Dai Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu

Chapter 37

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Prologue - Stagger

The wind blew.

In this wind, his silver-coloured hair swayed.

On top of his horse, Sion Astal gazed in the direction that the wind was blowing.

The wind was mixed with the stench of blood.

His allies" blood.

People were dying.

His allies were dying.

His enemies were dying.

And above the mountain of corpses that continued to increase, he advanced forward.

"......"

It was a battlefield.

As night had yet to fully disappear, it was a battlefield in the early morning.

Someone called for him.

Amidst the thundering roar and light flickering from the multi-coloured magic,

"Your Majesty!"

Someone called for them.

That voice frantically,

"Your Majesty! Don"t stay here for any longer. Please fall back!"

It exclaimed that.

However, he didn"t respond.

Instead, he stared ahead.

Staring straight ahead, he continued forward on his horse.

Towards the landscape where people continued to die.

Towards the landscape filled and overflowing with life, death, light, and thunder, he advanced.

"......"

Then, from another location, someone was speaking to him.

He didn"t see who.

Rather, in his ear,

"... Do you intend to die?"

A voice sounded, to which Sion replied,

"You"ll protect me, won"t you?"

"Unfortunately, I currently lack the power for that,"

The voice said.

At that, Sion turned towards the source of the voice. However, as he expected, its owner wasn"t there.

Lucile Eris wasn"t there.

But to that, Sion spoke.

"You still haven"t undone Remrus"s curse?"

"It"s a troublesome thing, it seems."

"Then, do your best on your own."

"With you having come all the way here, it"d be troubling if you died."

"Ha—how unusual. Are you worried about me?"

As Sion said that, Lucile"s figure suddenly appeared.

However, it wasn"t from behind, where his voice came from, but in front of Sion.

As if to completely stop Sion from moving forward, he stood in the horse"s path.

Glossy golden hair, closed eyes.

An abnormally good-looking appearance.

He gently held out his small hand.

With that, the offensive magic unleashed towards Sion by the Remrus Empire"s soldiers was extinguished.

But from that, already, the enemy soldiers were aware what it would mean to immediately approach Sion.

Right now, what was arriving at Sion"s location wasn"t a large-scale offensive spell.

It was ordinary, short-range magic.

In other words, the enemy soldiers, by destroying Sion"s ally soldiers, they were already pushing him directly into their hands, as they drew closer.

Lucile looked around with a troubled expression.

That the Remrus Empire"s soldiers were starting to surround him—no, starting to surround Sion, he understood.

As their ally soldiers were being killed by Remrus"s soldiers, one by one,

"Your Majesty!"

Someone called.

"We shall hold them back, please esca..."

However, those words didn"t continue until the end.

Again, another ally died.

And the soldier that killed that ally now appeared to be forming a spell to fire at Sion—

However, now, that soldier was killed by Lucile.

As he wordlessly swung his hand, the soldier"s body was sliced in half and sent dancing through the air.

Looking down at that, Sion spoke.

"What were you talking about? Don"t you still have enough power?"

Lucile then looked up at him and replied,

"Right now, if monsters such as the G.o.ddesses or Remrus came here, I would be unable to protect you."

"I see."

"Furthermore, this battle has already been won, has it not? You"ve accomplished enough of your duty to act as a decoy. Appearing at the frontlines like this has pulled away the enemy. You"ve already ensured enough that the other divisions may move about freely,"

Lucile said.

Correct.

Sion"s movements here were according to that sort of plan.

During the time where Sion was at the frontlines, luring away the main forces of the Remrus Empire"s army, Claugh and Bayuuz would strike from behind with their forces.

And that plan was easily accomplished.

At any rate, the end soldiers of the enemy"s main force, in an attempt to chase after Sion, had gone too far.

Chances were, with the enemy"s military warfront having been spread out, their rear was being lightly guarded, and so Claugh and co. could begin their a.s.sault.

