Part 2 – Episode 5
It was rare for the always relaxed Rue to make a truly displeased expression. I took the letter away from him to read it, wondering what the hell was the matter.
The root of the problem could be understood from just a glance at the first paragraph.
<…His Majesty the King was delighted to see you after a very long time. His Majesty has always regarded you as a father.>
‘Aha.’
I didn’t know who it was, but they were quite fearless.
“Rue, it seems there’s a very brave man who dares to impersonate you. Who is it? Could it be a remnant of Mephisto’s?”
“It’s not a simple impersonation. It’s a kind of warning sent to me. It seems he’s finally lost his mind after sitting around and accumulating the years.”
Accumulating years until he lost his mind… was Rue talking about himself?
Rue seemed to have a clue about who it might be, and this story seemed to be related to a situation of his I didn’t know.
He had lived nearly six times longer than I had, so the parts of his past that I did not know must be long and complicated.
After much deliberation, Rue said this.
“Daisy, do you need my protection?”
“No.”
“What if the opponent is of a similar level to me?”
A demigod of a similar level to Rue?
The question was like a gust of wind blowing away my fatigue. The demigods I knew are only two in total. One was Rue, the Calepa of the Northern Continent, and the other was……
“Is it Spolia from the Western Continent?”
“They’re similar.”
“Either they’re not, or they are. What does ‘similar’ mean? Are they a human of Spolia’s caliber?”
“It’s not just Spolia, me, and you who have achieved the unity of body and mind, Daisy.”
“Are you saying there’s another demigod targeting us?”
“To be precise, it’s highly likely it’s me they’re targeting. The purpose is still unclear. But if they’ve been investigating my recent activities, there’s no way they wouldn’t know about you.”
After imagining several worst-case scenarios, I confessed my true feelings.
“I don’t have the confidence to kill them, but I do have the confidence not to die… Go, Rue. I’ll wait here.”
In this dusty house, that is.
Rue, who had been silently flipping through the letter, stretched out his arms and pulled me into an embrace.
“I like you, who’s both cute and strong, my dirty Daisy.”
“Stop the embarrassing talk and just go.”
Rue laughed softly and bit me on the neck.
“Ouch! That hurts!”
People of the world! The Calepa bites people!
Rue hugged me tighter as I got fed up with him. It was no exaggeration to say that if an ordinary woman were hugged like this, her arms or ribs would certainly be broken.
“To be honest, I want to take you with me. But lately, you’ve been half-obsessed with that new chick, haven’t you? If that little Pik dies, it’s obvious that our Daisy will wilt for a while, so we can’t just leave it alone.”
“You should get closer to Ru. It’s the descendant of Ash, the cute hawk that Dian raised. It’s not someone random’s bird.”
“It’s hard to get close to it. You said something similar before, didn’t you?”
“Did I? It’s an incredibly logical argument, so there’s no rebuttal.”
“Before I leave, I’ll meet the King of Banahel. I’ll send the Hawks clan here as soon as possible.”
“…When will you be back?”
“At most, twenty days.”
After stepping away, Rue put on the fluffy coat that he had hung on the coat rack.
His appearance standing in front of the front door was striking. The golden eyes, melted into the shadows, warned me with a look of regret.
“Don’t look at someone else while I’m gone.”
Thud.
The door closed.
In the room that had suddenly become quiet, I stared blankly at the door through which Rue had left, then shuffled back to the bedroom.
‘So, I somehow ended up all alone.’
Grrrng, Grrng.
“…Yes, that’s right, Ru. As long as the sound of your snoring is with me, I can’t really say I’m alone, can I?”
Would it be better to change Ru’s (the baby hawk) name? I considered ‘Gray Hawk’s Brat!’ to give it a cool feeling so he’d become a tough bird, but honestly, it was tiring to say all that separately, and in some ways, it felt a bit insincere.
What name would be good?
That night felt particularly long.
* * *
Day 1 of living together with Ru (the baby hawk).
I went out to get to know the neighborhood and walked around for a long time.
I’d felt it yesterday too, but this neighborhood really smelled foul.
Moreover, the clothing of the people passing by was unusually thin and shabby for the winter season. The shops, except for a few, were all street stalls, and in the case of fruits, they were all in a state of decay, swarming with flies.
However, surprisingly, the atmosphere of the neighborhood was not dreary at all.
Rather, this place was more lively than any city I had settled in before. The streets were packed with people going here and there, and the people visible through the windows were all busy concentrating on their work.
I approached an old man who was sitting on a chair and dozing off at a fish stall and asked,
“What, where is this place…? A young woman I’ve never seen before… asking a strange question… Not knowing what neighborhood this is… How did you come to live here?”
“I just followed a man.”
“Oh dear, tsk… A young lady… meeting the wrong man. Let’s see, let’s see… This is the southern part of Centerflat, the capital of the Banahel Kingdom… Just an ordinary neighborhood where people live.”
“It seems like a slum.”
“Ugh! Watch your words, woman… You don’t call a slum a slum in front of slum-dwellers… And I’m advising you, don’t wear that nice looking coat anymore. It will be taken from you…”
Interested in the last warning, I opened up the advertisement flyers I had brought just in case.
<If you can’t win against them, join them! New members urgently needed for the next-generation thieves’ gang.’>
“Do you happen to know where I can meet the person who distributed this? It only says ‘thief’ and doesn’t mention the headquarters.”
Since I’d be staying in this neighborhood for the time being, it wouldn’t be bad to deal with the annoying people in advance.
“Let’s see, see, let’s see… Oh no, lady. How can you not see that this is a dangerous thing? No, it won’t do. As an adult… I can’t tell a young person about dangerous things…”
Well, I guess that was right.
Since the person spreading the flyers was out there, I wandered around the market looking for information about the thieves’ gang.
“Where could these guys be?”
“Uh… I, I don’t know…”
It did take some time because most people either got scared and ran away or turned their heads away.
“I want to join this.”
“Are you crazy?”
As expected, you’d only get the right results if you acted directly.
“Do you know who distributed this flyer?”
“…Who distributed it? Are you talking about those thieves? Why are you asking?”
“Hey, what are you?”
A member of the thief gang who had been eyeing me at the market came out to meet me directly.
I compared the shabby drawing on the flyer with the appearance of the two young men standing in front of me with their bad posture. The black handkerchiefs tied around their arms was unmistakably the look of those joining the thief gang.
“Is this advertising flyer yours?”
“Just answer the question. What kind of woman are you……”
I closed my eyes.
As I focused on the flow of my body, the thief’s voice gradually faded away.
Feeling the flow of blood from my heart, I rolled the flyer into a long shape.
This was a sword.
This sword was the continent’s finest, capable of beheading even Mephisto.
After recalling the sensation of wielding a sword, all the energy gathered into the end of the paper lightly slashed forward.
Swoosh-
Devil Sword Technique.
Second Swordsmanship.
The Devil’s Drying Method: Advertising leaflet edition.
The lush hair of the opponent evaporated from the heat without a single strand left. I approached the opponent who was touching their now hot and steamy scalp with a dazed expression.
“My friend.”
“Yes…”
AWWW BUT YOU’RE NEWLYWEDSSS, STAY TOGETHERR
Lmao the devil’s drying method that she taught lenya in westwinterre stays a classic
Thank you for the chapter and link!
First it was broom, now leaflet and in the future she will use straw as a sword. Why? ‘Cause she is Daisy Fager, that’s why!
In addition…. The Calepa bites people!!!!
We are witness to The Second Form!!!! The devils sword evolves!