Chapter 86
Turning Point
Translator : PolterGlast
The cat pretended to
pass by smoothly, its ears twitching as it eavesdropped on the humans'
conversation.
The name of the
capital where the sand scorpions had appeared was apparently Kasei.
"Hmm," it flicked its tail. In front of it were a fat man and another
tall man.
They seemed to be
merchants, exchanging information. However, they seemed to know each other to
some extent, talking in a casual tone.
"Sand scorpions
are rare... oh, that reminds me, there was a heavy rain the other day."
"Rare isn't the
word for it. Not just one or two, they say they covered the entire area around
the capital."
"Covered the
entire area!? The damage must have been considerable."
"That's the
thing, they say not a single person died."
"Not a single person?"
The fat man put his hand on his large belly, his whole body showing surprise.
Nyao, the cat's tail
waggled.
"Don't be so
surprised with that 'chubby little body' of yours."
"Of course I'm
surprised! I mean, not a single person... hey, did you just call me
chubby?"
"I didn't."
"You did! You
bastard! 'Chubby'? That's a pretty mild way to put it! 'You insensitivity level
three!'"
"Isn't it
supposed to be zero there!?"
"What was that
all of a sudden!?"
Nyao-nyao, the cat's
tail moved. Then, a strange thing happened. Different words were added to their
conversation. The cat giggled, watching the two men tilt their heads in
confusion. It was a very un-catlike laugh. It was fun to watch the men
bickering.
"You always
exaggerate! There's no way not a single person died, that's a lie!"
"It's not a lie!
Apparently, there was a strange blonde kid. Looked cute, but they say she did
something weird and repelled the sand scorpions."
"Like what?"
"I forgot."
"You idiot!"
Maybe the men would
have had that kind of banter even without the cat's doing. Nyaa-nyaa, the cat
left paw prints on the ground as if using its small paws as stamps, and
disappeared. If the men had seen its eyes, they would have been shocked. Red
eyes didn't exist for animals or humans—except for demons.
"Blonde, weird
kid, huh?"
Looked cute, so
probably a girl. I didn't know, but it slightly overlapped with the girl in
"her" memories. In this wide world. "No way, nya," it
thought, but also considered, "But that would be interesting." It was
a rootless weed anyway. It had no particular purpose. Before it knew it, its
tail was wiggling.
Its entire body was a
shade of gray, but only its belly was pure white... or so it thought, but when
it looked back, the fur on its rear was also pure white. Wiggling its tail back
and forth, it jumped lightly.
"--Kitty," a
child pointed at it. By the time the parent turned around, it had long since
become a tiny speck and disappeared over the roof.
It looked almost like
it had wings on its back.
***
I told Lotus
everything right away. It was too heavy for me to bear alone, and Ichi and the
others knew anyway. They had been trembling, vowing to never forgive the
silver-haired demon for not being interested in their bodies. That was fine.
As for Lotus, his
rumored childhood friend had been very close by. I had thought he would be
surprised and confused, but I was surprised that he just said, "I
see." But I knew that one word was filled with many emotions.
--Demons had
infiltrated Kasei at night.
Wasn't that a big
deal? As dawn broke, I thought I should go to Veda and tell him, but I wondered
where he was. For now, Ichi and the others had gone ahead to clean the mud off
the walls, the remnants from the sand scorpion extermination, and Lotus was
accompanying them. Lotus holding a deck brush somehow looked right, but also
not right.
Waving my handkerchief
at Ichi and the others, whose excitement was making bubbles pop in their
bodies, telling them not to overdo it, I first searched the most likely place
and hit the jackpot. Veda was in the World Tree Chamber in the center of the
tower.
He was holding the rim
of his monocle with his fingers, looking at something like a letter with a
difficult expression.
"Um..."
"...Ah, El, is
that you?"
He seemed to finally notice
me when I called out to him.
"Is the repair of
the water sphere membrane finished?"
"Of course. It
was the top priority. It took some time without the Lord of the Main Tower, but
we finished it before sunset. Leaving it broken would be fatal."
The sand scorpion
attack had broken a part of the water sphere membrane covering the city. I
noticed my own eyebrows furrowing slightly deeper. "I see," I said,
dropping my gaze to think. No, I looked up. First, I had to tell him that
Vejasha and the others had infiltrated.
"Um, about last
night..."
Just as I said this,
my skill went pikon! It was the detection skill I had desperately acquired the
other day for my meeting with Yuko. It was one thing to react when I knew
something was approaching me, but this was different. "I found youuuuuu!!
