Chapter 1: The Dream of The MurdererShaking.
Shaking.
He could see the roof shaking.
“…”
Then Ryner Lute discovered that he was being transported by a carriage.
Messy black hair, completely unmotivated and bored black eyes.
Those eyes opened slightly, looking at the ceiling of the carriage.
“…”
But he didn’t say anything.
No, actually he wanted to open his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t speak a single work.
He felt very tired and fatigued.
Then,
“…Ah, Ryner, you’re awake?”
Someone’s voice spoke.
A woman’s voice.
A familiar, woman’s voice.
But he was so tired that he was unable to think of whose voice this was.
Anyway he was tired, very tired.
So the woman’s voice spoke again.
“It’s okay, sleep. I will stay by your side, so relax.”
His head was patted, he felt that his head was gently, gently caressed.
“But, Ryner suddenly fainting shocked me.”
“…”
“It must be, you were too tired… something like that happened.”
“…”
“But really, Ryner can sleep without worrying about anything. Because the war with Geihlficlant has ended… the remaining things will be handled by us.”
“…”
I know that my heart is reacting to what she is saying.
Although I don’t want to think because I am very tired, but to what she said—war—this word, I still had a reaction.
Because the dream that I had been having until just now, was a dream about war.
And it was not a normal war.
It was a war where a monster appeared on the battle ground, a dream where he laughed and cried.
It was a monster called a Demon, a dream where as he laughed, as he cried, he killed many many people.
It was an unbelievable sad scene.
A cruel scene.
Anyway many many people had disappeared into dust.
As he had this dream, he thought that it’s lucky that this scene is just a dream, he originally thought that.
Such a cruel scene, it would be good if it were not reality.
It was great that he did not live in such a cruel world, he had thought.
Then.
“…Come, the war has already ended, so sleep.”
That woman’s voice said.
Then Ryner forced himself to open his eyes.
He desperately opened his eyes that wanted to close, looking in the direction of the voice.
A red-haired girl, who was smiling gently sat there.
She looked at him with a loving and worried expression.
It was Kiefer.
Kiefer’s clothes had been dirtied with mud, dirtied with blood, that was the mud and blood from the battle ground earlier.
Ryner looking at these,
“…”
He looked at this, but he did not make a sound.
Kiefer spoke,
“Ryner”
She called his name gently.
But he was unable to respond.
He was truly too tired too fatigued, so he was unable to respond.
He only thought that.
Ah—he thought.
Ah, that dream, so it was reality.
He was a demon, and he had killed hundreds and thousands of people to save his companions—
“…”
But he only managed to think until there, his consciousness was severed suddenly.
Ryner entered a deep sleep.
When he woke up again, he heard another woman’s voice.
At that moment, he was able to judge who it was just by hearing their voices.
That was an emotionless, a monotonous, but because of that it was a clear, beautiful voice.
That person’s voice.
“…”
Ferris’s voice.
That voice said,
“…Really, how long is this fellow going to sleep until?”
Then, Kiefer’s voice said,
“… I don’t know, but the military doctor said that he is only fatigued…”
“Are Doctor Yab’s words accurate?”
“…Yes, I’m very worried… But, it probably really is because of fatigue. After having something like that happen…”
“Perhaps, but this person is an unmotivated man who would laze for thousands of years. Perhaps he has already woken up, but he is thinking of pretending to sleep?”
“… If that’s the case, it can also be done…”
“Anyway, why don’t we try by hitting him?”
“Ah?!!! No, you can’t do that! Wait… Ferris…”
Bang—
“…Eh, he didn’t get up.”
Ferris said with a voice that sounded slightly more concerned from just now.
Then Kiefer said,
“That, I know you’re worried too, but hitting…”
“I wouldn’t stand here and worry for nothing.”
“Eh—”
“Alright, this time I’ll draw on his face.”
“So… I say, why do you have to join the eye brows and the nose hair together… Hahahaha”
Kiefer laughed, using a tired voice to laugh.
Then Ferris said,
“Then, red hair woman.”
“…Red hair woman… That’s irritating, you can call my name~”
Kiefer used a slightly happier voice to say again.
Towards this, Ferris replied,
“This time it’s my turn to look after this pervert, you can go rest for a while. This person has already collapsed for three days, if this continues you will collapse too.”
“But…”
“I don’t want to hear your opinion.”
“Ah…?”
Bang—
“Ah…”
“Good, she’s fainted. Hey, Toale, Toale!”
