Chapter 30

—Lakis, there’s a delicious smell from over there!

‘Shut up, you already had that . ’

Lakis snapped at the bug whose greediness was never ending . Currently, he was on the street where the festival was taking place .

After going out in the day, Lakis thought Yuri might stop by the house after work so he was back by that time . However, Yuri did not come home .

So Lakis went out again .

Since then, the bug couldn’t ignore the enticing smells coming from all over the street, so it kept nagging Lakis to eat this and that . Lakis didn’t have much of an appetite but the parasitic bug in him was the opposite .

Annoyed at the voice which wouldn’t stop talking, Lakis gave it what it wanted a few times . Of course, since he didn’t have any money on hand, he chose the easiest and quickest way to obtain that: robbing the pockets of people passing by .

Of course, that was against the law, but Lakis thought they should be grateful to him instead . He let them keep their useless lives and only took their money, when he could just kill them and take it away, so of course they should be grateful . [1]

Honestly, he felt he was too nice nowadays .

While having shameless thoughts that would make anyone speechless, Lakis entered the street corner of the festival . By filling himself with food sold on the street, Lakis found that food in the east itself did not taste strange .

The things Lakis put in his mouth today had tasted okay . In other words, it was Yuri’s meals that tasted unusually awful .

—I knew it! It’s that woman’s cooking that was terrible! Geez, why’d you have to collapse at the house of a woman who makes terrible food .

‘For a mooching bastard, you complain a lot . ’

Lakis reflexively rebuked the bug .

‘Besides…’

On top on that, he unconsciously took Yuri’s side as he spoke .

‘That’s because your taste is so unbelievably picky, it was all deli…cious, you know?’

—Hey, don’t lie! You just stopped in the middle of saying that! Ok then, what’s all the digestive medicine you’ve been taking?

‘F*ck you, you’ve never seen someone take drugs for dessert?’

The bug jeered at him in his head .

Lakis ignored it and got up . Right now, he was on the roof of some building . He was considering looking for Yuri since he was already outside .

He wondered what punk…no, what bastard…no, that’s not it . He was just curious what kind of person she came to the festival with . He wasn’t trying to do anything by finding out . Wanting to satisfy your curiosity was a basic human desire, wasn’t it?

Lakis turned, about to head towards the square which was filled with more people . And right then, a black cloak suddenly fluttered before his eyes .

Swish!

An unknown person landed softly on the roof of the building next to Lakis . The next moment, Lakis met eyes with the person . No, it was more accurate to say that Lakis felt like their eyes met . Because the person who appeared in front of him had their face covered with a white mask .

“…!”

The suspicious person was none other than Yuri . She was also startled to see Lakis all of a sudden .

‘Why is Lakis here?’

Yuri had just left the auction house and was moving on the roofs . But then she suddenly bumped into someone and when she checked their face, she realized it was Lakis who was currently living in her house .

Even though Yuri stopped, it was only a moment before she was calm again . Right now, she was in disguise and wearing a mask . So she didn’t think Lakis would be able to recognize her immediately .

Swoosh…

White rays from the moon was sprinkled over their frames . Underneath, Lakis stood with his hair fluttering the wind . Lakis’ blue eyes and Yuri’s red eyes met under the night sky . Somehow, time seemed to slow down for an instant .

“…You . ”(Lakis)

And the next moment, a slow voice directed at Yuri finally left Lakis’ mouth .

“I feel a familiar foul energy for some reason . ”(Lakis . )

His following words had a different meaning, causing Yuri to stop .

‘What the hell is this guy talking about?’

Did he recognize me, by any chance? But, what does he mean by foul energy?

Yuri frowned slightly under the mask . Was that what he was thinking every time he saw her till now?

“The thing you have on you right now, what is it?”

But hearing what Lakis added afterwards solved her misunderstanding .

‘Oh, he’s talking about the ruin’s fragment . Confused me . ’

Perhaps you could call it fortunate but Lakis didn’t seem to recognize Yuri .

