Yuri

Bishoujo Vampire – 05 – Falling

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5. Falling

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/5/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

 

After meeting up with Lyle, bringing our number to three, we continued along the fence until we stopped at a certain spot.
Here and only here, a hole had been opened in the fence.
I see. At last, I understood what they intended to do.
Going directly into the city to search would surely be more efficient than scavenging for scraps at the dump.
This fence had most likely been built to prevent the people of the Discard District from doing exactly that.

“Your name was Chigusa, right?”

Just before we crawled through the hole, Lyle spoke to me.

“You’re not from the Discard District, so you’ll be fine, but anyone can tell Ellis is from there just by looking at her clothes. If the guards find us, you run. No matter what. Got it?”
“Even if I could defeat them?”
“Don’t get too full of yourself. I don’t care how strong you are—you’re not beating an armed soldier.”

I did not feel that I would lose, but for now, I decided to nod obediently.
It would only be troublesome if he became suspicious of me.
And Ellis, please try not to glare at Lyle so much.
If he discovered the nature of our relationship, searching for food would become the least of our concerns.

Our conversation over, we got down on all fours, crawled through the hole, and emerged inside the city.
It was a back alley in every sense of the word. Perhaps there was a restaurant nearby, because several bags of rubbish had been left there.
Lyle immediately reached for one, undid the knot, and began rummaging through its contents.
There were even some nearly untouched vegetables inside, which could well constitute a feast for people like them.
While Lyle immersed himself in scavenging, Ellis brought her lips close to my ear and whispered.

“Let’s go over there.”

Unable to content herself until the two of us were alone, Ellis took my hand and silently led me away.
Lyle did not notice. He truly did seem to be obtuse through and through.
Having successfully slipped away, we turned a corner and proceeded deeper into the maze of alleys—until we reached a deserted spot.
Ellis appeared to have forgotten even her own hunger. She pressed herself against me like a female cat in heat.
When I playfully stroked beneath her chin, she obligingly mewed, “Mrrrow,” like a pet fawning on her master.
I continued, and before long her mewing turned to moans, her smile grew flushed with desire, and our gazes intertwined. Just as the mood was developing quite nicely—
An unpleasant intruder arrived to spoil it, much as I had expected.

“Well, what do we have here? The maggots from the Discard District have crawled in again.” Continue reading →

Bishoujo Vampire – 04 – The Mark

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4. The Mark

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/4/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

When I awoke from that dreamlike interlude, it was already past noon.
Beside me lay Ellis, wearing nothing but a single garment.
I reached out to her cheek and stroked it as though tickling her ear. With a soft “Mmm …” Ellis’s eyelids began to flutter.

“Good morning.”

I greeted her with a smile, and she gave me a dreamy, bashful grin. “Ehehe …”
Was she still dreaming?
Or had last night left her so utterly enthralled by me?

“Opening my eyes and finding you here, Chigusa … I’m so happy.”
“I feel the same. I could not help but touch your cheek.”

Ellis naturally drew her face closer to mine.
I leaned toward her in turn, and our lips met.
They merely touched—was this what they called a bird kiss?
We did it a second time, then a third, before gazing into each other’s eyes and laughing together.

“I love you. I love you so much. Chigusa … I love you more than anyone in the world.”
“Hee hee. More than Lyle?”
“Mmph, you’re so mean, Chigusa. But … now I can say it for sure. I love you so much more than Lyle. No, not just Lyle. I don’t care about anyone else.”

Her words were so adorable that this time I pulled her close and kissed her myself.
I forced my tongue between her lips, just a little.
As I ravaged the inside of her mouth, Ellis moaned with pleasure and writhed against me.
By now, she would surely accept anything I did to her with delight.
I slipped a hand beneath her garment, intending to join our bodies once again—and then I discovered an unfamiliar design below her navel.
It was red and shaped like a heart sprouting a devil’s wings. Could it be a tattoo?
I was certain nothing of the sort had been there last night.

