The Seirei Gensouki Spirit Chronicles
Chapter 3

“ The threat of evil beings invading this land has been reduced, but they are still there. I have to eliminate the remaining dangers ” he told certain people before leaving the kingdom.

The king publicly announces the truth to the people: the recognition that they have committed an unforgivable crime in expelling Ryuo, which encourages people to think.

After the time passed, they would talk about the Ryuo legend, passing on its story from one generation to the next. They confessed their mistake, and prayed that one day, their hero would return. As soon as Hayate finished his story, he let out a small sigh.

“I don't know if this folk tale really happened or not. I don't even know if this Ryuo really exists. However, I believe the story should be told. There's a lot to learn from him,” he said.

“I always felt sorry for the king in that story and cried when I was a kid. It still makes me feel a little gloomy, even now,” muttered Ruri with a helpless smile.

“I think I cried the first time I heard it ..”

added Sayo. “But the Great Ryuo of the story sounds wonderful.”

“The name is really similar to Rio,” Goda Ruri.

“B-Not that the reason!” Sayo said, blushing.

“Ahaha,” Ruri laughs. “But, if Rio's parents really gave him a name after this story, I wonder what meaning they want to put behind him. Do they want him to be someone like Ryuo?” Said Ruri, pondering to herself.

“...Who knows?” Rio said with a gentle smile, somewhat liking. The four of them continued to chat for a while.

“This is it, Sir Hayate. Please drink tea.” Ruri poured her tea and offered it to Hayate beside her.

“Ah, correct. Thank you,” When Ruri's body approached her, Hayate thanked her. He sipped his tea before revealing a strong impression of its taste. “This is delicious.”

“You don't need to exaggerate. It was just a cheap item that the villagers drank. ”

“No, that's not true at all. Miss Ruri poured this tea. Your average tea is incomparable. ”

“Ahaha. You seduce me.” Ruri took Hayate's words as praise, and laughed amusedly. A very attractive person, Rio thought as he watched their antics while smiling.

While Hayate can be a little blunt and awkward, he is an honest and sincere person. He is the 18-year-old heir of one of the kingdom's advanced martial arts families. Despite wearing the robes of his family's bloodline, he never used his position to dominate others. She usually carried herself with dignity, but when it came to Ruri, her reaction seemed rather innocent and naive. Rio's impression of Hayate was quite good.

On the other hand, Ruri was already a married age girl and was well liked by many village men. Even as her cousin, Rio thought of her as charming. She hoped she would marry someone who had no luggage, but Ruri herself never picked it up, and therefore did not seem interested. Hayate comes – a young man with a very promising future, who seems to have already fallen for Ruri.

Of course, while the final decision of the marriage finally came to the two of them, Hayate naturally had no flaws as a candidate to become Ruri's husband. With that thought in mind, Rio nonchalantly started a conversation with Sayo beside him, hoping to give Ruri and Hayate space to talk to each other alone.

Sayo seemed to be thinking along the same path as Rio, appearing enthusiastically on the opportunity to talk to Rio. Thus, time passed in the blink of an eye.

“If we chat longer than this, we will all be exhausted this morning. Let's end the party now,” advises Hayate. He really enjoyed his conversation with Ruri, but at the same time, he knew when to back off.

“Yes, come. Sayo, you have to stay the night. It's too late, so you can sleep with me.” Ruri said, deciding that Sayo would sleep; there was no need to tell Shin, as she already knew that there was a possibility of this happening. They quickly cleared everything and went to sleep, except for Rio, who went to finish his training exercise.

◇◇◇

Rio swung his sword under the night cover in the garden of the village chief's house. His breathing came out violently, his body radiating heat as white steam rose from his skin. After swinging his sword attentively for a few minutes, he took a deep breath and returned his sword to its sheath.

“Fiuh ...” It was late at night, so he decided to stop and immediately headed for the nearby bath. Yet…

“Hm?” Rio froze on the spot, feeling a presence hidden in the darkness. He turned his gaze towards the presence; at the same time, he manipulated the wind with his spirit arts, blowing a gentle breeze in the same direction. Wind-related spirit arts were also good for detecting essences, as high-tier wind spirit arts users were able to release the wind embedded with their own faint amount of essence. This tactic allows the wind to detect the essence of whatever it touches.

Rio was unable to visually confirm a person's figure due to the darkness, but he was able to detect a hint of essence emanating from what was most likely someone walking down the street in front of the village chief's house.

Is someone walking around right now?

It was already too late for most of the villagers to sleep, but it was not too late to say there could not be anyone outside at this time. There was only one essence reaction, and the owner was getting further and further away from the village chief's house.

… Yeah, whatever.

If it does not get closer, then there is no need to pay attention to it anymore. Rio took the towel he left next to him and wiped his sweat away.

With a group of outsiders Gon living in the village, Rio secretly created a magic barrier yesterday that could detect intruders around the village head's house. If anyone comes in, he'll know soon enough. In particular, if a living being with a certain amount of essence passed through the barrier, the spirit stones used as the source of the essence for the barrier would react by expelling a large amount of light and heat. The efficacy of the barrier could be activated at will, and the barrier would fail to activate if spirit stones were brought outside the barrier.

Since many people were always in and out during the day, Rio held back the barrier during the day and activated its effect at night. Currently, the spirit stone core of the barrier was silent. After Rio washed the sweat from his body and cleaned himself in the bathtub, he went to his room and fell asleep.

