Chapter 20: CH 20

Chapter 20: Guardian.

Kokumaru, with its feet holding a small centipede vial, flies to Helifalte within just half a day, a distance that’d take horse carriage about three days to traverse, while also grumbling listlessly along the way. Strengthened by magic power, his night vision far surpass that of owl’s, his flight distance longer than that of migatory bird’s, his speed shadowed even the like of falcons.

However, Kokumaru doesn’t have even a single bit of gratitude to the Curse Invoker who gives him these amazing abilities. That shitty old hag sees him nothing more than just a tool, and likewise he sees her as only as just a magic power supply. In other words, the relationship between the Curse Invoker and Kokumaru is not a master-slave one, but more like mutualism where one takes advantage of another.

By the time Kokumaru arrives at his destination, being the Royal Palace, it’s about a little past noon. His target, the fair-skinned little girl named Selene, was easy to find thanks to her otherworldly beauty and her albino features. The girl’s sitting on a short grassy clearing with a blonde-hair man of gentle manners, she’s seems to be diligently feeding him food.

Seeing such a delicious-looking lunch box full of meat, he almost couldn’t resist diving in and snatch a piece from her, but him being a magic beast made him able to suppress his instinct. Landing on a nearby tree, he keeps watching that white-haired girl until she returns to her room.

After a while, she went back to her room, lying on the bed before going into sleep. The window in her room is wide open, perhaps to let the refreshing spring breeze in. Very convenient for him. Kokumaru skillfully holds down the vial with his feet, using his beak to remove the lid, releasing the cursed centipede.

『HERE YA GO!』

He then uses his beak to catch the giant centipede, throwing the thing into Selene’s room randomly without a single care from the sky. And just like what the Curse Invoker had said, the centipede immediately crawls to under Selene’s bed. He keeps watching the centipede for a while. Now that he has confirmed that no problem arises, he flies away while still holding the vial.

『JOB’S DONE, PLAY AND GO BACK.』

Having accomplished his task, Kokumaru plans to find a beautiful female crow within the city, now that he’s already here, to mingle with before returning. Even though now that he’s a magic beast, he doesn’t have any desires to use his power to achieve greater heights, nor using it for the greater good. He’s already more than satisfied to just be able to stand above all of his fellow crows.

That aside, let’s talk about the centipede inside Selene’s room. Obeying the orders given to it, it crawls into under the bed. Although its vitality is enhanced by the fearsome curse magic, but a bug is still a bug nonetheless, its intelligence is completely nonexistence, it’s just following its bug instinct to seek darkness.

Having killed and devoured its brothers and sisters, there’s a lot of evil magic stored within its body. It crawls to its target’s bedside, but it simply lingers there in the shadow. With just it being there, the peacefully sleeping Selene’s life would be eaten away slowly―― or it supposed to.

『Who are you? Are you not informed of whose this room belongs to?”』

A beautiful baritone voice suddenly comes out from under the bed, making the centipede grinds its jaw, puzzled. The centipede caught sight of a small black-and-white creature under its target’s bedside. Upon seeing the creature, the centipede grinds its jaw together again, as if mocking the creature. The reason of its mockery is none other than that the creature in its sight is nothing more than a teeny tiny mouse with not even half of the centipede’s body length.

『Are you able to understand language? Probably not, but I’ll warn you just in case. You’re within presence of her majesty the great Princess of princesses, Selene Aquila-sama’s room. As for me, I’m a guardian in her service―― do call me Butler.』

Although the other party is just a mere insect, but Butler still respectfully introduces himself. However, as if ignoring Butler’s words, the centipede slowly closes the distance between itself and Butler. Butler calmly braces himself, not a single fear in his eyes.

『Centipede, I have but one question. What is your reason for entering Princess’s room? Now is not an appropriate time to request an audien…… Whoa there!』

Butler tries to establish a conversation with the centipede to find out its intention, the centipede however suddenly jumps at him, trying to bite Butler’s neck. Butler simply and calmly avoids its attack by twisting his body lightly.

Seeing Butler’s precise movements, the centipede’s body twitches, as if irritated. At first it thought of this little mouse as nothing more than its prey, the mouse’s agility however is abnormal. When Butler takes a step forward, the centipede recedes by one step as well, feeling pressured.

『Fumu…… that was quite a fast attack you got there. How about this, do you want to 『play』with me for a little while?』

Said Butler suddenly out of nowhere, he stands on his two hind legs with his two fore legs spread wide, like a bouncer in front of the pub. His stance seems as if inviting the centipede to jump at him. He even goes as far as to gracefully untie the red ribbon at his chest.

