Volume 10 - CH 53

Touno Tatsuyuki Advises

Certainly, having Tatsuyuki-san with me now is reassuring but the Ghost King who can kill with a single touch is still bad news.

To relay that, I shouted out to him

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“Tatsuyuki-san!”

“It’s all right. You can rest now.”

“Takeru…….”

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But I was stopped by Takeru.

It’s been only around 10 minutes but Takeru’s voice and Tatsuyuki-san’s presence gave me so much sense of security that I don’t dare say anything more.

To see how he was going to carry himself against the Ghost King, I fixed my eyes on Tatsuyuki-san.

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[[A switch huh. But you sure that you alone are enough against me?]]

“Who knows? Hideyori is my pupil and he fought you alone so it’s only a matter, of course, I should do the same right?”

[[Skeleton Touch.]]

“Oops…..”

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Almost catching him by surprise, a giant hand emerged to attack Tatsuyuki-san.

But he simply avoided it with a simple jump.

Both Takeru and I were stunned by his fluid movement.

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“It’s kinda sad when your question gets ignored you know?”

[[SHHHHHAAAAAA!]]

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The Ghost King swung down its sickle but Tatsuyuki-san calmly raised his arm up and grabbed the tip of the blade.

Compared to the 5 meters tall Ghost King, I was more in awe of Tatsuyuki-san who easily defined himself against its attack.

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“You see, humans have a stopper built into their brain to control their strength so their arm wouldn’t break itself when they swing it too hard. I can remove that stopper and use the full strength of a human body. So, you who named yourself King of the Ghost are going to lose to a mere human like me, hmm?”

[[Kuh……]]

“You, you’re originally a human right?”

[[Guh……King is King! King is not some weak human! King is an existence that will dethrone the God!]]

“……Right.”

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Tatsuyuki-san took a guess at the past of Ghost King and let out a voice of sympathy.

However, the next time he opens his mouth, all that sympathy has already vanished.

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“I heard from Takeru, your attack was negated by the amulet I gave him right.”

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Saying so, he yanked the sickle out of Ghost King’s hand and threw it to the side.

The side simply flew away and landed on the ground.

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[[!?]]

“The panic is showing on your face, you know. So, you’re scared of holy things? I mixed some purifying salt into those amulets you see.”

[[N, No, stop…….]]

“It’s time for you to go to nirvana.”

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With his left hand, Tatsuyuki-san reached into his pocket for a small bottle and poured its contents into his right hand.

He then threw it——the salt at the Ghost King.

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[[GU, GUAHHHHH!? ENNNOIAAAAA! ENNNNNOIIIIIIIIA!]]

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Ghost King screams.

As it kept shouting Ennoia’s name, its body burned and crumbled to the ground.

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“Live a good life next time okay……..”

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Tatsuyuki-san muttered in a sad tone.

He then turned his back on the Ghost King and walked over to me and Takeru.

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“Now then, let’s head back to the camp. It’s over now.”

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Saying so, he gently pushes me and Takeru on our backs.

Don’t look back. I got the feeling he’s trying to tell us that…….

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[[ENNOIAAA…… Ennoia-senpai.]]

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It kept screaming Ennoia’s name until the very end.

I don’t know what kind of connection they have between them but I understand enough that it’s not something that a mere human like me should get involved in.

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“………the request this time was to catch a middle-aged woman who appeared around this area with cursed straw dolls, have you seen someone like that?”

“You mean the Reaper Hag?”

“Reaper Hag? What kind of name is that? Her name is Sawadatani. it seems she appears around this area with a knife and a sickle every night.”

“She summoned the Ghost King and she got killed by it……..”

“I see…… Well, it can’t be helped……..:

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This is the first time I heard that this camping trip is actually a training camp for me but it seems Tatsuyuki-san didn’t know about Ghost King before this.

Technically, the request he took was only to apprehend the Reaper Hag here.

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Who was the Reaper Hag tried to curse anyway?

What was the Ghost King?

A lot of things remain a mystery and my camping trip filled with death flags finally came to an end…….

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[[KuHa! KuHaHa! It’s been a while, Ghost King…….No, Shizuku.”