◇◇◇

Not long after Rio fell asleep, in a small cottage on the outskirts of the village …

“Let's go,” Gon said in an impatient tone. About an hour ago, he had sent one of his subordinates to the scope of the village chief's house first. The men reported that he heard someone in the park, so they waited until now. Thanks to that, anxiety was buried within him. Unable to stand that hasty feeling anymore, Gon jumped to his feet and left the cottage with some other men. Although their vision was interrupted by the darkness, they quietly and carefully headed for the village head's house. Not a single villager woke up on a night like this, making silence dominate the air around the village.

When they arrived in front of the village chief's house, with the movement practiced, Gon walked around the side of the house and removed the wooden sliding windows attached to the side of a certain room. She had visited Yuba's house several times before while accompanying her parents, so she knew where Ruri's room was. He also knew that sliding doors were the easiest entry point.

The wooden sliding door was supported by a stick on the inside, but it had no effect if the entire door was removed, although there was nothing he could do with the loud enough clinking sound he made.

Gon handed the detached sliding door to one of his followers and quickly slipped into the room. It had only been a minute since they entered the house.

Hm? There two?

He froze when he saw two girls sleeping on the mat that lay in front of him.

Why are there two of them? Ruri and .. Who is this? I've seen this face somehow— Ooh, this is Shin's sister!

“Mm ... Is there someone there?” Ruri moved from where she was lying next to Sayo. He may be awakened by the voices from before, and the presence of someone in the room.

“Cih,” Gon clicked his tongue again. He leaned over his body and smothered his mouth.

“Mmgh ?!” Of course, the anomaly left Ruri's eyes open.

“Silence. If you make a fuss, I will make you regret, ”Gon threatened right in Ruri's face. With those words, he realized who the intruder was. Gon.

“Mmm! Mm, mmrgh!” Not wanting to give in to Gon's demands, Ruri started kicking and struggling.

“Hey, I told you not to move—” Gon tried to threaten him further, but this time, Sayo woke up.

“... Ruri? Huh huh? U-Umm, ap— ”

Sial— With that sudden thought, Gon carried his fist next to Ruri's face that was pinched with great force. It made a dull sound that echoed, making Ruri and Sayo flinch with their entire bodies.

“Listen!” Gon spoke to them with a slow but frightening whisper. He grabbed Ruri by the collar and swung his fist at her face, stopping a while before contact.

“If you keep making a fuss, the next one will hit your face. Understand?” he continued. Astonished by his intensity, Ruri stopped fighting back.

“Hmph,” sigh Gon satisfied. “And it also applies to you,” he said, pulling Sayo's collar closer.

“A-Ah .. Uh ...”

“Did you hear me? Nod your head.” The violent approach made Sayo cry as Gon continued to suppress them menacingly. Sayo almost reflexively nodded, but …

“A-What— You— Gah ?!” The screams of one of Gon's followers could be heard from outside the sliding door. At the same time, the sound of something heavy being thrown was heard.

“What happened, Mr Rio ?! Ap— you're there, what do you think you're doing ?! ”

Hayate's voice could be heard even further, meaning that the one who defeated Gon's followers was probably Rio. He had detected an abnormality on the spirit stone core of the magic barrier and was running.

“Sial, we have to run!” the voices of the people outside said. Everything gets noisy at once.

“Wait! you're not going to run away! ” Hayate chasing the man who fled into the night.

“Fuck, they found us! How— Gwah ?!” Gon appears aggravated at the turn of events, when a blinding light shines through the room from outside, making everything before him turn pure white.

Rio had blinded Gon's vision, after sticking out his left hand and illuminating the room with spirit arts. As soon as he saw the sight of Gon clutching Sayo's collar and Ruri's messy clothes, he spoke to Gon in a cold voice.

“...What are you doing?” She asked.

“Kuh, fuck you!” Gon hurriedly released his grip on Sayo's collar and ran towards the door outside. He intended to forcibly knock Rio off the spot he was standing at the door, but …

“Gah! Huh ?! ”

Rio easily sent him flying, his back hitting the ground hard. He did not even have time to prepare himself for the landing, putting a large amount of pressure on his chest and making a breath out of his paruparum.

“...Why are you running? I asked what you were doing. Answer me.” Rio's face was completely blank from expression as he looked at Gon, who was panting.

“Hah .. Hah .. Hh ..”

“What's up? Anwser me. What are you trying to do?”

“Hahn .. Hh ..” Gon wheezing through his mouth, desperately searching for oxygen.

“Oi, hurry and answer me. You want to breathe, don't you?” Rio roughly grabbed the collar of the shirt. By tightening his grip on his neck, Rio deliberately made Gon harder to breathe.

“Hah ... Ahh .. Night ... infiltrate .. P-Rape ...” In a desperate attempt to be saved, Gon mindlessly breathes the words “night infiltrate” and

“rape.” His voice was very tense, it was difficult to make his voice clear, but it was not important. Rio knew the answer before he even asked.

“Oh really.” He nodded without commitment, then swung Gon's face with all his might.

“Gah! Aghs! ” Gon groans in pain.

“...I'm not finished.” Rio's fist drove into Gon's face once again.

He did not hesitate for a moment; there was even some killing intent behind his punch. It is hard to believe this was the action of someone who once felt reluctant to kill someone who had tried to kill him first. As Rio saw the sight of Gon attacking Ruri and Sayo, his head was filled with flashbacks the last time he saw his mother.

He will never forget it. The sight of Ayame being played with by men to protect her helpless 5-year-old son .. Before she realized it, Rio let out his emotions at Gon, her body moved on its own.

No one could resist the endless hatred that flowed out from him. There's something changed in him – he's completely lost his mind.

“... Ah, ah, ah ..” Gon pleads for his life through gasping breaths, but Rio did not stop in the slightest. He would not let her fall unconscious. He won't give her an easy death.

He would never forgive her, no matter what. Only after hurting him to the limit of the pain his body could endure would he kill him.

Splice...