Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 105: Curse of the Tower
Lucius and Lauren were visiting the tower together.
They had been climbing the tower for ten days now.
The two of them passed through the courtyard as if they were used to it.
At the entrance of the village, Melania was waving her arm, or rather her wing. They were right on time.
“Lucius-sama! Lauren! We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Good morning, Melania.”
“Good morning, Melania-san. As usual, I’ll be waiting with Mika in the village.”
“Yeah!”
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After completing the contract, Lauren didn’t climb the tower but waited for Lucius and Mika, Melania’s brother, to return home. She seemed delighted to have made a female friend of the same age and often engaged in girl talk with Melania.
“Take care, Lucius-san, Melania-san.”
The puppet Nocto appeared silently from the house and stood behind Melania.
“Ah, we’re off.”
“Take care! Lauren, please take care of Mika.”
As they were bid farewell by Lauren and Mika, they left the village and headed towards the magic circle on the first floor, accompanied by Melania and Nocto.
As usual, the villagers’ gazes were filled with sadness. Even when Lucius subtly asked Melania for the reason, she just avoided the question.
――I wonder what’s bothering them.
Lucius and the others progressed through the layers of flooded houses and headed towards the magic circle. They were already accustomed to the route.
They stepped into the magic circle as usual and poured their magic into it.
Before their eyes spread a scene: a scorching desert.
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“Today marks the end of the third layer, and it seems we can move on to the fourth layer. It’s likely to be the shortest record for conquering the third layer.”
They cleared the forest on the second layer in four days, and it seemed they could clear the third layer in about six days. Following Melania’s advice to avoid attracting attention when manifesting the formula, he had not summoned the Evil Dragon or Chi You even once.
“Well, I’m used to the habitats of monsters. Let’s move on.”
Along the way, rhino-like creatures made of sand and scorpions made of giant rocks appeared, but Lucius defeated them one after another without Melania having to use the puppet.
It also served as training for spellcasting.
Usually, they would advance while avoiding battles, but since Lucius defeated all the monsters, Melania said they had gained about five years’ worth of magic stones.
Magic stones were also used to repair damaged puppets, so the demand for them by the people of Kyrgyzstan was much higher than expected. This became an ironic reason why they couldn’t leave the tower.
“I see it. That’s the magic circle leading to the fourth layer.”
Melania pointed to the other side of the sand dunes with her feathered fan.
“All right. Let’s go.”
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“Lucius-sama, the fourth layer is overflowing with second-class gun monsters. Although rare, there may also be first-class ones, so we might be able to obtain formulas. Shall we stay on the fourth layer for a while?”
“No, let’s go to the fifth layer. At this rate, we should be able to reach it by next week, so let’s take the shortest route through the fourth layer.”
Lucius had entrusted his territory to Alfred and had come here. He chose the fastest method.
“… I see.”
It was a somewhat suggestive response.
After walking for about ten minutes, they saw the familiar square building.
Then, they immediately entered the building and poured their magic into the magic circle.
Their vision went dark.
The place they had moved to was terribly hot.
Even hotter than the scorching desert.
――Is this magma?
Smoke rose, and the smell of rotten eggs filled the air.
What spread beyond the entrance of the square building was a land where the ground was dyed crimson everywhere.
Magma flowed down from the protruding bedrock walls like waterfalls.
“This is the fourth layer. Be careful not to fall into the lava; there’s no coming back.”
“Got it.”
When they stepped outside the building, they noticed a crowd approaching.
They seemed to be heading towards this magic circle.
Three small palanquins carried by Kyrgyzstan people, like small shrines, were being carried.
Those sitting inside peered out from the windows.
At the front were Sectus from Lucius’s hometown and teachers from the western region.
There were also about ten Kyrgyzstan people surrounding them.
――How did they manage to bring them all the way here?
It must have been quite difficult to climb with palanquins.
Upon closer inspection, all the Kyrgyzstan people seemed to be injured.
Some had severe burns, and others were being carried on their backs.
“Ev, everyone…”
Melania was speechless.
“Oh my, isn’t this Lucius-sama, the hero of the northern region?”
“Sectus…”
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“Finally reached the fourth floor? I just finished my contract with a second-class gun monster.”
Sectus seemed pleased to have made the contract first and oozed superiority. However, Lucius’s attention was focused on the Kyrgyzstan people.
“What about everyone’s injuries?”
“I just pinned down the gun monster. There’s nothing to worry about.”
Sectus said as if it were a matter of course. The gun monsters were self-aware formulas, and many people were injured just by touching them.
The puppets also showed signs of damage.
――We don’t have enough puppets.
Lucius had learned from spending time with Melania that puppets were not just tools. They were a part of the self that governed formulas. That’s why the Kyrgyzstan people treated them with such care.
