CH 178

Light

Dark

—Why did Dark Schneider have to die?

For now, I had Sazan sit on his knees for interrogation, and placed a rock on top of his lap…no, I placed the Bear instead, and he screamed ‘hiiih!’ in less than a second and fainted.

Well, he did say he tried to wash the Fingerless Gloves and used a water offensive spell before all this interrogation farce.

Now that I think about it, trying to wash a leather product with water is already grounds for retort, but using offensive magic in order to wash something? That’s a washed-up choice.

Weapons are of course items with HP as well, so they break when attacked, but the defensive power at those times is reliant on the attack power number of the weapon itself.

And so, the Fingerless Gloves held by Sazan had the lowest of defenses.

Moreover, the durability of the Fingerless Gloves is terribly low. Its HP was only 40.

Even a beginner mage’s spell would have broken it.

Now then, what should I do with this guy? -is what I was thinking while standing in front of Sazan.

“Ah, Souma-san! You are back!” (Ina)

Ina must have heard the ruckus, she poked her head out onto the lobby and ran over here with incredible speed.

“I-Ina?!” (Souma)

Considering how much the HP of Ina has increased with the Mutual Love Ring, I think the effect of the ring might be: In the case when the stats of the other person wearing the ring are higher, you will get half of those stats.

If that’s true, the Agility of Ina should be a bit higher than the normal person, and my Agility has been increased to 300, so the Agility of Ina with the ring on should be around 210 now.

She has gotten a bit used to it and barely falls in her daily life now, but when she moves at full speed like this…

“Ina, stop!” (Souma)

I hurriedly told her to stop, but it was a bit too late.

“Feh?! Hiyaaaaaaah!!” (Ina)

Ina slipped because of the puddles of water on the ground that Sazan made.

“Oguh!” (Souma)

She headbutted my stomach, and with my balance destroyed, we all fell grandly along with Sazan.

Ina really is a good quality clutz that doesn’t disappoint.

In other words, she is a pain in the butt.

“Souma, you came back?! I was really worried—”

With the most terrible of timings, Leila poked her head out from the other side of the door.

She must have been cooking, Leila had a kitchen knife in her hand, and the moment she saw me, she had a glad countenance in an instant and…

“…Ah.” (Souma)

I didn’t even have the time to think this is bad.

The smile from her face dropped after seeing my position, and light dimmed out from her eyes.

“…What are you 3 doing all tangled up?” (Leila)

The kitchen knife fell onto the ground, and what appeared in her left hand in exchange was the nostalgic Death Bringer.

“Stop! Hey, Sazan doesn’t count!!” (Souma)

What I shouted was ignored, and the moment the blade was thrusted onto me as if saying no questions asked…I saw the Bear, who had at some point in time moved away from my side, placing both hands together as if in prayer.

“Sorry, Souma. My body moved on its own again…” (Leila)

“W-We have the Black Knuckles, so it is okay. See, I am alive and kicking.” (Souma)

‘That’s a relief’ -Leila says with a smile like that of a prim and proper lady, but her left hand still had the Death Bringer in hand, moreover, the tip of it is hitting the left side of my chest.

…Scary.

What’s scary, you ask? The big smile of Leila.

Moreover, it is not a smile for intimidation, but a pure smile with no blemish.

And with that face melting with happiness, she is twisting the blade of the Death Bringer on my left chest and drawing circles on it.

…This is her being lovestruck.

Can you believe it?

Where do yanderes learn this wrong way of showing their love?

Do they understand this instinctively from the moment they were born?

A natural born yandere?

Yanderes are scary.

“…More importantly.” (Mitsuki)

The one who grabbed the collar of Leila and pulled her away from me was Mitsuki.

I directed a gaze of gratitude to Mitsuki, but she wasn’t looking my way.

“What happened with the dinner? I think it is already a good time though.” (Mitsuki)

We were the ones who were outside for a while, but she said this without any hesitation.

Looks like her saving me was just a consequence of her just being hungry.

“Ah, s-sorry! I will prepare the dishes, okay?! Only the finishing touches are needed, so just wait for 15 minutes!” (Leila)

Leila was about to hurry off to the kitchen, and I was going to ask her if I could help her out with anything, but…

“…Souma.”

My sleeve was pulled from the back and I swallowed what I was about to say.

“Sazan? What’s the matter?” (Souma)

I thought the only one who would do that was Ringo, but the one who pulled my sleeve was Sazan.

“Shut up and follow me.” (Sazan)

He said this and walked off without waiting for my response.

I had no choice but to follow after him.

“Ah, oi, where are you going?!” (Souma)

I thought he would go to a room somewhere, but Sazan exited the house.

Even so, I continued following Sazan, and he stopped at a part of the garden.

“It is here.” (Sazan)

“You, isn’t this…” (Souma)

I opened my eyes wide at what Sazan pointed at.

What was there was a long and thin wooden plank that was clearly not there yesterday.

It is like an impromptu grave.

No, it is not ‘like’ one, it must have been the intention of Sazan.

What’s written in that wooden plank is the name ‘Dark Schneider’ after all.

“Haah…” (Souma)

I feel like my tension went away in one go.

He is serious in his own way.

…He is an idiot though.

Now that I look closely, Sazan’s clothes are still soaked.

He probably was making this impromptu grave this whole time without changing.

I don’t know if to call this being an idiot, but his passion is the real deal.

