Couperin’s Tomb And The Guiding Path

“Special Skill 《Frozen Melody》!”

It happened the instant Meiro raised her staff.

“…Huh?”

A tremendous blizzard and gale erupted. The Roman-style buildings rapidly froze over. The melody played by the raging snowstorm drowned out the Roman music that had been opposing it.

“GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!”

The water, the pillars, everything became covered in snow and ice, transforming the area into a silvery world. At its center, the lone girl who continued standing there calmly looked just like a—

“A wi… witch… Achoo!!”

Unfortunately, Konoha was taking damage from the blizzard, which somewhat ruined the dramatic effect.

“Hah! So what? What could a mere blizzard possibly—”

Meiro readied her staff and waved it like a conductor. Under her direction, the raging blizzard rushed toward the buildings.

Crack, crack, crack-crack.

Crash-crash-crash!

“What!?”

“Shatter.”

The frozen buildings broke apart one after another, turning into crystals of ice. Beautiful fragments like crystals rained down.

“Impossible!? Witch! Kill her!!”

“GIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!”

It tried to unleash another deafening blast, but the raging blizzard prevented the air from vibrating. Meanwhile, the floating bricks shattered one after another, and all five buildings disappeared without a trace.

“Konoha!!”

“Got it!”

The force of the blizzard assisted Konoha’s leap. She shot straight up onto a pillar, readied Agate, and glared at the witch.

“The festival’s over. Haaaaaaaah!”

An inferno erupted so intensely that even the blizzard could not freeze it. Its heat melted the ice across the entire zone and radiated a brilliant glow.

“GIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!”

The witch reached out to crush Konoha. Just as its enormous white hand closed in before her—

“《Oni Fire》!!! Hyaaaaaah!!”

Agate swung downward, and a pillar of flame erupted. The scorching inferno reduced even bricks to charcoal, while a blast of superheated air blew its body away.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!!

Heat intense enough to evaporate even the surrounding water engulfed the Roman Festival. Its majestic brass melody continued playing until its massive body had been reduced to cinders.

“Haa, haa, haa… We did it… ah.”

“Konoha!”

Konoha fell from the pillar toward the ground. Meiro caught her.

“Ghh, catching you from this height is rough. Are you alive?”

“I’m alive~. Ugh, it’s hot. Huh? Meiro-chan, why are you completely naked?”

Meiro was currently stark naked, without a single piece of clothing on her. Her soft chest pressed against Konoha’s face.

Apparently realizing her condition, Meiro’s face gradually turned bright red.

“W-W-W-W-W-Wha—what… Why!?”

“Maybe the flames were too strong and burned your clothes away? Ahahaha, sorry.”

“Don’t just say sorry! I-I’ll kill you if you look!”

“We’re both girls, so you don’t have to hide…”

“…Konoha, you idiot.”

“Ugh, I said I’m sorry~”

As for why only her clothes had burned away, that was simply narrative convenience. More precisely, the blizzard had been raging around Meiro and partially offset the flames, but there was no helping this particular outcome. It was narrative convenience. Presentation mattered.

“Ah, some skills dropped.”

“Hey!”

“Ooh~ Boss battles drop a lot of skills. Huh, Roman Festival?”

“You’re remarkably lucky. It’s rare to obtain magic bearing the name of the highest-ranking individual you defeated.”

“Really!?”

“Well, personally, I would have preferred some clothes.”

It was a painfully sincere wish.

“Um, before we look for something for you to wear, Meiro-chan…”

“Look for clothes first.”

“Scary… You’re scary, Meiro-chan. I only have spare robes right now, so please make do with one of those. More importantly…”

Konoha’s gaze turned in a certain direction. Meiro hurriedly began changing while Konoha was distracted.

“Gah! …Agh…”

A man covered in ash writhed painfully on the floor. His face had been scorched by flames, and his robe was in tatters. Perhaps his respiratory organs had been burned as well, because he inhaled with an unpleasant wheezing sound.

“Janikoro… You survived.”

“I held back properly, you know. But you definitely didn’t come out unscathed. I might need more practice. Ah, sorry, Meiro-chan, I can’t use healing magic.”

“I know. Healing Magic: 《Winter Song》.”

Janikoro’s burns began disappearing. Healing Magic: 《Winter Song》 was an extremely high-level spell. Meiro wondered why she knew such magic, but decided she would investigate that later.

