Nidome no Yuusha

*Chronologically - This chapter occurs before the "Despairing dreams of the Hero"

“Haa, haa, haa”

I was running through the Dark Forest, where the tree trunks grow very thick. My HP remained adequate. The MP, on the other hand, was previously used to set up traps.

“Tsu!!”

Suddenly my Life Perception Boundary, which I had thinly spread around using my magic, alerted me. I immediately jumped to the side and a green beam landed where I had previously stood. It had been cast without a chant, thankfully I was able to dodge by rolling to the side.

A sound, as if something huge and heavy had been dropped from a high place, resounded; followed by a loud roar, rattling the surroundings again. A pitifully huge tree was blown away completely after a direct hit. It looked as if lightning had struck down, causing charred wood to fly everywhere.

Judging by the damage, it should have been Green Thunder-Lightning Flash, with quite a bit of power behind it. The power of the magic had been adjusted to a non-lethal level, aimed not to kill but paralyze me, factoring in my low magic resistance as well. As usual, the only one who can cast and control with such finesse was THAT genius.

“Damn it!!”

In this situation in which i was running low on MP, i was unable use my absolute Magical resistant Barrier [Sword Of Protection] due to the Time restrictions.

Although it was best to escape using the Sword of Teleportation, it used a similar amount of MP as the [Sword of Protection] and thus unusable, currently.

No...it’s not like I could not utilize it, rather i was unable to activate it while running and evading.

“There is no choice but to do it……….su”

Kaito steeled his mind and quickly ran to a less congested area. At the clearing he stopped running from his pursuer and prepared his sword.

“Ara, have you finally decided to stop running?”

“Yumisu…..”

My pursuer turned out to be one of my old companions. Wrapped in her usual [Dark Green Robe], which amplified Wind Magic, she smiled her unchanging smile.

The enemy magician - Yumisu Erumia.

“If you stop resisting, as I was your previous companion, I shall kill you painlessly. Unlike what the princess or that warrior would have done. I shall give you a second to think it over. Since it’s necessary to obtain the materials with the least amount of damage as possible. ”

There was no trace of friendliness or feelings of companionship in those words that she said with a smile. In her eyes, though, laid a glint of madness.

It seemed as though the Yumis who stood in front of me, had no traces of guilt in trying to kill me. Then again, that wasn’t something I wished to confirm by staying here.

As expected, confrontation was inevitable. My hope for reconciliation, which laid in in some corner of my mind, were shattered by her eyes. She looked at me as if I was a thing, not even human. Those eyes which once looked at me with respect for being the strongest were gone, replaced with eyes that looked at me as if I was nothing, nothing but Materials.

“Tsu, WHY~!! WHY DO YOU WISH TO KILL ME!!”

It was a simple Question.

...Even though she no longer looked at me as a person, I wanted to know the truth behind her emotionless words.

“Why? It won’t change, no matter how many times I say it! If I obtain your body, which has the strength to take down the Dungeon Guardian, the strength to take care of the Demon King while negating its power, I will be able to create a Tool! The Masterpiece of a lifetime. And then my name will be engraved onto the stone monument of Erumia, and i will gain recognition in Erumia, No!! i will gain recognition everywhere! And then my reputation will rise exponentially.”

She said happily, with an innocent smile on her face.

“If Fame is your purpose, then you have more than enough of it already!!”

“Thats no good. The only fame I obtained was from being your Magician Companion. My dream is to have my name carved on the stone monument of Erumia, but as of right now that isn’t possible. Only people who have created the greatest Magical Tool of their generation have the potential of getting their name engraved.”

She looked sorry while saying this, but in the next moment her eyes light up with hope.

“And so, please die for me quietly. To be honest, I’ve had enough of playing around and am reaching the limits of my patience.”

Her eyes shone vividly, because her dream was right in front of her eyes.

The only requirement for her dreams to come true was my death; such selfishness.

“You betrayed me... for such a pointless reason ”

“Although it might be pointless dream for you, for me it’s my most important dream desu~. The existence of an Demon King was already extremely disgusting for us, but if it wasn’t for you...”

While saying so,, her tone slowly sinks to that of a retorting child; thinking that her actions were, without a doubt, righteous.

She continued to spit out those disgusting words.

“Isn’t it fine? The Kingdom is already your enemy and also there is almost no possibility for you to return to your previous world, since you cannot use magic, anyway. ”

“SHUTUP! Evenso, I will find a way to return to my World!!.”

