Chapter 183 (Cleaned) – The Beginning Ritual

Editor: Wenderu

The moonlight was descending from the outside of the window. When Soma approached the window, thinking that it was a quiet and good night, he let out a breath as he watched the perfect circle moon. Once the chatting after the dinner was over, he was guided to a room where he was told to use it tonight.

When he looked around, he could see the interior of the room. He let out a breath again because the room was clearly too big.

“Saying that he was sorry since this room might be too narrow… has his sense somehow become weird?” (Soma)

In any case, it was twice the size of the room of his parents’ house. This was certainly appropriate from the castle’s scale, but this might not be narrow.

If Iori wasn’t being humble, then, this would be strange…

“He could really speak out his mind, isn’t it?” (Soma)

Well, as far as Soma concerned, Iori had already spent nearly half of his life in this castle. It could be said that it wouldn’t be strange if that guy had one or two unusual common sense.

When people heard such a story, it was natural to think of it as a matter of course. However, the person himself told Soma not to worry. So, there was nothing he could do now.

“…Well, he said that I would get used to this before long.” (Soma)

He had no choice but to believe it.

“Now…” (Soma)

Anyhow, he was thinking about what to do from now on.

If he thought it simply, he should just go to sleep. Unfortunately, he wasn’t sleepy yet.

However, he didn’t see anything that he could spend this spare time on. Felicia and Sheila said that they would rest first, so he couldn’t go to them for a chat. As expected, he shouldn’t just go exploring this place.

“Hmm?” (Soma)

At that time, the door of the room was knocked.

Soma tilted his head because he had no idea who would come. And it can’t be the two girls for they should be resting, the butler has no business with him as well so he was left thinking who  it was. Of course, Iori was the most likely to knock, but it wasn’t possible for him to come at this time.

However…

“Soma? Are you still awake?” (Iori)

“Iori?” (Soma)

The voice he heard was definitely from Iori.

He thought about it suspiciously, but he went to the door and opened it, and… it was as he expected. Iori was standing in an easy-going manner.

“…Why are you here?” (Soma)

“Oi, oi. Isn’t it normal that I want to talk more with my friend after a long time? That reason should be enough right?  Well, it’s a bit shocking to think that should be enough…” (Iori)

“It’s fine to be shocked by all means, but shouldn’t you go to where Aina is right now?” (Soma)

Yes, that was the reason Soma thought Iori wouldn’t come here at this time. If it had been a long time, it should be Aina first. It would be normal to give priority to his daughter than his friend.

Besides, he had already confirmed that they were both together in this world. They had already talked about most of the circumstances, and there was nothing in particular that they needed to talk about immediately. It was fine to talk again later when the next opportunity arrived.

“Well, I went to Aina, but… I got kicked out.” (Iori)

“Oi, what did you do? You should make peace with her, don’t you?” (Soma)

“That was  a misunderstanding. When I went to her, I was told to go to you because her business was already over. There seems to be a lot of things, and I think it’s enough since she already showed herself in good spirits.” (Iori)

“Hmm… you just think that it doesn’t matter, right?” (Soma)

“Oi, choose your words carefully alright. I also wondered if that’s the case, but if you say it badly, I’ll go hang my head in shame, alright?” (Iori)

Iori’s face was too serious, when he blurted out. If the girls saw Iori now, what would they say?

“You don’t seem to have changed, but you’re actually changing. No… rather, should I say that there are parts that haven’t changed and parts that have changed?” (Soma)

“Hmm, is that so?” (Iori)

“If it was in the past, wouldn’t you say something like a joke?” (Soma)

“Aah… maybe. There were a lot of things. And you seem to have changed quite a bit, isn’t it?” (Iori)

“Really? …Well, I’ve had a lot of things.” (Soma)

They hadn’t talked about a lot of things yet. Since Soma understood it, he looked at Iori while shrugging with a wry smile. It was the same as Iori…

“Well, if that’s the case, come on in. I was just thinking about what I was going to do with my spare time.” (Soma)

“Ouh, I’ll get in your way then. Rather, I’m the owner of this place.” (Iori)

The night was still long. He wanted to talk with the friend he met for the first time in a long time. Then, Soma invited Iori into the room.

—

“Hmmm… are you crazy?” (???)

“What about it? Aah, could it be because I poisoned you?” (Steina)

Steina shrugged her shoulders as she thrust out her bloody spear. As she moved the spear, the throat of the man being stabbed was cut shallowly, but she didn’t particularly care. That didn’t change her intention to stab that neck. If it was so, it might be pointless to worry.

