Chapter 509 – Revenge and Negotiation

000

After finishing the story up to that point, Kuzunoha quietly closed her eyes and then woke up.

After taking out the memories of her inside her, it seemed necessary to sort out her resurrected emotions of her at that time.

It’s anger, regret. And, it was memories and longing for the person who would not come back.

Quon, who was sitting next to her, waited patiently for her to speak again.

Then-

“…This is the story of me and Inari-sensei. And after that – Tamamo-sama took me back to the brothel… And erased my ‘memories’.”

“Remember…”

Kuzunoha sharply opened her eyes and glared at Tamamo who was on the other side of her room.

“Yes! My memories of Inari-sensei… And even the fact that she died trying to protect me… Even though she said it was to protect me. I changed my memories with Inari-sensei into memories with myself. . .. To make me into an obedient doll!”

She expresses hatred so intense that she bares her teeth.

Hearing her words of her, Quon could n’t help but look a bit shocked.

‘Erasing the memory of an important person… In addition, psychological manipulation that changed the subject to himself…’

I can’t help it even if I ‘m resentful Besides, Tamamo has told her that he trains her as a ‘guardian of her magatama’, but her truth her is a little different from that.

Her training is to make her into her ‘Hakumen’s vessel’.

To put it nicely, it’s a bowl, but to put it more clearly, it’s a sacrifice for Hakumen.

It is said that foxes deceive people, but Tamamo repeats the lie.

All the lies she told her to save her people from persecution and to protect Kuzunoha from her mental trauma to her.

Now, he was driving Kuzunoha and making Tamamo herself suffer.

“…To me, the future of the fairies has nothing to do with it. I have only hatred for him… And contempt for this race that easily deceives people.”

“So. Even with the use of such drugs, the power…”

A deadly drug created by mixing two drugs that would normally ruin the body.

Even using it with the power to extend her tail her, she wanted to take revenge on her for deceiving her so far.

Her vengeance is justified.

It’s even more unfortunate because it’s justified.

It seemed that there was no longer a way to restore the relationship between the two who had gone astray.

Telling her things like ‘stop her revenge’ and ‘hatred only breeds more grudges’ was impossible for Quon, the other person.

Even if she said it – she didn’t even seem able to stop her.

Quon let out a big sigh and spoke to Kuzunoha.

“…If you talk like that. There’s no reason for me to stop Kuzunoha. I just hope that choice doesn’t bring about a bigger tragedy.”

Saying that, Quon stood up from his seat.

Kuzunoha looks at such Kuon from behind her and talks carefully.

“…You’re a little different from the other shrine maidens… I thought you’d say things like ‘revenge is fleeting’…”

“Why? Righteous revenge… No, that heart that aspires to achieve revenge is enough to motivate people to live.”

Quon looks at her as she smiles bitterly.

“…I know someone like that.”

At Kuon’s words, Kuzunoha fell silent for a moment as if thinking about something.

Then she nods her head knowingly.

“You’re… The one who’s been forgiven.”

“Yes, that’s right. He was so kind that he couldn’t help it… He forgave me for doing something really bad. So- I swore to live for him.”

While talking like that, Quon said inside himself, “Forgiveness may be a form of revenge.”

He realized the weight of his sin and was forgiven.

Thanks to that, the regret deepens.

It becomes a weight that weighs heavily on the heart.

It’s a little better now – but when he was living in Ellesia, Quon’s heart was always full of regret towards Cleon.

If the day comes when he draws out the sword, saying ‘I can’t do that’, I was thinking of accepting it sweetly.

“Kuzunoha. Do what you want to do. For people, everyone has the freedom to do so. But, don’t mistake ‘what you want to do’.”

“Is there any misunderstanding of what you want to do?”

Quon nods his head.

“People’s emotions aren’t always logical. They’re impulsive, and there are times when they turn their eyes away from rational judgment. At times like these, people do things that even they themselves can’t believe.”

“… I- what do I want to do?”

