Chapter 10
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Boroda Orka
Getting sticky.
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"Trash! You lucky bastard! You dumb son of a bitch! Spawn of a syphilitic donkey and an opium-addled monkey!" I had the night off, and I was "living it up."
All the girls were out fulfilling contracts, except for the president, who was sorting through paperwork at her desk. Even Genshiro had gone off to see a regular client. As for me… "There's nothing for you today. You can relax," Sitri-sama had told me with that gentle, lovely smile of hers.
And so the ancient cultivator decided to obey his charming Lady. In other words, I thought, Why not take a few hours to relax with some light meditation and a bit of manga?
No sooner said than done. I ran over to the nearest little shop selling all sorts of reading material… and stopped dead in front of a shelf stocked with Chinese xianxia.
My fingers practically itched to grab those books. At the beginning of this life, I'd had absolutely no desire to read xianxia (I'd only just returned from the cultivation worlds, after all), and afterward, I'd been too busy to get around to it. But now a sudden, irresistible wave of nostalgia came crashing over me!
"Good evening, customer-san." A girl about my age appeared out of nowhere.
And may the Nine Heavens come crashing down on my head if I'd seen her coming. One moment, I was standing there alone, looking over the stacks of books, and the next—bam—she was right beside me. I actually jumped and stared at her in surprise.
"Kiryu-san?" I recognized her from the class I shared with Ise. A sharp-tongued girl who took great pleasure in trolling the Perverted Trio.
"Oh!" Her eyes widened in recognition. "Chiba-san! Gloomy Taro! The Brooding Untouchable! The Silent Prince! The Eternal Virgin!"
"Say what?" My voice actually shot up into a falsetto at that last nickname. Kiryu Aika's snark rating instantly went up a few points in my book.
We stood in silence for about five seconds. I was a little… surprised, yes. She broke the awkward silence, adjusting her pink-framed glasses.
"You didn't hear a thing." Her lenses flashed as she put on a deadly serious face. "That's girl talk."
"Hmm… all right," I quickly agreed. I really didn't want to know anything about those nicknames. Better for my peace of mind. "Do you work here part-time?"
"Yep, yep, raking in all the money in the world!" She flashed me a broad grin. "Need any help?"
"I guess." I glanced back at the shelves of Chinese fiction. "Thought I'd give this genre a try. Anything you'd recommend?"
"Of course, of course! It's not every day the quietest guy in school talks to you!" She tossed her head, her chestnut braids swinging and her eyes sparkling with amusement. "You've come to the right place, customer-san!"
In the end, I did buy one of the titles Kiryu Aika recommended. And now I was quietly spewing a torrent of bile at it—the book, that is—trying not to disturb my Lady and barely keeping myself from coughing up blood. The protagonist stirred up such a storm of hatred in me that I desperately wanted to dive into that xianxia world and kill him in the cruelest, most twisted way imaginable. Maybe even more than once! And not just him, either!
"Taro-kun."
I met the student council president's eyes as she sorted through papers on one of the shelves in the filing cabinet.
"Sorry, Sona-san. I got carried away…"
"It's all right." Her soft, serene smile once again sent a small wave of affection through me. "What made you so angry?"
My Lady took a folder from the section for academy clubs and walked over to my armchair to peer over my shoulder at the Chinese comic.
"The protagonist." I exhaled slowly to keep myself from launching into another stream of abuse. "A vile creature if ever there was one. He's so revolting that I'm honestly rooting for the local villain. That man is just a powerful cultivator who earned everything through his own hard work. Yes, he's a despotic ruler! Yes, he rules through his own strength and that of his minions! But he's within his rights! Meanwhile, this lucky piece of trash… steals from his own people, strings along the girls who love him, and breaks his word! And he keeps getting lucky, lucky, lucky! Power just falls into his lap! Everywhere he goes, he meets a wise mentor, finds some ancient treasure, or rescues a girl who turns out to be a princess!!! Ugh!!! And that princess is a complete idiot! Her daddy is a bad man, apparently! She's spent her whole life wrapped in silk and velvet! Eats off golden plates! Gets anything she wants without the slightest trouble! But no! 'The people are suffering!' 'She can't bear to witness the plight of the common folk!' Bah!!!"
