abcnovels
Book 12
Book 12: Chapter 2: Part1
Here’s the chapter, enjoy~
Chapter 2 – Ancestor and Marriage
Part 1
“W-why don’t you clean it up a little bit? Yuck! Cough!”
A mysterious man suddenly appeared.
The man was dressed like a nobleman of the Heian period, something rarely seen in this era. In addition, he was well-dressed and gave the impression of being a good-natured person.
Of course, I was curious about the man’s unusual appearance, but what surprised me even more was the fact that he was──.
“Oh──”
“Hmm? Oh?”
“A ghooossstt!?”
“Eeeeehhhh! G-ghost!? Where, where?”
“I’m talking about you, though!”
“Huh? Me?”
I couldn’t help but retort to the man who was looking around in fear. Rather than that, the man in front of me had the appearance of a ghost, just like how everyone imagined.
I looked down at the man’s feet and saw that he had no feet, and they were thin and transparent.
Even Ouma-san and the others who were watching the exchange between the man and me looked astonished.
“Mmm… I’ve seen insubstantial beings like wraiths before, but they have a certain presence. But I don’t feel any presence at all from this ghost…”
“Woof…”
“Fugo?”
“Pippi!”
Night also seems to be puzzled, but Akatsuki and Ciel only twisted their heads curiously and did not seem to be that bothered by it.
“Astonishment. Ghosts, they’re real?”
“That’s amazing! I mean, what is that outfit? I haven’t seen anyone wearing that since I came to Earth…”
“Hey, Lexia! How can you be so calm?”
“Eh? Because it’s Yuuya-sama’s house, and I was wondering if something like this could happen…”
“…That’s true too.”
“You’re convinced?”
It’s difficult to be convinced that a startling situation can happen just because it’s my house, but I can’t remain surprised forever.
I called out to the man who was strangely convinced by my tsukkomi.
“Well, I am dead, aren’t I? I inadvertently accidentally…”
“U-um…”
“Hmm? Oh, you’re the one that put me on… Right! First of all, I’m not a ghost! W-well, I’m dead, sure. But I’m not one of those youkais! Okay?” [T/n: I decided to change specter to youkai from this chapter onwards, youkai basically means strange apparition. Since that’s too long, so I just decided to use the Japanese word for it, and I think everyone knows about youkai at this point.]
“I-I’m sorry!”
I called out to him, but after his flowing speech, I apologized to him.
But the man seemed satisfied with that and nodded his head.
“Umu, well, that’s good. So, what is it?”
“N-no, um… I was wondering who you are…”
When I finally said what I wanted to ask, the man smiled and puffed out his chest.
“I am so glad you asked! I am the most powerful sorcerer of the Heian period, Tenjou Kuuya!”
The man with the most confident look on his face… is named Tenjou Kuuya-san.
…Hmm? Tenjou?
When I responded to the unexpected last name, Kuuya-san grinned.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you──Descendant.”
“Eh… Eeeeeeeeeeeehhh!”
──My screams echoed throughout the house.
＊＊＊
“Muhoo! Modern confectionery is so sweet! It’s the best, the best, the best!”
“Y-yes…”
──After that, I moved to the living room with Kuuya-san in order to calm down and listen to his story.
When I introduced myself again, I prepared some sweets, and he reacted strongly to them. It seems that Kuuya-san is a fan of sweets.
Even now, he is stuffing his mouth full of sweets and looking like a squirrel. Well, you don’t have to be in such a hurry, no one is going to take it…
“Astonishing. Nobody can take that much candy in their mouth.”
“That’s amazing. Well, if he eats that many sweets, it’s no wonder he’s like that.”
“Right. However, he is Yuuya’s ancestor, isn’t he? They don’t look much alike…”
“Is that so? I think they have the same airiness about them.”
“Hmm? When you say it… they look completely different, but both of them have this kind of mysterious air that envelops them…”
Seeing Kuuya-san engrossed in the sweets in front of them, Lexia-san and the others were whispering something to each other, but the content of their conversation did not reach my ears.
“Phew~. It was very delicious, wasn’t it?”
“T-that’s good to hear.”
“By the way, I don’t see any of my descendants here except for you.”