Hearing the carriage door open, then someone came in.
“Hey, why is Kiefer-san collapsed here?!”
Towards this question, Ferris answered.
“Perhaps it’s because of lack of sleep, when I entered, she had already collapsed.”
“…I see… it’s because Kiefer-san has been taking care of Ryner-san ever since he collapsed three days ago… She really likes Ryner-san.”
“…”
“Then, I’ll go tell Vois-kun’s subordinates, prepare a carriage for her to rest in, then I’ll take care of Ryner-san…”
“No, I’ll stay here.”
“But… but Ferris-san has not slept…”
“It’s alright, let this woman rest first.”
“…”
“Go!”
“…I understand.”
Saying that, Toale carried Kiefer out of the carriage.
There was only the sound of the carriage shaking.
Crrrreeeeaaaakk, shaking.
In the s.p.a.ce between the sound of the shaking,
“…Wake up quickly, idiot.”
She said that.
“You are an octopus, slow man, sleeping insect, waste, worthless”
Then,
“…Really, idiot… Don’t make me, worried… Wake up quickly…”
She said that.
Only that, she didn’t say anything again.
The carriage shook.
It swayed.
Although he wanted to open his eyes for her, but as expected his consciousness slowly sank into the deep darkness.
It was as if he could not wake up again.
Although compared to just now, his consciousness was clearer, but even so, he still could not get up.
When he woke up again, he could depend on his will to open his eyes and check his surroundings.
Opening his eyes, then surveying the carriage.
He immediately found that Toale was sitting by his side.
Brown hair, gentle eyes.
The right arm and leg sticking out from under the Anti-Roland Coalition clothes were prosthetics, but he used them well.
He was reading a book.
Although he completely couldn’t see what book he was looking at,
“…That, is that a rated book?”
Being asked that from Ryner, Toale looked over, smiling,
“Of course.”
“Ha ha, how can that be expected.”
“Of course that was a joke, this was received from Vois-kun, it is an educational material for the soldiers of the Anti-Roland Coalition to read.”
“Oh—”
“It’s quite interesting, it has made some work on the good cooperation displayed by the soldiers from different countries and different magical systems, when Ryner-san recovers does he want to read it too?”
Ryner nodded.
“That’s true.”
“Then, how is it?”
“Eh? How is what?”
“Your body’s condition. You have been sleeping for nine days?
“Kiefer-san and Ferris-san have been looking after you without any rest, for that they both collapsed. You’re so welcomed. I’m jealous.”
Hearing that, Ryner smiled wryly,
“…Jealous? Oh? So the prince of Nelpha, a good youth like you, could get jealous too?”
Toale laughed, as he laughed he pa.s.sed the water canteen over slightly lazily.
After ensuring that Ryner had used the water to wet his lips, he said,
“Because I am human too, so I will get jealous too. And I am more particular about Kiefer-san.”
Ryner widened his eyes in surprise, moving the water canteen away from his mouth, asking,
“…That, is that real? Is that so?”
So Toale smiled again.
“You see, you are so dense that you didn’t even discover it… but, because this is a battle that I cannot interfere in, so I gave up. After all that—large cry, I could hear the intentions Kiefer-san had for you.”
“…”
“Well, because I like Ryner-san too, so I can give up because of you… But, what does Ryner-san plan to do? Accept Kiefer-san’s intentions?”
Ryner looked at Toale through half-lidded eyes.
“…Ah~ before we talk about that, did you say that you liked me? I’m sorry, I don’t have that kind of interest…”
“Using this to direct the topic away~ If you have used that att.i.tude to treat Kiefer-san so far, she will suffer.”
“…”
“How do I say this, bullying Ryner-san while he is sick, I haven’t planned to give up from this side.”
Toale smiled as he said that.
Then Ryner smiled wryly,
“You’re really like this.”
“Ahaha. Then, quickly tell everyone that you are awake and full of energy. Everyone is concerned about you.”
Saying that, Toale stood up.
Then,
“No, can you wait?”
Ryner stopped him.
“…That, because I just sat up.”
Saying that, Toale looked at me worriedly.
“Your body, is it still in pain?”
“No, only tired.”
“…Oh, although the doctor said that you were over-exhausted, but just sleeping without waking for nine days because of exhaustion is really… it seems that, it’s related to using that power on the battle grounds… right?”
Towards this question, Ryner’s expression darkened momentarily.
He remembered himself using the power, the matter of killing an unbelievable number of people.
