Chapter 114
Chapter 114
Raine ate the sandwich in a rather leisurely manner . Everyone was waiting for her to finish her meal first .
Meanwhile Miria was trying to reach into the bag that was behind my back .
[Little bastard, I have nothing for you!]
I grabbed her hand to put a stop to her .
[Isn’t it alright? I’ve been waiting there that I forgot to have my breakfast! Roxy-sama~… . . I can eat too, right?]
Miria always asked Roxy with this kind of begging voice . It’s something usual…… But since it’s said towards Roxy who was still inside my body at the moment, it made me felt a tremendous sense of discomfort .
To outsiders, it’ll appear that Miria was getting along well with Fate . But that’s only because Roxy was currently using my body, of which not many were aware of this fact . I would’ve been surprised myself .
The scene was a bit too much for me .
Raine’s also watched us with the kind of stare she had when she’s looking at a rare specimen .
In the end, Roxy who was originally soft hearted to Miria in the first place, finally said with a sigh .
[It cannot be helped… . . Raine-san, can you share the sandwich with Miria?]
[Fine, but in exchange, I want to do an extensive check on you later . ]
Roxy was quite fine with it, being the usual her . She’s after all, someone who are willing to accept me… . . her duty actually requires her to not be caught in personal feelings . But she’s not ashamed of this misgiving, which what drew me to her in the first place, though it had also brought me no less trouble .
But anyways, since Raine already approved it, Miria also got her share of sandwich .
[Roxy-sama’s homemade sandwich!]
Whilst stuffing her small mouth with the sandwich, she was so moved to the point of shedding tears like waterfall .
[It’s the best! I’d be fine if I died after this . ]
[Do not say anything ominous like that]
[This feeling, Fate-san who has often enjoyed Roxy-sama’s homemade food wouldn’t understand . Please switch body with me, so I get to feel this happiness more often!]
She ate the sandwich in fervor while spouting off her annoyance . At first she was confused with the body switching, but it appeared that she had gotten used to it already .
But since I’m still in Roxy’s body, she would still sometimes unconsciously threw a glance at me while blushing .
[This is really troublesome . If I hug the one with Roxy-sama’s appearance, it’ll be the same as hugging Fate-san . But if I hug the real Roxy-sama, from outward it’ll look like I’m hugging Fate-san . Then who should I hug?]
Miria looked as though she’s going through a crossroad of her life .
[How should I know!]
[Miria, refrain from hugging for the time being . ]
Seeing us like that, Raine said after finishing the last bite of her sandwich .
[You guys are really noisy . It’s been a while since I had this noisy of a breakfast . Now then, let’s get to the main topic]
After wiping her mouth with a handkerchief she extracted from her pocket, Raine guided us to the other room . Certainly the room where she’ll conduct the checking .
I and Greed always had our regular inspection on this very room . Nn? Speaking of which, I wonder what Greed is doing at the moment?
I put my hand on the sword hanging on my back, but there’s no response .
Ah… . of course . Since I’m in Roxy’s body, this should be her holy sword . That means, Roxy was the one carrying Greed at the moment .
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Since our body got switched over, I’ve been forgetting about that annoying little fellow . Wanting to hear from him, I approached Roxy and asked .
[I want to talk with Greed, can you hand me the black sword?]
[That’s right, we need Greed-san’s opinion in this . I’ve been having him with me all this time yet forgetting about him . Yes, here you are . ]
[Thank you]
Next, to activate the mind reading… . . eh…… . ?
[I can’t talk to Greed!]
Seeing the puzzled me and Roxy, Raine laughed and gave us an explanation .
[Of course that’s the case . Because your body are switched . Skills are bound to the body, not the soul . So Roxy should be able to use mind reading now . But perhaps, because the switching only happened recently, the soul isn’t used yet to the skills . ]
[Let me try . Fai, return Greed-san to me . ]
[Alright . ]
Handing back Greed to Roxy, I waited to see whether she could communicate with him .
There seemed to be no response at first, Roxy appeared to have a hard time trying . But after a while, her eyes were wide open, then she excitedly said .
[I can hear Greed-san’s voice! It’s more astringent and lower than I thought it would be]
[That fellow has a bad attitude, be careful]
I told her about Greed’s shortcomings . But according to her, he sounded like a true gentleman while being a good sword to add .
That couldn’t be right . Greed is like a mass of greed and unreasonableness lumped into one being .
[Unbelievable… . . ]
[Don’t say that . Greed-san is Fai’s partner, isn’t he?]
