Ryuu Kusari no Ori -Kokoro no Uchi no 'Kokoro'-

[LN] Volume 2: Chapter 3.2

This chapter was brought to you by the collaboration between PolterGlast and Saekano Translations.

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Volume 2 Chapter 3.2

The Fairy Who Lost Her Wings Part 2

Translator : PolterGlast

Nozomu was brought to a lounge area in one corner of the library.

Tea and simple snacks were placed in front of Nozomu, who was seated at a square table for four.

To Nozomu's right is Tom, and to his left is Shina. Mimuru is sitting across from him.

The arrangement is as if he was under interrogation. And, seeing how Mimuru peered at him with an amused grin, Nozomu shuddered uncomfortably.

"U-, um, so why am I here?"

"Now, now. I just wanted to ask you something."

Nozomu was involuntarily leaning back on his chair when Mimuru leaned in to close the distance between them.

"W-, what is it that you want to ask me?"

"Nothing serious, you see? How did you get so close to the dark-haired princess?"

Nozomu inwardly understood that this was the case.

Irisdina Francilt is among the most untouchable students in the third grade. That's why, it was very unusual for her not to be bothered by the fact that she had formed a party with Nozomu, who was considered to be a particularly inferior student in the school.

"I can understand if it's just a temporary party, but I heard that she even invited you to lunch. It's impossible not to be curious about it~~."

Of course, there was a possibility that they could at least have an impromptu party at the request of the guild, for example. f𝐫e𝚎we𝚋n𝐨𝘃el.𝗰𝗼𝐦

But she visited the 10th-class classroom herself to invite Nozomu to lunch. It was as if she was trying to convey that they were that close.

In fact, during the afternoon class on the day she invited him to lunch, Nozomu was subjected to countless suspicious and murderous stares from his classmates. If not for Mars, he might have been taken to the back of the school building.

"You understand, don't you? Since it's all circumstantial evidence, it's just like you draw a Royal Straight Flush, you see?"

"What, I've never heard that before. I just happened to be in a place where they were fighting a demonic beast in the Spasim forest ....... Well, I guess it was too poor of an excuse, huh?"

The pursuit of the two was becoming a bit tiresome for Nozomu.

However, as expected, he hesitated to talk about the problems between the Francilt and Waziart families.

Mimuru, on the other hand, was not satisfied with Nozomu's response, her mouth curved into a grimace.

"Eeeh -------. This is where you should brag and say, 'It can't be helped, I'm in such a deep relationship with her!' And you're going to be proud of it-----."

"What the heck? That line would make me sound like a dim-witted player......"

"I'm sorry. Mimuru has a slightly unfortunate head ......"

"Unfortunate? What do you mean by unfortunate ----!"

Shina, perhaps getting a headache from Mimuru's outrageous behavior, was looking down with her hand on her forehead before she knew it.

On the other hand, Mimuru's dissatisfaction exploded toward Shina due to the lack of follow-up support. She stood up with her hands raised in the air, but her loud voice was met with a simultaneous glare from the surrounding students, who had been quietly reading.

Mimuru, whose tail curled awkwardly under the countless stares of protest, dropped her raised hand and took a seat, then coughed to cover up her own disgrace, and once again brought her face close to Nozomu's.

"A-, ahem! Besides, you're not as weak as people say. I can tell from yesterday's fight."

"You can?"

"Well, yeah. I may look like this, but I'm still one of the best in my class, you know?"

Mimuru smiled smugly as she leaned against the back of her chair.

As far as Nozomu could see, she must be quite skilled.

Beastmen originally have higher physical abilities than humans, but tend to be crude in their handling of Qi and magic.

This is a side effect of being born with high capabilities, but as far as Nozomu could sense, the Qi she wore seemed quite refined.

"So what kind of relationship does Nozomu have with the black-haired princess? A lover?Mistress? Or a servant?"

"I wonder why there's no option of a normal answer like 'a friend'......"

"I'm not looking for such a boring answer!"

However, in contrast to her high level of abilities, this Catmen girl's personality and behavior were too disappointing.

She declared that gossip was more than welcome, and Nozomu raised both hands in his heart, saying, "Oh, no, this is no good". Nozomu felt that he had recently had too many encounters with people who did not listen to the words of others, such as the fortune teller in the commercial district and this girl.

"Mimuru, you mustn't make any more fuss."

"Fumyaan!"

In the midst of all this, Tom, who had been watching what was going on next to her, reached out his hand to touch Mimuru's head.

He pinched her fluffy ears as if he were petting his cat, and Mimuru's body shook with a jerk.