“Ah … When you touch me there, it gets so hot …”

When I touched the design with my fingertip, Ellis let out a feverish sigh.
The sight filled me with an irresistible urge to ravage her.
What in the world was this?
I firmly suppressed my desire to pounce on her and asked.

“Ellis, have you always had this tattoo?”
“Huh? A tattoo? No, I’d never have the money for anything that fancy.”
“Then what could this be …?”

It seemed Ellis herself had not noticed it until I pointed it out.
At first, she touched it herself with a puzzled look—but then—

“Chigusa, could you touch it again?”
“Like this?” Continue reading →

Bishoujo Vampire – 03 – The Girls’ Fatal Union

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3. The Girls’ Fatal Union

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/3/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

Dinner consisted of scraps scavenged from the town’s rubbish bins and misshapen vegetables of uncertain origin bought at the black market.
Perhaps because I had gone along to forage for food, Ellis laughed and said, “We found more than usual today.”
The moment we returned to her room, she happily began eating.
Strangely, I was not hungry, so I declined the meal and watched Ellis contentedly stuff her cheeks with vegetables.
Presently, she stopped eating and looked at me.
There was something oddly endearing about the gesture. When I smiled without thinking, Ellis’s cheeks reddened slightly, and she promptly resumed her meal.

“You look very happy when you eat.”
“Living like this every day, eating’s about the only pleasure I’ve got.”
“Life in the Discard District must be difficult.”

Light and shadow. Glory and decline.
The city of Groll, not far from the Discard District, was extraordinarily prosperous by comparison.
That said, its technology appeared to lag considerably behind that of modern Japan, so I suppose it would still be considered developing.
Its inhabitants could enjoy such abundance precisely because they turned their eyes from anything inconvenient and drove it into a forgotten corner.
But those things would continue to swell until the day came when they could no longer look away.
I sensed instinctively that this castle of accumulated refuse—the Discard District—was the shape that reckoning had taken.

“Still, are you sure you don’t want anything to eat, Chigusa? It helps me out, but still.”
“I do not mind. I never ate much to begin with. Missing a single meal does not trouble me.”
“And you’re that strong, too. Where in the world do you get the energy?”

I wondered the same thing, though I could feel something welling up from the very depths of my body.
Presumably, that was the force sustaining me now that I was half vampire.
But I did not know what it truly was.

“Ch-Chigusa, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?” Continue reading →

Bishoujo Vampire – 02 – I Discover My First Love in a Trash Heap

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2. I Discover My First Love in a Trash Heap

Author: Kiki
Raw: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2498fn/2/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

When I came to, I had returned to life and was lying in what looked like a garbage dump.
I noticed something strange the moment I stood up.
I could see through both eyes. I had all my fingers, too.
There were no scars on my body, nor any stiffness in my facial muscles.
What was more, my body felt unnaturally light, as though I were no longer myself.
I searched for something I might use as a mirror to inspect what had happened to me, but found nothing nearby.
With no other choice, I left the dump, passed through a place resembling a sewer, climbed a ladder, and emerged outside—
There I found a bleak townscape like the European slums depicted in my history textbooks.
Perhaps because the rain had just stopped, the air was thick with the smell of rotting food.
I climbed out through a manhole-like opening, instinctively found the sunlight beating down from above “unpleasant,” and retreated into the shade.
When I looked into a puddle there, I saw my reflection for the first time.
Though filthy, I had finely textured white skin like silk, red eyes, and sharp canine teeth.
My hair was still black, my face had not changed, and I was even wearing the same school uniform. And yet—had I always been this beautiful? The thought welled up inside me.
That would have been utterly impossible if I were still myself.
It seemed the change had reached not only my appearance, but my mind as well.

“I am…”

—Chigusa Hinata.
I clearly remembered that name, along with every memory of my life underfoot.
But my body was something else entirely.
In short, my conversation with the girl who called herself a vampire had not been a dream. It had truly happened.
She and I had become one, and in doing so, we had survived.
As a half-vampire.