“You’re not answering . ”(Lakis)

Under the cloak, Yuri looked up at the eyes which were watching her .

“I said, what is that thing on you right now?”

Their eyes met again .

However, Yuri did not open her mouth . Well, of course . What was she supposed to say? What if she spoke and he recognized her voice?

Wanting to avoid this situation, Yuri shifted away from the direction she was originally headed in .

“Oh, I get it . You can’t speak ‘cause you don’t have a mouth . ”

That instant, Lakis’ blue eyes seemed to gleam with a terrifying light . Just when Yuri thought an immaculate smile graced his lips for an instant, he had already approached her .

“Then I’ll have to tear you one . ”

Sssk!

“…!”

A large claw appeared right before her eyes . [2] Yuri instinctively felt danger and quickly moved to avoid it . Even as he failed to break her mask, Lakis’ hand moved to his next target with surprising speed, seizing the flap of Yuri’s cloak .

The stripped black hem flew through the moonlit sky . Yuri was dumbfounded at the events that just took place .

‘This crazy bastard?’

Lakis stood where Yuri was seconds ago and cocked his head to one side .

“I couldn’t tell if you were a man or a woman so I took that off but, I still can’t tell?”

But he soon quirked his lips like he didn’t care and rushed at Yuri again .

“Well, I guess I’ll know once I see the top . ”

Clang…!

A piece of the roof broke off the next moment, clattering to the ground .

Yuri blocked the attack flying at her face and frowned . Her arm was throbbing from kick . But she didn’t have any time to rest because the next attack was immediately launched at her .

If not for the fact that people were flocking to go see the upcoming fireworks, they would have caused a disturbance . But it was obvious Lakis knew that, hence why he was acting so boldly . Because he had been doing such a great job of acting nice and quiet at home, Yuri had almost forgotten .

Right . You’re Lakis Avalon .

Like she thought, it would be better to get away first and not even deal with him .

Thwack!

After blocking a series of attacks flying at her, Yuri drew close to Lakis instead and struck at his chin . Lakis turned his head, dodging it .

While his movement was stalled for a moment, Yuri jumped to the next building .

“Where are you going? You want to play hide-and-seek with me?”[3]

But a chilly voice soon seized the back of her neck .

Bam!

Yuri was caught by Lakis the next moment and slammed against the roof . The string binding her hair had come loose at some point so her long, black hair was scattered over the roof like a carpet .

“Huu…”

A slightly suppressed breath flowed from Yuri’s mouth . With Lakis being so close to her, she had to lower her eyelids so he couldn’t see the color of her eyes .

Yuri felt that if she danced to Lakis’ tune and exchanged blows with him, neither of them would fare well so she was just trying to get away . And above all, it would be troublesome if Lakis’ hand were to touch her bare skin .

But she was a little annoyed that he picked a fight with her out of nowhere and even attacked her relentlessly . Plus, it seemed like it would be difficult to get out if she didn’t use the power of Arachne, which made her mood plummet even more .

On the other hand, Lakis was feeling a puzzling sense of familiarity from the masked person under him .

‘What’s this? Why do they feel so familiar?’

Moreover, he had thought their hair was merely a dark-ish color because the surroundings were dark until now…

But up-close, he could see that their hair was truly black, an inky sort of darkness that absorbed even the moonlight . And his opponent was definitely wearing men’s clothes . That said, maybe it was just him, but the outline of their slender body visible from their cloth looked familiar .

—Lakis, I think it’s a woman?

Lakis’ hand reached for the mask in front of him as if to remove it .

Ssk .

“…!”

At that very moment, something white covered his sight .

Translator’s Corner:

[1] This logic is just…on another level .

[2] Not an actual claw(Do I have to make this clear or it is already obvious to you? I have no idea lol)

[3] I can’t recapture the sarcasm in this sentence .