Then, the momentum that had been making a lot of rackets until a few minutes ago suddenly slowed down, and her body plopped down on the table without any strength!

Grrrrr...... Every time Tom stroked her ear, the sound of gentle purring resounded through the lounge.

"Sorry that Mimuru made so much fuss about it. I know it's a bit late, but we meet again, Nozomu-kun."

"Y-, yeah. As I recall, your name is Tom-kun, right?"

"Just Tom is fine. Both Mimuru and Shina call me by my first name."

Tom talked to Nozomu while petting Mimuru with one hand.

However, the distance between this boy named Tom and Mimuru is very close. It is a distance that would be noticeable to someone around Nozomu's age.

"I'm sorry, this is an impolite question, but are you two- ......"

"Ah, yeah. It's just like what you think......."

With that alone, Nozomu guessed their relationship. Romance between a beastman and a human is rare, but not entirely unheard of.

Nozomu knew full well about that and could tell that the two were truly attracted to each other, even during this brief period of time.

From Mimuru's purring and joyful expression, he could also sense Tom's gentle temperament, and there was neither disgust nor hostility in the way they looked at Nozomu.

Tom, on the other hand, also smiled at Nozomu's lack of mockery of his relationship with his girlfriend.

"I've been wondering since yesterday, are you an alchemist?"

His boyish-looking Tom is not wearing that overly hefty cloak today.

Instead, he has a pile of borrowed books on the table, perhaps intending to read during the break. Looking at the titles of the books, many of them are about alchemy.

"Well, yeah. But I'm also studying magic, so I'd say I'm more of a researcher, wouldn't you say?"

Alchemy is a discipline that mainly studies all the substances that exist in this world.

Originally, it was created by those who thought about the origins of the world, and it has been developed into what it is today by merging with the various magic-related fields in various countries.

Because of its origins, it has material aspects, such as earth and water, rather than immaterial aspects, such as light and darkness, and is expected to play a major role in society in the future.

"Tom is amazing, you know! At his age, he's already been invited to Gloaurum Institute!"

"...... Eh! For real?"

"Y-, yeah. I'm helping them with alchemy and developing new magic formulas. I haven't produced any results yet, so I'm still an apprentice."

Perhaps happy to be praised by Mimuru, Tom scratched his own cheeks, looking a little embarrassed.

On the other hand, Nozomu was also surprised to hear that he was invited to Gloaurum Institute.

The Gloaurum Institute is a research institution that serves as the foundation of Arcazam. It was this institution that researched and systematized the techniques related to Qi-jutsu and magic that were spread all over the Arkmel continent.

Naturally, selected individuals with open-minded and brilliant brains are gathered from all over the world, and even though he is an apprentice, his excellence is proven by the fact that he is being invited while still a student.

"Wow, that's totally awesome......"

"Thank you. Well, I have a little favor to ask you. Is that okay"

"Hmm?"

"Nozomu-kun, that sword you're holding, it's an Eastern sword, isn't it? I'd like to take a closer look at it if you don't mind."

With a sparkle of curiosity in his eyes, Tom pointed to the katana at Nozomu's waist.

"This? Why? I don't think it has anything to do with alchemy."

It was originally his master's possession, and although he believed it to be quite a famous katana, Nozomu had never heard anything about it from Shino.

On one side, alchemy is a study of the West, on the other side, katana is a weapon of the East. In Nozomu's mind, alchemy and katana were not connected at all.

"We can't be sure about that. It is probably a pretty famous katana, isn't it? Eastern swords are a mass of wonders that cannot be understood by our magic theories. It might be a famous sacred katana that has vanquished demons or a legendary sword that has been used to bring vengeance on the Eastern Dynasties!"

"No, there is no way such a sword exists. I mean, why should you put so much emphasis on the "legendary" part of the katana?"

Tom's wishful thinking was mixed in with his line, and Nozomu couldn't help but calmly interject.

Nevertheless, it was also true that being looked at with such pure eyes, on top of his boyish appearance, made Nozomu's mind waver.

"Well, sure, as long as you don't break it."

In the end, Nozomu decided to let Tom have a closer look at his beloved katana.

He removed the katana from his sword belt and held it out with both hands while keeping it in its scabbard, with the blade of the katana facing up.

"Thank you! Well then, let's get right to it......"

Tom happily accepted the katana presented to him and pulled it out of its scabbard.

*Shiiing......* and the metal guard came free from the scabbard, exposing the sword's magnificent blade.

"Whoa......"

"Hee......"

Tom and Mimuru let out voices of admiration. Nozomu himself looked at the blade of his master's beloved katana in the same way, and once again thought it was a beautiful katana with a beautiful blade.

