I Was Nearly Killed by My Fellow A-Rank Party, but Now I Fed a Nine-Tailed Fox Deep in the Dungeon. ~ “My Master, I Shall Never Leave Your Side for All Eternity,” the Legendary Monsters Said While Doting on Me. Before I Knew It, I Had Become the World’s Strongest Lord of the Demon Realm~ - Chapter 26 & 27

The Fate of the Exiled One (1)

“Hmm, looks like you caved to Kuon’s cooking too, huh.”

While scarfing down the kitsune udon I whipped up for her all tasty-like, Tamamo eyed Mike who was just sittin’ there cryin’ her eyes out.

“I get it, y’know. First time I tried it, my heart went all warm and fuzzy and I straight-up bawled.”

“Tch, cryin’ like that? Total wimp move…”

Suzu and the snow lady were munchin’ on the grub I made too, chattin’ about that kinda stuff.

“Uh, how come everyone’s gettin’ so blown away by my cookin’?”

“It’s love, y’know, love. Youkai pick up on those little human heart flutters super easy, so if you hit ’em with hate, they build up all this grudge, but show ’em some real affection and they melt right into it.”

(So that’s why Tamamo’s all fired up on revenge, and the love I poured into Fokko’s got her pourin’ it right back at me… )

Once she finished eatin’, Tamamo shot Mike this wicked grin.

“Alright, you ate it. Join us, Mike.”

“…Huh?”

“Hey, Tamamo. This ain’t a deal or nothin’.”

I scolded her for tryin’ to push things all forceful again.

“Mike’s got her own life goin’, y’know. If she wanna come along, I’ll keep cookin’ for her, but if not, she’s free to say no.”

“I…”

After huggin’ her head and mullin’ it over for a bit, Mike shook her head sideways with a sigh.

“…Sorry. It’s super temptin’, but I just like my peace and quiet. Can’t handle jumpin’ into somethin’ that scary.”

“…Gotcha. Thanks for thinkin’ it over. So yeah, Tamamo, you get it too, right?”

“Man, what a shame. Someone with your kinda skills…”

“Told ya, I’m not that big a deal…”

Tamamo looked all down about the bummer outcome, then turned to me.

“Hey, Kuon. Time to share some more of my youki with ya. Squeezin’ it out’s gettin’ annoyin’, just suck it straight up.”

“Won’t that make you weaker, Tamamo? Nah, I’m good–I ain’t even mastered what I got now.”

Our chat had Mike lookin’ shocked all over again.

“Huh!? Nine-tails lady, you’re givin’ him your youki too!?”

“Yeah, ’cause if Kuon’s weak, it worries me.”

“Y-youki’s like a youkai’s life force, ain’t it! You can’t just hand it over that casual…”

“It’s cool, Kuon’s more precious to me than my own life.”

“R-really… but havin’ someone like that around? Kinda jealous, y’know…”

Mike said that, then stared right at my face.

And she muttered, “Givin’ youki, huh…” and her cheeks flushed bright red.

“N-no way, that’s way too embarrassin’ for me…!”

“Huh!? It’s embarrassin’!?”

“Duh, ’cause you… uh, don’t make me say it!”

“Huh!? What!?”

I was still clueless on how this whole “gettin’ youki” thing worked, so I just sat there confused.

Last time it was through milk, so like, mix it in drinks or somethin’, right?

While we were talkin’ that, Tamamo’s ears twitched a bit.

Then she cracked this evil little laugh.

“…Looks like she’s ‘arrived’.”

“Arrived?”

“Yeah, that dumb chick who was dumb enough to mess with Kuon finally hit the nearest town, ‘Saradona’.”

With that, Tamamo pulled four talismans from her sleeve and used some weird power to shape ’em into this thin board thing floatin’ in front of us.

On the board, there was Liliana projected, lookin’ half-dead and leanin’ on her staff just to drag herself into Saradona.

“Whoa!? Liliana’s there!”

“Yeah, the talisman I stuck in her body tracks her spot and lets me spy like this.”

“Ahaha… classic nine-tailed fox, the ‘all-purpose great youkai’…”

Tamamo let out this “kukuku” evil cackle.

“Perfect timin’. Mike, you should watch too. Somethin’ fun’s about to go down, y’know?”

The Fate of the Exiled One (2)

Tamamo plopped down cross-legged and pulled me onto her lap, then we all checked out the image showin’ Liliana.

Mike peeked at the screen too, lookin’ a bit jealous at the whole scene.

Yukime and Suzu scooted up next to her, and we all huddled in to watch.

In the screen, Liliana was stumblin’ along all beat-up and ragged.

Suzu shot it this sad lil’ look with her eyes.

“This big sis looks kinda pitiful, y’know.”

“That one’s the one who almost killed Kuon, remember? And she was laughin’ the whole time she beat on him.”

“…Maybe not that pitiful after all.”

Suzu flipped her take right around and glared daggers at Liliana on the screen.

Liliana kept mutterin’ all delirious-like, mumblin’ nonsense under her breath.

“It’s okay… I get it… Zex wouldn’t betray me, the one he loves… That was just some illusion from that fox… a fantasy…”

Then, she spotted Zex’s shadow in this back alley.

Liliana’s face lit up all bright.

“Zex–!”

“Heyyy, wanna have some fun? Let’s hang tonight~?”

But she froze up, not sure if she should call out.

‘Cause there was Zex, grinnin’ all goofy with another girl on his arm.

“Hey–Zex, don’t you got Liliana-chan already?”

“Ah, that chick’s dead, so we’re good now. She was straight-up trash, draggin’ me down till the bitter end.”

“Eww, that’s harsh lol.”

“That girl? She pulled the ‘I’m a saintess’ card and never let me hit it once? Only stuck around ’cause of the church power and cash, but man~ finally free!”

“…Huh?”

Liliana just stood there frozen, her eyes buggin’ out wide on her face.