Shadow Ruler - Chapter 3
The Mystery of the Cane and Our Names
I was given a cane by a man named “Grandfather? I was given a blue-colored wooden cane by a man named Kenjya, who gave it to me.
Who is he?
I have to give it back to him.
Master–I know how you feel, but the wise man gave it away because he didn’t need it anymore. There is no need to return it. And by wise man, I mean a hero who is very good at magic and famous all over the world. A hero is someone who has helped a lot of people.”
He~
“By the way, Mr. Bird, what’s this girl called?”
“I was thinking about the question of whom the wise man is and how you have to give it back to the wise man because it’s his staff.”
“Oh… I’m so glad you made that decision… she’s so cute…”
“There you go. I’m sure you’ll be able to find a way to get him back.
“Meow?”
Oh, no, I know what you’re thinking, but that’s not it.
“Meow.”
The cat seemed to respond to the cat part of the cat-pawning, and he turned his head to look at me. The cat seemed to respond to the cat part of the cat-pawning, and when the cat tilted its head, Zell-san said, “Meow.
The cat responded with something like, “Oh, I see.
“So, I’d love to have a naming meeting, but – can I check out that cane for a minute?”
I was about to hand Mr. Cane to Dan-san.
“Whoa!”
“Pow! I was popped with a “Pow!” sound.
“Dan… What are you doing?”
“… I got popped–! I knew it.
What does that mean?
It means the Wand already recognizes you as Lord.
You mean you made a pact with the Wand your grandfather gave you?
That’s what it means.
Is there a problem with that?
“The advantages are that, as you can see, it is theft-proof and very easy to use with excellent compatibility, and the magic it contains is enhanced in power to the extent that it is not a burden on the user. The disadvantage is that you can’t change it to any other weapon. Well, you can have both.”
“I see… But Master just held or hugged it all the time, you know? Like now. He’s holding it all the time, no matter what he’s doing.”
I’m holding him all the time.
I feel uncomfortable if I don’t touch him somehow.
“Perhaps the Mistress’s feelings or magic power unconsciously made her the Lord because she liked that Wand – maybe the Wand had the appearance of a wise man’s Wand, but it was on the verge of becoming self-aware.”
“… You don’t think he’s going to start talking someday, do you?”
“That’s okay. That ego only works on the part of finding the Lord you like. The only thing left to do is to make sure it doesn’t get touched by others, like it did before.”
“I see.”
“If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a fairy Wand.”
“A fairy Wand?”
“Yeah, that’s what we call a weapon that’s been attached to a fairy. If it’s more overpowered or enhanced, it’s called a magic sword. It has a weaker ego than that.”
“Oh, Master, at any rate, that Wand likes Master.”
I see.
“Well, let’s switch gears and have a naming meeting!
Zell-san exclaimed, “Well then, let’s switch gears and have a naming meeting!
“Well… What’s this?”
“What’s written on it?”
“Oh, there’s no letter-like address… The sender is… Family name only… Étoile.”
“Étoile?
You know that bird?
Étoile is the family name of Master’s mother’s family.
What? What is it?
“Oh, oh. Okay, I’ll just read it as it is.
-Letter.
Yes!
It’s me!
Yes!
Who wants to tell me their name?
I’m the mother of the daughter of the Lord of the Birds and the Cats.
This letter is a special permission from heaven to send.
Yay! Isn’t that great!
They said they would only send me one Letter in honor of my achievements while I was alive.
Well, I blackmailed him half the time.
But the only condition was that I had to go through the old man’s cane.
Who would send an important Letter to an old man?
But he’s also my little, cute, adorable, super cute! He gave me that cane because he was worried about his beloved daughter. Nice grandpa!
I got a chance! I sent it to him at the right time.
He didn’t allow me to write too long, so that self-proclaimed “God’s little boy”–punpun!
So I’ll cut to the chase!
The best present for my darling daughter!
Sorry I’m late, okay?
And I wish I could have been there to see you grow up.
I’ll be watching from heaven, okay?
Freesia?
Your name is Freesia.
It’s the name of a flower that grows where I’m from.
It’s so beautiful.
It means, roughly speaking, friendship and trust.
I hope you and everyone get along well and stay healthy.
I’ll always be watching over you from heaven.
Freesia Étoile
Rest assured.
There’s no problem if you call your family name Étoile, which is your parents’ name.
In fact, I’m sure they’ll be happy to use it as an opportunity to crush that asshole of a husband, and I’m sure they’ll fall in love with him at first sight for the sake of cute, cute Freesia!
