Author: Suisei
Translator: Rinkage
Character page: Here
Chapter 206 – I tried to soothe the girl’s anger
“…The place where the Guardian Deity-sama and I made our memories…” [Tiel]
“H-Hey, Tiel…” [Gai]
“It’s obvious this was done by people. If demons were responsible, the damage wouldn’t be this deliberate.” [Youki]
“Y-Yeah… you’re right.” [Gai]
Gai shot me a desperate look, silently pleading for help, but I had no idea what to do. I could easily fix everything with magic, sure, but would that be enough to calm Tiel-chan’s fury?
“If the real Guardian Deity-sama had been here…” [Tiel]
“Wait, no—! Even I would have fought back! There’s no way I’d just let them do this to me without resisting!” [Gai]
“…won’t forgiv….” [Tiel]
“Huh?” [Gai]
Maybe Gai didn’t catch it, but I sure did. I heard it loud and clear: “I won’t forgive them.”
“I won’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them. I won’t forgive them…” [Tiel]
The light faded from her eyes as she repeated the same line over and over.
This is bad. Seriously bad. Whoever did this needs to get as far away from here as possible… fast.
Even Gai couldn’t stop her now. It was getting to the point where I honestly thought someone might die. Tiel-chan, overflowing with rage, clearly wasn’t aware of her surroundings anymore, so I motioned for Gai to come over.
“…What do we do? She came all the way back to her hometown after so long, but now it looks like she’s about to wipe the whole place out.” [Youki]
“She’s not even listening to me anymore. Should I put her to sleep?” [Gai]
Is knocking people out the only solution this so-called Guardian Deity-sama ever thinks of?
“Hmm… Maybe that is for the best. I mean, for the village’s safety… right?” [Youki]
Reluctantly, we decided that was the best course of action. Gai immediately moved to cast a sleep spell on Tiel-chan… only for her to suddenly speak.
“Hehehe… I’m not sleeping until I catch the culprit. I got an antidote from Sheik-kun. But even without it, I’ll resist… and even if I do fall asleep, I won’t give up.” [Tiel]
“T-Tiel…” [Gai]
“Ahh…” [Youki]
Her resolve was even stronger than I’d thought… No, actually, it was about what I should have expected. At this point, calming her down was looking pretty hopeless… Which meant—
“Should we just catch the culprit?” [Youki]
“Oi, are you serious, kiddo?!” [Gai]
“Well, I mean… destroying the shrine is a crime, right? The village is responsible for it. They had no right to just wreck it.” [Youki]
In that case, all we had to do was find the culprit and hand them over to the village watch. As long as we kept an eye on Tiel-chan and made sure she didn’t go overboard, it should all work out.
But as I looked at Tiel-chan’s current state, another thought crept into my mind.
Yeah… we really needed to keep her in check. Sheik must’ve given her more than just an antidote. Since Tiel-chan doesn’t have much physical strength, she’d have to rely on strategy. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sheik handed her something laced with poison or paralysis, or at least taught her how to use stuff like that.
“Let’s just stick close to her for now. Only while she’s in our sight. If things start getting dicey… we’d step in. For the culprit’s sake. Trying to drag her off now by force would just…” [Youki]
“…make things worse later.” [Gai]
“Exactly.” [Youki]
Since Gai was on the same page, we decided to hurry up and track down whoever was responsible.
We immediately started asking around the village, but—
“Man… whoever trashed the shrine and status really brought some bad karma on themselves… Still, aside from Tiel-chan, nobody ever really went near that place. They called him Guardian Deity-sama and all, but honestly, I don’t actually believe it.”
“I see. Well then, I’ll go ask someone else. Thank you for your time.” [Tiel]
“Ah—did I say something wrong? Sorry if I offended you.”
“No, please don’t worry about it.” [Tiel]
…Still, I couldn’t help but question whether that was the right way to talk to an old acquaintance. Her eyes were completely lifeless, and her voice sounded flat – practically robotic the whole time. As we walked away, the guy kept apologizing so much that I started to feel bad for him.
“Tiel-chan, hey—your tone! Watch your tone!” [Youki]
“What is it? I am perfectly normal. You’re overreacting, Youki-san. Isn’t that right, Guardian Deity-sama? You’re on my side, aren’t you?” [Tiel]
If Gai said no here, there was a real chance the entire village would get wiped off the map. This felt exactly like one of those game choices where picking the wrong option sends you straight to a bad ending.
“Tiel, the villagers are doing their best to help us. I believe you should treat them with more courtesy.” [Gai]
…And there it was. He picked the bad-ending option. Criticizing Tiel-chan right now would only –
“…You’re right. You’re absolutely right, Guardian-sama. I’ll be sure to ask politely next time. Thank you for correcting me, Guardian-sama. Oh, there’s Bike-san, the hunter who’s been passionate about hunting for forty years! We haven’t questioned him yet, so I’ll go ask!” [Tiel]
Flashing her usual bright smile, Tiel-chan ran off towards the hunter named Bike.
