11. Shura & Ash
Since I couldn’t carry the brown-haired girl with me forever, I decided to release her in an inn in the city.
After having dinner at the bar on the first floor of the inn, I set the preparation to unseal her.
In the center of the room, where there were only a bed and closet, I put the talisman I used to seal the girl on the carpet.
I also put the clothes she was wearing on the side of the talisman.
I was sure she would come out naked… Yeah, no doubt about it.
As a gentleman, I turned my back on the talisman. And I thought that since the cane was still sealed, even if she suddenly came out naked, it wouldn’t turn into a fight.
Also, I planned to show her that I had no intention to fight her while she was in a panic and finally, reconciled with her.
In the first place, there was no reason for me and her to fight.
“Well, I think it won’t work as what I expected…”
I prepared myself and chanted the spell.
“―― ‘OPEN’ “
White smoke flowed from my back into my field of vision with a light sound.
Then, I heard the sound of bare feet landing.
“I… what the hell… happened…”
“Well, you see…”
I tried to cut out with my back still turned,
“You are…!”
In a blink of an eye, she came to attack me.
Her legs entwined around my torso and her arms tightened my neck.
“Gaahh…! You piece of sh*t!”
“Say! What did you do to me!? Say it now!”
I couldn’t move… my neck was strangled.
At that moment, I couldn’t help to think that humans were such fragile creatures.
My whole body was restrained in an instant.
Her skill was good… But, the problem was more than that.
“Damn!!”
I could feel that the things which hit the back of my head were slightly bulging and soft. And the sweat that I felt on my back came from her trained abs――
The scent of a healthy girl that came to my nose… it was the scent of a devil, a bewitching scent!
And… I couldn’t muster up any strength.
For an adolescent who had been forced to have abstinence for a year… it was just too much!!!
“Uuu…oooooh!! I can’t get out of this!!!”
What a skill!
Not to mention her physical force, but also the fact that she let me feel her whole body, it was as if a ‘Double Lock’!!
It was impossible for me to get out of this!
“What the hell did you do!”
“Ca-Calm down! Look at your own appearance first!”
“My appearance… Hyaaaa?!!”
The brown-haired girl released me and took a distance from me.
“I…am naked?… Why???… so just now, I was hugging you naked…?!”
I looked at the girl while coughing. She turned her face red and used her arms to hide her secret parts. With tears in her eyes, she was staring at me while baring her teeth.
But what I was interested in was her navel.
The ‘Character Stamp’ I had put on that area had disappeared. Even though the ‘Character stamp’ that I put on objects, weapons, and tools didn’t disappear even after I unsealed it once.
Is it a different story if it is a living thing?
“Oops…”
…It’s not the time for that now.
I looked away and pointed to her clothes on the ground.
“Your clothes are there, so wear them… I’m not going to harm you. I’ll also return the cane properly later.”
“…”
“Believe me. I just want to talk.”
I turned my back and insisted that I had no intention to fight.
Then, I could hear the girl’s approaching footsteps. I was wondering if she would do something like before again, but when I could hear the sound of picking up clothes, the footsteps went away.
I could hear the rubbing sound of clothes.
After waiting a few minutes, I was hit on my shoulder.
Looking back, there was a brown-haired girl, dressed. She was pointing to the back door with her thumb.
“I also have something to ask. Let’s talk while eating.”
“…Alright.”
“The cane is fine after we talk.”
The girl postponed the cane.
Was it her way of appealing that she had no intention to fight?
Anyway, I went to the bar on the first floor of the inn, while regretting having finished dinner.
———————————————-
“Question 1, who are you?”
As soon as she finished the order and arrived at the table, she asked a question.
“I’m a Sealer”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Well, it’s in the minority.”
“Hmm…”
The girl rested her chin in her hand.
“I see. I’m kind of convinced… after all, I was sealed by you. “
“That’s how it is.”
“Then, Question 2 ―― “
“Wait. It’s not fair to ask questions one-sidedly… so, let me ask you a question too.”
“Alright.”
The girl put her mouth on the mug and changed her attitude.
“In the back alley, it looked like a blonde girl had transformed into you. What’s that?”
“The blonde girl you saw is my sister, and she’s sleeping inside me.”
“What does it mean?”
“<Curse of Yin and Yang>, it also called, <Curse of The Sun God (Ra)>… The moment my sister and I were born, we carried this curse with our backs. And so, two souls and two figures were packed into one vessel. When certain conditions are met, my sister and I will switch. It’s a curse that’s so annoying!”
So, there is such a curse, huh…
The curse that packed two souls into one vessel… The curse might be the one that caused the abnormal lightning when I tried to seal her. After all, I wrote only her name on the talisman, but I didn’t write her sister’s name.
“Thanks to that, my activity time and my sister’s activity time are much less than normal people. It’s inconvenient, annoying, and abominable. ――I… No, we are on a journey to break the curse. “
“Can you break a curse? I heard that you can’t break it, that’s why it’s called a curse, right?”
