Chapter 35
—Raust—
At that time, what flashed in my mind was the memory of when I first met with Narsena a few years ago .
It was a memory of the battle with goblins I thought I had forgotten .
It was a very blurry and full of noise, blood-red colored memory .
At that time, in self-abandonment, I jumped into the middle of a goblins flock and easily defeated .
No, it might be wrong to call it easily defeated, even if I said so myself, I felt I gave them a good fight .
After all, I who had no skill nor equipped with good armor was able to earn dozens of minutes against a flock of goblins that could even kill middle-class adventurers .
It was not an exaggeration to call it a satisfactory performance considering the escort man who fell some times ago should have a physical strengthening skill .
…… Even so, no matter how much I risked my life by doing this, I couldn’t stop unless help was coming .
In the end, I was lying on the ground after hitting the limit of my body .
With a loud buzz in my ears and the feeling of soil below my cheek, my mind felt far away as it was dominated by the hopelessness .
I knew the reason I tried to protect the girl was not something that could be praised upon .
I betted my life to save her .
Doing whatever I could .
… And yet, I still couldn’t save anything .
Now that there was nobody that could protect her, her death was anything but certain .
In the state where I did everything in my desperate effort, I was confronted with my limit .
At that time, my heart broke completely .
I could hear the ridiculing voice of my former party members that were killed by the hobgoblins .
It’s because you’re just a defect .
That’s why you can’t save anyone .
We were killed because of your powerlessness .
「———Ughh!」
From that hallucination, I raised a voiceless scream as I pray that the goblins would grant me a clean death .
I was confident that the girl who I tried to help was currently looking at me like I was trash .
That was how other people looked at me until now .
「…Jus-…kill . . m-…」
That was why, with difficulty, I made my plea .
「Ah…」
As if to fulfill my plea, I could feel something standing in front of me, and then I smiled .
When I thought I would be freed…
「It’s fine now . 」
「Huee?」
I could hear a voice that obviously not the goblin from the one who stood in front of me .
When I moved my barely-able-to-move head and opened my eyes, what entered my sight was the girl’s small back .
Because of the blood in my eyes, in that red-dyed world, the girl stood there with open arms as if to protect me .
Her whole body was trembling .
And in her desperate attempt to stop her trembling body, she clenched her teeth .
「Leave the rest to me . 」
However, in that state, when she realized she was being seen by me, the girl forcefully put on a smile on top of her stiffened face .
「There is no way… we-we can lose to these goblins… if we’re together…」
Maybe it was because of her extreme fear, but the way she pronounced her speech was weird .
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——— And yet, despite the loud buzz in my ears, I could hear the girl words loud and clear .
The girl who said that to me was still trembling .
Quaking, unable to suppress her fear .
But in her eyes, I could see she was putting her belief in me .
The moment I realized that, something hot spread inside my chest .
「《Heal》! 《Heal》! 《Heal》!」
And then, the moment I understood what that feeling signify, I instinctively activated 《Heal》 continuously .
「Guh-」
I somehow able to stand up, however, my body was far from being healed .
I was barely hanging to my consciousness because of consecutive use of 《Heal》, and even after that, I was still close to dying .
But this was sufficient .
I actually wondered if I could keep stalling for times against this many goblins, maybe that heat I felt in my chest was actually me getting crazy .
And for some reason, I didn’t doubt my thought at all at that time .
My body was tattered, I didn’t know when the help would come too .
Even so, I was confident this would be a cinch .
「Ah……」
Propelled by the heat in my chest, I gave a signal to the girl with my hand and then moved in front of her .
「AAAAAAAAAAA!」
I raised my warcry toward the goblins reflected in my hazy sight, and then, with a broken dagger and belief of my own victory, I took a step forward……
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◆ ◆ ◇
「…How did I do that?」
A certain part of my memory suddenly came to mind .
While showing a wry smile, I retorted to myself .
Because I had no memory of what happened after that, I didn’t know how long it took for help to come, or what kind of state my body was after everything was done .
Still, I understood that surviving against that many goblins with that kind of wound was nothing but a miracle .
「Yet, why I feel like this…」
—— Despite understanding that was a miracle that wouldn’t happen for a second time, I believed I could make the miracle happen again now .
No, in fact, it was not that miracle that I wanted to conjure now .
The threat level of a mutated hydra and a flock of goblins was incomparable .
Even though we were stronger now, that was still in the level of margin of error compared to the mutated hydra .
If we could defeat that hydra, it was akin to a phenomenon that surpassed that miracle .
And even after understanding that, I still believed I could make that happen .
Narsena was still trembling .
But her trust in me never wavered .
For some reason, she was unconditionally convinced I would win against the hydra .
The same heat I felt a few years ago spread in my chest when seeing her figure .
My fear of the hydra that almost made me buckle was no longer exist .
It felt like the heat in my chest overflowed outside to my entire body and pushed out the fear out of it .
And while feeling like I was being pushed back by something, I opened my mouth .
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「Narsena, can I say something a bit silly?」
「Eh……」
Narsena blinked two, three times from my abstract words .
And then as if she understood everything, she smiled .
「No need to ask for things like that, Onii-san . I already said it right? If we’re together, everything will be fine, there is no need to be afraid of that snake thingy . 」
I smiled as I noticed Narsena was aware of what I was about to say .
From the roaring sound and the tingling feeling on my skin from the hydra’s hostility, I knew it was about to arrive here .
「Should we go?」
「Yes!」
However, Narsena and I turned toward the hydra as if to welcome the incoming calamity .
And then, we started running toward the hydra .
「Fu ——– uuuuu!」
With that huge body and its earth-shattering roar, I understood how strong was this hydra .
Even still, my belief that I would win didn’t disappear .
「I don’t think I’m stronger than you . 」
I said so to the hydra that directed its hostility-filled twelve eyes toward me .
「But together with Narsena, there is no way I can lose to the like of you, Haaaaaaaaa!」
「FUUU ー ー u!」
The hydra raised a roar as if responding to my warcry .
And the next moment, the battle started .