owlsbooks Chapter 987 The Last Routine 166
Chapter 987 The Last Routine 166
Chapter 987 The Last Routine 166
After Kobayashi finished off all the monsters, he wiped the sweat from his brow and, panting, said to Huihui and the others, "Then you three can stop here. I'll take care of them later. You can go back now."
"What?" Aqua, abandoning her usual naive demeanor, crossed her arms and snapped, "What are you talking about? Don't try to fool me!"
“That’s right.” Huihui stood next to her, glaring at Xiaolin with hostility, and questioned, “Tell me about the evil demands you made on those two people.”
what! ?
"Tsk, didn't manage to fool them..." Kobayashi clicked his tongue in frustration, but before he could say anything, he noticed that Yougou and Dongdonggu were lying on the ground, seemingly affected by Huihui's explosive magic. This girl, she says she's protecting her good friends, but she actually did something stupid that almost killed them. I really don't know what to say about her.
"Aqua, can I ask you for a favor?"
"This is no problem."
At Darkness's request, Aqua eagerly ran over and treated the two girls. A few minutes later, they opened their eyes again.
"Wow, where am I—"
"...It hurts, it hurts so much...my head hurts so much...!"
Yougou and Dongdong stood up in a daze, shaking their heads as if they had suffered a serious injury.
Huihui asked with some concern, "How are you two feeling? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere? If you're in a bad mood, tell Aqua."
"Your head?" You Gouhui frowned slightly, rubbing her forehead. She subconsciously said, "There's nothing wrong with your head... Speaking of which, Huihui, why did you make Xiaolin carry you?"
She looked at the little red demon girl riding on Kobayashi's back, her hands forming a rear naked choke, with a puzzled expression.
"W-What's wrong with you?" Kobayashi managed to pull Huihui's arm away, and after catching his breath, he explained, "Isn't this necessary after every explosion spell? Don't you remember?"
"Um... oh, right, I remember now!" Dongdonggu slapped her forehead, as if she had finally remembered everything. How should I put it? It was as if she had turned back into the innocent and adorable college student with clear eyes. And not only her, but Yougouhui had also turned back.
"Ah, me too!" Yougou's eyes widened slightly, and he patted his chest with a mixture of surprise and lingering fear, saying, "It seems we've forgotten something important. Has something bad happened to us?"
"what?"
Aqua was puzzled and shocked. After a moment of confusion, she said, "So, you mean that impact was very effective!?"
"Could it be that Kobayashi's ill-conceived strategy actually succeeded...?" Darkness also had an incredulous expression. It was unclear whether she was incredulous at Kobayashi's method or at the changes in the two of them, but regardless, she felt looked down upon.
"Hey, don't be so smooth in saying you're not thinking straight."
Kobayashi made a slightly annoyed comment.
“Yes, I remember now…” Yougou shook his head again, his clear red eyes veiled in a layer of white mist, and said, “The power of this ridiculous magic is absurd. Seriously, the Crimson Demon Clan is just too troublesome.”
"……what?"
Huihui was somewhat speechless.
Dongdonggu also returned to her previous form. She snorted slightly, clearly annoyed, and said, "If you want to attract attention, go outside the village. The true Crimson Demon Clan wants a peaceful and stable life."
"How could this happen..." Huihui murmured involuntarily, "You two, haven't you returned to normal?"
As he carried her on his back, Kobayashi could clearly hear how trembling the little girl's voice was, and he could also clearly sense how tightly she clung to his arm because of fear and disbelief.
"What are you talking about?" You Gou asked, sounding rather puzzled. Then she looked at Xiao Lin and said, "Speaking of which, Xiao Lin, you haven't shown me your strength yet."
“That’s right, that’s right.” Dongdonggu stood beside her, her expression as strange as ever, and said to Xiaolin, “Let me see how you take down the monster all by yourself.”
The two urged Kobayashi on, as if the little incident just now had never happened. It seemed that the power of the shock therapy was not enough and that a stronger stimulus might be needed.
Kobayashi raised his eyebrows slightly. In order to better understand their tolerance level, he deliberately pretended to be timid and said, "I really want to show you a lot of good things, but unfortunately, there are no monsters anywhere anymore, right?"
She raised her chin, indicating that there were no more monsters or anything like that around here; they had all been wiped out by Kobayashi… no, by Megumin.
The perfectly timed regret is really unsatisfying, and I have the idea that I should find some monsters to test it out...
"there is."
"what?"
"Hooohoooohoo——————"
As Dongdonggu spoke, Xiaolin stared dumbfounded as the monster charged down the hillside. It was an orc, and a race consisting only of female orcs!
A large number of female orcs rushed towards Kobayashi's direction like sharks smelling blood, just as when the high-jumping eagle found Darkness, whose body was completely hard.
"Orcs?!" Darkness looked at the horde of orcs surrounding them in shock, but quickly realized and said, "That's right, this place is near their lair... The explosion magic just now must have disturbed them!"
It's a lie...
You Gou nodded slightly and said, "When Kobayashi specifically moved here, I was wondering if this was how it was, but I never expected..."
"You must have come here to fight even more troublesome orcs!" Dongdonggu said to Xiaolin with a big smile, then gave a thumbs up and said, "Come on, have a safe journey!"
Then, he even gave Kobayashi a push.
"No, it's a misunderstanding!" Kobayashi quickly explained, while pleading with her teammates, "Darkness, Aqua! Help me!"
Other monsters might be okay, but he really couldn't stand orcs! Especially female orcs, who made him feel physically uncomfortable. Just making eye contact with them made him want to vomit. He couldn't help but marvel at the fact that such unacceptable creatures still existed in this world.
