Chapter 15: Our Journey: Travelogue⑧ – Mineha and “What’s Mine.”

I was fed up.

I had been for a long time—but now, from the bottom of my heart, I was truly fed up.

“Seriously… what is this already?”

Over the past few months, I’d suddenly—unnaturally—become popular.

Can you believe it? I’m ten years old.

And yet grown men—older men—
keep looking at me with those disgusting eyes.

Just like now. They keep sneaking glances at me.
Honestly, I don’t get it.

Apparently, I’ve changed. My looks have become unbelievably beautiful, they say.
And somehow I give off an incredible amount of “sex appeal.” No—seriously—I’m ten.

They say I exude the finest mature allure of an adult woman—what are they even talking about?
And what the hell does “dochashiko super-lewd” even mean?
And that was said by my own mother—haaah… I never thought she was that kind of person.

Well, whatever. It’s not fine, but still.

If they’re just staring, it’s harmless. It feels awful, but it’s still better than worse.
I really hate being talked to, but if I turn them down, they leave—so that’s still better.

What really makes me furious are the arrogant, worst-of-the-worst idiots.
They use power. They use violence. Force. Coercion. Threats. Kidnapping.

Every last one of them is filthy, obscene, and revolting. Just thinking about them makes me want to puke.
It’s not like I wanted to become pretty.

Even if you say that, I don’t know what you want me to do.
So the stress builds up.

When that happens, I take a bath, barely dry myself, and dive into Wof’s bed.
Being naked under the blankets is embarrassing, but no one’s looking, no one knows, and it feels nice.

And for some reason—though I don’t really understand why—it’s Wof’s fault.
This happening to me is Wof’s fault.

Idiot.

I do have a countermeasure, technically: the Fairial state.
But using it feels like I’m losing.
I don’t want to lose. I don’t want to lose.

After competing with my mother, I felt that even more strongly.
And I understand now what I’m lacking. She pointed it out, and I agree.

“Hey. You.”

A voice suddenly called out from behind me.

I’d just stepped into a quiet, low-traffic area because I wanted some peace.

Of course, I ignored it—but the voice kept calling out.
Annoyed, I sighed and turned around.

I knew from the voice, but it was a man.

He was tall, wearing a black cloak, with plain clothes underneath.
He had long black hair in a strange style.

It was kind of like a bird’s beak—yeah, that sort of shape—and the “beak” part was white.
His features weren’t bad, but his murky black eyes… his gaze made a chill run down my spine.

Nope. Absolutely nope.
Between his hair, I could see small white horns. A faun, huh.

He was holding a sword.
A long, strange white sword—no guard, slightly curved, horn-like.

“What do you want?”
“Hey. You.”
“My name isn’t ‘you,’ you know.”

I answered irritably.

“Become mine.”
“Huh?”
“Oh yeah. This is perfect. I never thought I’d find a vessel like this.”
“Huh?”

What is this guy even saying?
There are idiots like this sometimes. When I gave him an exasperated look, he scowled.

“What’s with that face?”
“This is just my normal face. So, what do you want?”
“You little—getting cocky for something that belongs to me.”
“Huh? Since when do I belong to you? Hey—what are you—”

The man pointed his sword at Anna Kreutzen, who was standing beside me nervously.
Before I could shield her, Anna was blown away.

“This is what happens when you defy me.”
“Anna?!”

She slammed into a building wall, white smoke rising.
As I rushed toward her, my arm was grabbed.

“Let go!!”
“If you keep defying me, I’ll have to discipline you too.”
“Shut up!”

With my free hand, I readied the Demonic Star Manifest Spear at my waist.
When the man noticed, he released my arm.

I immediately activated all the detachable parts—the “Stars.”
The white-patterned sections split into nine triangular Stars.
I sent three of them spiraling in an attack.

But the Stars were repelled—as if by an invisible wall.
The man laughed, his murky eyes sharpening like knives.

Smack! My cheek was struck. I bit my lip, drawing blood, but I glared back at him.

With fierce resolve, I wrapped eight Stars around the spear and made them spin.

Wof calls it a drill.

Faster, faster, faster—sparks flew, scattering like twinkling stardust.

“Hmph. So what?”
“Starlight Braver!!!”

I thrust with all my might—a killing blow—
but it was deflected. Easily.

Like hell I’d give up!

From high above, at the very edge of my Remote Control and Spiral range—take this!

I dropped the ninth Star at high speed right above his head.

“Starlight Strike!!”

But even then, it was repelled before reaching him.

I charged anyway. Still useless.

A barrier? Even so, this thing is ridiculously tough.

“Haah… don’t get cocky with me.”

The man grabbed my arm again.

“Let go!!”
“Get it through your head already—you belong to me.”

Smack!!
He slapped me harder than before.

My eyes welled up with tears from the pain, but I glared at him with burning hatred.

“Die, you trash.”

“What’s that look? That mouth of yours? Do you need training to learn you’re mine—”

“Gahh?!”

His grip tightened, and he clenched his free fist.

In the next instant, a crushing pain like being hit with a blunt weapon slammed into my stomach—
I’d been punched.

I coughed up blood and groaned.

“Maybe I’ll give you two or three more. That should make your position clear, huh?”

Something entered my vision.

Ah—Anna Kreutzen… battered and broken…?!

She tried to punch him, but was repelled.

“!?”

“You’re still alive?”

The man dropped me, kicked my stomach, and turned his sword on Anna.

“R-run… away…”

Even so, Anna kept attacking—again and again—even as she was repelled.

“You’re an eyesore. Die.”

“Ducas!!!!”

A furious shout rang out. The man turned toward it and spoke in surprise.

“Hoss?”

Hoss…?

Hoss attacked Ducas with a halberd.

“Long time no see.”

Ducas blocked it with his sword.

“What the hell are you doing, Ducas?! They’re my comrades!!”

Hoss was furious. I’d never seen him like that.

Ducas laughed.

“Yours? No. This woman is mine.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?!”

“Don’t interfere. I won’t go easy on you, even if we’re old friends.”

“Ducas—ughah?!”

Hoss was blown back—but he immediately got up and charged again.

“You—”
“Shut up.”
“Gahaaa!!”

Hoss was slammed into the ground by the sword.

“Out of consideration for old times, I won’t kill you. But if you defy me again, I will.”

In that opening, Anna attacked again—only to be blocked and cut down.

Blood sprayed as she collapsed.

Anna…

Ducas stabbed his sword into her.

With a bored sigh, Ducas kicked my stomach.

“Ugh… agh…”

“Hey. You got my boots dirty with your blood.”

Saying that, he stepped on my face.

He ground my face into the ground with his sole.

“Guaah…!”
“If I get interrupted again, it’ll be a hassle. Let’s go.”
“Ghh…”

Ducas grabbed my hair and dragged me along roughly.

I wanted to resist, but the pain made my body refuse to move.
Tears spilled out.

Frustration, sadness, rage—everything overflowed.

No. No no no. I don’t want this. I hate this.
Being with someone like this—no.

I should turn Fairial—
No, that’s bad. He’ll do something even worse.
He might kill me.

“When we get back, I’ll carve it into your body and soul— that you’re mine.”

No! I hate it! I hate it! I hate this!
Absolutely not! I’d rather die than accept this! No, no, no!

I don’t want to be separated from everyone… from Wof…
I don’t want this… please… help me…

Help me, Wof…

Hel—

At that moment, a knife stabbed into the ground near Ducas’s feet at an angle—thunk.