Tenshi Translations

Volume 2 Chapter 3 Part 3

 

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You can grab the PDF here.

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Shin and Schnee ran briskly, consciously maintaining a pace that Wilhelm could keep up with even while carrying Rashia. Though she had leveled up so much, it was determined that running as fast as the other three would still cause too great a burden on her.
With that said, their current speed was incomparable to that of horses. Despite taking breaks on the way, the four of them (and the one animal) had already gotten close enough to see the kingdom by sundown.
It would be problematic to catch unnecessary attention, so they slowed to a walk when they were still too far away to be seen by other people.

“Uu, I feel sick ......”
“Come on, I’ll piggyback you, so just endure it.”

Unused to high-speed travel while being carried by someone else, Rashia’s face was pale, looking almost like she was carsick. It would be too much to ask to have her walk in such a state, so Wilhelm decided to carry her on his back.

“Are you alright?”
“So sorry ugh, for causing you worry ......”
“We have a seriously wounded patient here!”

There were no potions that were effective against carsickness, so the group simply continued as they were.
To remain discreet, Schnee had already used a magical skill to change her appearance. Her blue eyes were now red, and her silver hair was now blond and tied in a ponytail. Naturally, other skills had also been applied, all to lower the possibility of people catching on.
Shin had been quite liberal with his skills, so she would not be easily seen through, short of anything major. In the first place, a girl’s appearance changes drastically with a different hairstyle. Having changed even the color of her eyes and hair, even people familiar with Schnee would not be able to recognize her quickly.

“For confirmation’s sake, we are splitting up in front of the gates, is that correct?”
“That sounds good. The request was just for acquiring the skill, anyways. Therefore, there’s no need to even see us all the way back to the church. Even if there’s something happening at the church, that’ll be our own problem to deal with.”
“Just as always, you’re surprisingly conscientious, despite your usual rough way of speaking.”
“Leave me damn alone.”

Exchanging light banter, the party drew towards the gate. Despite what Wilhelm was saying, Shin had already reached his detection skills towards the orphanage, and had confirmed that everyone had gathered there. Of course, there was no indication of any unwanted guests. It was unlikely that anything untoward would occur within the short amount of time that they were on the streets.

“In that case, then this is as far as we’ll go. Just in case, take this. If anything happens, contact me.”

So saying, Shin held out a message card and writing paper.
However, seeing that, Wilhelm did not immediately reach out to take it.

“It’s an item to send a message, huh. If things ever come to a place where I’d use it, I would not choose my methods. When that happens, you’ll most likely be pulled into unnecessary trouble, you know.”

If Shin was truly offering it, he would have to be prepared to be involved in troubles that he otherwise would not have to be involved in. This action would only bring him inconvenience. Though it was left unsaid, Wilhelm’s gaze was telling Shin to mind his own business.
Even though they were both Chosen Ones, and they were both people recognized by Tsuki no Hokora, just having taken one request together was not enough to give Wilhelm the right to draw Shin into his own troubles. Shin may have already drawn a few eyes by helping with this purification request, so if he was to be drawn into an incident serious enough to warrant using the message card, a few eyes would not be the extent of what he would have to deal with. Wilhelm’s words were alluding to all this.
Because Wilhelm knew Shin’s abilities, soliciting Shin’s help might help to clean up the incident quicker, and with fewer casualties. Despite this, Wilhelm chose to ask Shin for confirmation instead.
Rashia also understood, so she stayed silent on Wilhelm’s back.
With their measly strength, they were going against someone who held authority and money and power. Nobody could fault them for accepting any help that was offered.
Schnee Raizar and her Master. It would not be unseemly to rely on these two, whose names held authority and power without compare in this world. However, the two people before Shin did not do so. Their problem was theirs alone.
They had posted the【Purification】request. And that request has been fulfilled. Therefore, they will take care of everything afterwards. That conviction now stood as a wall separating Shin and Wilhelm.

“Just take it.”

Shin thrust the message card towards Wilhelm. It was as if he was purposely ignoring the existence of the wall between them.

