Chat-Error/lightnovel-2048 · Datasets at Hugging Face

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"That's not enough to kill a Dark Lord. Anyway, once the remnants of the Dark Lord were sealed, the Dragon God sank into the Sea of Chaos, his power exhausted."
"He needed a nap... ?"
"It wasn't a nap! Fearing the eventual revival of the Dark Lord, the Dragon God used the last of his power to divide himself into four different dragon lords, each occupying their respective elements of earth, air, fire, and water. These various dragon lords would protect the four cardinal points—east, west, north, and south. It's said that division took place about five thousand years ago.
"About one thousand years ago, the Dragon God's fear was realized. One of the seven pieces of Shabranigdu was restored by a human whose mind and body had been taken over by the Dark Lord in an effort to revive himself.
"When the Dark Lord invaded the north, fighting through the water dragon lord's well-prepared traps, he prevailed, destroying the water dragon lord in the process. However, his own body became bound to the earth as a result, and he was no longer able to move."
"Well that didn't get either of them anywhere," interjected Gourry.
"It happened because they were practically equal in power," I explained. "Anyway, that effort destroyed the balance that kept peace in the world, which is what, in turn, made the dark creatures appear."
"Huh, no kidding?" Gourry seemed pretty impressed. "Well," I clarified, "whether the myth about the origin of the world is literally true or false, something named Shabranigdu, calling itself the Dark Lord and possessing immense power, existed in this area oh-so-many years ago. And something else had similarly existed in the lands to the north."
"So..." Gourry paused, putting the pieces together. "That Zel-what's-his-name guy in white wants to put the seven pieces together and bring this Dark Lord back again?"
"Precisely Assuming what Rezo the Red Priest said is true, that is."
"Now that you mention it," Gourry said in a voice approximating a whisper. (I do pride myself on having excellent hearing, remember.) "You spoke pretty highly of that Rezo guy to his face," he noted, "but I didn't get the impression you trusted him."
Bingo, Gourry.
"It's all a matter of perspective, I suppose..." I spoke in a low voice as well. "How do we know this guy is the real Rezo? Rezo is a living legend, but no one's reported seeing him in person for at least a decade."
"So you think one of the bad guys might be calling himself Rezo, just to get close to us?"
"Could be."
"How do you know I am who I say I am, Lina? You seem to trust me."
"You think I trust you?" I teased.
"Hey, that's harsh!" Gourry complained.
"I'm kidding. You don't look like a guy with ulterior motives."
"Thanks, little lady," Gourry said like he was patting a puppy on its head.
Way to ruin a moment, pal. Again!! "Gourry, you really have to stop treating me like I'm a kid," I pleaded. Honestly, my biggest fear was that I was actually starting to get used to it!
"You keep saying that, but how old are you, anyway?"
"Twenty-five."
Gourry turned beet red.
"I'm kidding! I'm actually fifteen."
"Whew, you almost gave me a heart attack there. Ah, so you're fifteen. You are still a kid, see?"
"What?! Well, I'm... I'm not exactly an adult, but I'm not a little kid, either."
"Tough age to be, huh?"
"What exactly is that supposed to mean? Look, just... whatever. Let's forget about it, all right?"
I took a deep breath and tried to return my voice to something resembling a normal tone. "I'm not going to be able to use magic for the next few days. So, you're going to have to do most of the fighting in the meantime, okay? I'll help out however I can."
"You can't use magic?" He was caught off guard, for sure, but he wasn't as shocked as I was expecting.
I nodded slowly.
"Oh..." Gourry said, deep in thought. "That time of the month?"
"Gourry!" I was blushing deeply.
"What?" He looked me right in the eyes and repeated, "Well? Is it?"
I averted my gaze. "What do you know about 'that time of the month'?"
As hard as it is to imagine, women with powers have an even worse time during their period than those who don't. For two or three days during that time, the powers of sorceresses, priestesses, and shrine maidens weaken to the point where they're unable to use magic effectively. FYI: The old wives' tale claiming that a sorceress, who loses her virginity during her period, will become an ordinary, non-magical woman is a myth. My real problem was much simpler, though: My magic powers would remain very low for the next day or so; there-fore, if we were attacked, which we most certainly would be...
Oh, never mind all that. My real problem was how to get over the fact that Gourry, who seemed to have the strength of an ogre and the intellect of a jellyfish (I think that's a fair assessment), figured out that "I can't use magic" meant "It's that time of the month"!
Cobra was parked on the shoulder of the road. Completely out of place on the streets of Kyoto, it was an S-rank machine, a monster.
"Wow... I seriously don't wanna go home."
I considered running straight to Kunagisa's place, in earnest, but based on experience I could imagine the cruel fate in store for me if my escapade became known. Giving up, I dragged my feet to my apartment.
When I climbed up the stairs and arrived at my door, the fact that it was no longer locked didn't surprise me. Mimicking voices, picking locks, and reading minds came as easily to her as breathing. I opened the door to see the contractor, adorned in a wine-red suit as dark as blood, sitting on the windowsill with her legs crossed as if her presence were the most natural thing in the world.
Preternatural.
Supranatural.
"Hey, Aikawa."
