass, crumbling it instantly. Black mages swarmed into view beyond.
Ping.
The goddess pendant from Second Prince Irid glowed. Soul-detector artifact confirmed: black mages.
I nodded to the Tower Master.
"Wh-who are you?!"
"Metamorphosis - Subtract."
Whoosh. A clump of black mages turned to meat puppets.
More poured in from deeper, sensing intruders. I went for Answer Echo...
"Metamorphosis - Subtract."
"Gaaahhh!!"
As the front lines died, the black mages declared emergency—prepping spells. Some crushed souls for mana, others fled inward.
I tried mind control on them...
"Subtract."
"Uwaaaah-!!"
"...?"
"Do you even know where this is...? Who dares invade?!"
Finally!
A real fighter. Metamorphosed black mage? Jet-black shield around him, screaming soul faces swirling on its surface.
I prepped Wave Heart Illusion...
"Subtract, Subtract, Subtract."
"Kaaaaah-!!"
He tanked one but not three in a row. Lost everything but his head.
I looked at the Tower Master worriedly.
"Th-that... you can spam it?!"
"Y-yeah. No problem."
"Not overdoing it...?"
"N-no need to worry..."
She brushed off my concern, then realized, muttering 'You don't know much about metamorphosis...' and explained patiently.
"Metamorphosis dyes your soul with emotion to draw special mana, right?"
"Yeah."
"Sublimation... completely dyes and reshapes the soul."
Oh.
"So... sublimation keeps metamorphosis always on?"
I'd doubted it. She nodded—my suspicions confirmed. Yunades Beam was her basic attack.
That day, the black mages got 23 full-body paralytics.
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Sizzle.
The Tower Master shredded the ritual paper and incinerated it with mana.
We had our next target. The black mages' ritual site was inside the capital knights' patrol zone: the Red Duke's "no longer used" villa.