Orc Harem Vol 5 Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Jo- Ha- Q

(TN: A reference from Evangelion Rebuild’s title. Jo-Ha-Q or 序破Ｑ was  used for the naming of Evangelion Rebuild’s movies. Jo-Ha-Q itself  originated from Jo-Ha-Kyuu (序破急) which is best known as description of  the acts of a noh play, where Jo means the beginning part (Points to  Rebirth 1.0), Ha means the middle part (Rebirth 2.0), and Kyuu (read  like “q”) means the end part (Rebirth 3.0).)

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It’s a white room like usual. A huge hourglass is floating in the air.

The greatest threat in this room is how there is nothing at all here.

In the past I was once given a test of entering this place without bringing anything.

I spent one month alone, in a place where there is nothing, which means there isn’t any amusement at all.

Those who are able to use ki skillfully won’t die even if they don’t  eat or drink for one month. I also had survival experience, so I thought  that this trial wouldn’t be that difficult when I heard about it.

However I was naïve.

I thought I was going to lose my mind.

There is nothing more poisonous than experiencing no change at all.

There was no sun here, the flow of time was incomprehensible, there  was no other living creature than myself, the temperature and the  brightness were also constant, my senses were broken and I lost track of  how many days had passed, and even my own existence became vague in my  mind.

This time I have Marle with me, so there is no need to worry about that. It’s a salvation for me.

「The room is so biig! It’s pure white everywhere.」

「Let’s make a tent first.」

I asked the earth spirits to create stones from nothing, then I piled them up.

A simple small room is created.

This will be our base.

「Amazing-, Marle will also try!」

Marle also used magic by copying what I did.

What an interesting formula.

She isn’t simply copying what I did.

Even though she has absorbed my cell and soul, as expected she couldn’t copy the spirit crest too.

Therefore she can’t use spirit’s power like me.

That’s why she skillfully gathered the residue of earth spirits that I  gathered and used them. Furthermore she made use of the fact that her  mana has similar property with mine to make the spirits misidentified  her as me.

Just from seeing once, not only she obtained my skill, she even put it into practice.

She is truly a prodigy. My daughter is number one in the world.

「Amazing……now then Marle, we’re going to try getting new power from now.」

「Marle will work hard!」

Marle’s eyes twinkled.

「Now then, we are going to become one from now.」

「Does that mean, Marle is also going to do the same thing like what Otou-san did with Tita or Kururu at night?」

「Wha-, there is no way we’re going to do that!」

Or rather, she saw?

Even though I should have asked Marle to be in a different room just in case before doing that kind of thing with them.

「Too bad……」

「I can’t possibly do that kind of thing with Marle.」

「Muu, unfair. Even though it looked fun and felt good.」

She looked cute puffing up her cheeks like that, but still it’s no good.

It doesn’t matter how cute she is, the answer is no.

「About that, you know, we’re going to do something even more fun than  that. What’s more, it’s something that Tita and Kururu are absolutely  unable to do. Marle is the only one special enough for it.」

「Yaaa♪ Marle is the only one special」

They way she made merry looked just like a normal girl.

I told that Marle about the training menu from the great sage.

「Muu, that sounds difficult. Is it like this?」

Marle’s right hand is changing into transparent blue liquid.

She is transforming into slime.

As expected I can’t teach her about this. The great sage managed to  teach her about the trick exactly because he too is a slime himself.

「Looks good. Next try returning it back like before.」

「Uuu, somehow, it’s not going well. Marle’s hand feels strange-」

She is trying to return her hand back to normal, but she seemed to have difficulty.

She kept trying to change her hand with an expression that is a mix of anxiety and irritation.

「Calm down, let’s look at the great sage’s memo.」

「Uuun, so that’s how. When returning back to normal, listen to the voice of Marle’s own cell obediently……it’s done!」

Marle’s right arm returned from its slime shape back to its adorable look.

I patted Marle’s head.

「Nice nice.」

「Ehehe, Marle is a genius.」

「Next try it with your other hand, then your feet, head, and then  your whole body at the end. Your goal is to transform your whole body  into a slime and then returning back to normal in less than a second.」

「Marle will train lots!」

That’s the first step.

Learning the sensation of freely transforming her body. Furthermore  she has to be able to do it almost completely in subconscious level  because transforming into slime and her original form should be the  easiest transformation to perform. Lower proficiency than that is not  even worth considering.

The second stage after that is transformation into random form.

The third stage is linking herself with my body and sympathizing her senses with mine to locate the damaged parts of my body.

At the fourth stage she will finally send her slime cell to encroach into my damaged parts to substitute the function there.

Finally in the fifth stage she is going to reach the stage where she  compensated for my damaged parts with her slime cell while using magic.

There are a lot of stages to go through and none of them are easy to do.

Perhaps it’s stupid trying to do all those in one month.

Even so we will do it.

Both of us will do our best.

「Marle, I’ll give you really delicious sweets each time you clear a stage. It’s an amazing sweets that Marle never ate before.」

「Yaa♪ Marle will work hard!」

Blazing flame of motivation is burning up from her.

There aren’t many things that I can do until Marle reached the fifth stage.

My task is mainly going to be Marle’s supporter. That’s exactly why  when I asked Tita to pack my luggage, I told her to pack every kind of  sweets’ ingredients and fruits too.

Amusement is necessary in this white room.

Marle immediately transformed her hand into slime again.

It seemed to be difficult even for a genius like Marle.

I’m watching her while doing my own training.