I flipped back about ten pages and showed her an illustration of the "impoverished village" where the protagonist had rescued that idiot, while Sona-san poured tea into our cups with a thoughtful smile.
"In the end, the very people that stupid hen had decided to help tried to rob, rape, and murder her." Irritated, I jabbed a finger at a little house with a broken window. "'Desperation drove them to a life of crime!' 'They can't even afford to replace the glass!' she cries, lamenting the hardships of that trash! Glass! In a village!!! Not everyone there even has ox bladder to cover their windows!!! The streets are clean, and they have lanterns! In a village!!! This Evil Villain must be a saint if the peasants in his villages live in such luxury! Spoiled scum!!! And what do thieves get—a flogging? Why aren't they sent to the mines? To a logging camp? They flog them in the town square and let them go! They even walk away on their own two feet, merely staggering! They don't even have to be carried off with their backs flayed to bloody ribbons!"
I huffed angrily for a couple of seconds, then let the anger go and calmed down. So much for relaxing. Still, sometimes you had to let your emotions out.
"It's only manga." My Lady chuckled softly and set a cup of freshly brewed tea in front of me. "You shouldn't take these things so seriously. A different world has different customs, after all, and this is a fictional story about people who don't exist. A reader needs to be able to make allowances, if only for the sake of their own nerves. I doubt the author has ever visited another world. Not everyone has the kind of experience you do, Taro-kun."
"Thank you, Sona-san." I bowed my head politely, accepted the cup of fragrant, steaming tea, and smiled as she sat down across from me. The folder lay on the small table, and a matching cup of tea stood before the president. "How long ago did you figure it out?"
"I've been almost certain for some time now. You're far too knowledgeable and accomplished to be an ordinary schoolboy. Even a genius couldn't be so skilled in combat and command so many… techniques. I've never heard of martial artists who use qigong showing such strength and skill, either. There are similar practitioners in China, but even the strongest nonhuman practitioners come nowhere near your level. House Sitri knows how to find information and ask the right questions."
The girl took a sip of tea, watching me through her glasses.
"You're a blacksmith who forged his own bo staff, and you sewed your pao so well that I couldn't even tell at first that it was handmade… You can embroider too, which is truly remarkable." Sona-san's quiet laugh was wonderfully melodic and held no trace of mockery. "Your qi-infused tea, pharmacology and alchemy, how quickly you adapted to your new power, your techniques and mastery in combat… You gave me far too many clues. No one your age could possibly be so accomplished in so many different fields—there simply hasn't been enough time. Then there's your peculiar knowledge of things long forgotten even in China, and some of your turns of phrase are positively archaic. What is your real name?"
"Chiba Taro." I smiled at the clever girl. "I am Chiba Taro, Japanese by birth and a student of this academy. A reincarnator who recovered his former memories at a young age."
"Memories of a life in another world?" Sitri-sama nodded, thoughtfully tapping the tabletop with the pad of her index finger.
"Lives in other worlds," I corrected her, watching her eyebrows rise in charming surprise.
"Oh, really…" She took another sip of tea, her beautiful eyes regarding me with renewed interest. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For trusting me." Her warm smile drew an answering smile from me.
"I wasn't exactly trying very hard to hide it. Questions were bound to arise sooner or later. Still, I'm surprised you waited so long to ask me about my peculiarities. And that you guessed my memories came from other worlds rather than this world's past…"
"I was enjoying the challenge of solving your mystery." The satisfied gleam in her violet eyes made it clear she was enjoying herself. "As I gathered more information about you, I discarded one theory after another until only a few remained… the ones that seemed closest to the truth. And strange as it may sound, another world seemed more plausible to me than this world's past. Demons live for a very long time, yet even my elder relatives had never heard of qigong masters as powerful as you."
"A flexible mind gives even the most fantastical possibilities serious consideration." I inclined my head to her respectfully.
"I was born a demon, after all. By mortal standards, I'm something of a mystical character from an old fairy tale myself. Besides, we know for a fact that other worlds exist, and you do bear a striking resemblance to certain fictional heroes from…" Her gaze dropped pointedly to the volume of xianxia, and I actually bristled.
"Oh, absolutely not!" I snorted, making my opinion of the story's protagonist abundantly clear. "I may not be what anyone would call a good man, but I'm certainly nothing like that lucky son of a—bad person! Even when fighting Evil, one ought to have some moral boundaries."
