Unlimited Ambition

"So what if it's gone! I'll just use cucumbers from now on, it's better than using scum like you!"

"The cucumber is innocent, Ariel!"

What do you mean?!

The chase continued, and Ariel, a pure mage, couldn't take it anymore. Sweating profusely and panting, she shouted, "Stop! Don't run!"

"Are you kidding me?! How can I not run when you're chasing me?!" I said as I ran.

At this point, Ariel also realized something was wrong. Logically speaking, although my current level is much weaker than in my prime, my stamina is still far superior to Ariel's. I also possess a technique like dimensional leap, practically a life-saving escape skill. There's no way she could keep up with me so closely.

In other words, I deliberately let her win. Or rather, I deliberately played with her.

"You only know how to bully me!" Thinking this, Ariel's nose stung, and her voice trembled with tears. Seeing that I showed no sign of stopping, she simply collapsed to the ground and began to sob.

That's why magical girls are such a troublesome thing.

I rolled my eyes. Then, in a dimensional leap, I appeared behind her and gently hugged her.

Ariel struggled a few times, then collapsed into my arms and lay still. However, her face still looked terrible, as if she was sulking—of course, in this situation, it seemed to really be my fault.

The girl went through all that trouble to find you, only to find you harassing her student. Judging by the situation, if she had arrived any later, it would have been too late…

Forget it, it's best not to think about these things too much.

As I thought this, I comforted Ariel: "Don't cry, you won't be pretty if you keep crying. You'll look like a little kitten with a messy face."

"What are you saying?! Do you think I'm a child?" Ariel said, sobbing. A disgruntled smile played on her lips, but the smile itself betrayed her true feelings—she was quite pleased.

"What? I watched you grow up. In my eyes, you've always been like a child," I said.

Humans are quite strange creatures. When they are young, they try to appear mature; when they are young, they try to appear youthful and energetic. The same principle applies to praising someone. Younger people are praised for being like little adults, while older people are praised for being youthful and beautiful, like they're only twenty…

Just like now, Ariel is over a hundred years old. He usually dresses in a white coat and acts all serious. But I managed to make him all smiles and swoon over him with just a few words.

To be honest, I had several interactions with Birie back then, mostly in a benevolent way. I even once mobilized an army to help them fight against the underworld's army. Of course, my goal at the time was still to find a way to reverse time. I hoped that Birie's magical world could offer me some assistance.

But in the end, I discovered that Briar's magical form was completely different from the magical world I had imagined. These bastards didn't do much research on magic itself, nor did they have any interest in developing new types of magic. Instead, they devoted all their energy to making magical items.

Ninety percent of their combat power comes from their magical items, or magical armor. Even their main force is referred to as magical armor girls.

Besides, what I found even more unbearable was that Biliye was a matriarchal society. Men made up only 20% of the population and were exploited by women as mobile sperm banks. Their social status was extremely low. When I was there, I was often groped by flirtatious older women, which made me quite embarrassed…

After learning all this, I felt somewhat disheartened. After perfunctorily paying some debts of friendly cooperation with that so-called queen, I prepared to return—and it was on that day that I met Ariel. On a spring day when cherry blossoms were in full bloom, our ill-fated relationship began.

Back then, Ariel was still a little girl—not like she looks like a little girl now, but actually has the heart of a strange aunt—but truly, innocently pure, believing that the baby was brought by a stork, a little girl, nine years old.

It's very valuable for hunting, isn't it?

—So I took action.

—I regretted it afterwards.

It was around the time she was fourteen years old—by which time I hadn't been home for almost five years.

It was an afternoon, and I clearly remember the gardener outside complaining that no matter how much he swept, he couldn't sweep up all the fallen autumn leaves. At that moment, I seemed to see a woman alone in her empty room, her melancholy beyond measure.

After that, I decided to leave—of course, with Ariel in tow.

After I said that, Ariel was initially very happy, but then she became very confused. I had been dating her for five years, and we had done everything we should and shouldn't have done. She knew me inside and out. Of course, she knew that this devilish prince had a wife who was all alone in her "home."

