Editing Kaze no Stigma - Français:Volume2 Chapitre1 (section)

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“Th-That is...”

Ayano was momentarily unable to speak. She tried her best to stop all the blood in her body from gathering at her face, while at the same time working hard to come up with a rebuttal.

“I... I don’t want Misao to become a murderer.”

“That makes sense.”

“That’s right!”

(...?)

Ayano nodded in agreement, but felt that Kazuma’s reaction seemed off somehow. At the same time, she couldn’t say with certainty what was wrong about it.

Ignoring Ayano, who was puzzling over this, Kazuma placed his eyes on Misao, who had fallen on him.

“So are you still angry?”

“...!”

Misao forcefully pushed herself off of Kazuma and used the momentum to jump backward. She put a little distance between them and stared at Kazuma with eyes full of hatred.

But Kazuma didn’t seem to mind those eyes at all. He calmly broke eye contact with Misao and passed the dagger in his hand to Ayano.

“Take it.”

“Ah, okay.”

She took it reflexively and then looked closely at the dagger.

The blade of the dagger was about ten centimeters long. It would serve well for peeling apples and not much more. There didn’t appear to be any poison on it either.

(...Did she really think that a fruit knife could kill Kazuma?)

What a foolish action. Ayano bitterly regretted her earlier display of anxiousness.

At that point in time, the others were finally emerging from their shock. However, none stood up to arrest Misao because all of the people in the branch family felt the same way.

(What about Father?)

Ayano looked toward Juugo.

“What is the matter?”

“What do you mean by &#8216;What is the matter?’ Don’t just look. Do something.”

“Hmm...”

Juugo looked at the scene of the crime with cold eyes.

“Kazuma.”

“Ah?”

“If you do not wish to deal with her, shall I punish Misao for you?”

Even though his tone seemed calm, its meaning was clear. “If you want to kill her, just do it.” Juugo was usually kind and well-tempered, but he was not so kind as to forgive someone who had just attempted murder.

Kazuma’s reply was totally unexpected.

“I don’t think this goes so far as to require punishment. Nothing happened. Just let her go!”

Upon hearing this reply, Juugo revealed a surprised expression, and Ayano’s puzzled look could be clearly seen.

Ayano finally realized why she has been feeling that something was off. Misao was still alive. That alone was something which didn’t make sense.

On the battlefield, Kazuma wouldn’t have cared about anything else. Even if it was just a little girl, even if she was not moving of her own free will or if she was being threatened or manipulated, Kazuma wouldn’t have gone easy on her.

Given Kazuma’s habits, after he had dodged the attack, no, the instant the dagger had been drawn, Misao’s head should have landed on the floor.

(But this... What was going on?)

Filled with questions, Ayano began to look at the two.

Misao looked pale and weak. Though her eyes still bore hatred, it seemed that she did not have the strength to act again.

Her area of expertise was in defending seals and providing support from behind; she was not a ''jutsushi'' who fought on the frontline. Although her abilities were not weak, her personality was simply not suited to battle, let alone killing.

This may even have been the first time she had directed a knife at someone. Her mentality of avoiding causing harm was no different from a normal person’s. Just now she had acted on impulse, but after her failure, she didn’t have the ability to try again.

Kazuma lowered his head and looked silently at Misao. Those eyes carried no warmth, but neither did they show coldness.

(This is too abnormal, too weird! And... this makes me feel very unhappy!)

“What is the meaning of this&#8211;?”

“So be it. Since you have said as much, I have no reason to punish her either.”

Juugo interrupted Ayano, who had lost her composure, and came to a simple conclusion.

“But we cannot allow you to stay here either. Go back and reflect on this for a while!”

With that, he ordered someone by his side to take Misao away. Misao struggled to get rid of the hands that were about to catch her.

“Why?!”

Ignoring the man who seemed troubled by her struggling, Misao stared at Kazuma and shouted, “Why did Nii-sama have to die?!”

“Because he was too weak.”

Kazuma replied very bluntly.

“...!!”

The hall was filled with rage in an instant. Misao was not alone in feeling that Kazuma has caused deaths in the family. To these people, Kazuma’s words had gone far beyond their ability to tolerate.

“You asshole...!!”

Ayano stood up, her face flushed red with anger. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at Kazuma.

“What the hell is wrong with you! Can’t you differentiate between what can and cannot be said?! What do you mean by &#8216;because he was too weak?’ Don’t joke around! Is it because you have become strong that you have forgotten what it was like to be weak?!”

Kazuma showed Ayano, who continued to lecture him, no sign of remorse at all. Instead, he looked at her coldly.

