Volume 2: Chapter 038: Tooru Did Not Miss Eska’s Glare
Author: かっぱ同盟／友麻碧
Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3862be/
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
Gumihou: I… massaged some text into place so that it flowed more naturally. No need to note these.
“Congratulatory tackle!!”
This is Thor.
After Makia and I pushed Percelis and Ulysses into the shallow water, we high-fived each other.
“Ouch, ouch, my injuries…” [1] Ulysses cried plaintively.
“Surely you’re recovering already?” I said that but helped him up anyway.
Well, he had worked hard getting to this point. Therefore, I’m willing to maintain a stoic look on my face and not call attention to his actions.
Meanwhile, Makia and Percelis held hands as they ran through the shallows, squealing like little girls and kicking at the waves. The sight was… oddly soothing.
As Ulysses straightened up, he looked at me like a friend he had not seen in a while.
“It’s been a while, Tooru-kun.”
“No way, didn’t we meet just this morning before your meeting?
“Oh, right. So we did. It just felt like I hadn’t seen you in decades. The you in my memories seemed completely different, and I didn’t even get to meet that version of you very much.”
“What are you talking about?” I had no idea what was going on, but Makia was curiously trying to stifle her laughter for some reason.
What? What’s going on?
“The Black Demon King sure did end up badly beaten, didn’t he?”
“Indeed, just thinking about it made me feel awfully sorry for him.”
“Hah??”
Instead of answering me, the two kept whispering to each other.
What the heck happened between Yuri and Makia?
“So… what happened to that other person?” Percelis asked as she wrung the hem of her dress as we stepped out onto the beach. She had tilted her little head as she stared out at the sea.
We all suddenly paused. Pulling on sad faces, the three of us also stared out into the sea.
“Eska… was quite the tough guy.”
“It was a pity to lose such a talent.”
“Let us pray.”
I, Makia and Yuri put our hands together as we faced the sea.
“He’s dead?!” Percelis was shocked.
“I’M NOT DEAD!!!”
A loud voice roared from somewhere.
We looked around and suddenly, the fellow in question appeared, clinging to the back of a large black turtle. Looks like he had been rescued by his spirit.
There was also a piece of seaweed on his head and he was clutching his side where Yuri had punched him.
“Wow, it’s great to see you alive,” said Yuri cheerfully.
“What the heck? You were just praying for my soul! I’ll kill you!!”
The one who was almost killed was baring their teeth at us. Still, since he’s so energetic, he must be fine.
The black turtle suddenly took on a humanoid form. [2] Normally, one would have to cast the 2nd Summoning Stage magic circle to call a spirit in a humanoid form, but like the rest of Eska’s tricks, the black turtle effortlessly transformed her shape into a young girl with shoulder-length black hair and a decorative hat on her head.
“You’ve lost, Vivi.”
“Curses! I haven’t even gotten serious yet!”
“Enough with these small fry loser remarks,” the Black Turtle said as she looked at him with pity. For some reason, the relationship between Eska and his spirits was different from the one Yuri had with his spirits.
Ulysses held out his hand to Eska.
“I may have won the duel, but that’s because you did not call all of your spirits. It also felt like you have magic to spare… Brother-in-law.”
“What the heck are you trying to say!” Eska screamed as he grabbed Ulysses by the lapel of his coat before suddenly stopping.
“Brother-in-law…?” Percelis’s eyes were very wide as she tilted her head to the side.
It was at this point that Makia, in her typical unable to read the mood way, said, “Oh, that’s right, Eska is Percelis’s brother, isn’t he? Still, it’s pretty surprising to find brothers and sisters who don’t look alike at all.”
“Eh?”
Percelis’s expression changed drastically.
Eska appeared to have changed too, having transformed into a stone statue with his mouth agape.
“B-brother? You’re-”
“Uwaaaaaaaaa!!!”
Eska appeared to have gone crazy. He violently threw Ulysses back and advanced towards Makia with a terrifying expression. His momentum caused Makia to take a few steps back.
He seized her by the neck of her robe, veins popping up on his forehead and screamed, “You bitch, how dare you… right in front of the Shrine Maiden…”
“Hmmmm~? Well, you were the one who carelessly revealed this little tidbit of information~” said Makia carelessly. [3]
“That’s not something you should said before the Great Shrine Maiden!!”
But, you never said anything about this being a secret?
[3a] Was what Makia’s expression was saying. She turned towards me, as though trying to get some verification of whether she had understood the matter wrong or something.
I shook my head, subtly letting her know that [4] though it was never openly said, it certainly looked like Eska really didn’t want Percelis to know.
It was all in vain, of course, since Percelis was already looking at Eska with expectant eyes.
“Vivi… is my… brother? I did hear that I had a brother who has been travelling around the world… is that…”
“… A-awa…”
Eska, who had been so lively and fierce until a few moments ago, was now trembling as though his legs were made of jelly. I wonder why he wanted to hide the fact that he’s her brother?
“I see, so… Vivi is… my brother ‘Tristan’.”
“… …”
“Ah, I can see his information,” Makia gasped.
So that’s his real name. People from the Holy Nation don’t have surnames, so this single name enough to represent their ‘true name’.
In short, Vivid Eska’s real name was Tristan. Personally, I think Eska fits him better.
Makia’s eyes widened in shock, “Shut up! That guy’s really Demon King Class! His MP value exceeds 1.3 million!!”
“I knew it, the number of magic circles he could put out is too incredible,” I said. [1]
“Wow, just who are you, Brother-in-law?”
“… …”
As more and more of his information was spilt out, Eska started to figuratively collapse like an unstable sand sculpture.
Come to think of it, didn’t he say that he didn’t know his name?
Was this his first time hearing his real name and MP value?
