Chapter 18
A Relaxed Life
is So Far Away
Translator : PolterGlast
Being with Lotus made
me think.
I knew he was a very
good person, but I just wanted to keep my distance. If I did that, I wouldn't
become Eldorado, the curvy witch who would plunge players into anger and fear.
Originally, I was only
hired at Harapeko-tei for a limited time of about two months. Once Sutra-san's
leg was back to normal, I would have to find another job.
If I left
Harapeko-tei, the distance between Lotus and me would naturally grow. So, I had
to acquire the strength to live on my own.
When I looked at
Lotus, his missing arm and left eye always flickered in my mind. If possible, I
wanted to say just one word, "Be careful," but his injuries weren't
something that could be avoided by being careful, and his wounds were supposed
to be the catalyst for him to become the kingdom's greatest knight. That's
about all I remembered from the game's story.
Demons had red eyes
and wings, and everyone possessed a powerful unique skill. They were feared
because they were like disasters that could instantly plunge people into terror
with their effortless and unreasonable violence. However, among humans, there
were those who were born without red eyes and suddenly awakened their unique
skills one day. —For example, Lotus.
Most of the
romanceable characters in the game possessed unique skills. They were all like
magic powers, and even though Lotus was just a soldier now, gaining his power
would make him someone everyone relied on. So, it would probably be strange to
change his life just because I didn't like it.
"Alright."
I continued my
meditation, which was just sitting upright in the middle of the room, and when
I opened my eyes, Ichi and the others were arranged in a triangle around me for
some reason. They probably read the room because I was being quiet, but it
looked like some kind of ritual, so I wanted them to stop. They suddenly looked
up. They pretended. No, they didn't have faces. They just mimicked my
movements. How skillful.
Anyway, I decided to
check my current status.
【Name】 Eldorado (8 years old)
【Skills】 Illusion Lv.2, Flight Lv.1, Cleaning Lv.3, Tamer Lv.3, Perception Lv.2,
Fishing Lv.2, Helping Lv.1
【Titles】 Cloudy Country's Most Terrifying Witch [in the making], Clumsy Liar,
Wild Child
My only real power was
being able to see the status. My original strength as Eldorado and the fact
that I could see it meant I could acquire abilities quickly. It was an
advantage that more than compensated for the constraint of having to hide my
original eye color, the mark of a demon. And my Tamer skill, which I often
relied on, had thankfully leveled up the other day. With this, I could probably
be considered self-sufficient. Maybe.
"Skills are
important, of course, but..."
There were other
abilities too. I tapped the trophy-like display that I had recently been able
to see. The unlocked achievements were displayed, and below them, conditions I
didn't even understand were listed as 【???????】. Among them, there
was only one display that was grayed out.
【Total skill level must be 14 or higher】
"14, I've, passed
that..."
I added them up to
check. I must have achieved it when my Tamer skill leveled up the other day. It
seemed that automatic unlocking was only for the first one, and after that, I
had to select and tap it myself. My Tamer skill had finally reached level 3,
but my Illusion skill remained at level 2 no matter what. It should have become
my strongest card if it grew, but perhaps unique skills leveled up differently
from normal ones. If that was the case, I had no choice but to gain other
powers.
I didn't know the
acquisition conditions for normal skills, and they were all minor things like
Helping. In that case, what I should focus on next was unlocking achievements.
I didn't know what kind of abilities they would grant, but clearing them
couldn't be a bad thing.
It would be nice if
the conditions for unlocking achievements were the same as for Yuko in
"The Tale of the Five-Leafed Country," but honestly, I didn't
remember the details very well, and it was possible that this was customized
just for me.
It was difficult to
proceed in this foggy situation, but I braced myself and pressed the button.
The usual announcement played. I had gained a new power. "Eh, uh..."
Ichi and the others were circling around, wondering what was wrong.
"Hmm..." I didn't know if it was useful or not. But I was happy
anyway. "Yay, yay," we all clapped hands. "Yay, yay."
