CH 107

Chapter 107: Sunday, Walking with You

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I had a dream. A dream so fleeting, as if the dream was melting into the world. The afterimage of that world was so fleeting, like it was about to disappear almost immediately. 

“Maou….. Egg…?”

A voice was resounding in a place that resembled a fountain. It seemed that someone was frightened of something. Though I was still asleep, I continued on to listen.

(Asleep…? Am I still sleeping?)

“That’s….. Not possible. Maou egg… Will only be born when there’s no Maou alive in this generation. Now that Houoyu Maou is in reign, there’s no way another Maou egg will be born.”

The one who was calmly denying the egg’s existence was a heteromorphic bipedal lizard. This bipedal lizard was covered in cold-looking scales. 

“But this presence… There’s no mistaking it, this presence is similar to Maou-sama’s presence.”

Ayoung man, whose beautiful rainbow-colored eyes were hidden behind a pair of glasses, turned his attention to the egg, feeling the egg’s presence. 

“Hey, rather than that…. The fact that Maou is not waking up and keeps on sleeping… Is it because of this egg?”

With a face on the verge of tears, another beautiful boy that looked like he was belonging to a cat species, approached the bespectacled boy. The boy’s cat ears were laying flat on his hair. 

This… What is this…. This place I’m dreaming of… Just where is this place exactly? I…. Whose point of view is this dream of? 

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PIPIPIPIPIPI

Ah! I need to go to work!!

【Sunday,18th December at 8:00 】

I jumped out in panic but then, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the time on my smartphone. 

That’s right. I have both Saturday and Sunday off this week. Today is still Sunday… I thought I was late to work… I’m sweating a little because I was so shocked. How annoying…. Hmm…

Once again, I felt an uncomfortable sensation on top of my head. I opened my eyes….. And once again… I was staring right into Velke’s eyes.

“Velke, good morning…”

『Good morning, Mahiro.』

Ah… Yeah. Of course. I’m locked in his embrace. Yeah. 

I remembered I had fallen asleep on top of my futon yesterday but when I woke up this morning, I was already in the bed. 

“Excuse me, but why do I always end up sleeping on top of you every time?”

『…? Mahiro is the Master here so where else would you sleep if not on the bed?』

“I mean, why are we sleeping together… You know.”

『?』

Ah, judging from his expression now. He definitely doesn’t see what’s the problem here. Could it be, it is normal for two grown men to sleep together in that distant world?!

Velke said he wanted to wash his face so I saw him off even though my eyes were still half-awake. Somehow I had a hunch Velke would say what we were doing right now was completely normal. Already half given up, I yawned when suddenly I realized. 

“Oh. I can’t remember anything about my dream today.”

Somehow, I felt like I had a very serious dream but I couldn’t grasp anything at all. I had a feeling I was seeing something very important though…. 

Yeah, well. Can’t do anything about it.

As I was tossing around here and there, Velke came back with a steaming hot towel in his hand. 

『Mahiro, here.』

“Huh? Oh. Thanks.”

Velke held out the steaming towel to me and I gratefully accepted it and used it to wipe my face. It felt so refreshing. Maybe because I had a bad dream? My face felt a little sticky because I sweated a lot. The warm towel felt so amazing. I could feel myself coming back to life again….

After I finished wiping my face with the towel, Velke then handed me a glass of cold water. His service was really flawless. 

『The sweats seems uncomfortable. Why don’t you take a quick shower? 』

“Yeah, I should… Ah, right. Velke, how are you feeling today?”

『I feel so much better. I think there will be no problem if I go out today.』

“I’m glad to hear it. Okay then, I’m going to wash off the sweat for a bit.”

It seemed Velke could go out today since he was feeling a lot better already. I went to take a quick shower to freshen up a bit and when I came to the living room, I saw an omelette and soup ready on the folding table. 

“Ah, Velke! You’ve prepared breakfast for me?! Sorry about that and thanks!”

『It’s nothing. Because you’ve taught me how to use the appliances last night, I have no problem in using the electric stove just now.』

The omelette was really fluffy and delicious. As for the soup, it was only a simple soup made with consommé and salt but this gentle taste really suited my stomach well. 

