Maou na Ore to Fushihime no Yubiwa:Volume 1 Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The assigned mission

The Ghoul that was suddenly delivered to my house — Zonmi Ra McKenzie.

The one that suddenly confessed being a Nephilim — Kurose Kyouko.

Being currently trapped between the two of them, I was in a very dangerous position.

It was no joke, though it's not like I could tell how serious it was. If I found a green mushroom lying around, I'd pick it up and eat it.

Since I had to sleep soundly at the infirmary's bed until a while ago, the contents of the History lesson went totally over my head. Giving a quick glance to his surroundings, there was one female student giving me a glare as cold as ice. It was Zonmi.

It seems like my previous fleeing somehow offended her.

Hu~m, I should do something obout this. Nonetheless, this problem was already not something I could solve by myself. Surely, besides the fact that the conversation steadily grew out of proportion like that, the information was very scarce from the start...

I took a deep sigh.

Then, I remembered the conversation we had right before at the infirmary.

International Monster Association.

Quite a suspicious organization... But it piqued my interest. Giving a careful thought, that was the source of it all — it seems they are pulling the wires.

Maybe there I can find some kind of solution...

A ray of hope from the Heavens. I inmediatly looked for it, cell in hand. When in trouble, ask Google-sensei.

Results: 12,400 hits — It was faster than I thought.

It seems like the International Monster Association... As a joint of all monster associations, it seems that it doesn't locates them all in a single place, but instead has set up a number of branch offices. Frankly, though I wondered if it was good to have all this information so easily accessible, I was thankful nevertheless.

After looking for the nearest branch office, I saved the adress on my cell's memory. It seems that the place was in the area.

"Good! With this it'll be OK."

"... What's what it's 'oh-key'?"

Of course, this voice belonged to Zonmi. The umbrella she carried was sparkling.

With the point dripping red, I wonder whose blood it is.

"I think that this is not good too, I pondered about some things... A plan to overcome this situation.!

"Hoho, you will finally make a contract with me, won't you?"

"How did you arrive to that conclusion! Nobody said so!"

No matter how much you repeat it, I don't plan on getting such a shady job like monster tamer. Better than that kind of job, I'd even part-time washing corpses.

"Or, how should I tell you? Why are you carrying an umbrella even if it's not raining?"

I'd been trying to ask it since a while ago. The water-like blue umbrella in Zonmi's hand, it doesn't matter how you look at it, it's not one you could buy at a convenience store for 500 yen. Is this what you call "made on order"? It doesn't matter from where she brought it, in any case it's surely prety expensive.

"What a foolish question. We ghouls are weak against sunli — any light-based attack. This is a neccessary tool to protect ourselves."

In order to avoid saying "sunlight", she corrected herself like that.

"Hu~mpf. Then, when you face one of those... light-based attacks, what'll happen?"

"When the corruption advancess too much, our life is in danger. For the same reason, heat is also a hazard; the season known in the Human World as summer sends each year to hospital 100,000 ghouls."

"Ugh..."

How should I put it, there are 100,000 ghouls?

That's a scene I don't want to picture.

"Ah! Could be that the reason why Zonmi, in the beginning, came to my house in inly her underwear...?"

"Wha-wha-wha-what are you saying so suddenly!?"

"Wasn't that to reduce the body heat?"

"... Yes? Isn't that obvious!?"

"A~h, so that was it, like I thought. This solves another mistery..."

Seems like that cleared all the doubts in my mind.

Even ghouls have their problems. Surely, if they are confined in an airtight space for long periods of time, their body temperature would probably end up rising.

"... By the way, I'd like to ask you something as reference; until now, what did you thought it was the reason?"

"Hu~mph, I thought it was simply your hobby..."

BAM!

"Guah!"

I received a strong hit in my shin with the aforementioned umbrella.

A soothing nice sound resounded through the classroom.

"Ouch... Why, you idiot Chiharu... I got hit too."

Though I had the feeling that I could hear my buddy's moans from behind, I'd like to think it's the air.

That, wouldn't it hurt if it wasn't really a joke?

