Published at 15th of November 2020 03:47:52 PM
Chapter 78
Side Story [The weak Hero] Side Al
When I first met Itoka, it was a shock . I was forced to face the reality that black-featured people really existed . To us, black is the colour of salvation, and something to admire . And yet, for such a small child to have this colour .
At first it was just out of curiosity . Bringing up the idea of getting Itoka as a comrade, adding a black-featured to our group was to help us stand out and, more than anything, gain fame . It was, just for appearances sake .
White and black .
A pair of opposing existences .
And above all, black was the colour of my, no, our encounter .
But now, it’s different .
I don’t know when, but my feelings toward Itoka have changed . It may have been when I realised she was a girl, or it could have been long before that .
Because we needed each other, we worked together without knowing the other’s goals . It’s a little ironic .
Itoka is travelling with us while trying to meet her own objectives, but it’s not clear what those objectives are . I just thought, that I wanted to help her out .
2 years ago, after being saved by the Black Earth Dragon, I only thought about that . It’s a completely different existence, but if I saved that Itoka who had that same black, it would be like showing my thanks to the Earth Dragon .
…It’s just self-gratification . I know it for myself . But I can’t just let it go .
Ever since I was born, I’ve been weak . You wouldn’t imagine I would look the way I do now with how scrawny I was, always lying flat on the floor . The doctor also told me that I wouldn’t have long . Trying to cling on, my life changed when I went to Casp Do Kingdom, known as the capital for commerce .
The day when the Black Dominator came, I figured since I don’t have long anyway, it wouldn’t be too bad to just die here together with the world, I smile self-deprecating .
That was when, I met Celia . Her hair was gray, and it was obvious she was living while trying to hide it . It was the age where black was a dreaded and avoided colour . Especially in this Casp Do Kingdom, where all sorts of people gather . When the Black Dominator came that day, others were afraid out of their minds, but Celia faced the Black Dominator and attacked . She probably just tried to hit and deal with whatever was nearby out of anger .
Even though you can’t save anything if you do that .
Stop it, someone screamed, so she used force to deter the adult coming towards her . Other people had already run away, not wanting to be involved in this situation .
I also didn’t want to be involved, I don’t want to hurt my weak body any more .
However .
If the world is ending, I can at least try to be an ally of justice right? How comical, a weak Hero .
The result was a crushing defeat .
With my weak body and low stamina, the most I could do was drive them away .
At the end, I was stabbed . Sharp pain runs through my abdomen . My blood was flowing out freely . Oh dang . My constitution makes it hard to stop the bleeding .
“I’m, sorry . It’s my fault”
She looked at me, who was lying on the ground, with tear-filled eyes .
“Don’t cry . You’ll ruin your beautiful face you know? Ahh… it hurts”
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“Why did you help me… You should have just ignored, someone like me”
Long, long gray hair . Looking closely, it’s tinged with red . But it’s really pale, so all you see is gray . It must have been difficult to grow it out this long . To grow your hair out, even though it’s a colour close to the taboo, you must have had some good reason for it .
“Black-ish, or weak and sickly, why is society so harsh for the weak”
Even if I look at the sky, it’s pitch black . At this rate, it’ll swallow up the whole world . Either way it’s fine . Since it looks like I’m about to die anyway .
“I can only pray that I’ll have a durable body in my next life . The world is going to end soon, so why don’t you wish for something too? As a ‘weak’ comrade, let’s get along?
“How, can you think of such things . Don’t you think about, wanting to live?”
A tear silently drops from those sky-blue eyes . It looks as if the sky is crying .
“Ahh, I want to live . Live, and I wanted to travel”
I’ve dreamt of adventuring since I was a child .
“Then, I’ll go with you . You’d be lonely, if you’re by yourself right?”
Although you look like the one that’d be lonely if you’re by yourself . But if that’s what you wish for, why not .
“Hmm yeah, that does sound like fun too”
Travelling the world, as 2 weak people . Seeing and experiencing new things, enjoying everyday with the 2 of us .
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If such a wish came true, how blissful would it be .
But reality is cruel .
The Black Dominator descended, and the world is heading to its end . At least at the end, I should smile, so I tried to move my cheeks, but I wasn;t able to control it well . My awkward smile must have looked pretty funny, because she laughed . It was beautiful .
Ahh, this kind of end isn’t too bad, or so I thought .
But reality had more salvation than I thought .
Thinking it’s the end, I look up at the sky with her .
Right then, a Black Dragon flew out from Casp Do Castle, flying straight for the centre of the Black Dominator . At that moment, the surroundings were flooded with blinding light, forcing my eyes shut .
When I finally opened my eyes again, the Black Dominator had disappeared, and the sky became as clear as her eyes . From that wide blue sky, black crystals were falling, and when I unconsciously tried to hold it, it got absorbed by my body and vanished . In that instant, my body became amazingly light, and my stab wound has been healed .
From that day on, my body became the same, no, it became more durable, stronger, and more disease-free than a normal human .
Looking back, those black crystals were probably the scales of the Sacred Beast Earth Dragon that saved the world . Besides myself, rumours that others also had incurable diseases healed, their back aches healed, had been rejuvenated, had their children’s illness cured, and more, were spreading around . That Black Dragon gave it’s life to not just save the world, but also our futures .
After that, I travelled around with Celia . Since we promised .
We were touched by things we saw for the first time, became stronger, laughed between the 2 of us, well we did fight too, but that was also fun .
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Celia was also overjoyed that people’s perception of black had changed .
That was when, I met Itoka . Apparently, she completely lost her memories of the last few years, and she doesn’t believe that people’s idea of black has changed .
She overlaps a little with Celia .
Black-featured people from before 2 years ago did not receive good treatment after all . It might not be so for all the country, and Itoka was extremely conscious of it . She was probably greatly troubled by that .
But, I didn’t ever think that she’d be acquainted with the Heroes . What’s more, his older sister? The Hero’s older sister? That means she, is a person from another world .
However, there was a contradiction . She said she’d bring them home, and Itoka came to this world later than the heroes were summoned .
If that’s so, where did Itoka get memories of being in this world?
Maybe it’s not yet time, to tell us yet .
But putting all that aside .
“Can I, bite?”
She, who said that, had her eyes dyed blood red, and her pupils opened like slits, almost as if, right, like the eyes of a reptile .
What in the world, was that?
Translation Notes:
[1] I also think I don’t have a knack for naming things . oh well . If anyone remembers the previous translations, lmk!