The fourteen-year-old girl already clearly understood matters such as "marriage," "monogamy," and "harem." And in the world of feminist supremacy, Biliye naturally regarded the idea of ​​a man possessing a bunch of women as outrageous (for example, think about it, a woman possessing a bunch of husbands—the legal kind).

Therefore, the immature girl said something she should never have said: "Do you want her or me?"

After that, I knew it was over between us. I also learned two rules of this world: 1. Magical girls are troublesome; 2. Nothing is more troublesome than a berserk magical girl.

These two principles were bought with my blood. After that, she hunted me down for thirty years. Who the hell said that a girl's IQ drops when she's in love? Why did Ariel manage to fool me so completely?!

In these thirty years, I have suffered countless losses at her hands: 2,764 minor injuries, 596 serious injuries, 138 near-death experiences, and 52 instances of losing my chastity...

I find it quite strange too. When we first met, she was a pure and innocent little girl, like ice and snow. How did she grow up to be so different?

This has nothing to do with me, right?

perhaps.

After that, I was so terrified by her that I stayed in my castle for over twenty years, living in constant fear. Until one day, I heard that she had started a revolution in Birlier, trying to replace the current queen, but was defeated and captured. Only then did I panic and go to Birlier alone. I made many deals with the reigning queen, which saved her life.

When I asked her, puzzled, why she did this, she smiled and said something that I found hard to accept: "It's for you. If I become Queen of Biliye, I will be entitled to have you—forever."

"...How am I supposed to answer that?"

After that, my relationship with her improved somewhat, and we would send each other New Year's cards during holidays. Occasionally, we would get together to discuss ergonomics.

But after a night of madness, Ariel awoke to find everyone gone, leaving her all alone. The cold wind howled, and the yellow flowers withered. An indescribable desolation filled the air.

Humans are inherently greedy, whether in the mortal world or the magical one. They crave eternity after a fleeting moment of pleasure. But Ariel had already lost at the starting line. One wrong move, and the whole game was lost. "You were born before I was, I was born after you had grown old. I regret not being born at the same time, so I could be with you every day."

Just when Ariel thought her life was pretty much over, news arrived: I am "dead."

It was like a bolt from the blue, almost causing Ariel to commit suicide for love—and after learning the truth, she almost killed the messenger who had only spoken half of what he had said.

Ariel knew everything about her enemy, even more than Eucliwood Helsaz herself. She knew that while the power of Words of Power was formidable, it wasn't enough to kill me. She also knew I possessed a life-saving technique that allowed me to sever my soul while preserving my consciousness.

After that, Ariel felt her opportunity had come.

Chapter Sixteen: Conspiracy

So Ariel took action, spending a considerable amount of time to finally pinpoint my location: the Gunma Prefecture area of ​​the Japanese archipelago in East Asia, part of the Eurasian continent. He then dispatched his most capable student, Haruna. What followed was as described above.

As Ariel sat in my lap, whispering intimate words to me, my hands began to wander restlessly over her body, making Ariel blush deeply.

"Wait a minute!" Just as I was about to proceed with my next move, Ariel suddenly called out a halt.

"...Hmm, this place does seem a bit off." I looked around. It was right in the middle of the main road, surrounded by houses, but it was very quiet. Obviously, it was too late and everyone was already asleep—but if I made a fuss like this, something bad might happen.

"Not this!" Ariel exclaimed, shoving me in a mixture of shame and anger. Then, with a soft snort, she opened her magic box and pulled out a longsword—the very same Heaven-Slaying Sword that I had wielded for countless years and which had now become a supreme divine artifact.

"How did it end up here?!" I asked, a little curious.

"Why wouldn't it be in my hands?" Ariel rolled his eyes and said.

"But... this—you've met Yu?" I immediately thought of this possibility. When I faked my death to escape, this famous sword most likely ended up in Yu's hands. Although I now know that Yu might not be very far away from me, I'm still not ready to meet her.

It's a bit of a surprise. In a sense, these two girls are sworn enemies. Their interactions in private should be nothing short of battles, and the kind where they hold nothing back. Yet, unexpectedly, Yu would give this sword to Ariel.

"Do you want it or not? If you don't, I'll throw it away," Ariel said.

"How could I not want it—this Yitian Sword has been with me for billions of years. It's spiritual." As I said this, I took the Yitian Sword, and as I touched it, I felt a series of unrestrained shouts coming from the hilt.

