Chapter 120 – There Is Affection Even in the Shadows (02)

Sussssseu…

Although it was not possible to completely cover her skin her, the [Shadow Granting Art] Could be applied to at least one line along her arm her or leg her her. Rito was scratching his head with a troubled expression as he watched.

“Is this… Useful?”

“…”

Actually, I didn’t think that using [Shadow Grant] On my skin would be useful.

The effect of [Shadow Granting Art] Is not to strengthen abilities, but rather to cover durability. If you look at it more closely, it is like a coating used to prevent damage. What difference would it make if you covered part of the body with this?

‘If it covers the skin widely and is used instead of a shield…’

When I cast [Shadow Grant Jutsu] On my palm and raised his hand, Rito threw the kunai he was holding.

Wow!

“Ugh!”

The moment you hit it, your concentration is broken and pain is felt, and even though durability is protected, the moment you hit it once, the shadow collapses and the defense is released, so it was meaningless unless you deployed it just once at the exact moment it hit you.

Although it is possible to defend, only a very small part can be defended, and if the opponent slightly changes the trajectory or the timing is off, it will be nullified, so should the use of the spirit be considered inaccurate at the moment?〈 Br〉

‘But if I have the technology, I will use it someday.’

“It doesn’t get caught on items? So is it all over? What should I do now?”

“Even if you ask me that… Rito has to think about it.”

“I thought five days would be enough. If not, I was going to ask Rita to teach me.”

“Use…”

In the end, I spent the remaining four days waiting for Inori and walking around looking at various places in the [Shadow Family].

Originally, Rito was supposed to protect me, but since it was over early, he escaped and said he was going to meet his lover, so I was wandering around alone and looking around, and the head of the house, Yujiro’s father, and the landlady, Saori’s wife, were also thinking about doing the same and neglecting me.

It was a darkly hidden mansion, but if you walked around wearing the [Shadow Mask], You could vaguely see the contents, but it was just a Japanese-style house and nothing special.

‘Well… If you look at it this way…’

I was able to see how the quest that originally had a master-servant relationship with Inori was arranged for the convenience of gamers.

It was originally a dark space with no light source, but when you actually entered the game, the windows were open here and there, and the candles were intentionally placed so that it was easy to read the hints.

To put it another way, they turned on the lights so that the man who Inori chose as her master could find out the hint, and Saori’s mother deliberately watched her without using [Shadow Thorn] And fed her everything while waiting for her to find out Inori’s real name.

‘From the [Shadow Family’s] Point of view, they work hard to prepare to welcome guests, but if they don’t get it right, they will be disappointed.’

As I walked around looking for hints, I was able to discover a small space hidden between the walls of the building, where I could smell the familiar scent of Inori’s ink.

Originally, the [Shadow Family] People gave off a subtle ink scent, but there was a subtle difference in the smell, perhaps due to the different inks they used.

I’ve rolled around with Inori so many times, but I wonder if she doesn’t recognize her unique scent.

Usually, one’s room is locked so that one can only open and enter it with the unique [Shadow Ninjutsu], But since I use the same shadow as Inori, I can just pass through.

When I went inside, there were several books and letters, so I sat down and started reading them one by one.

“A new lord has been appointed. It is unclear how his real name was discovered. I will post a report after a thorough investigation.”

When I looked closely at these letters, I saw that Inori, who was attending Celestial Academy, had written a report about herself.

At first, when my name was discovered, the incident in which he treated me as his lord and the incident in which he hid me in the bathhouse and took me to the bathhouse were briefly written as ‘I saved the bathroom because the lord was in trouble.’ I must have been shaking when I wrote this, but the tip of the brush must have been shaking. I was quite nervous.

As I read the different letters one by one…

“Hmm…”

For some reason, Inori’s letters mention me more and more.

At first, he worked mechanically next to me, but then his heart started pounding, so he asked me to send him a car to help him control his emotions. At first, he despised me for making him do dirty work, but then he became a little disappointed or regretful on days when I didn’t call him.

After I confessed my feelings to Inori, the calligraphy became blurred as if I hesitated while writing something about myself, and most of the letters were “There was nothing wrong today,” But from now on, I deliberately withheld the information because I thought it would be dangerous to report it to my family. It seemed like he had won.

And after I was kidnapped by the [Shadow Family], I first sent a long letter of resentment to Saori’s mother, but it was written so tightly that it even had to be folded, so I had to turn it around to read it.〈 Br〉

First of all, he reprimanded me for kidnapping him through Rito rather than first requesting him and visiting him with his lord, and for threatening him first instead of explaining the situation to his lord and serving him politely, and after that, he started swearing at Rito. There was a lot of this written on it.

In the next letter, I don’t know what the reply back to Saori’s mother was like, but I guess her anger still hasn’t subsided, and she gets angry in a cute way, saying, ‘I have good information that can be useful to the [Shadow Family], But I won’t tell you about it,’ which made me laugh without realizing it.

“Oh my gosh, Inori…”

Although Inori is my classmate, in reality she lies about her age and is 2 years older than me. Why is it so cute when I see her act like this?