“You’re quite stubborn ne~. But there is no way. Since your precious dream has already been [Destroyed], help me fulfill my dream by becoming my ingredient. ”

“Che~, YUMISUUUUUU!!”

I couldn’t take it anymore. There was still a part, hidden deep in my heart, that still believed that she was my comrade. Those words though, completely shattered that part.

The person in front of me no longer had any room for negotiation. She was an enemy, whose existence itself could not be tolerated, anymore.

“Ardent Wind?Ten Flash!!”

An emerald, with tinges of red, katana emerged, the [Wave Sickle Katana]. He formed a cross and slash outwards.

Invisible wind blades were created from the crosses that attacked Yumisu. The blades were quite hard to defend against.

“[Water, Wind, Flame, explosion]”

Yumisu used Magic by only calling out their Magic Name, without chanting. The Magic exploded outwards to prevent the Wind Blades from reaching her.

The explosion was caused by the decomposition of water, obtained by using Water Magic, to hydrogen particles, using Fire Magic. The particles were then ignited by lightning from the rapid movement of Wind Magic.

I was the one who thought the principle. It was magic developed by the efforts of us two.

The explosion resulted in dust flying everywhere, limiting eyesight.

I had definitely expected her to use this magic, keeping her magical consumption to a minimum.

“Envelop Eternal Darkness -[Phantom Mirage]”

Passing magic into the sword I had prepared previously the [Cicada wing Blade], I chanted the Magic Chant

Mirages of myself appeared around me. All of us spread out and flew out the dust cloud at the same time.

It was hard task to differentiate between 5 Magical Energies, even for Yumisu.

“Tsk, [Stinger Mountain]!!”

Of the 5 mirage’s that were created, 3 of them, including the main body, rushed towards Yumisu’s location.

Yumisu countered with dozens of conical stone spikes, which appeared out of the ground.

Fortunately or Unfortunately, the distance between us was short., One of the mirages tried to cut the spikes, but was penetrated and disappeared. Another mirage was hit on the elbow by the stone spike tip and also disappeared

“The fact that the other two bodies have disappeared, means that you are the original. They were mirages formed from your sword. As I thought, you have almost exhausted your MP”

Another chantless GreenLighting stuck, leaving behind a green flash.

Of course Kaito avoided it, but Yumis’s goal was not the mirage but the tree behind it.

The mirages could not avoid the countless flying charred wood pieces and the mirage that had avoided the lightning soon disappeared, leaving behind smoke.

“[Earth ,Fire,Cage ]”

“DAM-che!!”

A small cage of earth with hemispherical grid lines of magma enveloped me.

“Saa~, This ends our game of hide and seek”

“.....................Ah, yes. This is the end.”

“If you stay in there for too long, then you will get baked which will cause the ingredient quality to fall; so won’t you please accept the truth? Become an ingredient and pass on already! It would be so much less painful than being burned alive. ”

Saying so, Yumisu laughed heartily. There was no choice but to accept that this was, Yumisu’s true face.

She had not changed after I took care of the Demon King, Letisha. This was her true nature from the beginning.

I had met her on the streets of Eurmia and travelled together with her for more than two years. Why was I unable to see her true character sooner?

Not just her, but the princess and others as well. Why was I unable to notice.

Since the day I defeated Letisha, I’ve kept wondering, over and over again - Why am I so dumb? What was I seeing? Why couldn’t have I noticed this sooner?

I still don’t understand. No matter how many times I’ve repeated the questions in my mind...

“Do you have any final words? I will listen to them”

Maybe it was because she thought I had given up that Yumisu said these words with an amiable attitude.

“Yes, but I do not have anything I wish to tell you. Even if there was something I wished to tell you, we wouldn’t have enough time…. There seems to be an increase in the number of things I should apologize for though….”

“What are……...he!? Wha!? That light!? [Green Thunder--------...........”

“See ya, you psychopathic lady”

Then i was wrapped up in the light of transition…….and disappeared from the Yumisu’s eyes.

When the teleportation was complete, Kaito had crossed a large mountain range and then some from the location he previously fought with Yumisu.

It’s drizzling, A drenched body will lose temperature more quickly.

Kaito’s body had already exceeded the limit. Kaito entered a cave which was nearby by chance, and confirmed that there were no signs of monsters and then he laid down and started to clear his mind of the hallucination from the teleportation.

