Yuusha-sama no Oshishou-sama

AN: I hope the beginning of the second chapter goes well.

“I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die.”
She murmured softly.
A girl was hugging a sword about her height, crouched on the ground while murmuring.
Tears flowed from her eyes.
She missed that place.

She wanted to go back, but she couldn’t return.
‘Why am I here?’
‘Why do we have to fight?’
‘Why…? Why…?’
Her hands, her feet, her whole body wouldn’t stop trembling.
Her teeth had been chattering for a while now.
Her heart pounded, as if it were about to burst. Though the weather was typical of a hot summer, she felt an unbearable chill.
The small girl curled up into an even smaller ball, grasping a sword tightly.
She had discovered a small room in the fort.
It must have been a storage room.
Many instruments, which she didn’t know how they were used, were haphazardly stored in the room.
In that small storage cla.s.sroom, she was alone in a corner.
The girl was trembling.
In that place, she could cry without anybody else seeing it.
From the outside, she could hear people’s sobs, and men’s angry bellows.
A peaceful village was suddenly attacked by a horde of monsters.
Under the command of the Demon Lord, the demons and monsters attacked the defenseless villagers.
Some of the fleeing villagers, unable to resist, had their backs shredded by sharp claws, while others lay on the ground, their lower halves eaten, and their guts spilling out.[1]
Thanks to the soldiers who were sent out from the fort built near the village, some of the villagers managed to flee towards the fort.
However, there were many victims as they fled to the fort.
Many soldiers lost their lives while protecting the villagers.
The commanding knight, in order to buy time for the last villagers to escape, fought furiously, and died in battle.
With large sacrifices, they were able to take shelter in the fort, but the fort was still besieged by monsters.
There were few soldiers left, and none of them were uninjured.
Occasionally, sounds of a large monster ramming its body against the fort’s gate.
Without the commanding knight, the soldiers could only grip their weapons, awaiting the moment when the gate would be broken down.
If the monsters were truly serious about destroying the fort, monsters could fly over the gate, or magic-using demons could have broken down the gate.
But for some reason, they were specifically letting a large monster ram against the gate to destroy it.

They were enjoying themselves.

Those who took shelter in the fort, feeling tiny and powerless, were gripped by dread.
Everybody grieved at the fact that their loved ones would be killed.

If the monsters went all-out, the fort, the inhabitants within unable to resist, would be overrun.
At that time, it wasn’t unusual for cities, villages, and even forts to fall.
It was a time when the Demon Lord Army brought despair.
A light in those dark times was rare, but there was one at that fort.
It was merely a story.[?1?]

However, each person’s sights gathered on the main tower of the fort.

There, was the existence that brought hope to the world.
After having travelled for several days, they had requested a night at an inn, and happened to be there at that time.

It was the one whom the G.o.ddess Anastasia designated as the Brave.

Amidst the despair the thought of death to the approaching monsters, her existence brought a slight hope to those people.

That was why, in order to live up to their hopes, the girl was alone in the shed, trapped in a cage.

She couldn’t let the others see that she was trembling from the fear of death like them.

Because she was their hope…

“Leticia?”

Her name was called from outside the room.

“Leticia, they’re almost here.”

“… Ok.”

With a small nod, she wiped her tears with the back of her hands.
She stood up, holding her sword.
The windowless room was not bright, but light slipped through the open door— she realized that her hands were trembling.
“… Wait a moment.”

After replying, she chanted the magic Light with a soft, trembling voice.
As the room brightened, Leticia took many deep breaths.
Her quivering hands were clenched tightly around the sword.
She couldn’t show the shameful appearance of being terrified in front of anybody else.
Because she was the Brave.
A light for the people. Humanity’s last hope against the demon lord’s invasion.
Because she was the Brave, Leticia, van Mavis.
However—

“I wanna go back., help me… Onii-chan”

She murmured with a fleeting voice.
She thought of her childhood friend, who was left behind in the capital.
He, who advanced straight towards his dream.
The only one who brought light to her when she was engulfed in darkness.
Upon thinking of him, the dread washed away from her heart, replaced by a warm, gentle feeling.
Her pounding heart calmed down.
She looked at both of her hands.
Her hands and feet had stopped trembling.
It was now alright.

She opened the door to the storage room and exited it.
Leticia’s companion, Tiara Sukiyurusu Belfa stood outside.
“We can’t launch an attack before the gate is breached. It’s a bad situation.”
Leticia acknowledged Tiara’s words with a nod, and started to walk out of the tower.
Her steps reflected none of her previous panic and fear.

“Wait a minute.”

However, Tiara, her beautiful elven face in a slight frown, raised her right hand to Leticia’s face.

“Wh- what?”

“Leticia… were you crying?”

Tiara raised her hand, and Leticia’s cheek was bathed in a faint, warm light.