***
"Ah, delicious,
delicious. That's right, hold the skin with your hand. Good job~"
A blue status window
popped up above Sutra-san, who was clapping her hands. A red bar and a yellow
bar extended horizontally, and the red bar was already about 20% depleted. I
silently peeled the potatoes in a circular motion. "Hey Sutra, that's your
job, isn't it?" the landlady scolded Sutra-san, hitting her head sharply,
"Don't slack off!" The red bar decreased a little. "Fuggu,"
she made an unladylike sound.
"I-I'm not
slacking off! El's just fast at her work. She said she finished cleaning before
opening, so I was just having her help me!!"
"Sutra, isn't it
just that you're slow?"
"I'm sorry, I'm
sorry, it's true, she was the one who asked me to let her do it!"
After all, there were
four of us including Ichi and the others. On top of that, these slimes, before
I knew it, had devised even more techniques on their own and were launching a
time-saving operation. Now that they had nothing to do, they kept climbing the
walls and making everything sparkling clean, so soon this Harapeko-tei would
probably take on a mysterious shine.
"Well, I do agree
that El's work is fast..."
"Right!? She's
doing the work of three of me!"
"Aren't you
ashamed to say that...?"
A window appeared
above the landlady, who was looking exasperated. 【Harapeko-tei Landlady: Sheila】 So the landlady's name was Sheila, I thought
belatedly, and quietly peeled another potato.
Yes, I had become able
to see the status of others besides myself. Yuko in the game had the same
power. The red bar extending horizontally was probably HP, and the yellow bar
was MP. The fact that Sutra-san's HP was already lower than MAX might have been
because of her injury. But strangely, Sutra-san only had HP and MP displayed,
while the landlady's name was also shown.
Maybe only people with
job titles had their names displayed, I wondered, tilting my head at the still
unknown system since there was no manual. Then I questioned if this ability was
really necessary, but then I thought, no, it's definitely useful!
That's because I had
learned that among the customers, there were sometimes people from the church
in addition to adventurers. They probably weren't coming for me (a demon), but
were just regular customers. Since not everyone had a display, I had to be
careful not to rely on it too much, but if I could identify dangerous people to
some extent beforehand, I could avoid them.
And while carrying a
tray with food, I noticed something.
【Fried Rice: Delicious】
This thing could
display windows for non-humans too...!!
It wasn't everything,
but having information was definitely better than not having it. I decided to
call this "Appraisal." It wasn't that great, but I thought it would
lift my spirits. And while appraising everything, I noticed something
terrifying. "W-whoa, oh..." As expected, sensing the atmosphere, Ichi
and the others were also trembling. They were quivering, so I held them up in
both hands and checked the display again. "No way, this..."
【Moonstone: Can store magic power】
"I thought it was
just a cheap accessory for kids!?"
The necklace I bought
with my childhood friend at the village festival had a special function after
all.
**
Humans would never
know what might help them. No, I was a demon. My mistake. Ah... I sat on the
roof, dazed. Bathed in the moonlight that filtered through the thin gaps in the
clouds. Let's recall the description of the Illusion skill.
【Can be used a little if magic power is absorbed. Turns
conviction into power. Can be used in conjunction with other skills.】
It could be used a
little "if magic power is absorbed."
I had flailed around
wondering what magic power was back then, but it was basically MP. Checking my
status made it clear. The difference between illusions I could and couldn't
create was due to my MP being too low. Maybe it would grow with my body or I could
use it more efficiently if my skill level increased, but I couldn't wait that
long.
If I didn't have
enough magic power, I could just replenish it from the outside! If I didn't
have magic power, I should just steal it!
Also, since my level
had increased by 1 since then, the skill description had changed from "can
be used a little" to "can be used a tiny bit." It hadn't changed
much. Or rather, didn't the nuance slightly decrease? Was it that vague?
My own MP recovered
when I slept and woke up. I focused on whether MP recovered through sleep or if
"something happened at night." I was curious, so I investigated and
found out. The moon had something that recovered MP. Fantasyyyy.
