● Character Refresher (rcuries of Village Four)
Bell – Leader of the rcuries in Village Four. Priestess-like.
Yoru – Gatekeeper of the hot spring village’s teleportation gate. Secretary-like. In charge of armants.
Futa – Gatekeeper of Village Five’s teleportation gate. A fortune-teller-like mage.
Miyo – Resides in Shashaato City. A young maid who works as a secretary to Governor Ifrus.
Hih – Military officer of Village Five.
Loch – Civil Servant of Village Five.
Nana – Spy of Village Five. Appears like a village girl.
● Other Fogumas who won’t appear this ti but have been introduced
Asa – Currently accompanying Ursa. Butler-like.
Gou – Deputy village chief of Village Four. Middle-aged butler.
Tou – Captain of the universal ship.
Irre – Leader of the filming team.
-0-
Late at night.
We visited Beezel’s mansion.
I apologized to Beezel for the sudden visit.
I wondered if he had work or sothing going on.
「Not at all. Actually, I was just eting with Count Pugyaru earlier, but… he suddenly felt unwell and left. So there’s no problem.」
I see.
There are things that happened with Count Pugyaru before, and also his daughter.
I had hoped to greet him properly at so point, but the timing never seems right.
That’s unfortunate.
「I’m sure Count Pugyaru feels the sa. I’ll make sure to pass on your regards.」
With those words, Beezel guided us to the detached building of the mansion.
It’s apparently a place always kept prepared for unexpected guests.
For a situation like this, it’s extrely convenient.
Frau must have known that, which is why she suggested Beezel’s mansion.
「Of course. This is my family ho, after all.」
As Frau said that, she began issuing instructions to the guards stationed at the mansion.
Ah, she’s telling them to keep their distance for safety reasons.
Though I don’t think it’ll be dangerous, honestly.
-0-
The man who called himself a Kissinley was now seated on the sofa placed at the center of the detached hall.
Next to him sat a woman.
She was apparently his wife.
It seed she had been hiding nearby, watching our interaction.
I hadn’t noticed her, but Gulf and Daga had.
And they had also sensed her strength.
That’s why they hadn’t rushed to capture Kissinley when he first appeared.
I see.
「Ah, sorry. Kissinley, like Foguma, is a family na. I’m Apri. This is my wife, May.」
TN: The na is basically the month April but without the last letter.
So, Apri Kissinley and May Kissinley.
Since they introduced themselves, we did the sa.
I’m Hiraku, Hiraku Machio.
I am the Village Chief of Big Tree Village and several others.
Next to is the owner of this mansion, Beezel, Count Beezel Chro.
He’s also one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon King’s Kingdom.
「I’m Beezel. A pleasure to et you.」
Beside him is his daughter, Fraurem.
「I’m Fraurem. Please call Frau.」
Next to Frau is the angel’s chief, Malbit.
「Nice to et you.」
Beside her, though you probably already know them, are Bell Foguma and Yoru Foguma.
……
The two of them simply glare, not bothering to greet.
Uh, then we have the devils Prada, Bulga, and Stifano.
「I don’t know what your goal was in targeting the auction items but be prepared for the consequences.」
「Ah, I’m not involved. Please pretend I don’t exist.」
「Sa here. I’m not involved either. Feel free to ignore .」
Ah, over there are the ones guarding , the beastkin Gulf, the lizardman Daga, and the angel Reginleif.
They just nod in acknowledgnt.
They haven’t lowered their guard.
So…..
And behind you are, from right to left… Futa Foguma, Miyo Foguma, Hih Foguma, Loch Foguma, and Nana Foguma.
Yeah, sohow Futa and the others have arrived too.
It makes sense that Miyo, Hih, Loch, and Nana could co, but Futa is supposed to be the gatekeeper of Village Five’s teleportation gate.
What happened to that?
You didn’t leave it unattended, did you?
The Arachne Arako usually handles it, but she was asked by Yoru to take care of the hot spring gate, so…
You asked Ronana, who happened to pass by then, to cover for you?
If Ronana gets stuck as gatekeeper, won’t Glatts get angry?
Apparently Glatts passed by too, and the two of them are covering the gate together.
Is that really okay?
Well, I guess if we wrap this up quickly, it should be fine.
-0-
Ehto…
Just as I was about to move the conversation forward, Bell stopped .
She said she wanted to explain the relationship between the Foguma and Kissinley to first.
I see. Let’s hear it, then.
-0-
Ahem.
I am Bell Foguma.
Allow to explain.
This goes back a bit…
In the kingdom during the ti we were born, there was a project called the Population Decline Control (Venus) Plan, which aid to utilize artificial lifeforms, homunculi.
