Chapter 82
The Saint and
Translator : PolterGlast
While catching sight
of Ichi and the others acting tough at my feet, I thought about the girl named
Yuko.
Perhaps this girl,
Yuko, was incredibly pure.
Because she thought
this world was a game, she energetically and easily said things like using
someone as bait and killing them. But she should have been on pins and needles
right now. She did what a protagonist would normally do. That's what should
have happened, yet she was treated as a cold-blooded Saint, and in front of the
citizens, she was suffering from the first discrepancy with reality. You could
even say she was weakened.
--Now's our chance!
El! We'll beat 'em to a pulp!
--Anyone who can't see
us, the Ichi Squad, we don't consider an enemy!!
--We'll flatten 'em
out!!!
Well, I did say I'd
embrace being a villain, but I didn't mean to go that far. At my feet, Ichi and
the others were starting to shadowbox at light speed with shupa-shupa sounds.
Please don't physically beat anyone up.
Above my head, the
lantern swayed in the wind with a shan-shara sound. I took a moment to calm
down and think. I came here to talk.
"So, what's
something you can't talk about with Lotus around?"
It sounded like I had
the upper hand, but in reality, Yuko was the one holding my tail. After all,
she was a Saint, and she knew my true identity as a demon. But surprisingly,
Yuko drooped her head. I had thought she was quite an energetic girl in front
of Lotus, but maybe that was just the mask of Yuko, the heroine of the game.
Actually, even though
I had come here with Ichi and the others, ready to go all out, I didn't feel
that much of a crisis with this girl Yuko. We were just going to have a
"discussion." If this had been someone from this world, it would have
been a different story, but she came from Japan. The possibility of her
suddenly pulling out a knife and threatening me seemed low—though maybe that
was just me, whose desire for revenge had completely cooled down after
remembering my past life.
But of course, it was
better to be cautious, so I didn't let my guard down. We kept a certain
distance and stared at each other intently.
"Before that, let
me confirm something. Are you really Eldorado?"
"...That's
right."
"How are you
changing your appearance? The Eldorado I know is much more mature-looking.
Which one is the real you?"
"I don't want to
say, and I don't feel the need to."
There was no point in
denying it. But of course, I wouldn't say anything unnecessary. The fact that I
could change my appearance with my illusion skill was my trump card. It wasn't
something I would readily answer if asked.
"You're a demon,
aren't you?"
"Yeah."
"Does Lotus know
about that?"
"Of course."
Yuko held her head.
This was what she didn't want Lotus to hear. Clearly, I was acting together
with Lotus. Yuko probably never imagined that Lotus had also become half-demon,
but maybe she was betting on the slim chance that Lotus didn't know I was a
demon.
"I don't mind if
you tell other people that I'm a demon. I'll just escape from here and—with
Lotus, of course."
In my mind, an
arrow-tipped tail grew from my rear. I held a large fork in one hand, and I had
long, jet-black antennae on my ears. Yes, a demon. If I was going to do it, I was
going to go all the way. Yuko was afraid of Lotus disappearing. If she spread
the word that I was a demon, I would undoubtedly flee. And Lotus would go too.
That's why I thought
Yuko would come alone without telling anyone, and as expected, she did. "Y-you
de-demon...!!" "A demon, at your service!!" I stomped my foot
and put my hands on my hips with a uhaha. It was a shame I wasn't the adult
version of El.
My heart was
completely stained with evil, but from an outsider's perspective, it was
probably a mysterious situation where a tiny person was stomping their feet and
yelling "ei-ei," and a girl in front of them was pounding the ground
with her fist for some reason. Ichi and the others were certain of complete
victory and were wai-wai-ing around Yuko. They were wai-type slimes. But that's
beside the point.
Now, although I had
nipped the possibility of Yuko revealing that I was a demon in the bud, that
wasn't my goal. Actually, I wouldn't have minded if she had revealed it. I
would have just gone to another town then.
That wasn't it. I also
had something I wanted to ask her, and something I had to tell her.
--Would she think it
was strange?
If I said it, she
might just think, "What are you talking about?" So, I waited for her
words. Because it was strange. This situation was strange. Yuko would probably
realize it. She had been pounding the ground with her fist for a while, but
then she suddenly looked up.
She had a youthful
face.
I suddenly wondered if
her name was really Yuko. She was nothing like the Yuko from the game, and she
was trying her best to use the knowledge she had in accordance with the game.
But in reality, maybe she was the one being forced into the mold of "Yuko."
"Why...?"
Yuko's word wasn't
directed at me. She seemed confused by the sense of incongruity she had grasped
within herself. Yuko pressed her hand to her mouth, looking as if she couldn't
believe it, and slowly, bit by bit, she let the words fall out.
"Eldorado, no,
should I call you El? I don't really know."
I had a feeling what
her next words would be.
"...Why aren't
you surprised that I know about you?"
As if it was
"obvious" that Yuko, the Saint, would know about Eldorado.
In the game, Eldorado,
having learned of Yuko's existence, comes to the castle to harass her. Using
her specialty, illusion magic, she thoroughly beats up Yuko, the heroine, in a
losing event. That event hadn't even started. Because I wasn't in Cloudy
Country.
"...Because I
know."
There was nothing more
I could say. That Lotus was the key person of Cloudy Country, Yuko's protective
knight. That Eldorado was Yuko's sworn enemy, getting in her way wherever she
went. That I was the "villain" in The Tale of the Land of Five Leaves.
I stared at Yuko. Yuko
scrutinized my appearance. From the top of my head to the tips of my toes.
"Could it be, you..." She stretched out a trembling finger. "Are
you... the same as me?" she whispered to herself.
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