33. Dessert After All, to Cleanse the Palate of Bitter Memories

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/35/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

A dim prison beneath the castle.
Saiji was in a cell divided off by iron bars, furnished with nothing but a moldy bed and a toilet.

“I’m not wrong. I’m not wrong. I’m not wrong. I’m not wrong.”

His eyes were wide, his cheeks were gaunt, and he had not slept at all since the previous night. He only repeated the same words.
By any measure, he had gone mad.
Even so, Saiji remained utterly convinced that he was right. He believed just as firmly that the knights under the king’s direct command—the ones who had locked him in this cell—had already been brainwashed by “them.”
That was why he refused the meals they brought him.
He was certain they contained human flesh.

“I’m not wrong. I’m not wrong. I’m not wrong. I’m not wrong.”

When the knights questioned him about why he had put poison in the food, he would not even tell them his reason.
He did nothing but repeat the same phrase, making communication all but impossible.
The only evidence left behind was the poison he had used and the small vial that had held it.
No one had ever heard of a poison capable of dissolving a body after only a small dose. An unknown poison naturally cast suspicion first upon Leia, a researcher, but she had a perfect alibi.
In other words, they still knew nothing.
The knights would probably never reach the truth.
They lacked the ability—and, more importantly, they would probably run out of time.

As Saiji sat with his knees drawn to his chest, he heard footsteps approaching.
There was more than one person, unlike the knights who delivered his meals.
But it made no difference to him who had come. He continued his chant like a prayer.
The visitors stopped in front of his cell and addressed him.

“It has been a while, Mr. Kazeoka.”

Only one of the summoned people would call him by that surname.
Yet the voice belonged neither to the surviving Sakuna nor to Toka, much less Miyako.
Wondering who else it could be, Saiji raised his head slightly and caught sight of them at the edge of his vision.
Sakuna, Toka, and … someone he did not know.
No—that face was familiar, and when he thought carefully, so was the voice.
But if she were the girl Saiji remembered, some condition should have kept her facial muscles constantly twitching. Her voice should have been hoarser. Above all, she should never have worn such a confident expression.
Then who was this? What was this person standing before him and looking down upon him? Continue reading →

32. You Are the Hero of the Story—Truly, the Viande

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/34/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Uwaaaaaaagh!”

Saiji bolted upright and screamed the instant he awoke.

“Hah… hah… hah…”

His shoulders heaved with every ragged breath. Forgetting even to blink, he stared wildly around him.
This was—his room, and his body lay on the bed.
He had been certain he was dead.
He had felt the pain, and he had unmistakably felt his body growing cold.
Yet his arms and legs were attached.
So was his head, of course.

“Was it… a dream?”

It had been so real he wanted to call that idea ridiculous.
But since he was lying here in his own room, there seemed to be no other explanation.
If so, which parts had been real, and when had he fallen into the dream?
Saiji clutched his head.
He had no idea. He could not even begin to guess where reality ended and the dream began.
He wanted it all to have been an illusion.
But the moment Saiji formed that wish, he heard that sound from the wall behind him.

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch—

His entire body went rigid, gripped by tension as fierce as a hand closing around his heart.
He forgot not only to blink but even to breathe. He hunched forward with a hand pressed to his chest.
Tears threatened to spill from his eyes.
What in the world was this?
Who was doing it, and for what? Why did he have to be caught up in it?
Nothing came to mind.
Nothing at all. Saiji had never once thought of himself as a sinner.

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch—

The unnatural sound continued as though rebuking him.
It would go on until Saiji’s repentance was accepted.
Or until he went mad.

“Screw this… You piece of shit!”

Saiji flung the sheet aside, climbed out of bed, and strode from the room.
He was heading, of course, for the room that held the ihai.
If the cause of the sound was in there, he intended to beat it senseless and send it flying.
Even if his fists proved useless, Saiji could wield a little magic.
He would simply blast it away.
For some reason, the door was unlocked. Saiji opened it and stepped into a vast room that was, otherwise, nothing at all.