[[…….Ennoia-senpai.]]

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In the woods, the shell of the Ghost King peeled off, revealing a collapsed girl inside

In front of her was a white-haired, dark-skinned God holding her hand.

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[[I, ……..I wanted to throw away my womanhood and become just like you, Ennoia-senpai……..to be an existence similar to yours…….and yet, why, why didn’t you…….cough, cough……make me, a god…….?]]

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Even the Ghost King’s real body, the girl, is gradually disappearing.

She’s about to go to nirvana. She knows that as she can’t assert her strength at all.

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[[KuHa! There’s no one who can compare to God. ………I mean, you have only been Ghost King for merely 152 years, right? ………Must have been boring though…….]]

[[Even, so……., if Ennoia-senpai was with me……then…….]]

[[……..I’m sorry. Sleep now, Shizuku.]]

[[……………]]

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The girl called Shizuku disappeared.

In the truest sense of the word, she has reached nirvana.

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This happened long before Ennoia spread the concept of Gifts in the modern days.

Shizuku was someone to who she bestowed what you can technically call a prototype Gift. As a result, it went out of control and she lost her sense of self.

Unable to attain godhood, the girl simply lives inside a corpse as the Ghost King.

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[[………..thanks, you three idiots. KuHa……]]

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A bead of tears fell from Ennoia’s eye.

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Later.

Touno Tatsuyuki reported the events at the camp back to his client, the politician.

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“Thank you, Touno-kun. Thanks to you, I don’t have to bother myself with those curses and threats anymore. No letters, no emails! It’s so refreshing to know that old hag bit the dust.”

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“WaHaHaHa!” the man let out a satisfied laugh.

“Right……..” Tatsuyuki simply said that in reply.

Thinking that the tragedy of the disappearance of one woman and a spirit would bring this old man peace, Tatsuyuki couldn’t help but sadness welling up inside him while he was sipping on the coffee.

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“Seriously, it leaves such a bad aftertaste. I may be young back then but to think that I would lower myself to sleep with that crazy old hag who cursed people with straw dolls. What a creep.”

“Haa……”

“It was so ridiculous when she brought up her son to me you know.”

“………..”

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Tatsuyuki was convinced that the diary he burned belonged to the Reaper Hag’s son.

And that son is probably……..

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“You better refrain from doing any more bad things you know. There is this thing called cause and effect after all. I can’t guarantee that I can protect you next time.”

“Hah, you’re talking about karma right? If that thing really worked then I would have died a hundred times over already. But as you can see, I’m still very alive. There’s no such thing as karma. Besides, just like this time, I will have you to protect me as long as I pay right, Touno-kun. WaHaHaHa.”

“…………….”

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Tatsuyuki resisted the urge to punch the man and ignored what he said.

Once when the TV show featuring Yoko/LeafChild came up, the man even dared to ask him [So, how much do I have to pay to have her?]. Of course, Tatsuyuki doesn’t have a good impression of the man at all.

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“…….Very well. I will excuse myself for today then.”

“Oh, I will be in your care again soon.”

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Just like that, Tatsuyuki headed to the front door while being seen off by the politician.

The moment he stepped outside, something small slipped past him.

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“………a woodpecker?”

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He turned around but the door to the politician’s house has already shut…….

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“Phew……well, let’s get back to work.”

It was when the politician sat in front of his computer.

An email notification arrived on his PC.

Moreover, the sender was someone who had sent him multiple threats in the past.

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“H, How……D, Don’t tell me……!?”

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The politician arrived at the possibility that the threats may have not been sent by just one person.

He opens the email, realizing that someone other than Sawadatani was threatening him.

The email only contained a single short sentence.

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[[The woodpecker is coming for your eyeballs.]]

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—–at the same moment, the bird’s beak gouged into his eye.

Author Note: Death Flag Camp is completed!

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The other person who was threatening the politician has a C-rank Gift [Woodpecker Manipulator]

Its ability is exactly just how it sounds.

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Next up, what does the Western Army do at their Girls’ Party.

TLN: Work has been pouring in so the girl party release will be delayed a little okay.