“Haa, haa… Cough, cough! …What are you… trying to do?”

“There are three things I need to ask you.”

“…What?”

“First, the exit. We need to get those girls outside. Do you know how to do that, Janikoro-san?”

“Use this.”

Janikoro held out the staff he had used earlier. Perhaps it could control the Respega Underground Labyrinth itself?

“This will open the entrance door. Naturally, it will also open the door on this side.”

“This side… You mean that one over there?”

Konoha pointed toward a door on the opposite side of the throne room.

“That leads to the chamber where the Witch’s Gem is enshrined. Only those who defeat the witch can open it. There is another exit beyond it as well.”

“I see, thanks. Then second. How were you controlling the witch?”

“With this staff as well. It is an item we demons developed that can control witches to a certain extent. Unfortunately, it cannot control the witch’s original behavior designed for raids. That is why I cannot command it to raise the water level or repeatedly order it to drop buildings. That woman over there had already noticed, hadn’t she?”

He glanced toward Meiro. Meiro said nothing.

“Then one more thing. Third, what will you do from now on? What will you do with your life, Janikoro-san?”

“Kill me. Show no mercy to the defeated, Demon King. Such compassion will one day cost you your life.”

“Yeah. But I still can’t kill people. I know I’d end up filled with regret afterward, thinking about how awful what I did was. So I want you to sleep instead.”

“…What?”

Crack.

“There. Frozen solid. That outcome had already been decided, so technically you only asked two questions.”

“Ahaha, sorry.”

Before them stood Janikoro encased in ice. He had effectively entered a state of suspended animation. He would probably awaken in about ten years or so.

“Couldn’t we seal him somehow?”

“I think this should be enough. He won’t wake up for a long time. More importantly, next time things may not go this smoothly. Prepare yourself.”

“…Yeah, I know.”

This had been decided beforehand. Meiro had proposed killing Janikoro, but Konoha had insisted that she wanted to avoid taking lives whenever possible, and Meiro had ultimately compromised.

“Then let’s go get the Witch’s Gem first.”

“Right.”

Konoha walked forward cheerfully. However, she had overlooked something. The witch would revive in this room after several months. What would the witch do if the frozen Janikoro was still there then? What would happen if Janikoro, having lost his staff, remained inside the zone?

The answer was obvious. A witch eliminated foreign objects that entered its zone. It was a legacy left behind by the First Demon King, Couperin’s Tomb. There was no possibility it would spare him.

(Sorry, Konoha, but this man is evil. Still, I agree with Sukuna. I don’t want Konoha to kill anyone… so I’ll dirty my hands in her place. So goodbye, Janikoro.)

Meiro glanced back with a slightly guilty expression, then let her hair flutter behind her as she followed Konoha.

“Waaaaah!”

“This place is… a starry sky?”

Beyond the door at the back was a world filled with stars. Konoha was visibly excited by the unexpected planetarium-like display.

A large stone treasure chest sat in the center of the room as well. It certainly had atmosphere.

“So it’s literally a Witch’s Treasure Chest. It’s so literal that I’m starting to suspect it’s a trap.”

“Should we open it?”

“We don’t have much choice. It looks extremely suspicious, though.”

“Here goes! Open!”

Ta-da-da-daaa!!

““!?””

The sudden blare of trumpets echoed loudly through the room. It completely ruined the planetarium atmosphere.

That aside, the sound activated a hologram. What appeared was a skeleton.

“Kyaa!? N-No, no, no!! I can’t handle skeletons!!”

“Calm down, Konoha! It’s just an image!!”

“Congratulations on conquering the dungeon, Hero.”

“I-I’m the Demon King…”

“You didn’t need to answer honestly.”

The skeletal man clattered as he spoke. His crooked teeth made him rather unpleasant to look at.

“My name is Couperin’s Tomb. I am the First Demon King.”

“Wow! My senior!”

“I told you, you don’t have to answer him.”

“Hmm, so you are a Demon King.”

“Huh?”

“What is it, young lady? Did you think I was merely an image or something?”

The skeleton laughed. His villainous aura was off the charts.

“But… I thought the First Demon King was dead…”

“I am a conceptual entity. I possess none of my power as Demon King, but I retain my memories as one. Thus, I greet Heroes who conquer a Witch’s Treasure Chest and speak directly with them. Kaharahara!”

“W-Why?”