He remembered the people vanishing like mist.
Was it because he had used that abnormal power, that he had slept for so long as a side effect?
Being asked that by Toale,
“…What is it?”
Ryner muttered.
“Perhaps, it is only because I am a lazy person?”
But Toale was still worried,
“Of course it’s best if you can cure it just by sleeping…”
“I think there should be no problem.”
“Really? Although we say that, we are helpless about the matters that even the doctor don’t understand…”
Then Ryner narrowed his eyes.
Just like that, his eyelids wanted to close, as if entering sleep again.
So Ryner panicked,
“Ah~ Oh no, Toale, I think I’m going to sleep.”
“Ah??”
“But before I sleep I have something that I must know of…”
Although he only managed to speak until half-way, but Toale knew what Ryner was thinking, so he told him,
“What happened in the end in that battle, right? Please don’t worry, Gastark temporarily retreated—after that Vois Fiurelle-kun, as if he had predicted something like that would happen, spun around happily.”
“Vois?”
“Yes.”
“…That, makes me more and more worried.”
Ryner said that, Toale smiled. But Ryner felt, in his smile, there was something hidden behind it.
“What, even if it’s something worse than that…”
Then his speech ended there.
For some reason, Ryner became even more tired,
“This can’t be… I can’t even keep conscious… d.a.m.nit, what is going on… I can’t, I’m sorry, slight, ma…”
“Ma?”
“…”
“Well, what?”
“…”
“He’s already asleep… Really, is he alright. He woke up with much difficulty, never mind, he should be recovering slowly…”
But, Ryner could no longer hear what Toale was saying.
His consciousness became blurred, he couldn’t think about anything.
Then, Ryner suddenly thought,
“…”
This is not good, he thought.
Because this feeling of wanting to sleep strongly, Ryner had experienced it once.
That was magic.
And it was Roland’s magic.
Numbness, loose nerves, a magic that forced the opponent to enter sleep.
Because it was a magic only used for medical purposes, as long as the person it was used on rebelled it could be released immediately, so it wasn’t used in military affairs.
Of course the army had researched about using magic to force the enemy into sleep, but it had never succeeded. To people who resisted strongly entering sleep could cause a large stress on their nerves, and cause the person to die.
If it was for the purpose of killing the other person it wasn’t that it couldn’t be tried forcefully, but for that, there could be other simpler, stronger magic that could be used for that purpose.
So that magic was not completed.
But, now, the point wasn’t about whether this magic had been completed or not.
The problem was,
“…”
Now, there was a possibility that he was under a sleeping spell.
But, who was it who had done this?
And, he didn’t know when he had come under this magic.
To be straightforward, why did they want me to enter this forced slumber…
“…”
Then this thought process reached its end.
The human-made sleeping monster had already forcefully engulfed Ryner’s consciousness, he was already unable to think.
d.a.m.nit, although he tried to resist in his heart, but it was useless.
The strong sense of sleep attacked his whole body.
The strong sleeping monster collapsed his consciousness.
He could only, sleep.
Sleep.
Sleep.
He was unable to think.
Then he,
“…”
Lost consciousness again.
When he woke up again,
“…”
The ceiling, no longer swayed.
It seemed like the carriage was no longer moving.
Had they reached their destination, or were they resting.
He couldn’t see any light rays shining through the curtained window, he thought that it should be midnight.
He moved his body slightly, most of his body could move now compared to when he first woke up. So Ryner sat up immediately,
“Ow, I overslept, my body aches…”
His face contorted.
And his body was already able to listen to commands, his urge to sleep was gone. To understand what magic he had come under—
“…”
Ryner closed his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, a strange pattern appeared in his eyes.
But that was no longer a red five-pointed star.
But, it was a pattern of a tear that was shining with all colours.
He didn’t know the name of this eyes too.
But it was through these amazing eyes, he could see himself.
Then, the structure of air, the structure of his body, the structure of the other particles moving in his body, a larger information that before entered his eyes.
But, he didn’t discover the magic that he had come under.
“Unless, I never came under, any spells in the beginning?”
Ryner muttered.
“That means that it could be a side effect because I used the power of these eyes, so I couldn’t move?”
That could be possible too.
Because he had used an unbelievably large amount of energy.
He had used a power that humans should not use.
Then, the scenary changed.
Many people disappeared before they could scream.
Doing that, there could not be no side effects.
At least in the world of magic, whatever power you used, you had to pay a price.
