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Farga said that Shiromu was the world leading mercantile country.
To satisfy their desires, wealthy people throughout the world visit it, and scatter money.
In public, it"s said to hold developed culture with luxurious and gorgeous scenery, beautiful sculpture-like townscape, where dressed up ladies walk through.
However, behind the scenes in the slums, violence and crimes are everyday events, and it"s overflowing with women working as prost.i.tutes.
There are humans that grow fat without doing anything, and there are also humans that became skin and bones as the time of their next meal is beyond their control.
Also, although it"s a country inside the Humanity Continent, it"s a country that allows the existence of the various races that exist in this world.
Of course, only their existence is allowed, and the races other than humans have no rights given to them, just treated as objects.
A country that consists of this world"s heaven and h.e.l.l. That is, Shiromu………… is what I heard.
"O, oi, what the h.e.l.l is going on!" (Velt)
It"s been 5 days since I crossed over the sea.
Since I"ve been making it fly quite fast, I was able to reasonably shorten the time.
In our eyes, after finally reaching it, was a shocking scene.
"We were too late, huh. How, however…………" (Ura)
"Shiromu is definitely not a country that"s strong in battle. However, I heard that just the harbour defences are rigid, as there have been repeated occurrences of pirates attacking trade ships as they entered the harbour." (Farga)
Farga, don"t say something like that after seeing this scene.
I felt unnecessarily terrified.
Blazing up flames, and numbers of completely destroyed buildings.
Even though we"re quite distant from the harbour, it still feels painful to breath. It"s filled with the smell of blood and a sea of blood.
I don"t even want to see it, but I ended up seeing it; the human corpses floating above sea.
"Farga. Wha, what part of this, was heaven and h.e.l.l? It"s all just h.e.l.l." (Velt)
"……………………" (Farga)
"The, the port city fell." (Velt)
There are only human corpses floating above sea. In a way, that means that it was a one-sided ma.s.sacre.
"s.h.i.t, if we enter the harbour like this, those d.a.m.n demi-humans will notice and attack us. Stupid younger brother, let"s go flying with your magic." (Farga)
"Ri, right." (Velt)
"Velt, concentrate. Don"t worry, I will protect your life." (Ura)
No, that"s not it. The fact that I"m scared and shocked isn"t wrong, but what did I come here to do?
Why did we come here and even land, to do?
No good. My head isn"t working, and and my heart is wavering.
"I will accompany you. If I am here, even if you encounter the Shinsengumi, we should be able to talk with them." (Musashi)
Musashi patted my shoulder and said that.
Wait, that reminds me, why did she remain with us again?
Ah, oh yeah. The midget trio went home together with the other fishermen to escort them, but just this girl remained.
To be honest, she"s a comrade of those d.a.m.n demi-humans who created this disastrous scene, so she"s basically an enemy, and yet, I obediently obeyed her.
Pathetic. It"s because I wanted as many people together with me as possible.
"Fuwa fuwa aviation." (Velt)
Including Jiel and the others, we all flew in the sky at once, slowly rising up the harbour"s wharf while careful to the maximum degree.
However, I don"t sense any presences. The demi-humans have probably already gone far away.
However,
"Uu-!" (Velt)
"Don"t look, Velt. You had better not get used to this." (Ura)
"Tch, d.a.m.n it." (Farga)
"……………………" (Velt)
I couldn"t believe it. They had made a mountain. In the centre of the port city, a mountain made up of piled up humans.
Not a single person was alive.
"Kuh!" (Jiel)
"Oi, Jiel! Where are you a.s.sholes going!" (Farga)
"Of course, to our family! We are fine here." (Jiel)
Jiel and the others jumped out with changed facial expressions.
I will definitely not like them, but I at least understood their current mental states.
"Oooi! Anyone, is anyone hereee!" (Jiel)
"Mum! Mum!" (Auction Staff)
Without stopping Jiel and the others, we let them do what they want.
"Everyone was killed. No one remained. Exac, exactly how many people were……………………" (Velt)
"d.a.m.n it. Even the women and children weren"t spared. Oi, you d.a.m.n demi-human, what part of this is rescuing your brethren. No matter how you look at, this is a war of aggression." (Farga)
"We, well." (Musashi)
This is crazy. Like, why am I in a place like this.
What did I come here to do?
