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Chapter 217: Popular Guy

The pitch black iron bar had intricate geometric patterns and spells carved into it. The top half had a burnt orange hue with its pointed tips alight in flames.

The flames would probably flicker and sway with the wind when you run while holding it, but they wouldn’t die out.

I tried stabbing the 『King’s Bough』 directly with the flaming iron bar with force. A white something, reminiscent of shimmering heat haze, rose up from the 『King’s Bough』, eventually taking the form of a girl with white silver locks reaching to her ankles .

The white girl stared at me with reproach in her gaze.

Khan, you lolicon!! 「Just let me meet the woman I love one last time 」, he said!!

「Gaahhh agghhhhh aahhhh ggghhhhaaa…!!! 」
Yowls resounded from behind me, and when I turned around, I saw the remaining priests walking toward me. They were probably running but it didn’t seem so to me; they were so sluggish they looked like zombies.

Wrinkled black skin clung to their skinny outstretched arms. Before their claws could reach me, Khan slashed the group of Priest Robes and kicked the fallen bodies away.

Bayliss wrapped the cut priests that were writhing like worms on the floor in sand, which were then sucked into the very narrow crevices in between the stone slabs of the floor.

「Argh!! 」
Khan suddenly collapsed while clutching his chest.

A shimmer of hot air wafted out of Khan, then it slowly floated towards the 『King’s Bough』. The black cloud turned into a woman midair. Her beautiful pallid face rippled and fangs peeked from her lips. She continued to float upward, her raven hair and the hem of her robes dissolving into the haze that was still partly within Khan.

「Ahh, I see. So that’s one, two misunderstandings, huh… Come, 『Zanzenken』! 」

「…! 」

Strands that were 20cm long fell as I cut the white girl’s hair. She still had some left, but even so, the cut part would probably weaken her.

The white girl stared at me dumbfounded. The black woman that had been drifting slowly suddenly quickly glided, then she passed through the white girl.
The white girl stared at me again with reproach.

Yes yes, I understand, you know.

The black woman tried to contain the fire by embracing 『King’s Bough』, but her robes, the tips of her fingers and her hair turned ashen. Something seemed to fall off from her as she gradually disappeared into the sky like powdered sugar melting.

I slashed at the black Bough in the same way, and in that instant, the creeping flames that had barely reached the bough suddenly flared up, engulfing the entire stick with blazing fire.

「GaahhhhhhhHHHHHHH!!!! 」
Khan bellowed in agony.

The steadily crumbling black woman contorted in anguish as I grabbed her head and made her turn away from the branch to look at me.

「Surrender. 」

The『King’s Bough』’s contract partner encompasses all those who dwell in the land of its king that had received blessings from it. This place didn’t have any citizens any more, and the only remaining king had turned into its spirit vessel. In short, the ‘blackened 『King’s Bough』’ didn’t have any ‘contract partner’.

The raven haired woman glaring at me with hatred crumbled, then her appearance and form changed into the exact copy of the white girl.

She’s way smaller than Horse, yet she’s steadily absorbing mana. It was quite hard keeping up. She gritted her teeth as she stared daggers at me.

「I will request this once again, help that man!! 」

The black girl’s strength left her body the moment I said those words.

「Your name? 」
「Shahira. 」

The girl turned meek, so I let go of her and picked the two pieces of the Bough that I cut earlier. White Bough on one hand, Black Bough on the other. The white girl gazed at me with wonder.

I acted cool and unruffled, but this is so hard!!!

「You are… 」
I glanced at Bayliss, who seemed unable to continue speaking, then turned to Khan.
Khan was still on the floor. I rolled him over so he’s facing up then put each half of the Bough into his hands. The two girls approached him and touched the Bough.

The white girl must be the true『King’s Bough』, and her former appearance must be that of the black woman. That means I just misunderstood Khan for a lolicon for an instant, huh.

The white girl was the 『King’s Bough』 with her consciousness still remaining. Her influence would become stronger if she could return to her original body, which was the Bough. Maybe that’s the reason why she kept on rejecting the blackened part of herself that had turned mad. I don’t have any idea why she split into two, though.

And no matter which part it was — be the sane one or the crazy one, both of them loved Khan.

Khan slumped like a marionette that its ropes cut, as if tension in his muscles had loosened, He looked like he shrunk. This guy had lived many moons of eternity being possessed by a black spirit. The said spirit lost the majority of its power and had been ripped off by me.

Bayliss moved so that Khan was lying with his head, which she lovingly cradled, on her lap.

「Shahira. 」
The two girls nodded when I called the name.

Eh? Two?

Before I could even think about that question, roots sprouted out of the two pieces of wood in Khan’s hands and they creeped onto his palms. The Boughs branched out into fine needle-thin branches that wrapped themselves on Khan’s arm. Tiny buds sprouted out of their tips.

White Bough on the right hand, Black Bough on the left.

Wait, wait a sec please, the mana being sucked out of me is wayyy more than I anticipated!!

The two girls beamed at me in gratitude. Please stop that strange trust you have in me. Argh, this is so hard, I can’t, argghhh!!

「Ahh… 」
Bayliss uttered when Khan stirred, his body returning to its former state.

He was still in Bayliss arms when the two girls approached from both left and right sides. They touched his chest before disappearing, and I realized that the Boughs’ that Khan should’ve been holding also vanished as well.

「Tell Khan that he’s such a Lolicon when he wakes up, will you. 」
I said to Bayliss once I saw Khan’s chest moving up and down with his breathing like normal, then I 【Teleport】back home.

***

Before I can even set foot inside the house, I already collapse on the terrace which is my 【Teleport】destination. Ouch, I bump my chin! Ah, but I can’t move anymore.

I’m sweating buckets now. I already experienced collapsing after running out of mana before, but this is the first time it’s this severe. Am I completely zeroed out?

I can definitely recover from this plus there’s also【Heal】so I don’t feel anxious, but it was really hard on me. Everything around me fades into black.

Something cold touches my face.

「Riche? Sorry, I’m fine. 」
But I’m gonna sleep here for today.

Riche sniffs and licks my face. It’s a bit ticklish and comfortable……………….