Mob
Kousei No Ore Demo Boukensha Ni Nareba Riajuu Ni Naremasuka: Chapter #45
Translators: Nyx and Ririi Rain
Episode 45
Chasing the Dead
I
switched my mind and started searching for the lead as well.
Then,
I came up with an idea.
That's right,
let's try Yuki's [True Follower Summoning] while we're at it.
I
take out a lycanthrope card from my pocket.
I
was torn between using this card as a money-saving measure for reviving the
Lost cards, and using it to summon Yuki's summons.
At
first, I only thought of this card as something to sell.
However,
if I sold the lycanthrope, in order to use Yuki's [True Follower Summoning] I
would have to go into the dungeon until it dropped again, or buy it from the
guild at the regular price.
In
that case, I thought it would be better for the future to earn money for Eliza
and the others revival through other means, even if it took some time.
...And
above all else, the [True Follower Summoning] will definitely become a powerful
tool in the battle against the Hound Master.
However,
I only have one piece to try here. I can buy a Zashikiwarashi card with the
other one card along with my cash assets.
Even
if I sold both the two lycanthrope cards I had in hand, I would not be able to
buy both a Zashikiwarashi and a female vampire cards.
Eliza's
resurrection was farther away, but it was still within the range of
recoverable.
So.
"Yuki,
take this."
"! This is ......
Thank you very much. I will surely make it useful."
Yuki
saw the lycanthrope card I handed her and respectfully accepted it.
Now,
what is the process to make it her summon? In front of me who was
watching......, she chewed up the card and swallowed it.
I
was surprised at this.
Not
only because she had eaten the card, but also because she had chewed up a card
that no modern weapon could damage, except for Lost.
"......Okay.
Master, there should be no problem. I can feel the power lodged securely within
me."
"I
see...then can you try it now?"
“Yes!————Aoooooooooooooooooooo!"
With
Yuki's howl, a gate like the entrance to a dungeon appeared, and a figure
appeared from behind it.
It
was an effect unique to vassal summoning, which was different from card
summoning.
If
it had produced the same effect as the card summons, I won't be able to use it
at MonColo.
This
way, if I used it in MonColo, they wouldn't think I was cheating.
......Well,
I'm sure they would ask me what it means to be able tosummon a subordinate that
has the same kind of race.
Soon,
when the light faded, there stood a young man with wild-looking black hair.
Over
190 cm tall, with a well-trained body. He looked just like the illustration on
the card.
For
some reason, the black-haired young man had a very aggressive look in his eyes,
and was observing me with a glare.
"...Hmph.
Are you the top of the pack?"
The
black-haired werewolf snorted when he saw me. Then he started talking while
looking down on me.
"It
seems I've been taken in by by that woman. But don't get me wrong. I have no
intention of wagging my tail at someone weaker than me. If you want to borrow
my strength... ”
The
black-haired werewolf's words stopped there.
He
did not actually shut up.
It
was because Yuki's toe was thrusted into the black-haired werewolf's solar
plexus with tremendous force.
"UGHHHHHHH!"
The
black-haired werewolf, its body bent in a hunched position, was sent flying
through the air, spewing blood and vomit.
I
looked up at that with a blank expression on my face, while Yuki looked at him
with a stone-cold gaze.
And
then, as the black-haired werewolf plummeted to the ground with a thud,
"AUGGHH!"
Yuki
casually stomped on his head with her foot.
"Cough
cough... y, you..."
"What?"
Yuki's
voice was as cold as ice.
I
had never seen her like that before, leaving me speechless.
“Why
are you, the lowest in this group, acting so big? Who do you think you are
talking to?”
"Oooh......."
"Why
don't you answer me? Don't
tell me you're still too stupid to understand the difference in power at this
stage?"
Yuki's
words began to be laced with genuine disappointment, and with it, the killing
intent gradually intensified.
The
black-haired werewolf gulped his saliva.
"I-I'm
sorry. I-I recognize you as the alpha and beta of the pack. I won't go against
you anymore..."
Yuki
nodded.
"If you
understand, that's fine. Now, I'll give you a temporary name. Your name is Kuro1.
Do you like it?"