Expecting to be rescued, Aqua turned around as if it were her right and said to her teammate beside her, "Well then, Darkness, go back and get some rest. I'm already exhausted from walking around all day."
“That’s true.” Darkness came to Kobayashi’s side. “Here, hand Megumin over to me.”
To his astonishment, she took Huihui away.
"...Alright. Well then, I wish you good luck in your military campaigns."
Then turned around and left.
Yes, without male orcs present, Darkness naturally wouldn't be interested in these monsters; after all, he'd never be toyed with or anything like that. But doesn't that mean... he'd be the only one left to clean up these physically uncomfortable monsters?!
"Wait! Don't go!" Xiaolin made a gesture like Er Kang, pretending to realize her mistake, and stretched out her hand to them, shouting, "It's all my fault, help me!!!"
however.
Before he knew it, Xiaolin had been surrounded by the beastmen, who were constantly closing in on him.
"Oh my!?" The leading female orc, drooling and with shining eyes, looked at him and said, "You, we've met before, haven't we? Could it be... you want to have my child?"
"Huh!?" Kobayashi trembled involuntarily, and quickly said, "That happened after we started dating! No, don't come any closer... please don't come any closer—"
In his excitement, he instantly killed all the female orcs.
And at the same time.
Chris also arrived at the Crimson Demon Village. Looking around, she didn't see the person she was looking for and said, somewhat puzzled, "Hmm, they're not here. I heard Kobayashi and the others came to the village... Anyway, we must tell them as soon as possible that the Crimson Demon Clan's strange occurrence is because of Jizo!"
When Kobayashi, who had been suffering from mental attacks, returned to the Scarlet Devil Village in a very dejected state, he encountered Chris, who had been waiting there for a long time. Chris solemnly told Kobayashi and the others about what had happened.
"...Ksitigarbha?"
Huihui frowned slightly, a puzzled look on her face. She clearly hadn't heard of such a monster, or that such a thing existed.
Darkness chimed in, "I've never heard of such a monster before. There's no way such a monster exists."
“They’re not monsters, they’re fairies.” Aqua explained matter-of-factly, “Fairies are intelligent beings born from various creatures; they are collectively called fairies.”
At the same time, she looked at Chris with some curiosity and asked, "But aren't fairies supposed to be good children who exist to grant other people's wishes? Why would they curse the Crimson Demon Clan?"
“No, the investigation revealed something different…” Chris shook her head slightly, but before she could explain, she saw Kobayashi and asked with some concern, “By the way, Kobayashi, you look all bruised and battered, are you alright?”
"Stop asking. Nothing happened. There was no fighting with orcs or anything like that."
Xiaolin is so distraught that she no longer wants to face reality.
"Ah, ah... You've worked hard."
Chris clearly knew what had happened, so she chose not to rub salt into the wound.
"Compared to that, Jizo is more important!" Huihui quickly interjected, asking excitedly and nervously, "That's the reason why the Crimson Demon Clan became strange!"
"While it's still uncertain, I've heard rumors about the Crimson Demon Village in Bressey City." Chris shrugged helplessly and said, "All sorts of disturbances and conflicts, actions that are still unimaginable..."
It seems that not only have the mentally unstable Crimson Demons caused a lot of trouble for the world, but even the mentally stable Crimson Demons have caused a great deal of trouble for the world.
Chris met Huihui's worried gaze and spoke again: "If we believe that either one is the work of the fairy spirit Jizo who loves chaos, then everything will make sense."
"Do you like the chaotic Ksitigarbha...?" Darkness nodded, then pondered for a moment before asking with some curiosity, "Are there such spirits that can grant other people's wishes?"
“Yes,” Aqua nodded in agreement, “but think about it, aren’t fairies a bit capricious? So even if they hear your wishes, they might not grant them all.”
In other words, fairies are just as fickle as humans, and because they possess great power, they even prefer to do destructive things.
Chris then spoke up again, "Moreover, the documents also record that if chaos continues, it will soon get out of control and become irreversible."
"Not only did it cause this mess, it's also causing trouble everywhere." Huihui clenched her fists in annoyance and growled at Jizo with dissatisfaction, "What a nuisance! Let's catch it quickly and kill it!"
"You often cause trouble for others too."
Xiaolin couldn't help but complain.
Did you say something?
"nothing."
Ignoring Megumin's threatening glare, Kobayashi turned to the goddess beside him and said, "Hey Aqua, do you know where it is?"
"I don't know, I'm not a god... Oh, I am a god." Aqua said in her usual idiotic way, then shook her head decisively and said, "But, if it's such a troublesome being, it should usually be sealed somewhere, right?"
"Sealed... that means sparsely populated lands, or ruins or something like that."
Darkness said something casually.
This sentence made Xiaolin subconsciously recall the underground city that the group went to when they were investigating the ruins, and how he saw something that looked like a Jizo statue there.
[Does Ksitigarbha exist in this world? Although it's slightly different from Riben's... since this is a rare opportunity, let's offer a small prayer.]
That's what he said.
So what was your wish at that time?
[To make the adventure a little easier, I hope those Crimson Demons can be a bit more serious... Also, I hope to be popular with respectable women... Seriously, please.]
Ahh ...
That's it!
When Kobayashi recalled it, his face turned green.
Seeing his contorted expression, Chris asked with some confusion, "Mr. Kobayashi, you don't look well. What's wrong?"
"No, it's nothing, don't worry!"
Kobayashi's smile was so fake and pale that it was obvious what he was hiding.
Could it be that……
Was the conflict among the Crimson Demon Clan my fault for worshipping Jizo?! Really? It can't be true!
Despite his inner denial and reluctance to admit it, his intuition told him that it was true.
Damn it, why did I ever make such a wish?!
He couldn't help but wail inwardly.
(End of this chapter)