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Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu (Light Novel) - Volume 5, Chapter 2: Dreamless
Volume 5, Chapter 2: Dreamless
This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml
Why was she here?
It was weird. She’d betrayed them. Everyone died because of her.
She deceived him, Sion, Tyle, Tony, and Fahle… So he shouldn’t have been kind to her. And yet…
When he looked at her, it was that sleepy but kind face, and he smiled. He did even when they traded places in jail. He’d smiled on the other side of the bars with the same listless expression as always. He made a bad joke and smiled.
She didn’t get it.
Why? Why? Why?
She… she’d killed everyone, and yet…
“Wh-why…?” Kiefer had asked with a warbling voice. “Why would you do this for me…? How can you be so kind to me…? I… I betrayed everyone. I got Tyle, Tony, Fahle, and everyone else killed…”
“That’s not true,” Ryner had said, tired. “People don’t kill people. Monsters do, Kiefer. The monster is war. The monster is countries. Greed is a monster, too. And I’m also…”
Ryner stopped and smiled at her. His smile made her want to cry. Why was he looking at her with an expression like that?
She was a traitor. She betrayed her precious friends, her precious allies, and the person she loved. And… her little sister who she did it all for was already dead… and her older sister was killed before her eyes, Kiefer unable to help her…
What value did she have? There was no reason for her to live. Her life wasn’t valuable in the slightest. She couldn’t save anyone, and she’d betrayed her friends and caused their deaths. She was the worst kind of person imaginable…
And yet he looked at her kindly. “But you’re human, Kiefer. So you don’t have to worry. Do you understand?”
When he said that, she understood everything. She understood why she’d fallen so hard for him and why she just couldn’t help but love him.
It was because he was so extraordinarily kind.
She’d always misunderstood it. She’d thought that it was his complete lack of motivation and caution that made her feel safe and fall for him, but that was wrong. In reality she’d been attracted to this impossible kindness of his.
And… within the depths of that kindness lay a horribly painful wound…
“And I’m…”
A monster.
He’d been smiling so kindly when he said that. It was a horribly kind and horribly sad smile. One that’d already given up on everything.
“But you’re human, Kiefer,” he’d said. Human!
She felt like she was going to cry. The loneliness she felt from him tugged at her tears.
He lived in the depths of an incomprehensible darkness… but he smiled like that.
Because he was a monster… because he was a monster…
She’d seen that smile time and time again. The first time she told him she loved him, his listless face was smiling at her just like that. When Sion invited them to his group, his listless face smiled just like that.
He gave up on everything, shut himself up inside a deep darkness, and closed himself off to the world so he wouldn’t hurt anyone anymore, especially not those who were precious to him.
So he smiled, defeated. Just how much had he suffered? How much sadness had he endured?
She was a traitor so she couldn’t love anyone or get close to anyone… that’s what she thought.
But he hadn’t been able to even touch others since he was born. Because he didn’t want to end up killing them…
So she reached into his cell and pulled him close by his clothes. She pressed her lips to his even though she knew he wouldn’t do the same.
It was a promise. A promise that she’d save him, who had vowed to never touch anyone. A promise that he wouldn’t have to be alone anymore, even if he closed himself up alone, unwilling to come out… It was a promise that she’d definitely bring him back here. It was a promise she made inside her heart.
She gazed at him and spoke. “You’re not a monster or anything like it. I don’t think you’re a monster at all. I’m alive, see? So thank you, Ryner. And… I’ll definitely…”
Her words trailed off. She didn’t need to say the rest right now. But she made a vow. She’d definitely save him. She’d save him… from the depths of that darkness.
---
“Kiefer! Kiefer Knolles!”
Kiefer came to her senses at the sound of yelling.
Her eyes widened.
She wasn’t looking at that time she’d spent with Ryner two years ago. She was looking at the present, at reality spread out before her eyes.
Light burst, followed by a thunderous sound. And then… people died. They died one after another, in tune with the light of magic.
She watched the people die.
Kiefer was standing a little away from the conflict, watching the soldiers die one after another like it was some kind of joke. It was a scene just like one she’d seen before.
Her friends… were split in half, their heads and torsos flying through the air… It was a hellish scene. She didn’t want to have to see it again.
Even so, here she was on the battlefield again.
The battlefield.
Blood spurting through the air, the hum of magic, inescapable death.
They just… kept dying. She grimaced as she watched.
She was watching a battle involving the developing country of Gastark. But one wouldn’t think them a newly formed country by the way their army fought. They were strong, bizarrely so. Strong enough that the militaristic Stohl, said to have the greatest army in the north of Menoris, was completely unable to win against them. All they could do was run…
There was an overwhelming difference in power between the two. Her red eyes stared into the battlefield.
Her hair was the same red as her eyes. Now it reached her shoulders. Her graceful body wore armor professing affiliation with Imperial Stohl.
“Kiefer! Run! There’s nothing more we can do here!” Kiefer’s commander said as he made a run for it himself.
“…But… Instead of running in that direction, shouldn’t we give priority to refugees in that village?”
Her commander sneered. “Who cares what happens to the village? The Magical Knights are coming soon! We can’t get wrapped up in a battle between our Magical Knights and Gastark’s army…”
She stopped listening there. She already knew what he was trying to say. A village like this would disappear in a second at the sheer power of the Magical Knights.