After hearing Kuon’s story, Kuzunoha thought about it before opening her mouth.

“Obviously, Tamamo- it’s true that you hate that person. So, you’re acting to destroy what she holds dear.”

While saying that, Kuzunoha looked down at her hands.

“I thought that doing that would make me feel better… But… Is it really right? Is this going to be my revenge on him? .”

While thinking deeply about something, Kuzunoha murmured.

Kuon had one last word to say to Kuzunoha.

“Think carefully. Once something happens, it’s impossible for anyone to undo it.”

001

As Quon walks out of her room, both Cleon and Tamamo look at her at the same time.

Tamamo carefully questioned Quon.

“…Kuzunoha?”

“All wounds healed. Fingers are all right… For now, I think it’s better to leave him alone to think for a while.”

As Kuon said that, her eyes looking at her Tamamo were a little complicated.

To tell her her honest story her, when she was looking at Tamamo after hearing all of Kuzunoha’s story her, even though she understood the purpose of her actions her-

At the same time, why did a person who had been able to think of that far act without thinking about Kuzunoha’s feelings her at all?

But Quon shook her head.

Didn’t she just tell herself, to Kuzunoha.

It is ‘misunderstanding what you want to do’. Obviously, she too.

This is what many call a ‘mistake’.

“Then… Let’s go out for a while.”

“…Yeah. If it’s Kuzunohara, it’ll be fine.”

Quon nodded at Cleon’s words.

Tamamo also bowed her head to them with a dark face.

“…Thank you. For helping me this far.”

“——It’s a bonus to stop Poltuk. The problem between Kuzunoha and you is a problem that the two of you have to solve. Kuon was just consulting a 15-year-old child.”

Saying that, Cleon left Tamamo’s shop with Quon.

Walking down the streets of the brothel, I could see that there were fewer people than in the morning.

“Hey, Cleon.”

Meanwhile, Quon opened her mouth.

“Yes?”

“…Thank you.”

“Suddenly?”

When Cleon looked back at her as if she had some reason, Quon shook her head.

“It’s just. Everything that exists right now is thanks to Cleon. I just thought of it again while talking with Kuzunoha.”

“…Is it.”

At her words her, Cleon nods her head in agreement.

If that was what she was feeling, she could no longer say what she was feeling about her.

All she did was reach out her hand her to Quon and hold her hand her.

“Then where are you going now?”

In response to Quon’s question, Cleon said “Hmm” In a thoughtful voice.

“Well. It’s okay to leave Kuzunoha alone, but I can’t just leave it as it is. Let’s take a look around the brothel. There won’t be anything in the brothel during the day. Maybe we can go for a walk . How about it?”

“Yeah. I’m fine with that too.”

As the two say so and try to step out, they catch eyes with a woman approaching them clearly from the front.

No, it would be a bit absurd to say that our eyes meet.

Red wide-brimmed hat, white wavy hair.

A woman wearing a dress that slightly exposed her bust.

She wears dark colored glasses on her face and even a mask covering her mouth.

Somewhere – It is an absurdly foreign existence to be in the brothel of this eastern country.

And if Quon gets flustered that she’s walking in the direction that it’s clear that if she walks like this, she’ll bump into Cleon-

Cleon and his wife his. Both sides were to stop.

“No way, I thought it would appear directly from there.”

And as Cleon spoke, the woman looked down at Cleon and opened her mouth.

“Oh. You know me… I wonder if it’s the ‘Dark Horse’. Is this the first time you’ve seen it in person?”

“…Cleon.”

When Quon raises her body magic with a nervous expression, Cleon nods to her as well.

“Regressor—Darwin.”

“Whoops…”

When her own name her was called, Cleon and Quon glared at her with a small smile at the same time.

002

From there, the three of them moved to a place that was so secluded that few people passed by.

Probably, even in the brothel, the bottom of the bottom.

While moving to a place where even the sunlight does not come in properly, Cleon and her – Darwin collide with the life force and magic flowing from their bodies.

