Vampire Princess Arc 3 Episode 16 Forgetting Others, Benefiting Self

The raws for this chapter can be found here: http://ncode.syosetu.com/n1136bt/59/

This version of the chapter has been updated! (9 April 2017) Thanks again to madospicy who proofed the TL draft!

Initial draft and translation by nattou. (due to aggregate-type sites ripping off work from my site I decided to add in this line since they usually copy and paste everything~)

Chapter 16 Forgetting others, benefiting oneself.

Author’s Note: Recently, since she/he’s been shadowed by others, it can be said it is Hiyuki’s turn to get used to losing hahaha.

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In the tent of the Snakeman tribe, in an area he ordered that nobody is allowed to enter since it’s a distraction, two guys faced each other.

Covered in scales from the top of the crown to the feet, dressed in a leather armor that’s easy to move in, the two sides of his waist were with 2 Mikazuki scimitars, the man, Cyril, the mercenary, who had finished the second match of the preliminary round earlier.

And thus, to face each other – or more precisely, both hands and feet attached to shackles, turning over on the ground – is similarly a Snakeman. No, even though you can’t assume it’s someone from a different tribe, if seen by snakemen they will doubt their eyes. The reason being, the one who is turned over is unmistakably Cyril, the same person as well.

With entirely similar appearances, these two guys, one side stood and looked down at the other with scorn, the other looked up from the ground with hatred, although it is impossible to create such a composition, whether fortunate or unfortunate, there were nobody else but these two parties in this place.

“An idiot, aren’t you. If you were to cooperate with me from the start, you could’ve become the Beast King without going through this.” From the mouth of the Cyril who stood, the youth-like voice came out.

“Stop screwing around! Winning through a substitute?! You bastard, are you insulting a warrior’s pride!!”

The one who turned over spoke with a voice with an outer appearance that suited someone around 30 years old, striking with the tone of someone who sounds like they’d been vomiting blood.

“Haa, I can’t understand this. To not need to dirty one’s hand and obtain the outcome at a safe place. If it’s me, I’d skip with delight.”

“Because bastards like you don’t understand a warrior’s heart. Rather than throwing away my pride, I rather choose to die.”

At that lamentation, the youth Cyril laughed scornfully.

“Good grief, this is why primitive people. …Well, it’s up to you if you want to die, but whether you like it or not, before the tournament ends you’ll have to stick around. -Whoops, [Stun Blow].”

“Guu.”

Sensing movement that the poisonous fangs were about to lunge at him, in an instant, he swiftly unleashed the skill and mowed down that mental awareness.

Quickly forcing a gag into the mouth, as he clicked his tongue, Cyril’s appearance, abruptly like a painting blurred by water, within the blink of an eye is shorter by a head with a slender form. He had changed into a youth with light blue hair from the Wolfman tribe.

Realizing his transformation ended, he sighed.

“Did the effect end? Even if I record his appearance, the memory is only useable within 24 hours, and the transformation only lasts for 30 minutes. If there isn’t such a limit to the [Mimicry Card], then I would have killed this snake immediately.”

While grumbling continuously, from nowhere, he took out a card made of metal with a surface similar to a polished mirror. He reflected the real Cyril’s figure (who was lying down on it) for not more than 30 seconds, and it makes a chime sound it’s done. As if it was troublesome, the youth puts it away again.

Now, for the time being, before winning tomorrow’s prelim match, even though I’ve said nobody can come in here, in the unlikely event it does occur, it will be bad so, this idiot, the real Cyril, could be closed in the box over there.

Thinking of that, the youth’s line of sight as he turned around, meets a small doll sitting on a pile of clutter and he bumped the front, he was startled, his face trembling.

Appearing to be modeled after a life-sized young girl, it was a doll around 2.5 heads tall, with straight black hair till the waist, brilliant red pupils, wearing a black dress with red roses arranged on it, no matter how you look at it, it’s the sovereign of Imperial Crimson, Hiyuki in SD* form.

‘How could it be here!?’

And, in front of the dumbfounded youth, the strangest thing happened, the doll moved smoothly like a human, folding one’s arms, and from the mouth came a voice like the sound of silver bells.