[… . . I just hope you won’t fall for that little trick of his, but alright . What did he say?]
[About that]
Roxy turned to the black sword once more, then whispered something . Then, her face became red all of a sudden .
What in the… . . world are they talking about? I couldn’t help but to wonder .
[Roxy, what’s the matter?]
Apparently he just teased her, telling her to keep watch on me so that I won’t do lewd thing to Roxy’s body .
Damn you! How dare you to say that, Greed!
It hadn’t even crossed my mind…… . yet…… . you arsehole!
[I’m sorry . Despite the long-standing relationship, he tends to say something awful . ]
[Just now, I felt like my eyes are swimming . ]
[It’s just as Roxy-sama said . Fate-san is a boy after all . Someone needs to keep watch of him so that he won’t do anything weird to Roxy-sama’s body at night!]
Come on now, my integrity is at stake here . Everyone, please remember about the flow of events since this morning .
Did I even have a chance to think something dirty? No! I was preoccupied with thinking about how to cope with the body switching .
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Now that my mind had settled down… . . it does start to cross my mind, but please pardon me as I’m still a normal healthy young man .
Then, Roxy said while staring at me .
[I believe in Fai . It’ll be alright!]
[Eeeeeeee, is it really alright! Letting this guy off?!]
[It’ll be alright!!]
Miria desperately tried to convince Roxy to consider . But she didn’t change her mind .
Regardless of what others said, she trusted me in the end . Besidesly, it’s a matter of life and death here .
There is no time to even have any strange thoughts regarding Roxy’s body .
[Thank you, Roxy . ]
[No no, Fai has done many things for me while in Gallia . This much is nothing . ]
As I let her words sinked in, I heard sound of coughing coming from the side . It was Raine, seemingly annoyed judging from her expression .
[You guys, can you keep the lovey dovey talk for later? Can you understand? The problem is already severe as it is!]
[ [ I am sorry ] ]
When I’m talking with Roxy, it just felt enjoyable regardless of the topic . Even if we knew how bad the situation is, it wouldn’t stop us . This is a quirk that both I and Roxy developed recently .
Miria then reprimanded the both of us .
[That’s right! What Raine-san is about to say is very important . You two better listen carefully!]
[ [ As if Miria has a say in it! ? ] ]
Truthfully speaking, she’s just trying to throw us off . Even putting aside her other antics, her acting like she’s above us all is a bit taxing on my patience . Even the usually sweet Roxy was annoyed by that .
This is the first time Roxy acted like that . And it’s quite cool too .
Originally, there was Mugan who acted as her guardian, keeping her in check . But he is currently escorting Eris in investigating Rafal’s base at the mountain city .
It’s really hard without Mugan around… . . I can say that for sure now .
Raine seemed to understand this, thus she grabbed Miria by the neck and threw her out of the lab .
[Eh, what? But why? Wait a minute . Raine-sa………n… . . ]
Raine shut the door and promptly locked it . Knowing she’s been locked out from the lab, Miria could only look from behind the thick glass window attached to the door while crying her eyes out .
Raine ignored it then came back to us .
[The obstacle has disappeared . I can talk with ease now . When Miria’s around, the topic would always get derailed, and we won’t see the end of it . ]
[Aah…I can agree with that . ]
[Me too…]
This time, no one voiced their pity toward Miria . It’s been decided unanimously, that she needs to leave .
Glancing sideway, I saw Miria watching at us with begging eyes like abandoned kitten . I shouldn’t be bothered…… it’s becoming peaceful thanks to this .
Raine again passed the door while ignoring Miria . She returned to fetch her equipments .
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Shortly after, she’s back with a trolley carrying a glass containing green liquid . The gray arm was in that glass container .
[This is, the fellow from the previous day . ]
[That’s right . Because it’s an important sample, it has to be preserved so as not to let it decay . Allow me?]
Raine showed a shimmering smile as she asked for our consent to begin her analysis . She then looked at the monster’s hand inside the container with vivid interest .
Meanwhile Roxy had a deadpan face . Perhaps I did too .
[By the way, have you found out what kind of monster that arm was belonged to?]
[Of course! But don’t be surprised when you hear it]
She then resumed staring at the arm intently . Me and Roxy raised our voice so that she would resumed the talk .
[ [ Tell us, quick! ] ]
[Okay okay, no need to make such a loud noise . ]
Raine put the so called precious sample back to the desk, and started explaining .