“Looks like you still don’t understand.”

He then looked around at the people who were staring at him angrily.

“Why are you all putting on the look of a victim?”

“What... What do you mean by that?”

Kazuma’s eyes swept across the room once more. All he saw were puzzled yet angry expressions. Again confirming that no one had understood what he meant, he sighed.

“I don’t think you guys have ever wondered why the Fuuga clan revolted.”

“What do you mean by why... Of course it was to awaken their God!”

“No.”

Kazuma rejected this flat-out.

“That was just a means to an end, just one of the powers they needed to rise against the Kannagis.”

“Why don’t you tell us the reason then?” Ayano asked without even thinking.

Kazuma gave Ayano a contemptuous look.

“...These people of the Fuuga clan were definitely not a group of useless waste. Instead, they were even rather skilled ''Fuu-jutsushi''. Their combat abilities might have been very weak, but the inherent characteristics of wind are not suited to battle in the first place.”

In terms of attack power, among the four main powers &#8211; earth, water, fire, and wind &#8211; wind was the weakest.

This was because it was the lightest.

No matter how fast they might be, light attacks did not possess the strength to kill with one blow.

I believe that everyone has had the experience of being cut by a piece of paper before. With enough speed, and if timed well, even a flimsy piece of paper can become a blade. And yet, it can only cut the surface of the skin. A slash without weight is unable to cut off flesh and bone all in one go.

The weight of water and earth is far beyond that of wind, and fire possesses a large amount of energy. If they were to fight against these powers, a ''Fuu-jutsushi'' would have to summon and control several times more spirits than they would.

Precisely for this reason, the role ''Fuu-jutsushis'' played was to use the wind’s mobility to search and to track, as well as to control the surrounding air while providing battle support. The Fuuga clan could actually have been said to have been a typical example of wind practitioners.

“The Kannagis were born with combat abilities, and the Fuugas excelled at information gathering and battle support. To provide for the other’s inability, to coexist peacefully and equally, that should have been the way that they interacted.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Kazuma observed Juugo, who was showing a bitter expression. He was the only one there who understood the truth of Kazuma’s words.

“Unfortunately, you, who only know how to use raw power as a standard, looked down on the Fuuga clan, who had no combat abilities. But without the Fuuga, you would not even have known where the enemy was!”

“What you are trying to say is... because we have always looked down on the Fuuga, we deserved to be killed by them?” Ayano pouted unhappily.

But Kazuma shook his head in denial.

“I never said that what you did was wrong. The strong are always right; that is the unequivocal truth.”

“But then...”

“But as you execute your right to crush the weak, you must also bear the burden of being crushed by people even stronger. Even if you are killed, you can have no complaints as this is the very thing you have done.”

“...!”

Ayano’s expression changed drastically. She seemed to have understood what Kazuma was trying to say.

“Just because the Fuuga clan was &#8216;too weak,’ that was why you all looked down on them. Just because ''you'' are ‘too weak,’ that is why you were crushed by Ryuuya. It is a very simple thing to understand.”

This was not a question of who was right and who was wrong. Since both sides believed in the “law of power,” in the end, only the strong survived. That was all.

“If you people have acknowledged everything that you have done toward the Fuuga clan, then the Fuuga clan can also only acknowledge what they did to you. To crush the weak, does it not allow you to be crushed by those even stronger? Just who do you think you are?”

This merciless accusation reached the ears of everyone present like the roar of thunder, but it failed to touch their arrogant hearts.

“This, I am unable to accept.”

A voice of disagreement emerged from a place very close to Juugo’s seat of honor.

“Kazuma-san, your argument seems to have neglected one very important fact.”

The man spoke in a vicious and unrelenting tone. He was Masayuki Ogami, the head of the Ogami family, and Misao’s father. But he did not seem to care at all about his daughter, who had her head lowered and was keeping quiet.

“The value of our lives is definitely not equal. We, the Kannagis, are blessed by the spirits &#8211; a chosen clan! Yet you put us and the Fuugas, those lowlifes, on the same level. That is very appalling. Not to mention, it...”

He stared furiously at Kazuma, as if Kazuma was the killer of his son.

“Not to mention, it gives those scum the right to kill us!”

Hearing Masayuki’s words, Kazuma answered with a calm smile.

“Who is it that was chosen?”

“...What?”

“Those words. Why don’t you wait until you have power like Ayano’s before saying them! To hear a weakling boasting about his bloodline, how pathetic! It is as if you have nothing else to boast about except your bloodline.”

“Es-Espèce de bâtard...... !”