“…I see you’ve gotten Mimicry card. It’s true that in Eternal Horizon Online’s early days it was given out as freebies for premium Gacha isn’t it? At the time I haven’t started playing, so there was no chance for me to obtain one directly so I couldn’t recall it.”

“You – Are you Hiyuki? Why are you in that form?”

Like the howl of a wild beast, he asked, by chance, she shrugged over her overcoat (since the body proportions are small, each and every gesture had to be communicated in a big way. Again, not realizing those gestures were cute) as Hiyuki doll answered.

My engineers* made this while playing around, it’s called sorcery doll No.3 “Chibi Chibi Hiyuki-chan”. It’s quite convenient, in this way it can even be used for collecting intelligence.”

“By the way, this [Chibi Chibi Hiyuki-chan] seems to have a section of wildly enthusiastic fans, during the production many of them were lost due to being stolen, and at the same time, Tengai, Maroudo and many others were suddenly averse to guests entering their room, as if they had some article of rare beauty (the case was immediately put to rights, as Mikoto and elite guards performed spot check (premises search) arrangements).”

“Damn, as always, you bastard* keep messing around.”

In regards to the insufferable spitting of the youth, Chibi Chibi Hiyuki tilted her head.

“Maa, it’s true that originally I’m a young guy*. By the way, my apologies but you said [as usual], in the first place, who are you? It feels like I’ve seen you before?”

Hearing these words, the youth’s expression turned red due to anger and embarrassment.

“You’ve forgotten me?! Rather than you, the one who received court rank earlier, this me!!”

“Court ranker huh. Err, removing other 4 people in my guild, then…”

Even though she’s counting with her fingers, with an atmosphere as if she couldn’t remember it, looking at the youth’s face with her head tilted.

“-At the very least tell me which guild you belong to?”

“Quit messing around!! You’ve met with Aniki and me face to face before, right! Are you making light of me?!”

Along with an angry roar, he drew his katana in an instant – with the Katana skill [Iai], the youth turned Chibi Chibi Hiyuki-chan into pieces.

Nevertheless, while the anger had yet to settle, the body was kicked. In that instance, from the pocket, a map spills over and fall.

Picking it up while puzzled, a mark [x] was written on it, a short distance away from the preliminary tournament venue.

“They’ll be waiting at this place? Don’t joke with me…”

◆◇◆◇

After a short wait, at that place – previously, at the desolate plains where Revan fought, the youth who is the Player that transformed into Cyril appeared.

“You’re here, aren’t you, nekama* bastard!”

“I’m not a nekama. I’m usually on Eternal Horizon Online while conscious my own gender (T/N: I think he’s saying he acts according to this) and I don’t do any particular princess play?”

Even so, why did men and woman call me Hiyuki-chan or hime-sama regardless of that? Even during the offline meetups. Incomprehensible.

“Using a female character even when you’re a guy, of course everyone would think you were a nekama!”

Uwa, that’s an irrational line of argument. As far as I know most of the guys had female character accounts, even if the girls’ utilization rate of male characters are fairly high, if you were to say so then isn’t everyone nekama and nenabe*?

“Well, whatever you say,” Since arguing with an idiot is useless, I brought up the real issue at hand. “Could you tell me your goal and background? Erm…I couldn’t recall your name, Animaru-san’s Follower-san” (QC/Madosenpai: Kingyo no Fun/Goldfish’s Poop also means follower)

No, this isn’t a provocation, frankly even now I was unable to remember the name. The way he said [Aniki],  I could recall this one (guy) of Animaru-san was the Guild’s submaster, have an impression of someone who is always attached behind Animaru-san, but no recollection of ever having a conversation directly with him.

“It’s Otomaru! Unlike you who was given peerage due to pity, I used real effort like my Aniki to achieve my court ranking. In short, a different case, unlike you!”

Together with a shout, the youth brandishes the Mikazuki scimitar widely with his right hand, aiming at the ground directly beneath him, and swung it down.

Katana skill [Lightning Sword] – Deeply plunging the scimitar body onto the ground, crackle of thunders roared, from there blue whitish lightning surged up in every direction.

