My Daughters Are Regressors

Chapter 149: He-llo (9)

Salome arrived at the location where the pillar of light had erupted.1st Street.

The heart of the city where the Duke lived.

Artisans of all kinds had spent over 10 years designing and 200 years building it, and even now it continued to be expanded, but that majestic building was completely destroyed.The outer walls had collapsed, the gardens were burnt, and broken steel rods, lime walls, and wooden columns could be sighted all around, like the aftermath of a war.

"No... a war did actually take place..."

Salome’s eyes, while saying so, were now directed towards the ground.The floor deep beneath the Duke’s library.

The depth was endless and pitch-black, as if it was the gaping maw of hell itself. What kind of war could have left such a hole in the world?

Gooooooo━—From the depths, a strange howling wind echoed, sounding like the agonizing wails and screams of all the people in the world combined.If hell had a sound, it would be exactly this.

"...I want to go back."

Salome was a thief.For a thief, not only were one’s skills important, but being able to go undetected and preserve one’s life was just as important.Salome had a natural talent for thievery, and thanks to this, her instincts for survival were more than twice as strong as others.And Salome’s instincts were very clear.

Run away.Do not even think about stepping into this hole, run away immediately, cross the ocean, and flee to the ends of the earth.Normally, Salome would have done just that.Even if the world had been destroyed, Salome would have been the last person to die in the collapsing world.

"...Fuck it!"

But Salome did not run away.It was because she felt that her daughter Hina was down there.Perhaps it was a throbbing sensation because of her bloodline.

"I'm not like Herod."

Herod tried to kill his own daughter. He was a villain among villains who actually buried many of his sons and daughters with his own hands.If Salome ran away now, ignoring her daughter, she would be no different from Herod. No, in Salome’s mind, it was even worse.

"I'm going. I will go. I'm going. I am...!"

Salome shouted as if casting a spell, a form of self-hypnosis, though in truth, it had no effect.

'If I had known this would happen, I should have learned some courage-boosting spell from that mage...Brigitte when she was around! I never learned magic because I wasn't interested, but I have talent, so I would've learned it quickly!'

Regretting now was pointless.

"Alright!"

Salome had finally made up her mind.To descend into that deep pit.But now the method was the problem.

"How? How do I get down there?"

The stairs leading underground seemed destroyed.The only way to get down there was to use this pit, but its depth looked to be several kilometers.

"If I jump down..."

Even for Salome, with agility surpassing a cat's, plunging into an underground several kilometers deep would surely flatten her like dried fish.

"What should I do..."

Salome paced back and forth, contemplating her options.Soon, she noticed a swaying tail nearby.

"A demon...?"

It resembled a demon's tail.No, a demon's tail was thicker and longer. Salome, though not familiar with demons, knew well because of frequent visits to the dungeon in the mansion where Astaroth was bound.

"An imp?"

That thin tail belonged to an imp.Pop—As she grabbed and lifted the tail, an imp, who seemed to be about the age of a first-grader in elementary school, wriggled and thrashed about.

"Hiiik...! Let go of me right now...! An imp's tail comes off if pulled too hard...!"

"......"

Horohoro.It was a name she had heard before.As far as Salome knew, Horohoro was Hina's errand-runner and friend.

"Why are you here?"

Salome gently set Horohoro down on the ground.Then, Horohoro inspected her tail.

"Is this Horohoro's tail still attached...? This Horohoro's tail is very special, it's a gaming tail that shines in rainbow colors at night... It must not fall off..."

Salome recalled that imps took great pride in their tails and considered them very important.She remembered that their tails could regrow like a lizard's, but once lost, it could take years to grow back.

"Your tail is fine. I didn't pull that hard. Now tell me. Horohoro, what were you doing in this collapsed place?"

"This Horohoro was waiting for someone... but revealing too much could lead to leaking heavenly secrets and many things could change...!"

'Waiting for someone?'

Salome thought the imp seemed out of place in this battlefield. Though imps were a kind of Pandemonium demon, they were originally nymphs.

The origin of imps went back to the fall of the ancient kingdom Uruk, where the nymphs present on the land mutated due to exposure to severe malicious karma.

But since their roots were nymphs, they preferred playfulness and were gentler by nature.The difference was that imps were more affectionate and loyal, and they favored dark chocolate over golden honey.

"Who were you waiting for?"

"Mwehehe... I simply cannot say...! But instead, I can tell you about the beautiful friendship between this Horohoro and Hina...!"

"......"

"The meeting between Hina and this Horohoro was quite fateful and marvelous... If it was a novel, it would span at least 10 episodes... a story exceeding 50,000 characters...!"

Imp Horohoro and Hina were friends.Their meeting was such a beautiful and wonderful story filled with emotion that Horohoro wanted to boast about it to everyone.But she could not.

