11. Shura & Ash

Since I couldn’t carry the talisman which the brown-haired girl sealed inside it 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 about preparing to unseal her.

In the center of the room, where there were only beds and closets, 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 still sealed, even if she suddenly came out naked, it wouldn’t turn into a fight.

Also, I planned to show her hat I had no intention to fight her while she was in a panic and reconcile with her.

Originally 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 …!”

For a moment. In a blink of an eye, she came to attack me.

Her legs entwined around my torso and her arms tightened my neck.

“Gahh…! 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 thought, ‘Humans are so fragile, huh…’  

My whole body was restrained in an instant.

Her skill is good…. Ah, no, the problem is more than that.

“Damn!!”

I could feel that the things which hit the back of my head was 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 an evil, a bewitching scent! 

And… I couldn’t muster up any strength.

For adolescents who had been forced to abstinence for a year… it was a hard situation.

This is 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’s as if a ‘Double Lock’ is being put to restrain me!!

It’s 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….. Hkyaa?!!”

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 part. 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 was disappeared. Even though the ‘Character stamp’ that I put on objects, weapons and tools did not disappear after I unsealed 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 the cloth. 

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.”

“……All right.”

“The cane is fine after we talk.”

The girl postponed the cane. 

Is it the way she appeals that she has no intention to fight?

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 a minor.”

The girl rested her chin in her hand with, ‘Hmm…’.

“I see. I’m kind of convinced now… after all, I was sealed by you. “

“That’s how it is.”

“Then, Question 2 ―― “

“Wait. It’s not fair to ask a question 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 that the 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 back. 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 is 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 the curse? I heard that you can’t break it, that’s why it’s called as a curse.”

“That’s right. There is no record of someone 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 him 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 doesn’t know. Because the cause his death is a curse.

“There are two sad news… First, the old man, ‘Balha Zetta’, died a month ago. “

“Wha…!”

“Second. The old man probably didn’t know how to break the curse…Because the cause 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 blue.

Do you have much hope in the old man? 

It must have been because Shura 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, like I did. Maybe he can’t break the curse yet. But he might have some clues.”

What a positive thinking.

Certainly, the possibilities are not zero. That old man knows a lot of things and it feels like that he knows some clues.

“――Your master, where is his house?!”

“No, I don’t know. I’m sorry, but I don’t know the old man’s private information at all.”

No, it isn’t at all, I guess…?

“The old man has a granddaughter… If you ask his granddaughter, you may know the location of the old man’s house.”

“Granddaughter? Where is it?”

“I only know that she’s in a Magic Academy. I’m looking for her too.”

Shura thrusted the dried meat into her mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed it, then muttered, “If that so…”

Oh, I somehow know what she is thinking right now. Let’s hear what she will 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 use for color of 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 mean, 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… it 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 of the body was shorts and exposed her bare feet. 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 place with each other?”

Ash and Shura. For short, ‘Ashura Sisters’, their souls were merged by a curse.

I heard that the appearance change depending on the conditions, but I did not hear the conditions. I though 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 to 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. Which one is longer?

About the same? No, I’m sure it’s the latter…

Well, to put in 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, would only be able to do activities 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.”

“Hoho, so both of you share the outside scenery?”

It seemed that the older sister was an active and lively person, but the younger sister was 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 look at it, the better she looks in my eyes.

Unlike her sister, she has big breasts and a young face, but she is not as childish as her sister. She’s also just tall enough, about my shoulders. Her older sister was only about my chest.

“Hmmm?”

Suddenly, I noticed Ash’ golden hair.

They’re really sisters… right?

Yesterday a lot of things going on, 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 were not allowed the merchants and their carriages too pass through.

“Come on! Today I have to deliver the product to the customers in <Mother Punk>!… I also have a lot of bodyguard 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 to 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 will be 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, it costs money. About 20000 Ouro for two people. We have to be prepared for the expense. It also takes times 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 on a talisman and carry it as luggage…Right?

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 request 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 get now is that they’re cute but, rather cute as an opposite sex, they’re more like cute as pets like dogs and cats. The older sister was like a lion cub, but the younger sister is cute like 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.