“Oh… T-that’s…”
I was wondering what to say when Kuuya-san’s eyes suddenly flashed with a mysterious light.
It was only for a moment, but I could see it glowed purple as its gaze rested on me.
“Hoho… I see. It’s a pity. How can a child of the same blood not be loved equally…?”
“Huh? H-how can you…”
I looked at Kuuya-san, who seemed to see through everything I said and did, even though I hadn’t told him anything.
However, Kuuya-san stares at me in disbelief at my reaction.
“Didn’t I tell you? I am the most powerful sorcerer. Compared to destroying a great youkai, seeing through people’s minds is nothing.”
“Eh, was it true that you are a sorcerer?”
“Did you doubt me?”
I thought it was rude, but I couldn’t believe it when I was suddenly told that he was a sorcerer.
Come to think of it, it’s a wonder that I am able to meet the ghost Kuuya-san in this way, and more importantly, given my knowledge of the existence of the other world and aliens, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a sorcerer.
But when I am told that my ancestor was a sorcerer, it’s a different story.
My grandfather also ended up obtaining the blueprints Merl was looking for, but even so, he was just a traveler with the habit of collecting stuff, and I’m sure he didn’t really know what it was that he collected in that warehouse.
My father and the others were very normal people, and there was no indication that they had any unusual powers, or for that matter, were able to use sorcery or anything like that…
Then, as if he had looked into my family and read my mind, Kuuya-san covered his face with his hands sadly.
“Should I rejoice that the world is now at peace thanks to my efforts, or should I lament that the skills of the greatest and most powerful sorcerer have fallen into ruins…?”
“Y-you call yourself the best and the strongest, don’t you…?”
“Since no one else said it for me!”
It’s sad…
I was about to burst into tears, too, but Kuuya-san stared at me.
“Even so… I am surprised that you are my descendent.”
“Eh? Why is that?”
“Because you’re not fat.”
“That’s…”
My grandfather, my father and the others were thin.
In comparison, I was fat in the past… so does that mean that I used to look like Kuuya-san…?
Then, Lexia-san and the others also have a subtle look on their faces at Kuuya-san’s words.
“I don’t think you should be surprised by whether he’s fat or not, do you?”
“Right. The body shape can be managed by exercising.”
“Affirmative. You and Yuuya don’t look much alike right now.”
“Hmph. Well, Yuuya is similar to you only in that he is a strange being.”
“Woof.”
“Buhi.”
“Pii.”
“Huh? I’m in total denial?”
In response to everyone’s comments, Kuuya-san’s cheeks tightened, and he cleared his throat.
“Ahem. I’m telling you, it’s not just about whether it’s fat or not, you know. In my case, there is a great deal of significance in my physique.”
“Eh? What does that mean…?”
“Oh, I see… The knowledge of sorcery has ceased, and the constitution has also ceased at some point in your life.”
“Constitution?”
When I asked him back, Kuuya-san nodded his head.
“Right. I’ve always had an abundance of… ‘Spiritual Power,’ or the power to use magic. And that power has grown to such an extraordinary amount that it has been stored in the form of an expanding body.”
“Eh?”
“So, even if I wanted to lose weight, I would not be able to. It is not just fat or muscle but the result of the accumulation of spiritual power in the body. That is why I am not good at exercising, but I am very good at sorcery! Ahem.”
Kuuya-san was puffing out his chest, but I was not concerned about that.
Before I entered the other world, I had never been able to lose weight, no matter how much I tried muscle training, exercise, and dietary restrictions.
Even if I suspected that I was sick… my body was healthy, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Looking at me dumbfounded, Kuuya-san twisted his head, and once again… the purple light in his eyes, probably the spiritual power he was talking about earlier, was in his eyes.
“Hmm? You… you seem to have come to your current form in some strange way… What is it? You must have inherited my constitution, didn’t you? No wonder you have so much power… and yet your body shape is the opposite of mine. I’m surprised.”
After saying this, Kuuya-san looked at me in a somewhat pitiful way.
“But I see… because you suddenly inherited my constitution, and all knowledge of sorcery disappeared from the world, you were shunned by my other descendants… As a result, you, like myself when I was a child, have been wasting your time trying to lose weight.”