And, upon arriving there, the first to move was Cleon.

“Mana Shock!”

Paperweight! When the magic pops up, Darwin blocks it by lifting the big bag he was holding.

“…It’s savage. You didn’t say hello properly, but you’re attacking with magic first.”

“Is such a thing necessary? I’ve already learned from fighting you many times.”

When Cleon said that, Darwin raised his hands with a snort.

Seeing this, Cleon and Quon also widen their eyes as if surprised.

“I didn’t come to fight you. The Dark Demon clan. Rather, I came to help you.”

“You? Us? … For what purpose?”

When Cleon asked her sincerity of her actions, which he still had no choice but to doubt, Darwin answered in a low voice.

“Revenge… What if?”

“Revenge? …Revenge, isn’t that what you want me to do? Maxwell and Laplace. You lost two of the regressor’s executives.”

To Cleon’s words, Darwin clenched her fists as if trying to suppress her anger.

“Of course. I remember. But… That’s the resentment as a ‘returner’. …What I’m trying to resolve this time is a ‘personal grudge’. I can’t get over it unless I kill the guy who treated me like an idiot lately.”

“How can that be a story that helps us…!”

When Quon raised her voice like that, Cleon thought about her for a moment, then she nodded her head knowingly.

“…Poltukro. Considering the situation, he’s the only one who deserves it.”

At Cleon’s words her, she nods her head.

“That’s correct. He was my apprentice before the establishment of the Empire’s laboratory. Both of them, hiding their identities as regressors and subordinates of the emperor.”

“They play well with each other.”

At the words of Cleon’s day, she ‘sucks’and bites her lip, but she exercises her patience and carries on her story her.

“Poltuk fled with some of my research results, and became the ‘dark giant’ of the Empire. In other words, some of the knowledge he is using is mine.”

“Is it a resentment for having your research stolen?”

Darwin shook his head at his question her.

“No. More important than that. That he is using you to revive the ‘Emperor of the Demonic Sword’. We have to stop that.”

“It seems that you want to prevent the resurrection of the demon sword emperor.”

When Cleon also answered her words while squinting her eyes, Quon spoke to her quietly.

“That… I’ve been concerned about it since before. How do you make Cleon the demonic sword emperor? Cleon has already neutralized the reincarnation factor inside Cleon.”

“If you have the aptitude, there are many ways. Brainwashing. Drugs. Hypnosis. Modification. Magic or torture. If you use any method- such as awakening the beast of endless greed and violence that sleeps inside.”

“Don’t talk about people like monsters.”

Cleon and Quon, who respond to her words like that, prepare magic in their hands as if they are angry.

“Isn’t he actually a monster? The ‘Emperor of the Demonic Sword’ has a history of annihilating a battalion of the kingdom army with his single power his. … And he’s even abominable. Because it exists.”

“If you call an entity that cannot be understood with their own ideology as a monster. I am the same as you.

“Yes. We can never understand each other. We perceive each other as monsters.”

The never-ending war of nerves, Cleon and Darwin looked at each other—and soon, Cleon opened his mouth again.

“…They use each other. You can think of it that way, right?”

“Of course, I came here with that in mind from the beginning.”

Saying so, Darwin slowly sets the bag he was carrying to the ground.

To such Darwin, Cleon does not relax at all and waits with magic prepared at his fingertips.

If any one of them showed a suspicious movement, they faced each other with the momentum to bite each other’s necks.

What Darwin took out as he opened the bag was-

It was a small vial with black liquid dripping from it.

“This is the elixir of evolution.”

“…Elixir of evolution?”

At Cleon’s words, she nods her head.

“Every life on this continent has multiple possibilities. It’s the potential, or the remnants of the ‘past’ hidden deep in your genes. Or the path to the ‘future’. The ‘reincarnation factor’ you have is one of those things. This drug is a drug that awakens that possibility.”

“…Can I recognize it as a doping agent?”

“He’s a really rude man… But, well, I don’t want to understand that deep. Of course. It’s not just about doping.”

