Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 175
I was lying on the bed, lost in thought, when a voice approached from outside the room. By the time I realized it was Melt’s—and that she was crying miserably—I had already cut my thoughts short and opened the door.
“Melt, what’s wrong!? Where did you get those injuries?!”
When I opened the door to meet her, Melt’s face had abrasions across the tip of her nose and her forehead. It looked like she’d fallen face first. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
“Waaah! The wounds don’t matter—over here, over here!!!”
She kept sobbing boldly as ever. I pulled her into the room and asked again what had happened. She replied—
“My… my tail…!”
“What…? It’s—its shape’s changed…”
“He grabbed it and pulled it hard and slammed me into the ground! My face—this wound—is from that! But he ripped out so much fur my tail’s all deformed! Waah—It’s so unfair!”
Indeed, Melt’s beautiful silver tail had large patches where the fur was extremely short, leaving the whole thing misshapen.
He grabbed her tail? Threw her to the ground? From the face? Injured her?
“Melt. Who was it? Where are they from? Where are they now?”
“I don’t know! The Explorer Guild people came and took them away! It’s so unfair! I tried to catch that bad guy! But I lost! He grabbed my tail and slammed me—bam!”
“What did they look like? Gender? Race? About how old? Hair color?”
I had to kill him.
I had to go kill him right now.
I had to slaughter his entire clan.
“If you don’t tell me I’ll—”
“No, don’t say that! The shrimp stall will be ruined! Calm down, calm down, okay? …Um, I don’t know his age… maybe about the same as Same? His hair was bright red like grilled shrimp—”
—Of course. Him. Of course it was him. He said he was heading for the dungeon today! This could have been expected! Why did I take the day off today?
“—Melt, don’t worry. That guy’ll probably be punished tomorrow. By me. I’ll deal with him.”
“Huh? Tomorrow’s the banquet, right? You can’t skip that, can you? Awa Awa-san will be in trouble!”
“It’s fine. The bad guy will be at that banquet too… Melt, I’m sorry your precious tail got hurt because you came with me. I’ll find a doctor you can consult.”
“I don’t think the wound’s that bad… the fur will grow back… huh?”
Melt suddenly seemed to notice something and sat on the bed to examine her tail. She cradled it carefully and inspected it, and the sight of her treating it so tenderly was painfully heartbreaking. …Angares, you’re dead. Shall I stop waiting until tomorrow? Should I go now?
“Huh—Same, it’s nothing! I just misunderstood!”
“Hm? What is it, Melt?”
Her voice, previously sad, suddenly turned upbeat. She’d been looking at where the fur was pulled out.
“Look—see, it’s just molt! I was pulled hard so it hurt, but it was winter fur that was supposed to come out anyway. See? It comes out easily. So that’s it… I was always in the forest, but now I’m on a warm island so my shedding time got shifted!”
“So that means… the tail will be fine?”
“Yeah. If I brush it and remove the rest of the winter coat, the shape will settle down.”
“That’s a relief. But—these wounds still need proper treatment.”
I handed Melt one of the many potions I’d used up today. Honestly, these were stronger than needed for such minor injuries, but it would ease me to give it. She opened the little bottle, gulped it down, and the wound visibly healed.
“Phew… all better! I’ve wondered before—who makes the amazing potions you have? I’m looking into medicines myself now. Do you know anything about that?”
Melt fiddled with the empty bottle in her hand as she asked. I hadn’t used that persona recently… but if one of the people sleeping inside me is good at making medicine, I might gain that knowledge by taking that form.
“There’s someone inside me who’s good at making medicine. If I take their form, maybe I’ll learn that knowledge.”
“I see… I want to meet them someday. Okay, I’ll brush my fur now.”
“Yeah. I’ll go for a walk—”
At that moment, as if struck by sudden dizziness, my head felt heavy and I collapsed onto the bed.
My consciousness—began to fade—
“Shizuma, restrain yourself.”
Suddenly, my consciousness snapped awake.
I was already in my inner world — the mental space where my companions sat around the round table.
“Shizuma… you were just about to go attack the guest mansion under the pretense of taking a walk, weren’t you? Restrain yourself. I understand how you feel, but now isn’t the time.”
Silent, ever calm, saw right through me.
…He was right. I had planned to pretend to take a walk, sneak to the mansion where Angares was staying, and finish him off.
“Shizuma, I feel the same way. But… there’s a chance this could spark an international conflict. That could destroy the peace that you and Melt have right now. So—for now, please hold it in.”
“Indeed. Were it me, I could assassinate him without anyone knowing, but once a body—or even just a disappearance—occurs within this nation, it will cause problems. Secure a righteous cause first.”
Same and Rue both tried to reason with me.
I see now… the reason I lost consciousness was because everyone was trying to stop my rampage.
“…You’re right. I admit, I let my anger get the better of me. Sorry for the trouble.”
“But to be honest, everyone here feels the same.”