Well, that’s not going to happen because we live in a pretty strange place, so it’s almost impossible for us to meet each other!
Oh, and I heard that family name! Who are you to say that name? It’s not a famous place where that kind of thing happens, so don’t worry?.
Oh, I’ve been told that I can only use a few dozen letters now–check!
One last thing!
Cat! Birds! Take care of my beloved Freesia! You can assassinate the scumbag father if you want…
Oh, that’s two words – oh well!
by…my dear mother Petunia Étoile
- Someday I’m going to get to the bottom of that petty self-proclaimed god. And that scumbag dad… I’ll curse him for what he did to my beloved Freesia… Someday I’ll curse him to death–straw doll–where’s the straw doll–…. Where’s the doll?
—
“Well… I don’t know where to begin…”
“Well… This girl–Freesia-chan’s mother is very excited, isn’t she?”
“That’s the kind of person she is… She was a very cheerful person… She was just like this Letter.”
He laughs.
“I feel like I’m getting to know Petunia-san.”
“Oh, that’s what I thought too.”
“Oh–I’m sure you guys do–yeah.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
Lily-san and Zell-san say they get along easily with their mothers.
Bird says it’s because they have similar personalities and stuff.
“So how did you end up with that scumbag lord?”
“It was a political marriage, you know? He was a good man at the time, but he gradually became a scumbag, and he was so attached to her that he poured all the money he had in his belly into Master Freesia and ignored her husband.
“Oh… “
“And anyway! I’ll let the nuance that sounds like a God-like person from heaven ask me a reckless question pass, Freesia-chan! That’s a great name!”
Your mother must have been a very cheerful person.
I’ll miss seeing her, but I’m glad to know her even if it’s only by Letter… I’m glad to have this chance to talk to you.
This letter is my treasure.
I put it back in the inside pocket of my pocket, where I keep my mother’s photo.
“Hmm? What’s the picture?”
“Oh, one of her mother, Petunia-san.”
“I want to see it! Can I see it?”
I give it to her.
“Wow – she’s so beautiful.”
“Oh, I can’t even imagine the tension in the Letter.”
“She looks like she fits the words ‘neat and clean’ and ‘Yamato Nadeshiko’.”
“She looks so beautiful and kind.”
I heard that she has an image of “neat and clean” or “Yamato Nadeshiko”. I heard she has an image of a “neat and tidy” or “Yamato Nadeshiko”.
A woman with purple hair almost black and straight down to her waist.
She is generally slender, but her boobs are huge (around E). She is generally slender, but has big boobs (about E size) and looks very quiet.
I wonder if her boobs are the same size as Anne’s. I’ve never touched them, so I don’t know.
I don’t know, I’ve never touched them.
Then, for some reason, Anne-san said in my ear
“I’m an E.”
I don’t know.
She told me that I might not be able to replace my mother, but I could do whatever I wanted, so I’m a little spoiled.
Anne-san gives me a gentle hug.
It makes me feel relaxed and happy.
With Lily-san, unlike Anne-san, my feelings get the better of me, and it hurts a little when I hug her, but she fixes it right away, and she is a good cuddle, so I feel very safe no matter what the situation.
She says that her boobs are a little smaller than Anne-san’s, but they are still big enough to be called “D” size.
They are still big enough.
It is my only treasure.
The bird told me that this paper called a photograph is a precious thing that costs a lot of money, but one day it suddenly sensed something and used the money it had saved to have it specially made, and that it has a special magic in it that keeps it from falling apart even if I have it like this.
I don’t know what it is, but she said I should know that she did such an amazing thing for me.
Thank you, Mom.
Your picture was the only thing that cheered me up besides the birds and the cats.
I took good care of it.
“Well, I’m ready.”
An aiueo chart was drawn on the ground.
“Come on, Freesia-chan. Good luck naming them both!”
Hmmm…
Lily-san and Anne-san are stroking them around while murmuring how cute they are, but I don’t care.
“Freesia-chan’s amazing – she’s just ignoring me even though she’s petting me around so much…”
“That’s how important it must be–I know how you feel. It’s an important family name.”
… OK.
The bird is Carna.
The cat is Shasti.
I don’t know if you asked me why, but it just popped into my mind.
And when I told him in the aiueo table…
“Thank you, Freesia.”
“Meow.”
I’m glad she was happy.
But you don’t have to call me “sir”, right?
We’re family, right?
“I see… well, Freesia.”
I smile.
Shasti meows happily, and I smile back at her.
Everyone said it was a good name.
And with our names successfully decided, we say good night early.