"Didn't I tell you not to call me by my last name?"
"Hey, Jun."
Good, she nodded with a cynical smile.
Jun Aikawa.
Thanks to the case on that island a month ago, I'd met humanity's strongest contractor. She left me that day with the cool line, "If our fates are linked, we'll meet again," only to hang out at my university the next day. She was kind of off like that. She spent the following week making me do her bidding, not even allowing time for sleep, until she finally left Kyoto on account of a job. Judging from that episode, she was a most dangerous character, the antonym of soothing, and not anyone I wanted to get in too deep with.
Objectively, though, if we were to be duly objective, she was an extremely wild, handsome beauty whose allure was hard to resist but who remained completely unapproachable courtesy of any number of eccentricities.
Studying my face, she said, "You don't seem that surprised."
"Oh, I am. You're back in Kyoto, Jun."
"For work reasons. We'll talk about that later... Ah, I get it. Why wouldn't you expect me after seeing my flashy car parked nearby?"
"No, actually my neighbor warned me."
"Aw, and I was extra careful not to be noticed. That's pretty..." Aikawa's expression grew sharp as a knife for a moment, but only for a moment before reverting to her sardonic smirk. "...Whatever," she dismissed.
Removing my shoes and stepping into the room, I made my way to the sink. I poured a cup of tap water and served it to Aikawa.
"Enjoy."
"Muchas gracias," she said, drinking about half of it before placing the cup on the windowsill.
Geez, she just processed it normally. Before I die, I'd love to stupefy Aikawa.
I asked her, "So what's going on? Why are you back in Kyoto?"
"I said I'll tell you later. Instead, allow me to apologize for the period of neglect. You know, you've got a nice place. It's the perfect environment."
"Are we even seeing the same room?"
"That's not what I meant. Come on, you get it, don't you? Well, fine. What've you been up to lately, anyway?"
"Nothing. I'm just your average college student. I'm not living some yakuza lifestyle like you."
"Average college student. Keheh," chuckled Aikawa.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing in particular. If you weren't nosing around a murder case involving a classmate or deepening your friendship with a serial killer, nothing'd be funny, Mr. Average College Student."
"..."
"Ooh, at last, that surprised look. You've made me happy." Aikawa hopped down from the windowsill and sat cross-legged on the floor. Whether or not she felt compelled to precisely because she was wearing a short skirt, I wished she wouldn't be so provocative.
"How do you know?"
"How do you think I know?"
She grinned with unbridled elation. But having no idea what lurked behind her fun, I was expending copious amounts of energy just confronting and conversing with her. Worse, she was a mind reader of the highest order, so my emotions were leaking out of the pipes. It felt like we were playing poker with only my cards faceup. She sure was a handful and couldn't be had boiled or grilled.
But if she didn't want something out of you, she was a nice person...
She was also my type.
I replied, "I'm stumped. Totally stumped. It's not like I can ever tell what you're thinking."
"Think. And think of it... I'm a lone wolf, but I've got quite a number of friends, in Kyoto too."
"Hey, that's really something. It must be great to have a lot of friends. Even I can acknowledge that. I'll acknowledge it right now. What friends might you be referring to in this case?"
"For example, Sasaki Sasa."
"..."
"Or Kazuhito Ikaruga."
"..."
"Then there's Tomo Kunagisa."
Aikawa pulled an envelope from her black bag.
"Here, from your sweet, sweet Tomo."
"For me?"
"Yep. She said it's the thingy she promised."
I accepted the envelope.
Well, how about that.
Aikawa had paid a visit to Shirosaki before coming to my apartment. While I was just your everyday, boring, incapable college student, Tomo Kunagisa was (despite her personality) a computer specialist and expert. She and Aikawa knew each other fairly well.
I thought at Aikawa's urging. It seemed like she'd returned to Kyoto for a job. Much as I'd done for help in investigating Tomoe's death, Aikawa had sought out Kunagisa. Then, during the visit, Kunagisa decided to use her as a messenger? No... Something was missing. Kunagisa shouldn't have had to ask Aikawa, who had no reason, in turn, to agree.
In which case, the worst scenario came to mind, and it wasn't purely theoretical. To be specific, Aikawa...
"Now hand over your fee," she commanded. "That is to say, what you know about the Kyoto prowler."
She wasn't a messenger, but the collector...
"Jun, you came to Kyoto─"
"Yup. To have a little chat about morals with that psychotic nutjob."
Aikawa made her living as a contractor. This involved anything and everything. Simply put, she was a jack-of-all-trades and master of all rather than a specialist. Whether it was walking dogs, solving a locked-room murder, or coping with a serial killer with ten disassembled individuals to speak for, as long as there was money involved, she took it on. Granted, not many oddballs out there offered big stacks of cash for walking their dog. At any rate, indifferent to the legality or illegality of it, this red contractor lived out each day taking on what others were unable to.
That said.
"The Kyoto prowler claimed a twelfth victim yesterday," she noted. "Maybe you don't realize because you lived overseas for so long, but that number is unprecedented. This kind of case simply doesn't occur in Japan, much less outside of Tokyo. What's more, the identity of the killer is a complete mystery. At this point, it's going to require state intervention."
"And so you've been called upon?"