Leaving broken puppets behind was unthinkable.
But they had to leave them behind reluctantly to carry their comrades.
“Treat them.”
“As kind as ever, aren’t you? If you’re okay with such consumables, please feel free.”
Sectus and two teachers descended from the cage and fanned themselves with fans.
Immediately, several armored soldiers crawled up from Lucius’ shadow.
They were a unit of the Dragon Knight Order’s medics.
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They rushed to the injured one by one, applying healing spells.
However, there were about three individuals whom the armored soldiers passed by.
Those who were being carried.
“They’re dead.”
Lucius gently closed his eyes.
Behind him, Melania covered her mouth with her wings.
“Odessa, Ere, Alex…”
It seemed the three were acquaintances.
As Melania shed tears, the teachers interjected with mocking tones.
“Healing spells for puppeteers would diminish the nobility’s status.”
“Indeed. Noble blood should require dignity in action.”
Lucius glared at Sectus and the others.
“Don’t you have any words of gratitude for the Kyrgyz people who served you!?”
The three burst into laughter.
“Why should we thank those who are not even nobles? Let alone peasants, they are not worth discussing.”
Lucius clenched his fist tightly.
— They are too influenced by the idea of being chosen.
There seemed to have been someone in Japan who claimed that those not from a certain origin weren’t human, but the arrogance of individuals seemed to be the same across worlds.
Ignoring the three laughing men clutching their stomachs, Lucius spoke to Melania.
“How do these people mourn?”
Those who contracted with the ritual were absorbed into it, so there were no bodies, and funerals were simple affairs.
He had no knowledge of how the Kyrgyz people mourned.
“Lucius-sama…”
Melania touched Lucius’s hand with her forehead, tears streaming down her face, expressing her gratitude.
“After the funeral in the village, we’ll bury them on the second floor with the puppets.”
“…Got it. Let the armored soldiers take them.”
After the healing was complete, the armored soldiers gently held the corpse along with the doll.
As those soldiers began to head towards the magic circle, Melania’s voice, filled with fear, echoed.
“M-Marbus…”
Other Kyrgyz people also froze in fear.
“The guardian?”
Looking around, they caught sight of something crawling out of the magma.
It was a lion made of lava.
Moreover, it was a huge lion, twice the size of an adult.
Guardians were entities that demanded a “price” when someone who had reached a floor for the first time tried to return downwards. However, they had no intention of going back yet.
Just as Lucius was about to ask “Why now?” he noticed Sectus and the others being sucked into the magic circle.
――It’s just us!
It only needed one person to pay the price.
If someone other than himself was left behind, he could shift the burden onto others.
A shadow of a beast slowly appeared in front of Lucius.
It was a blazing lion.
Smoke rose every time it walked, and just approaching its magma body would likely burn one’s throat.
――Seeking a price, huh?
A girl leaned forward as if to protect Lucius.
It was Melania.
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“…Lucius-sama, stay back.”
“I’ll pay the price.”
The price on the second floor was magic. The price on the third floor was blood.
It didn’t matter that much.
“No, that won’t do.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the tail of the guardian Marbus was pressed against Melania’s right eye.
The tip of the tail was as sharp as a needle.
“Ugh!!”
Melania grimaced, and the tail was immediately pulled out.
Where Melania’s round eyes had been.
――Her eye… is gone.
Her right eye had turned into mere darkness.
Where her eyeball had been, there was only a space enveloped in black haze.
Lucius deemed it an attack and drew his sword.
“No, Lucius-sama!”
While holding her right eye, Melania shouted, but it was already too late.
Marbus took a deep breath and exhaled flames towards Lucius.
It was a full-blown hostility.
Lucius instantly created a shield of anti-magic and prepared himself.
A tremendous heat surged against the shield.
“Nocto! Help Lucius-sama!”
As Melania commanded, the boy puppet dashed across the scorching ground.
Nocto immediately leaped into the rocky shadow.
Swinging a small knife in his hand, a blade cloaked in shadow shot out.
It was the Shadow Blade technique of the doll Nocto. It had the constraint that it could only be activated within the shadows, but it was a powerful technique.
However, when the shadow blade hit Marbus, it shattered like fragile glass.
“We have to get away fast!”
“We’re finished…”
“Please forgive us! Please!”
The difference in status was too great.
The Kyrgyz people were in despair. Some were screaming in agony, some were rubbing their foreheads on the ground, and some were trying to distance themselves from their dolls.
“Lucius-sama! Everyone, run! monsters around are all rushing towards us!”
Amidst the turmoil, only Lucius remained calm as he walked.
“Melania, ask the puppet to stand down. And is it okay to defeat the guardian?”
Melania couldn’t understand what he was saying.