So that was why I had instinctively avoided the sun. Satisfied with that explanation but still curious, I stepped out of the shade and into the sunlight once more.
It felt as though my skin were slowly scorching.
And yet there was not enough pain or injury to declare that “vampires are vulnerable to sunlight.”
Was that because I was half human, or were true vampires simply not as vulnerable to sunlight as the stories claimed?

“More importantly… where am I?” Continue reading →

I Was Reincarnated Without Cheat and Sacrificed to the Demon King – 10

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A Date, or Market Research

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/10/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Nngh~~!!
It’s been so long—I never thought sea air could feel this good!”

So saying, I stretched, large.
I stretched my arms and my back, then drew in a deep breath, and fresh air rushed into my lungs.
I felt it mix with the carbon dioxide that had pooled in the depths of them, felt the air change over, and slowly let it out.
That alone seemed to refresh my mood; a strange thing.

“Fufu. I feel as if this is the first time I’ve seen a face that looks like you.”

Gerda’s voice came from behind me, sounding amused.
I turned, and I was probably wearing a slightly sheepish look.

“Sorry, I got a bit carried away.
And I made an unreasonable request when you have work besides.”
“No, I would rather you not mind that. It was assigned as work by Her Majesty as well, after all.”

I bobbed my head, and Gerda laughed and waved it off.
That unguarded smile let me relax, a little.

“I’m glad to hear you say so.”
“Yes, you’re welcome.
Now then, where shall I show you.
You said a date, but you want to look around town and investigate, I take it?”

Her perceptiveness was sharp enough that I could not help laughing.
The Demon King went without saying, but Gerda, too, picked up quite well on what I meant to say.
…The Demon King picked up a little too well, I thought.

“Yes… all sorts of things.
The atmosphere of the town, what’s sold at the market, what’s easy to get hold of.”
“I understand wanting to know what’s sold, but do you need the atmosphere of the town as well?”
“Yes, actually. I’ll explain that later.”

I winked at Gerda, who did not seem quite convinced.

Continue reading →

I Was Reincarnated Without Cheat and Sacrificed to the Demon King – 09

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At the End of a War of Attrition

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/9/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

It was a long, long battle.

“And then, and then, at that moment, Grace, you see—”

A charismatic beauty, giggling and doting as if she were a schoolgirl.
I could hardly commit lèse-majesté against that opponent, so to return the right responses at the right moments I could not miss a single word.
Thanks to that effort, at least, I did gather that Grace was the person in charge of education.
Smiling all the while, concentrating as if my whole body had become an ear—how long did I last like that?

“Your Majesty, the talk is inexhaustible, but you have another appointment before long.”
“Oh, that is so.
Asha, thanks to you I have had a worthwhile conversation. You have my thanks.”
“Y-yes… I am honored.”

Dizzy from concentrating too hard, I still put on a smile and answered Her Majesty.
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Gerda giving me a look of sympathy.
I nodded, small; whether it got through, I did not know.

“Oh, that’s right. You have given me a fine tale, so I must give you something in return.
Asha, is there nothing you want, or nothing you would have me do?”

The Demon King, who had been about to stand, suddenly asked that.
Hearing it, I found myself blinking.

For an instant the Japanese person in my heart tried to decline out of modesty, and I crushed that impulse.
Given the Demon King’s character, I had a feeling that clumsy modesty would be ruder.
That said, asked so suddenly, it was not as if I had something I wanted.

“Eh, e-er, I’m sorry, may I think a little?”
“Yes, of course. Think it over thoroughly.” Continue reading →

I Was Reincarnated Without Cheat and Sacrificed to the Demon King – 08

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The Loser (?) Speaks

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/8/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Now then… where to begin, and how to tell it…”

Having resigned myself to talking, I groped for words.
What I was being asked was where my way of thinking came from.
And that, one could say, was a product of the school education I had received.
If I explained from the beginning, there would be no end to it…
After turning it over, I decided to dump a fair amount of it out.

