QualiA – Chapter 15: The bird in the cage ①

The darkening sky and the dark grey clouds combined were making a humid air that clung to my skin and was increasing the gloominess.

Wincing at such a change from the fine weather of yesterday, I take a sip from the tea Erin made.

“…I hate rain.” (Makoto)

Looking outside the window, those words naturally leak out from me. Toto reacted to it from on top of my head and moves a bit.

A monster that only eats and sleeps is currently relaxing at the top of my head. It might have been a mistake to feed this guy. It really isn’t good to do things on the spur of the moment just because you think it is fun, yup.

“Makoto-sama, what will you be doing today?”

“Hmm, I am thinking of going out for a bit.” (Makoto)

“Going out, is it. Then, I will make the preparations qui—”

“Ah, that’s fine. I will be going out on my own.” (Makoto)

It has been two days since the duel.

Yesterday, for the sake of information, I checked out the people to be cautious of by using Marker. There were people doing suspicious movements, and there were people who didn’t take a single step outside. From within those group of people, Makirus was one who moved around here and there busily.

I thought the places she went to were pretty problematic, so I was thinking of confirming those places today.

“On your own?” (Erin)

“I will just be checking stuff for a bit using teleportation.” (Makoto)

“Y-You will be using t-teleport magic?” (Erin)

“Uh, yeah.” (Makoto)

I have already explained teleportation to the Queen and the others, and Erin is one of those people, so she knows I can use it. But this will be the first time she will see me use it, so she seems a bit nervous.

I think it is incredibly plain-looking and there’s nothing interesting about it though.

“Erin and Toto, I am counting on you guys to guard the fort while I’m away, okay?” (Makoto)

“Y-Yes.” (Erin)

I grab the white manju that is indulging in sleep and throw it to Erin. The white manju had its sleep suddenly disturbed and was in the air crying out ‘mukyu mukyu~!’ as protest, but as if I care. You useless criter that’s always sleeping.

That’s why you fell from being a sacred beast. Live a bit more primly. If you were to do that, you would be more of a sacred beast…no, that won’t be happening, huh. It would be impossible for this guy. It is a useless demonic beast that only eats and sleeps after all.

“Live strong, Toto.” (Makoto)

“…Mukyu?”

While feeling pity for Toto, I activate [Akashic Library].

[Akashic Library – activating Map Load.]

[Showing in a radius of 10 km around the Motoyasu royal castle everything simplified aside from the main facilities.]

“If I remember correctly, it was around here… Oh, there it is.” (Makoto)

Scrolling the map, I search for the person using Marker, and it looks like it is moving.

“Caught her in good timing it seems.” (Makoto)

[Teleport – Location: the Kokomido orphanage, side alley.]

I set the coordinates of the teleportation, and insert the information of the location I am teleporting to for the first time.

“Erin, if Niva-san comes, tell her I have gone outside.” (Makoto)

“O-Okay.” (Erin)

[—Information load finished.]

[Preparations for teleportation finished.]

“Well then, I will be going.” (Makoto)

“H-Have a safe trip.” (Erin)

With Erin seeing off my departure, I teleport from a royal castle room to the set location.

☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆

The location I teleported to was dim, and a slightly putrid smell entered my nose.

I did know that this area was not too maintained from what I saw in the map, but this is worse than I thought.

Lower strata residential area of the royal capital — also known as the lower class district.

It could be called the darkness of the royal capital, and it is a lawless area that experiences crimes daily. What is that person doing in this kind of place? What is she trying to accomplish? Looks like it will be important to see whether it is okay to ignore it for now, or crush her immediately.

“Now then, let’s hurry.” (Makoto)

I look up at the grey weather and then check the surroundings. Confirming that there’s no presences around, I activate [Intangible] and leave the alley.

Let’s go, then.

……

With the help of the Marker, I tail the person in question.

This person that is wearing a black robe and covering her eyes deeply with the hood of it was walking in the alley and was looking around the place as if searching for something. She is clearly acting suspicious. But even that attire looks normal in this kind of place.

