Read Daily Updated Light Novel, Web Novel, Chinese Novel, Japanese And Korean Novel Online.
Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Light Novel) - Volume 5: Settling That Passing Fancy, Prologue I: Surrounded by Thoughts of the Past—
Volume 5: Settling That Passing Fancy, Prologue I: Surrounded by Thoughts of the Past—
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
She spoke inside a near empty classroom.
“…I love you, Ryner,” she whispered, and gently petted his head. That was all it took for her chest to tighten with happiness. But her words didn’t reach him.
They were in a classroom of the Roland Empire’s Royal Special Academy. Morning and afternoon classes were both over already. They had battle simulations in the evening, but… Ryner had been sleeping here at his desk ever since morning classes.
“Geez, Ryner, you’re so unfair,” Kiefer said from where she sat beside him. “How can I wake you up when you love sleeping so much? We have to go to training, but… at this rate I’ll end up skipping too and they’ll think poorly of me.”
She gazed at his sleeping face kindly as she spoke. The sun was already sinking down the horizon. The red of the sunset filtered in through the window, and when it hit Ryner’s black hair it made it appear just a little red…
It matched her own short red hair now. The thought made her happy.
It was a quiet classroom, empty save for the two of them.
“I love…”
She’d started to repeat herself, but stopped halfway. Because she knew her words wouldn’t reach him. Because she knew that she wasn’t qualified to love him.
Her eyes narrowed, and she remembered that day two years ago.
---
She’d smiled that day.
It might’ve been the first time she really smiled since leaving her home country, the Kingdom of Estabul, and entering the Roland Empire as a spy.
Her time in Roland was a tightrope between life and death. Her job was to sniff out the movements of Roland’s military and report back to Estabul. See the situation in Roland and report back to Estabul.
It was something she did as revenge against Roland, which killed both her parents. It was something she did to protect her mother country of Estabul from Roland’s evil.
Twenty people had been sent to Roland as spies.
Out of them, only Kiefer and her sisters remained. Her older sister Naia and her younger sister Remire.
Naia had been just seven years old when their parents were killed. Since then they’d been inseparable, always huddled together to support each other.
The Estabulian army picked them up and taught them after their parents died. They stuck together even when they were sent to Roland as spies, and lived supporting each other as much as they could. Their older worked as hard as she could to protect them, and their younger sister worked as hard as she could to support her older sisters…
They worked hard. As hard as they could.
And so they, the three sisters who had lost their parents, were sent to their country’s enemy, Roland, for two years.
They fought madly against death.
They hid, collected information on Roland’s military, and worked for just enough money to survive with.
And so they alone lived.
It appeared that Roland’s military still wasn’t aware of them. They’d manage to get through this alive.
That’s what they thought, anyway. So they were smiling that day.
A festival had come to Roland’s castle town, Reylude, and they went there to play…
They were walking along the shopping district, peeking into the night stalls lined up on the streets.
The three of them really resembled each other. THough they were different heights, they all had the same red hair and the same dignified red eyes down to the same taste in clothes.
Naia was three years to Kiefer’s senior, more feminine, and kind. Kiefer loved her. She caught the eyes of men as she walked through the streets. Kiefer felt proud to be her sister.
Then there was Remire, who was two years younger than Kiefer. She’d just turned twelve at the time. A stall selling sweets had caught her eye. “Hey, Naia, I want one!” Remire said as she raced towards it.
“Wait, Remire! No!” Kiefer said. “You just had some sweets!”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t enough!”
“Say that and you’ll end up eating so many sweets that you don’t have room for dinner,” Kiefer said.
Remire looked to Naia. “I can have some, right?”
Kiefer turned to Naia as well. “Naia, you can’t spoil her! She’s eaten nothing but sweets lately.”
“Th-that’s not true!” Remire said. “That was just today!”
“You say that every single day! You tell her too, Naia!”
Naia looked a little troubled by their argument. “Hmm, but there’s a festival today, so I think she should be able to as much as she wants…”
“You’re making excuses for her again!?”
