AN: I hope the beginning of the second chapter goes well.
“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.”
A girl was hugging a sword about her height, crouched on the ground while murmuring.
She missed that place.
She wanted to go back, but she couldn’t return.
‘Why do we have to fight?’
Her hands, her feet, her whole body wouldn’t stop trembling.
Her heart pounded, as if it were about to burst. Though the weather was typical of a hot summer, she felt an unbearable chill.
She had discovered a small room in the fort.
Many instruments, which she didn’t know how they were used, were haphazardly stored in the room.
The girl was trembling.
From the outside, she could hear people’s sobs, and men’s angry bellows.
Under the command of the Demon Lord, the demons and monsters attacked the defenseless villagers.
Thanks to the soldiers who were sent out from the fort built near the village, some of the villagers managed to flee towards the fort.
Many soldiers lost their lives while protecting the villagers.
With large sacrifices, they were able to take shelter in the fort, but the fort was still besieged by monsters.
Occasionally, sounds of a large monster ramming its body against the fort’s gate.
If the monsters were truly serious about destroying the fort, monsters could fly over the gate, or magic-using demons could have broken down the gate.
But for some reason, they were specifically letting a large monster ram against the gate to destroy it.
They were enjoying themselves.
Those who took shelter in the fort, feeling tiny and powerless, were gripped by dread.
Everybody grieved at the fact that their loved ones would be killed.
If the monsters went all-out, the fort, the inhabitants within unable to resist, would be overrun.
It was a time when the Demon Lord Army brought despair.
It was merely a story.[?1?]
However, each person’s sights gathered on the main tower of the fort.
There, was the existence that brought hope to the world.
After having travelled for several days, they had requested a night at an inn, and happened to be there at that time.
It was the one whom the goddess Anastasia designated as the Brave.
Amidst the despair the thought of death to the approaching monsters, her existence brought a slight hope to those people.
That was why, in order to live up to their hopes, the girl was alone in the shed, trapped in a cage.
She couldn’t let the others see that she was trembling from the fear of death like them.
Because she was their hope…
“Leticia?”
Her name was called from outside the room.
“Leticia, they’re almost here.”
“… Ok.”
With a small nod, she wiped her tears with the back of her hands.
The windowless room was not bright, but light slipped through the open door— she realized that her hands were trembling.
“… Wait a moment.”
After replying, she chanted the magic Light with a soft, trembling voice.
Her quivering hands were clenched tightly around the sword.
Because she was the Brave.
Because she was the Brave, Leticia, van Mavis.
However—
“I wanna go back., help me… Onii-chan”
She murmured with a fleeting voice.
He, who advanced straight towards his dream.
Upon thinking of him, the dread washed away from her heart, replaced by a warm, gentle feeling.
She looked at both of her hands.
It was now alright.
She opened the door to the storage room and exited it.
“We can’t launch an attack before the gate is breached. It’s a bad situation.”
Her steps reflected none of her previous panic and fear.
“Wait a minute.”
However, Tiara, her beautiful elven face in a slight frown, raised her right hand to Leticia’s face.
“Wh- what?”
“Leticia… were you crying?”
Tiara raised her hand, and Leticia’s cheek was bathed in a faint, warm light.
“Healing magic is not my strong point, but you shouldn’t stand before everybody with that sort of face.”
She healed her eyes, which were swollen from tears.
Leticia turned away from Tiara, who was worried about Leticia’s face, and walked towards the outside.
She whispered words of gratitude.
“That is so…. You are the Brave, Leticia.”
‘Please help us, Leticia-sama.’
Their faces showed their alarm at the inhumane warcry they heard outside, and were dyed with fatigue.
Then, from the despair in their eyes, bloomed a small hope.
But she still wore a beautiful smile on her face.
She stood before them, and, with grace unsuited of her age, she drew her sword.
“I will lead the vanguard! Tiara will cover us with magic. Soldiers, shoot at them with arrows! I will advance!”
In the silence, Leticia’s energetic speech caused an uproar.
Upon confirming this, Leticia started chanting a small spell.
“I bestow my power…”
It was Leticia’s first battle with lives at stake.
Her strengthened legs easily carried her light body over the castle ramparts.
Before her eyes, a large horde of monsters stood on standby.
The sight of the grotesque monsters clamoring instilled a primal fear in people.
However, Leticia looked upon the monsters without changing her expression.
“We’re surrounded, who knows how many monsters there are.”
Unlike Leticia, Tiara had used floating magic to fly above the gate, beside Leticia.
Even she was unable to hide her dread at this amount of monsters.
After them, the soldiers who would fight climbed onto the ramparts.
“What is with these numbers…?”
“Not good, I don’t want to die!”
At that moment, Leticia took a deep breath.
Leticia’s call echoed through the air.
Unable to disregard the aura she projected, both humans and demons looked at her.
However, she gave off such an imposing presence, that unlike the rest, she was an existence which couldn’t be ignored.
“My name is Letica van Mavis. The one who slays demons! Those of you who possess intelligence, if you live to return, report this to the Demon Lord! Know the name of the one who will instill terror in you all! The name of Leticia van Mavis, the Brave!”
Both the intelligent devils, and the demonic beasts with nothing other than the impulse to slaughter were taken in by the aura she emitted.
Then, Leticia raised her left hand, which wasn’t holding a sword, up into the air, and whispered something.
At the next moment, swung her hand downwards, and at the same time, a ball of light split into tens of pieces, and rained down on the monsters.