"What about the Evil Villain?" the girl asked with a gentle smile, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Well…" I considered it for a few seconds. "Yes, that's closer. There are certain similarities, but… I was harsher. And to screw up that badly, that often… Still, you're right. This isn't a serious account based on real events; it's entertainment."
"So you've been a ruler as well?"
"I have," I admitted with a slight grimace. "It wasn't the most pleasant experience. There was never enough time for anything; finding competent people was sheer agony; everyone around me was consumed by envy; people tried to poison me with impressive regularity; problems came from every direction; and attention from women was almost always driven by self-interest and a hunger for power. In short, I didn't enjoy being the ruler myself—far too much hassle. Another time, though, my wife ruled, and that wasn't bad at all. At first, I had to go out and beat the conspirators' faces in and tear the heads off anyone trying to worm his way into my wife's bed, but after a decade or so, everything settled down and I hardly ever had to take time away from my cultivation."
"You were married? And you handed control of an entire country… to your wife?" The student council president's surprise was unusually plain on her face.
"Of course I was." I rubbed my chin thoughtfully, sinking into old memories. "I'm human, after all. And she was beautiful, intelligent, superbly educated, and possessed impeccable manners. Her competence in governing a country was beyond question as well. She had a natural gift for ruling and a sincere desire to improve her nation. I must admit, she far surpassed me in that regard. I served her father, who warmly welcomed the region's strongest martial artist to his court. That was where I met his daughter. She was only five at the time—a delightful child, bright, inquisitive, and remarkably sensible, who grew into an admirable woman."
"Five? How old was she when you married?" I thought I detected judgment and mild disapproval in the president's question.
"Seventeen." I snorted, giving Sona-san a mildly reproachful look. "The customs in those worlds were certainly very different from those of this one, but little girls have never held any appeal for me. Though her father started trying to marry us off when she was twelve. He was a very intelligent and cunning man. He saw that ruling the country held no interest for me, and since he had only one child—a daughter…"
"He decided to marry the two of you so she would be the one to rule."
"Exactly. As for everyone who objected to the daughter of the Sun Emperor, Shaker of the Universe, Lord of Heaven and Earth marrying some cultivator born in a little village on the frontier… I persuaded them otherwise."
"Did they survive?" That mischievous glint returned to her eyes, accompanied by a faint smile.
"Not all of them."
"The aristocracy must have been displeased."
"No one cares about the displeasure of worthless trash." I snorted contemptuously, remembering how they had tried to throw obstacles in our path. "A few dozen public duels to the death, a couple of punitive raids, one suppressed uprising by the rabble, one ancestral castle burned to the ground—and the rest shut their mouths. Power lies in Power. Whoever has Power is stronger."
The girl gave an almost inaudible snort, took another sip of tea, and fell silent in thought for a few seconds.
"And you were stronger because you remembered your previous lives." The president nodded, as if confirming her own conclusion.
"You are remarkably perceptive, my Lady. Your intellect is every bit as extraordinary as your beauty." I smiled warmly at her. She blushed rather sweetly and looked away.
"It was obvious, Taro-kun. There's no need to flatter me."
"Forgive me, Sona-san. I couldn't resist. But you truly are very beautiful and possess a formidable intellect."
"If you mention impeccable manners and an excellent education, I'll begin to suspect that your compliments have ulterior motives."
"Everyone has those." I shrugged with a carefree smile. "In every world, people try to get something from one another. You wanted my strength—a Piece for your clan who would be useful to you and your House. I wanted help growing stronger. You gave me endless life, a place to train, the promise of an alchemy laboratory, and permission to hunt in your lands. Not to mention housing, money, food, and tuition. For such magnificent compensation, one must serve conscientiously, lest one incur the wrath of the Universe. You are a generous Lady, an extraordinarily generous one. And I know what I'm talking about: in my previous lives, most cultivators would have gladly sold their souls to a demon for all that."
"Well, technically…" The girl coughed into her fist, giving me an amused look. "Isn't that exactly what happened?"
I stared at her in confusion for a couple of seconds, then couldn't hold it in and… burst out laughing. Sona-san's eyebrows shot up in surprise. The fit didn't last long, and she didn't seem offended, but her expression made it clear that she wanted to know what I found so funny.
