Chapter 139: Liar

Chapter 139: Liar

I put aside the jumbled mess of emotions bubbling up from Yamajuns death and hardened my heart. I thought only about what I needed to do now. Calmly, coldly.

So, what now?

Theyd been sitting listlessly ever since we finished the burial. I was the first to speak.

What do you mean what?

What can we

Very dull reactions from Ueda and Nakai. They were not thinking about anything. That was, of course, normal. A good friend had just died in front of them.

If we were back in Japan, we couldve slowly gotten over the shock and come to terms with that reality. But we werent, and we didnt have the luxury to waste time on stuff like that.

We, still have to get out of this dungeon. Yamajun died, its sad, its sudden, and its hard to accept I know But we cant keep mourning forever

You aint wrong dude, but nows, kinda, yeah?

Yeah, you cant control your emotions just like that after all.

Which kind of made this good timing. They were not fully thinking straight right now, and will be easier to manipulate.

Im not saying we go now. We can rest a while. But I think its better to talk about what we should do

Shut it. Its all fucking useless

Yamada griped irritably. It was understandable. Someoned just died and I started yapping on and on.

Arent you guys worried? About Ayase-san I mean

!?

Even Yamada couldnt talk back after that one. Since his heart shouldve been a complete mess right about now.

R-Reina-chan huh

Hmm, I mean

That fake Soumas the dude that killed Yamajun

Y-youre right, hes the culprit! Well make him pay!

Their responses were honestly disappointing. These guys, they still couldnt blame Reina for what happened.

Even if they were not exactly on her side, they just couldnt go against her delicate and ultra cutesy half-Japanese charm. Ridiculous, they werent seeing reality.

Thats right. Ayase-san is, shes still under that smoke bastards hypnotic control

Shit, just like I thought!

Of course not, dumbass.

But please go ahead and believe that. They should listen better if they think we had a good cause. Humans can commit any and every evil by just believing themselves to be right. Believing in yourself, such a great motto.

So, we need to save her right?

Y-yeah

Oo! You bet we will

Momokawa, dude, arent you just saying that cause we need her in the dungeon?

Ahaha, yeah, cant deny thats part of it

Looks like Shimokawas sharper than the other two. Though if you looked at our interactions up until now, theyd obviously notice that I didnt exactly treat her like a princess.

Shimokawa had realized that I only thought of her as a pain and a burden, only, reluctantly, keeping her with us because of her strength as a Spirit Master. I think he also realized that Im the type of person that valued merit over feelings.

Hed be half right. I was in fact trying to work with Reina for the strength she provided, but I didnt necessarily think we should expel her from the party even if she didnt help. Though the fact was that her beasts did play a major role in capturing the goma fortress.

But I too had limits to the amount of bullshit I could wave off.

Yes we need Ayase-sans power to progress in the dungeon, but aside from that, you guys dont want to abandon her here right?

Damn straight! Ill save Reina-chan! And Ill take revenge for Yamajun!

Yamada got jumpy instantly, as if the depression and heartbreak from just now was all an illusion.

I gave him a convenient interpretation of the situation, and he took it hook, line and sinker.

His anguish from Yamajuns death was replaced by the desire for revenge. Maybe, its because that was easier on the heart, to hate instead of hurt. If theres an enemy, someone to despise, you can target them as the root of your grief.

Plus, if he also got the bonus of rescuing his proverbial princess, that is, Reina, then of course Yamadas energy would shoot through the roof.

But to do that, its gonna be our toughest battle yet

What do you mean? We just gotta beat that fake Souma right?

We just got surprised back there, if its just him against the 5 of us, we can do it

Its pretty risky, but I have a plan

Oo, right on

Cmon Momokawa, dont leave us hanging

His plans were great in the goma fortress too, dudes great at those

Anything, Ill do anything if itll save Reina-chan!

Nice, everyones on board. Guess it helped that theres the precedent with the fortress. That feeling of everyone trusting you. Its great.

Its nothing complicated. Since, I think, Ayase-san is still holed up in that fairy square

Her, along with SOUMA, still being in the other fairy square was the most important condition for this plan to work.

If, for whatever whim, Reina was long gone from there, we didnt have any means of tracking her. If that happened, even I would have to give up on exacting my revenge for the moment.

But I know she wont. Reina, see, her personality was like a hardcore recluse (hikikomori). Now that she had her, although fake, Souma-kun, she wasnt going to let go of her happy and fulfilling environment for no reason.

So Im sure that even now, Reina was still over there, idling away and flirting with the fake Souma-kun.

First, we randomly provoke them so the guardian beast SOUMA chases us

If that one came at us alone, it was the best case scenario. All we had to do was gang up and beat him.

We try to separate SOUMA as far from her as we can. And we kill him

But dude, you dont really think hes gonna come out alone right?

Yeah, my guess is Engard and Ramdane will come along too

It sounded like a last boss multi boss round from the get go, but I really did think itd turn out like that. Reina wasnt the type that went easy on her enemies, if she felt like we were being a pain, shell come at us with everything. Actually, if Reina so much as thinks that she doesnt like us, her guardian beasts will come attacking on their own.

Reina thought of me as a liar and a bully. It was a truly childish sense of pure hatred. So if she saw me, she was sure to get riled up and seriously try to get rid of me.

Man, quite a bit hated arent I. Yeah, I hate you very much too.

And if all those guardians do come out, we run

We wot?

What do you mean run?

We just want them to come out and chase us. Its to buy some time

The hell do you mean buy some time! If we cant beat em, we cant get to Reina-chan, can we?

Thats it, Yamada-kun

Hey, hes on point for once.

Basically, if we can get to Reina, we win We only need to release her from the hypnotism

With all her bodyguards out chasing us, shell be alone. And once alone, Reina, the Spirit Master, was all but powerless. As she was still the weak, delicate girl she started out as.

We have to separate Reina from her guardian beasts. The decoy team will hold them back to buy time, and the rescue team will go release Ayase-san. This is the basic outline of the plan

But you know, those guardian dudes aint gonna be stupid enough to ignore that rescue team

They werent mindless beasts after all. They were smart enough to consider it.

If one of us hid while the rest played decoy, it might work but wasnt guaranteed to. If they notice that one of us was missing, they might leave one of them, say Ramdane, behind.

Right, so for the decoy team, itll have to be all of us

Dude, then whos gonna get Reina-chan?

Me

You?

How?

Youre a Shaman remember? You cant run that fast and cant stay well hidden either

Geez guys, you dont gotta rub it in. Theyre right though.

Dont worry, I happen to have a curse thatll trick the guardians

This one, I got when Ruinhilde-sama tore my whole body in two. The new curse magic Id obtained with the cruelest hand-over ceremony yet.

This curse was the reason I could imagine a way to actually kill Reina.

Its my new curse 2Shade. I can clone myself

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TL: Scallop