Bocchi – Chapter 31

Just a reminder that we’re still looking for an additional translator for Bocchi.

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Translator : BlightScarlet, Cnine
Editor : Maleandar
Proofreader : Maleandar

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Chapter 31 – An encounter with Wolf, A Fated Comrade

Inside of the cell I am guided to, there is the appearance of a half-man half-beast. To summarize it in one word, it’s a “Werewolf”

His face and other parts of the bodies are that of a wolf.

He resembles the werewolf Galloon[Garon] of the「Vampire」series fighting game.

Though incidentally, Gallon is my chosen character from the previous life.

And then, Wolf… somehow there’s gloom and sorrow in its eyes …

According to the slave dealer, Benoria, his muscles are very developed.

The first thing that comes to my mind is [very beast-like]; his muscles are strong yet flexible.

The development of his back muscle(latissimus dorsi muscle)
is especially awesome.

I try to feel his cracked and lumpy abs. It feels like touching a steel.

Though it was hard to see, since he wore easy to wear GI that’s similar to kempo GI, even his quadriceps muscle and gastrocnemius muscle (calf muscle) are amazing¹.

Even the neck where he wore the collar of slavery is considerably trained too.

The first time I saw Wolf, he’s doing a headstand by only using his neck muscle.

Without even touching the side wall with his feet..

That is an extreme feat that can’t be done without extreme sense of balance along with extremely tough neck and body.

If I remember correctly, the slave dealer, Benoria was trying to woo me into buying Wolf as a retainer by praising his military background.

It’s just…………both his arms are gone.

「Just before Wolf annihilated the Chivalric Order of the Demonic Wolf of our country, who brought only a pair of swords to the Limud campaign, our beastman force were already committed to a kamikaze attack on this half-man half-beast.

The beastman kamikaze squad already brainwashed by embedding demon stones[core] to brainwash them with magical power. In exchange for several hundreds beastman soldier of kamikaze squad, we managed to slice both of Wolf’s arms off.

The kamikaze beastman soldiers clung to his arms, then made their bodies explode².」

The slave merchant Benoria was explaining why this Half beast Wolf was missing his arms.

「I see ……… but, how strong is he?, even if he was a transcendental master of CQC, isn’t he even below an average warrior without his arms?」

「As expected of Ash-sama, such discerning eyes indeed, I’m afraid that I’m unable to refute your words³.」

No, my eyes isn’t that particularly discerning…….

「Even with the lost of his arms, the battle power of this wolf is still off the charts.
To be honest, even during the Limud campaign some time ago, he kept fighting even after losing both of his arms, and defeated more than 100 soldiers and knights.
With his fangs that can easily crunch steel armor and with kicks which can easily smash the cranium compared to smashing a watermelon!
His rampaging lasted for no less than a few hours after he lost his arms, even though his movement dulled and his consciousness became hazy soon afterwards, due to his excessive bleeding, and that’s how we somehow managed to arrest him.」

If what he just said is true, his fighting power remained the same despite losing both of his arms…………

I might doubt my eyes.

「If you doubt my words. Then, let me show you the proof.
Oi! Wolf!」

The slave dealer Benoria called out the name of the half-beast to let me see a demonstration.

He made the half-beast half-human Wolf kick a sandbag which was hanging from the ceiling by a straw rope.

The sandbag clearly weighing in at more than 100 kilograms ruptured with one kick⁴.
No, it was 2 kicks to be exact.

He did it with an extremely high speed rotation, kicking it’s left and right sides—-almost at the same time.

That kick was simply beyond fast, even I couldn’t see both the right kick and the left one.

Wolf’s kick was beyond amazing to the point that it caused me to get a goosebump just by watching it. And made me think that I want this half-beast half human.

Wolf crunched an iron bar with his sharp fangs with the next demonstration.

I can’t help but agree that he still has his combat abilities with both of his leg and fang even without his arms.

I’m shuddered realizing how strong he really was if he still had both of his arms.
.
It might be true and not an exaggeration that Wolf was able to bring about the annihilation of the Chivalric Order of Magic, who were armed to the teeth, with his kicking alone.

It seems that the half-beast half-human Wolf can’t speak in human language no matter how hard he tries.

