Episode 211 Festival Night (6)
[Be careful.]
The Corpse Queen opened her mouth in an annoyed tone.
Her annoyance rose from the depths of her lungs through a voice, and its source contained the heat of the hellfire seething from the depths of the Black Mage.
“… … …”
Of course, the female student who bumped into the shoulder trembled and did not respond.
[……Huh.]
The corpse queen snorted and soon turned off her nerves.
The girl you just bumped into seems to belong to the academy.
Judging from her youthful face, she might be a freshman or a female student who entered school early.
The corpse queen, who had thought that far, suddenly felt uneasy.
perhaps. perhaps. really maybe
What if she hadn’t become the Corpse Queen?
If so, wouldn’t she have enrolled in this academy like other girls her age?
She was well aware that there are no ifs in history, but if she dared to act age-appropriate just this once, wouldn’t she think so?
‘……Together with that guy.’
The Corpse Queen suddenly recalled a face in her mind.
The waves of time slowly sweep away everything until nothing remains, but this face was never erased.
That gaze that was always expressionless and couldn’t tell where it was looking from the farthest place.
That face I still remember vividly and distinctly.
At the same time, she remembers the conversations she had with him before she became the Corpse Queen.
‘hey. Do you want to come over and cook for me?’
‘…’
‘Yes, yes. I’ll just live with you.’
‘…’
‘By the way, when do you enter the academy? let me fit I think I will probably go in early for a year or two. It would be so much fun if we were in first grade together…’
Then.
There was an entity that distracted the Corpse Queen’s thoughts.
…nod!
A small woman next to her tugged at the collar of the Corpse Queen’s cloak.
Geronto. A red-haired magician with bandages wrapped around his face and neck.
Her true identity was a high ranking undead raised by the Lich Corpse Queen herself.
The Corpse Queen listened to Geronto’s silent report and nodded.
[Yes, Rosé. It seems that the smell of that night hound leads this way.]
The Corpse Queen naturally couldn’t help but recall the events of last night.
An intruder who appeared out of nowhere. I knew a while ago that he was the first villain ever to paint the night of the ecliptic with fear.
‘Certainly he wasn’t a normal guy.’
The archery of barbarians and the swordsmanship that was familiar somewhere.
However, the exact trajectory could not be read because of the dazzling light exploding from the tip of the sword at the decisive moment.
However, the Corpse Queen had witnessed an aura like this shining like the sun once before.
[… Madam of the Octagon. I saw it in the battle that night.]
The Corpse Queen felt her heart beat for the first time in a while.
When he was forced to peek into the abyss of magic in order to leap to a higher level during closed-door training, and suffered an accident in which half of his body died due to the backflow of mana.
My heart, which had never been able to beat properly since then, was beating again.
What does this mean?
[no way. no way I hope It can’t be. ……but. But.]
She herself couldn’t pinpoint exactly what she wanted, what she expected, and what she wanted to see.
That’s why the Corpse Queen came to this academy with a confused mind.
To meet the ‘night hound’ I met last night.
Before long, Geronto led the Corpse Queen to a dormitory.
[dormitory? It looks like this place is for students. Couldn’t it be that the hound of the night that turned the entire ecliptic upside down was a student at the academy?]
The Corpse Queen tilted her head as if it were absurd.
yet. She grabbed the lock on the back door of the dormitory with her hand.
Chiiik…
When the corpse queen touched it, the lock melted into molten iron in an instant, like ice thrown on a stove.
The hallway inside the dormitory was dark and empty.
It seems like everyone is out to play, probably because it’s the festival season.
After dissolving a few more locks blocking her way, the Corpse Queen broke into a room in the dormitory and swallowed a small sound.
[……This looks like a girl’s room?]
Elegantly decorated, one-person rooms.
However, considering the interior accessories and the smell in the room, anyone can see that this is a woman’s room.
As you might have guessed from the atmosphere in the hallway, the room was empty.
What is unusual is that there are little footprints on the window sill that appear to be those of a dog.
[Are you raising a dog? Good to sell.]
The Corpse Queen muttered in a hoarse voice.
How many animals have been cut and pasted as experiments so far to reach the extreme of the black magic.
Of course, there were many dogs among them.
So, the corpse queen harbored unreasonable feelings of guilt or debt for raising a dog or other companion animal.
Meanwhile.
…knock!
Geronto stood here and shook his head.
It was a sign that the smell had stopped.