The lightning attack heading towards me, without the need to avoid, in an instant I was guarded with a large shield (pavise*) by Kokuyou who had appeared from the shadows. At the same time, concealed in the shadows of the rock here and there, is the Seraph, Mikoto and under her direct supervision, the elite bodyguards troop members Principality, 4 of them with their wings aflutter, descended and stood behind me.

And then, slowly, from the skies, with tentacles growing from various places on his body, with a large eye on the heart, a shiny multi-faceted crystal body, is the Commander of the 13 Demon Generals, Ikaruga of Yog-Sothoth, seemingly hold on there.

“I’ve kept you waiting, princess!” A huge Orc King, Gaijin. (T/N: Dare desuka, was there such a kyara?! /Geho.)(Madosenpai: he appeared in the interlude)

“Ohh, hime-sama! Once again, to stand on the same battlefield as you!!” Said the first demonic subordinate(pet), Iki(壱岐) the Sword Dog.

“This is indeed an honor, hime.” Said the second pet, Souji the Greenman.

I don’t remember calling for them, but somehow they are in high spirits as they jumped down from several dozen meters away.

“Hah, bringing throngs of your pets, as I thought you nekama bastard is scared of fighting on your own.”

“But that’s you isn’t it? That lighting attack reminded me. Thunder type cursed sword duel-wield swordsman [不破雷童*(Unbreakable Thunder Child)]. The one who entered top ranking thanks to Animaru-san’s power leveling, he received a nickname [The Follower] as official recognition?”

“Don’t mess around, you nekama bastard! My court rank is achieved through real strength!”

Otomaru was enraged- even though when I heard the name, it gave nothing but a feeling of “is that it?” Because of this circumstance, it caused a strange feeling, so I thought hard about it.

The reason why he’s angry, in my mind, I think there’s a part of him that knows what he feels deep inside, and since it was pointed out, he conducted myself to deny that feeling. But is it normal to be so frank about his emotions to such an extent?

Nah, if it happened immediately after he received the title I’d still understand why.

Even so, he received the court ranking earlier, that means I think that this much of cursing and swearing is an everyday occurrence for him, but is it normal for his anger to that long?

If someone said a wrong thing then I will deny it. Like earlier when I was called nekama. However, together with the passing of time, these feelings of anger, I think it would have worn off.

I felt some sort of unease. It was like Animaru-san.

As if, “If this was said, this sort of reply is natural”, it feels like that sort of script.

“Well, I’ll get the details by questioning you after you’re caught. If you’re obedient then you won’t go through a painful experience, do you still intend to resist pointlessly?”

With one step ahead, Kokuyou came out, Mikoto below, the bodyguards arranging themselves to surround and protect me. Behind me the rest have returned to their place in battle, posing as if they’re ready to leap at the opponent.

Either way, the single player is surrounded by those with the strength of boss-level monsters.

Normally you’d consider this a desperate situation, but Otomaru faced downward, and his shoulders started shaking… from laughing really hard.

“So naive. With this, you intend to put me here snugly in a trap. When I had struck with the Lightning Sword earlier, it seems like was completely not noticed!”

At that moment, the ground started to shake as if there’s an earthquake.

“This is, underneath the ground…?”

“Princess, from the northeast. Please be careful.”

The same time as Ikaruga’s word of caution, in the distant desert, as if exploding, possibly hundreds of sand clouds blew upwards like the explosion of volcanoes, and from there, something gigantic came out.

“That is…Animaru-san’s Guild Home – Moving Fortress [Mukade]?”

Even though it is said to be a small size, a section is longer than a hundred meters, made of blocks which are furnished with legs that could make all sorts of movements, the overall length is several kilometers, this characteristic, as one would expect it, is so stunning that one could not say a word.

Even though I’ve always thought it was a bit too gigantic, but when it’s materialized you can see that it really is absurdly big.

“It’s as you said. Right now it is under my control. And now-”

Taking something out of the inventory, there was a violet crystal in Otomaru’s hands.

“With this, it shall be decided! – Duel Space ・Open*!”