Cleon frowns at her saying that she is being treated as an idiot somewhere, but she does n’t mind and continues her story of her.

“Something like this, Poltuk has it now. Of course. To use it on you. If you use it, it will call up the reincarnation factor in you and make you the demonic sword emperor.”

“──”

Cleon listens to her and looks at her blankly for a moment.

“You didn’t hand it over, did you?”

“I’ll tell you half-but not arbitrarily. I was threatened.”

“In the end, it’s like taking care of what you’ve done.”

“If I hadn’t told you, you don’t know when or where he might have given her medicine.”

When her story her does n’t get along with her snarl, there’s a moment of silence before Cleon urges her to ‘go on’.

“And- there is a drug that has the exact opposite effect. In other words, is it the ‘elixir of degeneration’? It’s a throwaway drug.”

As she says that, she waves a white pill from the same bottle into her hand.

“Use this on him.”

As she said that, she tossed the vial at Cleon, who raised her hand to catch it.

“Dear Folduk, are you telling me to use this medicine?”

“Yes. If I encounter a situation where I cannot use the Evolutionary Elixir on you, I will probably use it on myself. I will use it to strengthen my abilities and try to subdue you.”

“If that’s the case, are you saying use this to neutralize it… After all, it’s cleanup, right?”

Cleon said and shrugged her shoulders, and Darwin let out a sigh.

“As a result, it will help you all… But I also hate a man named Polduk even more than you, the Demonic Sword Emperor.”

“So you have such personal feelings. To you regressors.”

As Cleon spoke, Darwin lifted his bag.

“Of course. Unlike you, a beast that accelerates destruction. Cain.”

“I’m not Cain, the Demonic Sword Emperor. …I’m the adventurer, Cleon.”

Cleon frowned at Darwin’s words, and Darwin listened to the answer and talked to Cleon.

“That’s fine. More than that, I’d like to excuse you guys when you fight Poltuk… I’d like you to promise not to attack each other there.”

“You know better that we can’t trust each other.”

“…Didn’t I tell you? My resentment for him is greater than my resentment for you. Do you think it’s reasonable to strike first rather than start a three-way battle?”

Cleon was silent for a moment at her words.

“… No, I won’t hold hands with you.”

“What?”

Did Darwin get it wrong? He looked at Cleon with the same expression.

“…Returners and the remnants of the Empire. They arbitrarily bring their circumstances to us. They do what they want to do by themselves. …I’m tired of falling for your ulterior motives.”

When Cleon spreads her hand while saying that, she tries to spread the barrier around Cleon and Darwin.

“I’m not soft enough to let you go here right now.”

“—Ha.”

Darwin smiled at Cleon’s words and looked behind her.

A situation from which there is no way to escape.

Then, Darwin looks back at Cleon as if he can’t help it.

“Wait a minute. If you kill me now… The way to purify countless nobles will disappear. Is that really a good thing? The moment you start attacking. I’m ready to destroy all the data I have and erase my memories .I You must know that we are studying nobles.You must also remember the attack the day before yesterday.”

“…”

At her words, Cleon stopped her magical power that spread her barrier.

“Chit…”

Let’s stare at each other for a while.

The barrier that Cleon had spread was to disappear.

Darwin let out a sigh of relief inwardly, but did he judge that it was dangerous to provoke Cleon any further?

Turn your body around

“Our match is first after Poltuk’s death.”

Saying that, Darwin disappeared in front of Cleon as if he were running away.

“…Cleon. You’ve been patient. There will be another chance, sooner or later.”

Her kuon puts her hand on her back of Cleon, who chose to let her go.

Cleon nodded slowly, looking down at the white vial in his hand.

“Ah. It’s not like there wasn’t a harvest.”

In the eyes of Cleon who said that, the mark of a hunter shines.

There- his own magic thread leading towards Darwin was revealing its presence his.

“…You can chase him at any time. First of all, let’s do something about Polduk.”