To put it simply, it was a plan to make up for labor shortages using artificial life.
At first, they created laborers to handle simple tasks but eventually began producing high-performance kingdom soldiers and warriors.
Their usefulness was considerable, but the leadership’s lack of ability beca an issue… In short, the royal family was deed incompetent.
As a counterasure, a new project was launched to support the royal family, the Royal Guardians (rcury) Plan.
Thus, we, the Foguma clan, were created.
It was thought that with our support, the royal family would be secure.
However, a certain fool, pardon , a royal, proclaid that instead of rely supporting the royal family, why not have soone replace them entirely?
And so began the Royal Administrator (Poseidon) Plan.
But here’s the thing, we, the Fogumas, born of the rcury Plan, were built at the highest performance possible, even ignoring budget limits. Each of us was specialized in extre ways.
They tried to surpass us, but what ca out instead was a more balanced, all-around version that smoothed out our extres, the Kissinleys.
TN: I know what you’re thinking, they were supposed to be buying Royal Warrior Jupiters so why are there Poseidons now?
If that were all, we could consider them our peers, fellow creations from the sa holand.
However, the Kissinleys, true to their original purpose, began running the governnt in place of the royal family. And ultimately, they concluded that the royals were no longer necessary and seized control from them.
An unforgivable act of betrayal.
Whether the royal family wanted that, or happily handed over power, is irrelevant.
As royal guardians, we cannot accept such a thing.
And what’s worse…
About fifty years later, a rebellion broke out, and the country was destroyed.
Do you think we can forgive them?
Well, actually, we’re not that angry about the country collapsing.
That part was probably inevitable.
What we cannot forgive is how they shoved us into the Sun Castle, claiming our specialized nature made us hard to manage, then called us “a waste of budget who never do any real work”, and slashed our funding.
Absolutely unforgivable.
-0-
In other words, the Kissinleys are…
「A fresh Kissinley! Surround him! Don’t let him escape!」
…Is that what this is?
…….
Wait, what does “fresh Kissinley” even an?
Hey, stop surrounding him.
He looks like he’s about to cry.
Prada, don’t join in and surround him too.
You haven’t forgotten that attack you triggered last ti, have you?
Miyo, stop kicking the sofa.
The sofa didn’t do anything wrong.
Also, that sofa belongs to Beezel.
It’s probably expensive.
A high-end item.
No, I didn’t say to kick him directly instead.
Co on, he’s not resisting.
This isn’t getting us anywhere, so just stop already.
Malbit, stop laughing and help break this up.
Frau, don’t run off with Beezel.
Don’t leave to handle this alone.
This is getting out of hand.
-0-
Things got a little chaotic for a mont, but they finally cald down sohow.
Thank goodness.
The tea tastes great.
So… Apri and May want to talk with Bell and the others.
Is it alright for us to listen in?
If they prefer, we can step out…
…No? If we leave, they’ll get beaten to a pulp, so we absolutely have to stay?
Well, alright then.
Let’s have Bell take the lead in this discussion.
I’ll just chi in if soone asks for my opinion.
「So, what is it you want to discuss? You ntioned we’d benefit from this too. Keep it brief, please.」
Bell opened the conversation.
Bit curt, but fair enough.
「We’re sorry for the trouble we caused at the auction. Our goal was to retrieve our daughter, her mory unit, not her physical body.」
A mory unit, like those massive crystals, sa as the one Gou had, previously.
「We basically live through mory units. It’s too difficult to maintain our physical forms.」
Makes sense.
「The problem is, mory units look like decorative art pieces. A noble, unaware that it was our daughter’s mory unit, took it and put it up for auction. We were just trying to get it back.」
Ah… That must’ve been the item brought in on the final day.
「We wanted to win the bid ourselves, but we were outbid… Our supporters got furious, and that’s what led to the incident.」
Hmm.
Bell asked about these supporters.
「Even after the kingdom fell, we had to go on living. We ford a small village with demons and beastkin. The people there are our supporters.」
Oh, I can relate to that.
「We used our mory units to advise and guide them…Well, they ended up treating us like gods, more or less.」
Yeah… that part, I don’t relate to.
「When the Demon King’s Kingdom expanded its territory, our village didn’t resist and ca under their rule. We beca part of a noble’s domain and started paying taxes in the form of troops. But when the wars stopped, they said they didn’t need soldiers anymore and demanded money instead. They began taking valuables from our village.」
I see.
「We never handed over anything precious, but the noble’s idiot son ended up taking our daughter’s mory unit…」
That happened about thirty days ago.
Apri and May decided to retrieve her and manifested physical forms ten days ago.
They attacked the lord’s manor three days ago, but by then, the mory unit had already been moved to the auction venue.