“W-wasted my time?”
“Yes. I told you, right? I told you that the body is not a storehouse of fat and muscle but a storehouse of spiritual power. Since the body has been transformed into a storage of spiritual power, there is neither muscle nor fat. No matter how hard you work, you will never be able to lose weight because the spiritual power is not dissipated.”
I was appalled to learn the secret of my old body.
It is true that I was not able to lose weight, but there was another serious problem that I had in the past.
“I-I was bullied in the past because people around me said I stunk…? Did that have something to do with that mysterious power…?”
“Oh… is that right? Spiritual power, in other words, is the power of youkais. It is something that humans subconsciously fear and loathe. And you have the same constitution as me and, by the looks of it, a great deal of spiritual power. Consequently, in the past, you were able to channel this immense power out of your body. However, this is incomprehensible to ordinary people. Therefore, your spiritual power was perceived as body odor, and you were estranged from those around you.”
“N-no way…”
Really, what have I been doing all this time?
I had been taking a proper bath and doing all the muscle training, exercise, and diet that I could.
Still, nothing had changed.
I can’t believe all of that was due to a constitution that I suddenly inherited from my ancestor…
Kuuya-san looked at me with a pained expression as I was seriously depressed.
“…It seems that in your case, you have more spiritual power than me. The result is that your human body can no longer contain it, and your physical body has become more like that of a youkai. This must also be the reason for the pain you are going through.”
“…..”
“D-don’t be so downhearted! No, I had no idea that one of my descendants would suffer because of my constitution! I am so sorry! As an apology, I will teach you all my skills and knowledge! Huh?”
I couldn’t help but smile when I saw Kuuya-san trying desperately to cheer me up.
“…Fufu. I’m fine. I’ve learned the reason for this, and as a result, I’ve been able to change. And I even found my family and friends.”
When I said this and turned my attention to Lexia-san and the others, she raised her hand.
“Yes, yes! I don’t know what it is, but I’m Yuuya-sama’s fiancée!”
“How can you raise your hand if you don’t know what it is? Besides, you’re not Yuuya’s fiancée. …Well, I don’t fully grasp the flow of the conversation either, but the fact that Yuuya is an important person nonetheless is for certain.”
“Affirmative. Yuuya, important.”
“…Well, I don’t want him to go away.”
“Woof!”
“Buhi!”josei
“Pii!”
“…Thank you all. I’m having fun living like this now!”
“You’re such a good descendant; it’s hard for me.”
I was happy that everyone was being so frank and gentle with me, and as Night and others rubbed up against me, I patted them gently.
“That’s nice; I wish I could be petted by Yuuya-sama too!”
“No, that’s… Not that that’s bad, but…”
“…These guys are as if they’re on their last days.”
As I was enjoying the feel of Night and the others, I heard Ouma-san’s dismayed voice. What’s wrong with him?
Then Kuuya-san, who was watching our exchange, let out a sigh.
“Hah… you say so, but as for me, I must reflect on what I have done to cause your suffering… But then again, it’s a strange world. As for the Night and your family members, they are exquisitely different from Earth’s monsters, although their presence may be similar. However, it seems that the dragon there is not so different from the dragon on Earth.”
“Eh?”
“What? Are there beings like me in this world?”
Kuuya-san’s unexpected comment made my eyes widen.
Rather, I wonder how Kuuya-san recognized the existence of the other world, and in addition, that Night and the others came from the other world, when I have not yet properly explained about the other world to him…
Maybe he learned about the other world in the same way, just as he has been aware of many things about my situation since a while ago? For example, maybe he’s looking at the memories of everyone here… Whatever it is, it’s a tremendous power.
When I thought about that, Kuuya-san nodded like it was nothing.
“You don’t see dragons in this day and age, but in the past, I saw them aplenty, and I slayed a lot of them.”
“Eeeehhh!? There were dragons on Earth in the past?”
“Yes, there were. I am a sorcerer, you know. Besides dragons, I have exterminated most of the famous youkai. Well, I’m sure few people in this world know about it, and the ones that do are probably credited to other people, not to me.”
“Eh? I-is that right?”