Her commander was pale as he hurried to escape. Her other comrades were following after him…
Kiefer sighed. “It’s not like I don’t understand your urge to escape…”
The squad she was currently part of wasn’t very well-trained. They were stationed here in a village deep in Stohl that should’ve been far from the fighting…
Gastark shouldn’t have been able to conquer that far. They shouldn’t have come here to where Kiefer’s replenishment squad was… and there were lots of civilians here, too. It was really very far from the front lines. At least it should’ve been.
It just went to show how intensely powerful Gastark was. Impossibly so.
Stohl was a country in Northern Menoris of unparalleled strength. Nothing should have been able to bring it to its knees.
She understood her allies’ shock and desire to escape. But she just gazed into the battle calmly.
“…Exactly as expected.”
Even if they were a poorly-trained squad far from the front lines, they still had the important task of sending goods to the soldiers on the front line. Knowing those facts… one could come to expect this outcome.
There was no one left in Stohl who could turn this around. Able fighters were sent to the battlefield at once where they died, and then there was nobody left.
She stuck her tongue out. “Aa~h, this sucks. I picked the wrong country to enlist in. Here I thought the biggest country in the north would have the most info on Ryner’s… on the Alpha Stigma, but…”
That was the reason she’d come all this way.
The Alpha Stigma.
What exactly was it?
That was the only reason she’d enlisted to Stohl.
She entrusted Ryner’s escape from that dungeon to Sion and set out on a mission of her own.
She lived to research now.
It was so that she could save Ryner, to get him out of the darkness he lived in…
She travelled north from Roland - to Runa, to Cassla, to Veiole, to countless other countries. Now she’d entered the largest of them all, Stohl… in order to research.
She looked back through the dust at Gastark’s army. “I really did pick the wrong country to side myself with…”
She never could have guessed that a large country like Stohl would have become such a battlefield. Its complete destruction was a plausible outcome.
If she was going to leave, now was the time. Otherwise she’d end as Private Kiefer Knolles, died in battle at Foiz Village…
It was easy to leave in a situation like this, so if she was going to, now was the time.
The villagers were running around frantically, screaming and crying as they tried to escape. All she had to do was remove her armor and join them.
A horn suddenly sounded. When Kiefer turned to face it, she was at a loss for words.
It was a massive army belonging to Stohl. If she had to guess, it was over 100,000 soldiers.
That was the power of Imperial Stohl, the best of the north.
According to her commander, part of these reinforcements included the Magical Knights, a squadron said to be so strong that one Magical Knight could defeat 10,000 regular soldiers. They were abnormally strong.
10,000 Gastarkan soldiers were as strong as 30,000 men. If they fought on even ground, they’d be destroyed.
The villagers’ screams turned happy. “They came! The Stohl army came to save us—”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Because his body was pierced mid-scream by an arrow coming from the direction of Stohl’s army.
Then innumerable arrows shot from Stohl’s army… They used magic to control the wind to shoot them farther than they should have been able to go.
Most flew right above the village and hit Gastark’s army, but… several hundred arrows fell to pierce the village anyway.
Kiefer avoided them with agile movements.
“…I really picked the wrong country.”
She grimaced as she watched the villagers fall sacrifice to friendly fire, screaming as they did. Even so, she didn’t move to save them. At this point she just wanted to save herself…
She ran amidst the arrows. They fell and pierced villagers indiscriminately: men, women, the elderly…
She couldn’t save them. She just wasn’t able to save both them and herself. She’d die soon enough if she tried in this situation…
Even so, Kiefer watched with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, but I can’t die here. I made a promise—”
Just then… an arrow flew towards her. She moved to the side to avoid it, but then her eyes followed its trajectory, and… right there, in the path she’d just moved out of were two girls. They were still so young, nothing more than children. They looked like sisters. The older of the two was frantically pulling the younger along, but… she ran uncertainty.
Arrows were flying. They weren’t stopping any time soon.
Dozens of arrows were already littered on the ground the girls were walking on…
“I’m sorry,” Kiefer mumbled. “But I can’t save you right n—”
The younger of the two tripped.
An arrow was flying right for her.
Her older sister had realized that, too. She knelt between her sister and the arrow…
“I dedicate the words of our contract - give birth to the beast of malice sleeping within the earth!” Kiefer said. It was a spell to push her nerves past their limits and grant her speed.
It was a spell her own older sister had once used to protect Kiefer and their little sister. Kiefer had only learned how to use it recently herself. How many years late was she compared to her sister who’d learned it when she was thirteen years old? Naia really was a genius. Her magic had been impossibly skilled.
She used her speed to reach the sisters, flying in front of them to shield them with her body.
A sharp pain ran through her right leg.
“Uugh…”
She fell to the ground, hugging the girls to protect them.
“Are you two hurt at all?”
The two girls just stared, tears in their eyes…
“I asked if you were hurt! Answer me!”
They shivered, shocked, and vigorously shook their heads.
“Good! Then get out of here!” Kiefer said and stood. Sharp pain again rushed through her right leg as she did. “Gh…”
She looked down to see an arrow lodged into that leg. As far as wounds went, it wasn’t terribly deep. It hadn’t gone too deep into her muscle, but leading these girls to safety would be tough.
If she was going to escape, she had to quickly remove Stohl’s armor and hide somewhere these arrows wouldn’t hit. Somewhere that wasn’t battletorn… And even then there was no guarantee that she’d live.