“Yay!” Remire said, then stuck her tongue out. “I love you so much, Naia! And I haaate you, Kiefer!”
“And I hate little sisters who don’t listen!” Kiefer said, and stuck out her tongue just like Remire…
Remire puffed up her cheeks in annoyance, then turned back to the sweets stall and entered.
Kiefer watched her go, then turned to her older sister. “Naia, you know how many sweets she’s already had today, right?”
Naia smiled wryly. “Mm-hm. But there’s a festival today… go easy on her. More importantly, is there anything you want, Kiefer? It’s a festival, so feel free to get it. Well, as long as it’s not too expensive.”
“Um, well, y’know. I said it before too, but I don’t think we’ll have the money for that after buying candy from that stall. And I think she’ll definitely want clothes or toys later and regret spending it all on candy, too. Geez, I can picture it perfectly,” Kiefer said, smiling at the thought of her little sister’s disappointment. “But it’s okay. We finally have a day off so I’ll give Remire my portion of the money too. I think she needs to be able to have fun memories like this too. She’s worked hard, always being in the middle of our enemy country… and she’s always dealt with it well, so…”
Naia suddenly pet her head, her hand gentle. “You’ve always been such a good kid. But you don’t need to worry about those things. You’re still just a fourteen year old girl. Tell me if there’s anything you want…”
Naia’s words trailed off. Her eyes narrowed.
“…You two are already too good of kids,” Naia finished, almost sighing her words. She looked to behind Kiefer and waved.
Kiefer looked back. Remire was there, running with three sticks of candy pops. “I bought one for you, Naia! And, um, one for you too, Kiefer,” she said. She handed it over a little clumsily.
“…Geez, you’re not the brightest,” Kiefer said. “We really are out of money now that you’ve bought three.”
Remire grimaced. “Yeah, b, but… they looked so tasty, I wanted you guys to be able to eat them too…”
What a thing to say…
Kiefer patted her little sister’s head kindly like Naia had just done for her.
Remire, happy, hugged her in return.
Kiefer smiled. “Hey, Naia. You said that I should tell you if I want anything, right?”
“Yeah. Did you think of something?”
Kiefer shook her head and tugged Remire close. “I already have everything I want. I’m happy as long as I get to be with you two.”
She really thought so, too. That was enough for her. She already had everything that was important to her.
Naia smiled and held Kiefer.
It was comfortable. Perfectly comfortable. And with just that, she didn’t want anything else. She was able to think that. As long as the three of them could be together…
“Ah!? S-sorry, Kiefer! I just got candy stuck to your shirt!” Remire said, flustered.
“Huh? Are you serious? Remire,” Kiefer started, but Naia cut her off.
“Ah… Kiefer, mine got in your hair…”
“What!? Why are they all stuck to me!?”
Remire smiled mischievously. “I think it’s ‘cause you’re such a blockhead!”
Naia nodded solemnly. “Yeah, it’s because you’re always saying ‘geez, hey, wait,’ and all…”
“You guys are terrible!” Kiefer said. “You’re the ones who got them stuck!”
Naia and Remire exchanged a glance, then stuck their tongues out and laughed.
Kiefer scrunched up her nose in anger. “H, heeey… don’t laugh at meee…”
But they were laughing even as she said it…
They looked at each other, in the midst of lively festival stalls, and they all burst out laughing.
They were laughs that truly came from the bottom of their hearts.
And then… someone spoke from behind them.
“Hey, are you guys sisters? Man, you’re cute. Real lookers, and all sisters.”
Kiefer and Remire were already used to being called out like that, though. Men called out to their older sister one after another… and then Kiefer and Remire glared at them and they ran off. That was their usual routine. It’d already happened twice at this festival alone. This was the third time.
So Kiefer and Remire looked at each other, nodded, and then glared back at the man.
The man looked troubled. “Huh? Do you two hate me or something?” He asked and smiled.
It was an innocent smile.
Even so… Kiefer’s expression warped. So did Remire’s and Naia’s.