Horohoro had a request from Hina, and to fulfill it, she had to refrain from saying even a single word, let alone show herself to others.

'Hina said a small flap of wings could cause a storm.... So I must be careful, as even a gesture or word from this Horohoro could change the world...!'

Horohoro stood here with an important task, something Hina had asked of her, and she couldn't even tell it to Hina's mother, Salome, even if she asked.

Which made Salome terribly curious to the point of madness.

She didn't think this meeting was a coincidence at all.

Maybe through this girl named Horohoro, she could find a way down into that deep pit.As Salome pondered how to get her to talk, she noticed that the rope tied around Horohoro's waist was no ordinary rope.

"Hey! That thing! It's a magic rope!"

It belonged to Hina.To be precise, it was something Judas had passed down to Hina, which could stretch and shrink at will, and it was said to extend for several kilometers.Of course, whether it really could stretch that far was unknown...

'I'll just have to test it now!'

Salome reached out to snatch the rope wound around Horohoro's waist. Of course, Horohoro bristled her hair and tail like a cat's fur in resistance.

"Hiiik...! You can't...! This Horohoro has to pass this rope on to someone else...! Hiiik...!"

"Hand it over! Come on!"

Salome thought that stealing the rope from an imp wouldn't be easy. But Salome was a thief. She was confident in stealing other people's belongings.

'I'll steal it so you won't even notice when it's gone.'

Salome turned her head to the side.Then she shouted out as if she had discovered something.

"A chocolate tree has sprouted! Imps' favorite chocolate is growing wildly!"

"Mwehehe..., to think this Horohoro would fall for such a childish trick...! This Horohoro never looks away...!"

'This girl...'

She thought the imp would be childlike, but she was smarter than expected. Being Hina's chosen partner, of course, she would be intelligent and suspicious.But then Salome witnessed an astonishing sight.

"...Horohoro, where did the rope on your waist go?"

Salome asked.Of course, Horohoro proudly thrust out his chest and shoulders.

"Such tricks won't work on me...!"

"No, really, it's gone! Hey! Where did you hide it?"

From Horohoro's waist, the rope was missing. Where on earth could it have disappeared to? Salome was shocked, and Horohoro was equally startled.And then screamed.

"Gwaak...!"

Gwaakk— it was the highest-tiered cry nymphs and imps made, like a "Hiiiiiik", only made when experiencing soul-excruciating pain.Horohoro felt such torment from the disappearance of the rope at her waist that it seemed to damage her soul.

"Hi-Hina...!"

Horohoro cried out in sorrow.Of course, there was no response.Instead, the sound of someone chuckling, "Puhuhu─," could be heard.

Salome and Horohoro simultaneously lifted their heads.The laughter, surprisingly, came from above.

"What's that?"

Salome quickly noticed something floating in the air. It was wearing a pink robe, and its fluttering in the wind resembled large cherry blossom petals dancing.

"A mage...?"

In this world, only mages could fly through the air in human form.And among mages, only those with exceedingly delicate skills were said to fly.

Salome had heard that even the Mage of The Black Jewel, Brigitte, couldn't fly.So, who could this person be?

'And that's the rope!'

Salome realized that the magic rope was in the hands of the pink-robed mage.

'To steal the rope from such a distance, without us even noticing...!?'

As a genius thief herself, Salome knew better than anyone how astonishing and shocking that skill was.The only one who could steal that well was the King of Thieves, Judas, and even Judas couldn't fly.That meant this being was an incredible mage and a thief at the same time.

Sssssss—The figure floating in the air soon started to descend slowly toward the ground. The movement was exceedingly graceful, as if a celestial nymph or angel from stories was descending. It was just like that.

"Who are you?!"

Salome was on high alert.Yet, she felt her blood pulsating with excitement.Just when she wondered what on earth was happening, the mage cum thief removed the robe on her head. Then, like silk, radiant pink hair cascaded and revealed itself.

"You...you are...."

"He─llo."

Salome was shocked.After all, the impossible had happened.

"...You're Hina!!!"

The woman's true identity was none other than Hina.Of course, Hina was a small and cute 6-year-old girl who only came up to Salome's waist. The girl in front of her was as tall as Salome and seemed to be of similar age.

How could this be?The grown-up Hina read Salome's thoughts and answered.

"We are the result."

We...? Result...?Salome couldn't understand.She only sensed that something magical...no, something miraculous was at play.

That's when Salome made up her mind.She might be too old to achieve greatness as a mage, but she was determined not to neglect her daughter Hina's magical education.

Early education seemed crucial for becoming a great mage.Hina, stealing Salome's thoughts again, said.

"That's why I'm here. But I can't go down there yet. Not /genesisforsaken