“…!”

He had assumed no one would be there.
Instead they stood stock-still, as if waiting for him.
Four men.
Their heads were bowed, and the room was dark, so he could not see their faces clearly. Judging by their appearance, however, they were probably soldiers who worked at the castle.

“Wel… come.”

The soldier on the far right spoke in a rasp and pointed in a particular direction.

“To the… ihai.”

The soldier beside him continued.

“Together… everyone… the whole time.” Continue reading →

31. A Migratory Fish Swimming Through Dreams—in Other Words, Poisson

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/33/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Late on the night the room had suddenly appeared next door, Saiji woke in the small hours.
He ought to have been exhausted, yet he could not get to sleep. The knowledge that the room lay just beyond the wall was probably to blame.

“What the hell is an ‘ihai,’ anyway…? And I never did make it to Ms. Mikage’s room.”

Saiji pressed a palm to his forehead and shook his head from side to side, trying to rouse his still-muddled mind.
Sakuna had been just as bad. She had gone out of her way to come to him for advice, only to leave hand in hand with Toka the moment the other girl appeared.
In the end, Sakuna must have had those inclinations all along and merely been confused because she had recognized her own feelings for the first time.

“… Girls together. Disgusting. God, what a turnoff.”

Once his eyes were fully open, he found it difficult to fall asleep a second time.
Saiji sat up, intending to drink some water and change his mood.

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch—

Then he heard a strange sound.
It was as though something were scraping at the wall.

“Maybe there’s a bug in here…”

Running a hand through his disheveled hair, Saiji poured water from the waiting thermos into a glass and drained it at once.
It was not especially hot, but sleep inevitably left a person dehydrated.
As he felt the water spread through his body, he exhaled. “Whew.”

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch…

All the while, the strange sound continued without pause.
It was quiet in itself, but its endless repetition soon became irritating.

“If that’s some mating call, go do it somewhere else. Damn it.”

As if taking out his mounting frustration, Saiji punched the wall in the direction of the sound.
At that moment, he realized something.
What lay beyond this wall—was that not the room with the ihai?

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Saiji’s expression stiffened.
The only word ihai brought to mind was a single Japanese one: a mortuary tablet.
Of course, this was another world, and there was no reason the same word should exist here. But once the association had occurred to him, he could not erase the image.
Sakuna had behaved as though the room had always been next door. An auditory hallucination would have been one thing, but there was no possible way he could be mistaken about that.
His room had unquestionably been the last one at the end of the hall.
There had never been another room beside it.
That being so, Saiji’s suspicion that neither the neighboring room nor the object called an ihai was anything normal was almost certainly correct.

Scratch, scratch, scratch, scratch—scratch… scratch, scratch—

The rhythm changed from time to time, and the sound went on as though a living person were carving at the wall.
Saiji swallowed, cold sweat beading on his brow as he glared at it.
Should he go?
No. It could still be nothing more than an insect. There was no need to force himself to learn the truth.
Fear outweighed everything else, enough to make him despise himself as a coward.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to call the feeling a survival instinct.
Yes. That had to be it.
Repeating that to himself, he crawled back into bed.
He pulled the covers over his face, trying to shut out as much of the sound as possible.
The scratching continued until dawn, as though it were calling to Saiji.

◇◇◇ Continue reading →

30. Painting Over Inhumanity—in Other Words, Soup

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/32/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

At a loss for how to spend his time, Saiji left the room at the far end of that floor and walked toward the barracks, intending to go to the dining hall.
Even outside mealtimes, one could at least get juice.
He could have ordered someone to bring the finest drinks to his room, but just then he wanted to be alone and take things slowly.

“Fuaaah…”

Saiji stretched his arms as far as they would go and yawned with his mouth wide open.
Perhaps because about two hours had passed since lunch, a pleasant drowsiness wrapped around him.
He might as well take a nap in the dining hall.
That plush bed in his own room somehow put him on edge, and the pillow was a little too high besides; it made it hard to breathe.
They were supposedly using the finest goods this world had to offer—and that, no doubt, was exactly why a commoner found them suffocating.