Is he a super boyfriend?! When an unbelievably beautiful man like him gives you a perfect service, isn’t it given for the women to fall in love with him in an instant?! 

“Oh, you know which one is the salt? What about the labels? Can you read the letter just fine?”

『I’ve seen the letter when I was looking through your graduation albums last night so I tried to read some of the writing in the house. Thankfully, I could recognize the letter just fine.』

Ooh, that magic, the one he used when I first met him, the one where he can get the knowledge from someone’s brain, that magic is really convenient,huh. I guess not only can he speak to me in Japanese but he can also read the letter. 

Eh…. Wait. Graduation… Album….?

“Velke, by graduation album do you mean….”

『Yes. The one where you said you want to be the hero of justice that protects everyone. 』

SOMEONE!!! JUST KILL ME ALREADY!!!!!! I’M SO EMBARRASSED I LEGIT GOING TO DIE NOW!!!

As I covered my face with both of my hands and writhed in agony, Velke gently brushed my hair. He was smiling at me. 

『Aiming for sublime peace, what a very noble will you have. The ideology of sacrificing yourself by sharing part of your face to the people in suffering and starvation, that ideology really touched me but please, take care of yourself first.』

UWAHHHH!!! IWAUHHHHHHHHH!!! WHEN YOU’RE LOOKING GENUINELY CONCERNED FOR ME, I REALLY CAN’T STAND IT ANYMORE….!!!

The thing he was reading must be the collection of essays I wrote when I was in kindergarten. The teacher told us to write what we wanted to do in the future and my parents told me at that time, a certain superhero made from bread was the current trend and I also aspired to be him. 

Anpan-man.

After eating breakfast, we cleaned the dishes together and although it was still a bit early, we began to prepare to go out today. Velke looked really cool in his current sweatshirt but I needed to find him some more proper clothes for going out…

I went through my closet and found some clothes wrapped in paper bags.

Oh, these are the casual clothes Aoki left here when he was staying the night the other day. I had completely forgotten these things existed.

Sometimes that guy stayed the night at my place when we got a new hot game. We’d spent the night talking about the game itself and the guide about that game. I think these clothes were from half a year ago. Where that love simulation game, Replicant Angel~ The Secret of A Maiden~, came out. The heroine was an angel that had accidentally fallen down to earth. I preferred games based on history more so I never played that kind of game much but Aoki strongly recommended it to me so we ended up trying it together. And to be honest, I cried. The company was known for making angst games and I was so moved that I cried a lot when playing it. Ah, how nostalgic. 

Hm. I felt a little guilty making him borrow something that belonged to someone else but I guess it should be fine. He needed clothes to go out so we could get new clothes for him anyway. Aoki was 180cm so compared to my clothes, Aoki’s clothes wouldn’t feel as tight on Velke. 

While I was preparing to go out, I used my phone to tell Aoki I’d return his forgotten clothes another time when I met him at work but before that… I asked for Aoki’s permission to borrow his forgotten clothes for a bit since I had a young acquaintance coming to visit me and my acquaintance was too tall to fit into my clothes. 

Things about Velke… It was a little bit difficult to explain after all…. 

“He came from another world to search for something, believe me, Aoki!”

Yeah…. It’d be better if I take more preparation and consideration on how to introduce Velke to Aoki properly later. Yes, definitely. 

I sent the message to Aoki and in a matter of several seconds, I already received a stamp of approval from Aoki. He was really quick to respond.

When I asked Velke if he’d wear this for a bit until I could buy him new clothes, he looked more reluctant than I expected. 

Well of course. Wearing a stranger’s clothes must be uncomfortable after all. 

『This presence…. I felt the same presence when I first met Mahiro on that day too…For him to leave his clothes here… I wonder what is your relationship with him? 』

Wrong. Turns out I was wrong. He’s frowning for a different reason than I expected. Ueeeeh…..

“What kind of relationship…. He’s just my coworker… Well, to be precise he’s my friend too…”

『Friend, huh.』

“Aoki is planning to get married to his girlfriend and we’re not in that kind of relationship either, okay?! I mean, in the first place, Aoki is a guy!!”

For some reason, I felt like I needed to give him a proper explanation. 