“Puha~, deep…..”

Recovering from the hallucination kaito looked down at his terrible state.

There were multiple deep wounds all over his body, vast amount of blood continued to ooze through his equipment. There were places on his body where the skin was lacerated, some flesh wounds were opened up again and and in some parts flesh was torn out while blood continued to splurt out.

“It’s a good thing i didn’t call that person an Idiot. Otherwise i would be called a much bigger idiot right now~.”

Involuntarily, he started to laugh self-deprecatingly.

Kaito thought that it was impossible to utilize Magic beyond the existing MP, but that is not true. Even if the MP is unavailable, one can still activate Magic as long as one can endure the acute pain that attacks the body.

Of course, there is a catch.

If the Magic is activated when MP is depleted, the HP will be consumed in response while corresponding amount of pain is inflicted.

Despite possessing a vast amount of magic naturally from a young age, along with the technology/technique that suppresses her power,, without MP to support it, failure’s often happen when you overdo it, if Letishia had not told me this while laughing while we was talking about the olden days, then it would have been difficult to escape like this, 𝘧𝓇𝒆𝗲𝓌𝙚𝙗𝓷o𝘷𝒆𝘭.𝐜𝚘𝒎

“A-h, i did not expect that i would make a debt after she died. ”

Taking out an HP potion and an MP Potion from the round sack, I sprinkled the HP potion all over my body and gulped down the entire MP potion in one gulp.

With the little bit of MP recovered I took out the fuel rock from the round sack and set it ablaze with the spirit sword and placed it on the ground. Smoke started to reveal itself, while lighting the fuel rocks which burned much longer than regular firewood, My tired thoughts started to leak out,

“I told you that i was a scatterbrain , how many do i have to apologize before you forgive me ”

The pouting and angry face of Letishia came to mind, and spontaneously a small smile floated.

“Ahh,i want to see you…….. It is really lonely without you Letishia”

A dream that i seriously wished for it to be true even if it’s only for a while.

Taking Letishia, returning to my original world and living a peaceful life.

My family would definitely be surprised. I don’t know what exactly has been happening over at the other side, but if i were to take Letishia with me, Mother and Father would definitely be surprised.

I wonder what kind of face will my imouto make when she learns that i was able to get a Girlfriend. My siblings and i shared a favorable relationship, but i disappeared suddenly, and when i return along with her, they would probably lost for words for a quite a while.

Seeing the insanely beautiful letisha, there is no doubt that both Suehiko and Kenta would be vexed while crying tears of blood. Even that Stupid Couple Yuma and his girlfriend who are always lovey-dovey would lose an eyeball, the two of them will probably give a word of congratulations.

There might be quite a lot of problems, even so if letisha is by my side, along with her smile on her face that I loved so much.

I thought many times that if it is just a dream..

I thought many times that if this dream is reality.

Just like what yumisu said, a dream that was short-lived and would never come true.

While I entrust myself to that fleeting dream, the surroundings got covered by gloomy rain clouds and gradually darken.

And then, when my sight was dyed with darkness, that's when i realized that i was dreaming about the memories of the old days, and i realized the fact that i would wake-up soon.

☆

Academic City Erumia.

True to its name, it is a City which specializes in Academics that the Ororurea Kingdom highly regards.

Each Kingdom has a city which specializes in Special Research and doubles as an Education Institution, and among them the Erumia Research Institute are famous for their developments of Magic tools, and the Marquis which governs Erumia along with the surrounding areas who are famous for being formidable Magic Masters paired with their talent.

Originally it was a city where the trade between kingdoms intersected, from unusual rare and valuable goods, new kinds of knowledge was gathered..

In Addition, it was a given that due to condition of the surrounding environment there was quite a wide variety of Monsters with materials that acted as essential catalysts for the production of Magic tools, which further bolstered the popularity on the creation of Magic tools.

Due to the fact that the city was developed on the trade of Magic tools which was quite a unique industry, the demand for adventurers who gathered the materials for the Magic tool production also increased, and seeking the methods on the production of these Magic tools and their knowledge more people started to gather in this city.

And now it has become one of the most distinguished cities in the kingdom.

Later on a position as a Researcher and an Education Institution which mainly focused on Magic tools was formally recognized by the King of that time, and the nobles who ruled the territory at that time, according to the Ancient Ororurea dialect were named Erumia [Seekers of Knowledge], and the city was allowed to be named after them.