“Ugh, this really sucks… Why’d I go and do that? Guess sisterly love is my weakness…”
She surveyed her surroundings, looking for somewhere to hide. First she’d find a civilian house to use as a shield, and try to escape from the relief troops’ eyes in the center of the village…
Her thought process stopped there.
“…Oh…”
She looked up. Darkness was obscuring the light of the sun…
The sight of that sky filled her with despair.
Arrows… Thousands of arrows were filling her vision from every angle.
“You’re kidding me,” Kiefer muttered.
Even if she tried to escape, she wouldn’t be able to find a house to use as a shield in time. If it was just her, she’d be able to do it. Because she could use magic on herself to increase her movement speed… But she couldn’t do that for the girls…
Kiefer narrowed her eyes. “Man, this really sucks…”
She looked back up at the falling arrows. Death was fast approaching. The odds were overwhelming.
But she didn’t move.
“…It looks like… I won’t be able to keep my promise after all.”
That’s how things always ended. She was never able to protect the things she wanted to save…
Naia, Remire, everyone… And Ryner, too…
As soon as she thought she could save someone, something got in her way!
She was resigned to this. As soon as she thought she could save them both, it became certain death. She was resigned to that fate.
In the end, she couldn’t save anyone. Just like always.
She was someone who couldn’t save anyone.
Always, always, always…
“…I’m fed up…”
Fed up with her weak self.
Naia definitely could have found a way to break through this situation. And if she were Sion, who’d been called a genius at their school… No, if she were Ryner…
“I can do it!” Kiefer suddenly yelled. “I can do it, too! I can’t save Ryner if I die here! I can do it, I can do it, I can do it!”
She turned back. “Get behind me in a line, you two! We probably won’t be able to defend against them all. So get in as much of a line as possible in the shadow of my armor!”
Then she brought her hand to the sky before her, where it danced to write out characters of light to cast an Estabulian spell from her motherland.
“I dedicate the words of our contract—”
She was going to use Estabul’s strongest offensive spell. How many arrows would it be able to destroy? How many would still hit them?
She had no choice but to use this spell.
“—Fire the beast of light dancing within the heavens!”
Light gathered before her in a difficult to discern shape that soon molded into a beast. Then it shot forward, into the arrows.
And the arrows… fortified by magic as they were, broke right through the fire of Kiefer’s spell.
“Wha…”
Not a single arrow fell from her attack. Each and every one continued on their paths towards her…
She raised both her arms up at once, spreading them as far as they’d go. Anything to keep even a single arrow from hitting the girls behind her…
She let out a groan as she prepared herself to be pierced from every angle. But then… the scene in front of her eyes suddenly changed.
A man appeared and stood in front of her.
“Here we go!” He said and swung his sword. It wasn’t just any sword. It was a huge longsword three times the size of Kiefer. Could it even be called a sword at that point? It was so big that one wouldn’t expect a human to be able to hold it… Its black blade had purple veins stretched all across it in a systematic pattern.
The man swung his massive sword with ease, and when he did… the arrows broke into dozens, no, hundreds of pieces and fell to the ground, useless. Not even her magic could pierce those arrows…
“……”
All Kiefer could do was stare at the strange scene, dumbfounded.
No… what she was staring at dumbfounded was the man. He was resting his longsword against his shoulder. He wasn’t muscular enough that she’d think he could use it. He had wavy brown… no, peach-colored hair. It was a peculiar color for hair.
And what caught her eye most of all were his eyes, overflowing with confidence. They were eyes capable of sucking others in. They carried a strong will, a strong ambition… and those eyes fixed on Kiefer for a moment before sweeping across their surroundings.
“Judging by your armor, I guess you’re one of Stohl’s soldiers? But there are no other Stohlian soldiers around here. Did Stohl shoot those arrows without evacuating the villagers first?” He asked, then looked back to Kiefer for an answer.
“I take it you’re one of Gastark’s soldiers?”
He nodded appropriately. “Yeah, something like that,” he said and went back to looking around. “Doesn’t feel like there’s an ambush waiting or anything… Seems like Stohl’s army really left the people and made a run for it. Even so, you stayed here on your own to protect these girls… are you some kind of idiot?”
“Huh? I-idiot? Why’re you calling me—”
“I mean, Stohl already gave up on this village, right? But even so, you stayed. What can you do alone? Did you just want to die a meaningless death? There’s no way you could protect anyone like that.”
Kiefer grimaced. His reasoning was sound. It was sound, but…
“…You don’t understand anything,” she spat. “This is why I hate war.”
There was no helping small sacrifices to save the majority. Maybe that was true. But she’d never say that her sisters’ deaths couldn’t be helped. So…
“…This is why I really hate war… People like you calculate who should live or die like we’re just numbers and then act like you’re better because of it…”
“Why’re you fighting in the Stohlian army if you hate war so much then?”
“Isn’t it obvious!? Not a single person in the world loves war!” She yelled.
“Hmm,” he said calmly. “I like you. Are you hoping to distract me with a yelling match or something? That way the kids can get away… Pretty good plan. And that magic you used before wasn’t like Stohl’s at all. You aren’t even a Stohlian soldier.”