For example increasing the impact would mean sacrificing speed, the area of effectiveness and the mortality effect would be lowered greatly.
Using a large-scale magic, if the number of casters were not enough there would not be enough magic power—things like this happened.
Magicians had to maintain balance, as they created a magic with more practical value.
But,
“…This kind of power is not the problem of just maintaining balance… possibly my life span would be greatly decreased because of this.”
Ryner thought about this matter.
But, he didn’t think that that was scary.
Because he had taken many people’s lives.
Because he had taken away so many people’s lives.
Wanting to live on without paying a price, he had never thought of that from the beginning.
“…”
Then he reached out his left hand, looking at his hand that had killed a large amount of people on the battle ground.
“…Well, doing something like that, my life span would definitely be decreased, it’s a pity it hasn’t reached zero…”
He murmured.
Then he looked at his right arm. He looked at his right arm that had been bitten by the thunder beasts that Lir had released.
But, there was not a wrist there. The wound had been healed, but there was nothing there starting from his elbow.
“…”
Even so, he didn’t feel anything.
Be it his wrist, life span, losing anything didn’t matter.
Because he had protected what he wanted to protect.
Ferris, Kiefer, Toale, companions—because of protecting precious things, anything was fine.
He had come so far, he didn’t plan to find any excuses.
He would not say that he was a monster, a murdering monster, crying, sadly, escaping.
Because, I protected comrades.
Because, I killed people, protecting precious companions.
If that is counted as a monster,
Then, the people scolding that this is a monster must completely be monstrous too.
Then, I,
“…It doesn’t matter if I’m a monster.”
Ryner muttered.
After that, he raised his head, standing up, using his remaining left arm to open the carriage door.
Outside, was night as expected.
The other carriages had stopped.
The tents had been pitched, the soldiers were sleeping.
“…”
Ryner got off the carriage, looking at everything.
It seemed as if they had not reached their destination.
“Well, anyway we don’t know where is our destination… but that fellow Vois what is he thinking of doing?”
He thought about it.
In that war, the Geihlfilant king had died.
A large amount of the Geihlficlant soldiers had died too.
All those were Ryner’s fault.
It was the fault of the Anti-Roland Coalition.
If these failures were revealed, the relationship between the Anti-Roland Coalition and Geihlficlant would deteriorate, if this caused Gastark and Geihlficlant to cooperate, this would push the Anti-Roland Coalition into a bad position.
“Well, because it’s that person, it should be handled very well… From the beginning it seemed he wanted me to affect Glovil… Then, he should have rehea.r.s.ed the plan to deal with the aftermath.”
He muttered, then wanted to think about what exactly was this, but shook his head, and decided to ask the person in question.
Although he didn’t know whether Vois was still here, but even if he were not, Toale and the others should roughly know about the situation.
Talking about which, earlier when he had been asking about what was the situation, he discovered Toale’s expression was slightly closed off.
“Then, what troublesome matters have occurred?”
Ryner revealed an expression that showed his bland interest.
“Even if it were not like that, there are troublesome matters all over the world.”
As he thought of that, he remembered about more of that war.
The matter about the pink-haired girl who emerged from the mouth of the large snake that had been summoned by Gastark, the matter about α abusing the battle ground.
The matter about the G.o.ddess who had ambushed them to help α, the matter about the Demon living in his body that looked exactly the same as him.
And,
“…”
The matter of the Demon that had looked exactly the same as him hugging his dead mother, to his chest.
“…”
Ryner pressed a hand to his chest, then narrowed his eyes, several tears escaping.
He had clearly forgot.
He had clearly forgot about his mother, why was he so sad.
It was said that his mother had fought desperately to protect him.
It was said that his mother had sacrificed herself to replace him, so that he would not be killed by α.
Then, his mother died.
According to the words of the demon who he had met in the dream-like environment,
“So that she could protect you, she gave up on everything. What a gentle human!”
That sentence, to him, to Ryner…
Ryner wanted to say something, but he noticed something else, his eyes narrowed sharply.
Then,
“…What is this.”
He looked at the night scenary.
Looked at quiet darkness.
He noticed, although there should have been a large number of soldiers nearby, but there was no sound, this strange situation.
“…d.a.m.nit, I’m so silly… What bad things have happened…”
At this moment, as if covering this sentence, a voice sounded from somewhere.
“Yes, you’re late in your discovery.”
A voice sounded from behind him.
Ryner frantically spun around.