“We’ve come all this way. Abandoning you guys at this point in time would only leave me with an uneasy conscience.”
“But ———”
“And also!”

Cutting off Wilhelm, who was still trying to say something, Shin pressed on.

“The first friend that I made after coming here, and the kids that he’s trying to protect. I can’t very well leave such people, can I. That’s why, if something happens, involve me. I’ll lend you my strength.”
“You ...... What are you saying ......”
“Contact me without reserve. Seriously man, just take this! You’ve gone and made me say really embarrassing things!!”

Saying lines that he had never spoken in his original world made him really embarrassed. Whenever he thought back again on this moment, he would invariably roll around the floor with mortification. “Have I always been such a passionate person?,” he wondered.
However, regret, he did not.
Even though this world was a different one from his own, there was no way that this choice was wrong. Shin was pressing the item on Wilhelm because he believed so. The entire time, he felt like the promise that he had made long ago was now softly pushing his back.

“I won’t hold back, you know.”
“Just the way I want it.”

Grinning broadly, Wilhelm finally accepted the message card.

“You’re the same as ever, Shin.”
“Is that so?”

Schnee commented as the two of them saw off Wilhelm and Rashia to the gate. Her words invoked memories of similar occurrences in the past.
Though Shin’s reaction seemed to say that he had no idea what she was talking about, she remembered vividly the numerous strangers that Shin had helped.
There had been that girl who had been crying her eyes out, that boy who had been in a daze, that elder who had been about to sacrifice himself, and that young man who had been so desperately moving forward. Schnee saw these people in her mind almost as if they were still before her eyes.

———— It is impossible for me to save everyone and everything. I do not know how far I can go.

He always said that.
He was not so arrogant as to believe that he was omnipotent, but every time, he still held out his hand to whoever needed it.

“What’s wrong, Schnee? Gonna leave you behind, you know?”
“I’m sorry, I was just thinking about something. I’m coming now.”

Watching Shin’s back, Schnee resumed walking. After catching up, she naturally fell into pace beside him.
Shin shot sidelong glances at Schnee and tilted his head quizzically, but the two of them continued making their way towards Tsuki no Hokora without exchanging anymore words.
The face that Shin saw at the edge of his vision was a kind, gentle smile.

♦♦♦♦

Walking for a while after separating from Wilhelm and Rashia, Shin and Schnee finally found themselves in front of a familiar sight. Needless to say, it was Tsuki no Hokora.
The plaque hung on the door said『Owner Currently Out』, which meant that the shop was closed. The door was locked, but Shin was the Owner, and Schnee was the Acting Manager. Therefore, when Shin laid his hands on the door, the lock turned by itself.
The interior of the shop was the same as the last time that he had been here. A faint smell of food hung in the air.

“Oh no, my stomach is rumbling.”
“So hungry~”
“It’s just the right time, let’s have dinner, shall we?”

Shin pressed his hand to his stomach, prompting Yuzuha to also speak up. Reading the atmosphere, it had remained quiet the entire time when they had been with Rashia, and must have been really bored. Now, it was being held in Shin’s arms.
Nodding to Schnee’s proposal, they turned towards the door behind the counter that led to the main house. As they did so, however, they heard a flurry of steps drawing closer from the other side.

“Shishou!!”

Naturally, it was Tiera. She had most likely heard the bell that reacts to someone entering the shop.
She had apparently been in the middle of cooking, so she showed up in the slightly alarming state of panting while holding a knife in her hand.

“Calm down. You’re too flustered.”
“S-Sorry. But you see, like I wrote on the message card, someone who claimed to know Shishou came, and he left something amazing before he took off again!!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The person himself was standing in front of the door, but she was too agitated to notice.

“Would that be this person here?”
“Ah! In-Indeed it is, but ...... Eh? Wait a second, why is Shishou and Shin together?”