Of course, in a normal battle, they wouldn"t be able to carry out this sort of tactics.

After all, if Sion were to die here, then it would all be over.

However, Sion managed to dispel his subordinates" protest, and so this plan was put into action.

Because Lucile was here.

Because Lucile of the sword clan had followed him here.

But Lucile spoke.

"My power likely hasn"t returned yet. Therefore, I would advise that you not overdo it?"

In response to those words,

"......"

Sion said nothing, though.

Instead, he merely gazed in the same direction as before, without a word.

There, it seemed that a gigantic sphere of light was being formed.

It was a large-scale offensive spell from the Remrus Empire"s army.

If it were a power that could negate such a spell, Sion no longer had enough soldiers with him for that.

Already, clashing with the Remrus soldiers in what had become a free-for-all, they wouldn"t be able to gather enough mages for a large-scale offensive spell.

In other words, that spell would make a direct hit here.

Furthermore, together with their in this fight, the enemy"s spell would obliterate them all.

It was only natural.

Sion was here.

The king of their enemy country was here.

If they could kill him here, this war would end.

The enemy was also frantic.

As that large-scale spell came to be, Lucile gazed towards the gigantic sphere of light, and,

"Fall back already, Sion. Protecting you any more than this would be difficult."

He said in a sincerely exasperated voice.

"......"

However, unsurprisingly, Sion didn"t respond.

Because the wind was blowing.

Because, as the light of the large-scale spell spread throughout the nearby sky, the wind was blowing.

That wind was, as expected, tinged with the scent of blood.

The stench of corpses was present.

But mixed in with that, he sensed something else.

He didn"t know what.

But there was some sort of uneasy feeling from over there.

No, perhaps one could call it a sense of loss.

Something important?

He felt as if he"d lost something very important to him.

Over where the light was.

Over where the light of the large-scale spell, cutting through the darkness of the night that had yet to turn into day—it felt as if something deeply unpleasant was occurring there.

"......"

Gently, he held up his hand.

Though Remrus"s soldiers were gathering around him and preparing to attack, he, without paying them any heed, held up his hand and murmured,

"Sword."

From within the center of his palm, a black light came forth.

That light took on the form of a sword.

Black.

Blacker than the night, it was a jet-black sword.

Regarding that, Lucile spoke. While killing the people attacking Sion, one by one,

"Exactly what are you doing? In this sort of place, using that power isn"t nece..."

However, ignoring him, Sion used that power.

That power was that of The Fallen Dark Hero [Asruld Roland], dwelling within his body.

If he were to use that power before obtaining just enough strength to resist it, he would lose his ability to reason as a human.

Control would be handed over to the Hero [Monster].

Hence why, as much as possible, he gradually advanced forward without such a power.

However, he used that power.

The sword separating from his hand, it flew towards the light of the large-scale spell.

And as the sword pierced through its target, what it struck disappeared.

From this world.

It was as if that magic and all information regarding it had never existed in this world.

As if it"d never existed, its existence disappeared.

The soldiers were in a state of disturbance.

At any rate, though they should have been in the middle of something, the knowledge of what vanished entirely from their minds. Because of that, the soldiers were thrown into chaos.

But that sort of thing didn"t matter to Sion.

After all, what he was looking towards was near where that annoying large-scale spell had been, where something should be happening.

Something was happening there, where the night sky had yet to turn into day.

Staring at that,

"... Lucile,"

He murmured.

At that, while slaughtering the surrounding enemies,

"... I already understand what it is that you wish to say,"

He said.

Somehow, it seemed that Lucile, just now, understood the sense of unease Sion was feeling.

In response, Sion asked,

"... What"s going on?"

"Who knows? But, likely... nothing pleasant?"

To those words, Sion looked at Lucile, and then looked up at the sky again.

Furthermore, his sense of unease grew stronger.

No, already, it was inaccurate to simply call it unease.

It was something that caused a sense of coldness and chill throughout his entire body. The air and atmosphere that came into contact with his body trembled and pulsed.