『What’s the matter? My neck is wide open you know? Not to mention that it’s also pure white in color. You probably can see it clearly even in the darkness under the bed. Now, come at me.』

The fact that the other party doesn’t even consider you as a threat hurts the centipede’s pride greatly, even when it doesn’t understand any of Butler’s words. At that moment, the centipede swiftly jumps at the mouse’s defenseless neck to tear it apart, just as the suicidal mouse wished. With its magically enhanced fangs, the centipede presses its fangs on the mouse’s neck and pierces it…… pierces it…… it won’t pierce!

『Fumu…… as expected, so your power is only at this level.』

Butler doesn’t even flinch when the centipede bites into his neck, he just stood there with his hind legs, unmoved. Perhaps it didn’t bite down hard enough. The centipede prepares to bounce off of his neck to ready its second attack, but that’s when it finally noticed. It can’t pull its fangs out. This is because Butler intentionally tenses up his muscles so that it won’t be able to get its fangs out.

『Centipede, there’s a reason as to why I let the like of you attack me. Even if you were to be the lowest of criminal, I can shape you up so that you may become Princess’s servant, her sword and shield. Such is a possibility. However, seeing that you can’t leave even a single scratch on me, there’s no reason for you to exist any longer.』

Butler then relaxes his muscle. The centipede, sensing the looming crisis, tries to escape as fast as possible using it numerous legs. However, it can’t escape from Butler who has only four but nimble legs. He moves at a lighting speed, circling around the centipede to its front.

『I do not know the reason for your intrusion, but this room here belong to the great Princess. Entering without permission, suddenly attacking me, a servant under her service. Additionally, deserting your duty before an enemy you deemed undefeatable. With all the reasons mentioned, you are, by all means, not qualified to have an audience with Princess Selene!』

Said Butler as he swiftly bites down on the centipede’s head, so fast that the centipede couldn’t react. Although Butler’s fangs may be small, but if he gets serious, he could even cracks a steel shield with ease. Naturally, the centipede doesn’t stand a chance, it doesn’t even matter if the centipede itself was enhanced physically or not.

The centipede, receiving a powerful bite from his front teeth, cries its last roar of agony, writhing as its body twitches on the spot before all the movements cease.

“Butler, loud.”

Butler who was dealing with the intruder turns around, there he sees Selene’s upside down head. Perhaps too lazy to move her entire body, she just peers down under the bed with only her head.

『I apologize for all the noises. I was taking care of an intruder just now. Please forgive me.』

“Intruder? Ah, centipede……”

Selene gets off the bed and unhesitatingly plunges her hand under the bed, sleepily picking up the centipede.

In her previous life, she has always love both plants or animals. The centipedes or spiders in her house helped her by eating cockroaches or flies, so she’s on pretty good terms with them.

Because of that, to Selene who had next to no human friends, she considers the centipede as one of her friend.

“He’s dead……”

However, when Selene reaches her hand out to it, it’s already too late. Seeing the lifeless centipede, Selene’s dejected. She who had reincarnated into a world where mouses can speak thought that she could be friends with this guy as well.

Now that she thinks about it, she remembered that in the manga she used to read in her past life, they often used centipede-like insects for curse-related things. Ahh, if only this guy was alive, she would’ve granted it her magic and make it sneak into the Prince’s bedroom. Such a fine centipede like this is hard to find, Selene closes her eyes in sadness.

『Princess, you are truly a kind person…… But the centipede’s death was not in vain.』

“Eh?”

『All living beings will eventually return to the earth one day. Their body will become other’s flesh and blood once again. Now, please rest. As for this centipede, I’ll handle it appropriately.』

“Got it.”

Selene nods as she throws the centipede onto the floor. Although Selene’s a person who cares about both animals and plants alike, but she cares even more about beautiful girl’s breasts, and even more than that, herself.

『Princess’s already asleep…… Alright!』

After making sure that Selene went back to her afternoon nap, Butler slowly starts to eat the centipede. He’s chewing down on the centipede’s corpse so vigorously, as if it’s a really delight meal.

『Mumu! This centipede’s outer shell is chewy, and its inside is also tender as well! Yet it’s not hollow, but rather full packed with meat! T-, this is truly an exquisite meal!』

Butler used to be a wild mouse in the forest. He tries his hardest to not eat insects in front of his master Selene, thinking that she may not like such a sight, but seeing such a fine centipede intruding on its own like this, he couldn’t restrain himself. Naturally his main objective is to get this of this centipede that was trying to harm Selene, but he secretly also enjoys this unexpected feast a lot too.