This man… this man’s armor. When they got a good look at it, they couldn’t help but shiver.
“Wh… why…?”
That was all they could say.
He was wearing strange white armor and a navy blue robe.
Kiefer knew that armor. She couldn’t forget it.
It was the uniform of Roland’s strongest corps, the Magical Knights.
Ten years ago, monsters wearing that armor killed their parents in mere seconds.
He smiled as the girls glared. “So, Estabulian spies. What’re you doing laughing in a place like this? Feelin’ good because you’ve pulled the wool over our eyes?”
With that, the atmosphere was enveloped in killing intent.
“Ah…”
The pressure was overwhelming.
He was a demon of the battlefield, part of the strongest corps in existence. There was no mistake about it.
“Uuh…”
He was, unmistakably, one of Roland’s Magical Knights…
His bloodlust was engulfing her.
They couldn’t escape it. Just feeling it was enough to know that. He was far too strong.
They’d be killed.
Just then, Naia leapt in front of them. “Kiefer! Take Remire and run!”
Even if she said to… Kiefer couldn’t move. She couldn’t run. There was no way she could escape a monster like this…
“Hurry!”
Kiefer had never heard Naia sound so stern before. “A, alright…!” She said. It was like the spell binding her had been broken. She hoisted Remire up in her arms and ran as fast as she could.
As she frantically weaved her way through the festival crowds, her sister in her arms, she turned back to look.
Naia had grabbed onto the clothes of the other festival goers for cover, and they turned to accuse the Magical Knight in turn. Then, having lost sight of Naia, he caught Kiefer’s eye and broke out in a run towards her.
Good.
It was a lively festival. There were people everywhere. They might be able to hide amongst the crowd and get away.
She really thought that.
But then he laughed like a boar and rose a hand to the air. He drew a magic circle of light before himself.
He was casting Roland’s magic. Estabul’s was completely different - it was letters of light rather than magic circles. And if she recalled… this particular magic circle was called Lightning Flash. It was an offensive spell.
“Y-you’re joking,” Kiefer said. “Fire that and all these Rolanders will be hurt too!”
The man just laughed. “So?” He asked. With that he recited the spell. “I wish for thunder - Lightning Flash!”
Thunder welled in the center of the magic circle. It shot ahead of him with a distinct electrical roar.
No one even screamed. They just clattered to the floor one after another.
The man nodded at his handiwork. “Cleared a nice little path, didn’t it? Run all you want, bitch. I’ll catch you and kill you either way,” he said. He stepped over the fallen Rolanders… over the people of his country, his brethren, and he just stomped carelessly over them as he ran to catch her.
Screams rose up around them.
Obviously. People had just died in front of them.
“Quiet!” He yelled. “This is military business. If you aren’t quiet, I’ll kill you all.”
With that, the town became silent. Nobody moved.
Kiefer grimaced. The people here were used to this. They were used to being subordinated by their country and their military.
It was Roland, after all. A country that’d gone completely mad.
The man was approaching her with frightening speed, calm as he stepped over the bodies of his countrymen.
And then she heard Naia yell.
“Don’t stop, Kiefer! I’ll hold him back!”
“But—”
“It’s fine! Just go, I’ll definitely catch up to you later! Take Remire and run! Run to the Estabul border!” Naia said. Then she turned and drew letters of light. Kiefer recognized it as one of Estabul’s strongest spells, too difficult for all but the country’s elite mages.
Naia had been called a genius at the training facility. That was why she was entrusted with the duty of coming to Roland as a spy.
Kiefer was proud of her - her beautiful, feminine, and above all, strong older sister…
Naia finished writing in the air. “I dedicate the words of our contract - give birth to the beast of malice sleeping within the earth!”
Naia’s body began to glow. It was a strong spell that brought one’s body to the absolute limit of its abilities, far beyond what it could normally do. She accelerated with the spell’s power. She flew towards the Magical Knight with incredible force.
Kiefer tore her eyes away. “Let’s go, Remire!” She said. She grasped her sister tightly and ran.
