Act 1: Chapter 22: Hades's Impurity
I made a water ball float above my right hand and a fireball on my left hand.
Fire magic, 2nd rank 《Fire Ball》, and Water Magic, 2nd Rank 《Water Ball》.
「Alright, I can maintain both magic….」
I clenched my teeth and somehow maintained them.
《Twin Mind Methods》’s training.
Five days since I’ve started training 《Twin Mind Method》, I finally started getting the gist of this skill.
My face was stiff just to maintain these two magic.
To be honest, doing this already took a heavy toll on my mind.
「Not BaD KAnAtA, You MatEriAliZed The Magic.」
Noble Mimic came towards me.To be honest, maintaining these two magics needed an extremely focused mind to the point that I didn’t even have the leeway to reply to Noble Mimic.
To get my body used to this state, I tried to maintain this state even if it was just a second longer.
「KaNAtA, HeY, KanAATAA.」
Noble Mimic kept calling out my name.
He began loitering around me.
Ignore him, just ignore him.
Though he might be disturbing me, I’ve to keep my focus right now.
「… It’s GaG tIMe, bUttErfLY knOt.」
Noble Mimic’s tongue stretched out and then knitted to form a butterfly.
I wondered about how the hell he could do such complex knots, it turned out he just stretched out his tongue into a straight line.
「Pft….」
The ball of water and fire burst as soon as I lost my focus.
…. Since it burst right on my hand, the fireball burned my right hand, and the water ball made my left hand wet.
「Waa, my BaD KaNaTa. it SeEms I DisTurBed YoU Just When YOu’Re about To Be Able To Do It….」
T-This shitty Mimic really is like a no-good human…..
I drank the 《Ether》 left by Lunaire for me to clear my mind from the after-effects of using the《Twin Mind Method》, it increased my awareness and helped me remember the feeling I had just now when I was about to have a breakthrough.
《Ether》 is also capable of increasing someone’s magic sense.
「ArE yoU… AngRY?」
「I’m not, but….. Well, thanks for the praise.」
I placed my hand on Noble Mimic’s head and unreservedly knocked it.
「Well, I actually wanted to receive that kind of praise from master rather than a treasure box, but…」
Lunaire was currently going out for a walk.
She went to resupply our food and drug ingredients.
In other words, she went hunting.
….. I wonder how long it’ll take for her to allow me to hunt along with her?
Err, that might be when I leave this place.
「heHe, You’Re SuCh A gOOd GuY, KaNaTa. Want ME tO sHaRE tHis newS With her?」
「Well, I guess I’ve to tell master about this myself.」
「Mugu….」
I heaved a sigh.
I started to understand how to use the《Twin Mind Method》.
…. The stronger I became, the closer the day I’ve to leave this place.
「… Just a bit more and I’ll master the 《Twin Mind Method》, after that….. I guess I can fight on equal grounds against the mages outside of this place as long as I raised my level, right?」
「eH?」
Noble Mimic gave a strange reply in hearing my words.
「Did I just say something strange?」
「… W-WeLL, I AlSo haD No IdeA AbOut ThE WorLd OutSide BuT, I GuEss YoU’LL bE FinE.」
Noble Mimic said as if trying to be as elusive as possible.
… It seemed he wanted to tell me about something but he didn’t say anything even after I waited for him to continue.
Anyway, my magic precision should’ve been raised thanks to the《Twin Mind Method》.
My biggest harvest in this training might be the fact that I could cast one magic without any real need to be focused on my utmost limit rather than using two magic at the same time.
This might increase my leveling efficiency in hunting the Mirror Devils.
… I guess it was time to start planning for when I leave this place.
「Treasure box-san, have you ever left this place? You know, like sightseeing outside….」
「Not realLy, I’M juSt HaPpY WiTh LoiTerINg ArOunD InsiDe ThIs PlaCe FoR FooD Or FiGhTinG OtHEr DeMONs. I HaS No INTeRESt In ThinGs LikE ToWn Or CounTRY.」
…. What a demon-like reply.
Well, sometimes I forget that he is a demon who lived in this place, he was like a dog who loitered around Lunaire.
「On ToP Of ThaT, MastEr is Also LivINg in THis Place. I’vE NeVeR SeE A BeAuTy LikE MasTer OutSide. YoU AlsO NeVer MeT SomeONe As BeaUtIfUL As Her EvEn In YoUr WorLd, Right?」
Noble Mimic let out a perverted laugh.
What a lustful box….
Well, he might simply never have met a female Mimic.