“Ah, oh dear~ you’ve done it, Vivi~”
“You guys… I’m gonna kill you guys, I’ll kill you…” he growled, his Sanpaku eyes grew bloodshot.
He looked seriously pissed.
“Here, here, passing through~”
Lord Medite suddenly appeared in front of us, clapping hands for attention as though it was perfectly normal for him to appear at this desolated bit of beach at the ass crack of dawn.
Have you been stalking us again?
“Hello Eska, it’s been three years, hasn’t it?”
“Urbanus… Where did you come from!!! Have you been stalking me again!?”
Whether deliberate or not, Lord Medite managed to smile at Eska even under the tense atmosphere… ah, so he was stalking this guy too. As expected of a Demon King class recorder.
“Hm? You know about this guy, Professor Medite?”
“But, of course! I had no idea what his real name was, but he does occasionally come back now and again.”
Lord Medite’s brows drew together as he chuckled. As always, just looking at him irritated me somehow.
“[3] Hey Eska, isn’t it fine to tell the people here about yourself?” I said. [3]
“Huh? What are you…?”
“If nothing else, most of us here are Demon King class…”
“… …”
Eska looked first at Ulysses, the White Sage, and nodded to himself before looking at me.
“You’re Demon King class as well?”
“You’re seriously only realising this now?” [3]
Eska groaned as he rubbed his chin. Suddenly, he pointed at me with his index finger and yelled, “Black Demon King!!”
“…Are you seriously only realising this now?”
He then stared at Percelis, nodded to himself and then turned his gaze towards Makia and… his expression became distorted.
“O-oi, what are you looking at?” [3] Makia said with some disgust.
“You… are you Demon King class too?”
“So what if I am?”
“Then you must be the Crimson Witch.”
“…And you must be super slow.”
He really was incredibly slow and probably dumb too.
For some reason, Eska grinned and jerked his thumb towards himself and said in a very arrogant manner, “I was the Archbishop of Holy Ashes who founded the Church of Vabilophos 1000 years ago. In short, this nation is my kingdom!”
“That’s… way off what I imagined that guy to be…” [3] I muttered to myself.
Surely someone with the title of ‘Archbishop of Holy Ashes’ should be more noble, dignified and pure?
Lord Medite puffed elegantly at his kiseru and said, “Speaking of which, it is said that the Archbishop from 1000 years ago was also the older brother of the Green Shrine Maiden at that time. A great person who ended the conflict between the residents of the sanctuary and the priests. He was the one who formed the ‘Holy Nation’ out of all that chaos. There was even a statue of him at the church.”
“That’s right, go right ahead and praise me more! Go on now!”
If anything, this revelation pushed the image of this person and the Archbishop who founded this Holy Nation even further away. How can this serious sufferer of the Chuunibyou disease be that church founder?
Had he undergone some serious character change? Or, did he suffer some kind of trauma that caused him to regress to his middle-schooler years?
“Elder brother… is an amazing person~” Percelis had been staring at him with great interest for a while now.
Eska’s expression suddenly sharpened.
“Great Shrine Maiden. My apologies for saying this, but please do not look at me as your older brother. I, in turn, shall treat you as the Great Shrine Maiden, so, th-therefore…”
“Why are you stuttering?” I said, mercilessly bringing this little weakness to light. [3]
[1] The reason why he had stuttered was clear. As his little speech about not treating her as his sister progressed, Percelis visibly drooped, until she finally stared up at him with wide, pitiful eyes even as she twirled the little white bellflower in her hand.
As expected, Eska suffered critical injury from that doe-eyed attack. He looked helpless as he hemmed and hawed before finally yelling:
“Aaahhh!!! Fine!! I get… I understand!! As I have lost the challenge, so I shall honour my promise!”
Now that I looked at him again, this Eska fellow is quite funny.
“I’m more impressed by the fact that you can speak politely,” I said. [3]
Even though he was kind of corrupted, he was still a bishop and a former archbishop on top of that. Moreover, it looked like he was incapable of being anything but polite to the Green Shrine Maiden.
As for Percelis, her expression immediately brightened and she whipped her gaze towards Ulysses, who smiled back before bowing deeply to Eska.
“Thank you… Brother-in-law…”
“Stop saying that. I’ll kill you.”
For some reason, the dark circles under Eska’s eyes had darkened even further. In fact, he even looked a bit gaunt.
“Tsk.”
After clicking his tongue, he jerked his chin at Braktahta. It was a signal to leave.
“Isn’t this great, elder brother? You doted on your little sister the most.”
“Shut up, Tahta.”
However, even as he left, he cast a glance towards Makia. Even though it was a passing glance, I did not miss the sharp killing intent.
I had an impression that those mismatched blue and green eyes were glowing.
“That guy…”
Makia was still playing around with Ulysses and Percelis. It was great to see the relationship between those two had been resolved so well. Even so, a certain sense of unease was sprouting inside me.
“Eska will do anything for the Church and the Sanctuary…” Lord Medite murmured without even looking at me. “A thousand years ago, the Archbishop of Holy Ashes had always been… concerned about the imperfection of the ‘Coffins’ and the ‘Green Curtain’.”
“… …”
The sea breeze felt cold. Eska’s back was disappearing as he meandered his way down the beach.
As I stared at the set of footprints left behind, I could not help but consider that he too must carry the scars and consequences of his past along with memories from a long, long time ago.
I frowned.
[Gumihou: Well, he’s still a weird chuuni]
[1] Add detail
[2] The author casually said the ‘humanoid form’ was a 2nd Summoning Stage thing, but, like, nobody was surprised or even commented on the lack of magic circles being cast? Especially by a miserable Eska?
[3] A more ‘Makia-like’ dialogue
[3a] A more ‘Makia-like’ reaction
[3] A more ‘Tooru-like’ dialogue
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