“No, we can’t!” Remire said. “Our sister, she…”
“It’s fine! She’ll be fine! You know how strong she is, Remire! She can do it! But if we stay, we’ll just slow her down.”
“B, but…”
“Listen to me! It’ll be fine!! We’ll definitely get to go back to the three of us together!!” Kiefer said.
She wasn’t just saying it for Remire. She was saying it for herself, too.
It’d be okay. It had to be okay.
Things had gone well until now, after all. They thought they’d die many times, but as long as they supported each other, they managed to live.
This time had to be the same. They’d make it somehow as long as they didn’t give up… and then the three of them could continue to live together.
So she had to run. “Let’s go!” Kiefer yelled and forced Remire onwards.
“Noooo!!” Remire screamed from her side.
A shiver wracked her whole body. Remire’s eyes were filled with tears, and she just kept screaming. It made Kiefer shiver.
Remire’s face was just so despair-stricken. It was scary. It was scary that she had to make that kind of face.
This shouldn’t be happening. It shouldn’t be happening. They’d tried so hard. They’d just been laughing about candy stuck to her shirt a minute ago.
So… there was no way…
Kiefer continued to listen to Remire’s screams. She listened… and she turned back… to the sight of her older sister crumpled on the ground…
The Magical Knight had a disgusting smile, and he grabbed Naia’s arm and held her up high… as if to show Kiefer and Remire.
Blood was spurting from her, raining from her pretty little arm.
The man just grinned as he watched Kiefer and Remire for a reaction. “What’re you gonna do now, Estabulian bitches? Will you throw your sister out and make a run for it? Or will you come save her?”
“N-Naia!” Remire screamed and tried to run to her.
“Don’t!” Naia yelled. She pressed a hand to her bleeding shoulder and stood up, away from the Magical Knight. She forced her bitter expression into a kind smile. “I… I love you, so… hurry up and get away. I’ll definitely come find you later,” she promised.
“No!!” Remire screamed.
But Naia just continued to smile. She moved her gaze to Kiefer. “Take… care of Remire, okay?”
Kiefer didn’t want to hear that either. She wanted to scream, too. But she couldn’t. She was jealous of Remire, crying and screaming as she was.
Naia seemed to see right through her and shook her head. “You’re her older sister, aren’t you? Stay strong,” she said.
Kiefer couldn’t respond. Tears were spilling from her eyes…
“Please, Kiefer.”
She didn’t want to hear that.
She was crying. She couldn’t stop crying.
She didn’t wipe them. She just moved to grab Remire’s hand. “We’re going!” Kiefer said.
“No! No! No, let me go! I can’t leave her!” Remire said and tried to break free. But Kiefer wouldn’t let her.
“I hate it when you don’t listen!” Kiefer yelled. “I said that before, too, didn’t I!”
Remire turned her tear-streaked face to Kiefer. But she stopped screaming.
When Naia saw that… she smiled. It was like she was truly happy. “Good. You’re such a good kid. Aha. I really love you two. You’re both such good kids. I didn’t deserve you two, proud as I am,” she said.
But… it was really the other way around. Naia was someone that both Kiefer and Remire could look up to and boast about. She was their beautiful, talented, and kind older sister. Of course they’d be proud.
Kiefer wanted to be like her someday. She’d always, always thought that since she was a kid. She’d always admired her so much.
And yet… time would continue to pass, and Kiefer would surpass her age… even though she’d just been a burden… She was still a burden even now, at the very end…
The man looked happy. “Those little sisters you’re so proud of are gonna die soon too, y’know.”
Naia didn’t react to him at all. She just continued in that perfectly kind tone of hers. “You don’t have to be afraid. It’s okay. I won’t let him go. You two will definitely get away. Now go.”
With that, she faced off against the man once more.
“I… I love you too,” Kiefer whispered. There was no way her sister could hear here from there, and yet…
“You don’t have to say it!” Naia said. “I already know!”
Of course.
Because they were always together. They’d always been together since they were born. Of course Naia would understand.