A lot of things happened and the end of classes drew near.

It was heart-breaking. I didn't know if a mayhem would break before reaching there.

And in addition to that.

I was currently trapped in a real game of tag with two monsters that faced me ach time with a "let's make a contract".

Once the lesson ended, I rushed to the toilet even though I didn't have the need.

At noon break, the lunch I ate while seating on a toilet had a strong smell of ammonia.

This kind of moving endeavor, if I don't stop that trouble by today, will end up being the norm.

That's why.

With the signal of the end of classes, because of the aforementioned, I rushed out at full power.

"Ah! Hey, Chiharu! Why are you fleeing, you coward!?"

"Oy, Chiharu! You promised to come with me to catch monsters after classes!"

However, I didn't look back. I had the feeling that I shouldn't look back.

Let's follow what my father told me. Let's head once and for all to the International Monster Association. Though it'll be good if I find some kind of valuable information... The timely end of the noon break + the full speed I came with till here = not a soul around.

I was careful that Zonmi and Kyouko didn't chase me. I endend quickly leaving the school.

I hurriedly finished changing into my outdoor shoes by kicking the ground.

Then, as I approached the school gate, I was struck by a heavily uncomfortable feeling.

There there were trucks piled like bricks.

I blinked once. I rubbed my eyes.

It can't be, recently my eyes are must be doing tricks to me.

Hahaha... It seems that somehow or other, the scene I'm seeing right now is not a hallucination.

The countless piled trucks were packed right before the gate, like if someone intentionally put there to obstruct the exit. What a nonsensical view.

"Ha-ru~"

I looked at the source of the voice.

It came from far above. From the top of the piled trucks.

There, squatting slightly, was a slender girl. Struck by the wind, her ponytail swayed right and left.

"Kyouko..."

I couldn't do nothing but stood with my mouth shut.

Unbelievable. Could this all be Kyouko's doing...?

"Sorry, Haru. It's a dead end."

"Hey, hey, this better be a prank."

Is it because of the mood? This girl... gives a different feeling than usual.

The atmosphere froze from the tension.

"... Haru is a bad kid. Since you won't make a contract with me. That's why you run away."

"Wait a minute! What are you planning to do!"

The time, after school.

Here and there were students going back home, it seemed that they would notice something strange going on.

"Though I think that Haru will somehow be somewhat fine, please don't die. Perhaps, since I can't go easy... I'll obligate you to make the contract by force!"

"Ehm... Hi?"

This is bad.

Kurose Kyouko.

Though it seems she has a reputation in the school of being an angel, right now her expression was, no matter how you look at it, that of a demon. She'll use any menas to reach her goals... Tha's what her eyes were saying.

Then, as if she had thought of something, Kyouko removed her bracelet from her wrist and threw it to the sky.

I wonder what will happen.

The bracelet changeed in a flash into a rod, isn't that her weapon of choice?

That shape... It's something you usually see on games.

Its design was like a mix of spear and axe. Perhaps it's what they call a halberd.

I think Kyouko won't hesitate to thrust it from the top of the trucks,

"Secret technique: moonsault."

I had a huch she muttered something like that.

The truck revolved through mid-air. Something incredible revolved through mid-air.

Though I don't think I know what to say, Kyouko, making use of her abnormal superhuman strength, as she started to make a piercing attack, she tossed with force the truck she was standing on.

Describing a beautiful arc, she turned in mid-air. She fell onto me like that.

Along with a thunderous roar as if the earth was splitting, lots of dust danced in the air.

"Wah!?"

I could narrowly dodge that. If my reaction was one second late, by now I would have become as flat as her chest.

"Ah~! Why did you avoid it...? Had it hit, you wouldn't have need to suffer."

Hey, hey. You must be joking... What a ridiculous strength.

"What the heck! Didn't you want to make a contract until just now!?"

"... Maybe it's Haru who doesn't understand anything. To monsters, what's the meaning of the contract with a tamer... If it continues like this and that ghoul girl fetchs the contract, I'll act like this."

"..."

That's right, Zonmi also said the same thing before.

But because of that, is it good this contracting by force...?