“‘Dilson’s Stew,’ huh… Come to think of it, the counter said something about that yesterday. What’s a Dilson, anyway? The name sounds kinda like a cow.”

The signboard in front of the dining hall listed another unfamiliar ingredient again today.
Yesterday’s meat had been good, so today’s would probably taste decent enough too.
Still, two days in a row at the dining hall was starting to feel stale; he might as well head over to the castle and get himself a lavish meal instead—he was thinking as much when he stepped inside and heard two familiar male voices.
He looked toward the speakers and found Taka and Oya there.
Saiji poured a yellow citrus juice from the neighboring pitcher into a waiting cup and carried it over to them.

“Yo. You guys bored too?”
“Oh, Saiji.”
“Nothing else to do… We were just killing time.”
“Then I’ll join you.”

So saying, Saiji sat down beside Taka.
As Oya had said, the conversation was idle—the sort of pointless talk typical of high-school boys, if one were being honest.
But even that kind of time now felt as distant as something he longed for.
No matter how much they could obtain, no matter that they had acquired so-called magic, they would never see their families again, and they would never follow the paths they had hoped for.
Whenever his thoughts turned negative, the fact would suddenly return to him, and a nameless sadness would well up.

“Hey… Think we’re ever gonna get to go home?”

Taka, who was usually so cheerful, spoke with a rare cloud over his face.

“… They’re not planning to send us back. At the very least, this country’s king is counting us as military assets.”
“They were gonna invade other countries or something, right?”

Taka frowned at Oya’s words.
Saiji thought:
Do whatever you want.
From the standpoint of someone who had been dragged into this and stripped of his future, it was utterly unreasonable.

“I just can’t picture it, y’know? Sure, they give us magic lessons now and then, but are we actually that strong?”
“If the king’s relying on us, then me, Taka, and Oya must all be outrageously powerful by this world’s standards.”
“… Talent worth dragging all the way from another world, huh.”

They simply did not yet know how to use it; they harbored a considerable amount of magical power.
In fact Chigusa, having become a half-vampire and absorbed that knowledge, had learned how to wield shadow magic and was already approaching a strength beyond that of any mage in the world.
Miyako and Leia, who had likewise ceased to be human, possessed power on a level with hers.
Of course, there was no way these three would know any of that—

“Well, whatever the circumstances, we’ll do what we want. We don’t owe anyone obedience.”
“Yeah. No matter where Saiji goes, all he does is chase women.”
“Even that’s gotten old. Ahh, isn’t there a decent woman lying around somewhere?”
“… So that’s where it ends up.”
“You never know. Someone out of the ordinary might suit you better. What about Chigusa?”
“She’s dead.” Continue reading →

29. A Warm-Up, or an Hors d’Oeuvre

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/31/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Saiji Kataoka was bored.
He had been summoned to another world as a human with powerful magic, and in exchange for serving the kingdom he was permitted every imaginable luxury. He had always chased girls, and so—

“In that case, I wanna try having one of those harems.”

—he had said as much to the king, half in jest.
To his astonishment, several women of extraordinary beauty were provided the very next day, and they devoted themselves entirely to him.
But even beautiful companions grew tiresome once the novelty wore off.
He had tried including women who were not to his taste as well, but even that failed to relieve his boredom.
Surrounded on his bed by women left slack and vacant, Saiji stared into space and sighed.

“… Wish something exciting would happen.”

His boredom had only deepened because the person he found most stimulating had disappeared.
Her name was Miyako Mikage.
She was Saiji’s homeroom teacher—and, in his mind, merely a convenient instrument for satisfying his desires.
She had suited him well, and she had been a favorite toy, but a few days ago she had vanished from the castle without warning.
Even before that, despite being their homeroom teacher, she had refused to see any of her students at all.

“Maybe I oughta ask that old man to go bring her back.”

