Arc 2 - Chapter 21: Vow of Revenge (1/2)

"Mirror up."

In their narrow room, they sat facing each other with the table in front of the bed. Yurine held a small mirror while Yu trimmed his beard with a straight razor.

He thought he was also incredibly handsome when he had a beard, but he always shaved it off because he thought he looked best without it. He was also uncomfortable with the beard.

"My arm tired. We didn't do this in the capital, are you going to make me do this all the time?"

"The full-length mirror at Lucia's inn stands up on its own, so I can do it there by myself, and I don't want to pay a barber, so until I find a solution, yes, I will."

Even if he was afraid to go to a barber who did not have the facilities of the twenty-first century, he would eventually have to go to one for his hair, but if he went to a barber every time for his beard, it would cost him dearly.

And even though he didn't like beards, he liked to shave his beard, that was one of the reasons why he didn't want to go to the barber.

"Most of the people I see here are beardless, and even more than beardless, it's as if they are completely hairless. I haven't seen any leg hair or arm hair. I wonder if it's something to do with the genetics of the people in this world. I wish there was a spell that could completely prevent the growth of unwanted hair."

He didn't want to be the only hairy person in the world.

"It would be especially nice if I could stop pubic hair from growing. I can't cut it because Yurine is with me, and how am I supposed to cut it when she's not there? I can't get in there with a straight razor, no. Is there a depilator here or something? How do characters in other isekai adventures do it?"

He didn't know how to find out the answer, as he was too embarrassed to go and ask someone else how he got his pubic hair.

"I need to solve this problem soon."

What exactly was the library at the Wizarding Academy like? If it was a place of all kinds of information, he might find a recipe for a depilatory there, or he might try to corner Marino or Raul and ask them.

"But what am I supposed to say? I can't ask someone how they got there."

Maybe he could try waxing, but it hurt just thinking about it.

"And if I don't, my beard might sting when you want to kiss me."

"Wha! Why should I kiss you?!"

When she shouted, she dropped the mirror in her hand and it fell on its back.

"Hold the mirror."

When Yurine lifted the mirror, he ran the straight razor over the last of the foam on his face. It was now almost completely smooth.

"It's sunny today, isn't it?"

"Yes. Are we going to keep doing research?"

"We'll go to some houses close to us. Tomorrow we will return to the capital."

Four days later, the first match was to begin, for which they distributed letters. Their first match was between the Sea Monsters and the Vesthelm Storm. Yu had made a deal with both teams.

"Those idiots still haven't arrived."

"Do you worry about them?"

After washing his face, he towel dried himself and fixed his hair in front of the mirror.

"Don't be silly, I don't worry about anyone." Yurine's cheeks puffed up as she said this, making her sound unconvincing. "I'm just saying that if they fail, it will be harder for us."

"Maybe they are still at work, but I don't think they will be gone for a week as they have bought a few days' worth of food, they should be back soon. They might even come today."

As much as Yu wanted them to find something, he didn't think it was likely, but since they had been in the forest for a few days, his expectations were inevitably raised.

"There is a possibility that they died in a monster attack... I hope not."

If he lost them, he wasn't sure he could continue the search for a dangerous killer on his own.

But that wasn't why he didn't want them to die, he just didn't want more people to die because of him.

"Yesterday in the carriage you were saying something about killer."

"Him?"

He remembered that moment as if it were an old memory, even though it had only happened yesterday.

"I think other people who are investigating this matter have noticed it too." There was one detail that stood out among the killer's murders, his targets were not so randomly chosen. "I think the killer prioritizes the knights. In fact, I think the word 'I think' is redundant, the killer chooses knights to kill."

Almost half of the names on the list they had begun with 'sir.' That meant they were knights.

"There are more non-knights killed than knights."

You could see that the first murders were knight-dominated, but in the later murders the number of knights killed decreased and the number of ordinary people increased.

"Yes, this may seem confusing, but here's the thing: most of the civilians killed are servants of the knights. They reduce the percentage of knights among the victims."

The killer also killed the servants he found in the houses he visited. The number of times he entered a house without a knight in it was five.

*Knock, knock, knock.*

There was a knock on the door of their room. Yu approached the door to unlock it.

"Who is it?"

"It's me."

He pulled the bayonet from the door and the door opened by itself.