This place is a gathering of people that are doing their best to simply live for one day more and have no time to worry about others. The royal castle is on the max levels of deceitfulness, but in a different meaning, this place is also the same.

This person has explosive levels of suspiciousness.

This person that’s wearing a black robe and hiding her face in a place like this all alone is today’s target, magic division leader, Makirus.

I knew that she had been doing strange moves these few days, but since yesterday, she began going to the lower class district. At that time, I was looking at it from the royal castle, so I couldn’t tell what she was doing, but from the looks of it, she seems to be searching for someone. Suddenly, several children came running to Makirus and brought out their hands.

“Thanks~.”

“Waah, candy.”

“So sweet~.”

The ones who came to speak to her were children of around ten years old. The children had received something and were giving their thanks with a smile. Just in case, I check with [Analyze] to see what she was giving them, but what she gave them was small candy, and didn’t have anything strange to it.

Is it possibly an act of charity?

It is kind of different from my first impression of her and the information of her past I got of Niva-san. I can’t see her as someone who would do acts of charity. But that sight of hers patting the head of the smiling children eating candy, it made me doubt those thoughts of mine.

After that, she continued walking around the lower class district for around two hours and was giving out candy to children, but when the rain finally came, the people entered their houses and Makirus covered herself with the hood again and disappeared within the rain.

  ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆ ☆☆  

I was looking at the candy she gave out while lazing around in my room.

What happened just now was so shocking that I told Niva-san and she said ‘didn’t you see wrong?’ and was seriously surprised. Meaning that Makirus isn’t the kind of person to do that.

“Maybe some sort of groundwork for a plan?” (Makoto)

Most of the people she was interacting with were children. She might be trying to do something by giving away candy, but I can’t tell what that something is.

How problematic. This is exactly the kind of times when I would like to rub the droopy ears of Erin, and yet, Niva-san gave her some work and she is currently going around performing those. Working my personal maid hard, unforgivable. I can’t mofu mofu like that!

Four o’clock, huh…

I confirm the time on the wall clock, and there’s still 2 hours till dinner, so just keeping tabs of the others like this would bore me to hell.

When I stood up thinking about wandering around the castle…

“Makoto-sama, excuse my intrusion.”

At the same time that the door was knocked, it opened, and Niva-san entered.

“No wait, I haven’t answered you.” (Makoto)

“I knew you were here, so I omitted that part. I also already confirmed that you were not changing.” (Niva)

“Am I being peeped?” (Makoto)

“Yes, completely.” (Niva)

An unexpected straight affirmation!

“The usual girl is peeking at you from the ceiling, but don’t mind it.” (Niva)

“I know, but I would like some more privacy~.” (Makoto)

“…If you need to, you can speak to the ceiling. It will make you feel better, you know? She is waiting eagerly for that moment.” (Niva)

“I kind of don’t wanna.” (Makoto)

I don’t like this. This silver haired maid-san is getting better at teasing me.

“Now then, let’s leave the joking aside.” (Niva)

“Right… You are really not peeping, right?” (Makoto)

“Don’t you know about the presences around you? Also, there’s not enough people, so we can’t unnecessarily use our human resources.” (Niva)

Can I take that as me being trusted? …Hm? Wait, why is it that she knows about what’s happening inside when she is not peeping? That’s kind of scary.

“It is the basics of a maid. If I perk my ears, I can distinguish the rustling of clothes to even the moanings of a love affair.” (Niva)

“Can you please stop casually reading my mind? —Wait, those ears of yours are really scary sharp.” (Makoto)

“It was showing in your face. Anyways, we will be heading to Almina’s place, so can I have you accompany me?” (Niva)

“That’s quite the sudden request. Or more like, Almina’s place?” (Makoto)

After Niva-san responded with a “Yes”, she urged me to move and, thinking that something happened to Almina, I headed to where she is. It ended up with us heading to the inner palace.

☆☆ ★★★ ☆☆

In a tasteless room where there’s only the bare necessities, there’s a single girl there hugging her knees and looking outside the window.

“Rain…”

Spiritless face and blank eyes.

1 month before, she was having a normal life, and yet, for some reason, it ended up in this way. The girl was looking outside the window with those emotions dimly drifting inside of her.