At that point, Beezel buried his head in his hands.
Apparently, three days ago, Beezel had received an urgent report about an incident at a noble estate under Count Pugyaru’s influence.
He’d just finished discussing that matter with Count Pugyaru.
Ah… That would an Apri’s village is near Howlin Village or Huma Village?
I think I rember hearing during a previous dispute that those areas fall under Pugyaru’s domain.
So their village is close enough to trade with Huma Village, huh.
Interesting.
Turns out… they live surprisingly close by.
After capturing the idiot noble son during the manor raid, Apri and May headed for the auction house, which led to the current ss.
Ah, and they entered the auction using an introduction letter the idiot son had.
They were planning to make him pay for the bid too, huh?
Makes sense.
I can sympathize, to a point, but ultimately, it’s up to the Demon King’s Kingdom to decide how to handle this.
Will they side with the noble, or punish him…?
「If everything they’ve said is true, the noble will be punished and stripped of title. There’s no reason to protect him.」
Beezel added that this wasn’t the Demon King’s Kingdom’s official stance, just his personal view.
…Not that I suspected anything.
We didn’t co here to hold him accountable or anything.
Yeah, Frau.
You’re the one who suggested we co here in the first place.
So then, what about Count Pugyaru?
He’s connected to that noble, right? Wouldn’t he try to protect them?
Not a chance?
Wait, really?
Count Pugyaru spoils his daughter, but he’s ruthless with his subordinates?
That… sounds a bit extre.
Just as the conversation started to wander off, Bell gave a pointed, exaggerated cough to rein things in.
「Pardon the interruption. We understand your situation, Kissinley-sama. But what exactly do you want from us? As I asked earlier, please be brief.」
「We want help getting our daughter back. If you agree to help, we’ll give you one of our maintenance tanks. You’d be interested in that, I’m sure. They’re nearly impossible to obtain nowadays.」
Bell didn’t answer, just smiled and gestured for him to continue.
「The one who bought our daughter was a young lady. She had two children with her. She didn’t use a proxy to place the bid, so it should be easy to identify her.」
「So… you want our help negotiating to get your daughter returned?」
「…Soone who could offer that kind of money won’t be moved by coin.」
「Then you plan to use force?」
Bell’s tone was calm, but that question confird it.
「We’ll do whatever it takes to get her back.」
At this point, Bell turned to and asked, ‘What do you think?’
She knew my answer already.
She knew.
……
Yeah, violence is off the table.
Beezel is sitting right here, for starters.
And besides…
The one who bought the daughter?
That would be Raiiren.
Hiichirou, pressured by Guraru, asked her to bid on it.
So going up against Raiiren, especially when she’s accompanied by Hiichirou and Guraru…
That’s dangerous.
Prada, stop laughing.
Apri and May have no idea what they’re getting into, they look totally lost.
-0-
●In order, the Foguma mbers (including those yet to appear)
Bell – Leader of the rcuries in Village Four. Priestess-like.
Asa – Currently accompanying Ursa. Butler-like.
Hih – Military officer of Village Five. Light-armored warrior.
Yoru – Gatekeeper of the hot spring village’s teleportation gate. Secretary-like. In charge of armants.
Ichi – Yet to appear.
Futa – Gatekeeper of Village Five’s teleportation gate. A fortune-teller-like mage.
Miyo – Resides in Shashaato City. A young maid who works as a secretary to Governor Ifrus.
Gou – Deputy village chief of Village Four. Middle-aged butler.
Loch – Civil official of Village Five.
Nana – Spy of Village Five. Appears like a village girl.
Hachi – Yet to appear.
Koko – Yet to appear.
Tou – Captain of the universal ship.
Irre – Leader of the filming team.
Tsue – Yet to appear.
Hari – Yet to appear.
-0-
●Tiline
Their daughter was taken. (Thirty days ago)
↓
Apri gave himself a body capable of movent in order to retrieve her daughter. (Ten days ago)
↓
Assault on the lord’s mansion. (Three days ago)
↓
They participated in the auction, lost the bid, and launched an attack. (Just recently)
↓
They request Bell’s cooperation. (Now)
-0-
Hiichirou: 「Grandma won the bid! Amazing!」
Guraru: 「As expected of Raiiren-sama!」
Raiiren: 「Fufu」 (very pleased)
-0-
Auction Staff: 「There’s an attack. Please evacuate at once.」
Raiiren: 「There is no need to panic over sothing so minor」 (firm)
Hiichirou: 「But it’s dangerous. Grandma might get hurt」
Raiiren: 「Very well. Let us evacuate. Make sure to hold hands so we don’t get separated」
Hiichirou: 「Okay」
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