So Kiefer steeled her resolve. “Let’s go, Remire,” she said and took her hand once more as she screamed ‘I love you!’ from inside her heart. She screamed that she didn’t want her to die, that she didn’t want Naia to leave them over and over inside.
“I… love you too,” Naia said, as if replying to her. “So you absolutely can’t get hurt. I’ll pay my life to…”
Naia’s voice got farther and farther away until she couldn’t hear it anymore. She flitted through the crowds, then ducked into an alleyway. Remire sobbed behind the entire time. But there was no way they Kiefer could stop and cry with her. Because, just like Naia, she was Remire’s big sister. She had to protect her. So she ran frantically, picturing a map of the city in her mind and choosing the best route based on it.
When she turned back and looked, the man was nowhere to be seen. Because Naia had stopped him for them.
They’d make it. She really thought so.
They’d get away at this rate.
They made it out of the city’s center. There were fewer and fewer people the farther away they got. They’d made it pretty far already.
Remire was breathing heavy behind her from all the running.
“Are you okay, Remire?”
“Y, yeah, I’m…”
She couldn’t finish her sentence. She was too out of breath. If they stopped for even a moment, she probably wouldn’t be able to go on anymore.
Kiefer turned into another alley. It was a dark place, completely void of people. They could hide here. “We’re probably… far away enough now…”
And yet… a voice rose from the pitch black of the alley. “You Estabulian bitches are no faster than dogs.”
It was the man from before. Kiefer was struck with the urge to scream. But she held it down. “Remire, get awa…”
Her voice trailed off. Because the man… tossed what he’d been holding in his hand, and it rolled on towards her…
Kiefer couldn’t move.
It was… a head. Her big sister’s… Naia’s… head…
“‘I’ll pay my life to protect you…’ haha. As if a cheap life like hers could pay for anything.”
A cheap life. That was all he had to say about the life Naia had given to protect them.
“I, I’ll kill you!” Kiefer screamed. “I’ll definitely kill—”
“No! Stop, let go!”
Kiefer turned back to Remire. Two other men in Roland’s Magical Knight uniform had appeared and caught Remire…
“N… no, this can’t be…”
“So what’re you gonna do? Kill me?” The man asked. “Go for it. But if you do, your little sister gets it next… so what’ll it be?”
He snickered. He was enjoying this, and his mocking tone was proof of it.
“……”
She couldn’t think of a single way to break this deadlock.
But she had to protect her sister. Naia had asked her to. Even if it took her life…
Kiefer turned, then slammed her fist at one of the Magical Knights holding Remire captive.
“Ugh!?”
A kick slammed against her back. Her vision went white and her body slumped against the wall, then fell to the ground. She couldn’t move her legs. All she could do was shiver.
“Uugh… ahhgh…”
Her ears were ringing horribly.
“…Sis! Kiefer!!”
She understood that Remire was screaming. But they were already surrounded by four men… One kicked Kiefer again. Her head jerked and her lip bled. Then they slammed her head against the wall. She fell back down, but they didn’t stop. They beat her again and again, punching her, kicking her to their heart’s content…
She couldn’t fight them. She couldn’t put up any resistance at all. She couldn’t protect Remire. She couldn’t even move… All she could do was listen to her sister scream.
“Stop! Please, stop! You’ll kill her! You’ll kill her!!”
The beating abruptly stopped.
Kiefer had collapsed, completely unable to move. She didn’t even know what hurt anymore. It just did. She was sure that some of her bones were broken. She could see her right arm and leg jutting out at strange angles… but she didn’t pay them any mind. She didn’t care. There was something more important…
She forced her head up to look at the men smirking down at her. “Uu… p, please. I can’t do anything now… so please. My sister’s just a kid… so please…”
“Nah. We’ve gotta torment the two of you just like I tormented your sister, then kill you both. Those were the orders: ‘deal with all of Estabul’s do—’”
“P-please,” Kiefer interrupted. “Please… I’ll do anything, anything… you can do anything to me. I’ll do anything you ask. So please… let my sister…”
“Stop! Enough!” Remire said. “I’m fine… it’s fine, so let’s all… let’s all just go to the same place as Naia together…”
Kiefer couldn’t answer her. She just watched the men.