"Forgive me, Sona-san." Once I had calmed down, I inclined my head, but the president merely waved away my apology and silently asked for an explanation. "In the cultivation worlds, the word 'demon' carries a very different meaning. To draw an analogy, you… or rather, we are inhabitants of one of the higher worlds. We are stronger than mortals, but not very different from them. The demons of the cultivation worlds, however… are Evil. Pure, concentrated Evil. There is nothing human about them. Nothing inside them but endless, all-consuming hunger and malice."
I swallowed. Memories I always tried to drive away flooded my mind's eye. Clenching my jaw, I sank a little deeper into meditation and calmed my thoughts.
"I know. I was their slave. I was the scourge of mankind. A demonic cultivator possessed by an artifact of the Abyss—the Staff of Four Demons. A calamity, a raging inferno of malice that devoured villages, cities, and entire nations. My hunger became so powerful that nothing else remained within me… And no amount of bloodshed could ever satisfy it."
"But you… broke free?" The girl's gaze was intent. A touch of youthful curiosity, compassion, and a hint of apprehension. Her eyes were so beautiful… as deep as a bottomless violet ocean.
"No." A crooked smile crept across my face of its own accord. "I was killed. Thousands of heroes—the mightiest cultivators—came to slay the Avatar of the Four Demons, knowing that many of them would never return alive… Worse, that they would lose their souls and remain forever in the stomachs of those who owned me at the time. For several reincarnations afterward, I was… not myself. Cruelty, fury, rage, violence—the lives that followed overflowed with them. So as far as I'm concerned, my Lady, your kind aren't demons at all. These contracts, where we grant human wishes in exchange for their life force, are child's play. People readily trade away their lives for alcohol and drugs. What are ten years of life to them in exchange for a dream come true? You don't even buy souls, as described in biblical writings."
"Well…" Sona-san hesitated slightly. The story had clearly left an impression on her.
"And as for selling my soul… becoming a demon…" I smiled. "That doesn't frighten me in any case. You see, when they enslaved me back then, my soul should have been destroyed—devoured. And yet… here I am, sitting before you. Later, demons or demonic cultivators killed me on other occasions, and it made no difference. I was simply born again."
"Taro-kun." My Lady leaned across the table and covered my hand with hers. For a split second, I thought she meant to comfort me, but then I met her intensely serious gaze. "Never tell anyone about this. Ever. I heard nothing. This is True Immortality. Some would take an interest in that, at the very least. To reincarnate, even in another world, with your memories intact, when your soul should have been destroyed…"
"Very well, my Lady." I met her eyes with a warm smile and gently squeezed her slender fingers for a moment. "Thank you. Once again, I'm reminded what a wonderful girl you are."
The heiress of House Sitri, now slightly flustered, sat upright again. A faint blush colored her cheeks, and reproach entered her gaze.
"You're taking this far too lightly for…" The girl faltered.
"For someone as ancient as I am?" I chuckled, noticing her grow even more flustered. Adorable. Truly, she was beautiful. "Don't worry, Sitri-san…"
"Sona," she corrected me, knitting her brows in displeasure.
"Sona-san." I inclined my head in apology. "Don't worry too much. The necessary arrays were built into my body long ago. An old design of mine. I started working on it after I grew tired of all that fun on torture tables. Unfortunately, you are far from the first person to view my reincarnations in that light. One pulse of qi, and this cultivator will pass on to his next life, while my enemies will be left with nothing but a corpse. One in less than ideal condition. But I'm deeply grateful to you—for your concern and your candor."
"So you told me all of that deliberately. Now I feel… rather foolish." All traces of embarrassment had left her face, replaced by her usual composure and a faint, pleasant smile tinged with reproach. She was clearly holding back the question: Why?
"There's… a great deal of warmth and trust in this clan. I like that, and I hope my candor will lay the foundation for mutual understanding between my Lady and me. According to Tsubaki-san, you know all your servants' secrets, and I haven't seen you exploit that knowledge for your own benefit at anyone else's expense."
"Tsubasa-chan is returning." My Lady glanced toward the teleportation circle on the floor as it began to glow. "I hope you won't mind if we talk more about… the cultivation worlds? I would be interested to hear about them."