“Yes, exactly. Though, personally speaking—if it’s inside the dungeon, wouldn’t killing him cause no problem? Even if he ‘disappears,’ it’d just be written off as something that happened in the dungeon, no?”
“I agree with Still’s idea. We could make the dungeon his grave and I’ll play a requiem there myself.”
“Enough, Still, Hash. I too believe it’s better to secure a proper justification—to make the duel legitimate in some form. Shizuma, if you’re going to fight as Same, then show no mercy.”
“Right. I’m truly angry this time. No need to hold back or use just the usual opening moves. If it comes to a fight—show them your strongest strike. Make the Empire remember it.”
…Damn. Everyone inside me is even angrier than I am.
Right now, most of the forms are basically me inside. Only Rue, Still, and partially Hash have their own self-awareness.
The rest are just roles I play. Sheele no longer comes to the surface either.
Even so, Melt treats each of them as different people—and still calls all of us her family.
That means Melt is family to every one of us.
So this rage we feel—it’s only natural.
“Alright, no ambushes or assassinations. I’ll settle this properly tomorrow at the banquet. Given they brought someone like him, they’re probably planning something against Shuris-san. Same, once you fully manifest your own will and can act independently through summoning, it may bring complicated consequences—but tomorrow, I’ll do things my way. Okay?”
“I don’t mind. You can provoke them all you want. Even if it means drawing the Empire’s attention, that’s fine. Melt is like our beloved daughter… or little sister. We’ll do anything for her.”
“Got it. Then… I’m going to rest. Sorry, everyone, for getting ahead of myself.”
I apologized to them all, and in the darkness around the round table, I closed my eyes.
My consciousness slowly returned to reality—
“Same? Weren’t you going for a walk?”
“Hm? Oh, I just got really sleepy all of a sudden. I think I’ll sleep early tonight—tomorrow’s a big day. What about you, Melt?”
“Hmm… after I finish brushing my tail, I’ve got something I want to do too, so I’ll spend the day however I like, okay?”
“Alright. Then let’s call it a night.”
“Okay! I’ll make sure to keep all the fur I brush out tomorrow and treat it properly when we go back to Lindblum. I won’t sell it this year though—since I’ve got enough money now!”
Right, I remembered—Melt used to sell her shed tail fur to traveling merchants.
With fur that beautiful, it must’ve sold for a high price.
Watching her now, finally calm, happily grooming her tail, I felt a bit of relief—and let myself drift into sleep.
Good night…
Tomorrow, I’ll make sure to avenge you.
The next morning, when I woke up, my face twisted at the strange smell filling the room.
What is it? It smells medicinal somehow — a purely pungent, irritating odor…
Melt wasn’t in the adjacent bed; it seemed the source of the smell was the balcony.
“Melt, are you out there?”
“Ah, good morning!”
“That stink is horrible. What are you doing out there?”
“Ah! Did the smell get into the room!? Sorry!”
Melt, who had been working outside, returned slipping through the slightly opened window, carrying a small bottle into which she’d transferred some liquid extracted with equipment. Apparently she’d been preparing two different medicines at once; there were two pieces of glass apparatus lined up on the table on the balcony.
Having finished her work, she’d opened the window a crack and slipped back in through it. So it was that bad outside…
“Sorry, I should’ve shut the window properly.”
“Make sure the hotel doesn’t get bothered, okay? Clean up thoroughly afterward, ventilate it so the smell doesn’t linger.”
“Ugh, I totally forgot. It’s fine — I’ve got a neutralizer to counter the smell, I’ll take care of it.”
It seemed the concoction Melt had made was pretty potent for beastkin — unusually, she’d wrapped her tail around her waist and flattened her ears tightly against her head.
“So, what were you making? Is it the medicine made from that ‘heart-silver’ we got before?”
“No, that’s different. This is… well, something for tail hair and hair. And the other one’s something for stomach troubles, I guess?”
She was being a little evasive, perhaps because it concerned her body; it didn’t feel like the kind of thing to pry into.
“Right. I’ll get changed early and head to the guest mansion — besides tonight’s banquet, there’s apparently a luncheon too.”
“Okay… got it! I’ll finish up what I have to do and then go out a bit too!”
Good. She didn’t seem to be dwelling on yesterday. I’d been worried she might still be down about it, but she wasn’t. After remarking at how her ears were still folded down, I left for the guest mansion.
Back at the hotel, Melt cleared the balcony, then sprayed something of hers around the room.
“That should get rid of the room smell… okay… next I’ll use this in the bath…”
Melt took one of the two small bottles she’d made and swirled the contents. A jet-black liquid sloshed inside. It looked frankly eerie, but Melt smiled happily.
“Heh heh… watch… I’ll make him pay for my tail. I’ll make him pay, no matter what.”
She murmured that as she stripped off all her clothes and headed for the shower, holding that little bottle and wearing a grin like she was plotting something――