episode_0094

At the very moment Marisa was elegantly relaying her and Leon’s backstory to the Emperor.

Our aspiring hero, Lea Iorca, who was beautiful from any angle, any day of the 365, found herself in a slightly awkward situation.

It was all well and good that she had boldly set out in pursuit as if she would resolve the situation within ten minutes.

‘Wow, honestly, I looked like a peerless master and so cool just now.’

Because Lea thought her silhouette, as she coolly and casually went to pursue the observers, looked quite impressive.

‘There are three of them following me! Should I catch the closest one first?’

And indeed, the initial pursuit was as effective as it was impressive, so she managed to catch the closest one less than a minute after starting the chase.

“You bastard! Why are you tailing me! You son of a bitch! You really need a beating!!!”

“Ugh!!!!”

The most inept observer, who couldn’t even maintain his distance, was beaten to a pulp by the masked girl’s merciless punches.

However, the problem was that this foolish girl spent so much time beating the one she caught that she let the others get scared and run away.

The rest of them ran off into the alleyways, disappearing from sight.

Suddenly realizing the situation, Lea quickly sobered up and felt a little flustered.

“Oops. I got too carried away…! Should I just take this one guy? Ugh….”

Of course, this wasn’t about catching a spy; it was just a matter of taking the rude fellow who followed her and interrogating him (or rather, giving him a good scolding under the guise of interrogation).

However, the reason Lea was starting to fret slightly was…

‘Pfft… she ran off as if she’d smash them all in the first strike… and only got one? Well, I suppose even catching one might have been too much for you. Ha ha…’

Because the Emperor’s image, mocking and chiding Lea for showing off and rushing out, naturally formed in her mind.

“Ugh… no..! I can’t bear to see that old geezer’s expression. I’ll catch them all. Lea Iorca has her pride..!!!”

Shouting out the imperial youth slang, “pride,” Lea grabbed the swollen, impudent observer by the collar and ran into the alleyway.

*

“Jjuing-nim~♥ Isn’t Pisces the prettiest? Pisces is lovely like a flower even in an alley like this~”

“Yes, yes. You are the prettiest and cutest in the world. But do you research aegyo every day? It feels like you’re getting better at it.”

“Correct! To defeat the ‘Cosmic Monster’ and claim the spot next to you, one must train ceaselessly!”

I am currently strolling through the alleyways of Delphy with Pisces, who recently became my lover, enjoying our sweet time together.

The origin of this began with Rosalie-ssi’s busy schedule.

*

“Ugh..! This is so unfair. Should I just quit the academy…? Everyone’s bad. Everyone’s stupid. Rosalie has become so sad….”

Rosalie-ssi, who had been full of plans for a date with me after a long time, was called away today.

Someone from the upper echelons of the Celestial Church was suddenly dispatched to the academy, and Rosalie-ssi, being a high priestess in the church, was forced to attend such events.

Although I was quite displeased with those terrible people who took my girlfriend away, at least I had my cute Pisces, so there was no chance of feeling lonely.

Originally, Pisces had been dejected like a drenched crow, thinking she’d have to spend time with Rosalie-ssi, who was returning after a long absence, but when I told her the appointment was canceled due to circumstances…

“Caw-caw! Long live the Celestial Church!! Long live unemployment!! Indeed, good fortune comes when people don’t work and just laze around.”

She was practically soaring with joy as she said this…

Somehow, the conclusion felt a bit twisted, but I stayed quiet, not wanting to spoil the fun of the cute creature cawing excitedly.

So when I asked where we should go, the place she found was the alleyways of Delphy.

“I’m different from ‘that woman’ you took as a subordinate before your regression, but I’m the same existence, right? After all, I was Jjuing-nim’s strategist, who was even the ‘King of the Back Alleys’… I want to walk through memories I don’t know about. Hehe..! But the ‘King of the Back Alleys’… and self-proclaimed at that!!! Hehe..!! Oh dear..!”

As Pisces suddenly started to mischievously tease me, I gave her a very light tap on the head, and she let out another cute yelp.

Compared to when we first met, the head tap, now incomparably weaker and merely a sign of affection, plainly showed the change in our relationship.

“And there’s another reason. Actually, this morning, I suddenly felt like I could tell fortunes. So I cast a fortune, and the reading was: ‘It is auspicious if you seek out places others avoid. It is your destiny to pick up a gold nugget.’ The back alleys are exactly the places people avoid, so if we wander around there, couldn’t I pick up a gold nugget?”

“Oh. Really? Then let’s go.”

Pisces used to cast such fortunes for herself occasionally even before the regression.

It wasn’t a daily fortune prediction, but a kind of trick Pisces could only do on ‘days when something inexplicable happened’… and the fortunes’ good and bad omens were surprisingly accurate.