“Hmm? That’s fine. The important thing is the result of exterminating them, and it doesn’t matter who exterminated them. Besides, it’s a dangerous world, and it’s not for the people to know about it. And I will fight to keep it that way. The fact that no one knows about the danger is a sign of peace. It is a good thing that these stories, which have been passed down to this time, are still being enjoyed as fairy tales.”
Seeing Kuuya-san with such a bright and cheerful expression on his face, I felt proud to be his descendant.
As we talked, I remembered that I had a question I wanted to ask him.
“Right! Actually, a purple power rose from my body a while ago, and as a result of being guided by it, I touched the scroll and met Kuuya-san… Do you have any idea about that purple power?”
“What are you talking about? That’s the spiritual power, of course.”
“Is that it…?”
“Well, since knowledge of spiritual power has been lost, it’s no wonder you don’t know how to use it…”
I did have that feeling from earlier when I saw Kuuya-san’s eyes glowing purple from time to time.
However, I just don’t understand why this power suddenly became accessible.
That’s exactly what happened when I fought the monster in that alleyway… and was that monster a youkai that Kuuya-san was talking about?
“Um, actually, I encountered a strange monster today, and when I fought it, I was able to use my spiritual power.”
“Mm? A monster, you say? Speaking of which, the scroll that sealed this me is now unsealed──”
Kuuya-san was about to say that much when he seemed to notice something and looked at me with a serious expression on his face.
“Wait, what did that monster… look like?”
“Eh? It looked like a child, just about my waist height, with huge claws that it dragged behind it.”
“I’ve never seen a creature like that before.”
“Come to think of it, you mentioned something like that. Were they really there?”
Ouma-san was still skeptical, but Kuuya-san seemed to believe my story and continued without any mischievousness.
“There is no doubt about it. It’s a demon.”
“Demon?”
“Moreover, judging from its appearance, it must be a demon that has escaped from the lower levels of the underworld.”
“Eh, u-underworld?”
The explanation continued one after the other, and my head was confused, but Kuuya-san explained it to me slowly.
“First of all, sorcerers like me dealt mainly with demons. A youkai, to put it simply for you, is a being similar to a demon.”
“I-I see.”
“The demon is slightly different from the youkai and refers to the soul of a dead creature that has been transformed. Therefore, unlike a youkai, it is already dead.”
“Eehh?”
“The souls of dead creatures originally do not emerge from the underworld. Especially the souls that transform into demons are more strictly controlled in the underworld. However, in order to be able to deal with demons should they appear in this world for any reason, I sealed my thoughts in that picture scroll before my death. So that future generations of sorcerers will have no difficulty in exterminating demons.”
“So…”
The trigger for Kuuya-san to be released from the scroll was for the scroll to be touched by a person with spiritual power in their body, but it seemed that another condition that needed to be met was for demons to appear in this world.
“I see… I understand what you said. But the demons you mentioned earlier have already been defeated by Yuuya, right?”
“Yes! Yuuya-sama defeated it in a cool way!”
“…If that is the only demon that appeared in this world, that would be fine. But that’s not the case, is it?”
“That’s…”
From what I’ve heard from Sawada-sensei and Yukine, it seems that strange phenomena are occurring in various places, and when I think about it, I can’t believe that the demons are just that one.
However, Ouma-san, who had not seen any demons, sniffed in a bored manner.
“Hmph. No matter how many of them appear, I’m going to wipe them out.”
“Not so fast. I told you, didn’t I? I told you that demons are already dead. I ask you, can you make a dead person disappear?”
“T-that’s…”
“That is where a sorcerer like me comes in. With the spiritual power that resides in Yuuya and me or another kind of power, it is possible to interfere with the demons of the dead.”
“I see.”
As I was convinced by Kuuya-san’s words, Kuuya-san gathered the spiritual power in his eyes and looked at me again.
“Fumu… you seem to have suddenly released your spiritual power, but you still can’t manipulate it as you wish, can you?”
“T-that’s right.”
I answered, and Kuuya-san laughed and puffed out his chest.
“Don’t worry! You have me here with you! I will raise Yuuya to be a great sorcerer!”
“Eeeeeehh!”
Before I knew it, it was decided that I would become a sorcerer, and this was how it was decided that I was to learn about spiritual powers from Kuuya-san.