The blade has a smooth wavy pattern on its surface that reminds one of the rings on the years of a large tree. When held up to the sunlight, a starry radiance shines like a kaleidoscope in the stream-like stripes poured into the blade of the sword.

"It's beautiful......"

Even Shina, who had been silent with a serious look on her face, seemed to have been taken aback by the beauty of Nozomu's katana.

"Certainly, this is a very beautiful katana, but......"

"Is something wrong?"

"There is no ambiance of Qi or magic in it. But......"

"Tom?"

The light of intellectual curiosity returned to Tom's eyes, which had been purely admiring.

However, unlike the childlike eyes of earlier, what was reflected in his eyes now was an intense will to examine.

This light of curiosity brought a bad premonition to Nozomu's mind.

"Did it get erased once? Is that why it turned like this-...... But I don't think there are many people who could break the will that resides in such a weapon......"

"Hey, are you done?"

Tom's eyes lit up in a slightly dangerous glint. And his eyes were fixed on his mentor's memento.

Following his intuition, Nozomu attempted to retrieve his beloved katana.

"But there is no doubt that this was a magic sword or something similar. Perhaps there are traces of it somewhere ......."

However, instead of returning the katana to Nozomu, Tom turned around and looked back at Nozomu with his dangerous, inquiring eyes.

Cowering under the glare of his eyes, Nozomu involuntarily stopped his outstretched hand.

"Nozomu-kun!"

"W-, what is it?"

"Let me just disassemble this katana for a second."

"Eh, ah, oi!"

Tom began to disassemble Nozomu's katana in the blink of an eye. He put the drawn katana back in its scabbard and used a small mallet and a punch from his pocket to remove the Mekugi (peg). Five seconds passed.

While Nozomu was wondering where he kept those tools, Tom lightly hit the katana's hilt with the mallet and removed it. Another five seconds passed. Tom's ability to grasp the structure of the katana and the speed at which it could be disassembled was astonishing, even though he did not know much about katana craftsmanship.

"I can't find the swordsmith's name anywhere. A nameless famed sword? But could it be-...... alright."

With the handle removed and the blade still bare, Nozomu quickly grabbed Tom from behind to stop him as he was about to take his beloved katana somewhere else.

"Don't give me that 'alright' crap! Where are you going to take it!?"

"Where, you say? Of course to the lab. Let's break the blade and check the cross-section ......."

The moment he heard Tom's words, Nozomu used all his strength to take the katana back, even using Qi-jutsu to strengthen his body.

Deprived of an interesting research object in a split second, Tom screamed in grief.

"Aah! My amazing research material~!"

"Research material, your ass! I just told you not to break it!"

It seemed that this boy was so eager to research that he stopped listening to others when his leash was removed. In a sense, he and his lover, the beastman, were very similar in some ways, since they also did not listen to others.

As Nozomu was having such thoughts, Tom, who had been running wild with intellectual curiosity, finally regained his composure.

"My bad, I got a little carried away with this unexpected find."

Tom scratched his head in embarrassment as he spoke these words, but Nozomu's gaze was cold.

It was understandable, since Tom had taken his mentor's memento without permission and tried to use it as research material.

"Well, umm ...... I'm sorry."

As one would expect, Tom was aware of the insanity of his actions and bowed his head.

As Nozomu sighed, Mimuru asked again about the identity of Nozomu's katana.

"...... So, what exactly is this katana?"

"Hmm, I don't know."

Tom's matter-of-fact statement made everyone present lose their strength.

Nozomu almost collapsed on the spot, and Mimuru plopped down on her desk. Shina was holding her temples as if enduring a headache.

"These kinds of katana are usually engraved with the name of the swordsmith on the hilt or other parts of the blade, but I can't find that either. I'm not a katana expert, so I can't identify the name of the katana or appraise it, regardless of its magical properties that may reside in the katana......"

This is not surprising, since the katana itself is a rare item of Eastern origin.

Also, according to Tom, the magical properties that were once imparted to this katana have been completely erased, and there is nothing left.

"But I can tell it is a very special katana. Without a doubt, this one was originally called a sacred katana, demonic katana, or mystical katana, something that has a certain history behind it."

The holy sword, the magic sword, the demonic sword, and the sacred sword are weapons that appear in various legends and heroic tales and have abilities that are distinctly different from those of the magic swords that are usually made by enchanting with magic.

These swords have their own will, and can increase the wielder's magical power without limit. They can also annihilate the enemy at the cost of the wielder's body or soul, and they can gather the source elements of the world, giving the wielder the power of spirits.

The characteristic of these weapons is that they have some kind of will. In other words, they are living weapons.