The “old man” was the king.
To Saiji, even the king was nothing more than a fat brute in human form.
Of course, the king and the summoned humans were using one another. Saiji suspected the king mocked them in turn as pigs drowning in their own appetites.
All the more reason to exploit him for everything he was worth—that was Saiji’s view.

“Well, I guess these’ll do to kill the boredom till then.”

Saiji picked up a pill from the shelf beside the bed, pulled a woman close, and forced it into her mouth.
Her eyes gradually went blank. Sweat broke out across her body, and she began to convulse.
Saiji grinned at the sight and shoved her roughly onto the bed.

 

Continue reading →

28. Engagement

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/30/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Welcome back, Leia.”

When I returned to the church, Chigusa greeted me in the chapel as if she had been waiting.
It had been a very long time since anyone had welcomed me home.
But I could not bring myself to answer, “I’m back,” so I passed her in silence.
The fact that I tensed up at the thought of offending her only made me feel small.

“Still haven’t found your answer?”

I paused before replying over my shoulder.

“ … I think I have.”
“But you still haven’t fully come to terms with it.”
“When someone suddenly tells you to stop being human … you can’t just say, ‘All right,’ and accept it. What was it like for you, Chigusa?”
“In my case, I had no time to hesitate over the choice. As you know, I did not regain consciousness until a vampire gave me life. Besides—”
“Besides?”
“I knew human ugliness better than most, and I had already lost faith in humanity. Even if my body had been whole, I doubt I would have struggled with the decision as you have.”

It was easy to guess that something had happened to her in the world she came from.
Given what her classmates were like, their school could hardly have been a decent place.
And people did not change merely because they came to another world.
They became corrupt, trampled others without remorse, and lived only to satisfy their own desires.
When their interests collided, they readily killed their own kind and betrayed their companions.
Vampires probably avoided that because their interests never conflicted.
They all faced in the same direction.
I did not know whether that deserved to be called love, but Chigusa and the others apparently called it that.

“But if you came back, then at least you’ve made your choice concerning Lina, haven’t you?”
“Yes …”

Which meant my own choice had effectively been made as well.
I had no intention of making Lina abandon her humanity while irresponsibly refusing to do the same.
I would remain with her to the end.
Even if I became inhuman.

“Um … I don’t know whether this is possible, but may I ask one thing?”
“Go ahead.”
“If someone has to drink my blood, I want it to be Lina … after she stops being human.”
“That is fine, though I will need to establish direct contact with Lina to transfer the power.”

My cheek twitched at the humorless joke.
Did she truly have to say that now?

“Please don’t be angry. I’m not teasing you; physical contact is necessary to transfer the power.”
“ … Does it have to be a kiss?”
“Not necessarily.”

“Then a kiss … is fine.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to leave her first kiss for you.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”

Chigusa giggled and headed deeper into the chapel.
Surprised that I could speak with her almost normally, I followed.

Continue reading →

27. The Inhuman Being Called Human

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/29/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Nothing is more unwelcome than kindness forced upon you.
Even if you try to explain that it is wrong, the other person will never stop believing that they are right.
That is why I cannot deny that what I am about to do is nothing more than selfishness.

There are two choices.
One is to accept Chigusa’s offer, turn Lina into a Demi-Vamp, and restore her body.
The other is to kill Lina with my own hands and let her life end as a human.

I have no way of knowing which one Lina wants.
Whichever I choose, it will surely be an act of selfishness.
Even the standard by which I make that choice will be nothing more than my own values.

Which is right: humanity or vampirism?
I came to Count Fenburg’s estate to find out.
He was the man who led the troops that rescued me from my ruined village. Immediately afterward, he retired from active service, and his son inherited the territory.
Apparently, he had always been close to the king. Now he lives quietly in retirement on the outskirts of the royal capital.
For a while after I first came to the capital, he acted as my guardian and looked after me.
That is why I affectionately call him “Uncle.”

