Chapter 221: Yesterday’s Enemy is…
Link: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n7583de/
Author: Hirukuma
Translated by Zzonkedd
Edited by Gumihou
“I don’t accept charity from humans…” Sulrim forced the words out, proud even in weakness.
We had woken everyone up and handed out sports drinks and food, but she had refused to accept anything. To be honest, I was kind of impressed by her dedication to hating humans.
“But, Sister Sulrim, if you don’t eat, you’ll die…” The third brother said with slightly teary eyes. He had introduced himself as ‘Ash’, saying that ‘since my brothers are Red and White, please call me Ash’.
“If I have to survive on the pity of humans, I’d rather die… Not to mention, who knows what you’ve put into these…”
Oh? So, she was worried about poison? As if I’d bother to poison someone who was already this weak.
[1] Ash picked up one of the half-empty bottles of sports drink, took a sip out of it and handed it to Sulrim, “Look, I just drank from this. There’s no poison in here, I promise. So, please drink it.”
As Ash held out the bottle, I thought she would continue to refuse, but then I noticed her eyes. They were fixed on the mouth of the bottle. The longer she stared, the more breathless she became.
[1] Uh…
“W-well, i-if you insist, I suppose…”
With a blush, Sulrim grabbed the bottle. She attached her lips to the mouth of the bottle and tilted her head back, slowly letting the water flow down her throat.
[1] Huh. Well, well, well.
Looks like things would go well so long as Ash was the one doing the persuading. Things were going more smoothly than expected. Next, I handed Ash the bowl of warmed rice porridge I had prepared earlier.
Instead of giving the bowl to Sulrim, the boy scooped out a spoonful and held it out.
“There you go, Sis. Say ‘aah~’”
“E-ehem! Th-that’s too much, ah. Aaahh~n,”
I had no words. Isn’t she capitulating too easily after making all that fuss? Whatever, just look at that blissful smile on her face. You know what? I don’t care any more.
After she finished the rice porridge, Sulrim seemed to have recovered enough strength to talk. Especially with Ash supporting her from the back, hands resting on her shoulder.
“Apologies for rushing you when you’re still recovering, but we need to talk,” said Hyurumi.
“I have nothing to say to humans.”
Still stubborn, even now.
“Then I shall speak with Leader Keyroil. Feel free to chime in if you have any objections.”
She pressed her mouth flat and turned away, signalling her obvious disdain over the whole thing.
On the other hand, Leader Keyroil was happily chowing down on his food while sitting cross-legged on the floor.
Hyurumi crouched in front of Leader Keyroil and said, “Now then, am I right to assume that you and your party no longer intend to obey the Ruler of the Netherworld?”
“Ou, that’s right. There’s really no point to it since we can’t go back to them even of we want to.”
“To return only meant to be killed,” said Vice-Leader Felmina from her position on the ground, with her head pillowed on Leader Keyroil’s lap.
They looked like the a perfectly loving couple like this.
“Unfortunately, we cannot go against Sulrim, because of our son…” said Leader Keyroil in a grave voice.
That much was understandable. The reason why they had gone to the other side was due to their son after all. The Snow Spirit had Ash’s life in her hands, so, the best way to get around this was to get her on our side.
The question was how?
“Elder Sis, since you can’t go back to the Ruler anyway. Let’s stay together!”
“B-but, I- I can’t live among humans…”
“I’m human too, you know. Do you hate me, Sis?”
Tears glimmered in Ash’s wide clear eyes as he held her hands.
Surely he was not trying to charm her deliberately, but… the destructive power of cuteness was too powerful. Even my party members were swept over by the sight of an androgynous boy’s pleading.
The women looked like they were about to let out a shrieak. As for Red and White, both gave shaky thumbs-up from their position under the blankets.
The parents, Keyroil and Felmina looked on proudly, as though impressed by their son’s, ah, persuasive methods.
Well.
“I- I like Ash, but, this and that are different…”
“It’s not different! If Elder Sis can’t trust humans, trust me! I’ll never betray you, I like you too!!”
That was the final blow. A smile bloomed across her face like a flower and she nodded fervently.
“Y-you like me? O-okay, I understand. I mean, I have no intention of getting along with these people.”
“Thank you, Sis!” Ash cheered as he hugged her from behind, and Sulrim patted him on the head.
It was a perfectly tender scene. Which would have been perfect, if not for the nosebleed trickling from her nose.
At any rate, we gained new allies.
It would be great if I could be genuinely happy about this but, after one betrayal after another, it was hard not to be a little wary about them.
If only Kikoyu was here to read these people’s minds and find out their true intentions… Ah, I wonder what Kikoyu-chan is doing now? Did she managed to meet up with Mister Field?
