"Something's definitely off... This isn't normal."
"Well... yeah..."
Kiyoka asked to take a bath before bed, so we came to the big bathroom in the royal palace... but I couldn't get it up.
Even with Kiyoka standing there naked in front of me, all I could see in my head was Sakaguchi being violated.
That was r**e, this is consensual, but I just couldn't get in the mood.
"Hey... how many people did you end up killing?"
"I don't remember."
"You're so lying!"
"I'm not lying... I stopped counting partway through."
"Dummy... You're seriously such a dummy, Yoshito."
Even with Kiyoka hugging me while we were both naked, I still didn't react.
"Because... there's no way I could forgive them! Sakaguchi was screaming and crying, and those guys were laughing. She was begging them to stop, screaming that it hurt so much, and not one person tried to help her. They just stood there grinning, waiting their turn. There's no way I could forgive that!"
Before I knew it, I was crying and yelling.
The feeling that those bastards deserved to die and the guilt of slitting their throats were fighting inside me, and my head was a mess.
"You're totally not wrong! Yoshito, you did nothing wrong! They're the ones who messed up... They so deserved it!"
"Uuu... Then, then why does it hurt so much..."
"That's just because you're sweet, Yoshito. You're way too sweet."
I wanted to scream that it wasn't true, that I'm not that kind of person, but I felt like if I denied those words, Kiyoka would disappear, so I just kept holding her and crying.
After we got out of the bath, Kiyoka suggested we sleep in an empty room near the queen's bedroom.
Of course, we stayed inside the Item Box1.
We put clothes on, but we slept holding each other on a single mattress.
I think I had a bad dream at some point, but surprisingly, I slept through until morning without waking up.
"Morning, Yoshito."
"Morning. Sorry you had to see me like that yesterday."
"No way, you were fighting for everyone. I'm totally on your side, Yoshito."
"Thanks."
Kiyoka said she picked this room because being near the queen meant the Soldiers wouldn't come snooping around.
Sure enough, the Soldiers' Barracks was in chaos, but it stayed quiet here.
It was quiet, but it's not like security was thin.
Several knights in full metal armor were keeping watch in the hallway.
They must have placed as many guards as possible while being super careful not to disturb the queen's sleep.
"Yoshito, come on, let's go check on that old hag."
"Yeah, we're already here."
We stayed inside the Item Box and phased through the walls. Queen Alpheria was sunk into a sofa with a face like she'd bitten into a bug.
We watched for a while, and a knight came to give a report.
"I have a report, Your Majesty. Thirteen soldiers were killed yesterday. We still don't know where the culprit fled."
"Thirteen men slaughtered, and you have not a single clue?"
"Indeed, I am deeply sorry. All victims suffered sudden fatal throat wounds despite treatment. Even with others nearby, no one saw the assailant."
"Do not utter such utter nonsense! Are you implying they were slain by a ghost? What of the woman who fled?"
"No one has seen her since the first attack."
"Are you suggesting she simply vanished into thin air?"
"No, perhaps she utilized Space Magic2..."
Well, after killing that many, it makes sense they'd guess that.
"Was the woman capable of Space Magic?"
"No. Had she possessed such useful magic as Space Magic, we would have kept her alive for exploitation."
"Was there an accomplice, then?"
"That seems very likely..."
"How thoroughly dreadful..."
"What shall we do?"
Queen Alpheria thought for a while with deep wrinkles carved into her forehead.
"For the time being, no one is to lay a finger on the prisoners. However, should any further soldiers be slain, execute every last one of them."
"Yes! Understood."
After watching the knight leave, Alpheria kept clicking her tongue in irritation.
"We did it, Yoshito! Now everyone's treatment should get way better."
"It won't get better. We just escaped the worst case. They're banned from touching them, but we don't know what their treatment is actually like."
"Wanna go check it out then?"
"Hmm... No, let's not. We can't do anything more than this anyway."
"But wait, couldn't we just threaten the old hag right now to fix their treatment?"
"Yeah, I see... Okay, let's go steal some paper, ink, and a pen."
We searched a nearby room and found a full set on the queen's desk.
"Alright, what should we write..."
"An apology first, right? Apologize to everyone who got hurt, then make them get treatment, then make them help so everyone can go back to normal lives... Yoshito?"
"I just thought of something. If we do that, the roles flip, right?"
"Of course. Isn't that the point of a threat letter?"
"Yeah, but... if the side that's been persecuted suddenly gets power, wouldn't they try to kill those Soldiers?"
"Duh, totally. Isn't that the whole point of a threat letter?"
"Oh, yeah... guess you're right..."
"And then things might actually get more dangerous. Like, a pissed-off Soldier kills someone knowing they'll die for it... that kind of thing?"
"Right... So what's the plan then?"
"Let's just watch for now..."
For the moment, the Soldiers' abuse had been stopped, so we decided to wait and see how things played out before making any demands for better treatment.
Trivia:
- Yoshito's inability to perform in the bath shows his trauma from witnessing Sakaguchi's rape is deeper than he admits, and this guilt bleeds into every part of his life.
- Kiyoka choosing the room near the queen's bedroom is not just about safety from Soldiers, it is also a strategic position that lets them spy on the queen through the Item Box walls.
- Yoshito's worry that freed captives might become killers mirrors his own fear about the cycle of violence, hinting that power can corrupt even victims.
Translation Notes:
1 ↩ A special storage ability that lets Yoshito hide inside a separate space. He can stay inside it and still move through walls, which makes it a perfect tool for spying. The English term keeps the game-like feel of the original Japanese.
2 ↩ A rare and valuable type of magic in this world. The knight's comment shows that anyone with useful magic like this would be kept alive and used rather than executed, hinting at how this kingdom treats people as tools.
Notes:
• Kiyoka - Dark‑skinned gyaru classmate, blunt, casual, uses feminine pronouns. Survivor of soldier assault, vengeful, threatens captors. Wields Cleaning Magic to purify objects/people, seeks to level up. Freeloader in Kuroi’s Item Box, virgin yet bold, constantly teases, presses against him, enjoys fun in other world, panics under stress, sleeps cramped together.
• Sakaguchi - The smallest girl in Yoshito's class, repeatedly violated by soldiers.
• Yoshito - Male protagonist summoned to another world who hides inside an Item Box while preparing to return to Japan. Pragmatic and calculating, he worries about the growing power of his companion's magic. Harbors violent urges toward the Soldiers who mistreated his classmates.
• Dummy - Dummy
• Alpheria - Heavy-makeup woman in gaudy clothes who greets the summoned group as heroes of another world. Explains they were summoned to defeat an evil dragon. Her face twitches when interrupted.