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Chapter 157 – Longtime Companions
After Hiiro returned to his room, Liliyn interrogated him about his discussion with Aquinas, just as he expected. In order to make her understand, Hiiro spoke without hiding anything.
Not only that, but for some reason she seemed to be making a relieved expression. It was likely because her concerns were proven to be false.
“Well, if that is what you have decided, I won’t do anything to stop you.” (Liliyn)
“Nofofofofo! Ojou-sama was really worried about Hiiro-sama and kept asking “Has he returned yet?” She was not able to settle down at all!” (Silva)
“T-t-t-t-t-that’s not true, you morooooooooooon!” (Liliyn)
“Buhen—?!” (Silva)
Because of Silva’s unnecessary remarks, Liliyn’s face instantly flushed a deep red. As if to hide her feelings, she kicked Silva in the face.
Although Shamoe was surprised by the sudden act of violence, she took care of the now silent Silva who was sprawled on the ground.
“Haa haa haa haa……. Listen well, Hiiro! That bastard was spouting nonsense! It wasn’t like that, alright?!” (Liliyn)
With somewhat teary eyes, she pointed her finger and frantically denied the validity of Silva’s comments. Hiiro glanced at her and—
“Is that so…” (Hiiro)
He replied in a completely indifferent manner. Naturally, Liliyn was taken aback by his total disinterest. She glared at him and said—
“Y-y-y-y-y-you fool! Someday, I will make you kneel before me!” (Liliyn)
Even as she yelled, Liliyn’s still-red face and tiny body didn’t evoke a single ounce of fear. Rather, seeing her act so desperately would make anyone smile.
(What are you acting so desperate for……) (Hiiro)
Sadly, nothing Lilyn said affected Hiiro in the slightest. He gave out the same dry answer as usual.
“Sh-shishou!” (Nikki)
Without any warning, Nikki clenched her fists and yelled.
“What?” (Hiiro)
“S-Shishou is, um… going to the duel, right?!?!” (Nikki)
“Yeah.” (Hiiro)
Nikki then gave a clearly restless expression. Hiiro understood what she wanted to say and indifferently told her—
“You’re no good.” (Hiiro)
“Eeeh!? W-why?!“ (Nikki)
Nikki showed a very disappointed face, as though she had received a great shock.
“It’s only natural; it’s still too early for you.” (Hiiro)
“B-But…… I want to help Shishou!” (Nikki)
“This request is for me. You don’t need to be involved.” (Hiiro)
“Uuuu……” (Nikki)
She fell silent at Hiiro’s complete rejection.
“This is a duel involving the fate of this country. You’ve still got a long way to go before you can even think about shouldering such a responsibility.” (Hiiro)
“Uuuu~ stronger!” (Nikki)
“Ha?” (Hiiro)
“Stronger, stronger, strongeeeeeer! If I become stronger, then can I fight alongside Shishou?!” (Nikki)
She set her lips straight and gave Hiiro a serious look. After seeing such a display, Hiiro sighed and nodded his head.
“Let’s see, just getting stronger isn’t enough. But, well, if you become stronger, then I guess I can let you fight together with me.” (Hiiro)
“Then, I will become stronger! So when the time comes, I will look forward to fighting with you!” (Nikki)
“….Well, I’ll be waiting for it.” (Hiiro)
Hiiro flicked Nikki on the forehead, making a ton sound. Nikki’s expression lightened considerably, but Mikazuki was dissatisfied with this turn of events and puffed her cheeks.
“Buu~! Why is it only Nikki~? Mikazuki wants to be flicked too!” (Mikazuki)
Although Mikazuki started to throw a tantrum, Hiiro completely disregarded her. Nikki stuck out her chest with pride, making a *fufun* sound, while feeling superior over the childish Mikazuki.
“Ku…… Ku…… Kuiiii! Shamoe-chaaaaaan!” (Mikazuki)
The mortified Mikazuki dove towards Shamoe’s chest. Shamoe then kindly stroked Mikazuki’s head to console her.
“Speaking of which, when will the duel take place?” (Silva)
Asked Silva, who had recovered without anyone noticing.
“I still don’t know. Even if we finish all the preparations, shouldn’t we also worry about the other side? Well, we can be sure they’ll bring their best fighters.” (Hiiro)
“Hohou, then the <<Three Warriors>> will certainly be there. The Beast King and…There were two, right? The two princes, as well.” (Silva)
Silva’s investigation churned out nothing but top-class names.
“Iya……” (Hiiro)
“Nofo? Are there others?” (Silva)
“……It’s nothing” (Hiiro)
Hiiro recalled his conversation with Aquinas. As they talked about the opponent’s strength, he heard a nostalgic name.
(Don’t tell me that person’s thinking of participating. But then again, there’s a small chance they will.) (Hiiro)
As Hiiro gazed into the distance, everyone tilted their heads while looking at him.
In a place filled with alcohol bottles, something moved with a *goso goso* sound. From its movements, it seemed to be a person. While half asleep, that person rolled around and hit some bottles, toppling them over and making a *karan!* sound.
Soon after, someone’s footsteps could be heard approaching. Upon looking at the sleeping person, that individual let out a sigh while making an amazed expression.
