Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Her Reason

Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations

Author’s Note: It’s a bit in the middle of things, but this will conclude the third act.

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Well then, it’s the next day.

With me taking her in, miss Levy received a safe acquittal.

“Hum, when it comes to captured phantom thieves, having them take on erotic training until their eyes are dead would have been standard though…”

“Standard from what kinda place?!”

“Two-dimensional dream novels from my hometown.”

“The hell?! That there’s a scary hometown, Yuuri!!”

Well, that’s in works of fiction, but there’s no reason I need to tell her that.

Aside from her and me, Haster and Yig are the only ones in the room right now

The members of Forest Bear immediately launched into their celebration last night, and are now dead drunk.

Besides, whether “her story” is something she wants outsiders to hear or not is hardly something for me to decide, right?

“Leaving that aside… There’s something we absolutely must do first.”

“Somethin’ important?”

“Yes… By the way, what should we call you? Miss Levy? Livyatan?”

“Levy’ll be right fine. See, ‘nother way to say Livyatan is Leviathan. I just turned that there into a nickname to call myself Levy.”

Huh, I’m pretty sure… That was another way to say it back on the other side too, right?

Well, with that out of the way, let’s get right to what needs to be done first.

“Then miss Levy, here.”

I hand some pliers-like scissors from the desk over to her.

“Y-ya’ll ain’t gonna… Torture me or some such, are ya?”

“What would even make you think that? I’m telling you to clip your nails!”

What I passed to her were this world’s nail clippers. They are not pliers for use in torture.

I don’t enjoy feeling pain, or watching people feel pain either.

Well, I think I would watch someone in painful situations just a bit though.

“Uhhh… Why?”

“I can’t exactly leave you to your own devices. I’m your guardian now, so I need to be aware of where you are.”

“What’s that to do with clippin’ my nails?”

“You have “Peerless Magic,” right? Then those nails should have some potential as magic materials. I’m going to turn those clippings into powder, mix it in with ink, and have you tattooed with a [Transmitter] magic circle.”

“Uwee, ya’s gonna tattoo me? I ain’t so good with paaaiin.”

“I’m not a fan of pain either. I’ll cast [Analgesia] on you though, so you’re just gonna have to deal with having this done.”

Seeing as she can jam others’ awareness of her, she could lose herself in a crowd whenever she wanted.

Moreover, because she has “Peerless Magic,” she would probably just remove any superficial magic tools. In which case the only choice is to tattoo it into somewhere on her that she can’t see.

However, spells tattooed into the skin have weak effects according to what I heard from Haster’s stories.

So I devised the method of dissolving her nails into the ink as an amplifying agent, and using that to do the tattooing.

In truth, Haster’s, Yig’s, or my own nails would have served that purpose better, but I’ve heard that having other peoples’ cells under the skin will cause it to fester, so…

“Th-this’ll be my first time, see; be gentle with it…”

“Shut up. I’ve had a traumatic experience with that.”

This wench is messing with me. I am now certain of it.

I didn’t even have the chance to make that kind of entreaty.

After powdering and dissolving the nail clippings into the ink, and then drawing the magic circle on the back of her neck, I cast [Analgesia] and shallowly burned it in.

“I think it will hurt after a little while, but when that happens you’ll have to cast [Analgesia] yourself. Do you know the spell formula?”

“I ain’t had much experience with medical magic…”

“Then I’ll teach you.”

“‘preciate it.”

Anyway, with this on, her whereabouts will be leaked to me. She probably won’t be able to commit evil deeds now.

To make sure the burns don’t get infected, I wrapped some bandaging around the wound while explaining the spell formula to her.

I didn’t really want to scar a woman’s skin, but I have no other method. Besides, something like this should be able to be healed nicely after a little while.

Although it would be difficult for her to do since she can’t see the affected area.

“If I determine you’ve completely rehabilitated, I’ll erase it for you.”

“Oh, ya’ll are gonna erase it for me? Yippee! I’ll be an upstandin’ person from now on!”

“That decision depends on what happens from now on. By the way, if you commit any crimes, I’ll pickle you in orc fluids and send you off to slavery. I’m certain it will be an excellent experience for you.”

“How fiendish are ya?!”

“That’s just cute stuff compared to what I’ve been through.”

“Ya lyin’ now?!”

“Now on to the next topic. You never intended on stealing things from the start, did you?”

“Aw, figured me out?”

Of course I did. Mistaking the date and mistaking houses aside… Er, actually those are pretty ridiculous parts of the story too.

But returning the mistakenly stolen cat statue in the second incident would normally be unbelievable.

“Whelp, this here city’s got lots o’ security problems, y’see. So I figured I’d warn ’em along with my original goal.”

“And that original goal is?”

“I jus’ wanted to be ya’ll’s friend, Yuuri.”

She twists her body around while her cheeks dye red.

That’s gross. Stop.

“Yig, go ahead and bite her.”

“Agya-!”

“Oowowow! ‘s a joke! Was jus’ a joke!”

“Well, it’s almost painful how much I understand the feeling of wanting to tease Yuuri, but there’s hardly a reason to hide things at this point, is there?”

“What exactly are you trying to say, Haster?”

“You are sooo cute, Yuuri.”

“HyaWAAaaa?!”

He rubs his cheek against me while holding my head. Stop it, please! My hair! You’re ruining it!

And while you’re at it, stop pressing your hips against me. We’re being watched.