“That’s right. There is no record of someone successful in breaking a curse in history… Still, I’ll do it. Absolutely “
I could feel a firm will from the brown-haired girl’s gaze.
“You are――”
“It’s not ‘you’. it’s ‘Shura’, I introduced myself, right?… And now it’s my turn to ask a question.”
I picked up the salad that was brought in by the waiter.
The brown-haired girl―― Shura picked up sliced dried meat and used a fork to take it with a bitter face. The food didn’t seem to fit her taste.
“As I said, I’m on a journey to break the curse… So, I arrived at this city in search of clues.”
“I see…”
“I heard that there is someone in this city who knows how to break the curse… You, if I didn’t hear it wrong you said that your family name is ‘Zetta’, right?”
“That’s right.”
“The family name of the person I’m looking for is also ’Zetta’…The full name is ‘Barha Zetta’ … “
Barha Zetta… Barha Zetta?!!
“You… did you come here looking for that old man?”
“A-as expected, you know him, right?!”
“Yeah. Barha Zetta is my master.”
Shura leaned forward and grabbed the collar of my shirt.
“Where?! Where is he right now!?”
“Hey, calm down… You’re the type who can’t see your surroundings when your tension rises, huh … “
It seemed Shura was back to her sense, she returned to her seat and coughed.
But I see… that old man huh?… Certainly, if that old man… the way to break the curse, he might kno――
No, he didn’t know. Because the cause of his death was a curse.
“There is two sad news… First, the old man, ‘Barha Zetta’, died a month ago. “
“Wha…!”
“Second. The old man probably didn’t know how to break the curse…Because the cause of his death was a curse… If he could break the curse, he would have broken it before he was killed by it.”
Shura’s complexion turned pale.
You really have so much hope in that old man huh?
It must have been because she thought that after overcoming various hardships, she might finally find a clue, but…
“――There is no smoke without fire.”
“Hmm?”
“… Your master was eroded by the curse, which may mean that he was looking for a way to break the curse, as I am. Maybe he couldn’t break the curse yet. But he might have some clues.”
What a positive way of thinking.
Certainly, the possibilities aren’t zero. That old man knows a lot of things and it feels like he knows some clues.
“――Your master, where is his house?!”
“No, I don’t know. I’m sorry, but I don’t know his private information at all.”
Wait, it isn’t ‘at all’, I guess…?
“That old man has a granddaughter… If you ask his granddaughter, you may know the location of his house.”
“Granddaughter? Where is she?”
“I only know that she’s in a Magic Academy. I’m looking for her too.”
Shura thrust the dried meat into her mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed it, then muttered,
“I see, then…”
Oh, I somehow know what she is thinking right now. Let’s hear what she’ll say, I think she will say ‘it’…
“We will follow you too… Let’s find his granddaughter together!”
“Well, of course, it’ll be like this…”
I’ve been thinking about it since I fought her in the back alley. That it would be encouraging if she in on my side.
“Alright, just what I hoped for… I’m also looking for someone to travel with me.”
Shura held out her right hand to me.
“I see. It’s a deal then ―― Treat me well, Seal… Let me say this first… traveling with me is not easy!”
“I understand. Please go easy on me, Shura.”
I and Shura shook hands.
In this way, I made my first companion.
———————————————-
Last night, I and Shura became friends.
After eating dinner, we took a separate room and went to bed. We were planning to leave for <Mother Punk> in Everlasting Spring Town early in the morning.
When I heard the sound of knocking on the door of the room, I got up from the bed and headed toward the door while scratching my head.
I turned the doorknob and opened the door, thinking that it would be Shura, but… Standing there was a blonde girl looking up at me with her sleepy eyes.
“Morningー”
Blonde. Green Eyes. Ponytail. [TN: the kanji used for the eyes is ‘碧’ which actually read as ‘Ao’ or blue… but in Japanese color called ‘Ao’ or ‘blue’, it’s actually, Greenish Blue, which means, it looks green]
While showing her palm, she uttered a greeting-like word.
For the time being, I matched the pace and showed my palm.
“M-Morning～…”
It was a blonde girl who was picked up by the thugs in the back alley. In other words, Shura’s sister.
The appearance was different from yesterday. She was dressed up in clothes that suited herself. However, the clothes… they didn’t match the season.
She was wearing black long sleeve tops with something like a fluffy cuff, even though the heat of summer has begun to warm up. The lower half was short pants and her bare feet were exposed. It was a fashion that was not suitable for any season.
I immediately got ready and left the room.
After leaving the inn, I and Shura’s sister left for <Mother Punk>.
“You, Shura’s sister… right? What’s your name?”
“Ash… Ash Sullivan.”
“Ash. I forgot to ask your older sister yesterday, but what are the conditions for you to switch?”
Ash and Shura. For short, the Ashura sisters, their souls were merged by a curse.
