Volume 2 - CH 14

Act 2 – 14 : Night Banquet

TN: WARNING!!!

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「You’re still drinking liquor, Reiji-kun?!!」

Chiyuki had repeated the same question for who knows how many times.

Reiji was drinking another cup of liquor, distilled one on top of that.

「Don’t be so strict, Chiyuki. Ooh!! Is this their new product?」

「Uhm, it seems to be in line with your liking, Rei-kun.」

Sahoko and Reiji were having such a conversation. They didn’t pay attention to Chiyuki’s rebuke at all.

There was no doubt that Sahoko’s dishes were delicious, she had after all made Japanese delicacies, which was in line with all of their likings and cravings. They knew how special it was since creating Japanese style dishes in this world was quite difficult. It was only possible because of the existence of a kind of  fish sauce that was made with a certain fish that resembled sardines. Sahoko had made Reiji’s favourite dishes by using that fish sauce.

「Now now, Chiyuki-san. I don’t think it’s a problem for Reiji-kun to drink that much liquor.」

Shirone tried to console Chiyuki, yet her remark didn’t succeed as Chiyuki could smell the dense scent of liquor wafting from Shirone’s breath.

— You’re just drunk right?– was Chiyuki’s retort.

But, Shirone was right, Reiji never got drunk no matter how much liquor he drank. It was the same even back in Japan. Reiji’s physical ability was simply abnormal.

And yet, his physical ability became even more abnormal after they came to this world. It wasn’t the level of heavy drinker anymore, it was above that.

In fact, Chiyuki and the others also had the feeling that their body became weird after they came to this world.

They were unable to get drunk no matter how much liquor they drank, they had become just like Reiji. This wasn’t just limited to liquor as well, they realized that they would never get fat no matter how much they ate in this world too.

Their wounds healed immediately. Their skin’s complexion became better, and they became healthier than back in Japan. Chiyuki and the others became more beautiful after they came to this world.

According to Rena, Chiyuki and her companions held power comparable to that of the divine race, that might be why they had rejuvenated and possibly gained unaging bodies.

After recalling their traits, Chiyuki couldn’t help but agree that she might be too controlling, overly worrying about breaking Japanese customs in this world.

The reason why the underage weren’t allowed to drink liquor was because alcohol could hinder the growth of their developing bodies. Naturally, there were countries in their original world that allowed teenagers to drink, but Japan was different and had a deeply rooted belief that underage drinking was prohibited. Chiyuki firmly believed in that concept and abided by it, going as far as trying to make the others follow it too. But thinking about it now, it seemed to be okay to heartily drink in this world since there weren’t any negative side effects.

Naturally, there was an exception amongst them. Kyouka was still the same light drinker as she was in Japan. She was literally the exact opposite of her big brother. Thus, Chiyuki reached the conclusion that the change might vary from one person to another. It seems there were minor differences when their bodies transformed, and those differences were what caused them to manifest completely different abilities.

Kyouka, on the other hand, was rather an unusual case.

A moment later, Chiyuki noticed that Kaya’s figure wasn’t by Kyouka’s side.

If it was still dinner time, then it would’ve been normal as Kaya never ate her meal with them. She’d eat her meal alone after all of them finished their own. Aside from those times, she was always staying by Kyouka’s side, one could say that she was always glued to Kyouka. And yet, her figure wasn’t by Kyouka’s side right now, which raised a question in Chiyuki’s mind.

(Where is she right now?)

Chiyuki looked rather puzzled as she diverted her attention to the girl sitting in front of her.

「Kyouka-san, do you know where is Kaya-san right now?」

Chiyuki tried to ask Kyouka for the time being.

「Kaya is currently with the injured Temple Knights, she’s taking them somewhere safe to inspect them.」

「Aaah, no wonder.」

She heard that the Temple Knights, previously the source of Lucullus’ worry, had been found unconscious this evening.

It seems they were knocked out by someone. They were carried back to the mansion just a while ago, rendered immobile and unable to speak. According to Kyouka’s words, Kaya had hurriedly went to see them as soon as she heard news of their arrival.

And just as Chiyuki was wondering about that matter, Kaya returned to the dining room.

「How’s the result of your investigation, Kaya-san? Did you find something?」

Kaya looked at Chiyuki as soon as she heard the latter question.

Kaya’s face was as expressionless as ever.

「Yes, that person we’re looking for is coming to this country too.」

Everyone in that room started paying attention to Kaya as soon as they heard her statement.

「Why are you so sure of that, Kaya?」

「The injuries left on the Temple Knights infer that their opponent was an extremely skilled martial artist. He is an extremely skillful fighter that not even I can match in terms of martial arts prowess.」

Kaya subsequently told them about the event during the encirclement.

None of the Temple Knights who got defeated were dead, at most they were suffering a lot of pain from their joints being severely twisted by their opponent. A godly feat like that required precise control of power which even Kaya was unable to achieve after she was summoned to this world. In short, the Temple Knights were only incapacitated and knocked out, they could move again just fine with a simple healing spell.

「And a certain person comes to mind when I think of an extremely skilled martial artist.」

Upon hearing Kaya’s words, Chiyuki and co. exchanged glances.