When I woke up, I was in Lily-san’s arms.
Or rather, I was on the move.
I wondered why I was in the middle of a move, but it seemed to be my mood.
Well, Lily-san is a good cuddler, so it was fine.
And for some reason, Carna and Shasti were running side by side with Lily-san at the front, and the other three were chasing after them.
Why are they running?
Did you forget something?
“Oh… Lily and Anne had a light argument over who would carry Freesia, and then Lily carried Freesia and ran away, with Anne in the lead and the two men chasing after them. Well, to put it bluntly, they were caught in a situation where two women were chasing each other.”
I see.
But do you really want to hold me like that?
It’s exhausting, isn’t it?
And why are you fighting to hold me?
“I guess they both love Freesia and want to get to know each other better – for now, don’t worry about it.”
I don’t care because Carna says not to care.
“Carna is right, but the truth is that I really want to go back to town as soon as possible and dress Freesia-chan up.”
Dress her up?
What do you mean?
“Dress her up in pretty, pretty clothes, give her a bath, clean her up, change her hair, and make her even prettier.
Clothes?
There are different kinds of clothes?
There are certainly a lot of different kinds of clothes for the older girls and for the older boys, but…
“There are many kinds of clothes. There are clothes that are made to move, there are clothes that make you look gorgeous, and there are clothes that are so focused on being cute that they are extremely difficult to wear. There are as many types of clothes as there are people.”
There are so many different kinds of clothes because so many different people make clothes with so many different feelings.
I see.
“Oops! Watch out! Zel!
Lily-san almost fell over.
“You’re going to have to do something to stop me!
Carna later told me that Zell-san had used earth magic to make Lily-san’s feet hollow.
“Flame booster!”
“What! Dan used that?
Wing booster!
“Even Anne? Oh, my God! Water bladers!”
They all went very fast.
Magic is amazing.
It can do so many things.
“You guys are great! Wait! Mad area!”
I didn’t quite understand, but the bird said
Lily-san: speed up by using water underfoot to make it slippery and sliding on the ground to run
Dan-san: speed up by strengthening the body with fire magic, purely physical strengthening and muscle power
Anne-san: Body strengthening by wind magic to lighten the body with wind to reduce wind resistance and increase speed
Zell-san: Speed-up by playing with the soil to make it easier to step into the ground within a limited radius of 1 meter around himself.
I don’t know what it means, but it makes me run faster.
I don’t know, but it seems that there are many ways to go faster.
Three hours later, we arrived at the town.
There was a big door to enter the town, a gate, in front of which there were strong-looking men and people in various outfits lined up in front of it.
They say you have to stand in line there and wait your turn.
The strong-looking man at the gate is the gatekeeper, who is in charge of guarding the entrance.
They were all standing in line, breathing hard, and Lily-san was lecturing them.
I was being hugged and rubbed on the cheek by Anne-san with a pleased face.
I know it’s a little late for this, but I’m dirty, aren’t I?
I’m going to get dirty.
I haven’t bathed or cleaned myself since my nanny left.
I’m still wearing the clothes that were given to me at random, and I don’t have anything else.
I don’t know, but that’s what they call someone who wears the same clothes all the time.
And I heard that a while ago via Carna.
“I don’t care, they’re cute!”
Lily-san and Anne-san immediately replied.
If you don’t care, well, I guess it’s okay.
Also, you two sisters should be gentle with your hugs when you hug me from the front.
I can’t breathe because I’m buried in your boobs.
I can breathe in the back, but the squeezes are so strong that it hurts my body, so please be moderate.
And Anne-san
My boobs are on both my shoulders.
I can’t move because I’m trapped between her boobs.
“So, as a punishment, I will bathe Freesia tonight.”
“What? Wait a minute! Please! Not that much! Not that much!
“No, I can’t… But I know how you feel, so let’s do it together tomorrow, okay?”
“Ugh… The first bath with Freesia-chan…”
Why is giving me a bath a punishment?
Carna told me not to worry about it, so I don’t.
“Well, what if I told you that I would allow you to bathe with Freesia-chan if you bathe with me?”
Zell-san said with a chuckle.
“… –“
“Hey, hey, hey–I’m the one who started it, but it bothers you so much! Normally, I’d say no! Hey!!!”
“… I’ll give it up today. I’ll give up today–so! So!!! I don’t want to sleep with you!
“It’s fine. It seems that the first bath has done more damage than I thought it would, and I’m sure you’ve reflected on it.”
“Yes…”
“Hey – you guys need to calm down – the other guys are subtly distancing themselves from you…”
“…. You have to think about where you’re going with this, don’t you?