*GURUN*, Kyouko wielded the aforementioned truck.

That's bad, her reach is too long. I don't think I can avoid being hit.

And if I try to stop the attack, both my arms will end up totally smashed.

Like that, I had a single option left. I kicked the groung and dashed at full power.

"Ku..."

*GOTSUN*, a dull sound echoed through my bones. It seems like I couldn't avoid it by a paper-thin margin.

It seems that my left leg ended up taking serious damage. I don't think I can keep standing very long.

"Sorry, Haru. I really didn't want to show such a violent behaviour..."

"Why do you... Show me something like this, Kyouko!"

Or perhaps, could it be that it's bad manners to ask that?

However, I couldn't help but asking.

It's like that, after all? Till now, I was thinking of Kyouko as a human. I don't know nothing about Kyouko as a Nephilim...

"Right... For starters, why don't we talk about our clan?"

While looking from above to me, my leg broken, Kyouko told with a serious tone.

"Us, the Nephilim clan, while being from the giant tribe, are a heretic breed born from crossbreeding between humans and fallen angels... In other words, we are incomplete beings that don't belong to either of the two.

Though our ancestors originally barely subsisted in a corner of the Netherworld, that became a good pretext. The persecuted Nephilim were chased off from their terrytory and ended up migrating to the Human world."

"... Really, to me it seems like other people's problems."

"They didn't have any other way. When I was born, the Nephilim clan had been already chased out of the Netherworld. That's why I don't know what the Netherworld looks like."

"..."

"Neither monsters nor humans, we are inbetween. If, once again, we had a chance to regain our place in the Netherworld... That would only be by making a contract with a Monster tamer and attaining some achievements... Although that's my father opinion."

Kyouko laughed bitterly.

Ah, somehow I'm absolutely pitiable.

Kyouko shouldered the destiny of the entire Nephilim tribe.

On one hand, I felt like I was under a kind of joke... About contracts with monsters, that much I understand. Though maybe I noticed it too late.

"Well, then. Haru... This is the finishing blow. You'll be sleeping soon."

*FIUU*, the wind blew. The truck was swung mercilessly.

This time I definitely won't be able to evade. When I closed my eyes with resignation...

"You are truly a useless master, indeed."

Silver hair gently brushed by the wind. A dignified appearance.

Opening my eyes, a slender girl had stopped the truck with an umbrella.

"Zonmi!?"

She was Zonmi. Has she blocked this forceful contacting? Her umbrella blown off to nowhere, her arm bent in an impposible direction with a snap.

"Hey, you, is your arm OK."

"Don't make light of a ghoul. A wound of this degree is only a scratch."

"..."

That's probably true. I don't think she's bluffing.

"I was holding back. Quickly, move from there... Or do you have a plan?"

"... Ah."

I nodded.

What she said back then... I was reminded of it.

I ran. I ran at full speed.

Luckily, it seems like my injured left leg has considerably recovered. Really, I'm grateful of the seemingly magical constitution of my body.

"Ha-Haru... Don't scape!"

She swinged the truck downwards.

However, this time I wasn't that scared... I felt an inexplicable calmness.

*FLASH!*

Moving as nimbly as a cat, Zonmi blocked the descending truck with her body.

"... Thank you."

"It-it's nothing, you don't have to thank me. If you want to repay me, do it with actions!"

I looked at Zonmi, whose skull had sunk; let's keep a secret what those bits that could be seen were.

I sprinted towards the gate. Looking carefully at the crudely piled up trucks, there is a gap I could pass through by bending myself a little. Praying that it wouldn't crumble, I quickly passed through the trucks.

This... It's seems like I won't go home empty-handed.

As I sensed a heavy pressure, I headed to the station as fast as I could.

Though I was curious about the course of Zonmi and Kyouko's battle, nothing good could come for me.

International Monster Association. Thought that's quite a suspicious name it has, I couldn't but feel that it had the key to the problem.

I was running with a speed that wouldn't lose even to that of Melos when he wanted to save Selinuntius.

I boarded a train that arrived with good timing.