Anyway, this was no time to worry about others. Time to load these people up and get going. Ideally, I would prefer to wait for them to recover first, but time is limited and we have no idea how long this path will go on.
With everyone crammed into the sports car and attached cart, it was quite cramp. The cart was just three-by-three meters wide, and could hold just about six people only. In the end, the team made the conscious decision to tie two people to the roof.
“The wind feels nice, eh, White?”
“Yeah, Red… this certainly fits us best…”
Honestly, while it was a bit dangerous to be tied to the roof, considering their abilities and the things they have done, it was nothing. So, I ignored them.
Sulrim had the front passanger sea, with Ash perched happily on her lap. Honestly, it was all kinds of cramp and rule violation… not to mention uncomfortable, but he looked happy, so…
The person who was granted the other coveted seat, was Leader Keyroil. Since he seemed to have pushed himself pretty hard, I reclined the chair for him so that he could rest better.
“Hakkon, this thing’s amazing. Imagine driving it full speed through a meadow on a sunny day!” sighed Leader Keyroil
“Welcome”
What a wonderful idea. A drive through the fields on a clear day… maybe, once this is all over, I’d take Ramis, Hyrumi and the rest out for a picnic…
“I’m really sorry, Hakkon. Not only did we turn our back on you and the rest of our comrades, but we even tried to kidnap you and make use of you. You may not trust me anymore, but I swear we will never betray you again… No, wait. I can’t say for sure if my son’s involved, huh…”
The apology petered off as he lapsed into a contemplative silence.
In other words, so long as Sulrim is on our side, he would have no reason to betray us. Fair enough, at least Leader Keyroil is consistent like that.
“Should Sulrim ever try to turn against you, I shall do my best to talk her down. Should that fail… I will have no choice but to side with her. However, please know that we will never willingly stab you in the back,” said Vice-Leader Felmina.
It would be great if these two could say that they would be on our side from now on, but their honesty is commendable. They had suffered a lot too, so, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt, but keep an eye on them, just in case.
“I believe you! We’re comrades, after all!” said Ramis.
“Yeah. And if your starving, half-dead condition is fake, I swear I shall never be able to trust anyone again,” said Hyurumi.
“If Master Hakkon trusts them, so will I,” said Mishel.
The remaining three members, Hevoy Shui and Pitee, remained silent. They were part of the original Whimsical Fool’s Brigade and knew the family longest. Their gazes were steady even as they kept their mouth shut.
“Apologies, Hevoy, Shui and Pitee. I am not so shameless as to ask for your forgiveness, but I am sorry for betraying you,” said Leader Keyroil.
“We’re deeply sorry,” said Filmina.
From the roof of the sports car, faint voices muffled by the wind declared ‘We’re sorry too!’ and ‘Same here!’
“I believe there is a misunderstanding,” said Hevoy quietly. “That is not what we are angry about.”
Keyroil and Filmina blinked in surprise.
“You tell them, Shui.”
Shui crossed her legs, smacked her knee, and took a deep breath.
“We’re not mad about the betrayal or whatnot! We’re your comrades! You should have trusted us more as your comrades! Sure, maybe we can’t do anything, but you should have talked to us!!”
Ah, that’s right. Shui gave Hevoy a fairly similar talking to before. Back when Hevoy accidentally revealed the secret behind his obsession with shoes. Something about trust and not jumping to conclusions.
“That way, if you were stuck and heading down the wrong path, we could have stopped you and helped you! Why does everyone just keep everything to themselves and make these stupid decisions??!”
“Pitee… told everyone… her secret… and got scolded…”
However, no one paid attention to Pitee’s muttered complaints.
“Sui also got angry about my shoe-related secret,” said Hevoy. “Since we are self-proclaimed fools, why not play the fool to the end and reveal all of our past uncool mistakes and pathetic troubles? Oh, but do keep sexual preferences and relationships with other women under wraps. No one needs to hear that.”
What wonderfully profound words, until that last bit…
Vice-Leader Felmina flashed a sudden cutting glare towards Leader Keyroil.
“You know, I would like to know about that.”
“Ah… hahaha! What a miracle! Even Hevoy knows how to make jokes now, haha! Anyway, thank you for that, Hevoy, Shui and Pitee. We really have to hear that.”
“Indeed, I am grateful for your feelings. Now, dear… about those relationships with other women…”
Felmina had crawled past the cart and into the sports car like some slinking creature, creeping steadily towards the driver’s seat. The man had nowhere to run. She will most likely force a confession out of him before the end of the drive.
Looks like this marks the true end of the Whimsical Fool’s drama arc. While not all resentment has been resolved, I can truly say that I’m glad to have them back with us.
[Gumihou: Haha, I’m imagining Felmina creeping forward like Ju-on]
[1] Added detail for dramatic purpose
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