「U~hm, the person you’re talking about… could it be that you’re referring to the pervert who gropped Kyouka-san’s chest?」

Kaya nodded to answer Rino’s question.

「Most probably yes.」

「Come to think of it, he might be following us.」

Both Shirone and Chiyuki were massaging their temple, clearly at their wit’s end.

「It seems we’ve succeeded in luring him out with our cosplay strategy…」

「Yeah… even I never expected for that stupid tactic to really work out.」

Chiyuki was completely perplexed upon finding how easy it was for them to bait the pervert out of his hiding place.

It seems the one who was summoned after them was a pervert. Nevertheless, that person’s skill was at least on par with Kaya.

「What will we do next then?」

Kaya asked everyone.

「Naturally… we’ll look for him… tomorrow.」

「E~h」

Rino let out a dissatisfied voice upon hearing Chiyuki’s remark.

「It’s not like I want to meet that pervert either. But, we have to do that to find a way back to our world.」

""

「Uhm… I think I’ll abstain since I have to investigate the tower tomorrow.」

Shirone mumbled timidly.

Though it sounds like she was trying to escape from this situation, it was acceptable since they had agreed on this matter a while ago, and the matter of the pervert was of lower priority since they judged that he wasn’t a dangerous person.

Moreover, Chiyuki thought that there was nothing to lose even if they did the search without Shirone since her presence detection abilities were quite low.

「Well… I guess it can’t be helped.」

「AAH, SO SLY!!!」

「SHIRONE-SAN IS SO SLY!! IF THAT’S THE CASE TAKE ME TO THE TOWER TOO!!」

Rino and Nao voiced their dissatisfaction.

「Rejected. And it’s not like we’re going to find that pervert tomorrow. I mean, Shirone’s addition in our searching team won’t change anything too due to her skill composition.」

They decided to utilize a war of attrition since they failed to find the pervert even back in the Holy Republic of Lenaria. Only by wearing him down could they get to him. Their biggest advantage right now was the fact that they knew that the pervert they’re looking for was close by. They needed to act as soon as possible

「Don’t worry, Rino, Nao. I’ll beat the crap off of that pervert if he tries to do something to you two.」

Reiji let out a daring smile.

""

「Reiji-san…」

「Reiji-senpai…」

Rino and Nao were deeply moved upon hearing Reiji’s words.

—Do they even remember that our purpose is not to beat that pervert?

Chiyuki looked rather troubled upon seeing the two lolis’ reaction.

「Come to think of it, Kaya-san, did those Temple Knights see the pervert’s face?」

Upon hearing Chiyuki’s question, even Kaya’s perpetually expressionless face showed a slightly troubled expression.

「It seems someone has been manipulating their memories.」

Everyone was rather surprised upon hearing that news.

When it comes to mind related magic, there were many variations. There was domination magic, memory manipulation magic, and memory erasing magic for example,

In terms of difficulty, the memory erasing magic was the easiest to master while domination magic was the hardest.

「Do you mean that someone has erased their memories?」

Kaya nodded.

Which raised another question, did that mean that the pervert had erased any memory related to him after he knocked out the Temple Knights?

「It’s something along those lines, Chiyuki-sama. Though those Temple Knights can already move just fine, it seems they have no recollection of what happened today.」

Kaya replied with an unsettled voice.

「U~hm, maybe it’s memory erasing magic but… I can’t say for sure since the victims of domination magic and memory erasing magic have similar symptoms.」

Differentiating between a victim of memory manipulation magic and domination magic was fairly easy. On the other hand, it was really difficult to differentiate between the victim of memory erasing magic and the victim of domination magic since they both made the caster absent in the victim’s memory. Furthermore, both had the same extremely dangerous side effect of inflicting chaos if the caster’s mana wasn’t that much higher than the victim’s.

But if the one used on the Temple Knights was memory manipulation magic, there was a chance that a memory of the pervert’s face still existed in their mind.

Chiyuki was wondering whether it was possible for them to draw that information.

「I guess we have to rely on Rino for this matter…」

Chiyuki spoke as she looked at Rino.

Rino, who could use mind dive magic, could see the memories of the target. By doing so, she could see even the long forgotten memories of the victims.

「Ee~h, yuck… I don’t want to do that though.」

But, Rino was reluctant to do so.

That’s why Chiyuki scrapped the plan to make Rino read the Temple Knights’ memories.

She was by no means implying that the Temple Knights were a bunch of disgusting men with unfathomable memories, even if they might truly be. But, the reason she scrapped that plan was because mind dive magic made its user exposed to foreign influence. It seems the user couldn’t dive too deeply into the mind of someone they hate. The stronger the user of this power, the stronger this trait affected their magic, and Rino was the strongest user of this magic.

Since she had to dive deep into the Temple Knights’ memories to see their memories about the pervert, it was impossible for her to do so since she clearly disliked the Temple Knights.

「Well it can’t be helped if Rino-san doesn’t want to do that. Which leaves us with the last method, baiting the pervert again.」

Chiyuki thought that it really couldn’t be helped if Rino didn’t want to read those Temple Knights’ memories.

（Nevertheless, just who in the world is that pervert? Why is he hiding from us? In addition, where is he and what is he is doing right now?）

The night passed by as Chiyuki and co. made their plans.