Therefore, I put the green wig『GREEN WIG』 on my head and decided to ask some question to the person himself.

The『GREEN WIG』magic tool made it possible for me to also speak with animals.

The one I have is with forelock design, and flowing long hair on the back, though it’s weakness is that it’s a feminist design.

「………………」”THUD”

The instant I equipped the green wig――the slave merchant Benoria dropped the whip for training the slaves that he held in his hand on the floor.

For some reason, he sends a hot gaze at me like being mesmerized by something.

…………though I want you to stop looking at me like that since I got a bad premonition from it.

「a male…………Ash-sama is man. A man, a man, a man……man man man man man man man man man man man man man man」

The slave dealer Benoria mutter something to as if trying to convince himself.

I simply can’t understand what it is he is saying..

The slave dealer Benoria whispering something like a monologue in agony.

「……something……inside me, I feel it…… something is ……awaken………….」

For heaven’s sake, I beg you to keep that asleep FOREVER.

Though I don’t know what just awakened, I feel it’s repulsive about it for some reason.

Anyway, I’ll leave slave merchant Benoria in his own world for now, and speak to the half-beast half-human, Wolf.

「I’m thinking of buying you.」

「………………」
「………………」

Though I suspect that he will understand my words with the effect of the magic tool 『Green Wig』, the half-beast half-human Wolf is not answering back, and just stared at me in silence with dark and sorrowful eyes.

「……Why do you have such eyes? 」

I asked him since I was interested.

「…………………………………………………I…………………was abandoned.」

Murmuring, Wolf spoke with murmuring bitter voice.

I understood what he said thanks to the green wig, though it sound like a dog barked from another human.

「Abandoned? By who?」

「………………abandoned……………………………by master」

「…………」
「…………」
「…………I, swore my loyalty………from the bottom of my heart……however…………」

「…………」
「…………」
「………………I was abandoned………………」

Wolf was a slave soldier who belonged to the Rendohl empire. It seems he was made into bait in order to buy some time for them to retreat back to the fort, when it was deemed the situation of the campaign became disadvantageous to them.

Being chased by thousands of soldier in their pursuit, or maybe more than tens of thousands, comparing those two, no matter how great a slave soldier is, they would readily discard him.
Wolf who pledged his loyalty to the country which is『Master』was ready to lay down his life for the sake of his 『Master』.

During that time, a human noble, who was commanding the slave soldier corps —— for the sake of buying some time of the imperial army, to safely reach the fort during their retreat, Wolf was forced to play an active role in it. When he became a prisoner of war, he was abandoned when the country asked a large amount of money for his return ―― is what I understood with magic tool.

The country will never abandon Wolf, who is a loyal soldier, a warrior, a truly excellent warrior despite being a slave —- is what they said.

Wolf was impressed by that statement and seems to shed tears.

But, those words…………were a lie.

Come to think of it, maybe that was a lie said to him, predicting that he will fight to the bitter end and give his life for the sake of the『kingdom』 who is Wolf’s 『Master』 .

Even when he lost both of his arms, Wolf kept fighting to the point of exhausting himself.

Just for the sake of obeying the order of his 『Kingdom』 =『Master』 , he kept fighting until the brink of death.

Though it was his intention to throw away his life and everything for his master, his consciousness was dimmed due to excessive blood loss, and he was captured.

Though Wolf trusted and was expecting his 『Master』 to save him, since it’s already a common practice[custom of the war], that a ransom is paid to return the prisoner of war.

In reality, Runresia kingdom, my homeland decided to capture Wolf, and decided to ask for a large ransom for his return.

It seems they sent a notification to empire side, With that plan in mind.

Certainly that was to cover huge amount of damage caused by Wolf. Though it might be that they thought that rather than killing their hated empire soldier, they decided to capture him, and chose compensation for their losses even if it was just a little.

It was a rational decision which pursued compensation for their losses rather than prioritizing their emotions.

However, the empire side never complied with the amount of ransom for Wolf.

I think It’s because they put a large amount for ransom of the heavily damaged Wolf.

Wolf had already lost both of his arms.

The value of the half-Beast half-human soldier dropped sharply, maybe that was why the empire choose not to pay such a huge amount of money.