"Of course, Sona-san. I will gladly assume the role of Scheherazade-kun." I smiled at her, drawing a brief, melodic laugh from the girl. "Besides, I have more tales than a thousand and one nights could ever hold…"
Original Russian story
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All the girls were out fulfilling contracts, except for the president, who was sorting through paperwork at her desk. Even Genshiro had gone off to see a regular client. As for me… "There's nothing for you today. You can relax," Sitri-sama had told me with that gentle, lovely smile of hers.
And so the ancient cultivator decided to obey his charming Lady. In other words, I thought, Why not take a few hours to relax with some light meditation and a bit of manga?
No sooner said than done. I ran over to the nearest little shop selling all sorts of reading material… and stopped dead in front of a shelf stocked with Chinese xianxia.
My fingers practically itched to grab those books. At the beginning of this life, I'd had absolutely no desire to read xianxia (I'd only just returned from the cultivation worlds, after all), and afterward, I'd been too busy to get around to it. But now a sudden, irresistible wave of nostalgia came crashing over me!
"Good evening, customer-san." A girl about my age appeared out of nowhere.
And may the Nine Heavens come crashing down on my head if I'd seen her coming. One moment, I was standing there alone, looking over the stacks of books, and the next—bam—she was right beside me. I actually jumped and stared at her in surprise.
"Kiryu-san?" I recognized her from the class I shared with Ise. A sharp-tongued girl who took great pleasure in trolling the Perverted Trio.
"Oh!" Her eyes widened in recognition. "Chiba-san! Gloomy Taro! The Brooding Untouchable! The Silent Prince! The Eternal Virgin!"
"Say what?" My voice actually shot up into a falsetto at that last nickname. Kiryu Aika's snark rating instantly went up a few points in my book.
We stood in silence for about five seconds. I was a little… surprised, yes. She broke the awkward silence, adjusting her pink-framed glasses.
"You didn't hear a thing." Her lenses flashed as she put on a deadly serious face. "That's girl talk."
"Hmm… all right," I quickly agreed. I really didn't want to know anything about those nicknames. Better for my peace of mind. "Do you work here part-time?"
"Yep, yep, raking in all the money in the world!" She flashed me a broad grin. "Need any help?"
"I guess." I glanced back at the shelves of Chinese fiction. "Thought I'd give this genre a try. Anything you'd recommend?"
"Of course, of course! It's not every day the quietest guy in school talks to you!" She tossed her head, her chestnut braids swinging and her eyes sparkling with amusement. "You've come to the right place, customer-san!"
In the end, I did buy one of the titles Kiryu Aika recommended. And now I was quietly spewing a torrent of bile at it—the book, that is—trying not to disturb my Lady and barely keeping myself from coughing up blood. The protagonist stirred up such a storm of hatred in me that I desperately wanted to dive into that xianxia world and kill him in the cruelest, most twisted way imaginable. Maybe even more than once! And not just him, either!
"Taro-kun."
I met the student council president's eyes as she sorted through papers on one of the shelves in the filing cabinet.
"Sorry, Sona-san. I got carried away…"
"It's all right." Her soft, serene smile once again sent a small wave of affection through me. "What made you so angry?"
My Lady took a folder from the section for academy clubs and walked over to my armchair to peer over my shoulder at the Chinese comic.
"The protagonist." I exhaled slowly to keep myself from launching into another stream of abuse. "A vile creature if ever there was one. He's so revolting that I'm honestly rooting for the local villain. That man is just a powerful cultivator who earned everything through his own hard work. Yes, he's a despotic ruler! Yes, he rules through his own strength and that of his minions! But he's within his rights! Meanwhile, this lucky piece of trash… steals from his own people, strings along the girls who love him, and breaks his word! And he keeps getting lucky, lucky, lucky! Power just falls into his lap! Everywhere he goes, he meets a wise mentor, finds some ancient treasure, or rescues a girl who turns out to be a princess!!! Ugh!!! And that princess is a complete idiot! Her daddy is a bad man, apparently! She's spent her whole life wrapped in silk and velvet! Eats off golden plates! Gets anything she wants without the slightest trouble! But no! 'The people are suffering!' 'She can't bear to witness the plight of the common folk!' Bah!!!"
I flipped back about ten pages and showed her an illustration of the "impoverished village" where the protagonist had rescued that idiot, while Sona-san poured tea into our cups with a thoughtful smile.
