New arc begins with this chapter
Kanna no Kanna 31— — — — Well, that really surprised me.
What you ask? That Chloe. Normally, is there a guy who stabs himself without a moment’s hesitation when told to? someone with normal nerves would hesitate at the last second. Even if they have every intention to take their life. The moment they’re about to die their resolve will shake.
Yet she didn’t have any of that.
Her『reason』actually twisted her『instinct』.
It felt like time had stopped and nobody could move.
And then — — — —
“…………………….Eh?”
The first to open her mouth was the one who had just stabbed her heart,『Chloe』. The dagger in her hands was buried in her chest safe for the handle. Even if she didn’t aim for the heart she would have died with something that big piercing her chest.
However, not a single drop of blood flowed out of her body.
Chloe Hesitatingly pulled the dagger out whilst confused at the contradiction.
— — — — Well, there is no『thing』to pull out in the first place.
The three girls opened their eyes wide and stared at the dagger. Obviously because the sharp blade I showed them at first wasn’t there. As if it never existed.
To tell the truth, that dagger I made was a bluff, a fake so to say. At the time I cut my finger it was undoubtedly real. But right after that I had told the spirits to『make the density of the blade part as low as possible』. Fragments of ice could be seen scattered around Chloe’s feet. The remains of the blade. The blade which was as fragile as backed confectionery obviously shattered when it touched her chest.
Chloe looks at my face and the dagger as if to say she’s been deceived by a fox, seeing that I return a weird smile.
“Well, I now fully understand your resolution. It was bad of me to test you like that. My bad.”
I lower my head and apologize to Chloe.
Finally understanding that the whole thing was a『test』, Chloe swings her arms in a fluster.
“P, please stop it, Thanks to you this one could prove my innocence degozaru. There is nothing for you to bow for degozaru yo.”
Unlike when she made up her resolve, Chloe’s expression was a peaceful one.
“……………Phew! Stop it with the surprises Kanna. It’s not good for my heart.”
“deceiving from your allies is the iron rule of bluffing after all. However with this her innocence was confirmed. At least she shouldn’t have any ill intentions towards us.”
No matter who you are you never know what kind of person you truly were until your death. So someone who did what she did wouldn’t betray us.
“In that short amount of time, not only did you generate the ice you even changed it’s density. As always the magic formula you use is absurd. I couldn’t even grasp a part of it. At this rate I really am going to lose confidence.”
Faima mutters with a far away look on her face.『This』is impossible to explain with the rules of magic to begin with. As I don’t have the confidence to properly explain it, I’ll gloss it over.
“Now then, it’s fine we managed to proof her innocence and all but….”
I’d like to ask about the main problem now that we know Chloe is not an enemy.
“I’ll cut to the chase, who ordered you to assassinate Faima? Or should I be saying who used that magic on you?”
“……………………I truly apologize. Though I really want to give you an answer degozaruga, I can’t remember a thing concerning that degozaru yo. By the time I realized I was already being manipulated by the『voice』, is all I can say degozaru.”
Chloe drops her shoulders apologetically and Faima follows her up.
“Anything that could lead to the mastermind was probably erased using mind magic. We already heard details from her.”
“Can one even erase memories with magic?”
“If it’s a high ranking magician then it’s possible. Only that it’s as dark as the crystal case so the number of magicians that can use it is limited. Nevertheless there should be a bunch of them. That’s why it’s impossible to identify the culprit from just that. ”
“What’s more, the last memory she has seems to be from half a year ago in a castle town of Yurufiria but she can’t seem to remember the details about the place.”
“I really apologize for being of no help.”
“I’ts not your fault. It’s the the rotten piece of shit that manipulated you that’s at fault here. Besides, though someone got injured luckily no one died on our side.”
“…………………This one is really grateful for your magnanimous heart degozaru.”
All in all we couldn’t get any information related to the culprit, further investigation is useless at this stage. Just that according to Faima’s deduction the opponent isn’t some stupid worthless noble but someone big enough to attract a skilled magician or maybe the skilled magician himself. Either way, he’s quite cautious.
“To begin with, why did he think of manipulating you? Rather than going through the trouble of controlling someone, asking『professionals』would have been much more certain, no?”
A natural question comes out.
“The answer to that most likely lies with this one.”
Chloe puts her index and middle finger to her forehead.
“Magic formation……………..release.”
Magic power flows around Chloe. I remember the strange feeling I had when I carried her last time.
Just when I though the magic power around her started shining it calmed down right away. There was no flashy sound or effect, enough to believe that the magic was my imagination.
however, there was a clear change in Chloe’s『body』. Chloe’s『ears』shake as if to assert their existence. Real’s long ears often pikupiku move sometimes but this is of a totally different victor, actually the positions of their ears are different too.
— — — — Kemofussama has descended.
(TN: kemofusa was explained by scarletmadness at chapter 22)
Different from the round ears of humans. The same article as the one beasts have, two of those are growing on Chloe’s head. Her black hair behind her ears was swaying.
“Uuu…………..As I thought, the human pants are kinda stiff.”
Looking at her buttocks whilst muttering, there was a black tail flailing around.
“That hair color and and ears’ shape. Chloe-san, could you be a beastman of the『black wolf』race?”
“That’s right degozaru. This one is a black wolf beastman that came from『Hinoizur』.”
“A black wolf from Hinoizur………. I see, no wonder he wanted you as a pawn.”
Faima nods her head as if she understood something. Meanwhile I and Real tilt ours.
“Sorry, getting convinced on my own. Her race is greatly superior to other beastmen when it comes to physical ability and magic talent.”