“Souma, uhm…I am s-sorry…” (Sazan)

That’s why, when Sazan lowered his head in that fashion…

“It is fine.” (Souma)

I managed to respond with that.

“B-But I did something irreversible…” (Sazan)

He must have felt bad a while after the incident.

I could tell Sazan had a pale face even with the mask on.

“I am telling you it is fine. I know that you are an idiot to the core, and…I also know that you treasured those Fingerless Gloves even more than I did.” (Souma)

“Souma…” (Sazan)

Don’t look at me with those eyes.

I am also trying my best to hold back here.

“Or are you telling me you didn’t actually treasure Dark Sc—the Fingerless Gloves?” (Souma)

I tried to divert the topic by provoking him, and he easily bit.

“D-Don’t say such nonsense! Every morning, I would put on Dark Schneider and pose ten times in front of the mirror, and I never missed saying good night to it every night!

You could say Dark Schneider was my soul partner. Don’t put me in the same vein as you who only saw it as a tool—ah, sorry.” (Sazan)

He forgot his own position in the middle of it, and apologized for getting too riled up there, but…

…Yeah.

That’s honestly weird.

Or more like, don’t wash your soul partner with water.

“But Dark Schne—the gloves disappeared, right? What did you bury in this pla—grave?” (Souma)

“Fuh! You really are sharp. I buried the water spilled there to substitute the disappeared Dark Schneider.

That’s why there’s no body here. You probably couldn’t exactly call this a grave.” (Sazan)

“Wa?!” (Souma)

I almost couldn’t hold down what welled up in me when I heard him say ‘this probably can’t be called a grave’, but I desperately covered my mouth.

“Souma?” (Sazan)

Seeing this, Sazan let out a dubious voice.

I desperately shook my head.

“N-No, it is okay. If you put your feelings in the grave, anything can be a grave. What’s important is the feelings, the feelings.” (Souma)

I have heard people saying ‘Graves are not for the sake of the dead, but for the ones left’, but I think it really is the case here.

“You thought about making a grave for the sake of Dark Schneid—the Fingerless Gloves seriously. As long as you have those feelings, that’s plenty enough. At the very least, it is for me.” (Souma)

“I see…” (Sazan)

Sazan voiced out words of understanding, and after that, we both put our hands in prayer.

It may be a surreal sight in a lot of ways, but that’s fine.

What’s important is the feelings.

And so, we could have ended it on that note, and yet, Sazan showed pointless pride.

He suddenly flapped his robe and pointed at me.

By the way, when he flapped his robe, water splashed onto me from the robe and hit my face.

“…Hmph, it really wouldn’t feel right like this. As the greatest mage and peerless user of darkness, I shall grant one wish of yours.” (Sazan)

“Huh?” (Souma)

“I rarely do something like this, okay?! Be grateful!” (Sazan)

He is looking away to hide his embarrassment, but what he is basically saying is that he is going to listen to a request of mine to atone.

(This is troubling…) (Souma)

Honestly speaking, there’s one thing I want to ask.

It is something important that might affect us in the future.

But it is exactly because it is something important that I didn’t want to bring it out as an exchange.

And so, I wondered if there was anything I could ask instead, and I looked at the soaked clothes of Sazan.

“Alright, got it! How about taking a bath together after dinner?!” (Souma)

“Feh?!” (Sazan)

Sazan let out a weird voice.

He began to flail his hands all flustered as if I had told him something incredibly unexpected and asked again.

“U-Uhm…pardon me, a bath?” (Sazan)

Why the sudden polite tone?

“You were making this the whole time while all drenched, right? It would be better for you to take a bath and warm up.” (Souma)

“Ah, y-yeah. Thanks for the consideration… No, that’s not it! M-My dark powers are…uuuh…eeh…” (Sazan)

Sazan continued giving indecisive responses.

I honestly am not that into the idea of getting into the bath with him to the point of being aggressive about it.

Due to my shut-in mentality, I wouldn’t want to have a bath together with others even if they were to ask me.

Moreover, between men? What kind of torture is that?

That said, there’s a watch so we don’t die when taking a bath anyways, so even if it is outside the bathroom, having a girl on watch is not to my taste.

Having a bath together with Sazan isn’t that out of the question.

I am interested in what he would do with his mask when taking a bath.

“Also, I actually have something to talk about with you. We can definitely be alone together inside the bathtub.” (Souma)

“U-Ugh. In that case, you have a point, but…wuu, aaah!” (Sazan)

Just when I thought Sazan had suddenly grabbed his head…

“Hmph! D-Don’t think you have won!” (Sazan)

He said a weird throw-away sentence and ran back to the house.

It doesn’t make sense, but him saying that must mean he has recovered.

I shook my head as if saying ‘good grief’ and I looked back at the grave of Dark Schneider for one last time.

“Gotta remake it into a proper one.” (Souma)

For the sake of the gone Dark Schneider.

And most of all, for the sake of Sazan.

“Endure for a bit until then, Dark Schneider.” (Souma)

At the place I am looking at, there’s a small grave that can’t even be called one at the corner of the garden.

Rather than simple, it is plain shabby. A wooden plank that screamed hastily found, and messy writing that’s like a writhing snake.

This is what was written in letters that had a lot of emotion in them:

—The origin of Dark Schneider.

Dark Schneider is going to rise out.