Apprentice priestess, Almina.

It was two years ago that she entered the church as an apprentice priestess. Her father abandoned the family and left home, and Almina and her mother that were left were living by themselves. However, that mother of hers had died from a disease that was going around at those times, and Almina, who was left behind alone, admired the priestesses that took care of her with dedication and dreamed of being a priestess, so she joined the church.

It wasn’t as if she was especially beautiful or anything, and she has a side of hers that is a bit clumsy and air-headed, but her smile was cute. But within the priestesses that joined around the same time as her, there weren’t any who were especially talented and, even as she trained everyday, not much results were made.

‘Incompetent’.

That was the word that described Almina the best.

This young girl that learned of the unfairness of the world at the young age of 15 held her knees, and just like that, laid to the side and closed her eyes.

(I want to sleep like this forever.)

At that day when she was ordered by the Archbishop to do the hero summoning, she felt fear at the hero summoning that has a highly bad reputation of being called ‘Priestess Killer’, and at the same time, felt a slight bit of pride about it. Those two emotions were mixed together only for a few days. Once she calmed down and thought about it, the reality of it naturally comes.

No one expects the hero summoning to succeed.

When she realized this, she noticed that there was no place for her in the temple. Almina, who was chosen as the priestess who will be performing the Priestess Killer hero summoning, was being avoided by everyone. Even the apprentice priestesses that got along with Almina had disappeared from her side, and in around two weeks, there was no one by Almina’s side.

It was as if everyone was trying to shoo her away.

Almina did her best in studying about the hero summoning, and did nothing but train to increase her ability as a priestess.

At that time, the archbishop called for Almina, and she experienced hell. She managed to escape and it ended up in a fail attempt, but Almina’s heart ended with a deep wound in her heart, and as if running away from that fear and pain, she single-mindedly devoted herself to training, and then…the day of the hero summoning arrived.

The day where everyone expected the hero summoning to fail.

But…

Contrary to everyone’s expectations, the hero summoning succeeded. It ended in success.

Five people were summoned.

At first, no one understood what was happening. The reality that the doomed-to-fail hero summoning had succeeded had not seeped into their minds and a bit of time passed blankly.

And then, after a while, it finally came out, a voice that said ‘Hero-sama…’.

But the response was denial.

The black haired man said she had the wrong person. He seemed to be somewhat uncivil and furrowed his eyebrows as if in bad humour. Seeing this man looking around, Almina steadily felt as if her back was freezing.

Abnormal Monster’.

The outside factor that snuck into a past hero summoning and changed the royal capital into a sea of fire, bringing many casualties with it. After that, it was decided that the priestesses that fail the hero summoning should be killed.

‘Priestess Killer’…

‘It succeeded, but it failed’, thinking this instinctively, Almina questioned the man desperately. The other four were dumbfounded and weren’t in a state that could converse, so the only one who could react to her voice was the black haired man.

(I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die.)

(I want to live, I want to live.)

Clinging to those emotions, she questioned over and over.

(Please…save me.)

‘I want to live, even if shamefully…’, hiding those wishes of hers, Almina single-mindedly questioned. But even with that, he didn’t accept, and at the end, was scolded.

Almina felt as if everything in front of her had turned pitch black.

After that, checking their status, it was confirmed that the black haired man was simply caught in it.

The other four were Heroes, and the black haired man was just an ‘ordinary citizen’ that was dragged in.

He wasn’t an Abnormal Monster.

Almina was relieved by this, but then, she noticed.

Almina was incompetent as a priestess, but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Almina’s instincts were better than the average person. That’s something a priestess normally has as they listen to the words of the Gods, but in Almina’s case, rather than calling it instinct, it would be more accurate to call it ‘imagination’.

Just that, for some reason, she has a bad habit of imagining things in a negative manner.

If she were to always think in that way and fall in fear, she wouldn’t be able to show results in her lessons. That’s why she is called incompetent, but inside of Almina, she had reached to the worst kind of conclusions.

‘The hero summoning has succeeded, but an outside element was mixed in it. Maybe they will do something to me because of this’, ‘in the worst case…’, noticing this, Almina was scared.