“That’s not all degozaru. Black wolf warriors are called『samurai』and『shinobi』, and once we decide on a master our loyalty is unshakable degozaru. Furthermore, Becoming the master of a black wolf brings great honor and fame de gozaru.”
(TN: She actually said『ブシ』=bushi which could mean warrior or samurai.)
Chloe puffs her chest as she boasts about her race, her clothes above her chest seem about to burst. it’ll probably be stretched after she takes it off.
“Black wolfs are among the strongest beastman races. She was probably captured for her battle prowess.”
“This one suspects as much too………. The spell I just used is the clan’s transformation magic degozaru. Since the black wolf’s features are pretty well known degozaru kar. I sometimes hide my identity like that degozaru yo.”
But well, samurai and shinobi was it — — It’s obvious they are written as 『ブシ』and『シノビ』 . Once again I discover another mystery of this fantasy world. I guess Hinoizur has the culture of japan around edo period. At this rate Chinese freaks or america might come out soon enough.
“By the way, samurai who decide on a master feel pride in their way of life degozaru. If they happen to sully that way of life they willingly slit their stomachs degozaru yo.”
“You even have seppeku?!!”
Isn’t it fine not to have the ultimate most extreme way of putting one’s spirit to the test?
“Oh!! Kanndono knew of the seppeku degozatta ka? But that tradition should be limited to hinoizur. Might you be blood related to a Hinoizur noble.”
“…………….No, I most certainly am not. It’s just a rumor I heard.”
I almost made a retort from the similarity to Japanese culture(in a bad way).
The only person who knows my circumstances is Real. Hence I can’t help but play dumb.
“Hmm………….Kanndono doesn’t possess the characteristics of the humans of Hinoizur. Seems like it was only this one’s misunderstanding degozaru ka.”
“Characteristics?”
“The majority of the humans with Hinoizur blood in them possess black hair and eyes degozaru yo. Though people of other races will have varying hair colors degozaruga, Hinoizur was originally a human country. The black wolf race has lived there since ancient times along with Hinoizur’s humans. The blood of the Hinoizur humans got mixed in degozaru. that’s why it’s black degozaru yo.”
The more I hear about it the more I think Hinoizur resembles japan.Is the default hair color black there?
— — — — Wait a moment.
“What are you saying? Isn’t my hair black too?”
“………………? What are you saying degozaru ka? Just where do you see a black haired person in this room degozaru ka?”
No, I’d like to hear that from you but. Eh? Why are you tilting your head in front of this splendid Japanese black hair? It’s not dyed and I don’t have something like eye contacts so my eyes are supposed to be black too though?
“……………….. Kanna take a good look a this.”
Real brings her great sword’s blade in front of me with a difficult expression on her face. Maybe because she doesn’t forget to take care of it, or it could be the sword being well made in the first place,
Anyway it’s blade was as clear as a mirror.
“…………………….White?”
I look at my face reflecting in the blade.
“…………………….Wha?”
Not a speck of the black I was familiar with was there.
“The heck is thissssssssssssssssssss?!!!”
Instead, my pure white hair could be seen.
“Eh, wha?! Ehhhhhhh?!!”
I pluck a hair out and look at it. It was undoubtedly white.
“After you defeated the mysterious magician in the valley, before I realized your hair color became like that. The burden on your mind in such an extreme situation probably showed up in your body. Actually, your eyes turned from black to red too, likely for the same reason.”
“Seriously?!Eh, seriously?!!!”
“Err…………….Un, seriously serious.”
In my confusion, I turn to Faima for confirmation and she nods her head with her face twitching. Even from an outsider’s eyes, I must be pretty bewildered right now. It’s fine to say this is the most confused I got since coming to this fantasy world.
Well it’s true that at that moment I kind of burned out completely but, I never though I’ll be doing『I burned ou~t…………..』for myself .
Looking back, this must be why Real and Faima were looking out for me when they first entered the room. My black hair lost all color in the matter of a few minutes after all.
Currently I can’t detect any problem with my body. Though my eyes turned red my eyesight remains unaffected. In terms of the real world, I guess I became an『albino』huh. Looks like I have to dye my hair when I get back home. As for this world, it is full of special hair colors so one or two white haired people won’t make a difference.
“…………….Well, un. I more or less calmed down.”
“From the talk just now, I take it your hair used to be black?”
“I had the same black hair and black eyes as you. More importantly, stop that overly humble way of calling. Kanna is fine.”
(TN: Chloe has been calling Kanna kihosama or anatasama which are very respectful ways of calling someone.)
“Then this one will be calling you Kannshi degozaru. This one doesn’t mind if you call me without honorifics too degozaru yo.”
“That so? Then Chloe it is.”
We kinda got sidetracked with my hair accident (has a bad ring to it) but I’ll get back to the main topic here.
“Now that I think about it, Chloe’s fighting ability was nothing to scoff at. She totally couldn’t be mistaken for some mob out there.”
knocking down all the ice shuriken I threw at her and mercilessly aiming for my vitals, her skill was the best of all I’ve seen (excluding one). Had I not acquired spirit magic I’d have been taken down in less than a minute. That wasn’t on the level of a back-alley fight.
“No, someone of this one’s level still has a long way to go degozru. If it was a real black wolf that you fought, though this is a bad way of saying it degozaruga, both Faimshi and Kannshi wouldn’t be alive by now gozaranakatta.”
“…………….I don’t know whether to honestly be happy or not.”
“you don’t have to look out for me degozaru yo. Being manipulated was this one’s miss and precisely because this one is unskilled that Kannshi could stop me. I only have gratitude for you de gozaru.”
Or so she said but Chloe’s expression would cloud whenever she said the word『unskilled』, her eyes would sway too. Well, doesn’t seem like a topic she wants to touch on so I’ll keep it at that.