When Schnee turned sideways and drew herself back, Tiera finally noticed Shin. However, now she was confused as to why either of them were here.
The Master that was supposed to have been busy eradicating monsters, and the Shin that was supposed to have been heading towards the Wraith Plains. Tiera could not imagine why both of them were now here in the shop. Going by this world’s common sense, her Master side, at least Shin was still supposed to be in the Wraith Plains.

“A bunch of things happened. Can we get into the details over dinner?”
“Quite a lot was packed into yesterday, so the telling is going to take a lot of time.”
“I ...... see. Eh, Shin is going to eat together with us too?”

When Shin took charge naturally, Tiera became even more confused, as she didn’t know what was going on.

“Naturally.”
“Eh? It’s ...... natural?”
“...... Come to think of it, I haven’t told Tiera yet, have I. You have already met him, but this is Shin, Tsuki no Hokora’s ‘Owner.’”

Schnee smoothly dropped the bomb.

“Own,er? ...... I see, ‘Owner,’ so ...... Owneerrrr?!”

It took a while for the letters ‘Owner’ to translate into the word『Owner』inside Tiera’s mind.
When she finally understood what Schnee was saying, her response was the most cliché one in the book for expressing surprise. Her eyes became round, her mouth became fixed in the shape of the letter ‘o,’ and she almost dropped the knife that was in her hand. What an easy to read reaction.

“Aren’t you a bit too surprised?”
“Well, the general knowledge is that your race no longer exists anymore, so we can’t fault her for being surprised.”
“How can I not be surprised?! By ‘Manager,’ you mean, you mean ...... The legendary ......?!”
“Eh? Wait, what? People call me the ‘Legendary Owner’?”
“That’s not it!! I meant, you being a high human!!”
“I remember telling you so when we first met, though.”
“No one would just take that at face value ......”

Shin was playing the boke while Schnee remained calm. Being all flustered by herself, the flow of the conversation seemed to be framing Tiera as the crazy one, but she insisted that she was the normal one, and that her reaction was still among the milder ones.
Just as Tiera had said, in most cases, no one would take seriously someone who claimed to be a high human. However, Schnee Raizar, the most informed witness in this matter, was currently present. It was unthinkable for her to mistake someone that she had personally served before, so her testimony was the best evidence to confirm that Shin was indeed a real high human.

“(Oh no, what am I supposed to do? I seem to remember talking to him in a really superior way because I didn’t know who he was!?)”

Tiera vividly recalled their first meeting.
Remembering that at that time, she had been looking at him like he was a country buffoon, Tiera’s face grew pale. Now that she thought about it, Shin had been too ignorant about this world’s common sense, even for someone coming from the countryside. Additionally, there was a strange magical aura around him, and he had so easily given her something as rare and valuable as a Geyl gold coin. Including how he took out an Ancient grade weapon so casually, there were really so many pointers that she should have caught.
Because it was so widely accepted that high humans = legendary and extinct, Tiera’s mind never succeeded in drawing the connection that Shin = high human. The person himself also did not strongly insist on the matter, and eventually the conversation had moved onto something else.

“I-I didn’t know you were the Owner! I’m terribly sorry for my extremely rude behavior from before!!”
“What?”
“Kuu!”

A complete about face fueled by fright. Tiera lowered her head with great vigor.
Now it was Shin’s turn to be surprised.
For some reason, Yuzuha reached out with a paw and patted Tiera’s lowered head with a ‘pon.’ Shin immediately stopped it.

(This is ...... ‘that,’ isn’t it. That state of mind when you’ve been talking to a stranger in casual speech and then suddenly learn that he’s your boss. When it happened to me, it had been a prank, but it still gave me such a fright.)

Shin, who had experience getting along really well with someone from a part-time job only to learn that it had been the store manager, could understand what Tiera was currently feeling. There might be some disparity in the status gap of the two situations, but they were the same in that a personage who was supposed to have been addressed with honorific speech had instead been addressed without the respect they were due. The more diligent and serious someone was, the more flustered and confused they would be in such a situation.
Seeing Tiera’s condition, Shin could not help but to empathize.