Even I, before the regression, initially snorted and would give Pisces a flick on the forehead, but after surviving several close calls thanks to these fortunes, I came to trust them.

So, the current Pisces could also do this… Since it was the first time she mentioned today’s fortune in front of me, I accepted her request with a slightly joyful heart.

And so, we began to search for gold nuggets, wandering through Delphy’s underground world, starting from near the school and continuing through the scattered alleyways.

A hen that left the yard—no, a dad Silkie rooster and its cute Silkie chick….

We roamed about affectionately, like a chicken family searching for beads in the yard.

By the way, I am currently walking around in the form of Orca, the loan shark of the back alleys.

Without Pisces’ help, I activated a mirage with the Nine Heavens’ Extinction Flame Art at its lowest output, covering the minimum surrounding area in illusions.

It was good for practicing precise control of the Nine Heavens’ Extinction Flame Art’s output, and Pisces quite liked this appearance.

She said something about how it looked very strong, and as a subordinate of a strong person, she felt like her own strength was increasing as well…

Come to think of it, Orca the loan shark is the one who will be in charge of my back alley life in this lifetime, so practicing maintaining this appearance is quite meaningful.

Orca needs to be a card I can naturally use anytime, and maintaining this appearance without Pisces also seemed like it would definitely be helpful somewhere.

Anyway, the newly acquired Nameless and Seolhwa, after regression, were friends whose strength growth started from precision rather than output, and since I had a reason to become extremely strong as soon as possible, I was diligently training even while on a date.

Had we been walking around for about thirty minutes like that?

Pisces, who was initially putting effort into searching for gold nuggets, seemed to get bored after a short while and kept clinging to me, acting cute.

Since it was the beginning of the alleyways, there weren’t yet any noticeably bad guys gathered around, and there were no people, making it perfect for discreet displays of affection.

Suddenly looking at her, today’s Pisces had a quite different atmosphere and appearance from her usual self.

That is… today, she had, for the very first time in front of me, let down her bangs…!

Though her image hadn’t changed as much as mine had becoming Orca for a moment, unlike me who just became uglier, she was truly beautiful.

“Pisces. As I said before, having your bangs down suits you incredibly well. You have such a good foundation, you look pretty no matter what you do.”

“Hehehe..! That means Jjuing-nim has completely fallen for cute Pisces.”

By the way, our Pisces, both before and after the regression, always swept her bangs up! She maintained a hairstyle that proudly displayed her slightly egg-shaped forehead.

According to her, showing off her pretty forehead was the key to cuteness, or something like that.

But Pisces, with her bangs down like now, giving her a slightly more neat image than usual, was truly beautiful.

Would you believe me if I said that Pisces’ bright, baby-bird-like giggling atmosphere was so radiant that it illuminated Delphy’s wretched, dark alleyways as white as calabash flowers, even in broad daylight?

Anyway, my girlfriend is this pretty and cute.

I wondered just how many times I had thought “pretty,” “cute,” and “lovely” in a single breath, causing a small riot in the subconscious realm, which is heavily influenced by my psychological state and thoughts.

Not only the fiery protests of Nameless and Rakshasa, but even Seolhwa, who loves romance…

[Ugh… such a fool for love… but you’re already thinking of multiple relationships, two women already. You’ll keep adding more, won’t you? Truly, truly disgusting. I must never meet a man like that. I need to find a truly faithful man…]

…shot out icy thorns that pierced my heart.

Seolhwa…! If you act like that, your dad will be sad…!

Anyway, no matter what they said, Pisces and I wandered through the back alleys quite slowly, enjoying an unbefitting tranquility.

After wandering for a while, there was nothing much to do in the back alleys anymore.

Pisces, who liked shiny things, seemed to quickly get bored of the monotonous alleyway scenery.

“Jjuing-nim. Pisces is tired of the back alleys now. Let’s quickly go to the city center, have something delicious to drink, and then go for dinner.”

“Alright. There’s nothing more to see here, and as for gold nuggets… we have plenty at home, so we don’t need any more. Is there anything you want to drink?”

“Hehe! If you think about it, Pisces is already a gold nugget, so it’s fine. I wanted to try that. Café de Brezel? They say a super cute owner there sells a squirrel fairy’s misutgaru latte, was it?”

“Ah, that one. It’s famous. I said I’d take you there, but we never went. Let’s go. The owner’s way of speaking is unique and interesting. The misutgaru latte is also incredibly delicious.”

And so, we began to head towards ‘Café de Brezel,’ a famous and quite nice cafe near Leone.

Then…

“Hey, you son of a bitch..! Get out of the way!! You crazy bastards are blocking the road..!”

Since there was a rude, vulgar bastard who appeared, spewing out harsh curses…

“Ugh..!”

I just beat him up.

“You bastard, what did you say? Do you want to blabber again?”