Oraaaaaaa Eldoradoooooo!!!!" Yuko's fierce scream echoed. A burst of
determination. The moment I turned around, something stuck to my face.
Yuko, who surprisingly
had good shoulders, swung with all her might, and it spun nicely in the air
before miraculously sticking to my face with force. "T-this is..." A
warm kitty belly...
Fluffy and silky,
warm, and clinging to me while making nya-nya sounds and desperately stretching
out its paws. Precious.
"Hey, what's with
this all of a sudden!?"
I thought I was going
to faint for a moment from happiness. "Whoa, whoa," I said, peeling
the cat off my face and holding it. Since my tamer skill was also on, it was
trembling and saying, "Oh, sister, that's a nice way to hold me, ah! No!
Don't touch me there! My cat pride! What would a little brat like you who just
met me know about... ahhh! It's the best!!" So this was it. This was a
good spot.
While I was rubbing
the cat moderately, and about to put it down, Yuko had a smile on her face.
"...You hate it, don't you?" "Hm?" "You hate it, you
can't stand it, right?" Mysterious words.
"Hah! Did you
think I wouldn't know!? It was written in the fan book! Eldorado's weakness is
cats, you know!!! That's why if the protagonist equips the Kitty Wand, their
attack power is slightly higher than usual! You couldn't exactly bring a live
cat in the game, but the reality is different! I had Nabari catch them, so
there are still more!!"
Yuko, taking out
mysterious cats from somewhere, sent them rushing at me one after another.
Specifically, she threw catnip at me and stood with her arms crossed in the
center of the kitties that jumped out, saying "How's that!?" She had
a slightly strong boss vibe. Dododododo.
My surroundings had
become a cat paradise before I knew it. I wondered what she was making Nabari
do. I could picture him sitting somewhere with dead eyes. He usually stayed
close to Yuko, but when his mental limit was exceeded, he would turn as white
as ash and stand quietly alone. Actually, I could see his HP and MP with my
appraisal skill, and Nabari was always low on MP, apparently compensating for
mental damage with his own MP. His mental strength was constantly being tested.
No, this is not the
time for this.
"Ohohohoho!! You
hate it, don't you!? It's the worst, isn't it!? You want to run away from the
city, don't youuuu!!?? I'll throw kitties at you every time we meet from now
on!?"
I see. Yuko's strategy
was to make me leave voluntarily if she couldn't drive me out. Quite the schemer,
or so it seemed, but what was there was just paradise. Eldorado was bad with
cats, or rather, I hadn't seen any cats when I was in the village, so I saw
them for the first time when I came to the city.
"...Hey, what are
you doing? Why are you in a daze, all blissful in the middle of all these cats,
like a Jizo statue?"
"It's the
absolute best."
"Whyyyyyyyy!!!!?"
The scene I saw
through the Mirror of Foresight, where she was determined to beat Eldorado even
though her level should have been low, might have been because of this. While
being surprised anew by the power of the tamer skill, Veda, watching the
collapsing Yuko, had a slight vein throbbing at his temple, and I realized he
was one step away from snapping. I had somehow recently realized that Veda was
surprisingly the most short-tempered.
"Aaaaaah, since
I'm in Soleil, I thought I'd make the cat-type demon Pia my ally and beat up
Eldorado!"
"Huh? Pia? Oh,
sorry."
"What are you
suddenly apologizing for?"
"When I was in
Leyshan, I interfered a little with what triggered Pia's mistrust of humans, so
she might not be in Soleil..."
Pia was a cat demon
with lovely smooth gray fur. It wasn't very common, but non-humans could also
become demons. In Soleil, besides Veda, a key character, there was also a
mid-boss-like existence like Eldorado... but since Soleil was the easiest
route, there was also a way to make her an ally without fighting.
Pia was originally
born in Leyshan. But when she became a demon, she was separated from her owner,
a girl. I had played the Soleil route more thoroughly than the Cloudy Country
route, so I could somewhat guess the location and time of past events. So, I
just, well, interfered a little. But Pia was a capricious and mischievous cat,
so she used the newly learned human language and disappeared, saying,
"Well then, nyaa." I saw her off, saying, "Take care."
Since she was a
character who was supposed to go to Soleil because she had bad memories in
Leyshan, she might still be relaxing and swaying her tail in Leyshan.
"Whyyyyyyyy!!!!"
Yuko collapsed,
clutching her face as if someone had suddenly swept her legs from behind. I was
so sorry. I never imagined she was counting on that as her trump card against
Eldorado.