“Wha… So you knew…”
“Who are you then?” He continued. “You’re smack-dab in the middle of a battle between Gastark and Stohl even though you’re not a Stohlian soldier, ready to die trying to protect some villagers all on your own… My reasoning leads to the conclusion that you’re an idiot. Using your lives to save others is an idiot move…”
Kiefer glared at him.
She hated hearing that sort of thing most of all. Why was it so bad to risk your life for others? Why was it so bad to want to save others even if it meant becoming a sacrifice yourself?
Naia had died to protect Kiefer and Remire. Ryner went to jail in exchange for her freedom.
It was because of people like this man, she thought as she glared up at him. It was because of them that war existed at all.
And yet, for some reason, he smiled happily. “Y’know, I love idiots like you.”
“Huh?”
“See, I really hate war too,” he said, still smiling. “I hate blood, tears, tragedies, all of it. But…”
Suddenly men cloaked in black appeared to surround the man and Kiefer. They had no presence, and they’d come without any sound at all.
Unbelievable.
She’d already braced herself to flee as soon as he left an opening, too… but she’d already been surrounded by people she couldn’t have perceived at all.
They were monsters…
This wasn’t the first time she’d felt this sensation. It was the same as when she’d encountered Magical Knights in the past. When she’d been surrounded by Roland’s. When she was attacked by Estabul’s.
They prostrated themselves before the man in front of her. “Preparations are complete, Your Majesty.”
“Y-Your Majesty!?” Kiefer repeated. “Th, then you’re…”
The man shrugged in response, then turned to the men in black. “Have the people been shown to safety?”
“That will be finished shortly. These three are the last ones remaining.”
“And how’s the situation?”
“The Magical Archers have surrendered. Large-scale magic will begin shortly.”
Kiefer shivered instinctively. Large-scale magic was magic used during wartime that was meant to destroy. It took dozens of casters. It wasn’t like normal, every day magic at all. Hundreds of people died with each cast.
The time they took to cast depended on the country, and they were typically fired while armies clashed. A whole Mage Troop could cast it once or twice, and no more. Usually armies cast them at each other to more or less cancel the effects out and minimize casualties, but… Whether they cancelled each other out or not, large-scale magic would level a little village like this.
Then one of the men spoke. “Your Majesty, please do pull back. For you yourself to take to the battlefield—”
“Nope. I came here to try that out for the first time, after all.”
The prostrated men were immediately flustered. “B-but Your Majesty…”
“I beg you not to! If you should use that…”
“Nope. I’m usin’ it,” the man said, smiling innocently like a child might.
“But…”
“I don’t need to hear any more opinions,” the man said. “I already told you. I made up my mind to do this since before coming here. There’s all sorts of meaning in doing it here and now. You guys understand that, right?”
“……”
Though they were clearly pained by it, the men didn’t object.
Kiefer didn’t understand, though. What were they talking about doing? “Hey, um… I’m not following here. What exactly is ‘that’?”
The man turned to face her. “Ah, sorry about that. They interrupted our conversation, didn’t they? Man, this is why I hate war…”
“No, I don’t mean that conversation!”
But the man ignored her completely, pointing to the men in black cloaks. “I hate it when my allies die.” Then he pointed to the girls. “And I hate seeing children die.” Then he pointed to Kiefer. “And it’s such a waste for beauties like you to die, so I absolutely don’t want any of that happening… and that’s why I hate war,” he said, his eyes narrowing with sadness.
His expressions changed often. He smiled innocently, then smiled like a crook, and now… now his eyes were narrowed with very real sadness.
“But we’re gonna have war as long as we have countries,” he continued. “The very framework invites conflict. So what’s the route of fewest casualties? How can we lessen the sadness in this world, even if only a little? I’m always thinking about that. I’m always suffering because of that,” he said, and this time he really did seem to be suffering, his face contorting with anguish.
He looked back to Kiefer again and continued. “You said you hate people who only think about life and death as numbers, right? Then how do you intend to save people? What guides you of not numbers?”
“……”
She was unable to answer him.
Her guide…
“Depending on the person, one might say that people are moved only to save the people reflected in their eyes… and that’s enough. That they’re fine as long as they can protect the people precious to them… But I want to save the people who aren’t important to me too. I don’t just want to save Gastark’s people. I want to save Stohl’s, too… no, I want to save all the people of Menoris, of this world, and eliminate war itself. That’s my dream.”
His words were very charming.
So he wanted to rule over the whole continent to eliminate war itself.
But…
Kiefer stared right at him, the king of Gastark, and spoke. “So you fight wars to eliminate war? Isn’t that contradictory? Your dream is one that’ll be granted at the top of a mountain of corpses. And to top it all off, you’re a king. You can hide somewhere safe while your soldiers - your people - suffer. I’m sure it’s easy for you to say all that from where you’re standing.”
He nodded easily. “Yeah, you’re right. That’s why I’m going to use this,” he said, moving his sword from where it rested on his shoulder to the palm of his hand. Blood flowed from where the blade connected with his flesh… and crept up the purple veins drawn on the sword. The sword was soon dyed red as it absorbed the blood.
It began to pulse, beating vigorously like it was alive.
“Wh, what…”
The air before her distorted as she whispered in disbelief. It swirled as if it was being swallowed up by the sword in its quest to gather light…
And then… a voice descended from the sky.
“Thou who has made a contract… I shall answer your call once more.”
