CH 44

Now that Excaliburn has understood everything, he awkwardly changes his attitude and begins to apologize.

“No, what you just said, it can’t be, come on, that Master is Lulurun, that’s rather difficult to swallow, isn’t it?”

It’s an excuse, but she could see why he’d want to say that.

“Well, I see what you mean, I can understand where you’re coming from,” Lulurun said.

“You’re my rival, Lulurun, and I’ve been fighting you for so long, so for me, it’s a conditioned reflex,” Excaliburn said.

Lulurun had made him this way, she makes a pained expression at the painful excuse.

“I don’t know why how it happened,” Lulurun said, “I thought I was hit by a truck and killed, and then I came back to life, yeah, I don’t know how to say it?” 1

“And so you became Lulurun?” Excaliburn asked.

“It doesn’t make sense, but yes, I did,” Lulurun said.

“It doesn’t make sense, doesn’t it?” Excaliburn said.

“It doesn’t make sense, yeah,” Lulurun said.

“Hmm…” Excaliburn said.

""

“You don’t really believe me, do you?” Lulurun asked.

“Huh? I believe you! Yeah, yes, I believe you!” Excaliburn yelled.

With Excaliburn beginning to doubt her again, Lulurun continues to insist that she’s Yokoi Keisuke.

“That’s why I’m Yokoi Keisuke,” Lulurun said.

“Okay…” Excaliburn said with a puzzled look on his face.

“By the way!” Lulurun said.

This was the heart of the matter.

“Why did you appear in this world and why were you trying to subjugate the Witches?” Lulurun asked.

To touch the biggest mystery of all, why did this happen, and why did Caliburn move to attack the Witches?

As his creator, the motivations behind Caliburn’s actions don’t seem to come from him but from an outside party.

“About that…” Excaliburn said. “Before I knew it, I was in this world, same as you, Master, and there was someone in front of me that said they had brought me to life.

“Someone brought you to life?” Lulurun said.

“And, they said that the Witches were the evil of this world, I had to make sure to defeat them and bring peace to the world.”

Lulurun is astonished, someone that brought Caliburn to life, if this story is true… no, it’s true considering Caliburn is here, but in the face of an uncertain threat, she needed as much information as possible from Caliburn.

“Where is this person? What did they look like?” Lulurun asked.

“Umm, I’m certain…” Caliburn said.

And when he was about to say it,

“ふぁｌｋｊふぁおいｈがおいｈがおｊがｊ；”

Caliburn’s speech suddenly distorts, his face explodes, and his torso erupts in sparks and blows out smoke.

“Excaliburn?!” Lulurun yelled.

「あふぁｌがｇじょｐｊｇ；ｊぱおじゃｈふぃあおｇはｐ………」

Fzzt, Caliburn stops moving and falls down then and there.

“What happened?” Rhynes asked.

“I don’t know,” Lulurun said.

And while both of them were unable to handle the sudden twist, Rhynes notices something happening to Caliburn as he fell to the ground.

“Keisuke!”　

“Caliburn…?”

Why was his body getting smaller and smaller?

He shrinks to the size of the original figure that Yokoi Keisuke made and stops there.

“Rhynes, put me down,” Lulurun said before she picked up the figure as it rolls on the ground.

The figure does not have any fragments of magical power in that deadly battle with Lulurun.

And the material of the figure was substances from Yokoi Keisuke’s world.

“What does this mean…?” Lulurun asked.

Everything continued to be a mystery, Excaliburn couldn’t solve it and returned to being a figure.

“Damn it, we didn’t figure out anything,” Lulurun said.

“Keisuke…” Rhynes said.

""

She tries to smile as much as she can toward Lulurun, but she can’t be lifted from the regret spreading on her face.

“Shouldn’t it be fine, that you’re safe? I’m happy with that alone,” Rhynes said.

“Rhynes,” Lulurun said.

“So you don’t feel that way?” Rhynes asked. “Are you dissatisfied? Does this mystery have you in a twist?”

“No…” Lulurun said. “Of course not.”

“But, what?” Rhynes asked.

“… No,” Lulurun said.

It’s fine for now, she’s sure she’ll find out the cause behind all this someday, this isn’t a coincidence, she’s certain she’ll meet that cause again someday, it’s inevitable.

But for now, she’ll relieve Rhynes’ worries and smile back at her.