"O,
okay."
"Good.
Now, ......, get on with your search of the area. Dumbass."
"Understood……"
The
black-haired werewolf......, or Kuro, staggered his way to explore the area.
Yuki
watched him off with a cold look.
I
was completely frozen in the midst of this furious development, when Yuki
turned around and bowed deeply to me.
"Master.
I am truly sorry for my subordinate's rude behavior."
"...Eh?
Ah, ah, no, you don't have to worry about it. I mean, uh? Why did you suddenly
do that kind of violence...?"
Yuki,
who raised her head, began to speak in a clear, lively tone,
"Yes, of
course it's for discipline! We don't need individuals who can't listen to the
leader of the pack! If possible, I wanted to kill him once here and figure out
if the subordinate could revive properly and how long it would take to revive
him. I wanted to figure it out before the battle with that Hound Master, but
considering the possibility of him not being able to revive, I decided against
it for now.''
"I- I
see...?"
I
nodded vaguely.
Uh,
no, that's not what I'm concerned about. It’s that her character is too
different from the Yuki I've seen in the past,...... Hm? Could it be the
effect of the rank-up?
After
Eliza also became a vampire, she began to prefer ritualistic conducts, so could
Yuki be influenced by the card to which she was ranked up?
I
was alone in my confusion when Yuki made a startled face and bowed her head,
"Ah, I'm
sorry! There
was a possibility that Hound Master might attack us, I should have asked for
the Master's permission before disciplining him. I'm afraid that such a dog
would be no better than a wall of flesh...... I'm sorry for being so
self-indulgent!"
"Ah, is
that so...... it's fine already."
That
was when she gave up.
Come to
think of it, I hear that wolf-type creatures were very strict in their hierarchy.
I decided
to accept the fact that this may have been an unknown part of Yuki's
personality that had not been exposed until now.
Up until
now, she had been under the control of me, the master of the group, so she had
been discreet, but now that she had her own group, her strictness as a beast
had come out into the open. Surely.
Yuki was
surprisingly harsh on defiant subordinates.
I made sure
to engrave this in my heart.
After a
while.
I searched
all over the area I was in charge of, but could find no clues.
Since Yuki
and the others, who had a wolf's sense of smell and were skilled in information
gathering and ninjutsu, were unable to find anything, there must have been no
clues in this area after all.
With this
judgment, we returned Kuro and headed for the meeting place, where Anna had
just arrived.
She must
have had increased her manpower to search the area, as she was now also
accompanied by the elf girl with whom we had fought before.
"Anna?
How did it go?"
She glanced
at Suzuka, who looked bored, before she answered,
“Well,
it’s no good.…The fact that I searched with the help of an elf whose habitat is
in the forest and couldn’t find anything means that there was nothing.”
"Same
here."
While they
were talking like this, Yuki's keen senses told her that someone was
approaching.
I casually
turned around to see if Oribe had come back, and I was startled.
Anna's
muffled scream can be heard from next to me.
Oribe had
returned and was accompanied by what appeared to be a female-like demon that
was so ugly and decomposed that it was hard to believe that it belonged to this
world... Yomotsushikome2.
Her skin
was dark reddish brown, like that of a decaying corpse, and her whole body was
swollen, her hair had fallen out in places, and even the ancient-style clothing
she wore was so ugly that it reminded one of peeling skin. ...... Her face was
so disfigured and her nostrils were fully exposed, along with her eyeballs,
which were discolored white, making it difficult to look at.
A beat
after her appearance, our noses were assaulted by a stench that was dozens of
times stronger than the smell of rotten eggs. If you looked, you could see that
the grass and vegetation had withered away and turned black with rapid decay
where she had passed.
It was as
if she was a cursed entity from a certain movie that had passed through there.
In fact,
she was probably a cursed entity.
This was
Yomotsushikome, the strongest and most unpopular monster of D-rank.
I saw one
in the flesh for the first time, and it was very intense....... No wonder no
one wants to own it, even though its power is on par with that of a C-rank
monster, considering its abilities.
Oribe, who
could handle such a Yomotsushikome without any qualms, seemed to be quite a
devoted horror lover.
"Sorry
to keep you waiting."