"That's not enough to kill a Dark Lord. Anyway, once the remnants of the Dark Lord were sealed, the Dragon God sank into the Sea of Chaos, his power exhausted."

"He needed a nap... ?"

"It wasn't a nap! Fearing the eventual revival of the Dark Lord, the Dragon God used the last of his power to divide himself into four different dragon lords, each occupying their respective elements of earth, air, fire, and water. These various dragon lords would protect the four cardinal points—east, west, north, and south. It's said that division took place about five thousand years ago.

"About one thousand years ago, the Dragon God's fear was realized. One of the seven pieces of Shabranigdu was restored by a human whose mind and body had been taken over by the Dark Lord in an effort to revive himself.

"When the Dark Lord invaded the north, fighting through the water dragon lord's well-prepared traps, he prevailed, destroying the water dragon lord in the process. However, his own body became bound to the earth as a result, and he was no longer able to move."

"Well that didn't get either of them anywhere," interjected Gourry.

"It happened because they were practically equal in power," I explained. "Anyway, that effort destroyed the balance that kept peace in the world, which is what, in turn, made the dark creatures appear."

"Huh, no kidding?" Gourry seemed pretty impressed. "Well," I clarified, "whether the myth about the origin of the world is literally true or false, something named Shabranigdu, calling itself the Dark Lord and possessing immense power, existed in this area oh-so-many years ago. And something else had similarly existed in the lands to the north."

"So..." Gourry paused, putting the pieces together. "That Zel-what's-his-name guy in white wants to put the seven pieces together and bring this Dark Lord back again?"

"Precisely Assuming what Rezo the Red Priest said is true, that is."

"Now that you mention it," Gourry said in a voice approximating a whisper. (I do pride myself on having excellent hearing, remember.) "You spoke pretty highly of that Rezo guy to his face," he noted, "but I didn't get the impression you trusted him."

Bingo, Gourry.

"It's all a matter of perspective, I suppose..." I spoke in a low voice as well. "How do we know this guy is the real Rezo? Rezo is a living legend, but no one's reported seeing him in person for at least a decade."