Nowadays, it is a city which is at the forefront of the industry in both as a relay point for Trade and as an Institution which specializes Magical tool research, and for this reason Merchants, scholars and Adventurers gather there, it is the city which has the largest variety of people on a large scale in the entire kingdom.

And that, it was at this city which we were finally able to reach.

“Goshujin-sam, it’s morning already, Please wake up”

“.........please, give me, 5-more minutes”

It was the worst dream. This probably happened because of seeing her face again yesterday, there is no other explanation for it.

Inside my dull slumber, while my consciousness was half awake, i heard someone’s voice and the feeling of someone shaking my shoulders.

And so, knowing that the voice belonged to Minarisu, i replied with such words in my half conscious state.

With a firm resolve of not letting that dream remain as only a dream. But it was still a dream that i did not wish to acknowledge while laying on a proper bed after such a long time.

From the start of of my second time, this was the first time i acknowledged the importance of a proper bedding.

An excellent heat insulated monster feathers stuffed into a pillow cover made from cotton obtained from a fantasy world plants, and a silk sheet obtained from woven threads obtained from silkworms, and fairly bouncy mattress obtained from fantasy world plant called Spring trees.

I wondered just how long i could sleep in such a happy and comfortable environment.

For almost over a year, i hardly stayed at inns because I was cautious of raids. All i had was a thin blanket that was easy to obtain and a Dirty hard tree as a pillow and the cold hard ground as a bed.

It’s not possible to sleep without putting up the barrier, and it’s not possible to get a deep sleep everyday because I was cautious of the surroundings.

Of course i hadn’t dropped my guard while i was asleep, but even so with just this much, i was still able to get a pleasant time of sleep due to the varying degree of softness along with the low degree of risk

It was just 1 - large silver coin for a double bed room for 10 days. Exactly because it’s a pleasant sleeping environment after a long time, i did not wish to think about that nauseating dream and think about it early on the day.

“That’s why, Please, just for a little while more…..”

Muttering so i sunk deeper into the bed while placing the Feathery pillow on my head.

“Hora, quickly get up, didn’t you wish to go to the Adventurer guild today?,”

Saying so minarisu striped the sheets from over me just like a demon.

“Ughhhh………., Return it……...”

“Not happening, this is already…….mine,Anyway please get up already”

Minarisu first stripped me of the Sheets from the bed and then took pillow.

“AAAAAAaaaaa,Gaa~, it hurts……...”

And then my beloved pillow and sheets were stolen from me.

Even so while kaito was lying face-down on the bed,

The Bunny eared female Beastwoman used her extraordinary physical ability and grabbed the edge of the Bed and without regret pulled it from under him, causing kaito to roll down from the side of the bed.

Kaito could not continue playing in his drowsy state, and reluctantly raised his body from the ground.

“Don’t you think that was a bit too rough, Minarisu-san?”

“Even though I allowed you to wake up properly the first time, it was Goshujin-sama’s fault for not getting up properly the first time. ”

………..Was there a first time? Ahh~,come to think of it, i do feel like i remember saying 5-more minutes.

“Moreover it was Goshujinsama who told me, that i should do so if you refused to wake up”

“Did i really say that? No, i probably did.”

I remember saying that you should do so very clearly in my head.

Even though i also overslept when I was at the imperial capital, because I didn't woke up with the same appearance this time, I asked for it last night so I don't experience the same habit as that time.

There is also that, the room we use is not 2 single rooms, but we rented a double room instead.

………...By no means, it’s because Minarisu said it’s wasteful of money.

“Did you wish to lock me out to such an extent?”

“Ahh, Goshujinsama is a man, there are times when you wishes to be alone too right.”

“It’s fine, am I not a very understanding woman? ”

Those eye’s had suddenly turned very cold and continued to stare holes into me without mercy, and criticized me without any doubt in them, and in the end i gave up.

It was absolutely not a bull’s eye, No really it wasn’t.

…………...I was upset and reluctantly choose a Double room, but thinking about it now i should have held my ground.

“I have prepared breakfast by borrowing the kitchen after i had tried to wake you up during the first time, so let’s go down.”

“Ok, let’s have breakfast for now”

I held the bed while heaving a huge yawn when suddenly a scary feeling came creeping from my back and i immediately gave up on my idea, and then crushed the last remaining traces of sleepiness along with the bad dream that i had dreamt.