That was a logical decision too.

I believe and feel this kind of treatment to the soldier, who continued to fight for his country, even when he suffered from a heavy wound and even lost both of his arms …………… is just cruel and coldhearted.

In the event that they can’t pay the ransom, they swore to torture the capture half-beast half- human wolf by severing his manhood and make him suffer till —— is as far as they goes, is what was conveyed by Runresia kingdom side .

Though I know that torturing the prisoner of war is banned, they wouldn’t suffer any criticism even if they torture him, since it basically didn’t apply to half-beast half-human and beastmen.

Even though, the empire side knew that Wolf would be suffering from a cruel torture and possibly even executed.

Nevertheless, the empire side never gave an answer to the final notice of the prisoner ransom

On the contrary, that beast was thrown away, so do as your like —- is what they said. (TL: Help!)

And then, Wolf learned about that matter from the soldier of the kingdom.

That night of the same day Wolf, facing the direction of the ――empire――『master』 and raised a howl…… full of sorrow.

Wolf, the half-beast half-human prisoner whose his ransom was not paid, though it would not be a laughing matter to execute him after such torture ——- in the end, they decided to sell him to the private slave firm.

This is was done to cover the losses, even if it was only for a little.

That was also a logical decision.

The reason why he has such eyes is maybe because he has lived for a long time in the Empire and because of the despair of being abandoned by his『Masters』―――― is what I get from his words, Wolf is muttering the words piece by piece.

With an extremely lonely of tone.

「………………」
「………………」
「……you……why…… are you crying?」

I wiped the liquid that spontaneously flowed out from my eyes with my hand.

「I am not crying」
「……But……」
「Shut up! Silent! 」
「…………Is that…… for me…………? 」
「I said, I’M NOT CRYING. You just misunderstood it. 」

Though Wolf’s outward appearance is that of beast[animal], it was the opposite of it, upon a closer inspection, something ………….. It was almost that he is human inside.
Because I have a soft spot for heartbreaking stories of animals.

…………or not,it’s not like I’m crying right now.

Please don’t misunderstand.
This is —— just a mysterious liquid that is flowing out on it’s own from my eyes.
There’s no other explanation other than that.
When I was dragged into a false accusation of being a molester in my previous life, I was quickly 『abandoned』 by the company that I was working for——– isn’t recalling such an incident only dampening my mood⁵.
It’s just like I was suddenly seeing the figure of myself in my previous life in Wolf, who is sad about the fact that he was 『abandoned』by his country.
Even though, the depressing memories of my previous life have decreased a lot recently after such painstaking effort.
Geez.

…………。

I then took off the green wig, and put it away in my magic leather bag.
「How much is the price of this battle slave?」
I asked the Slave dealer, Benoria.

On the cage that accommodated Wolf, there is a price tag with 20 large gold coins written on it and I heard that it came with a discount.

「20 large gold coins is the purchase price but ―― since the buyer is none other than Ash-sama, I’ll make a discount with 10% off, reducing it to 18 large gold coins, yes.」

Is what the slave merchant Benoria said after I took off the green wig, while rubbing his hands together with a quick pace.
It’s was the kind of high-speed hand-rubbing that was approaching 16 times in 1 second.
This guy, won’t his fingerprints really disappear eventually?
(こいつ、そのうち本当に指紋がなくなるのでは？)

「…………………is it 18 coins? 」

I pretend to think it over as a bargaining (tactic).
I already made up my mind to buy Wolf at this point in time.
I became even more resolute after I heard Wolf’s story just now.
If it’s this half-beast who’s akin to animals, it’s possible that I might “someday” connect a 『true bond』 ――because………………I dimly felt that kind of premonition⁶.

However, I will put on an act of being troubled when buying him since I expecting even more of a discount.

「18 large gold coins is already a very reasonable price, Ash-sama.
Anyhow, with both arms, its certainty of the finest quality combatant is worth more than 200 large gold coins.
Moreover, even without his arms, you have to understand that he has enough battle power.
Ah, did you really understand his battle power?
Thus, with 18 large gold coins, which is not even a tenth of the original price, isn’t it an extremely good bargain, this humble me thinks that you must reconsider it 」

The slave dealer, Benoria, is desperately trying to sell Wolf.
He is even lowering himself to the point of referring himself with “this humble me[shousei]”. Is he really that desperate to even lower himself like that?.