"In the end, the very people that stupid hen had decided to help tried to rob, rape, and murder her." Irritated, I jabbed a finger at a little house with a broken window. "'Desperation drove them to a life of crime!' 'They can't even afford to replace the glass!' she cries, lamenting the hardships of that trash! Glass! In a village!!! Not everyone there even has ox bladder to cover their windows!!! The streets are clean, and they have lanterns! In a village!!! This Evil Villain must be a saint if the peasants in his villages live in such luxury! Spoiled scum!!! And what do thieves get—a flogging? Why aren't they sent to the mines? To a logging camp? They flog them in the town square and let them go! They even walk away on their own two feet, merely staggering! They don't even have to be carried off with their backs flayed to bloody ribbons!"
I huffed angrily for a couple of seconds, then let the anger go and calmed down. So much for relaxing. Still, sometimes you had to let your emotions out.
"It's only manga." My Lady chuckled softly and set a cup of freshly brewed tea in front of me. "You shouldn't take these things so seriously. A different world has different customs, after all, and this is a fictional story about people who don't exist. A reader needs to be able to make allowances, if only for the sake of their own nerves. I doubt the author has ever visited another world. Not everyone has the kind of experience you do, Taro-kun."
"Thank you, Sona-san." I bowed my head politely, accepted the cup of fragrant, steaming tea, and smiled as she sat down across from me. The folder lay on the small table, and a matching cup of tea stood before the president. "How long ago did you figure it out?"
"I've been almost certain for some time now. You're far too knowledgeable and accomplished to be an ordinary schoolboy. Even a genius couldn't be so skilled in combat and command so many… techniques. I've never heard of martial artists who use qigong showing such strength and skill, either. There are similar practitioners in China, but even the strongest nonhuman practitioners come nowhere near your level. House Sitri knows how to find information and ask the right questions."
The girl took a sip of tea, watching me through her glasses.
"You're a blacksmith who forged his own bo staff, and you sewed your pao so well that I couldn't even tell at first that it was handmade… You can embroider too, which is truly remarkable." Sona-san's quiet laugh was wonderfully melodic and held no trace of mockery. "Your qi-infused tea, pharmacology and alchemy, how quickly you adapted to your new power, your techniques and mastery in combat… You gave me far too many clues. No one your age could possibly be so accomplished in so many different fields—there simply hasn't been enough time. Then there's your peculiar knowledge of things long forgotten even in China, and some of your turns of phrase are positively archaic. What is your real name?"
"Chiba Taro." I smiled at the clever girl. "I am Chiba Taro, Japanese by birth and a student of this academy. A reincarnator who recovered his former memories at a young age."
"Memories of a life in another world?" Sitri-sama nodded, thoughtfully tapping the tabletop with the pad of her index finger.
"Lives in other worlds," I corrected her, watching her eyebrows rise in charming surprise.
"Oh, really…" She took another sip of tea, her beautiful eyes regarding me with renewed interest. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For trusting me." Her warm smile drew an answering smile from me.
"I wasn't exactly trying very hard to hide it. Questions were bound to arise sooner or later. Still, I'm surprised you waited so long to ask me about my peculiarities. And that you guessed my memories came from other worlds rather than this world's past…"
"I was enjoying the challenge of solving your mystery." The satisfied gleam in her violet eyes made it clear she was enjoying herself. "As I gathered more information about you, I discarded one theory after another until only a few remained… the ones that seemed closest to the truth. And strange as it may sound, another world seemed more plausible to me than this world's past. Demons live for a very long time, yet even my elder relatives had never heard of qigong masters as powerful as you."
"A flexible mind gives even the most fantastical possibilities serious consideration." I inclined my head to her respectfully.
"I was born a demon, after all. By mortal standards, I'm something of a mystical character from an old fairy tale myself. Besides, we know for a fact that other worlds exist, and you do bear a striking resemblance to certain fictional heroes from…" Her gaze dropped pointedly to the volume of xianxia, and I actually bristled.
"Oh, absolutely not!" I snorted, making my opinion of the story's protagonist abundantly clear. "I may not be what anyone would call a good man, but I'm certainly nothing like that lucky son of a—bad person! Even when fighting Evil, one ought to have some moral boundaries."
