Chapter 30

Twitch—

As soon as the words were uttered, the corpse of the monster I had just slain, which was supposed to be dead, trembled ever slightly.

Soon after, from the section that should have been cut in half, something like long and thin threads burst out all at once… stitching the said part back together.

In the blink of an eye, the stinking mess of the corpse was soon transformed into its original form.

“Why are you so surprised about my magic? Haven’t you heard that puppets and strings are inseparable?”

…It’s often said that there’s a world of difference between hearing and actually seeing.

The magic of creating a sword out of nothing alone was already quite impressive, but the astonishment at what was happening in front of my eyes right now surpassed my ability by miles.

“Now then, you will be ‘Pii-chan’ from now on.”

Not to mention Fiole’s bad naming sense, she pointed her finger at what used to be a monster, and decided to call it ‘Pii-chan’.

The reason was probably that it made the same noise befitting of a chirp, in addition to its big, googly eyes.

“Let’s see… you are, uh…”

“Julius.”

“Yeah, Julius-kun then! We can’t take on a horde of monsters by ourselves, so we have to get out of here. Can you use that right hand properly…?”

I wondered why she asked such a question, but I cast it aside and tried to move my hand with a grunt.

There was some numbness to it, but still within the range of being usable enough.

“Oh, don’t you look relatively healthy? From the looks of it, it seems like I feared for nothing.”

Before I could say that my arm was fine, Fiole, who was observing my actions, made a judgment on her own.

Quick as a flash, she then jumped onto the body of the monster with great ease, seeing that it had already been repaired.

“Hey! We don’t have time, so hurry up!”

I did just as she told and jumped on board, following her lead.

The bridle made of many layers of bundled threads on the monster’s back explained why she asked me if I could use my hands.

In essence, Fiole wanted to know if I could grab onto the reins.

“Did you get a good grip?”

“I sure did… Oh, I mean— I managed to get a hold, ma’am.”

I was late to realize it, but she identified herself as Fiole Islebark.

So in other words— she’s a noblewoman, an aristocrat.

“I don’t particularly care about honorifics. It’s not like those will do you any good here in Minaura.”

She didn’t like formalities to begin with, she said.

Right after that note, as if to make a command, she uttered one word that the puppet monster obeyed: “Fly.” 

“Hold on tight, now!! You could get shaken off for all I know!!”

After the monster started flapping its wings, its body was immediately taken away with a loud fwoosh.

“Are you kidding me—?!”

We suddenly started flying ninety degrees vertically.

The momentum of the movement placed an unexpected burden on my hand, causing it to throb and ache.

But if I let go, I’d surely fall.

I didn’t even have the time to whine.

“I know I said we were going to run away, but my motto is to kill the monsters when I can, you know?”

A complete vertical ascent for more than a dozen seconds.

Fiole screamed in the air, not letting the wind get the better of her, and as soon as she did, another command followed suit: “Descent!!!”

Shortly after, the monster somersaulted around in the sky, helping us fall to near the ground this time.

From out of nowhere, a familiar, distinctive sound shook my eardrums.

I guessed we were just in time, even though I couldn’t believe it when I heard it.

The ground was already filled with monsters, and their number was only increasing.

The hairs on my body stand up on end at the sight of them churning.

“Come on Pii-chan, do it—”

The monster’s maw soon opened with a snap, obeying her words.

And the temperature of the surroundings rose moment by moment.

***

[Translator – Niel ]

[Proofreader – DVN-L ]

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***

I had heard of such magic, but I didn’t think her『Corpse Puppet: Marionette』could do such a thing.

I couldn’t help but just look in astonishment.

And so it came—

『 Fireblaze— 』

—A torrent of flames.

A rush of crimson-red fire spread across my entire field of vision.

Screams were soon heard, but they immediately faded away with the unpleasant smell of burning flesh.

…I was amazed that I was able to win against this thing.

The great firepower spread out in front of me, triggering a feeling of deep, negative emotion in my heart.

Before long, after burning as much as it could for a few seconds, we changed direction for the second time.

Although she didn’t hunt all of them down, she was seemingly satisfied that she had killed most of them without being bothered by the fact that some of them lived.

“What brought you to Minaura by the way, Julius?”

With her back turned, Fiole asked.

“I thought I could be strong, so I came here.”

There was no reason for me to hesitate, so I answered the question immediately.

“I thought that this place could serve as a good wall for me to overcome. I thought that there was plenty of food here to push me to a higher level.”

The sole reason why I came to Minaura, I told her.

I thought that I should honestly answer at least that question since she saved my life, even with the possibility of her laughing at me as if I were crazy for doing so.

…No, even if that ended up not being the case, I should still be laughed at.

I was in such a mess against just one mutant monster, and I didn’t know what could’ve happened to me without Fiole.

…And even with that being said,

“Hmm~? You said the same thing… How interesting.”

Instead of laughing at me hysterically, she replied in a sense as if someone else had said the same thing, making me feel a little caught off-guard by it.

“I think it’s good to be greedy for strength, Julius. You are also correct, if you are looking to be strong, Minaura is the perfect place for you. This town is filled with strong monsters, and you can fight them to the death as many times as you want. For beings like you, it’s a heavenly place.”

The words she uttered had a certain persuasive power to them, justifying the reason why she was the lord of this town, Minaura.

“…In fact, someone that is probably the same kind of person as you are, told me just that, Julius. Her name is Viera, my younger sister.”

She was probably talking about Viera Islebark. 

I was a little surprised that she was hiding such heat behind that cold demeanor.

At the same time—

“Well, let’s put that aside for now. I have a proposal for a fighting maniac like you, Julius.”

I wished for power.

I wanted to slay the stars, and I wanted to make the technique that only existed in my memory known to the world.

A memory from a certain man’s lifetime.

That was all that I was hoping to achieve, so I felt a little bit of frustration being called a fighting maniac, and thus, I raised my eyebrows slightly.

“Has this made you want to fight side by side with us?”

My grim expression turned even more grim the moment I heard those words.

…I wondered what on earth she meant by those words.

“I saved you because I thought you were worth keeping alive, Julius. I thought that if I let you survive here, you would still kill the monsters, which is, undeniably, to our benefit.”

As the lord of Minaura, she said, she welcomed anyone who was willing to fight to eradicate the monsters that were spreading all over the place.

“I just thought that you might be more intriguing given that you and Viera-chan are the same kind of person… That technique of yours— ‘Shooting Star’ was it? With an attack as powerful as that one, you’d be perfect.”

She doesn’t want to die, and she doesn’t want Viera to die either, she added.

Above all, they wanted to increase their forces as much as possible.

“—’Jabberwock’”

She uttered a name.

“That is the name of the head of the monsters that appeared in Minaura this time, and it seems to be more troublesome than ever. It’s really going to be a bit tricky from here on out, you know?”

Though I couldn’t see her expression, I could somehow guess what she was thinking.

“That’s why I have a favor to ask you, in recognition of your skill in defeating Pii-chan by yourself. Julius-kun, would you join us and lend us your hand in defeating the Jabberwock?”