‘If I continue staying in the temple, I will definitely be… I don’t want to live a daily life where I live in fear’. Holding those kind of emotions inside of her, she asks for the heroes to defeat the Demon Lord.

Holding back the desire to shout out that, in reality, she wanted them to save her.

While being tormented by these chaotic thoughts, in the end, she reached the conclusion that ‘This is the fault of the Demon Lord. No doubt about it.’ With those emotions filling her, Almina’s voice began to show anger and hatred in it.

‘It is all…the Demon Lord’s fault…’

‘That’s why, I want them to defeat the Demon Lord’. Maybe those feelings transmitted to them, the hero boy stood up and showed his anger.

That figure of his was the very same as the hero of legends. ‘With this, the world will be saved, but I will surely not be saved’.

But a saving arrived.

The Queen, who worried for Almina’s safety, had taken her under her protection. The public reason given was that they have to protect the priestess that succeeded in the hero summoning, but Almina was explained that, in reality, it is to avoid an unfair disposal. Because Almina had an idea of the reason why, she obediently accepted.

And so, the present.

Being in the former inner palace with the pretext of protection, which is more like imprisonment, Almina didn’t have much to do. She would finish her duties as a priestess which has become a daily habit of hers, and after that, she would pass her days lazily.

Days that were like heaven and, at the same time, hell.

In exchange for safety, this place didn’t have freedom.

Even though she wished to not die, when this wish got fulfilled, another desire came. Almina was in self-derision at how hopeless she was for being like that, and once again closes her eyes.

“Almina-sama, it is Niva.”

“Ah, yes… I will open it now.” (Almina)

But she was interrupted by an unusual visitor.

Almina hurriedly raised her body and opens the door of the room.

“G-Good evening. What business do you have toda—” (Almina)

There, she noticed that it wasn’t only one visitor, and when she confirmed who that person was, Almina’s eyes open wide in surprise.

“Y-You are…” (Almina)

“Yo.”

The person that appeared together with the personal maid of the Queen, Niva, and had raised his hand in a casual manner was the ‘ordinary citizen’ that was caught in the hero summoning, the black haired man.

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120 thoughts on “QualiA – Chapter 15: The bird in the cage ①

    1. Now this is weird.
      I was refreshing this page since 1:15 and chapter 15 did not come out until 1:40
      When it finally displayed, you comments are already there.
      What kind of sorcery is this !?
      As the F5 sect. leader, I demand justice because we are heavily damaged by this atrocity.

      1. Justo give up you will never beat this magical IA from another world not in this reality nor on others realities. Well you can beat him, but that will have a cost, and i’m sure that you are not willing to pay it.
        Or you can wait for every star and world to line up for the IA to have lag in the precise moment that reigo upload a chapter

          1. That’s what someone who’s planning on poisoning someone else would say.
            And even if you say that poison doesn’t work, that’s something from an isekai. Who’s to say they don’t have poisons that work on Nepus?

          2. Why are you accusing me of attempting murder? Why are you like this?

            … if it’s just food poisoning it is not attempted murder you know. He will just get sick and stomachache. That’s all.

          3. Didn’t you say that you just bought it?
            Why would it cause food poisoning or stomach aches? Unless you intentionally bought it because it would cause that.
            And I never said anything about murder… You are becoming increasingly suspicious.

      1. *sigh* now you are smuggling isekai items? YOU REALLY WANT TO WORK ON THE NEPUS MINE RIGHT? THIS TIME I WILL CATCH YOU AND SEND YOU TO THE DEPPERS LEVES OF THE NEPUS MINE WERE NO ONE CAN HAVE IT’S SANITY NOR IT’S INSANITY

      1. Hello Orca, I-is that the reason you’ve been hitting like button!! Nuuuu~~!!
        *throws snicker as sacrifice*
        *hides in refrigerator*

  1. “Working my personal maid hard, unforgivable. I can’t mofu mofu like that!”
    Normaly I would say ‘That’s for being a pervert MC’ but everybody deserves to Mofu Mofu
    Thanks for the chapter

      1. Hello again~
        Been busy with school, so I haven’t been reading lately.
        But nowadays my schedule has been good, so I found the time to start reading again~
        Anyway, it’s good to see you guys again!

