Ch-95: Leslie (6)

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I expected something from the start.

How could a nobleman who had lived half his life in bed, plagued by sickness, suddenly amass a body comparable to Frillite?

My thought was that he had signed off a contract with a demon or something.

Only he hadn't.

Usually, when you make a contract with a demon, there would be a trace left behind. Like the thread of a marionette, a line connecting the contractor and the demon.

Osner had no such line.

So I had to think in a different direction. How did he magically become stronger? Did he consume any godly herb? Seeing as how he later turns out to be one of the Four Heavenly Kings, surely the hand of demons was involved?

And my doubts resolved themselves as I fought with Osner.

The evil energy commonly referred to as demonic energy was weak, but it was felt from the side of his heart.

[Breaker]-!

A skill I had learned from the heroes of the past.

I sourced weak mana to the palm of my hand.

The fingertips became blades and raked through Osner's left chest. As I passed between the ribs, I feel a throbbing pulse.

Proof that my hand was close to his heart.

Like a slime toting on my palm.

'I knew it.'

Something strange — parasitic — was inside him.

Perhaps this not only made Osner's body tough, but was also taking away the body's control little by little.

I caught the parasite.

Since the heart is a sensitive organ, it had to be done with a delicate touch. After wrenching it, I realized that this thing wasn't just clinging to the heart, it was extended all over Osner's body.

Not that it mattered.

Even if the parasite had its roots throughout the body, this was the core nucleus.

If it were eradicated or erased, the rest will also stop moving, or wiggling, in its case.

When I tried to pull out the parasite, it started to rebel. Trying to cling further to the heart, refusing to leave.

Moody, huh. I could deal with that.

I used mana to disentangle the trojan lifeform from Osner's heart. Thanks to that, the little boy came out of the heart as smoothly as if it had been oiled.

'Looks like a slime.'

The parasite I took out was something black with an irregular shape.

Slime… definitely slime, but…

Surely this is not a Heavenly King, no?

'Oh god, no way.'

I could put away with them being an octopus or a scubbi, slime wasn't working for me.

The magic I could feel from it was almost close to nothing.

As my mind scoured the possibilities, I heard coughing fits from behind. I turned around and saw an old man, doubled over, coughing helplessly.

"Are you okay?"

When I asked him to lie down comfortably, he grinned painfully.

"You dig out my heart and ask if I'm okay?"

"Would you like me to put it back?"

As I lifted the black slime, Osner shook his head in apprehension.

"Fine. You can joke. I know now, alright?"

Young people these days… Osner clicked his tongue before speaking with a serious expression.

"Thank you. Thanks to you, I was put to a halt before committing a great sin."

His gaze was directed to someone other than me, but in those eyes was Leslie, running towards us with her flapping linen of snowy hair.

"Father! Are you alright? B-Blood, blood…! A priest, right now…"

"It will be useless."

Leslie's eyes turned to mine. I raised the black slime in my hand at the vehement expression daggering out my meaning.

"This, a parasite from your father's body. No… the word parasite is a little wrong for this guy. In fact, it was keeping his dying body alive. Huh, that twists the whole meaning of its existence."

Leslie's gaze returned to Osner.

She looked at him, as if to ask if that was true, and Osner nodded slowly. Leslie's expression darkened. Osner smiled warmly and stroked her hair.

"Honestly, with a body like mine, I should have died long ago. It's just that I've lived a little longer because of my stubbornness and obsession. Even to the point of causing you major trouble."

"No. It's not trouble. Not for me, don't say that."

Her eyes moistening, Leslie shook her head.

Osner's smile only widened further.

"If you really feel that way, shouldn't you be smiling instead of crying? I mean, you look pretty when you smile."

"…yeah."

Leslie raised the corners of her lips. It was an awkward, forced smile, but Osner didn't say anything more about her expression, as if that had satisfied him. Instead, he talked about the fight he had just had.

"Did you see me tear off that strange creature's arm?"

"Yeah. You ripped it off as easily as you would have a chicken leg."

"To be honest, I was also surprised. I had never imagined my strength would grow so much."

"After that, you took care of the two humans who had attacked me."

"I did," he said ruefully. "It was so easy that it almost made me question my sanity. After all, they were definitely strong fighters."

"Father's strong too."

