The Price Of Being Strong
“Ge, get away! Monster!”
“Hii, hiiii!”
“Hurry up and get out of the village!”
Why are they saying such things? Even though they"re the ones who commissioned it. Even though I just defeated it for the sake of protecting the village.
“Lei. There"s nothing to be bothered about. They"re just surprised that a child like you is stronger than themselves. Now then, let"s go back”
I was told that and patted on the head by Shishou. I take another look at the village. Everybody"s hiding in their house and won"t come out. Everybody looks at me like they"re afraid of me. Why…….
We talked about the matter regarding Malfoy suddenly appearing.
“That"s probably the Hermit"s Mantle”
Rene replies so. Hermit"s Mantle? What"s that? Ely and I don"t know about it so we tilt our heads. Therefore, Rene explained to us.
“Well, the Hermit"s Mantle, it"s a Magic Tool that hides the wearer"s figure, smell, and magic power. It"s apparently something that a.s.sa.s.sins and people in the underworld use. In exchange, it has a weakness, its effect fades when one moves. Even just now, we were able to see Malfoy"s figure after he used magic, right? Even so, it costs quite a bit, to think that he actually has it prepared for everybody”
They had something like that huh. But it"s troublesome if that"s the case. Since we don"t know where they are if they don"t move. Even if they move, it seems there"s a time lag until their figures show up. What to do. As I"m thinking about such things, Ely talks to me.
“……Lei. Do it seriously”
“Eh?”
“Ely, what are you saying?”
She looks into my eyes with a serious look.
“I"m doing it seriousl……”
“You"re not. Your seriousness shouldn"t be something like that. Don"t we intend to win?”
……I look at my own palm. At the palm that the scars of popped blisters from swinging a spear remain. And then I recall about the past. The day I went to a village under a certain request and was called a monster. Ever since that request, I ended up instinctively suppressing my strength before anyone besides Shishou and the others, was it.
“It"s an insult to the opponent if you don"t go all out. I absolutely won"t forgive it if I"m the opponent”
“……Yeah, you"re right. It"s rude to not take the opponent seriously huh”
I say that and Ely nods. I regrip Rolgar.
“Both of you, from here on out, it"ll have nothing to do with a team match or whatnot, forgive me”
And then I stab Rolgar into the ground. I surround Rene and Ely with Light Magic"s Holy Sanctuary. A square that gives out white light surrounds the two of them. It"s a barrier that"s brittle from the inside but is absurdly strong against attacks from outside. And then
“Water Magic Water Disaster! Wind Magic Spiral Cyclone! Combination Magic Spiral Disaster!”
I generate a large tornado of water around the Rolgar that I stabbed into the ground. It"s becoming so big that it even pierces through the ceiling. I steadily put magic in and
Zabaーn!
Because of the tornado, the water scatters to the surroundings while turning.
“N, no way……. Such high-level magic, and simultaneously nevertheless……”
“……Amazing”
As I"m putting magic power in, the cla.s.smates who are dragged into the tornado appear.
“UwaaA!”
“KyaaAA!”
“St, stop itー!!”
I won"t avert my eyes. Because this is something I did.
“HaaaAAA!”
Because of the tornado, cuts caused by water blow violently at the surrounding. By that, the school building gets shaved off bit by bit and it mangles the cla.s.smates who were hiding. And then
“Wh, what"s this……gyaaaa! It hurts, it hurts! GyaaA!”
I locate Malfoy. I pull out Rolgar and then perform Body Enhancement. And then I start running towards Malfoy.
“Hii! Ge, get away! Mo, monster!”
“Take this!”
I then punch Malfoy flying. And then I move in an instant and stab Malfoy with Rolgar. Malfoy looked at me with eyes filled with hatred but he then became a white light and disappeared. What remained there was just the badge.
The entire school building was destroyed several minutes after I activated Spiral Disaster. The only ones standing now is our team. It seems everybody else went outside. I return to where the two of them are and our body starts to glow. And then it becomes pure white as far as the eyes can see.
And when I opened my eyes, we were standing at the labyrinth"s entrance. Around us were Mary-sensei and the cla.s.smates who tremble upon seeing me. It seems Cait and the others are fine as well.
“Lei-kun, Rene-san, Ely-san, good work. With this, everybody has returned huh. I hereb”Why is a monster like this in the same cla.s.s as us!”eh?”
A cla.s.smate interrupted when Mary-sensei was about to announce the end. Of course, it"s Malfoy.
“We will not be able to spend our time at ease in the academy with such a monster near us! Please chase him out, Sensei!”
With this as the outset, and the other cla.s.smates also start to voice out.
“Indeed it"s scary……”
“Un, indeed. We won"t be able to put up a fight at all”
Conversations like this are coming out from here and there. Mary-sensei tries to stop it somehow but it"s meaningless. Not only that, they raise their voices instead. At that time
“Shall I send them flying?”
“That"s right! In any case, they"re just jealous of Lei being strong, aren"t they!”
and Ely and Rene move closer to me. And then
“You people are so d.a.m.n noisy!”
and Dargris came as well. He"s still suspended but it seems he received permission from Shishou to watch the compet.i.tion.
“You people, don"t be saying whatever you please even though you don"t know anything about Lei! Although I"ve also only just met him for a week, this fellow is neither a person who will abuse his own power nor someone who will rampage like a monster. He"s a human like us! f.u.c.king ganging up on him and saying ‘monster", ‘monster"!”
and Dargris gets angry for my sake. In addition to that, over there
“That"s exactly right, Dargris-kun”
and even Shishou came. And then she goes all the way before Malfoy
“Malfoy-kun. You said you want to chase Lei out because he"s a monster huh”
“Ye, yes”
he says. Malfoy could do nothing but reply.
“In that case, what about me? I who"s more of a monster than him is nearby. Are you telling me to get out as well?”
“N, no, that is……”
“I"ll crush you if you screw around too much, alright?”
and Shishou intimidates Malfoy. It feels like the temperature around dropped by several degrees……. And then Malfoy fainted.
“Now then, Mary-sensei. Do continue”
Shishou tells Mary-sensei.
“Ye, yes, the other teams have been defeated before their badges were even taken and Malfoy"s team has their badge taken so they were disqualified, thus, the victorious team is Lei"s team! I hereby end the compet.i.tion!”
She announces that and the cla.s.smates went back to the cla.s.sroom while glancing towards me. Looks like Shishou also went back. It"s only my team that"s remaining.
“Sorry, everybody. I didn"t go all out from the start”
I apologize to the three of them. Thereupon, Dargris
“I"ve decided my goal during the time I"m in this academy!”
says that so we look at Dargris. What? As I"m thinking that, Dargris points at me.
“Lei! I"ll definitely get a hit in on you! With my current strength, I guess I can"t even graze you. So I"ll definitely injure you before we graduate! Prepare yourself!”
he announces loudly. Those around who heard that
“Normally, isn"t it to win against him before graduation?”
says Rene.
“What should I do”
says Ely who contemplates.
I feel like I can do my best if I"m with this team. Thus, the compet.i.tion ended.