“Because it’s fun. Heroes capable of defeating the witches I created rarely appear. And this time, such beautiful young ladies have come. If I were still alive, I would have confessed to you immediately. What adorable girls you are. Please become my wives!”

“Ehh!? I-I decline.”

“Hmm. When I was younger, I could have won you over immediately.”

“A skeleton is… a bit much…”

“I see… What about the other girl?”

“Obviously, no. More importantly, I have something I want to ask.”

Meiro coolly rejected him and continued.

“When were you created?”

“Just before I was defeated by the First Hero. That is why I never met the First Hero himself. The first human I met after this magic activated was the Second Hero. I was incredibly bored, I tell you.”

“I see. Then next—”

“Hey, hey, Couperin’s Tomb-san, is your grave called Couperin’s Tomb’s Tomb?”

“Konoha, stop asking stupid questions.”

“Ehehe.”

Cute. Meiro desperately stopped herself from saying it aloud.

“So, were you really placed here solely to have conversations?”

“If you answer my quiz, the Witch’s Gem will—”

“…………”

“Sorry. Hey, junior… This girl is terrifying.”

“She’s actually really kind, you know? And super cute!”

“Stop… It’s embarrassing.”

“Ohh, even my heart skipped a beat just now.”

That was the appeal of a classic tsundere.

“Well, jokes aside, the Witch’s Gem is inside this treasure chest. I usually tell Heroes to use it to defeat the Demon King, but saying that to a Demon King feels rather strange.”

“That’s okay! I’ll just turn it into an accessory and add it to my collection!”

“I’m not sure that’s any better… Oh, that reminds me, junior. You aren’t originally from this world, are you?”

“Ooh, as expected of my senior, you see right through everything!”

“Stop encouraging this bizarre dynamic.”

The Demon King Club only had three members, after all.

“Then what would you do if I told you that collecting every Witch’s Gem would allow you to return to your original world?”

“Huh!? Really!?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t lie to you. I am your senior, after all.”

Seeing Konoha’s obvious excitement, Meiro stopped her.

“Wait. There is no guarantee this skeleton isn’t plotting something. It’s far more likely that he’s deceiving you.”

“Yeah, I did think it sounded too convenient while I was going along with it.”

“I can no longer tell whether you’re stupid or intelligent.”

Konoha was the most troublesome and most envied sort of person: an idiot with excellent grades and an extremely quick mind. She herself was completely unaware of it.

“I’m already dead, so there is nothing I can do anyway.”

“I don’t trust you. More importantly, how exactly would this work?”

“The gems contain an immense quantity of magical power. They are crystallized magic that I once stole from humans.”

“You really are shameless.”

“And once we collect them all?”

“Use that magical power to activate 【Grand Magic Creation】. Then create a spell for dimensional transfer. That should allow you to return to your original world.”

“Grand Magic Creation?”

“It is a magical code unlocked once all the gems have been collected. Neither I nor anyone throughout history has ever used it, however.”

Konoha was bewildered by the sudden appearance of a guiding path: the existence of dimensional transfer magic. It sounded suspicious beyond belief, but it was also true that she currently had no other method.

“So if we collect every Witch’s Gem, the magical code gets unlocked…”

“And we obtain Grand Magic Creation. Then we use the immense magical power contained within the gems to create dimensional transfer magic. Is that correct?”

“Yes, precisely.”

“For the record, I’m considering the possibility that doing so could resurrect you or bring disaster upon the world.”

“There is no such possibility… though I doubt you’ll believe me merely because I say so. At that point, all I can ask is that you trust me. Besides, what kind of magic the user creates with 【Grand Magic Creation】 is entirely up to them. There would be no way for me to interfere, would there?”

“Could the user destroy themselves?”

“No, no. Even I’m not that malicious.”

Meiro and Couperin’s Tomb continued rapidly exchanging questions and answers. Konoha understood almost none of it.

“Phew. I don’t trust you at all, but collecting them itself may at least be harmless.”

“Um, so is it safe?”

“What bothers me is that this Demon King says he never used Grand Magic Creation himself. Aren’t these treasure chests something you created?”

“It would be more accurate to say they scattered across the world when I died. Furthermore, the Witch’s Gems contain the immense magical power of the First Hero. Fragments of my soul created the ‘witches’ and imposed trials upon Heroes. Heroes who overcome those trials then use the ‘gems,’ fragments of the First Hero’s soul, to defeat the next Demon King. That is the cycle.”