Given our relationship, the guards let me into the estate without trying to stop me.
A maid immediately showed me into a drawing room.
I settled into a plush chair and sipped tea as I waited. A few minutes later, Uncle appeared.

“This is unusual. Leia, coming here without so much as a message.” Continue reading →

26. Simple Manipulation: Leave Them the Choice and Make Them Bear the Responsibility

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/28/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Thinking back, I should have realized it from Chigusa’s clothes when we fought before.
The stronghold of a Demi-Vamp dressed in a robe resembling a nun’s habit was, quite literally, a church.
Then again—perhaps she had simply judged that it would not matter if I discovered where she lived.

“… By the way, Leia, is it all right for you to leave the castle without permission?”

I did not want to walk beside Chigusa, so I had been following a short distance behind her when she abruptly asked me that.
I frowned.

“You’re the one who brought me out here… Is that something you would normally ask?”
“I didn’t expect you to come along so readily.”
“It was practically a threat.”
“I had no such intention. Though if you had stubbornly refused, I was planning to use my shadows just a little.”
“… So you were going to threaten me.”

Using her shadows—what a terrifying thing to say.
This creature truly was inhuman.
Even the thought of them made my body react involuntarily.

“Come to think of it…”

I looked at her and suddenly noticed an alarming fact.

“The sun… doesn’t bother you?”

The sun was ordinarily a vampire’s weakness.
In fact—setting aside whether the culprit truly had been a vampire—the attack on my village had happened at night, and so had the attack the other day.
Naturally, I had assumed these creatures were weak against sunlight too.
Yet Chigusa was strolling calmly beneath it now. She looked a little warm, perhaps, but otherwise entirely unaffected.

“I am a Demi-Vamp, after all.”

Chigusa answered with a bright smile.
Once again, she casually said something horrifying.

“Sunlight is harmless to us. We can eat garlic, we appear in mirrors, and running water poses no problem. We can even live without drinking blood.”
“… That makes no sense.”

Could something like that even be called a vampire? Continue reading →

25. When I Learned the Truth, I…

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/27/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Holding Reese in my arms, I walked through the castle.
I had been chronically short of sleep of late.
Even after waking, my mind showed no sign of clearing. I had set out for a walk in the hope that a change of pace might help, but—

“Man, even I’m finally getting bored. Guess it doesn’t matter how many girls you have—sooner or later, you get tired of them.”
“That’s because you overdo it all day long, Saiji.”
“You’re hardly any different, Taka. What about you, Oya? Starting to get bored yet?”
“…Not particularly.”
“Oh, right. Your situation was unusual, wasn’t it? Maybe I’ll go get myself someone new. If Ms. Mikage were here, I’d have gone after her.”
“…What about Sakuna?”
“I got tired of her ages ago. I’d rather choose one of the girls here.”
“Can’t argue with Saiji there.”

They passed me with coarse, braying laughter.
They were some of the six people I had summoned—or seven, if Chigusa was included.
The especially vulgar man who appeared to be their leader, with not a trace of intelligence in his expression, was Saiji Kataoka.
The slimmer but equally vulgar man perpetually at his side was Taka Kagan.
And the pale man who alone affected an air of cool detachment, though he was little different from the others, was Oya Chizaki.
Those were the only three men who had been summoned.
The two others still in the castle were girls named Sakuna Akizora and Toka Sato.
Sakuna had apparently once been in a relationship with Saiji. Perhaps it was a case of like attracting like, for her manner and conduct somewhat resembled his.
Toka was part of Sakuna’s entourage.
She was plain and quiet, which seemed to be precisely why Sakuna valued having her nearby as someone who made Sakuna herself stand out.
Toka, for her part, was comfortable in that position.
…Disgusting.
The humans I had summoned certainly possessed powerful magic, but—with the exception of Miyako—they were so base that I could hardly bear to breathe the same air.
Chigusa was no different.
She had sold her soul to a vampire, and she must surely be plotting to bring about another tragedy like the one that befell my village. Continue reading →