And—

"... Just now, the world changed,"

Sion muttered.

That, he felt clearly.

He felt that something there that, uncertain but sternly holding up the structure of the world, suddenly vanished.

Some sort of structure.

He felt some sort of structure change.

Regarding that, Lucile looked up at the sky.

He looked up at the distant, northern sky.

And again,

"... Fall back, Sion,"

He said.

To which Sion said,

"But—"

"What can you accomplish here?"

"......"

"There"s someone beyond us who intend to repaint this world. They"ve come into contact with something."

"......"

"In that case, we must advance as well. For us, our objective..."

However, Lucile"s words ended there.

Because surrounding him, a great deal of humans casting magic stopped.

And simultaneously, they began to retreat.

As if having lost all interest in this battle that they"d come here for, they began to retreat.

Staring at that,

"... Did Claugh defeat the Remrus Empire"s main force?"

Sion muttered.

Then,

"Do you truly think so?"

Lucile said.

Of course he didn"t. There was obviously something strange about the enemy"s current state.

At any rate, the situation wasn"t one that would call for an order to withdraw. Furthermore, it was clear that right now, this battle was going in the enemy"s favour, so they shouldn"t need to retreat.

Despite that, they were beginning to withdraw.

And without missing that opportunity, Sion"s subordinates started their counterattack.

Where Sion was,

"Your Majesty, please take this chance to escape!"

His soldiers exclaimed things such as that, and then began launching their attacks at the retreating Remrus soldiers.

On top of that, among Roland soldiers, having amended their stance, the mages organized themselves and began preparing a large-scale offensive spell—Raguru.

With countless mages, intertwined with one another, a gigantic magic circle was formed—

"......"

However, even then, the Remrus soldiers didn"t defend themselves.

They didn"t react to any attack.

Even though they should"ve had such a capability, they only focused on escaping instead.

They didn"t even do something such as prepare a spell to counter Raguru.

If Raguru were to be activated, then hundreds, thousands of soldiers would be obliterated, and yet they didn"t do anything at all to defend themselves.

Regarding that scene,

"... Just what is the meaning of this?"

Sion said.

Lucile replied,

"Who knows? But surely, it"s a trap, you realize?"

"A trap. A trap... is it?"

At that, he looked towards the state of the fleeing Remrus soldiers.

They had no emotion on their faces. Even as they were being killed by the Roland soldiers, they had nothing on their faces.

It was a hollow sort of expression, as if they were in a trance.

It was different from before.

Before, when the Remrus soldiers were trying to kill Sion, they acted the same as any other ordinary human.

But now,

"... They"re completely like puppets,"

Sion said, while staring at the Remrus soldiers who didn"t even cry out as they were being killed.

And during that moment, he felt the world being repainted.

The air trembled, as the colour of the landscape changed.

Of course, the others didn"t notice.

After all, rather than in the world where people dwelled, it was something that occurred in a different dimension.

After all, it was something that occurred in an unusual place that deviated just slightly from the world where people dwelled.

But for certain, Sion felt the structure of the world change.

Then,

"Your Majesty, we"ve won the battle!"

One of his subordinates exclaimed.

In a complete change from their earlier, grievous state, the soldiers cried out with strong voices.

Turning towards one of them, Sion spoke.

"Don"t lower your guard. Investigate why the enemy has suddenly begun retreating."

His subordinate immediately responded.

"It seems that the force that Field Marshal Claugh Klom was leading executed a surprise attack against the Remrus Empire"s main forces. Perhaps that was the enemy"s reason for..."

He began, but interrupting him, Sion spoke.

Narrowing his eyes at the Remrus soldiers, who were being killed one by one,

"... Don"t pursue them. Fall back."

Though his subordinate looked up at him with a surprised expression, Sion ignored him and turned away on his horse.

Though, despite that, the soldiers didn"t immediately halt, he, unsurprisingly, paid that no heed and began mobilizing towards the south.