“Don’t worry about it. I know how you feel.”
“Eh? Ah, yes sir.”

Shin placed his hand on Tiera’s shoulder while nodding ‘un, un.’
Of course, Tiera had no idea what was going on in Shin’s head, so when Shin looked at her with a “I totally understand you” expression, it only confused her even further.

“Anyways, there’s really no need to worry about it. Rather, I would find it troublesome if you suddenly get all formal with me after all this time.”
“Is, is that so? You won’t kick me out of the shop?”
“I won’t!!”

Shin could not help retorting “What kind of unreasonable person am I supposed to be?!”
After talking together a bit more, all involved parties eventually decided to just continue talking the same way from before. When the fact that Shin was Schnee’s master was brought up, the exact same conversation was repeated, but that will be omitted here.

“Well then, shall we start digging in?”

A little while after the catching up, the three people and one animal were gathered around the dining table. Of course, they had already taken a bath to get rid of all the dust and dirt from traveling.
Everyone brought their hands together and said『itadakimasu』. Elves did not have such a custom, but Schnee was doing it, so Tiera did it too.
Needless to say, Schnee was doing it because Shin did it.

“However, as expected of Schnee. Each and every dish looks absolutely scrumptious.”

It was only natural that Shin was so liberal with his praise. All of the dishes lined up on the table were ones that even Shin had rarely seen.
Even though Cook had reached the pinnacle of the cooking world, even he wouldn’t make top-class dishes for every single meal. Menu items truly worthy of being called Level X were not things that they could eat whenever they wanted. And every once in a while, they were also forced to eat experimental dishes that turned out to be complete failures.
However, even though the food currently in front of Shin was still incomparable to what Cook could make, it was not far behind. In this world where skill levels significantly contribute to the deliciousness of food, what he was seeing was undoubtedly of an extremely high quality. And such dishes were all lined up in a row.
In the face of cuisine that even royalty in this world could not get their hands on, the audible sound of gulping could be heard in the room.

“Kuu~, a feast, a feast!”
“All these dishes that I’ve never seen before, all lined up ...... Shishou, you really did put in a lot of effort.”
“Of course I did.”

Seeing the large spread, Yuzuha was in high spirits.
Even Tiera, who had lived together with Schnee for so long, was amazed at how enthusiastic Schnee had been in making this meal. There were so many dishes that Tiera had never seen before in her life. In her eyes, the cooking was even giving off some sort of aura.
Elves and pixies have a unique sensitivity, which was why Tiera had commented on Shin’s magical strength in their first meeting. With that said, she had never seen food with an aura.

“Seeing all this incredible food lined up makes me feel that it was worth it providing the ingredients.”
“Sugoi~”
“Nee, I’m just asking, but exactly what ingredients did you provide? The cooking is giving off this really weird aura.”
“Eh?”
“Kuu?”

Shin froze up at hearing that the food was giving off an aura. Yuzuha tilted its head quizzically.
Though there were no unusual indicators in Shin’s view, but since it was an elf who was saying this, it would not be strange if something was really being emanated. So thinking, Shin thought back to the ingredients that he had handed to Schnee.

“Hmm, let’s see. The meat is mainly Thermal Leo, Orc King, and various parts of Elmora. The vegetables was something along the lines of Blood Radish, Karima Onion, and Vulture Potato. As for the fruits, it’s mostly Fruit of Edea and Topaz Pear. There were a few other random things. For the rest, you just used what we had in stock, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did. Since it’s such a rare opportunity, I went ahead and used the high tier ingredients. But just saying, due to the lack of time, I couldn’t make anything complicated.”

Implying that she still hadn’t shown everything that she was capable of.
As for Tiera, who heard the names of the ingredients ......

“Wha-Wha-Whaaatt?! Almost all of them are super rare, high class ingredients!! There are a few that I’ve never even heard of. Furthermore, Fruit of Edea is a phantom fruit that ripens only once every hundred years. It is said that none of it exists anymore ......”