[This is the result of the analysis . This arm belonged to an ancient monster thought to have gone extinct more than a thousand years ago . I couldn’t find a match when comparing to the currently existing monsters . But, when I compared it to a fossil excavated from Gallia, Bingo! There is a match . ]
[An extinct ancient monster…]
Something surfaced back in my mind, back at the place called Green Valley on Gallia―― the only green oasis on the devastated land, I remember seeing a certain monster
It was silently sleeping forever at the bottom of the valley . Greed said that the strange looking monster could not be compared to any of the modern monsters…
[Why did such an ancient monster appear on hobgoblin forest?]
[I don’t know about that . But this monster is called Goblin Shaman . This came from the data obtained from Gallia’s ancient ruin . Who would’ve thought that the data will be useful in this occasion . ]
Whilst saying so, she turned around to operate the equipment . Soon, the display showed a large picture of a monster .
It wears a head ornament which appear to made from rockbird’s feather . And on its hand is a big shakujo (TL note: staff with metal rings on it, usually carried by wandering monk) .
Its size is larger than normal goblin, but smaller than hobgoblin .
It was the eyes that concerned me the most . Instead of two like normal goblins, the goblin shaman had four .
[Such a creepy looking goblin…]
[Een…it is different alright . ]
Me and Roxy had similar opinion about it .
Not only it’s a creepy looking goblin, it also capable of casting a magic that even allows body switching .
Since it’s an ancient monster, Raine said that it’s no wonder that it can invoke lost mysterious arts that modern knowledge did not know of .
[Interesting, isn’t it? If possible, not only the hand . I want a living sample of this goblin shaman as well . ]
[That aside, did you find out how to cancel the magic?]
[Easy . I’ve checked the magic diagram that was drawn on the ground, and while it has slight differences, it’s similar to the present day’s magic diagram . Well, we have nothing that could switch body like this though . ]
Raine smiled as she said how easy it is .
[But we have killed it]
[Is that really the case?]
[Well, for starter, it’s a kind of curse . The caster must provide steady supply of magic power to maintain it . That fellow must be still alive somewhere keeping the curse on going . ]
In the gloomy hobgoblin forest, I imagine a figure, having lost an arm, was chanting a curse .
The thought made me felt uncomfortable .
Now that I know the solution, I felt like wanting to rush ahead immediately . The matter regarding why such an ancient monster could reappear at this age could be considered later after the curse has been solved .
[Roxy, shall we go to the hobgoblin forest… . . !?]
I called out to her, but her state is a bit strange . She had unusual amount of sweats on her forehead .
Calling my name was the best she could do before she fell down on the floor . When I checked her condition, it appeared that she had lost her consciousness .
Raine’s countenance turned serious after checking on Roxy’s condition . She immediately asked me to lay Roxy on the equipment that she always use to inspect me .
Has it been sufficiently long enough? All I can remember was what we’ve done since morning up until now couldn’t even be considered as warming up . . I would usually rely on Greed’s advice on times like this, but I had no way to communicate with him as I’m currently on Roxy’s body .
When I heard the test result, I was stunned .
[That thing you already know so well… . . it’s happening to her soul . ]
[Could it be… . . ?]
[The starvation state of the Gluttony skill . It appear that her soul could not cope with an impulse so strong . That’s why she’s unconscious . ]
Raine said, because I was born with Gluttony skill, I had some amount of resistant to it .
Furthermore, I had Luna protecting my soul . She helps me relieve some amount of starvation emitted by the Gluttony skill . All those had allowed me to keep my sanity .
But that’s not the case with Roxy .
Now that I think about it, considering the trend with Gluttony skill… . . after killing the Tenryu…the starving state must be even more intense than before .
Thinking so, I felt my hair rose up .
Raine had remained level-headed despite the severity of the state .
[You need to kill the goblin shaman before the symptoms get worse . At this rate, Roxy’s soul won’t last long . I’ll take care of her for as long as possible . ]
However, I already had someone who could help this situation in mind .
[No, I’m taking Roxy to the Barbatos mansion for now . Can you meet us there?]
[Eh!? But why… . . ?]
[I’m sorry, but I’m going ahead . ]
[Hey, wait!]
I didn’t answer, and instead lifted the limp body of the unconscious Roxy outside .
Miria who had been waiting outside worriedly did not say anything this time . She instead quietly followed me to the Barbatos mansion . Fortunately she’s someone who could read this kind of situation properly .
I have to hurry… . . Mimir was still at the Barbatos mansion . With her help, Roxy will definitely be saved for the time being .