“Uh, it’s originally a choice between paying the price or defeating it. But rather, defeating it is impossible!”
“I see. Then I’ll defeat it.”
Lucius infused light into his treasured sword.
Then, he faced the fiery lion.
“If you leave now, I’ll overlook it. Go.”
Lucius’s magic swelled.
“W-What!? This magic power!?”
Melania and the Kyrgyz people turned pale, their faces contorted in unison.
“I’ll say it once more. Go.”
Marbus roared, its entire body emitting flames.
“Alright.”
The vortex of flames began to surge menacingly around the roaring lion.
The gun monsters don’t die in the tower.
They could apparently regenerate even if they were torn apart, so the fear of fighting someone stronger seemed to be faint.
Lucius leaned forward.
In an instant, he approached the giant lion.
He created a black sphere in his left hand and threw it towards the lion’s nose.
It was the Crushing Black technique.
The spherical object began to suck in everything around it.
Standing upright in front of Lucius without moving, Marbus struggled as it dug its claws into the ground while emitting flames from its entire body, appearing like a submissive dog with its head bowed.
“It’s over.”
Lucius brought down his sword on the immobilized lion’s head.
Immediately afterward, Marbus’s entire body went limp, and it was sucked into the crushing black that devoured flames.
The crushing black, which had swallowed everything, soared into the sky and burst into pieces high above.
After scattering flames as if dancing fireworks, they completely dispersed and disappeared.
“…Incredible.”
Melania and the Kyrgyz people were dumbfounded.
But that was just for a moment.
As if attracted by the fireworks, spiders and wolves crawled out one after another from the magma. Additionally, birds of light and wind emerged from the sky.
“Whaaaaaaa!”
“P-Please help!”
A horde of monsters.
It was a sight enough to bring Melania and the bewildered Kyrgyz people back to reality.
――These must be the gun monsters of this floor. They’re all about second class, I guess.
Lucius raised the blade of his treasure sword against his right arm.
He flicked the blood from his arm towards a nearby fire lizard.
The blood evaporated with a hiss.
However, in the blink of an eye, the blood expanded, swallowing the fire lizard.
However, the blood didn’t stop expanding. In an instant, it swallowed about twenty gun monsters and turned into a red pool.
From the red liquid different from magma emerged several wyverns.
They were first-class monsters called Blood Wyverns, emitting corrosive poison breath.
“W-What is that technique!?”
Melania and the others were further confused.
Ignoring their confusion, Lucius calmly ordered.
“If there are any first-class ones, leave them be.”
In response to Lucius’s call, the wyverns took flight simultaneously.
At the same time, armored soldiers emerged from the shadows and elegantly mounted the flying wyverns.
This was the true ability of dragon knights.
Continuing, Lucius infused magic into his arm.
“Take this too.”
A mass of magic took form, revealing a large crimson spear.
It was the highest-grade magic spear.
Named Bone Shadow.
Just the blade alone was as tall as Lucius.
With the hilt included, it was over three times the length of an adult.
――If I don’t manifest Chi You, it’s too unwieldy to handle.
Bone Shadow was too large for Lucius to wield as he was. Therefore, he used his treasure sword when fighting barehanded.
Throwing the magic spear into the air, a wyvern swooped in to catch it.
Without missing a beat, it was hurled towards a wolf made of nearby rocks.
It pierced the wolf in one blow, impaling it into the ground.
The shockwave of the slashing attack tore through the bedrock, creating a new river from the flowing magma.
And after the overkilled wolf twisted its body, nearly ten spears burst out from its insides.
It was the Bone Shadow’s technique of duplicating itself using bone and flesh.
The duplicated spears were pulled out by the dragon knights and used to cut down the gathered gun monsters.
Competing with the mounted wyverns, the gun monsters were burnt and melted by the corrosive poison breath mixed with flames and lightning.
“What… is happening…”
Melania and the Kyrgyz people were halfway in confusion.
What unfolded before their eyes was no longer even called a battle.
It was simply a massacre.
The gun monsters that had appeared vanished one after another without delay.
In no time at all, the gun monsters were annihilated.
All that remained were numerous magic stones.
Amidst the heat haze created by the magma, Lucius walked leisurely.
“…Who are you… exactly…”
Fear was etched in Melania’s left eye.
“Melania, rather than that, we need to treat your right eye.”
“This eye is cursed. It won’t return to normal unless it’s dispelled, not just healed.”
“I don’t have the formula for removing the curse. Perhaps that winged arm also belonged to the monster from earlier?”
Melania nodded.
“Every time someone gains a second-class or higher spell, someone is cursed. We take turns being cursed in the village.”
Lucius hesitated for a moment.
Then he clapped his hands.