“Auuhh, I’m all sticky an’ drooly now. Naw, but that ain’t far from the truth to be honest, see?”

“You’re saying you seriously just wanted to become friends with me?”

“Bein’ more precise, jus’ gettin’ acquainted is all. Had kinda a request.”

“And so you made this huge fuss just for that…?”

“Got it from a certain source, said “To become a trusted friend, start as rivals, and ya’ll’s friendship will be deeper” ‘s what I heard.”

So she’s saying she caused this whole phantom thief uproar just to become my rival?

This girl really is a dumbass.

“You have “Peerless Magic” though. If you just appeared in front of Yuuri normally as a magician, you could have become rivals that way.”

“But c’mon, Yuuri’s magic power is jus’ gosh darn stupid.”

“Yeah, gotta agree there.”

“Could you not agree with her?!”

What preposterous things are you saying, Haster?! I’m normal, completely normal.

I just have about 180 times a normal person’s magic and mental power, with the physical abilities of a 10 year old! That’s all!

… My body doesn’t grow, so my physical abilities won’t grow either…

“Like what sorta crazy things did ya’ll do t’ make it so ri-damn-diculous…?”

“A lot of stuff happened. A whole lot… Would you like to experience it? I won’t stop you.”

“Uh, think I’ll jus’ pass on this one.”

Well, without the “Revival Growth” gift, it wouldn’t turn out like this of course.

She doesn’t have any similar gift either, which means it would be over when she died on the very first day.

“So then, what is it you wanted from us?”

“Ah—, umm… Well, should be fine now, yeah?”

She tilted her head, seemingly worrying over something. What did she mean by “now” I wonder? Does it involve some sort of time restriction?

“Truth is… I want ya’ll to face the labyrinth in the World Tree.”

“Say what?”

The labyrinth in the World Tree? The one Haster wanted to challenge?

“Ya’ll know there’s a labyrinth in the World Tree, yeah?”

“Yeah, of course. I was thinking of challenging it myself, actually.”

“Ooh, right fine timing! I’m better than I thought.”

“I don’t have any reason to now, though.”

“ Aw, fiddlesticks…”

She blatantly dropped her shoulders. Quite the reactive girl.

“Well, let’s be leavin’ that aside.”

“Don’t set my circumstances aside.”

“A sprout’s at the peak o’ the World Tree. Truth is, it ain’t always there when ya reach the top. It only buds one time every hundred years.”

“You sure know a lot about it, huh?”

“Got the info from a certain source.”

This is the second time she’s mentioned it, but she sure does seem to put a lot of stock in this “certain source”.

If it’s a highly accurate source of information, then I would like in on it too.

“So what is that certain source you mentioned?”

“That’s… Could ya’ll let me off on that one? I got some obligations o’ my own too.”

“Hrm, well as long as that “certain source” isn’t related to any criminal activity, I guess it’s fine.”

“Thank ya kindly. So, as I was sayin’, that there sprout only buds once in a hundred years an’ only for a year’s time. After that it grows all at once an’ turns into a branch. So anyone goin’ after it’ll need to aim for that one year.”

“And this year happens to be that one year?”

“Naw, should be… Right about five years from now.”

“Quite the advance notice you’re giving us.”

If it’s five years away, then she hardly needed to contact us in such a rush.

And now she’s a criminal thanks to that.

“Well that ain’t entirely true. May be five years, but the labyrinth is 1000 floors, y’hear? Ya’ll would have to clear 200 floors a year. I reckon that’s pretty late.”

“There should be plenty of cleared floors already though. If I remember right… They should have gone around 200 floors up.”

“That still ain’t no more than 20 percent. Remainder’d take a one floor per two days pace. It’s right possible ya’ll would never make it.”

“And so you wanted to drag us into being your companion for this?”

“When it comes to skilled magicians who are currently free, and not adventurers, the Sage title holder, Yuuri is most suitable.”

“That’s kinda annoying.”

“Well, that ain’t actually all.”

What is it I wonder? At the end of everything she says, she seems to get stuck on something…

“So then, your true objective is that sprout, is that what you’re saying?”

“Hmmm, not quite, I reckon?”

“You mean eating the sprout to gain “Eternal Youth” and “Immortality” isn’t your motive?”

“Naw, I don’t need that. “Eternal Youth” an’ “Immortality,” that kinda thing’s pretty lonely, yeah?”

She seemed to look off somewhere in the distance as she spoke.

Even though she’s mostly klutzy and friendly, she was sometimes getting this kind of transcendental look in her eyes.

“Do you know what it’s like?”

“What’s like?”

“The loneliness of “Eternal Youth” and “Immortality”.”

“Ain’t somethin’ I know about.”

She once again tilted her head. Rather than something she doesn’t want to talk about, it seems more like she’s worried about how to explain something.

“If “Eternal Youth” and “Immortality” aren’t your goals, then… Are you trying to sell it?”

“Ain’t no price that could be put on it. ‘sides, jus’ carryin’ it ’round would get dangerous types after my life. I ain’t even gonna collect it.”

“Then what are you after?”

“Bein’ more precise, rather than sayin’ it ain’t somethin’ I want, there’s someone I don’t want gettin’ their hands on it—is what I should say, I guess?”

“There’s someone you don’t want getting it?”

“Sure is. The Demon King.”

Saying so, she broadly puffed out her chest.

Hah? What’s this about a Demon King?