“First, I swear I will tell you the truth.
It is considerably absurd, so I do not know if you will believe me.”
“It is fine, it is fine. How to judge it, truth included, is our problem.
You, first, should say what you think ought to be said.”

The Demon King was still in high spirits.
To be honest, what I feared most was telling a clumsy lie, being seen through, and souring her mood.
And, well… I also did not much want to sadden her by lying.

“The truth is. I have memories from before I was born—from a previous life.”
“Hoh.”
“The me of that previous life was, I believe, not even in my original country, nor in this world at all, but in a completely different one.”
“Ho hoh?”
“In that world there was no magic. In its place, learning and clockwork devices had advanced.
Thanks to that, even those without special powers could enjoy all sorts of blessings.
For example, a stove would light at a touch of the fingertips, and one could keep a light on all day.”
“Hoh hoh.”
“All of those blessings were supported by learning.
And so a great deal of effort was put into education.
Moreover, it was not only a matter of receiving teaching and memorizing it; there was also training of thought, to become a power that could create new things.
The matters Your Majesty pointed out are, I believe, products of that.”
“Hoh hoh hoh. I see. Most interesting.
The contents of that education in detail… no, that would be better with Grace present.”

Continue reading →

I Was Reincarnated Without Cheat and Sacrificed to the Demon King – 07

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A Secret Talk

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/7/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Hmh. Chris is skilled at sewing. Granny Stella’s has been short of needlewomen.”
“Kira can use magic, I see. I shall leave her with Dominas; have her sent where she can be of use.”

The Demon King’s voice as she sorted us one after another passed in one ear and out the other.
In this town, me. Alone.
Those words went round and round in my head.

In modern Japan, there were about two hundred physicians per hundred thousand people.
In highly specialized modern medicine, even that was said to be not enough.
Even at fifty thousand, the calculation called for a hundred.
In other words, I would have to do the work of a hundred people.
There were limits even to how brutal a workplace could be.

Apothecaries were a rare commodity, so few had likely been sent here.
I had been sent because of that church decree, whose timing I still could not call good or bad.
Perhaps more would come in the future, but for now, it was me alone.

Even with the conditions that the severely ill would be handled with healing magic, and that I would be spared demonfolk and monsters, we were still badly short of hands.

“How did it come to this…” Continue reading →

I Was Reincarnated Without Cheat and Sacrificed to the Demon King – 06

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A Mission and a Resolution

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/6/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

“Now then. With that, it is settled that all of you will be taken in.
As I said earlier, this country is desperately short of hands, so I must have you work as soon as tomorrow.
I shall assign and sort you, so tell me your origins, your skills, what you did for a living, and so on.”

Just as we had all asked to be taken into the country and things had settled, the Demon King suddenly said that.
The remark left me bewildered; Gerda gave a wry smile; and the aide looked troubled.
After a moment’s hesitation, I raised my hand, a little.

“U-um, Your Majesty, may I ask something?”
“Hm? I do not mind. Speak.”
“Thank you. Then, if I may be so forward…
I understand, of course, why you would wish to confirm our skills and the like… but I had thought this was the sort of thing a responsible official would handle.
I never imagined Your Majesty would do it in person, and I must confess I am rather at a loss.”
“Hmh?
Hmh. I see. That is a fair point, Asha.”

The Demon King nodded, magnanimous, at my frank words.
I thought hm?—and it must have shown on my face, because hers turned somehow amused.
…Was it my imagination, or had Gerda’s wry smile deepened?

“Ku ku. You have a rather quick mind, it seems.
That face of yours is asking, ‘How do you already remember my face and name?'”
“Eeh!? Ah, no, I… I’m sorry. That was rude of me.”
“It is fine, it is fine. It is rather entertaining, if anything.”

I hurriedly bowed my head, and received, as her words promised, a cheerfully given pardon.
That was the thing.
Just now she had been greeted by more than ten of us, and yet the Demon King clearly remembered the face and name of me, who had introduced myself first.
She had said my name as naturally as if we were already acquainted, and that very naturalness had felt off—and it had shown. Continue reading →