Happy Wednesday and Happy Halloween!
This chapter is also a longer chapter and it"s in the hero"s POV. The author will switch to the hero"s POV every once in a while, so a head"s up for that.
So, since today"s Halloween and all, I"ll give you guys a small treat! I"ll be posting two chapters for you today, enjoy.
PS: for those going trick or treating, have fun and stay safe.
〈Retice Castle〉
I gave a deep sigh.
Before me was the grave of Commander Saran, the person who had been saving us until just a few days ago.
This person was someone who had rescued us on countless occasions in the dungeon.
Even so, his grave was in disorder and there were weeds growing everywhere.
Perhaps gra.s.ses in this world grew quickly, the beautiful place from a few days ago, was now a meadow filled with overgrown weeds.
「Was there no one who came to visit his grave…?」
It was different from the graves in j.a.pan, if I had to say, the current circ.u.mstance was that the flowers that all my cla.s.smates prepared when he was buried in a European-style grave had withered.
The flowers that I had put down had also withered.
Even though only ten days had pa.s.sed, I was sad that no one came to visit his grave.
That day, after Akira disappeared, my cla.s.smates had become strange.
The atmosphere was strained, and they quarreled over trivial things.
Those who always got along gathered together, and were looking at the others as if they were the enemies of their parents.
It was as if they were following someone"s orders so that they would quarrel and fall out with each other.
I was the only one who was able to escape something like that which seemed like a curse.
Right now, I was like those around me, but I"m gradually getting cut off from them as well.
「My being sane right now is thanks to you and Akira.」
I didn"t really remember when the curse was dispelled.
It"s just that, after the curse was broken, I had heard from Vice-Commander Zeal that Commander Saran and Akira had done their best to dispel the curse.
I had also heard from Vice-Commander Zeal that, the king and the princess put the curse on us bit by bit so that we wouldn"t know.
I, before I can say things like saving everyone and saving the world, I should protect those close to me first.
I still don"t like Akira, but I now understood that, Akira had also helped, protected those around me.
I"m grateful as well.
I could only be mad at myself.
If I continue to be as I was at that time, I would only have regrets.
No matter what, I wanted to get rid of the weeds myself, and with the water that I had drawn, I cleaned the entire grave.
I swept the grave with the tools that I borrowed from the castle"s maids.
「…fuu.」
I poured the water, and I carefully removed the moss with a tool that looked like a scouring brush.
I thoroughly brushed the part where the name had been engraved.
I don"t want, anyone to forget this person.
I had been looking down the entire time, so my neck started hurting, I slowly loosened it.
「…nn?」
I suddenly felt someone"s presence coming from the forest.
There were many places to hide and I didn"t know where they were, but they were certainly peeking towards this direction.
「Who is it!」
I drew out my sword that I carried at all times ever since that day.
When I glared at them, a single woman came out from the shadows of a tree.
「S, sorry. I wasn"t tryin" ta spy on ya.」
「You are…Ueno, -san?」
The exorcist Ueno Yuuki-san.
She was the person who, on Akira"s instructions, used dispel on me in the dungeon the entire time until her MP ran out.
She was an energetic person with a Kansai accent, but she was dejected, unlike her usual self.
「No, it"s fine. I was also in the wrong for drawing my sword. It"s not an exaggeration to say that you"re my benefactor as well.」
「It"s fine. When I look at everyone, it"s normal ta be cautious.」
「…you"re not cursed?」
It felt like, there was something different about everyone.
The most noticable difference was their eyes.
Compared to the cla.s.smates who were glaringly searching for people"s weaknesses, Ueno-san was looking directly at me.
「What are ya sayin"? Imma exorcist. It"s da cla.s.s with resistance ta curses.」
I didn"t relax my guard, around the slender Ueno-san who puffed up her chest.
That was how, I was deceived by the princess.
It won"t happen again.
「…I understand that ya kyant trust me. I ain"t sure either if Tsukaskun"s curse was truly completely broken or not. So, ken I come hea tomorrow too?」
「Tomorrow too?」
「Yeah, it"s bettah ta have more comrades, right? I know dat I kyant putta curse on myself. I wanna confirm dat.」
I understood the loneliness of being by myself.
That"s how it was, for me right now.
The only one who was aloof even when they"re by themselves, was a certain a.s.sa.s.sin.
「I got it. Come here tomorrow as well. It"s just that, I will have my sword nearby, and you have to stay a fixed distance away. Even so, is that ok?」
「Of course. I dun wanna be close ta a guy who is holdin" a sword either.」
Ueno-san was finally smiling like she usually did, I gave a small sigh in relief.
「You too, please watch me. Because I will change this world.」
I picked a flower that was growing nearby that looked like a mallow and offered it to her.
Looking at that, Ueno-san said this in admiration.
「Da flower language fer mallows is ‘a heart that believes". Wow, ya found something so befitting in a place like this.」
「"A heart that believes"…huh. I didn"t know that. I"ll remember it.」
Just where was Akira, and what was he doing?
It"s been a while, I wanted to see that arrogant smile.
Under the clear blue sky, the inexperienced hero took one step forward.
In order to catch up to the a.s.sa.s.sin who already went ahead first.