However, how in the hell is a combatant without both of his arms suppose to still have the same battle power.
Since it’s difficult to make him work or do manual labors without arms, one can’t expect me to use him other than for battle.
It’s extremely unlikely that he can do any kind of labor.
For that reason, no matter how good he is as a combat slave, he has a big minus point.
Combat slaves, when they don’t have training or it’s not the time of war, they usually do manual labor.
Doing manual labor, is their second most important selling point.
Because it’s wasteful to let them do nothing.

There are few battle slaves who were continuously trained outside of battle time.

Many battle slave seem to be often assigned to manual labor by becoming an escort.
However, if you made someone without arms as an escort, there are some chance that you will be taken lightly by other people and they will hire the more preferable one.
The so called escort will give an intimidating aura to the opponent with just their presence in that place. That’s why it’s an important job to make an opponent think to not get themselves involved with the one’s being escorted.
Therefore, the one’s who are preferred as escorts are big men who『seem』 to be strong and tough guys.
But I think it’s hard to give an intimidating feeling when someone is without arms.

In short ―― no matter how much his battle strength remained, to Wolf who lost his arms, he’s a hard to sell 『Item』.
So, this slave merchant is trying desperately to sell Wolf to me.

「Certainly, his value is more than 200 large gold coin with his arms, then shouldn’t it be fine to grow back his arms with the stocks of unicorn horns on the black market?. that way you will have even more profit by selling him for more than 200 large coin. 」

I am speaking of the question I thought of.
It’s possible to regenerate the lost limb with unicorn horns, a truly super-useful-restoration item.
Pairs of arms, pairs of legs, even though it regenerating, but it seems a new one[never used] is necessary for that⁷.
For the living Unicorn, in order to use its horn for regenerating other’s limbs has the same meaning as death —— and so forth, was what was explained by the old unicorn.

「It can’t be done, the reason is not only the Unicorn horn price, which is around 50 large gold coins, it’s a really rare item which can’t be found so often.
Even though there’s seems to be 10 horn sold in the black market just yesterday, even so, they’re sold out on the same day.」

「…………」
「…………」

It seems that maybe the unicorn horns that I sold to Greed the dark merchant is amongst those 20 Unicorn horns.
To distribute them on the black market and to sell out on the very same day—- as expected, his work is fast.

「As soon as the unicorn horn is circulating on the black market………….
Besides, even compared to the one on the market, due to the rush of the buyers that come when they hear about the rumor, it’s very often that you won’t get it unless you’re very lucky.
That is, if you take out 150 large gold coins, 3-times of market price, you can get it without any difficulties.
However, then you need more than 300 large gold coin to regenerate both arms.
In that case, assuming that this battle slave is sold at 200 large gold coins, it’s a big deficit. 」
「I see, there’s a reason like that………… understood, I will buy him for 18 large gold coin. 」

The slave merchant’s remaining eye brightened up.

Before the slave merchant expresses his gratitude of my purchase, I….
「However, If that was the case, you can discount the『collar of slavery』 at the price of 1 large gold coins, right」
I didn’t forget to add it.

Just before I sign the slave trading agreement――

「Ah, that’s right, though there’s no need to report about this. The truth is this beast-half-human have a Lunatic
Disease『Moon Possessed Disease』

My hand that was holding the quill pen stopped.
Do not tell me about such disease just before I am signing the contract.
Because you told me that it’s nothing much, I almost didn’t sign it if I heard it wrong.

………… could it be, don’t tell me that you’re actually aiming for it?

「The『Moon Possessed Disease (Lunatic Disease)』 said to have various 『Out of Control』 occurrences happening due to the magical power of the moon, is it that 『Moon Possessed Disease (Lunatic Disease)』?」
「Yes, that’s right」
「…………what kind of symptom is it? Will he go out of control, acting purely by instinct, and abandoning all sense of reason during the full moon? 」

Though it’s rare for human and fairy-kin to have a『Moon Possessed Disease[Lunatic Disease] 』, for some reason the beast-man, and beast-half-human included —- can easily become inflicted with one⁸.
It was what my mother taught me in general knowledge.
The『Moon Possessed Disease[Lunatic Disease] 』has various symptoms.
The example is the one that lost to it’s instinct and berserk during the fullmoon.