At that moment, I made a mental note: Gai also doubled as Tiel-chan’s emotional stabilizer.
“But… are we even going to find the culprit? We don’t even know when it was destroyed. And it doesn’t seem like there were any witnesses either. It feels like we’re already hitting a dead end.” [Gai]
“I tried enhancing my sense of smell too, but… nothing.” [Youki]
I’d done everything I could think of, but without any traces left behind by the culprit, there was no way to track them down.
“…Hey, kiddo. I have a favour to ask.” [Gai]
“What is it? You got a good idea?” [Youki]
“Tiel and I will keep questioning the villagers. Honestly, I doubt we’ll find much, but in the meantime, I want you to rebuild the shrine and the statue.” [Gai]
“…Yeah. Even if we can’t be sure it’ll calm Tiel-chan down completely, leaving it in ruins definitely isn’t helping.” [Youki]
Right now, the place that was supposed to be filled with memories was nothing more than a pile of rubble. If I could restore it properly, down to the last detail, maybe, just maybe, it’d help improve Tiel-chan’s mood.
“Alright, leave it to me. I’ll rebuild the shrine and the remake statue of you properly this time. Gai, in the meantime… just enjoy yourself. Treat it like you’re on a date or something.” [Youki]
I tossed that little tease over my shoulder as I turned to leave. A “Don’t mess around!” rang out behind me, but that was probably just Gai being embarrassed.
Honestly, I thought it was a good thing for him to walk around the village with Tiel-chan. The villagers were probably worried when she suddenly left, especially considering how frail she used to be. Now that she was healthy again, showing everyone she had a strong, reliable boyfriend by her side wasn’t a bad idea.
“Alright… time to dust off my artistic talents for the first time in a while!” [Youki]
…Or so I thought.
The result turned out to be nothing as I expected. After getting all fired up, I ended up being chased around by Tiel-chan the moment she laid eyes on the new statue I made. I had completely forgotten – what happens when I get a little too into “being myself”. Especially after so long.
In the end, we never found the culprit. But at least we rebuilt the shrine and the statue, and Tiel-chan’s mood had more or less settled down.
In a normal situation, that would’ve been the happy ending. But of course, things never go quite the way we want them to.
The next day, just before we were about to head home, we decided to visit the memory-filled spot one more time. However…
“…I will never forgive them.” [Tiel]
The shrine and the statue had been destroyed again. And I had just fixed them yesterday. This was no coincidence. It happened way too fast. Even my blood was starting to boil. The shrine was one thing, but the statue I’d painstakingly rebuilt over and over until Tiel-chan was finally satisfied… completely obliterated. All that effort was wiped out in an instant.
But as furious as I was, the girl next to me was on an entirely different level of rage.
“…I never thought I’d end up using the skills I trained for guild missions… here, in my own hometown.” [Tiel]
From her bag, Tiel-chan pulled out a knife, some thread, a needle, and a box. At a glance, they looked like ordinary items, but everything about the way she handled them screamed danger.
“Hey, Tiel… What’s all that for?” [Gai]
“Oh, this? The knife is for crafting. The thread and needle are for setting traps. And this box—” [Tiel]
She opened it to reveal an assortment of powders, pills, and liquids. A suspicious-looking collection of homemade… ‘medicines’.
Wait a second… could those be—
“I worked together with Sheik-kun to create a variety of special-effect medicines. They’re my weapons. For this case, I’ll be using this liquid one. First, I’ll identify the culprit… and then set up traps using needles coated in this solution. They’ll activate when someone gets close…” [Tiel]
“HOLD IT, HOLD IT, HOLD IT!” [Youki]
Seriously, could she not say terrifying things like that with such a calm expression? The medicine she pulled out was a thick, dark yellow liquid inside a tiny vial, and it looked anything but safe!
“Don’t worry, Youki-san. It’s non-lethal. It’ll just cause uncontrollable itching, tears, a runny nose for about three days, and for some reason, an intense craving for extremely sour food. That’s all.” [Tiel]
“Just because it won’t kill them doesn’t make it okay!!!” [Youki]
Damn it, Sheik! What the hell were you thinking, giving her a full-on danger kit!? This isn’t something you hand over casually!
There were plenty of other suspicious-looking concoctions in the box, too… but I decided it was best not to ask.
“Tiel, don’t you think you’re going a little too far?” [Gai]
“What are you talking about, Guardian Deity-sama? This is the second time! And right after Youki-san put in so much effort to fix everything! They definitely did this on purpose. There’s real malice behind this! If they’re going that far, then we need to respond appropriately too!” [Tiel]
I’d hoped Gai’s voice of reason might cool her down, but no… Tiel-chan was absolutely fuming. If we left her alone like this, things were bound to spiral out of control—no doubt about it. We had to find the culprit, and fast.
Since the shrine had been fine yesterday and was wrecked by this morning, the list of suspects was relatively short. I met eyes with Gai, silently telling him, I’m counting on you, before hurrying off towards the village.
Previous Chapter | Main Page | Next Chapter
RinkageTranslation 