【Future Sight】Saving Tragic Beautiful Girls and Making Them Obsessively Fall for Me 〜I Selfishly “Helped” the Witches Who Were Gonna Destroy the World Just to Train My Martial Arts, and Now They’re All Dripping with Obsession and Worshipping Me〜 - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

After that.

As we walked down the hill with Sakurako acting all quiet and well-behaved, we chatted about all kinds of stuff.

She seemed pretty worn out lately. Even though it was to pay back her family, she had to do unwanted work every single day. And she got fewer days off than the other prostitutes, too.

More than anything, though, the hardest part was sometimes feeling those dark thoughts toward the family she was supposed to care about.

“—Hmm. So basically… it’s just stray thoughts getting in the way.”

“What’s that supposed to mean…? Are you talking about your favorite martial arts thing again?”

“If we’re talking about how the mind should be, then yeah, it’s the same place I’m aiming for. Cutting away all the stray thoughts so you can stick to a rock-solid sense of self—that’s exactly what reaching the peak of the spirit means.”

“…How do you actually make that happen?”

We were walking through the slum streets when I answered the look she gave me, tilting her head up at me from the side.

“My master used to say, a healthy soul lives in a healthy body. So in my case, I just train my body like crazy.”

“…I was an idiot for expecting anything else.”

Hey, I wasn’t joking. Well, I guess it wouldn’t apply straight to Sakurako since she’s not a martial artist.

Let me rephrase it in a way that fits her better.

“Wouldn’t it be good if you had something that gives you absolute confidence that nothing from the outside can shake you?”

“Confidence, huh. That sounds tough.”

Does it?

“You must have at least a little pride in being better than others at something, right? Just use that as your foundation.”

“The part where I’m better than others…”

Sakurako really does have surprisingly low self-esteem. She’s kinda negative about everything. Come on, there’s gotta be plenty of things. And if there isn’t right now, she can just work on building her own strengths from here on out.

I only gave her that advice in a light, casual way, but Sakurako looked like she was thinking about it super seriously. She frowned, stayed quiet for a while as we walked, and then—

“…Um, well… I… I might be… a little… c-cuter than other people… maybe…”

Sakurako said it while looking down, and her cheeks turned just as bright red as they had back on that hill.

Was she embarrassed? What a weird girl. As a plain fact—

“Yeah, your looks are definitely one of your strong points. Even among the maids my dad collected because of his taste for beautiful women, none of them are prettier than you.”

“Wha—…”

Why was she staring at me with such a shocked face?

Look, her wide eyes are nicely shaped and big and sparkling. Her hair has this nice sheen, her skin is smooth and white. She has a well-shaped nose and plump red lips, too.

She’s basically got that doll-like beauty, y’know?

“N-no way… Faust, who only ever talks about training and discipline, actually knows how to judge someone’s appearance…”

“Rude. I may not look it, but I’m a merchant’s son. I’ve had beauty and ugliness of people and things drilled into me since I was little.”

I don’t put as much weight on it as my dad does, though.

Besides, beauty is important even when you live for martial arts.

Beauty is born from the proportions, placement, and movement of people and things, and it appeals to human senses.

It even contains truths about how things naturally ought to be. It connects to questions like where and how much muscle you should build, or how to move your body most efficiently…!

Yeah, in other words—

“If you take it to the extreme, martial arts itself leads to beauty…! When you think about it that way, maybe martial artists and beauty are inseparable…”

“…In the end it always circles back to that, doesn’t it. Geez, this is exactly why martial arts idiots are the way they are.”

Martial arts idiot, huh. She’s starting to drop the polite act with me. Not that I mind.

“…But.”

Hm?

“So… you really did think of me as… a beautiful woman.”

I didn’t quite catch everything she said, but when I looked over, Sakurako had—

—the softest expression I’d seen on her so far, and she was smiling shyly.

The witch’s miasma had completely vanished at some point. …And that’s when I thought:

It’s great that Sakurako didn’t turn into a witch. …But wait, does this mean even the vanguard for my training is gone!?

My worry didn’t last long.

The moment the brothel came into view, I realized it had all been needless anxiety.

“—Oi, you whores!! Hurry up and bring out Sakurako!”

A swarm of punks over twenty years old came crawling in like bugs. And behind them, several vanguard soldiers wrapped in miasma.

Thank goodness. The vanguard soldiers stay even without the witch herself!

Well, it’s not good for society that they’re causing trouble, but since I’m the one who’s gonna take them all down, using them as training should be fine, right?

Right…!

And so. While shaking the blood off my fist, I muttered,

“That was too quick. The ones from the other day put up a bit more fight. Still, fighting multiple opponents while protecting someone turned out to be a pretty valuable experience.”

“You’re… a little too strong, you know. Are you really just a merchant’s son?”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been pushing to the limit. Same as your looks.”

“Nn… I-I see.”

While we were lightly joking around and rolling the punks on the ground out of the way so they wouldn’t get stepped on—

“—Taylor-kun…! You’re okay, right!? Thank goodness… and thank you…!”

“Faust! Geez, it was such a mess without you! …Now we can’t even go watch the acrobatic troupe!”

Fuka, Rin, and the other prostitutes plus Makina all came running over.

They spent a moment cursing out the Zigo-gumi guys, then immediately rushed over to Sakurako.

“Sakurako, big sister! I’m so glad you came back safe!”

“Fuka. Sorry for making you worry.”

“Seriously! From now on, if you’re troubled or you start hating it, tell Fuka right away, okay!”

“Fuka… Yeah, thank you. From now on I’ll try to rely on you all a little more.”

“! S-Sakurako big sister is being super honest! That’s so rare…………… Eh, wait, did something happen with Taylor-kun…?”

The one who came up behind the stunned Fuka was… Makina.

“Well done, kid. You actually managed to bring Sakurako back safely. And—”

She stopped mid-sentence with a meaningful look, staring hard at Sakurako’s face.

“—You handled it pretty well. But don’t even think about eloping with our top earner, okay?”

“M-Makina…! It’s not like that, we’re not—”

“Look how flustered you are. …But I’m glad. We’ve been putting all the burden on you this whole time… Whether it’s thanks to the kid or whatever, if your days get even a little bit more enjoyable…”

“Makina…”

With the collapsed men in the background, it was pretty lively. Everyone seemed a little hyped up from Sakurako’s safe return and the defeat of the thugs.

Only Fuka was giving me this gloomy stare.

“…Taylor-kun never messes up. He solves any problem. But when you think about what happens to everyone around him as a result… it’s clearer than seeing fire…!”

Ah, whatever. More importantly—

The thought floating in my head right now was about what comes next.

Sakurako probably doesn’t have to worry anymore. For some reason the miasma has stopped, so she most likely won’t turn into a witch or produce any more vanguard soldiers.

If that’s the case, then the only ones left are the ones who’ve already turned into vanguard soldiers up until today… As I was turning that thought over in my mind—

Sakurako, surrounded by her many family members and looking a bit embarrassed, spoke up as if trying to escape from it all.

“…Faust. Why do you look like this has nothing to do with you? You’re the bodyguard of this brothel—and—wait, your face. What are you…?”

She noticed, huh? Yeah, that’s right. I’m the bodyguard of the Karakuri Clock Pavilion.

And the reason I became the bodyguard was to sharpen my skills against the beings drawn to the power of the witch called Sakurako. As a side benefit, to stop the witch from causing world destruction.

And. The next move that serves both of those goals is—

“This time—we’re the ones going on the attack. Against those punks called the Zigo-gumi.”