"Farga, there is no use criticizing Musashi right now. This is also war." (Ura)
"Hou, the d.a.m.n demon is awfully siding with the d.a.m.n demi-human. Isn"t it the same thing as when you a.s.sholes destroyed Bolbardie?" (Farga)
"Wha, what did you say! b.a.s.t.a.r.d, there are things you can and can"t say!" (Ura)
"It"s the truth though. Your nerves that make you side with demi-humans in front of this scene is also s.h.i.t." (Farga)
"What are you saying! You probably don"t know about war because you are a Hunter, but this kind of disgrace is performed by humans when they invade too!" (Ura)
That being said, it"s full of corpses, and no one"s here. Why?
Looters that take advantage of fires could………… no, I guess not.
"Farga………… is the area for wealthy people further in the back?" (Velt)
"Ah?" (Farga)
"If there are no enemies here, then that means they"re aiming for even better places, right?" (Velt)
"………… Probably, yeah. By the way, the slave market and auction venue is past the harbour and in the royal capital." (Farga)
Which means that scenes like this is going to continue forever, and let alone that, it also means that this moment is going to repeat itself.
"We have to chase after them." (Velt)
"V, Velt! However, going any further is dangerous." (Ura)
"Yeah, I know something like that. However, even though I don"t know what I can do even after chasing them, no matter what, something like this definitely shouldn"t happen." (Velt)
This is war………… Forna………… why did you plunge yourself into a world like this.
"Also, Farga, Ura, you guys better not be fighting too. Who"s going to protect me if you guys fight?" (Velt)
"Tch…………" (Farga)
"Nn, ye, yeah………… sorry." (Ura)
After getting dragged into the cleaning up fight of Vesparda against humanity"s great allied forces five years ago, I felt like I understood war to a certain extent.
However, this is completely wrong. I can sense the fear in my skin. Is this the feeling of getting invaded?
To be frank, even though I always kept it at a distance because I thought I was unrelated, why did I get involved with it myself?
"Velt-dono." (Musashi)
"Yeah?" (Velt)
"It is already too late for this country. Even if we chase after them anymore, all it will do is just expose your life to danger." (Musashi)
"I already know something like that. But still." (Velt)
"Of course, if you were a knight of this country, someone of humanity"s allied forces, or possible even a warrior that touts justice, then I will not stop you. However, you are none of those, right?" (Musashi)
Musashi asked something that I personally wanted to know about myself.
That"s right. Even though I"m not a champion of justice, what am I doing?
"………… Stupid younger brother………… what that d.a.m.n demi-human is saying has a point. To be honest, even I don"t think I can do something about this situation. Waiting for reinforcements from the empire of the neighbouring countries is smarter." (Farga)
Yeah, that"s right.
"Velt, I am of the same opinion. We should run away for now. It is not something we should involve ourselves in." (Ura)
Even I know that that"s the best option.
And yet, what am I doing?
While pa.s.sing through the mountain of corpses and the mountain of completely broken debris, I asked myself that multiple times.
Then, at that moment.
"Guhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
"Hyooooo!"
"Gaooooo!"
"HiiiI!"
"Kyaaaaaa!"
"Hyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The scene I saw after pa.s.sing through the port city and arriving at the entrance of the castle town, is one I"ll definitely never forget forever.
A world of pandemonium, where screams and laughter interweave.
Not war, but trampling, is occuring.
Demi-humans with similar appearances to Musashi are swinging their katanas to cut up nonresistant humans, stealing, lighting things on fire, and a.s.saulting women.
It was such an aberrant scene that I just became speechless, and I was reflexively about to shout to my heart"s content.
However,
"What are you people doing!" (Musashi)
Before I said something, Musashi shouted first.
"Ahh?"
"Who"s that young one~?"
"Oi, which unit are you from! This is our, third unit"s, hunting ground!"
Hunting ground, huh. They"ve completely ignored the original objective.
"Don"t mess around, for the proud Shinsengumi to do such trampling acts, you should be ashamed of yourselves!" (Musashi)
Musashi, it seems you were more of an overly serious lump of justice than I thought.
"Hohou, this wolf race samurai has some nerve to say that to Haajimu Saitou." (Haajimu)
That means that she"s a rarer type of demi-human among them.
Then, are the people laughing in front of us normal demi-humans?
"Heh, don"t act brave, youngster! This isn"t just a brethren rescuing operation! This is revenge! To clear away our resentment by making those d.a.m.n humans taste it!" (Haajimu)
"Wha, what are you saying!" (Musashi)
"Youngster, you should know. If I remember correctly, you"re Musashi, right? Adviser Varnand"s granddaughter. Even you should have resentment to the humans for your parents and the mythical beast races!" (Haajimu)
"Don, don"t be foolish! What connection does that have to do with this. Are you saying you have no compa.s.sion to nonresistant people that have lost their fighting spirit!? Then, this is just a simple ma.s.sacre!" (Musashi)
"Exactly. We"re just doing the same thing that the humans did to us! This is the best condolence to cleanse the souls of our lost brethren!" (Haajimu)
Ahh, I see. So the humans did the same thing, huh.