I heard that they would change place depending on the conditions, but I forgot to hear the conditions. I thought that since we would fight together from now, if she suddenly changed without any conditions in a battle, the cooperation would be affected. So, it was a pretty important issue.
“Sunlight.”
Ash pointed to the sun.
“When my older sister is exposed to the sun for 30 minutes, she turns into me… This morning, my sister was sleeping with the curtain open, so she switched with me.”
“Does the sun mean that if you stay in the sun for another 30 minutes, will you replace your sister?”
Ash shook her head.
“On the contrary, if I hide in the shadow or stay away from the sun for 30 minutes, I will turn into my older sister.”
“So, if your older sister is under the sun, she will turn into you, the younger sister. On the contrary, when you’re in the shadow, you will turn into your older sister… That’s why it’s called <Curse of Yin and Yang> huh… As expected, the world is full of mysterious things.”
A question came to my mind.
Human beings, being in the sun and being in the shadows. I wonder which one is longer?
About the same? No, I’m sure it’s the latter…
Well, to put it in a simple way… You don’t get the sun at night, but you often get shadows in the morning and noon.
So, Ash, who quickly turns into her older sister if not in the sun, will only be able to do activities for about one-third of the day.
“It’s a troublesome curse… Oops, I haven’t introduced myself yet…I’m Seal Zetta.”
“I know. I saw it from inside my sister.”
“I see, so both of you share the outside scenery?”
It seems that the older sister is an active and lively person, but the younger sister is passive and shy.
With sleepy eyes, every time Ash spoke, she pulled the cloth on her chest up to her mouth to hide her lips.
The expression on her face also barely changed.
But, well, the more I looked at her, the better she looked in my eyes.
Unlike her sister, she had big breasts and a young face, but she wasn’t as childish as her sister. She was also just tall enough, about my shoulders. Her older sister was only about my chest.
“Hmmm?”
Suddenly, I noticed Ash’s golden hair.
They’re really sisters… right?
Yesterday a lot of things happened so I didn’t notice it but, isn’t their hair color completely different?
The older sister is brown, but the younger sister is golden ―― maybe one is dyed? or both are dyed?
“Somehow it’s noisy.”
Ash pointed towards the main gate of the city.
Looking at it, the Knights weren’t allowed the merchants and their carriages to pass through.
“Come on! Today I have to deliver the product to the customers in <Mother Punk>!… I also have a lot of bodyguards following me. Don’t worry!”
“No! Recently, the monsters that appear in the valley are becoming more ferocious. Currently, the Knights are trying to do something about it. I will not allow you to disturb them…So, I can’t let you through even with an escort.”
Sounds annoying.
Well, we can force ourselves to pass through here with some trick, but it’s difficult to get through the valley without seeing a knight.
“Do you want to find another route?”
“Okay.”
“Cross the mountains from the west or, leave the city and take a ship from the port town in the south. Either way, it’s a detour.”
We will need some preparation to cross the mountain, and money. About 20000 ouro for two people. We have to be prepared for the expense. It also takes time and there are problems with endurance too.
If so, a ship is better? There is a distance to the port town, but we could reach there in a day or two. The problem is the fare…
I opened my bag for money and checked how much I have.
“How much does it cost to get from the southern port town to <Mother Punk>?”
“Given the distance, the market price is 7500 ouro per person.”
“I have 5000.”
“I have 2800.”
So, it’s only enough for one person, huh… Then …
“There is a way to get two people with one person’s fare.”
“Smuggling?”
“Well, that’s right.”
There’s no problem if I seal Ash in a talisman and carry it as luggage…Right?
And so, the route had been decided.
“Buy only one day’s worth of food with the 300 ouro and leave the city right away… Do you have any requests for what to eat?”
“Seal, you can cook?”
“Yeah, I’ve lived alone for a long time.”
“Well…! then!!”
Ash grabbed the hem of my cloak while bouncing.
Ash completely changed from the cool character… She tightened her eyes tightly and opened her mouth wide.
“I… I! bean sprouts! I want to eat stir-fried bean sprouts!”
What is this cute creature?
The feeling I got now was that both were cute but, rather than cute as the opposite sex, they were cute as if pets such as dogs and cats. The older sister was like a lion cub, but the younger sister was as cute as a squirrel.
“Bean sprouts, huh… Should I buy garlic and soy sauce and fry them all together?”
Ash nodded at such a speed that an afterimage was created.
TN: Some Illustration of Shura and Ash
Shura & Ash
TN: Join my discord channel if you want.
Two in one, huh…
This will definitely be fun.
Thanks for the chapter!
THANKS FOR TRANSLATING!
So, I am guessing she dyed her hair brown since the illustration is blonde.
It’s an interesting concept for 2 in 1 characters, probably later on separating them.
Although, I wonder how each will develop their relationships with the MC, who seems to be easy going and not too fussed about anything.