Tiera held her head after hearing the list coming out from Shin’s mouth. Almost all of the ingredients were dangerous monsters or plants that were extremely hard to cultivate. It was a lineup that no one else would even dream of gathering.
Both Thermal Leo and Orc King were classified as Calamity-class monsters. They were so dangerous that the very moment one is found, the Guild would issue an emergency summons. Tiera had never heard of Elmora, but since it was listed together with the previous two, she assumed that it was most likely a similarly ridiculous monsters.
Blood Radish was a half-monster, half-plant that floated in midair and absorbed the surrounding magical energy to grow. Vulture Potato was a plant tuber that would explode if it took more than a certain amount of damage, just like a landmine.
Topaz Pear was a pear that shone like a jewel, and Fruit of Edea, well, there’s probably no need to go on any further.
In summary, none of them were things that other people would even think of cooking.

“Hey, Schnee. What is this aura that Tiera is talking about?”
“It is something similar to the ingredients’ leftover magical power and life force. Us elves and pixies possess a special sensitivity that other races do not have which allows us to sense such things. Powerful monsters and rare plants tend to leave stronger residues, so that is what Tiera is seeing.”
“So that’s what it was.”

Elves and pixies were races with heightened sensitivities in the first place, so this piece of information did not sound strange to Shin. If he had not been a high human, though, then he might have felt bewildered by this disparity in sensitivity.

“Rather than all that, let’s start eating, shall we? All this food is going to get cold. As for Tiera, just calm down first, alright?”
“U-Understood.”
“Well said. Without further ado, itadakimasu.”
“ “Itadakimasu.” ”
“Kuu? Itadakima~”

After joining his hands together, Shin took up the soup.
There were hamburger patties, potato salad, soup, rice, and bread spread out on the table. As for drinks, everyone had a glass of Schnee’s prized『Moonlight Sake』, which had been brought out for the sake of this celebrated occasion.
Putting aside the drink, the fare looked very similar to the standard menu from a family restaurant. However, the great familiarity that Shin had with the dishes only served to bring out Schnee’s skills even more.
The meat juices that spurted out from the moment he brought a knife to it and the fragrance of the sauce burning on the hotplate brought a flood of saliva to his mouth before he had even tasted anything.
When he held it in his mouth and began chewing, even more meat juices spilled out. The mixture of juices and sauce in his mouth worked in perfect tandem with the soft texture of the meat, such that the only word that he could think of was ‘delicious.’
In addition, when he left everything in his mouth as it was and also added white rice to the mix, there was nothing more to say.
Broadly grinning, with the corners of his mouth turned up. A smile of delight came unbidden to his face.
When humans eat something truly delicious, they cannot help but to smile.
Tilting his glass, the mellow fragrance of the Moonlight Sake and its full-bodied flavor only served to stimulate his appetite even further.

“...... ! ...... ! ............”
“............”

Shin and Tiera ate furiously without saying a word. As for Yuzuha, its body seemed to be the very illustration of the phrase ‘undivided attention.’
While smiling gently at the sight of the two people and single animal, Schnee herself was eating at a more stately pace.

“Oh!! I became completely engrossed in the food before I knew it?!”
“There is still enough for helpings, you know?”
“Please and thank you!!”

Including Tiera and Yuzuha, this exchange took place several more times.
Schnee had astutely predicted this large demand for helpings and had prepared accordingly.
Eventually, the pace started to drop off, and Shin and Schnee shared about what they had gone through.

“Even so, those guys have been living pretty freely, huh.”

That was the comment that Shin had unconsciously spoken after hearing about his other support characters. Becoming a king, wandering the lands, or going completely off the radar. It seems that they were still putting effort into looking for Shin, but most of it was only on the level of an aside. Knowing that they knew about the possibility that he had been left behind in this world, Shin was slightly relieved that they didn’t throw away their lives for his sake.
It wasn’t like he didn’t understand, given their personalities. It was Schnee who was the strange one.