"Ah, ah
....... So, did Oribe find any clues?"
"Well..."
When I
asked that question on behalf of Anna, who had gone rigid, Oribe pulled out a
ziploc bag from her pocket. Inside... was an accessory that resembled a maze.
“This
was buried in the ground.”
“Is
this… an amulet of the Star Mother Association?”
Anna said
while trying her best to keep the ugly woman out of her sight.
When she
said this, I took a closer look at the accessory and realized that it had a
design similar to that of the Star Mother Association, with a star in the
center of the maze.
"Is this
dropped by the culprit?"
"Not
sure... it might have been dropped by the victim, or it might have been dropped
by a completely different adventurer."
Oribe
shrugged her shoulders while saying so.
"For
now, let's go to the place where it was found."
I'd like to
know in what way it was buried, and maybe we can find something else.
We decided
to go to the place where Oribe found the amulet.
"It was
here. Right here, this thing was lying half buried in the ground."
So saying,
Oribe buried it so that only part of the amulet popped out of the ground while
still in the ziploc.
I crouched
down and looked at it carefully.
Rather than
being buried there on purpose, it was more like a lost item had been stepped on
and naturally covered with dirt.
At the very
least, it would be difficult to find this amulet unless one looked hard enough
to find it.
If it had
been clearly buried, it could have been a dying message left by the victim, but
at this rate it seems more likely that it was simply dropped.
However, if
the person who dropped it was the criminal, it would be the most important clue
of all.......
The
question was, would the Hound Master who had been so careful to erase their own
information be committing a crime while wearing accessories that were connected
to them? I had my doubts.
Well, if it
were to be said that this was 'faith', then I guess that would be the end of
the story.
It was
then,
"......Hm?"
At the edge
of my vision, I felt like I saw someone's figure, so I looked around.
What the
hell? There should be no one here but us.
Yuki and
the others' senses also told them so.
"What's
wrong, Senpai?"
"Uh, I
just saw a shadow......."
"......?! No way, is it the Hound Master?!"
Anna
hurriedly looked around and.......
"............No,
there doesn't seem to be anyone here, okay? Excuse me, but you must be imagining things."
"My card
didn't respond to anything, either,......."
"Nn......,
is it my imagination? I'm not sure.....! No,
it's not! Just now!"
I was at
one point convinced by Anna and the others' words, but I got up in a rush when
I caught sight of a figure again, this time clearly.
The figure
of a woman running away from this area.
How could
she have gotten so close, evading Yuki and the others' detection abilities?! She was definitely no ordinary person!
"Go
after her!"
"What......? Uh, right."
"......?"
I chased
the woman's figure while being followed by Anna and the others, whose reactions
were slow, as if they didn't see the fleeing woman.
I should
have been able to catch up soon, but...
"Damn
it! We lost her!"
It seemed
that I was a little slow in following her, and the woman was no longer anywhere
to be seen.
It didn't
look like her monster card was anywhere near her, but she might have it move on
in some sort of emergency escape.
He said he
was chomping at the bit for having missed a promising lead.
"...!
Again!"
She
appeared again as if to tease us.
Again, she
ran away on her own feet without using any card.
But.......
“…………………………………………”
When I saw
her, this time I couldn't chase after her right away.
"Senpai? What's wrong?"
"......D-
did you see?"
I asked
Anna, who was looking at me quizzically.
"Huh?
What...?"
"......The
woman's face just now."
"Huh?
She ppeared again!? Then we have to chase after her right away!"
"No......."
"What's
wrong? You look pale?"
At the
sound of Oribe's worried voice, I checked the quest information on my phone.
There, I
found a picture of Shoko Sato-san's face.
A plain
woman with black hair in a short bob and no makeup.
————The
figure that ran away had the exact same face as Shoko Sato-san.
***
Notes:
2 Yomotsu-shikome (黄泉醜女, lit. 'Ugly Woman of the Underworld'), in Japanese mythology, was a hag sent by the dead Izanami ( a deity) to pursue her husband Izanagi (also a deity), for shaming her by breaking promise not to see her in her decayed form in the Underworld (Yomi-no-kuni). ↩
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