“Oi-oi, there isn’t even room to stand here.” (???)
The individual skillfully stepped over the bottles littered around and approached the sleeping person. They then placed their hands on the other’s shoulder and tried to shake them awake.
“Shishou? Hey Shishou?” (???)
“Munya……ushishi……” (???)
You could tell from their smile that the sleeping person was having a good dream. Their unchanging child-like face had some drool at the edge of their mouth. Not only that, they were also hugging a bottle of alcohol. There was such a gap between their appearance and their actions that it was scary.
“Haa, good grief. This person is really bothersome……” (???)
As they thought to themselves, just how much does this person like alcohol?!, they began to shake the sleeping person gently. They had been told to wake them up at this time, so they couldn’t possibly stop shaking them until the sleeping person woke up.
“This is bad, could you clean up a bit?” (???)
“Ah. Sure, I’ll do it” (???)
It seemed that there had been two people who entered the room, and one of them asked the other to clean up the room.
“Shishou, please wake up soon. If you don’t ………… I won’t make any more snacks for you?” (???)
“I c-can’t accept that!” (???)
The sleeping person suddenly erupted up with their fists in the air. They seemed to have finally woken up.
“I see you’ve finally woken up, Shishou.” (???)
“………nh? Oh…so it’s the lolicon.” (???)
“Who are you calling a Lolicon?!” (Lolicon)
The lolicon said with a voice so loud that it echoed through the room.
“Nahahahaha! I’m just joking!” (???)
The person laughed happily while shaking their green hair. As that person stretched, the long ears perched on top of their head unfurled demurely until they were fully straight. The girl was a 「Were Rabbit」 with the stature of a grade schooler, who could always be found wearing a dirty white lab coat.
“Geez, in the first place, if that bastard hadn’t said such unnecessary things to Shishou, then I wouldn’t have had such a title stuck onto me…” (Lolicon)
While dropping their shoulders in a crestfallen manner, that person recalled the one who gave him the Lolicon title and let out killing intent.
“Nahaha! Speaking of that kid, it’s been over half a year since he’s left, huh?” (Rabbit girl)
At that voice, the person who had, until then, been peacefully cleaning the room stopped and looked down with a lonely look in their eyes.
“Aa mou, that guy isn’t thinking about keeping his promise at all! Look, Muir shouldn’t worry about it either!” (Lolicon)“U, un……” (???)
Muir Castrea. That was the girl’s name. And the name of the only guy in the room was that of Muir’s guardian, Arnold Ocean.
The two of them were formerly Hiiro Okamura’s travelling partners. And the cause of Arnold’s earlier burst of killing intent was Hiiro himself.
Over half a year ago, the three of them arrived at this place and met the little child wearing the white coat: Arnold’s shishou, Rarashik Fan’naru. It was then that Arnold asked Rarashik to train both Muir and himself.
However, after being told that it would take a considerable amount of time for Muir to become a full-fledged adult, Hiiro decided to leave the two, saying that he could no longer stay in the【Beastman Capital: Passion】.
At that time, he said that if he was free after half a year, he would come and meet them again. Since then, however, there had been no word from him. Muir, who had been looking forward to talking with Hiiro after a long time, grew depressed.
Muir had a favorable impression of Hiiro as a person of the opposite gender. During their journey, she had not been aware of it, but when he left, the feeling of wanting to meet him once more grew steadily.
Hiiro’s existence became much bigger within her than she had expected, to the point where she herself was surprised. So, with the prospect of meeting Hiiro after half a year, Muir completely devoted herself to training.
「Become stronger.」
In order to respond to Hiiro’s parting words.
Rarashik started grinning as her eyes turned towards Muir.
“Seriously, that brat really is a sinful guy. I’ve heard that Mimir-sama was charmed by him as well.” (Rarashik)
Mimir was the second princess of the Beast Kingdom. At a young age, an illness had taken away her voice following a high fever. For her, who loved to sing above all else, losing her voice was an ill fate comparable to the despair of death.
However, as she felt that she didn’t want to make the people around her sad, she wore a fake smile. That smile, however, was not only ripped away by Hiiro, but what even the best doctors could not fix, Hiiro cured with his 《Word Magic》 in mere seconds.
From then on, Mimir thought of Hiiro as her saviour. She then proceeded to approach him while holding feelings of admiration so strong, they could compare to those of worship. Within those feelings, the faint stirrings of love had formed. One could say that she had fallen in love with him at first sight.
“Muir and Mimir-sama; I wonder who else has fallen for this guy in the past six months. Nahahahaha!” (Rarashik)
Just as Rarashik said these words in an amused manner—-
*crack!*
Surprised, Arnold looked towards the direction of the sound and saw Muir who had bare-handedly broken the sake bottle she was holding. Moreover, there was not a single injury on her hand.
“Mui, Muir……?” (Arnold)
“Eh? Ah, umm…… A– I’m sorry! I’ll clean it up immediately!” (Muir)
Whether or not she was unaware of what she had done, Muir sweeped the broken glass as though nothing had occurred. No, if you looked closer, you could see that there was a faint blush in her cheeks as she appeared to understand exactly why she had done that.
“Nahahaha! Teasing Muir sure is as fun as always!” (Rarashik)