I couldn't help but
make a joke of it in my head, but I did a little jump for joy when I
understood. And the cheap orange necklace I got at the festival, or rather the
moonstone, had the property of absorbing MP. Even though Cloudy Country was
mostly cloudy, there were fewer clouds at night than during the day, so
moonlight occasionally spilled through.
So, when I hung the
pendant from the window, the amount of MP I absorbed was greater than usual. So
I used the Flight skill to climb out the window with my whole body, and the
three slimes and I sat in a child's sitting position, bathed in moonlight. My
MP increased rapidly. I used the increased MP. I repeated this to grow and
improve my own MP. And that's how I became able to do it.
I had somehow become
an adult.
No, really. Currently,
in my fully grown form, I looked up at the moon visible through the gaps in the
clouds. This form used the most MP, so it was efficient for growth. My blonde
hair, which should have only reached my shoulders, quietly flowed down my back,
and Ichi and the others stretched out and reflected my image like a mirror,
showing me my solid red eyes. And it was a figure and bodycon dress that was no
different from the original. I hated it.
"C-cold..."
I shivered. I sniffled
while wrapped in a blanket. Even though I hated the bodycon dress so much, it
didn't change no matter how I struggled. Tight suits were just too much and
painful. My bare thighs were exposed.
Of course, this form
was an illusion, and originally, I was a full-fledged kid. Since I was able to
increase my MP, I could transform into something bigger. But unfortunately,
probably due to my still insufficient illusion level, I could only transform
into what I could clearly imagine in my head. In other words, only into the
exact same form as the original Eldorado.
The moment I saw my
long limbs, I was overjoyed that I had become an adult, but I could only
transform at night, and what's more, this outfit. I looked like a slut. It was
too revealing, and I couldn't even change my eye color. It was an even harder
mode. Couldn't they have done something about the character design?
"But, a-anyway,
training is all that matters..."
At least I was making
progress. I thought it would take much longer for me, who was still a small
child, to become independent. Being able to transform even into this fake form
was a big step forward.
I sniffled loudly.
Ichi and the others were close by, all squishy. "Adult El, your snot is so
amazing!" I heard a voice say, probably from my Tamer skill. Shut up.
I wrapped the string
of the moonstone around one hand and wrapped myself in the blanket, letting out
a cold breath. It was so dark that Ichi and the others lit up a gentle light
inside their bodies, so I didn't feel so lonely. I remembered when stones were
thrown at me in the village. I thought I was all alone, but I was relieved that
they were there, even though they were just slimes.
However, I thought it
would be dangerous if anyone saw me in this form, and I had been observing the
area around Harapeko-tei for the past few nights, but there weren't many shops open
at night, and no one seemed to pass by. Besides, I was on the second-floor
roof, so even if there was a suspicious woman, there was no way they could see
my eye color, so "It's okay, it's okay," I was laughing to myself
when I heard a familiar man's voice. "Huh?" I looked down in surprise
and saw someone looking up at me.
It was dark, and I
couldn't tell who it was. But I had to run away! In a panic, I stepped on the
edge of the blanket I was wrapped in and rolled right off. "Aaaaaah!"
It was a miracle that I managed to suppress my scream since it was the middle
of the night. I rolled to the edge of the roof and fell. I thought it was over,
but I somehow managed to use the Flight skill. Just before I slammed into the
ground, I stopped abruptly, or so I thought, and then I smashed my face hard.
――――Even if there was a
suspicious woman, there was no way they could see my eye color, so it's okay,
it's okay.
For me, that was a
line full of flags. Without thinking anything, I pressed my mouth, which hurt, and
tried to stand up when a man said, "Hey, are you alright...?" The man
held out his hand to me. It was Lotus. The blanket wrapped around my body fell
to the ground with a hara. Lotus froze, his hand still outstretched towards me.
The wings I had created with the Flight skill were still on my back.
"Uh, well,
um..."
Originally, we
wouldn't meet for another three years. If the route was different, we might
never meet. Yet, I had met Lotus. A strange woman in bizarre clothes. And the
man who would become the kingdom's greatest knight.
"You're, a
demon..."
Lotus's mouth muttered
quietly.
A cold wind whistled
past.
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