"Strictly speaking, it wasn't my strength, but it is what it is. But still, I couldn't win against this young man."

Osner looked at me with a fleeting expression of regret.

I chuckled.

"Do you seriously intend to defeat a hero?"

"Hero..? Wait, you are a hero?"

Osner and Leslie opened their eyes wide.

I could have expected that from the old man, but Leslie too?

I mean, all her siblings knew.

""

How uninterested was she in me?

"Cloud, the Hero of the Kingdom of Prona. It's an honor to meet you, Grand Duke."

Osner, who had a dazed expression on his face, burst into laughter after hearing my self-introduction.

"Ha Ha Ha! Yes, you are a hero. How could I have won! Rather, my win would have been strange."

"How does fighting with a hero feel like? Did you enjoy the experience?"

"Not just enjoyed. Enjoyed and lived. I made a good memory before I die."

"I'm glad you think so."

I smiled.

Osner stared me in the face and uttered a nonsensical question.

"For some reason, I wanna ask… do you have any intention of becoming my son-in-law?"

"Shouldn't you… you know, like, first ask your daughter's consent about that?"

"She would like it."

"No reason to refuse, I guess?"

"Yeah, no reason to refuse. Take care of my daughter, son-in-law."

It was unknown who cracked first, but a chorus of laughter broke out and the gloomy atmosphere gradually brightened. Leslie's awkward laugh also followed, becoming natural.

The conversation continued.

It was mainly Osner talking and his daughter conferring.

"At that time… what your mother said…"

Every time a word came out of his mouth, the old man's complexion turned pale. His voice lacked strength, and the pauses between each word grew longer.

Still, Leslie didn't show it.

She sustained am appearance of strength on her face and tried to keep tears from falling while maintaining a smile.

Perhaps it looked too pitiful to see his daughter struggling at his own end, Osner cut off the conversation.

He instead, pulled strength into his fingers around his daughter's palm, clasped tightly.

"Love."

That was it.

Strength drained from around Leslie's hand, and the affectionate eyes slowly lost their luster.

"Father? Father..?"

Leslie called out, her voice turning anxious, but there was no response. For dead answered naught. Leslie's shoulders quivered imperceivably.

Closing Osner's open eyelids, I stood up, placing a hand on Leslie's shoulder.

"He went away smiling. Don't be too sad."

After consoling her with a few more words, I moved on. From the corner of my vision, I saw Katarina staring at me with a sullen look. There were many complaints blant on her face, but considering the situation, she did not intervene.

She really is a woman whom I can't help but love.

Smiling at her, I gestured to Shedia.

"Potion."

She pulled out a potion bottle from her small backpack and threw it. Slicing a cut on my stomach with a dagger, I reached in and pushed and pulled, setting my broken ribs in place and draining the blood from my lungs. Then I drank the potion.

The potion showed why it was so expensive — the effect was immediate.

""

The skin that had been ripped off filled up and the bones began to stick together.

Huh, I could finally breathe now, without issue.

I picked up the knight sword rolling on the floor and turned to face Alfred. Dozens of pairs of eyes were directed at me.

Astonishment. Fear. Admiration. Awe.

The emotions in their eyes ranged.

I walked towards them facing all those emotions and gazes.

* * *

To start with the conclusion, Alfred, as well as the other Princes and Princesses, weren't put to their deaths.

Even though they partook in heinous deeds, they were her father's children after all and he wouldn't have wanted them dead.

So Leslie didn't kill them.

Without killing them, she cut off each of their limbs, one by one.

They hollered to just be given death instead, but Leslie flatly refused.

Impaired snobs would mean less trouble and they would have attendants sticking around them all day, meaning no inconvenience to their normal lifestyle, and so she dismembered all of them in front of my eyes.

It was a bit pitiful to see them howling over their limbs as they were dismembered, but they were at least getting the better part of the deal.

The warriors who had joined the rebellion were all beheaded without exception.

'Maybe it's because her father died right in front of her, she has become quite cold-hearted.'

It wasn't like that in the game.

Should I reconsider enlisting Leslie?

'No, that's not what's important right now.'

I have a more important issue than Leslie's personality.

"Katarina. Are we not going to talk today as well?"

"…"

That's right, Katarina snorted, but didn't speak.

