Chapter 541: 【Beautiful Girl Detective Akashiterika!】Morning in the Old Imperial City 2

【Beautiful Girl Detective Akashiterika!】Morning in the Old Imperial City 2

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“…”

Akashiterika opened her eyes slightly.

A plain ceiling came into her blurry vision.

There’s a simple magic lamp attached, but it’s not a chandelier.

It’s a common one, used by ordinary Old Imperial City residents, similar in shape to a bare light bulb.

“Fuwa…”

She slowly sat up in bed, rubbed her eyes, and yawned.

The surroundings are still dim.

It’s early morning.

“Someone…”

And Akashiterika, unconsciously trying to call a servant… suddenly woke up.

She’s currently twelve years old… still a child, by the standards of her previous life, but surprisingly, she’s living on her own.

This isn’t the mansion she used to live in, but her detective agency, created by buying and renovating the second floor of an apartment building… and this is the living space, in the room next door.

Since she’s living alone, naturally, there are no servants to take care of her.

(Even though that was normal in my previous life…)

Akashiterika chuckled wryly at herself, having gotten used to being treated like a young lady.

That being said, she isn’t always like this, half-asleep.

Her childhood, her past life, the conversation with the god when she was reincarnated…

This blunder is only because she had a dream, where she was randomly remembering those old memories.

Akashiterika made that excuse to herself.

“…Nnnnーーー!”

Next, Akashiterika clasped her fingers together, raised both hands towards the sky, and stretched.

And then, getting out of bed, she put on her slippers and walked over to the window, opening the thin curtains.

What spread before her is the Ruinomiyako Canal, which supported the development of the Old Superbad Empire, stretching towards the Igamo Tenart River in the distance, and the heavy, stone cityscape lining it.

The clear sky, with small clouds slowly moving across it, is still dark purple, and the orange light of the street lamps, placed at regular intervals, adds color to the shimmering surface of the canal.

Click—opening the window, the cool morning breeze touches her skin.

She can smell the delicious soup from the restaurant downstairs.

“Myogo myomyo, shuushugo myogoーーー…”

There are still few people out and about, and from somewhere far away, she can hear the chirping of an early-rising Myogomyogoshugo.

“Fu! …Let’s do our best again today!”

Akashiterika, energized by the beautiful morning scenery… the everyday life she must protect, clapped her cheeks, and rhythmically opened all the curtains and windows in her room!

Swish, click, swish, click, swish, click!

The wind blowing in through the windows immediately pushes out the warm air inside, and the sunlight, gradually appearing from beyond the cityscape of the Old Imperial City, illuminates the room!

It’s morning!

“Alright!”

Akashiterika looked around the bright room with satisfaction!

And then, she started walking towards the next room… to ventilate her detective agency, her slippers making a pattering sound—

And it was then that she noticed… a giant cocoon formed in the corner of the ceiling…!

It’s a very large cocoon, big enough to fit a person inside.

Its color is jet-black… and strangely, a rusty red color occasionally appears and disappears.

Countless string-like things extend from the oval-shaped cocoon, clinging to the ceiling and walls.

Anyway, simply put… there was an eerie, unidentified object there.

“KYAAAAAAAAーーー!?”

Even Akashiterika, the usually calm and collected beautiful girl detective, can’t stay sane after seeing something like that!

No one can blame her for screaming!

Now, the first to react to that scream was… the jet-black cocoon itself.

Hearing the high-pitched girl’s scream, the cocoon trembled—pikuri—and then… instantly retracted the strings that were clinging to the ceiling and walls, and fell to the floor—thud.

And then, wriggling and squirming, it gradually shrunk, its oval shape transforming into a human shape.

In an instant, the jet-black cocoon turned into jet-black clothes, and a few seconds later, standing there was… a breathtakingly beautiful girl, with black hair and black eyes.

It was Emi Rune… the traveling girl Akashiterika saved from a false accusation yesterday.

“Enemy?”

Emi, emitting a dense aura of death, quickly looked around the room, and asked Akashiterika, the owner of the room.

“Repaying the favor of food… and shelter.”

That’s right… yesterday, Akashiterika, taking pity on Emi, who clearly looked like a homeless child, let her stay in her room.

Yes, that’s right.

And Emi, stopping Akashiterika, who was about to prepare a makeshift bed, crawled up the wall, made a cocoon in the corner of the ceiling, and went to sleep.

Akashiterika finally remembered that.

“Where… who should I kill…?”

Emi, her expressionless face unreadable, muttered dangerous things, still wary of her surroundings.

She’s currently half-asleep, and her true nature is showing.

In other words, unlike yesterday, when she was putting on a polite facade, she’s now undeniably a dangerous person!

The 【Intimidation】 leaking from her whole body is terrifying, and an ordinary person would probably faint from fear just by being in the same room as her!

“Emi-san, there are no enemies.”

But Akashiterika isn’t an ordinary person either.

After all, she’s the beautiful girl detective, an apostle of a god.

Her mental strength is incredible, and she easily brushed off Emi’s 【Intimidation】, smiling apologetically, her eyebrows lowered.

“There was a big bug. I was surprised, and screamed…”

Akashiterika couldn’t bring herself to say ‘I was scared of you’, so she apologized to Emi.

“A big… bug…?”

“Yes. I’m sorry for surprising you.”

“…”

Emi blinked, her long eyelashes fluttering.

The unsettling aura emanating from her gradually disappeared.

Emi, after looking around the room one last time to confirm that there was really no danger—

“Is that bug… delicious…?”

She asked a nonsensical question, and her stomach growled loudly.

“Are you hungry? Let’s go have breakfast!”

Akashiterika chuckled, and suggested that to Emi.

【Jet-Black Cocoon】

Emi’s bed, made by weaving her tentacles.

It has high defensive capabilities, and the inside of the cocoon is kept at a comfortable temperature.

It greatly improves Emi’s quality of life.

First appeared in Arc 16.