It was quiet, quiet as could be… and yet the pressure of it was horribly overwhelming. It echoed around in her head.
Kiefer’s voice wavered. “Th-that’s…”
She’d had this experience before, too. It was identical to what had happened when Ryner’s Alpha Stigma went berserk…
The voice echoed, resounding from somewhere, descending upon them, echoing directly in their heads. But this voice was a little different from the thing in Ryner. Ryner’s had caused uneasiness to well up inside of her. But this voice was solemn, and it somehow embraced and calmed her fears…
“I shall answer you,” the voice said. “I shall answer you. Now, offer your sacrifice. Doing so will release my power.”
The man smiled. “Devour my left eye. I need the power.”
“H, huh? Your left… eye?”
One of the men beside her answered with a grimace. “That is a holy sword usable only by the hero’s descendants… In exchange for allowing His Majesty to use its great power, it will steal him piece by piece.”
“Its power?”
The man nodded. “The next time His Majesty uses that sword it’ll take his sense of smell. Then he’ll offer up his right leg. Just a moment ago you said that His Majesty could watch from a safe place, so it was easy for him to talk big, correct? But we do not obey that kind of king. Our king is one who sacrifices his very life in order to save the world…”
“Those’re just pretty words,” the king said. “I’m going to kill a horrific amount of people from here on out. And the cost for that just my left eye… They’d be better upping the price of this thing. Even so, I need to use this sword here and now. I have to use it to save many, many more people so that I can become king of the world… and save everyone in it!”
She could feel his conviction through his words. He was, without a doubt, Gastark’s king.
The king raised his sword high. “Now, Glowvelle: Give me power, and let’s go!”
The voice descended once again. “The contract has been sealed. Power will be granted.”
The sword glowed red, redder… the color of blood.
Many massive lights appeared in the direction of Stohl’s army, too. Because they’d completed their large-scale magic, and it was beginning to fire. Countless destructive lights headed their way… Even just one of those lights could kill hundreds of people. This entire village. And yet the men around her weren’t afraid at all. They just gazed at their king with sharp eyes…
They looked at the light coming their way, then in the direction of the opposing army…
They just watched like they were unable to tear their eyes from the scenes before them.
“…I definitely won’t let these lives be in vain. I definitely won’t forget this moment. My sins definitely won’t disappear. I am a mass murderer. A mass murdering king. If that’s something that can be cursed, then curse me. But even so. Even so, I must keep moving forward… Now…”
He swung his sword up and took a single step forward.
“Level it all!”
He swung his sword down.
The world changed at once.
It disappeared. It all just disappeared. A great power scattered destruction across the landscape. It trampled on the village, the earth, the lives of many people.
Out of the hundred thousand Stohlian soldiers, tens of thousands must have been obliterated.
And so the match was settled, just like that.
That sword had an explosive power capable of rendering even large-scale magic meaningless.
It was the same as that time, the same as Ryner’s rampage… He’d destroyed the Magical Knights so easily, as if they were just toys compared to him…
And so… she associated that dreadful despair with the power of god…
There was no concept of god in Kiefer’s home country of Estabul. Roland and Stohl didn’t have organized religions, either. Even so, the power she was seeing now… was clearly an act of God.
She was intensely afraid. She was violently afraid. She was fervently afraid.
God… or perhaps a devil…
It certainly wasn’t human power. That was why it needed compensation to work.
Ryner was saddled with deep darkness because of this power. And Gastark’s king…
A strange sound best described as a pop or a bang came from his eye, and then blood spurted forth from it.
The king pressed a hand to his eye as he groaned. “Guah…”
The men instantly lost their composure. “Your Majesty!?” They yelled and ran to his side.
But the king pushed them away. “I’m fine. More importantly, someone needs to tell Stohl that they need to surrender if they don’t want to take another one of those attacks. That should end the war. If it doesn’t, those tens of thousands of lives just now will have been in vain.”
With that, the men hurried to obey.
The king turned back once he saw them off.
Kiefer studied his face. Blood flowed from under his hand with no sign of stopping. But he was smiling, like it didn’t really hurt at all. It was a sad smile, like he was chiding himself.
“Do you… regret it?” Kiefer asked.
The king shrugged like he’d done at the beginning of all this. “People who don’t regret killing others are trash.”
His words resounded in her chest. He just said it so simply and honestly, not a trace of a lie in sight.
She felt that she understood Gastark’s ideals.
And the power of that sword… no, its price was too high. It wasn’t something they could use all the time. The true power of this country was their king’s charm. It was a country led by a strong king who never hesitated, one who understood the pain of the people and worked to overcome it.
He gazed at Kiefer. “So I said it before too, but… I don’t hate idiots like you. If you don’t try and save the people before your eyes, who will you save? Maybe it’s okay to just save the people important to you. Even so, if you ever want to save more people than just that, come to me. Come to me, Riphal Edea…”
With that, he reached a hand out for her to take…
His men returned to stand before their king… before Edea. “Your Majesty, Imperial Stohl has surrendered. Their king is headed our way in surrender…”
Edea nodded. “Good. Round up the Stohlian army as soon as possible. Let’s do this right the first time so we don’t have any pointless fighting later,” he said, then looked back to Kiefer. “Come with me. I’ll get those wounds treated for you.”
Kiefer shook her head. “I apologize, seems as you have gone out of the way to offer, Your Majesty… but there are still things I must do in Stohl. May we one day meet again,” she said, her tone far more polite than before.