The Corpse Queen eventually had no choice but to leave the dormitory without much income.
[……Uhm. Now that this has happened, we have no choice but to catch the owner of this room and interrogate him.]
The Corpse Queen follows the owner’s trail and returns to the festival streets.
Moment.
[…!]
There was a scene that came straight in front of her eyes.
Cherry blossom petals fluttering countless times. that pink wave.
The two eyes in the skull mask looking at the magnificent rain of cherry blossoms open wide.
Even if it was a magical fake petal, it was spectacular enough.
[…]
When she gazes at the petals of a festival scattering in the night sky.
“Wow, you did a really good job on the makeup!”
A group of schoolboys talked to the Corpse Queen with boisterous laughter.
[…?]
Before the Corpse Queen can even turn her head, the male students pass by laughing among themselves.
“Wow, I thought his helmet and armor were made of real bones.”
“You must have put a lot of effort into your makeup.”
“Did you see it? Wasn’t the jawline really pretty under the skull mask?”
“Oh, the proportions and the lines themselves are very elegant. I’ll have to talk.”
Small talk.
The Corpse Queen found it quite novel that she had become the subject of such gossip.
It’s hard to imagine compared to the atmosphere of the group I was in before or the group I’m in now.
However, there were no new feelings of displeasure or anger.
‘Come to think of it, it was a Halloween festival.’
Halloween, which symbolizes the academy’s summer festival, is more passionate and open than winter’s Halloween.
A festival to greet and hug even those who see it for the first time.
The Corpse Queen looked at the countless passers-by on the street with a new feeling.
Students dressed up as zombies, skeletons, ghouls, vampires, death knights, ghost mummies, and so on.
Outside visitors enjoy watching the students’ makeup and imitate it in their own way.
at that time.
“There, pretty sisters! Buy a skewer and eat it! You’re pretty, so I’ll give it to you at half price!”
A female student started soliciting customers for the Corpse Queen.
“Wow! You did a lot of makeup! You must have been looking forward to the festival!”
[…]
“Eight! It feels good! You enjoy the festival so much! I’ll give you another one as a service!”
The corpse queen, taken aback by the skewer that was suddenly thrust out in front of her eyes, was hit hard on the spot.
[……Delicious?]
……Nod!
The corpse queen walks the streets munching on fruit skewers coated with sugar water and Geronto munching ice cream waffles.
For the first time since her heart stopped, the Corpse Queen thought the situation was a little, very, very good, though it only gave her a fleeting feeling.
Eventually, Geronto followed the smell he smelled in the room and walked between taverns and passers-by.
Round and round the streets, right and left, back and forth, left and right, in all directions.
Performance hall of a handsome minstrel dance team busking Water balloon toss game with various prizes, mole catching game, etc… The corpse
queen looks suspicious towards Geronto, who is carrying water balloons, ice cream, whirlwinds, potatoes, and large teddy bears. seemed to ask.
[You’re on the right track, right, Rosé?]
…nod!
Geronto, who seemed to flinch slightly, nodded and pointed to a place.
A tavern came into view of the Corpse Queen.
A ghost bar run by the
< Ryukion > newspaper club.
It was a snack shop where students dressed as ghosts greeted customers by touting and serving dishes.
And on the large stage across from it, invited dancers dressed in bone makeup were performing with lively music.
Fireworks rise and drums beat in the heart.
A crucible of confusion and cheers, with countless crowds crying, laughing, and stamping their feet together.
And the Corpse Queen saw a familiar face there again.
[……Isn’t that the girl you just bumped your shoulders with?]
The girl you just bumped your shoulders with is standing here again with a dazed expression on her face.
I’m sure I warned you to be careful from now on, but you’re standing there stupidly like this again.
The Corpse Queen clicked her tongue.
[Have you lost your mind yet? stupid boy I don’t think I’ll live long.]
As soon as our eyes met, I saw that he was gagging right away.
Suddenly, the Corpse Queen stopped clicking her tongue and turned her head to the side.
It was out of curiosity about what had fascinated that nice girl so much.
and.
[…!?]
The corpse queen’s eyes, which turned away without much thought, opened wide as if they were about to tear.
It was because of a person who was cooking in the tavern’s kitchen.
As soon as she confirmed ‘that face’, the Corpse Queen could not help but freeze while standing in shock as if she had been struck by lightning.
Then, she stammered open her mouth.
[…Did he have a younger sister?]