Furthermore, while following him,

"Are you not advancing forward?"

Lucile asked, to which Sion answered,

"... What do you think?"

"I wonder. In any case, it seems that the country of the Remrus Empire isn"t being ruled over by a human. Their reasons for taking part in this fight aren"t those of a human"s, then. Now then, shall you pursue them, or shall you withdraw?"

Lucile said.

And that was an abnormally difficult question.

The actions of the Remrus soldiers were essentially daring them to pursue them.

Simply laid out, they were actions that suggested that there was a trap waiting for them.

That was why this was a troubling situation.

Did he honestly want to pursue them?

Otherwise, suspecting that there was a trap, did he want to withdraw?

He didn"t know.

If one were to look only at the battle situation, then chasing after them would obviously be the correct decision.

Sion acted as a decoy, while Claugh launched a surprise attack—it was that sort of situation.

If they took advantage of this opportunity, they could attack the Remrus Empire with one fell swoop.

But,

"I"ll fall back. Lucile, you still haven"t undone the curse laid on you, have you?"

He said, looking Lucile"s way, to which the latter made a slightly thoughtful expression, and,

"Even if you make that choice, it may be Remrus"s aim, perhaps? How troubling. Regardless of whether you advance forwards or fall back, there"s a problem. Thus, I shall obey you,"

He said, and with that, he vanished.

But then, on top of that, other subordinates came with further information.

"Your Majesty, I have a report from Field Marshal Claugh Klom."

"Tell me."

At that, the subordinate replied,

"As Field Marshal Claugh Klom"s force has launched a surprise attack on the Remrus Empire"s main forces, the enemy has surrendered. Furthermore, an envoy from the Remrus Empire has come and apparently proposed that they come under Roland custody. How shall we respond?"

After he said such things,

"......"

Sion frowned.

More and more, he was becoming uncertain.

What was the enemy thinking?

Without putting a fight, they intended to come under Roland"s control?

It seemed that monster named Remrus or such knew about Sion—no, about the Hero within Sion.

In that case, he should also know about the secrets of Sion"s power.

His power that increased with every person who surrendered to him.

As the Humans created by the G.o.ddesses came into contact with Sion and became Human α, with their inner structure being written, Sion"s power multiplied in turn.

In other words, with the proposal that the Remrus Empire become the territory of the Roland Empire, Sion"s power should increase tenfold at once, even though Remrus should"ve been trying to prevent that.

"Just what is his aim?"

Sion muttered, turning around.

The Roland soldiers" a.s.sault had yet to stop.

They continued to kill the Remrus soldiers who were trying to escape.

Staring at that,

"... d.a.m.n it. What a despicable enemy,"

He said, groaning.

Then he gave an order to his subordinate.

"Cease with your attack. The enemy has surrendered. Tell Claugh to remain on standby where is. I"ll be heading there. However, don"t enter the Remrus Empire. Don"t kill the enemy; capture them. You don"t need to pursue anyone who retreats. The battle has been won. Send out the victory call,"

He said all at once.

In response, the subordinate nodded, and then distributed the duties among his surrounding allies.

And immediately, the victory call was sent out.

The Roland soldiers became animated all at once, yelling out in loud voices.

At the same time, they ceased with their attacks.

The Raguru invocation was cancelled.

Though the enemy continued to retreat nevertheless, the Roland soldiers no longer pursued them.

And after confirming that,

"......"

Sion motionlessly thought it over.

What he should do from here.

Where he should move to—

While glaring at the world that had suddenly transfigured, he thought it over.

Just now, this was likely Remrus"s doing.

Though, regarding whatever had just happened, Sion didn"t know if it was a sign that the world had been repainted in an unpleasant colour or not, Remrus had done something, and furthermore, he was trying to induce Sion into dancing on his territory.

At that, he—

"......"

However, again saying nothing, he narrowed his eyes up at the northern sky.

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