× × ×

After reaching my target place, I was speechless.

If I thought that it'd be an easily recognizable place... There was the indispensable neccesity for a home's dinner table, the local based retail shop "Sakurazaka butchery".

Seriously...? Is this my hometown...?

Looking at "Sakurazaka butchery" like the map told, it was a run-of-the-mill tattered and inconspicuous building. It seems that the International Monster Association's branch office was located at the third storey.

Since I asked... I hope I can get some results.

Filled with anxiety, I went up the stairs. While I was going from second to third floor...

... A pink snake appeared before my eyes.

With its swollen belly, it looked like a never seen before species.

Is this... A monster?

Twirling it's tongue, it seemed to be saying "follow me" without words.

What the heck... Could this be some kind of trap?

But, even if I worry, it can't be helped. As if following the snake, I passed through the door of the branch office. Inside there was such a mess that it resembled, for example, a so-called "jumbled universitarian clubroom". There were so many books and documents scattered everywhere that it was difficult to find a place to stand.

Taking a look inside, there was a collapsed person on top of a slightly large desk. It was a woman.

She had long eyelashes on her narrow eyes. A well-proportioned nose. Long, glossy and slightly wavy fair hair.

With an overall composed atmosphere, a person that gave the feeling of an unbelievably pretty young woman.

thumb

"You were... Let's see... Chiharu-kun, if I'm not mistaken?"

"That's right, but... Who are you?"

Though having one own's name disclosed gave a tinge of uneasiness... That much was crystal clear.

Knowing my name, this person surely... is somewhat related to Monster tamers.

"I'm Luka. Everybody calls me that. I'm the Monster tamer entrusted with the protection of this area... I's fine if you call it a kind of recognition."

The Monster tamer that guards this area... I've heard that there are many IMA branches throughout the world. Could it be that each one has a Monster tamer in charge of each section?

"This is the branch office of the International Monster Association, isn't it? Isn't the public information about it a bit too open?"

"That's right. It seems like in the olden days they liked to be a little more concealed, but now it's different. Wouldn't you understand by looking at the situation outside? That's not something you can hide for long."

"... How did the world end like that?"

"That's what we want to know, Chiharu-kun. Before long, the world will approach an unprecedent crisis. That's why this time we assumed the risk of recruiting a large number of Monster tamers. We expect your participation."

"..."

Though she is talking about a risk, even I did know that she meant the Monster rebellion of the reports.

Softening the traffic through the Abyss Gate that connects the Netherworld and the Human World.

Is that the extent of the risk whe must assume...?

"Then, did you want to ask only that?"

".. No, I came here to day to ask something."

"Fu, fu; what do you mean?"

Luka-san shows a mysterious smile.

I told her the whole story.

My election as a Monster tamer. Being stuck in the middle of a conflict between the Ghoul and Nephilim clans. The scattering sparks of the confrontation those two had just a while ago.

'Ah, this person must be consulted about things like this a lot.'

Luka's attitude while listening to my talk was enough to make you think like that.

However, only a little.

If there was something that piqued my attention, was the manner in what, in the middle of my speech, Luka-san contained her laughter... I wasn't telling nothing funny.

"Yeah, I more or less understand... Chiharu-kun is still a child."

"I'm... a child?"

"Yeah, a child. Concretely, the kind of child that eats his hamburger with ketchup."

"what's with that evaluation standard!?"

"Adults eat plain oroshiponzu."

"What, I didn't know!?"

I was worried to be told that my common sense didn't resemble the common sense of the world.

"Then, in the end. Which monster do you choose."

"Which one... Would it be a problem if I don't choose?"

"Yeah, I'd asy a big one. You are seriously a good-for-nothing."

"..."

Those words hurt deeply as if they were arrows.

How do I say it... Luka-san is someone with a mysterious atmosphere.

Rather talkative and loving to joke, it was like her eyes could see through anything as if it were totally transparent.

"Well, why don't you try to change your way of thinking? Which one would you like as a girlfriend?"

References and Translation Notes

Back to Chapter 2

Return to Main Page

Forward to Chapter 4