As I skillfully pounded him with my fist, he let out groans and rolled on the ground.

This is the law of the back alleys.

If someone who enters the sticky, dirty darkness acts up without knowing their place, they get beaten half to death – that’s the law of the back alleys.

In short, here, the one with the stronger fist *is* the law.

It’s fortunate for him that it was me whose temper he provoked.

Because other guys would go for a knife instead of a fist when their temper is provoked.

“Ohhh..! This is the punch of the ‘King of the Back Alleys’!!! Hehe…!”

I mentally added a head tap stack to Pisces, who was once again teasing me from the side.

Feeling pleased at the thought of giving him a hit later if I remembered, I nudged the fallen guy with my foot.

“Hey, stop faking it and get up, you bastard. If you want to grab the dagger in your pocket, you should do it while taking a beating… if you rummage around while lying down, everyone can see. Do you think turning your back will hide it?”

I don’t know what kind of guy he was, but his presence felt surprisingly faint compared to his clumsy skills, and his movements were faster than expected.

He seemed like some kind of assassin running away from someone, but since I didn’t like him, I decided to catch him and hand him over.

Since I caught him, I should ask for money as a reward.

“Pisces. It seems he was the one you foretold. He truly was a gold nugget.”

“Eh..! To say that, he’s just dark and ugly. Looking at Jjuing-nim’s face then looking at him, he’s even uglier..! Ugh, dirty. Yuck!”

Meanwhile, Pisces looked at his face with utter disgust and cutely clung to my arm.

This little one, always figuring out ways to cling to me like this. How commendable.

“Kill… kill me… Ugh…!”

The rude fellow tried to secretly throw a dagger, but I activated the Seal of Annihilation I had embedded when I punched him, causing him to roll around as if dying again.

“Hey, you. I’m not killing you because of your bounty. If you try to play with your knife again, I’ll just kill you.”

I don’t know who was chasing him, but judging by their absence so far, they must be pretty inept.

It was then.

“Ohh..!! Ohhh!!!! I found them…!!!!”

Holding two suspicious-looking individuals in both hands, the suspicious masked person, now somewhat familiar, ran towards us.

“Wow..!! Thank you so much!! Thanks to you catching them for me, I won’t lose face. Hehehe…!”

Lea Iorca.

Why was that wild, uninhibited person here?

Although I was a little curious about the reason, I didn’t want my private time with Pisces to be disturbed.

Furthermore, this woman’s actions are hard to predict, making her awkward to deal with… anyway, she’s just like that..!

Lea looked back and forth at me and Pisces, who was beside me, glancing around.

Then, seeing Pisces, who had gotten slightly intimidated again (it seemed to be because Lea’s combat power looked quite formidable), she spoke in her peculiar “Heeheehee!” tone.

“Wow..! She’s really beautiful. Beautiful and incredibly cute. Being in the Leone district, the ‘water quality’ must be good here [an idiom meaning the people are attractive]. How many beautiful women do I see in a day? Of course, she’s a little less than me, though.”

“Caw… no… when Pisces is next to Jjuing-nim, she’s the prettiest in the world…”

Seeing Pisces cawing dejectedly and looking so miserable, I only thought about getting rid of Lea quickly.

I needed to quickly rescue our crow from the clutches of the habitual face-evaluating villain.

Forget about reward money or anything… I’ll just hand over the guy she’s holding and quickly escape from here.

“Are you chasing this one? I’ll hand him over, so take him.”

“Oh yeah, thank you!”

As I tried to escape, leaving the grateful person behind…

“Hey! Ras. But why are you walking around wrapped in a strange form like a heat haze? And why do you keep making your voice so deep and solemn? Hmm..! I get it. You’re doing it because you’re cheating. You’re a complete bad boy!”

“……????”

The mirage was definitely activated correctly.

I had checked it repeatedly, and even now, I was in Orca’s form, which bore no particular resemblance to Ras.

Even Pisces, who heard Lea’s words, seeing through my identity at once, looked at Lea with a bewildered expression.

“Why are you looking like that? You already have three women! The beautiful older sister I saw at school earlier, the beautiful princess who was next to you, and… now the cute little one next to you, that’s three! Wow… you were really a big shot. I’m sorry I didn’t realize… But you should cut back! Your bones will rot [an idiom meaning it will take a toll on you], you know. And secretly cheating… even hiding your appearance like that, is that right?! Tsk!”

She then unleashed a rapid, grand, and fast torrent of words, like a machine gun, but with a loud voice…

“Unless you’re so beautiful that you have to hide your appearance, like me. People should go about in their true form for good things to happen.”

She took off her mask and smiled brightly at me.

“Caw… that woman… her… combat power… is higher than mine..!”

And seeing that face, Pisces, for the first time in a long while, became a pathetic mess and cawed miserably.