Even though a week has passed since that day!

We eat together and sleep in the same bed, but she treats me as if I don't even exist.

She ignores me when I talk to her, and if I gently touch her like this…

– Patak!

Swatted away.

'…Is it finally time to use separate rooms?'

It hadn't been long since we started dating, but I never thought we'd already be using separate rooms. Doesn't this usually happen after some ten years of married life?

I took a deep breath and grabbed the pillow.

"Where."

Still, she didn't seem to be completely distanced. As I stood to walk out with a pillow, her words arrived in timely fashion.

"Another room. Get some rest, will see you tomorrow morning."

"Are you going to see her? So you want to be her husband as well, huh?"

There was a rustle and the sound of the folds of the blanket scrubbing against each other.

Katarina seems to have risen up.

And what husband?

"What are you talking about?"

I asked, looking back over the shoulder.

As I expected, Katarina was sitting on the bed, glaring at me.

"You think I didn't hear you? The old man asked you if you would like to become his son-in-law. You graciously accepted."

"Huh? Wait, don't tell me this is all happening because of that?"

"What if it is?"

Katarina frowned. I shuffled back to the bed, put my pillow down on my seat, and put a hand on Katarina's shoulder. Fortunately, I wasn't swatted away this time.

"It was just a white lie."

"A white lie?"

"Yes. The poor old man was dying right in front of us, so there seemed no need to ruin the atmosphere by saying no. The dead should be sent off comfortably."

"…"

"And so what even if I did accept? Did you hear Leslie accept it? We don't even know each other properly. Who in their right mind would accept a stranger for a husband?"

"That… is that so..?"

Katarina, who had been pinning me with a death glare, turned soft and puzzled.

I smiled and hugged her. She was startled and tried to push me away, but I wasn't having it this time around.

"Hey, let me go! I'm not done talking yet!"

"Do we still have anything left?"

"Of course! How you put yourself in a dangerous situation back then! Do you know how horrified I was when you knifed yourself to fix your bones and bloodlet your lungs?!"

"It's okay. It didn't hurt much."

"I don't care how little, it did hurt, yes?"

Katarina gave out a strange yelp that was half indignation and half vexation.

I hugged her tighter.

""

"I'll listen to the nagging later, so can't we just focus on hugging for now? It's been ages since I've hugged you. I'm so excited."

"…It's been only a while. Like in days, Cloud."

Katarina wrapped her arms around my waist as she grunted. It felt like it had been ages since I had felt Katarina's body temperature.

The door opened with a clang sound.

'Yo?'

No attendants carried their duties at this hour. Did someone send an assassin?

"You haven't slept yet. What a relief."

It was Leslie wearing a white negligee, not an assassin, who came in late at night. As her negligee caught the moonlight, it subtly revealed the underwear she was wearing underneath.

"Uh… her nightgown is a bit flashy, isn't it?"

"I don't care what's flashy! You shouldn't be looking!"

Katarina wrenched my head to make me face her. Then she looked over my shoulder at Leslie as she said.

"You… No, Archduchess. What are you doing here at night? Seeing that you're wearing your nightgown, I think you're about to go to sleep… Did you come to the wrong room by chance?"

"Isn't this Cloud's room?"

"That's right, so…"

"Then I have come to the right place."

"…You have any business with Cloud?"

"Yes."

"What… business?"

Was it my delusion?

Katarina's voice seemed to be getting colder.

"Nothing of concern. I just think now that my father's funeral has been done and all the backlogs have been worked out, we should now behave like a prospective couple."

On the other hand, Leslie's voice was as matter-of-factly as when she had entered the room.

"I'm thinking of sleeping with Cloud. I'm sorry to say, but Katarina-san, please move to another room."

"…"

""

Katarina did not respond. She just slightly turned her head and looked at me, and looked. She had the man-killing eye I had so far only seen in Shedia.

"A white lie?"

"W, Wait a minute. You're misunderstanding something. I have nothing–"

"'Yet'?"

Katarina's head tilted to the side. The motion felt bloody, very bloody. Good god, she was screaming murder from her eyes.

"Um… Katarina. It's not that."

"Uh-huh, yes?"

…why is there no save or load button in this world?

You can read fully translated chapters, including the last chapter, for $20.

p(a)treon.com/Daoist02