“It was mere wishful thinking, after all. They all understood that it would not be right to be overly hung up about it.”
“From my point of view, I’m glad they made that choice. I wouldn’t want to have subjected them to a fate of endlessly searching for someone who might or might not have been there.”
“Even if there was someone who chose to do that, it would have been that person’s own decision. It’s not something for Shin to feel bad about.”
“I’m not so sure about that ......”

Isn’t it only human to be concerned when learning about it? He couldn’t help thinking this way, but it was most likely mere redundancy. When the people themselves do not mind it anymore, even though he was their Master, it would be meaningless for him to be the only one going on at length about it.

“Master, sad?”
“I’m fine, I’m fine.”
“Sherioushly~ Shhin ish alwaysh too worried about thingshh~”
“...... Oi, Tiera. Are you drunk?”

Speaking with a slight drawl and blurred speech, Tiera’s white skin that stood out in contrast with her black hair was tinged slightly pink. In comparison to the usual whiteness, she was now quite significantly red.
At this sight, Shin suddenly realized how many bottles they had emptied. It seems that they had gotten a bit carried away at the delicious drink that they’ve never tasted before, and thus unwittingly gone through a large number of them.

“Hey, Schnee. How many bottles of Moonlight Sake have we drank?”
“Around 5 bottles, I believe.”
“Incidentally, what is its alcohol content?”
“Somewhere around 35%, maybe?”
“That’s high!!”

The easiness with which it had gone down and its taste had lulled Shin into thinking that it was only on the level of red wine (T/N: average red wine alcohol content is 12.5%), but leave it to alcohol in a fantasy to go beyond the norm.

“Dere are TWO Shishoush~”
“This is getting pretty bad. Is Tiera weak with alcohol?”
“The last time we drank, she didn’t get this drunk, but the quantity being what it is ......”
“I don’t feel particularly intoxicated, though.”

He most likely also had resistance to alcohol, as he only had the awareness of being slightly tipsy. He could still walk straight, and his speech was not slurred, so he wasn’t really drunk in any meaning of the word. Considering the alcohol content and the quantity, his real body would have been downed ages ago, but he realized that he was now much stronger against it. There are no disadvantages to being strong against alcohol. At least, he couldn’t think of any on the spot.

“I’ve been in this body for a whole year already, I wonder how my body on the other side is doing ............ But I guess now’s not the time to be thinking about that, huh.”

As Schnee carried Tiera to her room, Shin used the time to clear up the tableware. Such a thought suddenly came to Shin’s mind as he was wiping the tableware. He didn’t even know if he could go back or not, so there was no meaning in mulling over such things.
Schnee came back when he was about done putting everything away.

“You’re fast.”
“I’m kind of used to it, so, yea.”

In the real world, he had been living alone, so he had washed his tableware by himself. He hadn’t done it during the death game era, but apparently his muscle memory still remained.

“Yuzuha, sleepy ......”
“Alright then. I suppose it’s about time for us to head to bed too.”
“Let’s do that. Shin’s room is as you left it, so you can use it immediately.”
“I appreciate it.”

Leaving the living room, Shin headed towards his own room. Tsuki no Hokora had rooms for Shin, all of his support characters, and even guests. It wasn’t really necessary to build so many, but it was more like a fixation of Shin and Cain, the other member of Rokuten who had helped build the house. The finished product was the result of them carrying out their obsessions to the end, answering the call of their blood as Japanese craftsmen.

“Everything is really as I remember it ......”

Going into his room, Shin looked around. In his 16-tatami-sized room was a bed, a desk, and shelves decorated with items and trophies earned from events. There wasn’t a lot of stuff. It was a neat and clean room. It had most likely been regularly cleaned, as evidenced by the lack of any dust in it.
Originally, moonlight was supposed to be shining through the window, but the moon was currently clouded over, so the light was weak. Shin had the【Night Vision】skill, which eliminated the need to for a light source as he changed and went to bed. He didn’t have pajamas, so he was wearing the avatar costume ‘jerseys.’.
As for Yuzuha, the moment it had entered the room, it had jumped straight onto the bed, and immediately curled up into a ball next to the pillow.