Although it has become an ordinary katana, Nozomu's eyes widen in surprise at the possibility that his weapon, or more precisely, his master's katana, might be of considerable significance.

"Nozomu, where did you get this katana?"

"It belonged to my master. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the origin of this katana, either......"

"Oh, really? Where is your master now?"

"She's already passed away."

"Ah, sorry......"

The moment he heard the word "passed away", a shadow appeared on Tom's face. Mimuru and Shina also averted their gazes, looking somewhat unsettled. A delicate atmosphere flowed between Nozomu and the three of them.

"It's okay. You didn't know, so don't worry about it."

Nozomu puts back the hilt, which had been removed, and after fitting and securing the Mekugi (peg), he put the katana back on his sword belt.

Then he realized that he had talked for quite a long time.

"Well then, it's time for me to go."

Nozomu was about to leave, thinking that he had enough rest time as well. However, as he was about to leave, Tom called out to him in a calm voice.

"Ah, right. Nozomu-kun, thank you for helping Shina."

"Hm?"

Nozomu stopped and looked back at the words of thanks that were suddenly directed at him.

Tom, who had been showing a gloomy face earlier, somehow had a bright smile on his face that showed no sign of that earlier negative shade.

"Thanks! By the way, you are quite a good-natured guy, unlike the rumors, to help such an unsociable and unfriendly elf!"

Mimuru also smiled as brightly as Tom, or even brighter.

Apparently, the two of them had a good idea of what had happened to Shina on the previous passage to the closed shelves section of the library. And that they were genuinely grateful to Nozomu for helping their friend.

"......"

Shina, on the other hand, looked away awkwardly and stood up when Nozomu turned to look at her.

"Come on, we should get going as well."

"Gosh, you should be thanking him too."

"It's okay. She's already thanked me......"

Upon hearing these words, Shina's ears twitched.

Nozomu had indeed already received a word of thanks from Shina, but it was somewhat hard to count it as a sincere gratitude.

A delicate atmosphere flowed between Nozomu and Shina. However, Shina walked away with Tom and Mimuru and left the place without even looking at Nozomu.

"Good grief, just what's wrong with her?......"

In the indescribable, lingering stale atmosphere, Nozomu sighed once more.

(It wasn't that I wanted her to be grateful. Besides, I don't really know her. But I just couldn't keep quiet after seeing her being bullied like that.)

However, the silent rejection was terribly painful for the current Nozomu.

The wound that lingered in his chest began to ache, as if it had been touched by salt water.

(......Ouch)

The moment when he was rejected by his ex-girlfriend came back to his mind, and Nozomu involuntarily clenched his hand on his chest and bit his lip tightly.

For a while, Nozomu did not return to Irisdina and the others until the pain in his chest subsided, and he went back to walking around in the library.

◆

"Shina, what's the matter?"

"It's nothing. More importantly, we need to hurry. We've something to do, aren't we?"

"That's true, but ......"

After catching up with Shina, who was going ahead of them, Mimuru questioned her about what she had said and done earlier.

On the other hand, the elf girl in question did not answer Mimuru's question but handed Tom the books of reference that she was carrying.

Although elves have always had a strong wall against other races, Shina's words and actions toward Nozomu, even from Mimuru's point of view, were clearly disparaging.

"Tom, you have to go to the lab now, aren't you? Here you go."

"Y-, yeah. Thank you."

While wondering about Shina's somewhat forceful words and actions, Tom accepted the books she handed to him.

"You're welcome. And also......"

The corners of Shina's eyes, which had been stiff, turned dark and gloomy.

"I know. I'll have it ready for you, so come to the lab tomorrow or the day after. Well, I can't guarantee that it will be successful though......"

Shina Juliel's problem. The reason why she was ridiculed as having "dead leaf ears" was that she had the fatal problem of not being able to use spirit magic, even though she was an elf loved by the spirits.

One of Shina's aims for coming to this school was to solve this problem, and for that purpose, she had the help of Tom and the others, who are alchemists.

However, it has been two years since she came to Arcazam, and the progress has not been good, and Shina still cannot even sense the spirits' presence, let alone re-establish a contract with them.

"Thank you......"

Shina thanked Tom for his help, but there was still a dark shade on her face.

"Muuu....... Somehow, you two are getting along well."

On the other hand, Mimuru's mouth contorted as if she was in a bad mood.

"Mimuru......"

"No! I won't give him to anyone, not even to you, Shina! Tom is my future husband!"

While Shina was stunned, Mimuru, who was jealous, hugged Tom from behind, saying, "I won't give him to you!", and raised her tail threateningly.

"Mimu~umu~u! Mu~a mu~a mi-me! Mume, Mume mu~aa!"