"What about the Evil Villain?" the girl asked with a gentle smile, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Well…" I considered it for a few seconds. "Yes, that's closer. There are certain similarities, but… I was harsher. And to screw up that badly, that often… Still, you're right. This isn't a serious account based on real events; it's entertainment."
"So you've been a ruler as well?"
"I have," I admitted with a slight grimace. "It wasn't the most pleasant experience. There was never enough time for anything; finding competent people was sheer agony; everyone around me was consumed by envy; people tried to poison me with impressive regularity; problems came from every direction; and attention from women was almost always driven by self-interest and a hunger for power. In short, I didn't enjoy being the ruler myself—far too much hassle. Another time, though, my wife ruled, and that wasn't bad at all. At first, I had to go out and beat the conspirators' faces in and tear the heads off anyone trying to worm his way into my wife's bed, but after a decade or so, everything settled down and I hardly ever had to take time away from my cultivation."
"You were married? And you handed control of an entire country… to your wife?" The student council president's surprise was unusually plain on her face.
"Of course I was." I rubbed my chin thoughtfully, sinking into old memories. "I'm human, after all. And she was beautiful, intelligent, superbly educated, and possessed impeccable manners. Her competence in governing a country was beyond question as well. She had a natural gift for ruling and a sincere desire to improve her nation. I must admit, she far surpassed me in that regard. I served her father, who warmly welcomed the region's strongest martial artist to his court. That was where I met his daughter. She was only five at the time—a delightful child, bright, inquisitive, and remarkably sensible, who grew into an admirable woman."
"Five? How old was she when you married?" I thought I detected judgment and mild disapproval in the president's question.
"Seventeen." I snorted, giving Sona-san a mildly reproachful look. "The customs in those worlds were certainly very different from those of this one, but little girls have never held any appeal for me. Though her father started trying to marry us off when she was twelve. He was a very intelligent and cunning man. He saw that ruling the country held no interest for me, and since he had only one child—a daughter…"
"He decided to marry the two of you so she would be the one to rule."
"Exactly. As for everyone who objected to the daughter of the Sun Emperor, Shaker of the Universe, Lord of Heaven and Earth marrying some cultivator born in a little village on the frontier… I persuaded them otherwise."
"Did they survive?" That mischievous glint returned to her eyes, accompanied by a faint smile.
"Not all of them."
"The aristocracy must have been displeased."
"No one cares about the displeasure of worthless trash." I snorted contemptuously, remembering how they had tried to throw obstacles in our path. "A few dozen public duels to the death, a couple of punitive raids, one suppressed uprising by the rabble, one ancestral castle burned to the ground—and the rest shut their mouths. Power lies in Power. Whoever has Power is stronger."
The girl gave an almost inaudible snort, took another sip of tea, and fell silent in thought for a few seconds.
"And you were stronger because you remembered your previous lives." The president nodded, as if confirming her own conclusion.
"You are remarkably perceptive, my Lady. Your intellect is every bit as extraordinary as your beauty." I smiled warmly at her. She blushed rather sweetly and looked away.
"It was obvious, Taro-kun. There's no need to flatter me."
"Forgive me, Sona-san. I couldn't resist. But you truly are very beautiful and possess a formidable intellect."
"If you mention impeccable manners and an excellent education, I'll begin to suspect that your compliments have ulterior motives."
"Everyone has those." I shrugged with a carefree smile. "In every world, people try to get something from one another. You wanted my strength—a Piece for your clan who would be useful to you and your House. I wanted help growing stronger. You gave me endless life, a place to train, the promise of an alchemy laboratory, and permission to hunt in your lands. Not to mention housing, money, food, and tuition. For such magnificent compensation, one must serve conscientiously, lest one incur the wrath of the Universe. You are a generous Lady, an extraordinarily generous one. And I know what I'm talking about: in my previous lives, most cultivators would have gladly sold their souls to a demon for all that."
"Well, technically…" The girl coughed into her fist, giving me an amused look. "Isn't that exactly what happened?"
I stared at her in confusion for a couple of seconds, then couldn't hold it in and… burst out laughing. Sona-san's eyebrows shot up in surprise. The fit didn't last long, and she didn't seem offended, but her expression made it clear that she wanted to know what I found so funny.