Then, the death cries of the monsters followed.
Calling out with vigor, Leticia leapt down from the ramparts.
Appearing from within the dust cloud, she stabbed at a monster with a serpentine body and a wolf-like head.
Monster blood flew through the air.
With strength beyond humans, strong magic wreaking havoc, and an innate cruelty, their battle instincts overcame her intimidation and attacked her with their fangs.
Yet, the intelligent humanoid devils, without minding the monsters that should have been their allies, fired magic at the crowd.
However, Leticia cut down the charging monsters, her weapon cutting through the monsters like butter.[4]
Before her eyes, she became drenched in the blood of the monsters.
The monsters who were much larger Leticia’s small body and the quadrupedal demonic beasts making use of their agility, they all turned into corpses.
Who knew how much time had passed since the beginning of the battle?
In order to avoid hitting her, the soldiers aimed their arrows at monsters far away from her. But now, with their arrows used up, they merely observed the battle with awe.
Even after defeating so many of them, the seemingly endless stream of monsters gushed forward.
Leticia’s left arm was grazed by a monster’s claw, and bled.
Her breathing was uneven.
The claw must have been covered in poison.
She thought that it was lucky that it only paralyzed a part of her body.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!”
However—
When she came to her senses, there were no more monsters around her.
When she stepped forward, the monsters in front of her stepped back a step.
The people gathered on the ramparts looked on, mouths wide open, at the unbelievable scene.
The tip of Leticia’s sword shone.
‘More, more, more power!’
The monsters understood it instinctually:
It rivalled, or maybe exceeded, the power of their Demon Lord.
With that as a signal, the monsters besieging the fort also fled.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The world was bathed in a flash of brilliant light.
Eventually, as the echoes ceased, and their sight returned, the people saw an unbelievable sight before them.
The top half of a mountain before them had disappeared.
At the origin of the indentation in the ground stood a girl holding up a sword in her right hand.
“We won… We survived.”
However, there was no explosion of delight.
Eventually, holding her injured left arm, dragging her feet on the ground, the little girl who held the title of “The Brave” eventually made her way back to the fort.
“That person… is she really… human?”
The voice echoed awkwardly through the silence.
The looks that were pointed at Leticia were the same those that the Ducal Household and the knights had given her.
‘Is she really human? Is she a demon in disguise? Monster…’
“Leticia, what a terrible-looking face. You should wash it.”
Silently accepting it, she wiped off the dirt from her face.
“Thank you very much, Brave-sama. On behalf of all the villagers who survived, I thank you.”
He must have been the village chief of one of the attacked villages.
Lowering his head, he hurriedly scurried back to the crowd of villagers.
“Brave-sama is a distant existence to us.”
“That person is not far from being a monster.”
Though they thought she couldn’t hear their soft voices, Leticia did hear them.
“Nee, Tiara,”
What is it?
“Tomorrow, we’ll depart. With me here, they won’t calm down.”
“Leticia…”
For her, it was a rare expression to be seen on her face, a sorrowful expression.
She continued disinterestedly speaking words.
“Either way, there are many people in the world who have been attacked by monsters. We should try to defeat the Demon Lord even quicker.”
“Leticia.”
“And also, from now on, could you call me Mavis in front of everybody? Brave Mavis… ”
“Leticia!”
Tiara enveloped Leticia in a gentle embrace.
That body was trembling.
“I— I’m not a mon- monster, right?”
“You aren’t.”
“Leticia is in no way a monster. That’s why we call you Brave Mavis.”
“I got it.”
“I want to go back… I want to see you… Onii-chan”
Embracing Tiara, Leticia cried, as the villagers looked on at a distance.
That was a battle that took place in a village near a fort.
Opposing the demon invasion, humanity had won its first victory, and the battle became the beginning of the legend of Mavis the Brave.
“Here, Onii-chan”
“Ah, thank you.”
Receiving the towel, Wynn wiped off his sweat while looking at Leticia.
With just that, her face softened.
She drew water from the barrel with a bucket and washed the towel.
After wringing it out slightly, she once again delivered it to him.
“The coolness feels good. Thanks, Leti.”
“You’re welcome.”
She smiled pleasantly.
Wynn now went in and out of the room in his dorm.
However—
She had returned to that place, the small yard behind the Wandering Bird’s Mistletoe.
“What is it, Leti?”
She realized that tears had started flowing from her eyes.
They streamed down her cheeks, and fell off her chin.
“Did something happen? If there’s a problem, we can talk it out?“
“No, it’s nothing.”
She rubbed her eyes.
But today, it was not needed to conceal it with healing magic.
“I felt so lucky, so happy, that tears that flowed out.“
“So it was like that?”
“Yes. But first, I’m home.[5]”
Saying that, she smiled at Wynn.
“Umm, I don’t quite get it, but … Welcome home? Leti…”
Leticia gently reached out to Wynn.
That was an unbelievable burden.
“What is it, Leti?”
Curiously, Wynn’s face reddened at the fact that Leticia was unusually close.
Leticia was snuggling up to him, acting spoiled, but then—
“Oh, sorry.”
She sensed that Locke and Cornelia were standing there, motionlessly watching her.
The two had frozen with awkward expressions, as their friend scratched his head.
Translator notes
not sure why this doesn’t have a gore warning… youma Which side has the upper hand, though? I’m remembering Abel’s boast right now… Usual greeting when somebody comes home/returns, whether from school, or a journey to save the world, or more like they say it after an odyssey to signal a return to normalcy…