With this keyword, the crystal in his hands was smashed up, and at the same time, you could feel the atmosphere in the surrounding change.

“This is?”

“Hahahaha, for cowards who don’t duel others, you wouldn’t know about, this isn’t that so? This is another dimension. Before the outcome of the duel is decided nobody can interfere with this fight. That means no reinforcements will be able to come here! However for me-”

With a snap of his fingers, the Moving Fortress [Mukade]’s side opened, and from there, groups of pet spilled out/overflowed, some of them were even Boss-level ones.

“There are around a thousand pets. What will you do? If you don’t resist I may even hold back on killing you.”

It seems he’s copying my words from earlier, his words mixed with scorn.

“Fn, whichever way it’s fine, on your side it seems like you haven’t given them names.”

“Ah…?” Otomaru’s expression seems to say ‘what kind of idiocy are you talking about’. “Of course I didn’t, even if I were to give them names it’s not like their ability is going to improve.”

Hearing this statement that shows that he doesn’t view his pets anything else but his tools, me and my other comrades faces turned to face each other with a tired (yare yare*) expression, we’d lift two of our palms, then simultaneously shrug our shoulders.

This is how we could come to a mutual understanding.

“Then, for now, that boku-chan*(referring to Otomaru) will be my opponent.”

“Then we will go and subjugate those servants.” Mikoto bowed her head and led the rest of the pets towards Mukade.

One Moving Fortress and a thousand monsters versus the 9 of them. Normally when you consider it seems like there’s an impossible difference in war potential/strength, but it seems like they don’t have enthusiasm. Or should I say, before a battle, there’s a spring in their steps.

“…What are you thinking of, your pets, are they idiots?”

“Well, although there’s no mistake in saying they’re idiots…”

Despite a bitter smile, I brought out my serious equipment starting from my beloved sword, The Sinners of Rose (Gilles de Rais*).

“Recently, I am happy with those idiot bunch…”

With that said, I pointed The Sinners of Rose (Gilles de Rais*) towards Otomaru.

“Now, shall we begin?”

—- ORIGINAL AUTHOR’S NOTE—

Speaking of which, this time Mikoto’s subordinate elite troop’s Principalities (1vs 2 winged angel top ranking)’s 4 names of all the girls are Tsubaki, Enoki, Hisaki and Hiiragi, these four sisters.

Also, the “Forgetting others, benefiting self”, title used to be “forgetting self, benefiting others”, which means “to forget about oneself, and work tirelessly for others”, the opposite of what it means now. I guess it was in consideration of someone’s suggestion*.

Nattou’s Picky Footnote and Random Tidbits from This Chapter

*技師 – Engineers but could be translated as technicians as well.

*魔導人形№3『ちびちび緋雪ちゃん』Chibi Chibi Hiyuki-chan~

*Nekama is short for net okama, which is a person who portrays oneself as their opposite gender online.

*Nenabe is the opposite for nekama. Girls who use female characters to play the netgame/online game.

““Damn, as always, you bastard* keep messing around.” The word fake Cyril use here is ‘yarou’, which is a rude way to call a young man, so it can be interpreted as calling someone a bastard, since the tone is rude.

*Pavise is some sort of large shield of European origin. It can protect the entire body with the large size and convex design. See wikipedia for more information.

*Fuwaraidou（ふわらいどう） can also mean following suit without reflection. At least that’s what my translation widget thing says.

*It’s Duel Space・Open. Literally. In Japanese. (In katakana: デュエルスペース・オープン)

*Gilles de Rais is the name of a noble who fought alongside Joan of Arc against the English around year 1427 to 1435. In later years he was brought to light as a serial killer of children (it seems like he’s a sexual deviant?), and also a heavy spender who can’t seem to pay back his creditors. Either way, this guy is not someone with our sort of morals and would’ve been brought to a swift and short end if he lived in this era.

*yare yare could be translated as good grief, but the expression doesn’t seem right~ so I left it as yare yare~

*Author’s notes: I guess it was in consideration of someone’s suggestion.  誰を指してるかはお察しですね。Dare wo sashiteru ka wa o sashi desune.