"Forgive me, Sona-san." Once I had calmed down, I inclined my head, but the president merely waved away my apology and silently asked for an explanation. "In the cultivation worlds, the word 'demon' carries a very different meaning. To draw an analogy, you… or rather, we are inhabitants of one of the higher worlds. We are stronger than mortals, but not very different from them. The demons of the cultivation worlds, however… are Evil. Pure, concentrated Evil. There is nothing human about them. Nothing inside them but endless, all-consuming hunger and malice."
I swallowed. Memories I always tried to drive away flooded my mind's eye. Clenching my jaw, I sank a little deeper into meditation and calmed my thoughts.
"I know. I was their slave. I was the scourge of mankind. A demonic cultivator possessed by an artifact of the Abyss—the Staff of Four Demons. A calamity, a raging inferno of malice that devoured villages, cities, and entire nations. My hunger became so powerful that nothing else remained within me… And no amount of bloodshed could ever satisfy it."
"But you… broke free?" The girl's gaze was intent. A touch of youthful curiosity, compassion, and a hint of apprehension. Her eyes were so beautiful… as deep as a bottomless violet ocean.
"No." A crooked smile crept across my face of its own accord. "I was killed. Thousands of heroes—the mightiest cultivators—came to slay the Avatar of the Four Demons, knowing that many of them would never return alive… Worse, that they would lose their souls and remain forever in the stomachs of those who owned me at the time. For several reincarnations afterward, I was… not myself. Cruelty, fury, rage, violence—the lives that followed overflowed with them. So as far as I'm concerned, my Lady, your kind aren't demons at all. These contracts, where we grant human wishes in exchange for their life force, are child's play. People readily trade away their lives for alcohol and drugs. What are ten years of life to them in exchange for a dream come true? You don't even buy souls, as described in biblical writings."
"Well…" Sona-san hesitated slightly. The story had clearly left an impression on her.
"And as for selling my soul… becoming a demon…" I smiled. "That doesn't frighten me in any case. You see, when they enslaved me back then, my soul should have been destroyed—devoured. And yet… here I am, sitting before you. Later, demons or demonic cultivators killed me on other occasions, and it made no difference. I was simply born again."
"Taro-kun." My Lady leaned across the table and covered my hand with hers. For a split second, I thought she meant to comfort me, but then I met her intensely serious gaze. "Never tell anyone about this. Ever. I heard nothing. This is True Immortality. Some would take an interest in that, at the very least. To reincarnate, even in another world, with your memories intact, when your soul should have been destroyed…"
"Very well, my Lady." I met her eyes with a warm smile and gently squeezed her slender fingers for a moment. "Thank you. Once again, I'm reminded what a wonderful girl you are."
The heiress of House Sitri, now slightly flustered, sat upright again. A faint blush colored her cheeks, and reproach entered her gaze.
"You're taking this far too lightly for…" The girl faltered.
"For someone as ancient as I am?" I chuckled, noticing her grow even more flustered. Adorable. Truly, she was beautiful. "Don't worry, Sitri-san…"
"Sona," she corrected me, knitting her brows in displeasure.
"Sona-san." I inclined my head in apology. "Don't worry too much. The necessary arrays were built into my body long ago. An old design of mine. I started working on it after I grew tired of all that fun on torture tables. Unfortunately, you are far from the first person to view my reincarnations in that light. One pulse of qi, and this cultivator will pass on to his next life, while my enemies will be left with nothing but a corpse. One in less than ideal condition. But I'm deeply grateful to you—for your concern and your candor."
"So you told me all of that deliberately. Now I feel… rather foolish." All traces of embarrassment had left her face, replaced by her usual composure and a faint, pleasant smile tinged with reproach. She was clearly holding back the question: Why?
"There's… a great deal of warmth and trust in this clan. I like that, and I hope my candor will lay the foundation for mutual understanding between my Lady and me. According to Tsubaki-san, you know all your servants' secrets, and I haven't seen you exploit that knowledge for your own benefit at anyone else's expense."
"Tsubasa-chan is returning." My Lady glanced toward the teleportation circle on the floor as it began to glow. "I hope you won't mind if we talk more about… the cultivation worlds? I would be interested to hear about them."
"Of course, Sona-san. I will gladly assume the role of Scheherazade-kun." I smiled at her, drawing a brief, melodic laugh from the girl. "Besides, I have more tales than a thousand and one nights could ever hold…"
Original Russian story
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