Edea’s remaining eye narrowed. “Things you need to do in Stohl? Hm, now just who are you? If you plan to come someday, then just come now. See you later.”
With that, Edea left.
Kiefer watched him until he was out of sight, then turned to the girls behind her and patted their heads, then told them the war was over now… and set off again on her own in another direction from both Stohl and Gastark.
First she had to research what kind of country the neighboring Gastark was. Entering without knowing anything about it would be far too inconvenient.
Just what kind of place was Gastark? What kind of person was that Edea guy? How were his birth and lineage? And… what was that sword? Important keywords to search for rose to her mind one after another.
The hero’s descendant. Contract. The voice that descended upon them, just like what’d happened with Ryner.
Kiefer smiled. She had all sorts of leads. There had to be an answer here. An answer to the question of how to save Ryner.
She stopped for a moment to remove the arrow in her leg, then gazed at it. At her own blood on it. If Edea hadn’t saved her back there, she’d be dead now. She wouldn’t be able to save Ryner.
Kiefer’s eyes narrowed as she recalled Edea’s words - if you ever want to save more people than just that…
Kiefer shook her head. “Save the whole world, huh… It does sound pretty charming. A charming king, a charming country… But to me right now, saving Ryner is more important than saving the world.”
She tossed the arrow away and looked back. “Sorry, but I’m going to use you, Riphal Edea,” she whispered, then continued on her way.
---
It was an unbelievably bloody place, with dead bodies everywhere.
But that was where they’d first met: the traitor girl and the man soon to be known as the one-eyed hero king - King of all Gastark.
And that…
---
Moving far in space and time, we reach the Runa Empire.
Ridget Village, a town near the Nelphan border.
Ryner, Ferris, and the boy that’d been on Ryner’s shoulders were a little ways away from a house, watching it from a nearby grassy knoll.
“Ugh, as expected, Runa’s soldiers are here for an ambush…”
The village was a strange sight to behold.
The villagers themselves were still afraid to go outside, but now there were armed soldiers wandering the village, too. They weren’t all normal soldiers, either - two wore peculiar circular armor plates, so sharp just touching them would cut anyone. It was obvious that they were Runa’s Magical Knights. They stood outside the house Ryner and Ferris were watching as if guarding it.
Ryner pulled an annoyed expression. “They’re definitely there to ambush us, right…? Looks like rescuing Kuku’s gonna be a pain, too…”
That was why they’d come here - to rescue Arua’s childhood friend, Kuku, from this town. From how unruly the Runan soldiers they’d seen until now were, it was very likely that they’d eventually kill Kuku.
Ryner narrowed his eyes and looked up at Arua, who he was carrying on his back. His sleeping face was innocent as could be. It’d crinkle up in sadness again if Kuku died, just like it had when his parents were killed before his eyes - his face had warped horribly in sadness, in despair…
Just like how Ryner’s had back then…
“……”
Ryner’s tired, listless expression changed.
Ferris noticed and nodded. “Mm. Saving Kuku will certainly be difficult. But can we really just leave her here? We won’t get any money for saving Arua if Kuku dies now. And then our grand dream of a magnificent party would be dashed…”
“No, that’s not the problem… wait, our dream? Why’re you acting like it’s my dream too?”
“What are you saying?” Ferris asked without hesitation. “You say it every day. ‘M’lady the Princess’ wishes are mine as well. I reckon I’d die happy as long as M’lady’s happy.’”
“Who the hell’s that supposed to be!! Man, I really can’t just have a conversation with you… Anyway, leaving that aside… what should we do? The regular soldiers are whatever, but the Magical Knights are bothersome…”
‘Bothersome’ wasn’t really an apt description. The Magical Knights were the strongest soldiers in the country, after all. They were terrifically powerful on the battlefield, and normal people couldn’t even begin to compete against them, monsters as they were.
But…
“Hm,” Ferris said. “There are two Magical Knights there. It’s unlikely that there are any more than that. One is here to hunt for Arua and the other is to hunt for Kuku. So since there are only two Magical Knights… they won’t be a challenge for us, will they?”
She said it so easily…
Ryner shrugged. “I guess someone as strong as you has the right to say that, yeah. But I’ve got to carry Arua—”
“Even with Arua, can two or even three Magical Knights stop you?” Ferris interrupted.
“I mean, I might be able to take them… but like, I’ve been super sleep deprived lately… I like, can’t move all that fast…”
Ferris tilted her head. “Hm? What exactly are you trying to say?”
Ryner looked like he’d been waiting for her to ask. “I was just thinking, y’know? It’d be soo easy for you to take both the Magical Knights and rescue Kuku all on your own while I keep Arua safe here. That way I don’t have to like, run, and—”
Ferris’ sword slowly slid out of its sheath. “And?”
Ryner sighed at her predictable response. “I mean, it was just a thought… I’ll do my best so I don’t die, ma’am.”
He looked back to the village with his blood-shot, sleep deprived eyes. They were guarding the village pretty carefully, but not so carefully that getting in would be impossible. His eyes slid to the two Magical Knights, then across the five regular soldiers.
If it was Ryner and Ferris against them, then…
“Should be a pretty easy victory,” Ryner said as he looked around, examining the Magical Knights and soldiers carefully. “If Kuku’s alive, it’s probably in that house.” There was no mistaking that.