『But still, this taste is quite nostalgic…… Is this what they called the taste of mother’s cooking?』

That taste is to be expected of course. Though the centipede is full of curse magic, but Butler’s body also contain a few years worth of Selene’s magic as well. The magic in his body could easily neutralize a curse magic that was made within just a few days. Moreover, since the curse used Selene’s magic as the catalyst, it’s only natural that he’d feel familiar with it.

And so Butler finishes eating the entirety of the centipede. But still, where does the centipede comes from? It’s hard to imagine such a fine centipede to be born naturally. And also that centipede came from the window. It was at an angle that one could only assume that someone dropped it from the sky.

『Perhaps this is a gift from my deceased mother……』

Maybe his mother who had ascended to heaven has always been watching over him protecting Selene from the shadows. And so his mother who saw him working hard everyday decided to give him a centipede full of magic power. It’s a childlish imagination, but it’s still too good to be a coincidence. So Butler decided to think of this centipede as a gift from his mother and not delve too deep into it. The details didn’t matter, knowing that it tastes good was more than enough.

Butler’s pleased to have enjoyed a feast rarely seen in years. His motivation skyrocketed, now he’s going to work even harder as a butler for his late mother.

◆◇◆◇◆

“It has already been two weeks and nothing happened at all isn’t it!” (Ente)

“Umumu…… It shouldn’t be like this……” (Curse Invoker)

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This is the first time ever that Ente saw a bewildered look on this insolent Curse Invoker’s face. Any ordinary person should’ve been long dead by the curse already. Yet, there’s still no sign of Selene’s death coming in her way.

She scolds Kokumaru for his carelessness, even have him flew back to Helifalte several times to check on Selene, but she’s still up and energetic, living her life as usual. There’s also possibility that Kokumaru’s lying, but the Curse Invoker knows that that stupid crow won’t lie when it comes to its own interest. So in a way, the Curse Invoker trusted Kokumaru.

“There’s two possible causes I can think of……”

The Curse Invoker removes her hand from her mouth, speaking as if having difficulty saying it out loud.

“The first one being, that girl had prepared an entity that can fight off the curse and remove it altogether. Realistically speaking however, it’s not plausible.”

Said the Curse Invoker, rejecting her own idea. There’s no such thing as an entity that can withstand the cursed centipede. And if it’s able to withstand one, it must be a magic beast with considerable power, but there’s almost next to none on this continent that know how to create a magic beast. And let’s say, for the sake of argument, that she somehow accidentally created a magic beast, even if that’s the case she’ll have to prepare it for a long time or else that beast won’t have enough magic power to fight off the curse.

“Then what’s the other possibility that you mentioned?”

“That she has exceptional spirit, far surpassing any ordinary human.”

“……What do you mean by that?”

“The root of curses is very much related to spirit, mind and soul. If one knows that 『Someone is directing their malice at them. Aiming for their life』, just by knowing that alone is enough to make a person be suspicious of everything around them, being more fearful, eventually enfeebles them. True curses will aim for said person’s weakness, enlarging their fears with magic and corrode them from inside out.”

“And?”

“In other words…… if one has a spirit so noble that it reflects any vile malice, there’s a possibility that the curse won’t have any effects on the person. Is there anything you can tell me regarding this?”

“Now that you mentioned it……”

Ente digs up her memories. When Selene was still in Valbell, Ente had extract some intel on her from the servants. The intel she acquired was that one Selene has magic power, second was that she was brought to Helifalte because of her extraordinary talent, what talent exactly is still unknown.

“Hoh…… extraordinary talent you say. And what might that talent be?”

“I don’t know either.”

Ente shakes her head. What she heard from the servants is only that “Aquila offered Selene who has extraordinary talent to Helifalte”, nothing more than that. This is within the negotiation letters between Prince Milano and Aquila, and it was publicly announced so to everyone in Helifalte Royal Palace. Yet no one knows for sure what kind of talent that is.

“Maybe it’s that…… yeah, it’s surely that.” (Ente)

“What is it that you’re thinking?”

This is when Ente noticed that she misunderstood big time. It’s clear as day that Selene herself has magic power, and she thought that the Prince keeps her at his side because of that, but that in itself is not entirely correct.

Some of the commoners have magic power as well, although at a lower scale. It means that it doesn’t have to be Selene if he only wants someone with magic power. As for Selene’s otherworldly beauty, that’s quite understandable, but Milano isn’t the type to choose someone based solely off of their appearance.

