As A Result of Trying To Live An Erotic Slow-Life, I Have Become The Underground Ruler of This Upside-Down Otherworld - Chapter 39: To a New Horizon

Chapter 38: To a New Horizon

The Rabbit Warren.

The work of the Rabbits is incredibly diverse.

From shadowy tasks like infiltration and assassination to commerce and adventuring, they handle just about anything with decent skill.

As a result, they maintain numerous bases in various cities, used for multiple purposes such as rest stops or safe houses.

One such place is a safe house in the capital.

“…”

A Rat leader stands there, casting a colorless gaze into the empty air.

She understands perfectly well what she’s done.

She kidnapped Arius, the one considered the successor to the Eld Family, and handed him over to a rival organization.

Betrayal, treachery.

She ignored Towa’s trust and trampled on her joy.

“I know.”

The old her would have laughed off such an act as unthinkable.

That’s how terrified she was. Yes, she feared Arius.

She saw her comrades changed by him, saw the boss she once revered transformed by him.

If that’s the case, she herself would surely be changed too. That was a fear greater than anything else.

Shuri had mourned her past but never felt dissatisfaction with her present.

Indeed, the memory of being sold by her blood-related parents is one she’d rather not recall.

It lingers stubbornly in her heart, undoubtedly tormenting her confidence as a trauma even now.

But thanks to that, she met Towa and found a home in the Eld Family.

For Shuri, being able to work alongside Towa in that home was happiness enough. She never thought to seek anything more.

But that changed.

Her environment, which she thought would stay the same, and the existence she believed unchangeable, shifted.

She didn’t want to see it anymore.

Not Towa offering colors beyond loyalty to the successor, nor the ordinary life she recognized as happiness slipping away.

So, she made one final confirmation.

She crafted a different version of herself to probe his heart.

“…This thing.”

She understood the danger.

This man is an anomaly, something that shouldn’t exist.

Clutched tightly in her hand is a single bracelet.

A cheap bracelet that fell from Arius when she knocked him out.

“This… thing…!!”

She was watching, of course. She had to, waiting for an opening.

—Thanks, Shuri-chan.

“No!!”

She wasn’t happy. She wasn’t captivated.

He invaded Towa’s heart, stole Kazune’s, and now what was he planning to do with her?

She was scared, couldn’t take it anymore.

She decided to kill him right there, to stop him from tainting this world further.

She’d likely die too. But that was fine.

Part of it was not wanting to see Towa changed any more.

“Why…”

But she couldn’t kill him.

Not because Arius was stronger than expected or anything like that.

She just couldn’t. Even now, she can’t let go of the bracelet in her hand.

So, she waits.

For the moment of judgment that will surely come.

No matter how secure the Rabbit Warren is, Towa’s skill will pinpoint her location in no time.

And then she’ll be found—

“—”

She senses a presence above.

She sharply detects the faint killing intent leaking out. She couldn’t help but notice.

—Ah, Towa-sama. You’ve truly…

Her skills have dulled considerably.

Shuri is now certain she surpasses Towa in ability.

She could easily brush off the looming aura of death.

“…Should I call it honorable? Why aren’t you resisting?”

“I was waiting for this moment.”

But she accepts it. She embraces death.

“Yes, that’s right. Please, I wanted to be killed by the you I know so well.”

※

Towa’s heart feels like it’s about to burst as she searches for Shuri.

The pain, threatening to make her scream pathetically if she lets her guard down, is stitched shut with cold ice as she races through the city.

She was so happy, so overjoyed.

It felt as fulfilling as being embraced by her master.

The salvation she could never give, her beloved granted.

Kazune changed visibly.

She thanked Towa over and over with tears, a feeling Towa herself knew well.

The joy of having an unfillable gap satisfied—she just wanted others to experience it too.

“What… did I do wrong?”

Shuri’s voluntary request, her desire to connect heart-first before body.

After that exchange, Towa trembled with tears of joy.

She realized the Arius Family wasn’t just acknowledged but needed, filling her with pride.

“Towa-sama, you didn’t do anything wrong. It was just me being a coward.”

From Shuri, pinned beneath her, comes resignation.

Or perhaps even relief, as if finally free from suffering.

In a different way from Towa.

“If it’s Goshujin-sama, he’ll save you too.”

“No, Towa-sama. I’ve already been saved.”

Her eyes are utterly clear, devoid of falsehood.

“This is fine. I’m scared, so scared.”

“Scared?”

“Changing is scary. Not knowing that kind of happiness, it’s scary.”

It hits Towa like a punch to the head.

“Knowing there’s even greater happiness out there… I didn’t want to know. The one who saved me was you, Towa-sama.”

Shuri is saying Towa is her savior, her master.

She doesn’t want anyone else to take that place or have it stolen.

“So, please, kill me. Before I change. While I still know.”

“…Shuri.”

Shuri releases all her strength, entrusting everything to Towa.

There’s nothing more to say.

Persuasion is impossible—Towa understands Shuri’s feelings.