If she were a hostage with great importance to Runa, then things would be a little different. They’d have the Magical Knights guard Kuku’s house as a trap to lure them in, but really keep her somewhere else.
But they’d be fine even if that was what was happening here. But there was also the possibility that they’d killed Kuku right off the bat.
“Do what we say if you want to rescue his childhood friend.”
That’s the kind of prideful method the nobles used. Like when they killed Kiefer’s little sister right off the bat…
“That’s fine as well,” Ferris said. “If she’s not here, then we’ll just torture the soldiers and Magical Knights until they tell us where she is.”
Ryner smiled bitterly. “Torture, huh… That’s reassuring. You’re right. If the nobles are gonna play dirty, we can too. We have to show them we’re serious. Let’s do this,” Ryner said and stood.
That alone was enough to alert the Magical Knights of their presence.
“Oh, they’re just as good as I thought they’d be. So what’s our plan?”
“We don’t need a plan for enemies on their level. Let’s go,” Ferris said, and leapt out towards them with alarming speed. She reached a Magical Knight in the span of one breath and swung her sword…
The Magical Knight hurried to dodge, then tried to counter. But he couldn’t match Ferris’ speed at all. He finally raised his voice to alert his allies. “Enem—”
But Ferris’ sword whacked him on the head before he could finish. He fell to the ground. He hadn’t lost consciousness, but he’d taken a big hit.
The other Magical Knight stepped away to put some distance between himself and Ferris, but Ferris closed the distance easily and swung her sword. He stepped back until his back was pressed to Kuku’s house. “Gh… Reinforcements!” He yelled frantically. “Hold them back! I knew we should’ve brought more Magical Knights…”
Not a single soldier came to his call for help. All five had already been defeated…
“Sorry, they already got got,” Ryner said, feigning innocence. The other Magical Knight, too - he’d started chanting so Ferris held her sword to his neck to make him faint “Alrighty, that’s the end of that. Heeey, Ferris, the coast is clear. You should finish up too.”
Ferris nodded. “Then should I get serious?”
“Huh?” The remaining Magical Knight said. He made a dumb expression as Ferris’ movements sped up even more, like her previous speed was just a joke. She swung her sword with incredible vigor…
The Magical Knight held his sword up like a shield. But Ferris’ crushed it with ease. The difference in their power was just too great. Ferris skillfully hid the Roland coat of arms on her armor as she attacked. Her sword made it to the nape of his neck before abruptly stopping.
“So as you can see, you’re no enemy to me,” Ferris said. “The man behind me is many times stronger than you as well. On top of that, he’s a sex maniac who indiscriminantly pursues all, from girls to men. If you value your chastity, you’ll tell us where Kuku is.”
The Magical Knight angled his grimacing face up to get a good look at Ryner…
“He believes you!? And why am I always playing the pervert’s role, anyway… I mean, it’s fine if it works as a threat, but still,” Ryner muttered.
“Sh, she’s in the house,” the Magical Knight said, still staring at Ryner with that look on his face.
“You’re lying,” Ferris said easily. “I don’t feel anyone’s presence inside that house.”
That was true. Ryner had noticed it as soon as they got up close to the house. It didn’t feel like anyone was in there at all, and it wasn’t a big house. Kuku probably wasn’t there.
“You can’t escape by lying and running while we confirm your lies,” Ferris said. “Or maybe I should say that your situation will worsen the more you lie. Come, Ryner. You want to play with this man, don’t you?”
The man once again looked to Ryner fearfully…
He couldn’t just say that he didn’t want to play with him at all, even if it was the truth. He was on the verge of tears. “Ggh… um, so, uh… I guess I’ll play with you a little now…”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ferris, who’d been totally expressionless until now, smiled…
Ryner felt like he was losing something precious. He was crying on the inside.
Ryner moved closer to Ferris and spoke to the Magical Knight. “It’s better for your body if you just tell us now. I don’t mind killing you and asking one of the soldiers out there instead. I know they haven’t had training on how to endure torture, so they’ll spill fast. But do you really want to die a meaningless death here? Or do you want to liv—”
A head flew as he was talking. Ryner’s eyes widened.
“Wha…”
Something had broken through Kuu’s wall and sliced the Magical Knight’s head clean off. Now it looked to Ryner.
“This is bad…”
Ryner made to dodge, but it was fast. Too fast. He was going to die… His head would fly just like the knight’s.
But Ferris lunged over and grabbed him by his hair and yanked him out of the way.
And then… the broken wall turned to ice. A frozen fragment of Kuku’s house glinted in the light as it flew away.
It was an odd sight.
Blood spurted out from the Magical Knight’s head… but it didn’t flow freely. It froze in midair, and the cut neck froze and sealed itself too…
Ryner had seen this before.
“This is the worst,” he muttered. He and Ferris stepped back as much as possible, making sure to support Arua, who was still sleeping on Ryner’s back.
When they did, two people appeared from the destroyed house. One was a lanky man named Sui, who stood just a little taller than Ryner. He looked sorta wimpy, and he was all smiles. His most defining feature was his hair - it was a rare color, more pink than brown…
A girl with the same long pink hair stood at his side. She was Sui’s little sister. Her name was Kuu, and she appeared to be thirteen or fourteen. Her bangs were cut to her eyebrows and she had a pretty face, almond-shaped eyes, and an elegant sort of beauty to her. She held a scythe, and it wasn’t an ordinary one - it had cut the Magical Knight’s head off and broken the wall, freezing them both. Things were easier to destroy when they were just ice, after all.