“All things considered, this is the most relaxing place of all.”

He had lived here during the game, so that was a large part of it. The house was equipped with extremely heavy security, which allowed him to let down his guard and not have to set up a barrier. During the death game, there had always been the possibility of a surprise attack in the night, so tonight was probably the most relaxed that he had been for more than a year.
Of course, if there really had been an intruder, Shin would strike back without hesitation.

“Yuzuha is ...... already asleep. I don’t really have anything to do either, so I guess I’ll sleep too.”

Intending to fall asleep while still feeling good from the alcohol, Shin closed his eyes.
Spread out on the bed, his consciousness was gradually slipping away when suddenly, he felt something soft wrapping around his arm.

“?”

His consciousness returned with a snap, and he realized that rather than being wrapped around, the sensation was more like his arm was being hugged. There were only two people who could do this in Tsuki no Hokora, and one of them was currently out for the count.
There had been no response to his permanently deployed surprise attack detection skill. Shin’s own intuition also told him that there were no enemies nearby.
Somehow, just somehow, he thought “isn’t this that?”
After staying still for a while, and having felt no more movement, he slowly turned his head to look at his right arm.
There, he saw the figure of Schnee sleeping while hugging his arm. Shin’s arm was stuck between Schnee’s breasts. That was the true form of the soft feeling from the start.

(Are you serious ...... This development? Really?)

With a different connotation from the time when he had been before the food, Shin audibly gulped.
Shin was a man too. It was different when she had been an NPC, but the Schnee of this world was undeniable real. Of course, there was no way that he would feel nothing from the sight.
Rather than calling Schnee the culmination of Shin’s crafting prowess, it was more accurate to say that she was the culmination of all of his preferences. Since she was just sleeping by his bed, he could do the gentlemanly thing and bring her back to her own bed in her own room. However, the warmth and softness of her chest transmitted through his right arm was muddling his reason. Even though he knew this, he could not help reaching towards her with his left hand.

(This is ...... bad.)

Although he did not intend on blaming the alcohol, he could not tear his eyes off her defenseless sleeping face, no matter what.
Shin was aware. Indeed, he was fully aware that it was wrong.
He tried desperately to cool down his inflamed mind, but his reason didn’t kick in like he wanted.
He was thoroughly mesmerized.
Moreso because she was self-aware, her face now looked so completely defenseless, so completely pure, but tinged with sadness somehow.
“Just a little more,” thought Shin as he made excuses to himself, continuing to put off the time when he has to disengage himself.

At that moment, the moon that had been hidden behind clouds was unveiled.
The moonlight that had previously been obscured now gently lit up the inside of the room. It barely reached the edge of Shin’s bed, right where Schnee was sleeping.

“...... ?!”

Illuminated by the moonlight, Schnee’s body shone with a pale and fleeting light. Her hair, which was spread out over the bed, reflected the light and gave off a mystical glimmer. Then the sight of something glittering while flowing from her closed eyes slammed into Shin.

“Schnee ......”

The glittering something was, of course, tears.
Flowing from her close eyelids, they ran in a straight line, wetting Shin’s sleeve.

“............”

The instant he saw that, the mist that had been fogging up his mind cleared up.
The eagerness that he had been wrestling with vanished without a trace.
The cause was her sad sleeping face. Because he accidentally saw it.

Shin had no idea what she was dreaming of that was causing these tears.
Were they tears of happiness at their reunion? Or were they tears of sorrow in anticipation of their eventual separation?

“Ma ...... s ...... er ......”

Shin gently wiped her tears, then softly rubbed her head.
Though he couldn’t hear it clearly, had she been trying to saw “Master” in her dream? It seems that she was still not used to calling him by name.

(I ......)

Entrusting his body to the bed, Shin continued to muse while feeling the sleeping Schnee through his right arm.
When his consciousness eventually sank into darkness, an answer still had not come to him.

 

 

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