But there was no one there. There was only the carriage that he had been in just now.
And from that carriage…
“Where are you looking to?”
The voice spoke again.
Ryner turned around again.
“Here.”
From right, left, here, there, the voice continued to echo.
It spoke from everywhere.
Then as Ryner’s body whole body went alert, he said.
“…What a boring game… using magic to move the air vibrations caused by the voice? That…”
He closed his eyes, then opened them.
And the power of his eyes was released, the tear pattern appeared in the middle of his eyes. Then he immediately looked clearly at the magic that was around him.
As expected, that was a magic that controlled the air vibrations from the voice. He didn’t know which country’s magic it was, but because it was simple, Ryner could use it just by looking at it once.
So Ryner’s hand started to move, so that he could touch this activate the magic that would touch this magic.
He wanted to use his right hand to draw the magic formation, then he realized that he no longer had a right wrist.
“Ah, d.a.m.nit, it’s not there.”
Saying that, he moved his left hand, quickly drawing a magical formation.
But when he was about to finish the magic,
“Ah, am I revealed? How capable~”
The voice spoke, then the magic that had been spread out by the enemy disappeared.
So Ryner stopped his magic too, so that he could block the next attack from the enemy, he needed to keep his left hand free.
Then he frowned unconsciously, feeling for the first time that losing his right wrist could truly be a little bad.
If he had a prosthetic limb it probably would be fine, but he had not become accustomed to the feeling of not having a right wrist. So earlier he naturally wanted to use his right hand.
And this kind of natural wrong judgment, in a fight against a strong opponent it could be fatal.
Then,
“…”
He stared at the darkness before his eyes.
No, he stared at the direction in which the darkness was spreading, as if weaved of magic, something that was like a black cloud of magic.
It was a magic he had never seen before.
It was strangely complex, even if it were Ryner who was familiar with magic, was unable to understand the context of the formula in one glance.
That cloud gave off something that was like a mist.
It was a transparent mist that could not be seen except by Ryner’s special eyes.
The effect of that mist was to induce slumber.
If that mist was absorbed into the body, it would act on the nerves, making a person fall asleep.
It seemed to be like until just now, the sleep that Ryner had been under for these few days, until the caster removed the spell, it seemed that the person who took in that mist would continue sleeping.
And it was very generous, so that the person could sleep without eating or drinking, it even provided nutrients.
Although he didn’t know why this magic had to be used, but anyway he had to make this magic—
“…”
That cloud that caused sleep, had already made everyone in Ryner’s vicinity fall asleep.
Probably thousands of people had already fallen asleep because of this.
Normally this kind of magic could not be controlled by one person.
If the area of effectiveness of magic was increased, the power would increase, a single caster would find it difficult to activate the magic.
That meant,
“…It’s a large-scale magic.”
Then Ryner felt that his heart was beating strongly.
Now they were, under attack by an army that had magicians that could cast a large-scale magic.
And all his companions had come under that spell…
But,
“No, Ryner, look carefully, that’s not a large-scale magic.”
A voice said.
The bodiless, steady voice said.
Ryner looked in the direction of the voice, as the magic that caused the position of the voice to shift had vanished, the owner of the voice stood there.
He looked in the direction of the voice,
“Eh? You, how do you know my name…”
Ryner broke off midway, suddenly stopping.
Because the man standing there, he had seen him before.
No, in the deepest corner of his heart.
In the deepest corner of his memory, the figure of that person was strongly engraved there.
“…”
So Ryner looked at that man, trembling.
He didn’t know why he would become like that, anyway his whole body was trembling.
Even so, he looked straight ahead.
Standing there, was a man with a sleepy face.
Golden hair, blue eyes that were sleepy.
A body that was like an unmotivated cat’s, and a black coat that did not blend in with the lazy atmosphere, a well-made leather bag.
He seemed to be in his late twenties, at most he wasn’t over thirty. But, it wasn’t like that. That person didn’t seem to be more than twenty years old. Because the man in front of him, had not changed at all, from the person’s figure in his memory.
He had not changed from the memory he had of him from fifteen years ago.
Like in the past, that person smiled at him with a gentleness that had not changed.
Then, Ryner shook.
Not only that, he nearly cried.
He used a weak and trembling voice to say,
“…Fa, father?”
As he said that, the man in front of him replied.
He had the same voice as he had remembered from his memories.
A gentle, very gentle voice.
“Oh dear, we finally meet… my dear son.”
That person said.