“Alright. Let’s make a contract with a monster that has the dispel technique. To be honest, I didn’t think I needed two more anyway. I’ll also lift Melania’s and the other Kyrgyz people’s curses.”
Melania’s eyes widened.
“You’re really something.”
“But, the price on the fourth floor is a curse.”
“The higher the floor, the heavier the price. I apologize for not explaining properly. In any case, I was prepared to accept the price myself.”
Lucius’s expression became stern upon hearing those words, more so than during the battle with the earlier monster.
“Melania… be honest. What’s the price on the fifth floor?”
On the fourth floor, it was physical transformation.
Lucius had suddenly become curious about the “price” he was aiming for on the fifth floor.
Melania smiled wryly as if resigned.
“It’s… life itself. When someone capable of casting a first-class spell appears, they are chosen. Who in the village will be sacrificed. This time, I was chosen.”
“The price is… life?”
Lucius understood.
Every time he came to this village, he understood the meaning behind the sad glances of the villagers.
They were mourning for their comrades whose deaths were already decided.
“Yes. Moreover, the fifth floor is filled with first-class monsters, and it’s not uncommon to lose lives there. Ten years ago, when His Highness Dion gained a spell, twelve lives were lost. Among them… were my parents. Mika had just been born…”
Melania reminisced, exuding a sense of melancholy.
“Why would you accept such a thing?”
“If I were to give you a first-class gun monster, Girard-sama promised that he would take care of my brother for the rest of your life. He promised a life where he wouldn’t have to worry about food or clothing.”
Lucius couldn’t believe that Count Girard would keep such a promise.
Yet Melania believed in it.
If she sacrificed her life, her brother could be happy.
Lucius looked straight into Melania’s eyes.
“Nobody needs to die. I’ll defeat the gatekeeper next time too. Even if a horde of first-class monsters comes at once, I’ll handle them all.”
Melania smiled.
“You might really be able to do it, Lucius-sama. But, only if your intention is sincere.”
She didn’t believe it.
After all, they were a horde of first-class monsters. It was enough firepower to destroy a city.
“Yeah, it’s easy.”
Just as Melania seemed about to burst into laughter, a red light grazed overhead.
――The Fairy King.
It was an monster that could bring both fortune and disaster.
Melania had said it was rare, but Lucius had seen it several times before.
“Why is it on this floor?”
The fairy was a sixth-class gun monster.
This fourth floor was a territory dominated by second-class monsters, which seemed disproportionate.
Something tapped Lucius’s forehead from above.
“Ow. What’s this?”
He hastily scooped up what had hit him, a stone of the exact same color as the Fairy King’s red.
It shone brightly, but its deep red hue gave off an ominous feeling.
Lucius held up the stone dropped by the Fairy King to the sky.
――Did it give it to me?
Melania peeked at it from the side with her left eye.
“It doesn’t feel like it has much magical power. It seems to belong to the Fairy King, but I’ve never heard of a monster giving its own magic stone to someone else.”
“What could it be?”
While pondering, he pocketed the magic stone.
Now, the exhausted Kyrgyz people awaited, and there were also corpses to mourn.
It wasn’t a time for deep thoughts.
“Let’s head back to the village for now.”
The two of them and the Kyrgyz people passed through the magic circle and returned to the first floor.
As soon as they returned, the people crowded around them.
The voices of families mourning their deceased loved ones and those comforting the survivors echoed.
In the midst of those voices, Melania distributed magic stones to those who had lost their puppets or whose puppets had been broken, along with words of comfort.
There must have been plenty of magic stones from the mass Lucius defeated.
While watching Melania, he noticed a villager who was carrying two puppets.
――Someone can control two puppets?
As he thought about that, Melania, who had finished distributing the magic stones, returned to Lucius.
“Everyone was grateful to Lucius-sama.”
“Don’t worry about it. More importantly, Melania, don’t you control two puppets?”
“I only have a gunner core.”
Melania tilted her head curiously.
“Then, is the person with two puppets a Chorus?”
“There are no Chorus among the Kyrgyz. The reason someone can control two puppets is because they have a false core. Why do you ask?”
Lucius suddenly became excited.
“Huh? Puppets can make contracts with false cores?”
“Yes. Since false cores don’t house the contractor’s consciousness, they’re not suitable for mediating contracts with strong-willed monsters, but they have no relation to puppets. Puppeteering seems to be a technique that assumes control of two puppets. However, we rarely have the opportunity to enter the dungeon.”
Lucius possessed a special-grade false core.
“…Could it be that my false core can make contracts with puppets too?”
“I haven’t tried it, but it’s probably possible. But without being accustomed to it from a young age, I don’t think you’ll be able to control them satisfactorily.”
Lucius contemplated for a while before speaking.
“Could you make puppets for me too?”