「…. WeLL, I FeeL ThaT KaNaTa NeVer Met One BefOre. I Don’T KnoW AboUt The OtHer HumAn But, I FeEl SomEsoRt of CheMisTry whEn I TeAsiNg You.」
「…………」
I’ve waited for him to continue since he was hinting about something just now.
「Even sO…. MaStEr Is StaYinG In This PlaCe. And, TeAsing MaSteR is Far MorE AmuSInG ThaN TeAsiNg YoU, KanAta.」
「Treasure Box-san….」
Though he normally teased her, Noble Mimic does care about Lunaire in his own ways.
「Uhm… Why did master refuse to leave this place?」
…. It seemed that I didn’t misunderstand at that time in the fact that Lunaire was really happy about me coming to this place.
She was definitely feeling lonely.
The person herself denied it when I asked her…… Moreover, it felt like she didn’t want me to stay for too long in this 《Cocytus》.
Noble Mimic kept his silence for a while.
It seemed he didn’t hear my question just now.
Could it be that it was something that I shouldn’t ask him?
「… It seems I’ve been overstepping my boundary. I will report the progress of my training to master when she comes back later.」
「OraAa.」
Noble Mimic suddenly opened his mouth when I was about to leave.
「Oraaa?」
「YeaH. MaStEr iS UsInG NuMeRouS ForBiddEN MaGIc To ForCefuLly ReVivIng yOu.」
Forcefully revived me numerous times… with forbidden magic.
「Is there some difference between revived with those forbidden magic and revived by the《Ouroboros Ring》?」
「A lot. At ThaT TimE, She DiDn’T HaVe God-TIeR aRteFact or DiVinE MaGic. In AddiTIon, ThAt SnAke RinG Can’T ReVive A CorpSe. It’S MoRe LiKE SaVinG YoUr LifE WhEn YoU’Re On The BRink of DeaTH RathER thaN ReViving YoU AftEr yOu Dead. If sHe LeaVing her CorPse For Too LoNg wIlL CaUSe Her BodY To Rot and hEr BlooD CoaGulAted And TurN intO pOisON.」
「Master… too?」
「YeS. For ExAmplE, Any HumAn EmBRaCed By MasTer wiLL Rot In No TimE. ShE, An ImmOrTal BeINg iS OnE WhO FaRtheSt FrOM ThE DeaTh, Or ShouLd I SaY, SHe Is DeAth HerSelF.」
… Come to think of it, when she led me by hand, master always held on to my sleeve instead of my hand.
I thought she did that because she was a shy person, it turned out her reason might be to avoid direct contact with my skin.
「Therefore she insTinCtiVeLY AvoId LiVinG BeINg. In OrDer FoR The IgnOraNT BaBy tO FeAr DeATh, ThEy HaVe To DeTesT HaDes’s ImPuRity.」[TL : I’m not too clear about this Hades’s Impurity but it might be related to living beings who rejected their death, thus becoming an undead.]
I recalled the first time I met Lunaire.
Which reminded me, at that time… I feared my savior, Lunaire, more than the demon who attacked me.
Though that fear gradually diminished because she was my benefactor and my mind was at the limit at that time. That fear had completely disappeared now that I lived under one roof with her.
「It MiGHt Be DiFfereNt CaSe For YoU WhO CamE From AnoTher WorlD. If YoU ComE FrOM A WoRLD witHouT UnDeaD, YoUr CommOn SenSe MigHT Be MisMAtChed WiTh tHE NatiVes Of ThiS WorLD. MoSt oF AlL, MasTer ReAlLy PleaSed WiTh YoUr ReActIOn WheN YoU Met Her For The FiRsT TimE MoRe ThaN WhAt YOU tHInk.」
…. Come to think of it, I always thought that her action at that time was strange, she left me as soon as she saved me.
She might be worried about the effect of Hades’s Impurity.
So this was the reason for Lunaire to stay within 《Cocytus》.
…. Is it really okay for me to leave this place?
「Can you stop saying things for your own convenience.」
Before we realized, Lunaire was already inside the hut.
Noble Mimic who failed to detect her presence twitched.
「Something like impurities were nothing as long as I restrained it. And Noble, don’t talk as if you knew all about me.」
Noble Mimic seemed dejected as if his body grew smaller.
「B-But then, why did….」
Before I completed my sentence, Lunaire knitted her eyebrows, seemingly displeased by my words.
「I should’ve told you, again and again, I-Hate-Humans.」
Lunaire declared with a cold piercing tone.
Her declaration shut me down at once, I couldn’t do anything but stood there dumbfoundedly in my place.