Yes, she understands.

She’s aware she’s changed. But she also believes she’s been colored by Arius.

Yet, faced with the fact that her happiness could be someone else’s misery.

The dagger in her hand trembles.

She truly doesn’t know what to do.

The Rat Shuri cannot be colored by anyone but Towa.

There’s no room for it, no desire to be repainted like Mia.

“I understand.”

“…Yes. Thank you.”

Then there’s only one thing Towa can do.

Eliminate what harms her master.

“Any last words?”

“…”

Shuri thinks.

Her heart is heavy with countless regrets.

If she hadn’t been afraid, if she could’ve changed.

She might’ve found unimaginable happiness.

“If there’s reincarnation, I want to be Goshujin-sama’s pet next time.”

A being that doesn’t need to think, just accepting what’s given.

No need to fear, or, like Towa now, simply eliminating external threats.

“I understand.”

“Yes.”

Having heard her wish.

Towa swings the dagger down.

※

“Uh, Onii-cha… I mean, Master! Looking forward to working with you!”

“Yeah, same here. Towa? Take good care of her, alright?”

“Of course, Goshujin-sama, desu.”

That day, Ronnyan gained a new employee.

One pair of eyes directed at the newcomer was kind, but the rest were anything but welcoming—more like, Who the hell are you?

“Mia and Serika, you two better look after Shuri properly, got it?”

“Ugh… If Arius-san says so.”

“I-I got it, desu…!”

Their glares could kill.

Seeing that, Arius tilts his head, then shrugs and heads back to his room.

The moment his figure completely disappears up to the second floor.

“What’s the deal!?”

“I-I demand a d-detailed explanation!”

Come on, explain yourself! You gonna make this right or what?

As the two close in on Towa with fury in their eyes, Shuri lets out a small chuckle.

“I came to be Master’s pet!”

“Pet!?”

Shuri declares it brightly, almost defiantly.

“…Well, yes, alright. I dealt with the Rat Shuri. Dealt with her… and picked up a new pet. Her skills are solid, so please, I ask for your leniency.”

“No way in hell!!”

“D-deal with her? Deal with her?”

“Eek! So scary! If you kill me, Master will be sad!”

“Argh!?”

Officially, she’s a kitchen assistant.

Her role is to help with Arius’s ingredient prep and assist Towa’s cooking.

Yes, Towa killed the Rat Shuri.

And she said:

“I never thought I’d go this far… I’m sorry.”

She plunged the dagger beside Shuri’s face, declaring the old her dead.

What’s here now is just Shuri’s flesh, a vessel without will.

Now, she could be reborn as the self she desired.

“Heh heh heh, too late to regret it now!”

“There’s no regret… uh, well, maybe a little. So, Mia, Serika, please calm down, I’m begging you.”

And so, Shuri was reborn.

As Ronnyan’s finest guard dog and beloved pet, with Arius as the alpha at the top.

“Grr… Arius-san’s pet, of all things… I’m so jealous it hurts…!”

“She’s somehow got Arius-sama’s favor…!”

“That’s right! I’m Master’s favorite!”

Seeing Shuri puff out her chest proudly, who could blame the three for wanting to slug her?

“Oh, by the way, the employees here can get embraced by Master anytime, right?”

“What!?”

“So, I can go right now, yeah Go-shu-jin!!”

“Serika!!”

“Obviously!”

Serika tackles Shuri as she starts to run.

Even before opening, it’s a chaotic dotan batan mess.

“What’s with that smug face? Take some responsibility!”

“I’m sorry.”

Even so, Towa thought it was fine.

She learned that happiness comes in many forms, and above all, she wants the reborn Shuri to be true to her desires.

“Sigh… I’m not dealing with the other Rats’ complaints, you know.”

“No, they’ve already agreed.”

“…Oh?”

Mia’s eyes demand details on how she convinced them, even as she’s impressed by the speed.

“The Rat leadership has shifted to Kazune. Also, Shuri is now Goshujin-sama’s pet and shadow guardian.”

“Go on?”

That can’t be all.

There’s no way the Rats would accept just that.

“…Shuri may receive Goshujin-sama’s favor in the future, but she vows never to be embraced as the old Shuri again.”

“I see? That explains the change.”

Shuri will never again connect with Arius as the old Shuri.

So, the dog serving Arius now is a different entity from the Shuri the Rats knew, irrelevant to them.

“That’s tough.”

“Maybe. But the Shuri over there is undeniably the Shuri who wanted to become this. …This is all I could do.”

It might be irresponsible.

But Towa thought this was fine too.

Surely, only Arius can save.

The arrogance of thinking she could save someone herself was a mistake.

“Got it.”

“I might be wrong. It might be an act that spreads pain… but.”

Closing her eyes quietly.

“It’s not that I save and thus they’re saved. It’s that Goshujin-sama saves… and so they’re saved.”

T/N: Tone has started to become serious now, so I’m dropping the usage of desu desu.