In other words, it"s that.
Humans, demi-humans, and even demons, are all to blame.
"I"ve finally figured it out. So that"s how it is, huh." (Velt)
"V, Velt-dono?" (Musashi)
"I know why I"m here now…………" (Velt)
There"s no end to it.
"There"s no way I would know what humans, demons, or demi-humans are, what"s justice, what"s evil, or how war is, so there"s no way I could give an answer, no matter how long I think. Even geniuses and champions and heroes around the world don"t know, which is why the war is still going on." (Velt)
As I thought, I"m not interested in that stuff.
There are people who do these things they"re doing among humans, and it"s the same for demi-humans and demons too.
But among those races, there are people that don"t.
I just coincidentally had a lot of people like that in my surroundings until now, but to me, it"s fine like that.
Therefore, there"s no need to lump the demi-humans together and say they"re all the same, just from looking at the scene in front of me.
That"s why, my objective is different.
"Wait, you! Musashi, isn"t that a human next to you!" (Haajimu)
"Why are you acting together with a human! Did you betray?"
They"re making a racket from screaming so much. It"s too noisy, so I will.
"Fuwa fuwa concert! Shut up for a while." (Velt)
I floated all the demi-humans I can see, other than Musashi, in the air, and moved them in all directions with my conducting.
"Wha, what is this, my, my body is!"
"Guooo, it, it"s, it"s not stopping!"
"Sto, stop iiit, end iiit!"
"Gueeee, uoeee."
An improvised concert in a blazing town. They couldn"t make any good sounds, but it was alright.
"Finale. Splendid, right?" (Velt)
After finishing the concert, I could see the blank looking humans and fainted demi-humans in front of me.
I lightly did one bow.
"Ve, Velt-dono, what in the world are you." (Musashi)
"Stupid younger brother. You were quite angry today, but are you fine now?" (Farga)
"Velt, you haven"t pushed yourself too hard, right?" (Ura)
Yeah, don"t worry. I"ve already realized what I need to do after all.
"Musashi, your grandfather is partic.i.p.ating in this, right?" (Velt)
"Ye, yes, but………… of course, grandfather would definitely not forgive this kind of ma.s.sacre!" (Musashi)
"It"s fine. To be honest, I don"t really care either way. It"s enough for me if I can just know if he came to this country." (Velt)
"Wha, what do you mean by that?" (Musashi)
Five years ago, I couldn"t do anything.
"When my old man and mum were killed, I vowed, that I would live in a way that I won"t regret anything. But you know, even so, I"ve been doing nothing but regretting." (Velt)
The first regret was of dying, and even in my second life, I regretted the time when my old man and mum died.
Ever since that day, I"ve been living so that I don"t regret something for a third time. But just when I vowed that, that incident occurred.
"Ura, Farga, do you remember? The words I said when we took in Ura five years ago." (Velt)
"Eh?" (Ura)
"Five years ago? Stupid younger brother, what are you…………" (Farga)
"Until just before, I lost my head and forgot about it." (Velt)
I finally remembered the words I said at that time.
――I couldn"t do anything! Without being able to listen to what problems he had or what suffering he went through, I didn"t even find out what he thought as he lived! Since I wouldn"t understand even if I listened………… with that kind of reason, I dodged it.
I couldn"t do anything to my close friend that I finally reunited with.
And now, it"s been five years since that day. I already decided that the time has come, and went out into the world.
Why did I think the time was right? It"s because I thought I had grown enough to not regret for the third time.
I had completely forgotten that from seeing this gruesome scene for the first time.
"Miyamoto. If you"re here right now, I"ll go meet you right now. If you"re suffering somehow, then I"ll listen to you. If you want me to stop you, I can punch you until you stop. If you want me to save you, then I"ll save you! That"s the reason I"m here. Demi-humans and samurai and war isn"t related to it. That"s my clear distinction, that I couldn"t make when I met Samejima!" (Velt)
That"s the thought I"ve been cultivating for these five years.
Kamino. It seems it"ll take much more time until the day I meet you.
TL Note: I found the character pages for each volume of the light novel (four in total, and the fourth volume being the last one) on . I decided against posting volume 3 and 4"s ones since characters that haven"t appeared/been mentioned yet were there. Anyways, here"s volume 1 and 2"s character pages, I only translated names because quite a few descriptions were hard to see