        (I forgot what chapter I was in World Reformation and, this novel has been nice so far)

          1. The only thing I remember is my comment about Haine and them entering some ruins…
            Since I don’t really remember the story that much, I might as well read from the start~
            (I read during classes anyway. Hehe.)

  2. “At that time, the archbishop called for Almina, and she experienced hell. She managed to escape and it ended up in a fail attempt,” <- this a rape attempt it is referring to, or what, do we reckon?

    1. I was gonna ask about that. Like…whoa. Did what I think happened just happen?

      They were a little too quick with it and there’s just enough possibility of me reading the subtext wrong for me to hope that’s the case.

    2. I think that what happened was that the arcbishop brought the priestess to a closed place and put the ‘return’ magic circle in her body.

      Much like putting a curse or something. She must’ve been subjected to intense pain.

      If I remember it correctly, the magic circle or formula is designed to be put in all the priestesses who does the hero summoning ritual and drains their magic and life energy away until they become unable to use magic/death, which is why the ritual is called the priestess killer; aside from the risk that they becomes the target of murder to make sure the heroes never return.

      1. I mean, this is what probably happen. If the connotation of rape or abuse in the text is proven wrong.
        I don’t want to believe that she was raped, because I really hate that in anything I read. I will still be in this denial until proven otherwise.

      2. “At that time, the archbishop called for Almina, and she experienced hell. She managed to escape and it ended up in a fail attempt, but Almina’s heart ended with a deep wound in her heart, and as if running away from that fear and pain, she single-mindedly devoted herself to training, and then…”

        She managed to escape and it ended in a fail attempt. With this context its impossible for it to be the magic circle attempt. This is almost certainly attempted rape which she managed to flee from.

      3. It said that she managed to escape before the archbishop succeeded though. Since she actually has the magic circle in her body, that probably isn’t it.

        Also, it’s called the priestess killer because priestesses that fail the ritual are executed, I think. There’s also the drain, but failing is the worse fate, I think.

    3. …A thought strikes me after dwelling on it for a bit.

      One question that was left hanging in the air for me was why there needed to be such the equivalent of an assassination attempt on Almina, this “incompetent”, apprentice priestess. Moreover, it’s roundabout and seems like a lot of effort.

      And now that I thought about it, it was the archbishop who received an “oracle” to appoint Almina to the position. Was this an attempt to silence her?

  3. So apprentice priestess in harem next? Also its stupid to say its the demon lord’s fault when its actually the one who ordered u to do the stuff thats impossible.

    1. She is traumatised and tries to run away from reality. Putting all the blame on the demon lord is a way that she use to cope with her situation. There is no logic behind this kind of thinking, only directed anger and grieve.

  4. Thanks for the chapter Reigokai Sama.
    … Are you perhaps going to give us an extra chapter for being Halloween
    (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
    If not I think I am gonna cry really hard 。・゚・(ノД`)・゚・。

  5. Thanks 4 the chapter!

    She has reason to be paranoid. Though, is it paranoia if someone is actually out to get you?

    1. It’s an interesting question, in her case. In the one hand, it is true that she is being set up to fail; on the other hand, she’s reaching conclusions based on her imagination without any evidence, which *is* a type of paranoia.

      I would say that, rather than being prone to paranoia, she’s been driven to paranoia by her circumstances. But, let’s just see how this goes. 🤔

    2. From how i see it, “paranoia” is when you’re more wary than the “normaly admit level”.

      You know, those stupids moro… I mean… Normals people who think they know everything better than anyone and kindly told you that you’re just paranoid… Those usefull *cough cough* people will says that she is paranoid. Smarter one will says that she is carefull. But you would never call yourself paranoid if not for those “kind people” calling you so…

  6. Thanks for the chapter, Reigo-senpai!!!

    Yeah, we all know what’s really going on.

    Almenia: Y-You are…

    Makoto: You know who I am. Now, you’re to join my harem.