Veda, who was already
quite angry behind us, said, "You two. This is the World Tree Chamber, you
know..." His voice was low, and his lips were twitching, unable to contain
his anger. Yuko probably thought it was better to shut up. Or rather, since he
had just said "you two," we both silently and quickly closed our
mouths. The cats had disappeared before I knew it.
Veda strode towards
Yuko, who was sobbing uncontrollably. I struggled with whether I should step
between them or comfort Yuko, saying, "Please calm down." But I
imagined her crying even more if she was comforted by me, her (temporary)
enemy. Should I just watch...?
I decided that maybe I
should find Nabari, who was probably turning to ash somewhere, and bring him
back, but surprisingly, Veda quietly sat down in front of Yuko. "Uuu, so
handsome..." She said, her nose running a little from the force of her
emotions, but she was unwavering. "Thank you," and Veda said it
plainly. What was this conversation?
"There is
something I must tell you. A message arrived through the branch just now. It is
something you cannot possibly handle on your own. Could you please call for
High Priest Nabari?"
"...Eh...?"
Yuko looked up,
sniffling. It was then.
The earth shook
violently.
"Eh, eh, an
earthquake...!!?"
The scenery shook up
and down. Feeling nostalgic was a Japanese thing. Earthquakes didn't exist in
this world. So, there wasn't even a word for "earthquake." Veda
stared blankly up at the World Tree. I could hear the rustling of the leaves
shaking with the branches. I immediately covered my head and curled up.
It was only a few
seconds, but this was the middle of the tower. It was a tower towering
strangely using the power of magic tools, so it might be unnecessary worry, but
it was good that nothing happened. Thinking that, I still thought it might be
better to get outside immediately. The people of this world wouldn't have a
manual for earthquakes. Confirming that the shaking had stopped, I immediately
stood up. Yuko, like me, was still curled up.
"Veda! I'm
worried about what's happening outside, let's go out! There are hardly any
people in the tower after yesterday's cleanup, right? Tell those people too,
hurry!"
The Lord of the Main
Tower wasn't in this tower right now. A leader-like character who should have
been there, someone you could rely on no matter what. Not just the state of the
buildings outside, but these were people who had never experienced an
earthquake. They must be panicking. The more I thought about it, the more I
realized we couldn't afford to be leisurely.
Veda, who should have
been the first to respond calmly in such a situation, had a pale face and his
eyes were wide open. His lips were trembling silently. I had never seen such an
expression in the game or now, and it didn't look at all like he was just
surprised that the ground had moved up and down. He was surprised and
frightened by something I didn't know.
"...Veda...?"
I had a feeling
something bad was going to happen. Something like a lot of sand scorpions
coming, no, something much worse than that. The door was knocked on loudly.
Veda swung his right arm violently. "Whoa, ha, whoa!" In an instant,
the door to the World Tree Chamber disappeared, and the person who had been
knocking slammed their face hard into the ground.
However, short grasses
and flowers were growing on the ground, so it probably didn't hurt much. The
one groaning "Uu, uuu, uguu" was the usual energetic gatekeeper.
"No!" He stood up sharply. "Veda-sama!!! It's terrible!!!"
His expression was desperate.
"I-it's terrible,
terrible, terrible!"
"Speak, quick!"
Veda, losing even his
usual composure, interrupted the gatekeeper, whose tongue was tied up in too
much confusion. The gatekeeper swallowed hard. The hat he had been wearing on
his head was completely askew. With a panicked look on his face, he repeatedly
opened and closed his mouth without making a sound. And then, he finally spoke.
"Hail Land has
come to attack, leading a large number of soldiers...!!"
It wasn't just me who
screamed at that moment. Even Yuko widened her eyes in surprise and shouted, "Why!"
There was no wind
anywhere. And yet, the World Tree rustled as if it were swaying. The world was
changing strangely.
--There's no need for
you to deliberately speak about things that are already decided. We will end
everything.
Was this what "it
is decided" meant? Without understanding anything, I found myself
crouching down, clenching my fists. (Lotus, right now...) Where was he? Ichi
and the others should be with him. Had they reached the wall yet? I could only
think about them. That was all I could do.
-----
Thank you for my Patrons !!
[Platinum]
Swagaraga
[Gold]
B random
DavidA
Nepheos
ShitaiNoKootoRyuu
[Silver]
Creris
Fred A.
Frédéric Bertrand-Hudon
Geral Aponso
Matthew Fraser
Anton Lim
Ctdela
Curious Panda
Read Advanced Chapters only on my Patreon
-----
