“Well, it doesn’t matter to me. Not the explorers, and not Laika. I just want to live freely.”
It didn’t matter to Aleu.
Even if he made a name for himself in the Sleepless City Tokijo (Fighting Arena) and succeeded as an explorer, if those people who mocked him tried to cozy up to him now———it’s already too late.
Hresvelgr, peering into Aleu’s dark, stagnant eyes, bared her fangs and smiled.
“Yes, that’s right. The people in Onii-san’s hometown must have looked down on you. I’m sure of it. They weren’t worried about you, no. Even your childhood friend betrayed you. She might have just lived a normal life and fallen in love normally… but even so, it’s terrible that she left Onii-san behind, right? After all, you were childhood friends. She only cheered you on, but Onii-san liked her, didn’t he? She’s a terrible girl for not noticing, isn’t she?”
“Isn’t she? But maybe it would be good to go see her face. When that time comes, you’re coming with me, Hresvelgr.”
“Yeah. And it’s not like you want to show off by bringing Fu-chan, who’s cuter than your childhood friend, right? Even now, it’s not like you’re feeling good by showing off your power, right? You’re just living freely. You don’t even want to get back at them. Yeah, yeah…… I understand.”
“Yeah, maybe I was even more amazing than I thought…… I just didn’t realize it.”
Aleu’s excitement grew at Hresvelgr’s whispering words.
As Hresvelgr watched him from behind, her eyes…
“……Nihi.”
…reflected no color at all.
All Hresvelgr did for Aleu was give him magic.
She hadn’t brainwashed him or altered his common sense.
She simply gave him power.
Aleu was the one who, without a second thought, accepted the fact that a beautiful girl everyone would turn to look at had fallen in love with him, and basked in that power.
Aleu was the one who had talked about his hometown incessantly ever since he met Hresvelgr.
She hadn’t pushed him; she had simply helped him stand up, and he had started running like this on his own.
“Whaaaat a mo~ron.”
Even that insult didn’t reach his ears.
Hresvelgr watched him and muttered:
“Boring.”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
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Kaguya, the Ruinous Beauty.
She, who had been called that for a long time, sighed at the top of the mountain-like Yaten (Night Heaven) Castle. The moonlight reflected beautifully on the white hair of the woman leaning out from the window of a room where the magic lights of the city below could not reach.
From a spot where she could look down at the Sleepless City Tokijo, she, who was in a crucible of boredom, bit into a piece of fruit and swallowed. A moment later, her expression softened at its sweetness, but she soon seemed to remember her boredom again, slumping down and wrinkling her brow.
“Haa……”
“Kaguya-sama. Nothing but sighs…… That posture is not befitting of the Keikokuki (Ruinous Beauty).”
“……It is dull. I shall die of boredom……”
There was no ambition in the woman who shook her head at her attendant’s grievance and spoke with a trembling throat.
The heart of this hedonist had not experienced any soul-stirring pleasure in recent years. Hungry for that hard-to-find sensation, the Keikokuki pounded the wooden floor repeatedly like a throwing a tantrum like a child.
“The new Toki…… Aleu, was it? I hear he is quite skilled.”
“You will see when you look at him. He is no good. His flaws will show soon enough.”
The woman, her peerless face distorted in gloom, rested her chin on her hand and pouted.
“Something to entertain me…… does not easily appear.”
“……In that case, let us summon a high-level explorer in Kaguya-sama’s name. It seems one is currently stopping in a town within the Sleepless City’s territory.”
“Ho…… and who might that be?”
“The Level 8 Explorer—[Koka (Red Flower)].”
The attendant presented a name belonging to a martial artist girl—someone known for being restless even among high-ranking seekers, and one who treated Kaguya with a certain over-familiarity. Her strength was undisputed, backed by the fact that she bore a [Color] in her alias.
No matter how powerful the opponents in the Arena might be, they were, in the end, merely “monsters of the pit.” To pit them against her would be a bit of an overkill.
However, if the goal was to satisfy Kaguya’s hunger for entertainment, the girl’s flamboyant and grand fighting style was perfect.