“It means that…… that talent is not something that can be publicly announced!”

Right, doesn’t that mean the talent that Selene possesses is something that couldn’t be described with any numbers, shapes or forms? In other words, her overwhelming spirit, the charisma to lead and guide the citizens, nobleness that reflects even the most abominable evil, surely her talent is within this category. That’s why they didn’t announced it specifically like ‘she has a rare talent for magic’ or ‘deep knowledge in painting’ or something along these line. That’s why such a conclusion is inevitable.

Now that it comes to this, Ente had no choice but to recognizes her as her greatest foe yet. Ente herself has magic as well, as for other skills she could practice to do them. But for something as vague as ‘noble spirit’ however, it can never be acquired by anyone other than the person herself.

“What do we do now! If the curse doesn’t work then there’s nothing we can do! Don’t you have any method better than this!?”

“Even if you say it that way…… If the cursed insect doesn’t work, then I’m afraid that other curses will be warded off too.”

“You’re useless! You’re not a Curse Invoker, you’re just a liar!”

Ente hurls numerous insults at the Curse Invoker, but she just calmly accepted it, unconcerned. On the contrary, her smile gradually widens. Even Ente who’s still full of anger finds her smile more and more creepy. At last, the Curse Invoker look up at the sky, holding her stomach as she bursts out laughing.

“Hi-, Hihihie…… HyaーHYAHAHAHAHA!!”

“W-, what’s so funny!?”

Ente suspected that perhaps she went insane from knowing that her curse doesn’t work, which is not very far off the mark. The flame in the Curse Invoker’s eyes shine blazingly, straightened her curved spine, looking more alive than ever before.

“No not at all! The situation couldn’t be more delightful! I just never thought that I’ll have to use『That』for the first time ever in my life!”

“That……?”

Ente starts to become more distrustful toward her, but the Curse Invoker opens her mouth to speak again, eager to speak.

“It’s a 『Forbidden Arts』passed down within my family. It’s so dangerous that it has not been used for the past hundred years. But to kill someone with that strong of a spirit, we had no choice but to use this. How wonderful, I’m glad that I lived this long!”

The Curse Invoker basked in happiness. She has only been dealing with many weak opponents that she never thought she’d have a chance to use this on someone. To think that she’d be able to use this within her life time, it’s truly the highest honour for the Invoker.

“Are you reaaaally sure that it’s going to work? That cursed insect was a letdown.”

“Please do not compare it to the likes of cursed insect. The potency of this curse is worlds apart from the insect. It’s only that it’ll take quite sometime to prepare. Let’s see, it’ll take probably half a year.”

“Half!? That’s a really long time I had to wait.”

“There are lots of things I needed to prepare you see. First I’ll have to collect blood of the sinners……”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

The how-to is going to be disgusting anyway. Ente interrupts her, not wanting to know any of it.

“There’s only one thing I want to know. That being, whether or not your forbidden art and whatnot will really get rid of Selene.”

“There’s a record in the history that says this spell was used to destroy countries in many occasions. And something of that scale is aiming down only and solely at that little girl you know. Surely Ente-sama the wise would understand how devastating that would be yes?”

“…………”

Ente’s speechless. It’s not a spell that kills a single person, but a whole nation. The Curse Invoker might failed this time, but she’s so obsessed with killing people with curses to the point that it looks like a mental illness. It’s hard to believe that she’s lying.

“Alright I got it. Just so you know, there won’t be any more chances okay?”

“Please do rest assured. With my old body, I’d not be able to afford to cast a second large scale spell like this one. It’s my first ever and the last big job in my entire life.”

Said the Curse Invoker in elated mood as she shows Ente the amount of funding needed to prepare. The number made Ente pulls her face out immediately.

“Wait a sec, isn’t this too outrageous?”

“Of course it’s an outrageous spell after all, it’s natural that the price would be outrageous as well. But Ente-sama, I can guarantee its lethality.”

In the end, Ente accepted the Curse Invoker’s request.

If she let Selene grows any longer, she’ll become a truly dangerous opponent in the future.

If so, then she’ll have to erase her no matter what, even if that means risking to some degree.

Ente’s irritated at the thought of Selene, but her mood improves upon imaging the scene where that beautiful face of hers distorted as she suffers in agony. Surely the Prince wouldn’t make her his night partner within half a year, she’s still a little girl after all. There’s still time to spare.

“I lost this time. But I do wonder who’ll emerge victorious in the end? I’m looking forward to half a year from now.”

And so, Ente’s deep in ecstasy as she thinks about Selene perishing from this world.

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