“Yeah, I guess so…”
About an hour later, we ran into the gatekeeper.
It seemed to be our turn.
But Anne-san was holding me and loving me, and Lily-san was petting me from the side.
“Certificate, please.”
“Aiyo.”
“I checked… But where’s the little girl over there?”
“She was surrounded by a pack of tourmadogs and tourmawolves on her way back from a job, so I rescued her and brought her here.”
“Wow – no luck – so what’s the certificate?”
“Well, as you can see.”
“Then I’ll need two silver coins.”
“Is that right?”
“Is this good?” “Confirmed. This is the temporary certificate. If you go to the guild and get your guild card made, you won’t get reported. It will come directly from the guild.
“Okay. Welcome to the town of Katakuri.”
The gatekeeper opened the big gate for us and we went inside.
I was told about Carna and Shasti, of course, but they both appealed to me that they missed me, and I easily got the OK.
But when I entered the town, they told me to go straight to the guild and make a card.
The certificate is called a guild card, and it’s a useful card that tells you who you are, what you can do, which things you are not good at, and so on.
He said that without a card that shows who you are and where you are from, you will have a lot of trouble in town, and that it would be better to make one as soon as possible.
The town was filled with more people than I have ever seen before.
Everyone seemed to be having a good time.
The shopkeepers were full of energy, selling all kinds of things.
The whole town was full of energy. I thought, “That’s what I mean when I say the town is full of energy.
There are all kinds of things lined up, all kinds of smells.
There are all kinds of sounds.
The scene that I had heard only slightly from behind the walls of that room until now is right in front of me.
I see.
A town like this is full of firsts, full of fun.
But I have to be patient.
I can’t be selfish, right?
It would cause trouble.
… But why am I being carried by Anne-san in the town?
Carna says I need to walk a little to keep my strength up.
“Freesia, if you walk around town now, you’ll be swallowed up by the crowds, so I’m carrying you.”
She said that if I walk now, I’ll get tired and maybe even hurt.
I’ll be patient.
But Lily-san seems to have a harder time putting up with it than I do.
“Oh, the hair ornaments in that store – they would definitely look good on Freesia – ah! There are so many clothes in that store, I’m sure there’s something good for Freesia-chan! Aaah!”
I don’t know what’s going on, but it seems she’s preoccupied with me.
“Huh–there’s someone less docile than a little girl–“
“I’m not saying that, but even though she’s a little girl, she has the self-control of an adult. I think she’s going to be a very good girl in the future.”
“Indeed. Carna and Shasti are raising her well, and that’s an achievement.”
“Please keep up the good work, Shasti-san.”
“Nyau.”
Shasti meows like she’s in charge.
“By the way, did Zell ever beat Shasti-san’s tail?”
He didn’t now, but when he was out of town, Zell-san would lightly fight Shasti’s tail in his spare time.
“Well, I challenged him lightly with my fists without weapons, but he was so fast. And his movements are exquisite, so there’s really no way to win. It’s really half-assed.”
“Nyan.”
Shasti puffed out her chest as if it was only natural.
“Freesia’s in danger if we don’t hold our ground. We’re desperate, aren’t we?”
“Carna… I’m sure. If you want to have a mock battle or something like that, I’m all yours.
“Oh please, I need to be able to fight while protecting Freesia… I’ll never make the same mistake I did that time again…! !!!!”
I’m not going to let that happen again…!
“…oh… Oh!
By the way, many demons attacked us on the way to this town.
Dancing Wood
A wooden demon that can move and dance.
Sometimes it is not a tree but a plant, but it is a wood.
In fact, they love to dance, but their fighting style is to hide in the trees and attack when they see an opening, which seems to cause them a lot of stress.
On rare occasions, they dance instead of hiding.
Parts acquired: Magic stone, wood filled with magic power in rare cases.
Jumping Fruit
Giant fruits are bouncing around by themselves.
However, the average size is about 20 cm.
Parts acquired: magic stone, gigantic fruit, and rarely its seeds
Magical Bird
A bird demon that releases different magic depending on the individual.
Their body color differs depending on the type of magic.
Parts obtained: magic stone, claw or beak, rarely chicken meat
Dandy Rock
A humanoid golem demon made of stone
“Hee!” but they cannot speak other than that and do not know what they are saying.
Sometimes they are not humanoid, but animaloid, but they still sound like a dandy and say “Hey! but they still sound like a dandy.
Parts acquired: Demon stones, and in rare cases, stones filled with magic power.