There was nothing special about the letters after that, but Saori’s mother was curious about what useful information she could find, so she asked me to tell her something when she went on vacation, but that something was written in cipher text or something I couldn’ tread.

Did I ask you to tell me something like [Shadow Thorn]?

“Ugh… Ugh!”

While I was sitting in a comfortable position reading the letter, I was suddenly startled by a [Shadow Thorn] Sticking out in front of Gogan, so I stuck to the wall and protected myself with [Shadow Ninjutsu].

Bang!

“I told you not to enter the room without permission… Master?!”

It was Inori who kicked the door in anger and came inside.

However, the only difference from usual is that Saori’s mother is not wearing an academy uniform or a kunoichi outfit, but she is wearing the beautiful kimono she usually wears, with her hair tied up.

Marian went in with her after the vacation ceremony and saw her her face during the meal, but Inori could not even see her face after arriving here, so seeing her like this made her very happy.

“I thought you were at the training center…?”

“Isn’t that pretty?”

“Thank you…?”

Unlike usual, she didn’t have a mask to cover her face, so I thought this when I saw her blushing and covering her cheeks with both hands.

‘As expected, Inori is cute…’

*

Inori unexpectedly heard that she was not a [Shadow Thorn] But she was in the annex with Saori’s mother, taking bridal lessons.

When asked who gave it to me, it was… Yujiro’s father.

“It costs a lot.”

“Whoa… “

“If I were to explain what the matriarch said, this is what it means. I think we need to grow up quickly to take care of our daughter.”

“Ah, yes…”

I’ve already finished three bowls of rice, and even though I tend to eat a lot, this is a bit difficult.

‘It’s a Japanese concept and you’re a ninja, right? I thought I would get some news then…’

Rice cakes, rice, and soup were laid out before my eyes… It was too extravagantly prepared for a meal for only four people.

To get out of this situation, should I tell you that eating a lot won’t make you grow, or is there no use in telling you?

Currently, Saori’s mother and Inori were having separate dinner parties because they were training to be brides, and the kids were not there, perhaps because they were on a mission or out to play, so only Inori’s uncle-aged ninjas and Yujiro’s father were left. . At the table.

Even if I tell him secretly that Rito has run away, I can see that he doesn’t care, saying that it doesn’t matter because he went to a village that is subordinate to the [Shadow Family]. Contrary to Saori’s mother who is strict about showing manners and manners, her father her her, who is the head of the family, does not really care about her. It seems.

Moreover, these middle-aged ninjas, who looked so scary at first, took off their masks and smiled and offered me drinks, so I felt at ease because they were just like the guys next door. But since they had such innocent faces, I thought they were all wearing masks to scare me.

“Hmm.”

“Originally, my brother here even prepared a mask for our son-in-law, but Ritonome said he was wearing some kind of mask or something…”

“I heard it wasn’t necessary.”

For some reason, Yujiro’s father looked sad when he said that, so I held out my hand to him while putting on my most expectant expression his.

“Can you… “Give it to me?”

“…”

I saw it.

The corner of this blunt man’s mouth suddenly twitches.

Yujiro’s father took out a bundle wrapped in white paper from his arms and handed it to me. When I opened the bundle wrapped with red thread, a black mask appeared inside the paper with a faint ink scent.

When I turned it over and looked at it, Inori’s mask had black-purple sharp teeth marks on it, and mine had cuter-shaped teeth embroidered with silver thread. Anyone could see that it was a mask made just for me.

You have to use these items right away. Since I had experience wearing Inori’s mask, I put it on with skillful hands. My father smiled happily and my uncles chuckled and held out their glasses to me.

“Try wearing the mask Rito mentioned.”

As I put the [Shadow Mask] On my face, my uncles’ expressions changed, and he suddenly took out an assassin’s straight sword and showed me my face reflected on its surface.

‘This is quite… A look you like?’

I liked it because I was wearing a Western-style mask called [Shadow Mask] And my mouth was covered with a mask, so I looked like a monster bathed in black shadow.

“It suits me well.”

“Thank you. I will write well.”

“Hmm.”

After the men’s drinking party got anymore, my father frowned and protected my uncles from taking me away, saying they wanted to drink more. After a while, Saori’s mother took my father away, and I was left alone.

I thought Inori was going to bring me, but looking at Saori’s mother’s eyes, it doesn’t look like she’s going to let me go to my room.

“If I had known it would be like this, I would have taken it slowly.”

I spent the remaining four days with my uncles and Yujiro’s father, and it wasn’t until the last day that I was able to leave my home, holding the hand of Inori, who had changed back into her kunoichi attire.

“Inori still has some education left, right?”

“Yes…”

“Take care of it. See you after vacation.”

Looking at Inori who could not face her face as if she was embarrassed for some reason, I put on a mask and covered my face with Inori and left the territory of the [Shadow Family] And went down to the village near the academy.

Then next…

“Ha…”

One day from [Shadow Family]. And the deadline to get there is one day.

Is it really possible to go there in two days?

“An observatory run by a star wizard… It’s too far away…”