    1. Speaking of which, does QualiA have any illustrations for our cast?
      Because as it stands, I’m pulling similar characters from all sorts of other stories to sub in for their images.

      The (formerly) Fiery and exceedingly busty Queen Caril is Queen Aura.
      The sass AF Super-spy Maid with Kuudere (?) tendencies is Hayasaka.
      And now, we have a 15-year old, orphan Priestess with a lot of unlucky life experiences, but also a surprising inner resilience…

  7. Thanks for the chapter

    On the late episodes the novel feels ….. so artificial. It supposed to be a ultraOP MC, he has hundreds years old, many experiences and he wants to crush the gods, but having his friends on the edge he is extremelly passive? Come on mr writter, this is just a dull way to extend a novel!!!!!!!

    I’ll try to forget about it and read without thinking on anything 😀 It’s a pity, the novel has many potential, I hope it will be solved on the next chapters

    1. I’m not too sure I understand what you’re troubled by.

      I wouldn’t say the recent chapters are fantastic or anything, but I certainly don’t feel anything particularly wrong with them.

      1. It has many inconsistences, he picked a nosense fight with two knights and both of them remains alive (they can spread rumours and news about him)….. but he doesn’t erase Erac who is menacing the heroes and the way to return home, seriously? He is suposed to be something far away from a sage

        1. Regarding the knights, I see that as him just keeping a policy of buying any fight that someone picks with him. He wants to live in peace, but he’s not super possessive of the title of “normal citizen” so much as he finds it convenient.

          Regarding Erac, well…he’s the prime minister. You can’t just go after a guy of that authority without either a lot of preparation or a lot of trouble. He’s clearly planning to deal with him in time, but it’s simply not ready yet unless he wants to use brute force.

          And lastly, I don’t quite get what you mean by the sage comment, but he’s always had a personality that was particularly wise or dignified. Rather, sage is just a role that was thrown on him and he’s mostly backed by experience, which tells him to refrain from acting rashly in a political scenario.

  8. Thanks for another wonderfull chapter, so will lmira become his first legendary discipple now??? HAHAHAH Nah jokes aside what will be the solution he will come up to deal with her.

  9. Call it bias, but I can only see the mad scientist giving children candy as a prelude to something disgusting and horrible. Worse yet, it seems that she’s going to escape the country at the end of whatever big incident is coming.

    Besides that and Niva continuing to be fantastic…poor Almina, I suppose.
    I don’t feel like the story is trying to portray her as the usual precious cinnamon roll for damsels, but her situation is unequivocally pitiful and crappy. It’s a weird experience, honestly, but I think she’s actually more “human” thanks to this.

    It’s like…I still want to punch all the scumbags behind all this in the face, but this time the reason is less “protect” and more “justice”.

    1. The author did give a big foreshadow about the magician; that she will be known as a mad magician in the future.

      Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe that the terms ‘mad scientist’ or ‘mad magician’ is only applicable to someone who disregard morality for what they pursue. Human experiment isn’t far from those terms.

      I guess that the magician intends to lure and use the orphans for human experiments. Only time will tell.

  10. See, I resent this kind of thing (besides the obvious reason) because there’s a difference between being immoral and amoral. A mad scientist should be amoral.

    So why do we get so many people that seem to go the extra step to be evil seemingly just for the heck of it? If you’re a monster because the pragmatic thing to do is heartless and brutal, then that’s fine. Well, “fine”.
    But sometimes the goal is sadism instead of results, and that’s not science at all. =n=

          1. It is supposed to be Mike (pronounced like mic from microphone), but I’m not too worried about it normally.

          2. My username is phonetic alphabet for my initials ML the 52 was a computer generated number because the username was taken already… Interesting connection though!

  11. The lack of Erin and other animal ears in recent chapters is getting its toll on me. I’m feeling sick. Why is she always sent elsewhere and her scenes to short.
    Like this I cannot mofu mofu.

  12. Thank you kindly for the chapter. Heh. Ordinary citizen. That’s like calling Reigokai an ‘ordinary translator.’ When they are actually an amazing super translator~ 😀

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