Velke looked really cool in Aoki’s clothes. He looked like some model from a magazine. It was just a simple long-sleeved shirt along with a casual jacket. The length of Velke’s legs were really something else, even the hem of Aoki’s trouser was still hanging a bit. 

“These clothes were from six months ago so wearing them in spring like this… You must feel a little cold, right? I will give you my muffler so please bear with it a bit until we can go shopping.”

『No problem.』

Man, he looks really cool. Just like a model. 

“Well, let’s go.”

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It wasn’t until I actually went outside with Velke that I realized that my fascination toward this handsome guy next to me would create a certain problem. 

Yes. Even though I’m a man myself, I can’t help but to be fascinated by this handsome man, especially when this man is undoubtedly handsome in any sense. 

I just realized how grave our situation was when we left my apartment and on our way to the station. The people were blatantly staring at Velke. Like, really staring. In fact, some were pointing their phones at us and the women started to crowd around us. 

Well of course… A tall, handsome foreigner with long grey hair and purple eyes. Of course people will assume he’s a model or a celebrity from some other country, right?!

『To be monitored to this extent….This country must be very cautious against someone from another world. I’ve used magic to disguise myself as a human before and this is the first time I’ve ever been caught so blatantly like this.  』

Velke said as he frowned his eyebrows in frustration. 

No, I mean, these people are staring at you for an entirely different reason though…. 

『This might bring a negative effect to our quest in procuring clothes for me….』

“Errr, yeah. You’re right…”

『Which reminds me, about procuring the funds for the clothes….』

Oh, now he’s talking about funds. 

“Fufufu~ Velke-kun, leave this to me. I’ve saved up all my bonus from July to December because as a corporate slave, I’m too enslaved to even use my bonus!!”

Yes. This year’s ‘Death March’ was very horrible. I didn’t even have any spare energy left to buy a new game. I had bought a new laptop in the summer but other than that, the rest of my savings were left in my bank account to rot. 

『But, if I become a burden on Mahiro even more than this…. 』

“No need to worry about it, Velke. Right now, I’m really looking excited to buy some clothes and stuff for you. Just think of this like I’m supporting my oshi as a dedicated fan!!”

『O-Oshi….? Support….? I’d rather support Mahiro rather than having Mahiro supporting me…』

It was when the people around us diminished, including those who had been gawking blatantly at Velke when Velke suddenly stopped his track as we neared an alley. 

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

『Please wait here for a moment.』

Velke said that before he entered the alley with a blind spot area and there we found a man, standing alone in that alley. I remembered we had passed by this man earlier. Velke then quickly reached his hand toward that man and…

He suddenly grabbed that man’s head. 

“?!”

Velke only grabbed that man’s head for a moment but the scene that followed us next left me flabbergasted. While standing on unsteady feet, the man pulled out a few 10.000 yen bills from his wallet and held it out to Velke. 

Huh?! Wa-Wait, is this, ext-extortion?!

“Velke?!?!?”

『With this, we’ve acquired our funds.』

Velke returned to my side nonchalantly, as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. 

Oi, just now, didn’t you just extort that guy?!

“No,no,no, Velke. That kind of thing is-”

『There’s no problem at all. It seems he’s a mediocre thug. After taking his knowledge in that moment, I then inserted a ‘suggestion’ inside his mind. Apparently he planned on gambling his money away and so I embedded a different memory so he thought he had already spent all his money in gambling.』

“You can do that kind of thing?!”

『It’s just a simple track. Of course I was careful enough to not leave any trace behind.』

“No! You mustn’t commit any crime! Never commit any crime!”

The words that came out of my mouth reminded me of the police’s motto. 

Velke reluctantly went back to return the money back to that man. I was so surprised…. I didn’t think he’d resort to that kind of thing. 

『In the book Mahiro lent to me, there was a description of robbing money from the defeated monster and demon. So I thought this kind of thing is normal here.』

Ah, yeah. I think there’s a manga where the defeated monster will drop some money behind…. And from a demon’s point of view, as the victim, the character in that manga is like a robber for them…

“Umm, you mustn’t steal from them since people usually receive money as a remuneration for their labour….”