“Well that doesn’t matter. You just need to tell me where the other guys are. …If you want to have the same experience with them right now, that would be another matter.” (Steina)

There were about twenty people in front of her when she looked in a glance. They were either pierced, beaten or burned by lightning. All of them had become a corpse.

The reason why she was so sure was because Steina was the one who made those people that way.

“Dear me… that’s sad. You were supposed to be our leader, but… what made you change your mind?” (???)

“Is it be because I feed you guys with poison? However, as for me, I haven’t changed.” (Steina)

Yes, nothing had changed. Since she hadn’t changed, she really should have been doing this from the beginning. Even if she became merciless, it wasn’t necessary to put out a strange sense of responsibility.

Perhaps, if she felt responsible, she had chosen the wrong measure. She wasn’t going to lead everyone because she was the daughter of the Demon King. She should have given them the lead.

Yes, that was the reason why Steina was doing this. She knew that these men were plotting something foolish again. This time, she had come prepared to destroy them responsibly.

To be honest, it was a bet whether she could discover them, but she managed to succeed. The reason why she held back until this time was because there were too many people gathered, more than expected. There would be no problem if they were attacking her all at once, but it was impossible to think that no one would escape. Therefore, it started only after the number of people began to split just before the operation.

But because of that, Steina didn’t know where the other people were gathering. Although she heard that the place to gather for each strategy were different, the only place that Steina could hear was at this place, which was the gathering place for the strategy that was given to her.

That was why she was here with this man, who was supposed to know all the other places…

“So, are you going to speak? Or do I need to torture you? Honestly, I don’t feel like I’ve done anything, so I think it’ll be pretty rough… Well, it seems that I don’t have spare time. If that’s what you want, I just have to do it, right?” (Steina)

“Well, well, calm down a bit. It won’t lead to a good outcome if you’re in a hurry.” (Man)

“What? You… what are you–…!?” (Steina)

At the moment, her head shook. Her vision blurred, and immediately after, nausea struck her.

“…Guhaaa!?” (Steina)

What was vomited was the same red-black liquid that spread out on the ground. The question of why had passed in her mind, but soon, it was no longer there. The body lost its strength, and fell down on the spot.

“Ka-haa… how…!?” (Steina)

“Phew… what a relief. My liver got cold. Should I say that… it takes time to reach this far?” (Man)

“Cou-ld it be… poison? But, it was…” (Steina)

“Yes, you’ll be surprised if I say I didn’t put it in my mouth even a bite. Well, there are other ways to get you eat it. Of course, we shouldn’t be aware of it, so we didn’t let everyone know… and those who were unfortunate were used to draw your intention.” (Man)

“Kuh… You…!?” (Steina)

“Oh my, why are you so angry? In the end, I did the same thing, you know? However, you are able to withstand it since I secretly made you drink the poison a bit… So, the effect is slower than those people. Well, it is as I expected.” (Man)

Steina desperately tried to move her body to the side of the man who lowered his head with a look of disrespect, but she couldn’t even lift one finger. Only the cough was repeated against her will, and the ground was dyed red and black each time.

Still, it didn’t seem that she would die soon, but… it would be the same in this state.

“Aah, don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you, alright? Yeah, there’s no need to do such a wasteful thing. That’s because we have created such a convenient situation.” (Man)

“Convenient… situation… is it…?” (Steina)

“Yes. These people were meant to mislead your eyes, but at the same time, they were also traps. And… oh my? This is also convenient because you are wearing something that we need to break the seal of a certain existence. Indeed… it is really a convenient situation.” (Man)

“Could it.. be!?” (Steina)

Obviously, Steina had no intention of waking up the sleeping existence in this place.

Still, she had the thing needed to prepare in case of an emergency. She wasn’t going to use them by any chance. She didn’t have time to dispose it either, and she thought that it was the best for her to keep it.

That was…

“Well… please wait a moment. I’m going to draw a magic formation from now on. Oh, rest assured. There’s still plenty of time before the operation starts.” (Man)

The man said so while laughing. With a dark fire in the depth of the eyes. He didn’t know that he was on the path of destruction.

Perhaps… he was aware of it, but he didn’t mind.

“Let’s get started. That Demon King was also repelled in the end… by the resurrection ritual of the Demon God.” (Man)

Along with the words, the man distorted his mouth weirdly.

—

TLN:

• I’m not sure the Demon King mentioned on the last part is Iori or the previous Demon King.