"So you think one of the bad guys might be calling himself Rezo, just to get close to us?"

"Could be."

"How do you know I am who I say I am, Lina? You seem to trust me."

"You think I trust you?" I teased.

"Hey, that's harsh!" Gourry complained.

"I'm kidding. You don't look like a guy with ulterior motives."

"Thanks, little lady," Gourry said like he was patting a puppy on its head.

Way to ruin a moment, pal. Again!! "Gourry, you really have to stop treating me like I'm a kid," I pleaded. Honestly, my biggest fear was that I was actually starting to get used to it!

"You keep saying that, but how old are you, anyway?"

"Twenty-five."

Gourry turned beet red.

"I'm kidding! I'm actually fifteen."

"Whew, you almost gave me a heart attack there. Ah, so you're fifteen. You are still a kid, see?"

"What?! Well, I'm... I'm not exactly an adult, but I'm not a little kid, either."

"Tough age to be, huh?"

"What exactly is that supposed to mean? Look, just... whatever. Let's forget about it, all right?"

I took a deep breath and tried to return my voice to something resembling a normal tone. "I'm not going to be able to use magic for the next few days. So, you're going to have to do most of the fighting in the meantime, okay? I'll help out however I can."

"You can't use magic?" He was caught off guard, for sure, but he wasn't as shocked as I was expecting.

I nodded slowly.

"Oh..." Gourry said, deep in thought. "That time of the month?"

"Gourry!" I was blushing deeply.

"What?" He looked me right in the eyes and repeated, "Well? Is it?"

I averted my gaze. "What do you know about 'that time of the month'?"

As hard as it is to imagine, women with powers have an even worse time during their period than those who don't. For two or three days during that time, the powers of sorceresses, priestesses, and shrine maidens weaken to the point where they're unable to use magic effectively. FYI: The old wives' tale claiming that a sorceress, who loses her virginity during her period, will become an ordinary, non-magical woman is a myth. My real problem was much simpler, though: My magic powers would remain very low for the next day or so; there-fore, if we were attacked, which we most certainly would be...

Oh, never mind all that. My real problem was how to get over the fact that Gourry, who seemed to have the strength of an ogre and the intellect of a jellyfish (I think that's a fair assessment), figured out that "I can't use magic" meant "It's that time of the month"!

Cobra was parked on the shoulder of the road. Completely out of place on the streets of Kyoto, it was an S-rank machine, a monster.

"Wow... I seriously don't wanna go home."

I considered running straight to Kunagisa's place, in earnest, but based on experience I could imagine the cruel fate in store for me if my escapade became known. Giving up, I dragged my feet to my apartment.

When I climbed up the stairs and arrived at my door, the fact that it was no longer locked didn't surprise me. Mimicking voices, picking locks, and reading minds came as easily to her as breathing. I opened the door to see the contractor, adorned in a wine-red suit as dark as blood, sitting on the windowsill with her legs crossed as if her presence were the most natural thing in the world.

Preternatural.

Supranatural.

"Hey, Aikawa."

"Didn't I tell you not to call me by my last name?"

"Hey, Jun."

Good, she nodded with a cynical smile.

Jun Aikawa.

Thanks to the case on that island a month ago, I'd met humanity's strongest contractor. She left me that day with the cool line, "If our fates are linked, we'll meet again," only to hang out at my university the next day. She was kind of off like that. She spent the following week making me do her bidding, not even allowing time for sleep, until she finally left Kyoto on account of a job. Judging from that episode, she was a most dangerous character, the antonym of soothing, and not anyone I wanted to get in too deep with.

Objectively, though, if we were to be duly objective, she was an extremely wild, handsome beauty whose allure was hard to resist but who remained completely unapproachable courtesy of any number of eccentricities.

Studying my face, she said, "You don't seem that surprised."

"Oh, I am. You're back in Kyoto, Jun."

"For work reasons. We'll talk about that later... Ah, I get it. Why wouldn't you expect me after seeing my flashy car parked nearby?"

"No, actually my neighbor warned me."