In addition,
In such case where someone from the fairy-kin or the humans, who had such a disease, there seems to be a symptom which made them transform into a beast-man when they see a full moon⁹.
It’s a phenomenon called beast-fication[Lycanthrope]-type phenomenon.
As for me, it made me remember about the werewolf.
Though it also made me remember about a certain saiyan race who will transform into a giant ape once they look at the moon¹⁰.
…………by the way, my favourite character is Vegeta who is the prince of saiyan race.
In the movie version of Dragon Ball『God and God』, Vegeta the proud saiyan prince becomes an elite warrior, when I saw him throwing away his pride and doing a bingo dance*, despite the roar of laughter, an unknown tear is —— no, let’s leave that story for now¹¹.
(By the way, I naturally saw the movie alone.

………… Now let’s go back to the『Moon Possessed Disease[Lunatic Disease]』?

Though there’s various symptoms of『Moon Possessed Disease[Lunatic Disease], the most unusual one is the change of the gender.
Only in a full moon, a man changes to a woman, and a woman changes to a man¹².
It’s a gender reversal.
When the gender reversal happens during the time they have a sex with the opposite sex ——— it will cause something unexpected to happen¹³.
Anyhow, 『Moon Possessed Disease[Lunatic Disease]』 is a difficult illness.
Among the various symptoms, some may occur at the same time.

「No, not at all, be at ease since this person didn’t have the so called “losing a sense of reasoning” symptom.
「Oh, is that so? then, what in the Roxism are his symptoms then? 」
「Yes, His gender will be reversed, and transformed into a human[humanification] when he sees the full moon」

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<sup>1. (TL: Mhmm, Dat legs…Dat muscles…)[PF : Yameteeeeee…..] ↩
2. TL note: Ok, this need an explanation. The human beast squad are demi-humans. Wolf is a “brute” born from a demi-human and a beast. Thus, try not to get confuse when we say the human beast (man beast..something!) are attacking the half-beast. Something along the way. I need suggestions for a new name. Seriously, I’m mixing up names. ↩
3. (TL: “思えぬお言葉”? “ぬ”-making it negative?) ↩
4. [TL :one kick wolf] ↩
5. TL comment: I’m not sure if I could use it this way, but it fits. (Used という as recalled. It could be use as someone saying something or called as something. But the character is remembering something, so I use the word “recall”)
↩
6. [TL2 : Flag? I hope it’s not a BL Flag] ↩
7. TL comment: It’s like a song! 😀 (ED/PR Note Maleandar: he sings this part basically stating to regenerate legs or arms one must use a young Unicorn’s horn that is fresh and has never been used before, one full of vitality.) ↩
8. TL note: 妖精 – elf, fairy, or sprite. They are magical creature and all.
↩
9. [TL: werewolf] ↩
10. TL note: If you don’t know this reference, then you are truly insaiyan. ↩
11. [TL : maybe referring to dragon ball [Kami to kami] the movie.] ↩
12. (TL: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ) ↩
13. [TL : I feel like I know what is it but didn’t want to dig too deeply into it] ↩</sup>

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From TL: This is a volunteer work from a translator with 2 years of experience in Japanese language. The very volunteer who’s incompetent in writing “perfect” English. So please don’t “bare” your fangs toward me. Unless I get fired, the translation will remain mediocre (in my opinion) compared to other competent TL.
In other news, I have no excuse about this infrequent translation activity. The only excuses I have is college (physics bend time and space to move very fast) and laziness (Lack of motivation and commitment kills you).
御免なさい, 皆さん. (I’m sorry, everyone) (ノ・Д・)ノ
From ED/PR Maleandar: No worries edited and changed some sentences around for better reading, while keeping the integrity of the translation. It is a given that translated series have an “engrish” feel to them, giving it a spirit that is enjoyable to read and understand. Tho must admit was stumped at first on the song, hehe with the regeneration of arms and legs explanation…