“The gems are fragments of the First Hero’s soul?”

“Correct. Therefore, I did not place them myself. Do you understand?”

(What is he even talking about…?)

Konoha had been completely left behind, so Meiro explained everything to her in simple terms.

“So basically, the ‘gems’ are fragments of the First Hero-sama’s soul and contain tons of magical power, and if we collect them all, we can make a spell and go back to Japan?”

“Well, if we simplify it, yes.”

“Then why were you talking about it in such a complicated way!? I couldn’t understand anything!”

“For our future safety. In any case, if they really are fragments of the First Hero’s soul, I don’t think collecting them will cause anything bad to happen. I have no proof, though.”

Hearing that, Couperin’s Tomb looked slightly offended. Though as a skeleton, it was impossible to know whether that was really the expression he was making.

“I honor my obligations, you know? And I respect the strong. Naturally, I believe anyone who reaches every treasure chest deserves an appropriate reward.”

“That sounds so cool!!”

“I still don’t completely trust you, but you don’t appear to be lying either. For now, let’s make that our objective going forward.”

“Yeah!! Thank you, somehow.”

“Yes.”

Konoha finally managed to follow the discussion. Their course of action for the foreseeable future seemed settled.

“Very well. Then I shall give you the gem, junior. Incidentally, this is also where your item drops come from. The treasure-class items belong to you. Take them.”

Inside the treasure chest was a ring set with a brilliantly glowing golden gemstone. The yellow jewel gave off a mysterious radiance. It looked extraordinarily expensive.

“It might be best to keep this on you at all times.”

“Then you keep it, Meiro-chan!!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah! I bet it’ll look great on you!”

Meiro cautiously slipped the ring onto her finger. It slid smoothly over her slender finger.

“It fits perfectly! It looks so pretty~”

“Yes, almost unbelievably…!?”

“The owner of the ring is you, blue-haired woman. You may grant that skill to the junior over there as well. Anyone who possesses the qualifications and is acknowledged by the owner may acquire it.”

However, the skill could only be copied while inside a Witch’s Treasure Chest. Allowing people to walk outside and casually pass it around to anyone would have been unacceptable. Surprisingly, the rules were quite thorough.

“So the kingdom’s books saying that only Heroes could use these weren’t entirely wrong after all. Though we still don’t know what determines eligibility.”

Meiro pointed the ring toward Konoha and began copying and transferring the skill. With that, Konoha also became capable of using 《Magic Flute》.

“So the Second Hero defeated the Demon King with this.”

“You seem to be misunderstanding something.”

“?”

“This skill merely assists in defeating the Demon King. In reality, it was how that Hero used their own strength that defeated the Second Demon King. …Judging from your shocked expressions, the kingdom misunderstands that, does it? No wonder dungeon exploration has made so little progress throughout the world.”

“Sigh. Then there was never any guarantee that the Third Hero-sama and their party would definitely defeat the Demon King.”

Using the 【Witch’s Gems】 to defeat the Demon King. That was the method Commander Legato had explained for defeating a Demon King. Thinking back on it, he had never actually given any specific details. The kingdom’s upper leadership probably did not understand it either. That was why they believed merely summoning Heroes would be enough to defeat the Demon King.

But in reality, the special skills known as 【Witch’s Gems】 were merely support tools for defeating the Demon King. It was quite ridiculous.

“Hmm, I believe I have explained most of it. Then I shall return to sleep. Junior, I look forward to your exploits.”

“Skeletons sleep too…? Y-Yeah, I understand! Thanks, Couperin’s Tomb-san!”

As she said that, the image-like magic deactivated and Couperin’s Tomb disappeared. All that remained was the treasure chest sitting alone in the star-filled chamber.

“Wow!! There’s actually a lot of stuff in here!”

“There are clothes in here! Why didn’t that skeleton mention that first!?”

“Maybe he was too busy admiring how pretty your body was, Meiro-chan~? Ahh, don’t get mad, don’t get mad!”

“Konoha, do you have a sewing skill?”

“I don’t, unfortunately…”

“Then we’ll learn one before we leave. Clothes are essential.”

“Yeah, I’m soaked from that last fight too. But first, let’s help the girls we left behind escape.”

“Ghh! I have no such self-sacrificing spirit! Hurry, hurry, clothes!”

“Calm down, Meiro-chan!”

Their completely unromantic horseplay began in the romantic Starry Chamber, but there was no one there to stop them.