Chapter 12: Ghost Princess
Kazuma was so furious he felt his lungs might burst. He always thought he was shameless enough, but somehow this man managed to outdo him on every level.
"Don't take it so seriously. Just a minor detail, a tiny misunderstanding~" Gintoki stretched lazily while brushing dust off his clothes.
"This is called efficient use of resources. You drew all the heat, I made my escape, and now we regrouped here in one piece. That's a win-win. As long as the outcome's good, the process isn't worth nitpicking."
"A win your head! I almost got arrested! And why did you get ten thousand while I only got three?! The system is biased! I'm filing a complaint!"
"It's the difference in professional dedication," Gintoki replied while idly digging his nose, wearing the expression of someone lecturing a clueless rookie.
"Next time remember to ditch the towel. Your score will definitely go up."
"Next time I'm ripping off your stupid hair and using them as a towel!"
Their voices echoed through the empty church as they bickered like a pair of grade-schoolers going at it full force.
Kazuma was already digging through his vocabulary for the next vicious insult when his voice suddenly stopped.
The fury and frustration on his face stiffened, slowly melting into shock. His eyes weren't on Gintoki anymore. They were fixed on the air behind him.
Gintoki noticed the sudden silence and assumed his words had finally crushed Kazuma's spirit. He smirked, triumphant.
"What's wrong? Out of comebacks? I'll have you know, when it comes to trash talk, I've never lost—"
"H-Hey…" Kazuma's voice trembled. He swallowed hard.
"You shameless bastard… have you ever… seen a ghost in your life?"
"Huh?" Gintoki blinked, then puffed up arrogantly. He thumped his chest with the hilt of his wooden sword.
"What nonsense are you spouting? Ghosts don't exist. That's kid stuff. And we're in a church, okay? There's divine protection here. Even if there were ghosts, they'd steer clear of this place."
Kazuma didn't respond to the speech. His face only grew paler. He swallowed again and, with a shaking hand, pointed behind Gintoki.
"Then… why hasn't God erased the four glowing green ghosts floating right behind you?
"What glowing green… listen, you're not scaring me with a bargain-bin ghost story…"
He kept up the bravado, but Kazuma's expression was not a joke. It was pure, white-faced terror.
Gintoki felt a cold shiver crawl up the back of his neck.
With the slow creaking motion of a rusted gear, he turned his head.
And he saw them.
Four translucent figures glowing an eerie green drifted behind him. They had no faces, only hollow outlines, tilting their heads like curious predators sizing him up.
Gintoki's pupils shrank to pinpoints.
The usual lazy dead-fish expression evaporated in an instant, replaced by pure, frozen horror.
"YAAAHHH!!!"
The scream tore out of him with enough force to rupture eardrums, even louder than Kazuma's shriek back at Times Square.
He seemed to have had all the bones removed from his body, his legs giving way beneath him. He fell straight backward, landing right in Kazuma's arms, who was equally terrified.
"G-GHOSTS! GHOSTS!!!"
"You're the one screaming like a banshee! Get up! You're heavy!" Kazuma staggered under him as the two of them rolled and scrambled away in panic.
The four floating spirits tilted closer, drifting toward them at an unhurried pace, as if amused.
"Don't come here! Don't come any closer!" Gintoki hid behind Kazuma, only daring to peek out with half his head, shaking violently.
"You said God was protecting this place! So go tell Him to get over here and do His job!" Kazuma snapped while shoving at the dead weight clinging to him.
"How should I know the local God took a day off?!" Gintoki wailed, clutching Kazuma's clothes like he was the only lifeline left on earth.
"Aren't you in the Guardian faction? Go! Protect me!"
"Protect you my ass! Aren't you Neutral? Go negotiate with them! Maybe they're neutral too!"
"Negotiate with what?! They don't even have mouths!"
They kept shoving each other back and forth, each trying to sacrifice the other as the unlucky first contact. Step by step they retreated until their backs slammed into the cold stone wall.
No way out.
The four ghosts drifted right up to them, boxing them in. Their chilly, non-physical aura washed over the two men, leaving goosebumps crawling across their skin.
Despair settled over them like a heavy blanket.
Just then, in the dead silence of the church, a crisp, teasing laugh echoed through the air.
"Horo horo horo horo…"
A moment later came the click, click, click of heels on stone. The sound grew closer, each step steady and unhurried, drifting from the shadowed depths of the church.
That elegant rhythm—heels tapping on stone—rang loud and clear in the ears of the two terrified men.
They froze like insects pinned to a display board.
Gintoki clamped onto Kazuma even tighter, trembling so hard Kazuma felt like a phone stuck on vibrate mode.
"H-Hey! Stop shaking! You're making my towel slip!"
"To hell with your towel! Worry about our lives first!" Gintoki practically whimpered, voice quivering like a leaf in the wind.
From the shadows, a petite figure slowly emerged.
Moonlight streamed through the stained glass, bathing her in a hazy glow.
The newcomer had pink hair styled into pigtails and wore a small black top hat.
She wore a black strapless gothic dress trimmed with pale violet frills that shaped her slender figure. Red heels clicked smartly beneath her. In one hand she held a matching crimson parasol; in the other, a patched-up plush bear.
A gothic-lolita girl who looked around sixteen or seventeen.
Kazuma and Gintoki stared blankly.
They expected a long-haired, pale-faced horror straight out of a nightmare. Instead, what stood before them looked like she stepped out of a manga panel.
Gintoki's rigid expression finally eased a little—until he noticed the four glowing spirits circling affectionately around her. His face went pale all over again.
But Kazuma's pupils shrank for a different reason.
His attention was completely drawn to the conspicuous mark above the girl's head.
A blood-red icon shaped like a skull radiated ominous energy.
[Assault Faction Player]
Lines from the system's faction descriptions exploded in Kazuma's mind at once:
The Assault Faction—focused on ambushing and attacking other players, highly aggressive, approach with extreme caution.
Cold sweat drenched his back instantly.
This was worse than any ghost.
Ghosts could only scare you.
But this seemingly harmless girl could kill him.
And those "ghosts"… they weren't ghosts at all. They were her ability.
"Horohorohorohoro…"
The girl eyed the two men huddled in a pathetic pile against the wall, amusement dancing in her expression. Her signature laugh spilled out as she twirled her parasol.
"Honestly, two grown men terrified of my Negative Hollows… how embarrassing." She tapped the floor with her parasol tip, sounding thoroughly pleased with herself.
"But I suppose you're lucky. I just arrived in this weird world, and already stumbled onto two big catches. Horo horo horo… With this, I'm one step closer to finding Lord Moria."
Lord… Moria?