They all laughed.
“You want to save your sister?” The first man asked.
Kiefer nodded frantically. She was fine with whatever came to her… as long as Remire…
“You’d even betray your own country?” The man asked. “Can you betray your country to save your sister?”
She didn’t hesitate. “I will do whatever you say.”
“Haha, get a load of this. She’ll sell her country out just like that. That’s what makes an Estabulian spy, huh? Ha, you’re all worthless.”
One of the other men laughed. “Here I thought Estabulians wouldn’t betray their country even when faced with hostages… guess I thought about it too hard. We should take the girl captive. I’ll make good use of her sister…”
The other men looked at him enviously. “Damn, you’ll have lots more fun… we just get the kid. Well, whatever. That’s how the job goes.”
One of them grabbed Kiefer by the hair. “Welcome to Roland, then. From now on you’ll send the fake information we tell you about to Estabul. We’ll let your sister go if you do a good job. But until then we’ll take care of her. Work hard so she doesn't end up dead, you…”
He looked down at her for a moment.
“…Traitor,” he finished. Then he spit on her.
But she didn’t mind. Kiefer turned to face her sister… and smiled. “It’ll be okay. Things will go well,” she promised. “So wait for me. I’ll definitely save you…”
Remire just cried.
Kiefer wanted to pet her head. She wanted to tell her that she was doing a good job. Remire was only twelve years old… she’d been doing so well. She wanted to pat her head and tell her that she was sorry about everything.
But she couldn’t. Her bones were broken and she couldn’t move.
She just wanted to save Remire so badly…
Someday… she’d save her. Because they were sisters. Because Naia asked her to look after her.
Even if it meant becoming a traitor… even if it meant letting them do whatever they wanted with her… she’d definitely save Remire.
Kiefer made a vow. She’d definitely, absolutely save her.
That was how she became a traitor.
---
There was a chilly breeze coming in through the window.
How long had they been sitting like this, petting Ryner’s hair? It’d became night before she realized it.
“…We have to go back… Come on, Ryner. It’s already nighttime. Get up so we can go.”
“…Mm? Today I’m like… mmgh,” Ryner mumbled and yawned. But before long his breathing slowed once more.
“Come on, sleepyhead…”
All the little movements he made were so precious…
She asked herself how this had happened.
It’d been two years now since she was separated from her sisters. She should have been tense that entire time. She shouldn’t have opened her heart to anyone, no matter how kind they were to her…
So how’d she manage to fall in love with Ryner then?
She reached out to pet his hair once more. She began to repeat the same words from before. “I love…”
…But she stopped there. Because she wasn’t qualified to say it.
She’d betrayed her own country… and her own friends. Sion, Tyle, Tony, and Fahle… She’d betrayed them all. And from now on, she’d betray Ryner too.
Because there was going to be a war. She’d follow her instructions to make it so.
Everyone would be killed then.
Everyone… everyone would be killed. All of these people were important to her, and they’d all be killed. She’d kill them herself.
“……”
She felt like sobbing. But she gripped the clothes on Ryner’s back and overcame the urge.
Save me. She swallowed those words.
Ryner, save me. She swallowed those words.
I just want to die.
She didn’t want to kill anybody… she didn’t want to kill everybody.
Save me, Ryner. Ryner. Ryner. Ryner.
Save me… please save me.
Tears spilled from her eyes all on their own.
And then Ryner yawned. “Uwah, why’s it dark? You’re kidding, right? It’s night already!? Whoa, I got to sleep a whole bunch~!” Ryner said and stood, then looked around the dark classroom…
“Geez! Ryner, you sleep too much!” Kiefer said loudly, half-yelling. “All you’ve done is sleep since this morning!”
Then she smiled. It was a perfect smile. She always smiled like that, no matter what. It was a smile without any tears or gaps. Because she was a traitor.
She just kept telling lies. Because she was a traitor.