"Aw, and I was extra careful not to be noticed. That's pretty..." Aikawa's expression grew sharp as a knife for a moment, but only for a moment before reverting to her sardonic smirk. "...Whatever," she dismissed.

Removing my shoes and stepping into the room, I made my way to the sink. I poured a cup of tap water and served it to Aikawa.

"Enjoy."

"Muchas gracias," she said, drinking about half of it before placing the cup on the windowsill.

Geez, she just processed it normally. Before I die, I'd love to stupefy Aikawa.

I asked her, "So what's going on? Why are you back in Kyoto?"

"I said I'll tell you later. Instead, allow me to apologize for the period of neglect. You know, you've got a nice place. It's the perfect environment."

"Are we even seeing the same room?"

"That's not what I meant. Come on, you get it, don't you? Well, fine. What've you been up to lately, anyway?"

"Nothing. I'm just your average college student. I'm not living some yakuza lifestyle like you."

"Average college student. Keheh," chuckled Aikawa.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing in particular. If you weren't nosing around a murder case involving a classmate or deepening your friendship with a serial killer, nothing'd be funny, Mr. Average College Student."

"..."

"Ooh, at last, that surprised look. You've made me happy." Aikawa hopped down from the windowsill and sat cross-legged on the floor. Whether or not she felt compelled to precisely because she was wearing a short skirt, I wished she wouldn't be so provocative.

"How do you know?"

"How do you think I know?"

She grinned with unbridled elation. But having no idea what lurked behind her fun, I was expending copious amounts of energy just confronting and conversing with her. Worse, she was a mind reader of the highest order, so my emotions were leaking out of the pipes. It felt like we were playing poker with only my cards faceup. She sure was a handful and couldn't be had boiled or grilled.

But if she didn't want something out of you, she was a nice person...

She was also my type.

I replied, "I'm stumped. Totally stumped. It's not like I can ever tell what you're thinking."

"Think. And think of it... I'm a lone wolf, but I've got quite a number of friends, in Kyoto too."

"Hey, that's really something. It must be great to have a lot of friends. Even I can acknowledge that. I'll acknowledge it right now. What friends might you be referring to in this case?"

"For example, Sasaki Sasa."

"..."

"Or Kazuhito Ikaruga."

"..."

"Then there's Tomo Kunagisa."

Aikawa pulled an envelope from her black bag.

"Here, from your sweet, sweet Tomo."

"For me?"

"Yep. She said it's the thingy she promised."

I accepted the envelope.

Well, how about that.

Aikawa had paid a visit to Shirosaki before coming to my apartment. While I was just your everyday, boring, incapable college student, Tomo Kunagisa was (despite her personality) a computer specialist and expert. She and Aikawa knew each other fairly well.

I thought at Aikawa's urging. It seemed like she'd returned to Kyoto for a job. Much as I'd done for help in investigating Tomoe's death, Aikawa had sought out Kunagisa. Then, during the visit, Kunagisa decided to use her as a messenger? No... Something was missing. Kunagisa shouldn't have had to ask Aikawa, who had no reason, in turn, to agree.

In which case, the worst scenario came to mind, and it wasn't purely theoretical. To be specific, Aikawa...

"Now hand over your fee," she commanded. "That is to say, what you know about the Kyoto prowler."

She wasn't a messenger, but the collector...

"Jun, you came to Kyoto─"

"Yup. To have a little chat about morals with that psychotic nutjob."

Aikawa made her living as a contractor. This involved anything and everything. Simply put, she was a jack-of-all-trades and master of all rather than a specialist. Whether it was walking dogs, solving a locked-room murder, or coping with a serial killer with ten disassembled individuals to speak for, as long as there was money involved, she took it on. Granted, not many oddballs out there offered big stacks of cash for walking their dog. At any rate, indifferent to the legality or illegality of it, this red contractor lived out each day taking on what others were unable to.

That said.

"The Kyoto prowler claimed a twelfth victim yesterday," she noted. "Maybe you don't realize because you lived overseas for so long, but that number is unprecedented. This kind of case simply doesn't occur in Japan, much less outside of Tokyo. What's more, the identity of the killer is a complete mystery. At this point, it's going to require state intervention."

"And so you've been called upon?"