“I’m glad I’m alive…” Lulurun said.

“That’s right,” Rhynes said.

And with that, Lulurun suddenly had some time to wonder why Rhynes was here.

“Huh?” Lulurun asked.

“What’s wrong?” Rhynes asked.

How was Rhynes able to rush here in time? She didn’t even have to think about it because it was naturally within Rhynes’ capabilities, but upon thinking about it, the answer was simple…

“… You came here alone, Rhynes?” Lulurun asked.

“I’m alone,” Rhynes said.

“Weren’t the Knights gathering to subjugate the Witches?” Lulurun asked.

“Uh……” Rhynes said.

“Why are you alone as the Captain, Rhynes? Is this okay?” Lulurun asked.

It is strange that Rhynes was here alone, the Knights were mass-mobilizing to prepare to subjugate the Witches.

“It’ll be… not okay,” Rhynes said. “I couldn’t help it… I was worried about you, so I gave the command to Miris.”

“Rhynes,” Lulurun said.

It’s not very praiseworthy behavior for the Captain of a Knight Order, to leave their troops alone just to save one person, what would Cain do when he heard about this…?

“If Big Bro Cain hears about this, he’s going to be mad…” Lulurun said.

“Then he’ll be pissed at you, too,” Rhynes said.

“Wait, why?” Lulurun said.

“Because it’s your fault, to begin with, don’t you know?!” Rhynes yelled.

“I know that,” Lulurun said.

As the two spoke in their usual fashion, a powerful magical spell erupts from behind them.

“!!!”

When Rhynes blocks the impact with her sword, she immediately drops into a battle position.

As Rhynes was carrying Lulurun away, she ends up falling to the ground.

“Ouch!” Lulurun yelled.

“Sorry!” Rhynes yelled before she focused her attention on the mysterious attacker. “Magic?”

“It can’t be…” Lulurun muttered.

Her guess was correct: it was Nia, the Witch of the North, who cast that.

“How dare you, how dare you do this to Darling…” Nia growled.

Her appearance was undeniably strange, her aloofness had changed to an unimaginably angry aura.

Rynes immediately knows who she is on sight:

“Are you the Witch of the North?”

It’s not a good situation. From Nia’s understanding, Rhynes had wounded Lulurun.

Lulurun realizes that the hostile appearances between them was going to be trouble.

“Ah, hold up, wait,” Lulurun said.

She still hasn’t recovered from all her injuries, she can’t speak loudly.

Nia thinks, “Rhynes hurt Lulurun.”

Rhynes thinks, “A Witch has attacked us out of the blue.”

That misunderstanding, in a sense, has created an entirely new mess.

“You’ve hurt Darling… I will never forgive you!” Nia yelled.

“Darling?” Rhynes asked.

As she sees the Caliburn figure lying a bit ahead of Lulurun and before Nia, Rhynes was convinced of an even bigger misunderstanding.

“Was that doll your work?” Rhynes asked.

“Huh? Rhynes?” Lulurun asked.

“To call such a horrifying thing your darling and to use it against others, I should kill you, Witch,” Rhynes said.

“Rhynes????” Lulurun asked.

Both their misunderstandings cause them to heat up, they face each other down with lethal intent.

Lulurun tries to come between them and put a stop to it, but her body doesn’t move as she wants to and she falls flat on her face.

“STAY STILL, KEISUKE!” they both yell at her.

Then, they both glared at each other.

“Why are you calling her Keisuke?” Nia asked. “I don’t understand how you can.”

“You’re the Witch here, don’t say that name with your filthy voice,” Rhynes said.

“Huuuuhhh?!” Nia screeched. “My voice is not filthy!!! My voice is like clear crystal!!”

Lulurun can’t stop the verbal fight between them, she breaks out in cold sweat.

“You’re both misunderstanding things,” Lulurun said.

She called out as loud as she could. However…

“HaaaaAAAHHHHHH!!!!”

“UuuuooooOOOHHHHH!!!”

The two tremendously powerful people start a fight right in front of Lulurun.

Rhynes’ sacred sword and Nia’s spells collide.

The tremendous impact shakes the trees around them.

Lulurun could only watch and keep trying to say it was a misunderstanding, but her small, stubborn voice didn’t reach the two who ended up fighting for a while.

“IT’S JUST A MISUNDERSTANDINGGG!!!”