『Hmm… From the news, it seems robbery is often committed in this society but for Mahiro, robbery is evil. I understand.』

It seemed Velke was adjusting his morals according to mine… I was glad Velke obediently listened to me but this really emphasised to me that Velke truly came from a different world. Maybe in that world, people could rob each other without any moment of hesitation? 

“That mind magic, so you can cast it on anything?”

『Judging from earlier incident, I think I can cast it on anything more or less. In the first place, the inhabitants of this world has a very low amount of magic. That means I can’t give them a substantial suggestion but on the other hand, they also don’t have any magic to defend themselves from my magic. Since basically everyone in this world has no magic resistance, my magic should be as effective as it could possibly be.』

“Whoa, that’s amazing.”

『Yesterday, from between the documents I received from Mahiro, there’s an entry called “The First Year of Being an Upstanding Member of Society”. In that entry, there’s a section of Mahiro’s family registers. I think I could somehow deploy magic to rewrite that document by changing the perception of those who’s reading that document. 』

“Oh so you can do it without touching the target of your magic directly?”

『If I go by the terms commonly used in this world then it’s similar to a ‘cursed object’. By using that document as a catalyst for magic, it is possible to distort the perceptions of those who were holding that document in their hands. 』

“Oooh… But still, you can’t manipulate electronic data, right?”

『For that, we just need to acquire enough funds and hire an expert to do that. As long as we’ve distorted both electronic and physical data, there should be no problem at all.』

Whoa…. This handsome man….  Even though he’s a visitor from another world, he’s already adapted and even become well versed to this world’s modern knowledge. How scary. 

“But still, let’s take it easy for a bit….”

『Moral values are highly dependant to the environment you grew up with. If whatever I’m about to do contradicts Mahiro’s moral values, then I won’t do it. 』

“Well, if possible, can you not use that mind magic on me since it’s a bit….”

『Unlike reading someone’s knowledge or memory, the magic that distort someone’s mind also have a certain effect on their soul. I will never use that kind of magic on Mahiro under any circumstances.』

“Yes, I believe in you, Velke.”

Because of the difference in moral ethics…. For Velke, it must be normal for the strong to take from the weak but despite that, using any magic that might distort my soul and mind was still against his ethics. The difference between our moral values and perception was too big. 

Of course, we didn’t need to be from a different world to have different moral values. Even within this world, there were differences in moral values. Heck, even within a small country like Japan, people here could have different moral values too. 

And so, I once again continued to walk with Velke. The people who passed us always stared at Velke zealously but it seemed Velke only had his eyes on me. 

“Umm… Even if you stare at me like that, I don’t think you will find anything interesting…”

『No. In fact, I feel very deeply moved just by staring at Mahiro. Besides, it feels really peculiar that I don’t need to look down too much to look at you.』

“Velke, the difference in our height is about 15cm, right?”

『That’s about right.』

Ah. Right. I understood the implication behind his words. Velke always walked alongside ‘Maou’. That was why, he always compared the sensation he felt with his memories with that ‘Maou’ from the other world. 

『It feels nice I can easily bring our face close just like this.』

“?!”

With just one small step, Velke closed the distance between us, bringing our face near. 

T-T-T-T-Too close!! Too close!! This handsome man!! He’s way too close!!

“Ve-Velke, I’m not even a beautiful woman! I’m just an exhausted corporate slave! I don’t think my face is that interesting, right?!?!”

That.s right. I’m sorry to say but I’m just an average looking guy. The woman who has been staring at Velke too, their face is literally saying,”Just what is that weed doing around him?”.  Uuugh…Having said that myself, it makes me feel sad…

『…. ? Mahiro, you are very charming though. I want to keep staring at you if I could.』

“W-wait! Charming? N-No one ever said that to me though?!”

『I guess that’s because all of the people in this world have poor eyesight? 』

You’re the one with poor eyesight!!

I wanted to say that but I held myself back. 

Right. I remembered I used to pull an all-nighter to beat an otome game. (To be precise, Aoki was forced by Shizuka-san to finish the game but then he dragged me along so the two of us ended up playing that game all night long. In addition, he even stayed over at my house….)

I’m glad I’ve pulled an all-nighter to beat that otome game since now I can keep my sanity even after hearing such a sweet flattery coming from this handsome man.