Thinking back all this time I had no time to focus on my own  training. Right now is a precious time that the people around me made  for me to be able to do this. I can’t allow even one second to be  wasted.

◇

Twenty five days has passed quickly.

To be frank, the time I spent here was incredibly fulfilling.

I was able to focus wholeheartedly on my own training although I was  also taking care of Marle at the same time. Recently I was always going  out saving the world or pouring effort into my business or training Tita  and Kururu that I was unable to make time for myself.

I took notes from my experiences in the deathly battles that I had  got involved in until now and turned them into my nourishment. I needed  that kind of time.

I felt myself growing stronger day by day.

And then…….

「Otou-san, look look, it’s Tita!」

Marle has completely learned transformation ability.

「Next is Kururu!」

Tita transformed into Kururu in several seconds.

She has become able to transform into anyone with her own will. She  twirled on the spot to show off her transformation before returning to  her original appearance and putting her hands on her waist with a smug  face. Amusingly her gesture is similar with Kururu.

Separately from her transformation ability, it looks like she is also  receiving influence from the two who has been looking after her.

Marle is growing to this degree in just a bit more than three weeks. Although time wise she just barely made it.

Only five days remained.

She has to become able to act together with me in those five days.

「Otou-san, let’s do the fourth stage!」

「You don’t want to eat sweets first?」

「Marle will hold back until dinner……it’s sad but, there is no time.」

「Good girl.」

She is too good for the like of me.

Even though she loved sweets, she put it off to work hard for my sake.

「Marle is a good girl! That’s why Marle’s preparation is all done already. Otou-san, sit.」

「Yeah, like this?」

「Yep, Marle can reach with this.」

Marle’s hand turned into slime, no, that’s not all. Her mucus is changing even more into fine particles.

They are getting so fine that they can’t be seen by eyes anymore.  Those particles touched my skin before sinking in without any  resistance.

The world of micro.

It’s something possible because of the slime cells. And they can be controlled even in such micro size because of Marle’s specs.

When I looked closer, every single particle is being connected to Marle’s main body through mana links.

The penetrating slime cells connected to me both spiritually and physically.

I’m feeling Marle.

We’re becoming one.

The boundary is melting into nothing, and then.

「Gahah」

「Kyah」

The mana inside me almost subconsciously ran wild with extreme rejection, burning Marle’s slime cells that are entering my body.

Even though Marle is an existence that was created by absorbing my  cell and soul, she has formed her ego and changed to this degree. She is  already a different person than me. I’m made to realize that with this.

「Otou-san, it was very very painful.」

Marle’s hand starting from her wrist is gone.

Even slime cells that have high regeneration ability can’t recover from being incinerated.

「Sorry.」

「Also, it was disgusting……」

「That’s, right.」

This is even more troublesome than I imagined.

After all Marle and I were connected literally.

The sacred domain that is our hearts got mixed together.

The feeling of repugnance toward that and the defensive reaction that was provoked because of that was tremendous.

Human body can’t tolerate a state of having two souls in it.

I recalled the time before when Lilith hijacked my mind.

In the end it was only like another person entering my room. But,  what Marle and I tried to do was like joining her room and my room  together into something else. We were becoming something that’s not us.  Feeling your boundary with other person vanishing is the most repulsive  feeling.

Aa, I get it. The meaning of the great sage’s words of erasing Marle’s personality to use her as spare part.

If all of Marle’s emotions and soul are erased, this kind of defensive reaction won’t occur.

However, we decided to choose other option than that. No matter how difficult it will be.

「Let’s do it once more!」

「Are you alright? Even I was scared. Marle should be even more scared.」

「It’s scary……but, Otou-san is doing this so Marle won’t be killed.  That’s why, even if it’s scary, Marle will work hard. Marle don’t want  to die……Marle want to be together with Otou-san more, forever and ever!」

I hugged Marle tightly.

It’s embarrassing, it’s so embarrassing I want to die.

Even though even this child has resolved herself, I’m freezing up from fear.

That’s uncool.

I don’t want to show her me acting uncool like this.

That’s why, let’s act cool.

「You’re right, let’s do our best. But, we mustn’t simply repeat the  same thing. Even if we become one, we mustn’t completely become one. We  will become one while taking care not to become one person, I am I and  Marle is Marle. We need a way to continue thinking that.」

In order to accept Marle, first the boundary between Marle and me has  to be erased and we need to trick our bodies that we are one.

But, if we completely become one then we will become something that  isn’t me and also isn’t Marle. Just like how although it’s easy to mix  coffee and milk, it’s impossible to return the result back into separate  coffee and milk.

These two contrasting conditions have to be fulfilled.

「But, the way to do that isn’t written in the great sage’s memo.」

「I’ll draw up the continuation of that.」

As expected, even that great sage has never experienced this kind of  situation. Any kind of thing always has part in it where nothing can be  done with just theory.

But, right now I’m experiencing it.

In that case, there is only one thing to do. I will use this  experience in addition of the knowledge that I received from that  person……I’ll draw up the continuation of the great sage’s memo in here!

That is the only way I can become the me that I wanted, the me who can hold my head high in front of Marle.

I accelerated my thought.

I gathered any and every kind of knowledge without regard of the genre.

I should be able to do this, I have the knowledge and experience and the ability to do that.

And then the answer came out.

「Do what I say now.」

「Yaaa! Roger!」

The two of us advanced to a domain where even the great sage has never imagined.

The remaining time limit is five days.

Marle and I will definitely arrive at the goal and get out of this place with our head held high.

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