Dan-san told me that demons sometimes produce some kind of object filled with magic power, and that it is much stronger and superior to ordinary ones.
Dan-san said, “But there were so many mutants before we came here, weren’t there? Well, with Shasti and Carna and the others, it was pretty easy to deal with them.”
“Well, the amount of demons that attacked us was more than normal,” he said.
It seems that a mutant is an individual that is stronger than a normal demon.
As proof of this, they are said to be different in size and color than normal.
They are not the kind that appear in the market all the time, though.
But there were a lot of them.
Trees and leaves were red or yellow, nuts were twice the size, birds were not monochromatic but marbled with several colors and flew several kinds of magic, stones were different colors, and they spoke differently from “Are you fucking me? and different things like “Are you fucking me?
“Oh?”
“Lily, what’s wrong?”
What did you find out?
“Uh… Maybe it’s… perhaps it’s me.
What?
What do you mean? What do you mean? – Just tell me.
I don’t know! Because Freesia looked at me like I was fighting and thought I was cool! And when I told her that there are many kinds of mutants, and showed her the one I happened to come across, she looked at me like she wanted to see the other ones too! And I did my best to beat them! And I have Dan’s magic bag, so I don’t have to worry about it!
How did Lily-san do it?
Zell-san told me with a wry smile as I nodded my head.
“I taught you before that Lily’s feelings are easily influenced by magic, so if she wants to heal her wounds, she can use healing magic.”
(Kokuri)
“That’s why, right? Maybe Lily’s desire to show that she’s good at fighting leaked out of her subconscious and attracted demons from all around her… It happens.”
“Is that why there were so many mutants?”
Carna asked.
“No, it’s impossible to set up such a detailed configuration, so it’s purely coincidental. If I had to guess, I’d say we were luckier than usual. I heard that mutants sometimes clump together, so it’s not impossible.”
“So that’s what it is.”
“In a way, I think Carna and Shasti are mutants too, right?”
“We? We’re not demons, to be more precise. We’re animals with magical powers, as Petunia-san clearly said.”
“You’re the one who can use the appraiser?”
“I heard that the details are different, but he can do something similar, so he can tell.”
“Hmm. Anyway, I was pretty tired, but with Carna and the others there, we were all able to harvest a large amount without any serious injuries, so I guess we’re all happy. Oh, we’re at the guild, aren’t we?
“It looks like a nice little bar.”
Oh, Carna and the others are new here.
We’ve never been here before, have we?
“Of course not.”
Carna said, “It’s a two-story brick building. It was a two-story brick building with a bar that sold mainly drinks for adults only, a clean place to eat food, and a café. It seems to be a café, a kind of restaurant that sells drinks and desserts that even a child like me can drink.
At any rate, it’s a place for adults to gather for drinks.
When I entered, there were many people like Dan-san, Zell-san, and others.
There were not many women like Lily-san and her friends.
And they were all staring at us.
Carna secretly told me that they were staring at us because Lily-san and Dan-san were with them, which meant they were jealous of us.
The rest of the time, she said, they were staring at me because I was in their arms, trying to find out who or what kind of person I was.
But Dan-san, who was stocky, and Zell-san, who was slender but had a slightly sharp look in his eyes, were all together, and Lily-san was almost angry at them for staring at me, which made us all look away in a cold sweat.
“–Lily in a state where Freesia is involved is terrifying.”
“My, it’s reliable, isn’t it?”
“… I guess.”
I heard that Lily-san becomes so much when it’s my relationship.
“Even so, Freesia is terrific.”
(?)
“Because, you know, she was staring at me with that many adults, and some of them were trying to kill me, but I didn’t even twitch, let alone look at their expressions.”
Because I’m used to it.
It’s not something you can do anything about by shaking because you’re scared, and if you shake, it can hurt the opposite.
“Oh… In Freesia’s case, I don’t have half a tolerance for that kind of thing – I guess the rest is a result of that environment… “
“Self-preservation, huh–“
“And the rest of it is because I’ve never had anything but that kind of emotion directed at me…”
“I don’t know if it’s good or bad… I know it’s not good, but… Yeah.”
“Let’s just say it’s a blessing in disguise–when Freesia cried–it was raining blood, wasn’t it?”
Oh, yeah.
Yes, indeed.
Anne-san and the others looked at Lily-san.
Why? Dan-san smiled and patted me gently, telling me that I didn’t need to know.
Dan-san is like a big brother, isn’t he?
Anyway, why don’t you go make a guild card?
Don’t you need it?
The lady at the reception desk is always there for you, right?