"Lan, is this door broken?"

If the door was not locked from the inside, it would open by itself.

"Lylphia, why do you answer 'it's me' instead of saying your name?"

"Eventually you realized it was me and opened the door."

Lylphia was holding a large, thick-covered book bound in brown leather. After saying good morning to Yu, she poked her head inside and looked for Yurine. When she saw her, she entered the room and greeted her.

"How are you? Do you like your present?"

"Don't think that a superior being like me is a child to play with toys."

Yurine crossed her arms over her stomach and refused to make eye contact with Lylphia, lest her eyes reveal her true feelings.

"I knew you'd like it."

Lylphia seemed to have pulled herself together. The difference between the Lylphia who had left a few days ago and the Lylphia of now was marked.

"It's good that she recovered quickly. It would have been useless if she had to mourn someone she just know for a day."

Poor morale would lower motivation and reduce productivity.

"I wanted to be with you on your birthday to give you a present, but Yu sent me away and had to leave you two alone."

"It was your suggestion to leave us here, though."

And he still couldn't get used to Lylphia calling him Yu.

"That was better anyway."

"Alone with Yu?"

"Wha! No, of course not! What are you talking about?" Yurine shouted, pointing her finger at Lylphia.

"When do you plan to confess your intense love for me?"

Yu thought it would be a good idea to embarrass him a little. He wanted to see more of her shy face.

"Your ass easily fly! Don't think you're something just because I just show you my nice side!"

She was kicking the ground at the same time she was screaming. Yu felt like he need to bite her because her cheeks were red like pomegranates.

"I got you a present too," Lylphia said after laughing hard at Yurine's reaction. She handed Yurine the book she was holding. "Mr. Valarfin doesn't seem to know much about raising children…"

"How dare you?"

She insulted Yu's abilities and continued as if nothing had happened.

"…that's why I wanted to do something to improve your relationship."

Yurine put the book on the bed and began to turn the pages.

"A storybook."

"Yes. You can ask Mr. Valarfin to read it to you when you go to bed at night. I think it will help you grow closer."

"Why should I get close to this guy? You bought it for a ridiculous purpose..."

Yurine put the book under her pillow.

"That's a nice gift. I can't wait to read Yurine a story. It's a father and daughter activity."

The idea of lying in bed with Yurine and reading stories excited him.

"Well done anyway, you are lucky to be able to offer a gift to a supreme being like me. I appreciate it."

"I guess that's a way of saying thank you without saying thank you."

Yurine had managed to thank Yu yesterday, but today it seemed that she was still trying to keep her distance from others.

"It's better this way," he thought. Somewhere inside he was afraid that Yurine would get close to others. "Thinking in this way wrong. I am still no more than a stranger for her, trying to replace her mother because of my regret and fear of became alone. Still I don't want her to love someone else more than me. It makes me afraid, I don't want to see her leaving me."

Even knowing it was wrong, he couldn't stop himself from thinking in that way.

What he was looking for was family. He had no romantic or other intentions, he was looking for someone to replace with his older sisters he had lost months before. And it was Yurine who took his melancholy away from him, who filled the void. He can't imagine the intensity of darkness he would fall into without her.

The last scene of him holding his sister's hand while it was still warm flashed before his eyes. The moment happiness was taken away from him by worldly desires, the moment his life was irrevocably changed.

The urge to cry was strong enough to crush even the happiness Yurine had created.

"Crying doesn't fit my handsome face."

The memory of Satoshi, whose pain he thought he had forgotten, reasserted itself, encouraged by Yu's lowering of his guard.

He thought that if he had chosen to stay on the second floor instead of the third, the killer might have gotten into his room. If he had been a good person, if he had accepted Satoshi as a friend and they had talked about their world through the night, Satoshi might be alive.

"Look at you handsome! You let your guard down front of girls." He smiled to Lylphia. "Now that you're back, the others must be back safe and sound, right? Did you manage to find anything useful?"

"We found something, but I don't think we should talk about it in public. We can go to Sivina and Ana's room and talk about it there."

"I think that would be better. I have something to say too."

He didn't want the prize to be stolen, so his research had to be kept out of other people's earshot.

Even the forester he had hired to accompany Lylphia and the others had been given the minimum amount of information possible. What they learned had to stay inside of the group.