*Squeeze - squeeze - squeeze!*

Suddenly, Tom was being hugged as tightly as possible against his lover's chest. His lungs were squeezed, but the soft yet alluring feeling on his back made his complexion flash blue and red in the blink of an eye.

"I know. I don't feel that way toward him. More importantly, your future husband seems to be suffering, you know?"

"Eh? Waaa!"

"Kyu......"

Mimuru, who had come to her senses upon hearing Shina's words, hurriedly released Tom, but his eyes had completely rolled back in his head.

He has a slightly horrified look on his face, with a slightly bloodshot complexion and an expression resembling debauchery.

"Ahh! Tom, sorry, I'm sorry ----!"

Shina, while smiling at Mimuru who was flustered and began to help Tom, remembered her earlier schoolmate and frowned.

"I wonder what that feeling was......"

The sensation that she felt since the other day when she was subjugating the demonic beasts on the highway.

Last time it was like a needle lightly touching her skin, but today it felt like her whole body was tensed up.

"It's so scary. But somehow nostalgic ....... I wonder why I felt that way......"

It was a sudden but strange sensation that made her whole body tense.

But what contributed to her discomfort more than anything else was that the feeling was accompanied by a sense of déjà vu.

For some reason, it was as if she felt a chill in the warm spring breeze.

Shina involuntarily crossed her arms as if to hug herself against the chill that crawled up her spine.

"It's impossible. It's like when the spirits got angry ...... that it was the same sensation as when our forests burned......"

The final moments of her homeland resurfaced in her mind. And the demise of the spirits.

She found herself biting her lip hard, feeling as if a wound from the past that could not be erased had been opened.

◆

In the darkness of night, the howling of beasts echoed through the Spasim forest, and a herd of four-legged beasts rushed through the forest.

Frost Boars. As the name suggests, these boar-shaped demonic beasts inhabit the forest. The larger ones are powerful beasts that can smash even a small hut.

They are omnivorous, have a voracious appetite, and are fierce and merciless toward anyone who tries to harm them, making them a natural enemy of farmers and hunters.

Such boars were now running for their lives. They were trying to escape from the huge shadow that loomed behind them.

However, the predator scoffed at the boars' desperate escape. The predator, cloaked in wind, caught up with the herd of boars in the blink of an eye, and, circling around the herd's way of escape, turned the three boars in the front of the herd into a lump of meat with its tusks.

*Piggyi!*

The boar herd, having lost the leading individuals, instantly scattered into four separate groups. The boars break apart and attempted to escape.

The predator's tail was raised high in front of the herd as they tried to scatter.

Illuminated by the moonlight, magical light gathered on the tail, which was wrapped in gray fur.

Three seconds, four seconds, five seconds ...... -flash.

Along with the sound of something slicing through the air, invisible blades flew in all directions, slaughtering the rest of the boars that were about to scatter.

A gray predator stood amidst the herd of Frost Boars, which had turned into chunks of meat. It was a wolf, a size larger than the magic stone-bearer that Nozomu and the others had fought, a size that could be described as out of the norm.

Gray fur covered its entire body. Among them, only the neck was blood red.

The gray wolf roared with satisfaction as it faced its hunted prey.

As if called by its howl, a large number of Direwolves appeared from the forest.

They numbered around sixty. The wolves, who numbered around sixty, were so numerous that they began to bite at the dismembered corpse of Frost Boars.

The "gray" Direwolf watched his pack mates with a look of satisfaction.

[Garm]. A higher-ranking demonic beast than [Gaiawolf], and the leader of this pack.

The reason they came to this area was because they needed a new hunting ground to maintain their growing pack.

"Ku~u~u~u......"

While the pack was engrossed in their meal, a single Direwolf came up to the "gray".

It was the Direwolf with the magic stone that had escaped from the battle on the highway before. This individual was part of the pack led by "Gray".

The "Gray" rubbed the tip of his nose dubiously at the exhausted appearance of his subordinate who had returned, and listened to the sobbing cries of the stone-bearer who had returned. As if to ask what had happened.

Eventually, after hearing the report of his subordinate, a clear sense of anger flashed in the eyes of the "gray".

What was reported was the death of fellow members of the pack.

What made him more furious than anything else was the fact that among those killed, there was also his couple.

As if in response to his emotions, his body erupted with magic power. The other wolves, who had been eating, stopped eating as if in response to the leader's anger, and turned toward him.

"Uooooooon!"

A howl tinged with grief and anger roared through the Spasim forest.

The cries of grief and anger soon spread to the rest of the pack, echoing through the forest as never-ending echoing howls.

---

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