The massive scythe was made up of a metal that was an unfamiliar, saturated blue.
It was one of the Heroic Relics that Ryner and Ferris were searching for. It held an otherwise unattainable power. At one point Ryner and Ferris had fought against that staff. They’d been certain that they’d die. There hadn’t been any competition at all. That was how much power lie inside that scythe…
“Well, if it isn’t Ryner and Ferris,” Sui said in that weak voice of his. “To think that we’d meet again here. I suppose this must be destiny.”
Ryner glared at Sui. “It’s not like we wanted to see you guys again…”
Sui opened his eyes that’d been closed until now and narrowed them at Ryner. “Really? That’s not very friendly of you. I mean, we’re interested in you, Ryner. You’re a special Alpha Stigma bearer… I mean, we’ve hunted numerous Alpha Stigma bearers and stolen their crystals… but your power is so clearly different from that of the others… it’s far too strong. You even broke the Rule Fragment Elemio’s Comb like it was just a toy…”
Sui held his left hand out as he spoke. His left had should have been gone. It’d been destroyed. And Ryner’s rampage had also destroyed the heroic relic he called Elemio’s comb.
But Sui raised his left hand. It wasn’t an arm of flesh and blood, but an artificial one. An elaborate one made of iron with strange jewels buried inside that Ryner couldn’t place.
In any case, it seemed like Sui could move his prosthetic arm just like a regular one, and he was lifting it up to show them. “And on top of everything, you went back to normal again after going berserk. It’s the first I’ve seen anything like it. Just what are you?”
“I wouldn’t have to worry about it so much if I already knew that!” Ryner spat, his eyes narrowing.
What was he? He’d been asked that again and again, to the point that it was sickening.
What was he? A human, or a monster?
And… why… had he been born? What meaning was there in it?
Sui looked at him dubiously. “Really? But that kid on your shoulders… that thing’s an Alpha Stigma bearer, right? Why protect him when you could steal his crystallized eyes? I thought you knew how to use them…”
Ferris cut in before Ryner could reply. “Hoh. Interesting remark. You know that Arua is an Alpha Stigma bearer…”
“That’s obvious, isn’t it?” Sui asked. “We’re here to hunt Alpha Stigma bearers. But I didn’t expect that Ryner would have that kid with him.” He scrunched up his eyebrows. “We can’t awaken that child’s eyes with you here. We can’t beat your awakened power, after all…”
“If you were of Runa, you wouldn’t want us Rolanders to know of you,” Ferris said. “But you did get the information that Arua is an Alpha Stigma bearer from Runa, didn’t you?”
Sui smiled. “Exactly. That’s why this is so bad. We’re so interested in Ryner’s Alpha Stigma, but we have to have him die here. Such a shame,” Sui said, his smile never faultering. “Kuu.”
Kuu just barely nodded. “Mm…”
She raised her scythe up high…
“Ryner!” Ferris yelled.
“Got it!” Ryner said and broke out in a run. He traced letters in the air with his fingers as he did. “I dedicate the words of our contract - give birth to the beast of malice sleeping within the earth!”
His body accelerated with the spell, bringing him farther and farther from Sui and Kuu.
Sui spoke from behind him. “You can’t run from Kuu.”
He said it so happily.
And just as he’d said, Kuu caught up to Ryner with ease despite his spell.
That too was one of the scythe’s powers. It bestowed advanced physical capabilities on its user…
She swung her scythe back up with cutthroat force, and began to lower it…
He couldn’t avoid it.
Ryner turned back. Just when he did, he saw Ferris shoot between him and the scythe.
He smiled. “Okay. Let’s think about this together.”
Ferris didn’t reply. She just raised her sword to take the brunt of Kuu’s hit with. The force of Kuu’s scythe slamming into her sword propelled her backwards… or maybe it was more apt to say it sent Ferris flying.
Kuu’s power was eerily powerful to the point where it could really send Ferris flying…
Ryner grabbed onto Ferris’ shoulder plate and jumped with her. That let them put some major distance between themselves and Kuu. They landed, but continued to run with that momentum.
“Ryner. Let’s split up to confuse them. Then we’ll meet up at—”
“—The place we hid the carriage.”
“Mm.”
With that, Ferris headed to the right and disappeared into the forest. Kuu ran after her.
Once he made sure of that, Ryner turned back… but Sui wasn’t there. It looked like he hadn’t intended on pursuing them at all. Obviously. They were far too fast for Sui now. He’d probably given up, knowing that he’d never reach them.
Kuu probably wouldn’t catch Ferris either.
They’d be fine. They could escape.
Ryner broke out in a run again, but he suddenly heard Sui yell from afar.
“Ah, Ryner! I wanted to tell you something before you get too far to hear! That boy’s childhood friend is being confined in the mansion belonging to this domain’s noble!”
Ryner turned back to the direction he’d heard Sui from. Though he couldn’t see him… he knew what expression Sui was making: the same calm and smiley expression as always that seemed to see right through them…
“I’ll be waiting for you there,” Sui finished.
Ryner grimaced. “You shithead,” he muttered and resumed running.