“…A mere sideshow with a foregone conclusion… but it should serve well enough to kill time. Call her. Let it be a prelude.”
“As you wish.”
Without watching the attendant depart soundlessly, Kaguya let out a long sigh—her umpteenth of the day.
“I only hope… that I might forget the passing of time, even for a fleeting moment… Hmph.”
The “Ruinous Beauty” Kaguya let out a self-deprecating chuckle at her own words. Looking down at the Arena while finding the magical illumination obnoxious… what a futile waste of time.
Allowing her hair to flutter in the breeze once more, Kaguya listlessly averted her gaze.
Then—turning toward the figure that had slipped into her private chambers just as the attendant left—she tossed out words without even looking back.
“Entering the private room of this Ruinous Beauty Oni without permission… No matter how long we have been acquainted, this is difficult to overlook.”
A voice as cold as the night wind spilled from Kaguya’s lips. Combined with the moonlight that rendered her beauty into something ethereal and otherworldly, an ordinary person would have struggled even to find the words to reply.
The intruder, the very target of those rejecting words, didn’t let her displeasure bother him at all. He began to state his business in a flat, matter-of-fact tone.
“—The time of resurrection is near.”
The muffled voice of a man leaked from the gaps of a robe that completely covered his body, reaching Kaguya’s ears.
An ominous, blunt message—nothing more, nothing less. She, of course, understood exactly what it meant.
“Crawling back into this world without having learned his lesson… what does he intend to achieve? The era has ended; even that tyranny is destined to be buried under the rubble of human history. There is no longer a stage for him to stand upon.”
Kaguya’s voice, a mixture of nostalgia and loneliness, was so small it was nearly drowned out by the clamor of the people in the castle town below.
However, the man who heard those words clearly underwent a sudden change from his previously flat tone. His anger was now palpable.
“He shall never die—our King is immortal. That existence itself is the law and the order of this world.”
“Oh, my. How well-tamed you are. To think he still has devotees like you even after death… his charisma is certainly something to be reckoned with.”
As Kaguya snorted derisively, the man snapped back, his voice still heavy with rage.
“You… how long do you intend to indulge yourself in a place like this? Take action befitting the role and position you were given—”
“—Do not get ahead of yourself, brat.”
Interrupting the man’s words was a single, cold sentence that had grown even sharper.
Kaguya’s demeanor shifted entirely. The approachability of a girl lamenting her boredom vanished completely, replaced by the presence of the Ruinous Beauty Oni who held the Sleepless City in her palm.
“A role given to me? Action befitting my position? Don’t make me laugh. I am the one who decides how I exist. There isn’t a shred of room for any other factor to intervene, you fool. Since when did you become important enough to lecture me? You, a mere ‘Lord’ pretender.”
The man beneath the robe caught his breath at Kaguya’s verbal lashing. The glint of obsidian peeking through the gap in his hood reflected the moonlight and wavered unsteadily.
“You will surely regret this.”
“You are tedious. Your speech is unrefined as well. If you wish to rely on me that badly, go back and learn some proper manners before returning, [Porter].”
“…So, you have no intention of returning.”
“I have no recollection of ever siding with you lot. My King has always been one and one only. And that—is someone entirely different from the one you worship.”
Kaguya declared with absolute certainty.
The man called the Porter turned on his heel, his face—famed for its peerless beauty even hidden under the hood—distorted in anger.
“So you’ve acquired a single country and lost your fangs, have you? A birdcage of vanity and overflowing desire suits a coward like you.”
“I think it would suit you quite well too, as you worship a King of vanity. Feel free to make yourself at home.”
At Kaguya’s mocking retort, the Porter paused for a moment—then began walking again.
“…I think I shall do just that. To my heart’s content.”
As the Porter vanished like smoke, leaving behind those ominous words, Kaguya rested her chin on her hand at the window frame and sighed.
“I suppose the peace of my castle ends here.”
Below her eyes, joys and sorrows unfolded. The activities of humans.
At the hallucination of those things collapsing, Kaguya muttered to herself.
In the room where the uninvited guest had departed, a terrifying silence filled the air, and the mournful mutterings of the Ruinous Beauty Oni echoed with painful clarity.
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