"Did you miss me?" I said, drawing my Heaven-Slaying Sword—in an instant, it gleamed with a chilling light. The terrifying, cold killing intent emanating from the sword almost froze the surrounding air. The temperature instantly dropped below freezing. Ariel couldn't help but shiver, moving closer to me and pressing herself tightly against me.

After a moment, the brilliance of the Heaven-Slaying Sword faded, and the surrounding atmosphere returned to calm. Only then was the sword's water-like blade revealed, along with the dark red blood grooves on its surface.

“Every time I see this sword, I think, just how many people have you killed with it?” Ariel said, leaning against me.

"Who would care so much? It's like when you eat, do you count exactly how many grains of rice are in your bowl?" I replied.

Ariel didn't say anything more, just leaned against me quietly, enjoying this rare moment of peace and quiet between the two of us.

“After this trip, I’m not leaving.” After a long while, the sky began to lighten. Ariel said this.

"What?" I didn't understand for a moment.

“I want to stay by your side,” Ariel repeated the abbreviated version of his words.

"...Well, it's not impossible, but the place I'm living in right now seems a bit... well, you know." I thought to myself, what if she "accidentally" dismantles Mina into parts after meeting her? After all, Mina isn't some combat robot that can be easily destroyed.

After that, we returned to the cemetery hand in hand. Haruna, who could wear my short-sleeved shirt as a dress, watched us run away shouting and yelling, and then return shoulder to shoulder, and suddenly felt a little overwhelmed.

"...You, you two...what's going on?" Haruna paused several times in her sentence, clearly finding it very strange.

“From now on, you should call him Mr. Light, okay, Haruna-chan?” Ariel said, stroking Haruna’s head and tugging at her ahoge (cowlick).

"Light? Light Baldwin?! The Demon Prince?!" Haruna reacted quickly, befitting her title as a genius magical girl.

"That's right. That's pretty much it." I nodded with a smile.

Haruna instantly unleashed a powerful aura, her eyes practically illuminating the entire universe: "Give me your autograph!!!"

...Do you think I'm some kind of superstar?

But that's about right. Now, all I have left is a little bit of fame.

I rolled my eyes and said, "Okay, okay," while snapping my fingers, and a black marker appeared in my hand. "Where should I sign it?"

“Just sign it on the T-shirt!” Haruna said.

"Hey, hey, hey, this T-shirt looks like mine," I said, slightly annoyed.

"Give it to me!" Haruna said shamelessly.

"Whatever," I chuckled. "What do you want to write?"

"To the most talented, most adorable rising star of tomorrow, the magical girl Haruna-chan—the Demon Prince Light Baldwin!"

“…You really dare to say that.” I said this while writing on her chest. It made Haruna very uncomfortable—or rather, very comfortable.

"It's so itchy, hehehehe... Don't do this..." she said, while reaching out to support my waist to make sure she wouldn't fall over.

Of course, it's almost certain that Ariel, who was standing next to him, would be unhappy.

Just ignore it for now.

As I thought this, I put the pen away and then casually put it back in my pocket.

“It’s finished. Let’s see how it looks?” I said to Haruna.

"Huh? Why is it Latin? And these hieroglyphic things, is it some kind of hellish script?"

Unexpectedly, Haruna was somewhat dissatisfied.

"Ah...sorry, these are the two languages ​​I use most often." I said this while rubbing her head and tugging at her tuft of hair.

"Hmm..." Haruna seemed to really enjoy this kind of play, making extremely cute noises.

“Just like when you were a child,” I whispered in Ariel’s ear.

"Perverted lolicon," Ariel whispered in my ear.

So I took the two girls back to the tent on the riverbank and woke up Sera, who was fast asleep. Then I left a note for the other three girls and prepared to leave.

After that, the usually alert woman with long, straight black hair opened her eyes and examined the handwriting I had left behind: "Why is it in Latin?"

And so, the Shinonome Research Institute welcomed three new guests. There was Ariel, who claimed to be my original family member; Haruna, who used the place as a hotel and base to continue her raids in Megalo; and Sera, who claimed to be a distant relative of mine.