“Healing magic is not my strong point, but you shouldn’t stand before everybody with that sort of face.”
The light faded.
She healed her eyes, which were swollen from tears.
“Are you alright?”
Leticia turned away from Tiara, who was worried about Leticia’s face, and walked towards the outside.
“I’m alright. Since I am the Brave… But, thank you.”
She whispered words of grat.i.tude.
With her back straight and her eyes facing forward, she walked out of the tower, no trace of hesitation in her gait.
“That is so…. You are the Brave, Leticia.”
She was Leticia.
‘Please help us, Leticia-sama.’
All of the survivors, men, women, the elderly, even the fort’s soldiers, looked towards Leticia.
Their faces showed their alarm at the inhumane warcry they heard outside, and were dyed with fatigue.
Their despairing gazes all focused on Leticia.
Then, from the despair in their eyes, bloomed a small hope.
The one who held the t.i.tle of “The Brave” was merely a ten-year-old girl.
But she still wore a beautiful smile on her face.
Upon seeing Mavis the Brave’s warm smile in this hopeless situation, their dread became replaced by a slight hope.
She stood before them, and, with grace unsuited of her age, she drew her sword.

“I will lead the vanguard! Tiara will cover us with magic. Soldiers, shoot at them with arrows! I will advance!”

In the silence, Leticia’s energetic speech caused an uproar.
At her words, vigour returned to their eyes.
Upon confirming this, Leticia started chanting a small spell.

“I bestow my power…”
She cast a body strengthening magic.
It was Leticia’s first battle with lives at stake.
She kicked off the ground and soared into the air.
Her strengthened legs easily carried her light body over the castle ramparts.
She stood atop the gates.
Before her eyes, a large horde of monsters stood on standby.
There were human-shaped devils[2], and demonic beasts.
The sight of the grotesque monsters clamoring instilled a primal fear in people.
However, Leticia looked upon the monsters without changing her expression.

“We’re surrounded, who knows how many monsters there are.”

Unlike Leticia, Tiara had used floating magic to fly above the gate, beside Leticia.
Her long elven ears twitched slightly.
Even she was unable to hide her dread at this amount of monsters.
After them, the soldiers who would fight climbed onto the ramparts.

“What is with these numbers…?”
“There is no way we can win, is there?”
“Not good, I don’t want to die!”
Despair returned to their eyes.
At that moment, Leticia took a deep breath.
“Listen up, you demons!”
Leticia’s call echoed through the air.
At the same time, she released an intimidating presence.
Unable to disregard the aura she projected, both humans and demons looked at her.
Atop the ramparts, a noticeably smaller girl stood out among the weak humans.
However, she gave off such an imposing presence, that unlike the rest, she was an existence which couldn’t be ignored.

“My name is Letica van Mavis. The one who slays demons! Those of you who possess intelligence, if you live to return, report this to the Demon Lord! Know the name of the one who will instill terror in you all! The name of Leticia van Mavis, the Brave!”
The numerous roars that resounded before were now not to be heard.
Both the intelligent devils, and the demonic beasts with nothing other than the impulse to slaughter were taken in by the aura she emitted.
Silence covered the area.
Then, Leticia raised her left hand, which wasn’t holding a sword, up into the air, and whispered something.
“I’ll turn this glimmer of hope into a big beacon.”
At the next moment, swung her hand downwards, and at the same time, a ball of light split into tens of pieces, and rained down on the monsters.
Many intense explosions were heard.
Then, the death cries of the monsters followed.
“I’m going!”
Calling out with vigor, Leticia leapt down from the ramparts.
She ran straight through the dust raised by the explosions.
Appearing from within the dust cloud, she stabbed at a monster with a serpentine body and a wolf-like head.
The monsters once again screamed in agony as they died.
Monster blood flew through the air.
Smelling that, the surrounding monsters all noticed Leticia, and focused their hostilities on her.
With strength beyond humans, strong magic wreaking havoc, and an innate cruelty, their battle instincts overcame her intimidation and attacked her with their fangs.
The quadrupedal demonic beasts had overwhelming mobility and a primitive impulse to slaughter, and one by one, they all attacked Leticia.
Yet, the intelligent humanoid devils, without minding the monsters that should have been their allies, fired magic at the crowd.
It was an overwhelmingly unbalanced battle of one against many.[3]
However, Leticia cut down the charging monsters, her weapon cutting through the monsters like b.u.t.ter.[4]
Unable to dodge the spells, she used the monsters as shields.
Before her eyes, she became drenched in the blood of the monsters.
Incited by the smell of blood, more monsters attacked.
The monsters who were much larger Leticia’s small body and the quadrupedal demonic beasts making use of their agility, they all turned into corpses.
Who knew how much time had pa.s.sed since the beginning of the battle?

In order to avoid hitting her, the soldiers aimed their arrows at monsters far away from her. But now, with their arrows used up, they merely observed the battle with awe.
Even Tiara. who had used powerful magic to bombard the monsters, had already used up her magic power, and was observing Leticia’s fight while breathing heavily.
Even after defeating so many of them, the seemingly endless stream of monsters gushed forward.
“Guh…”
Leticia’s left arm was grazed by a monster’s claw, and bled.
She was extremely exhausted.
Her breathing was uneven.
Though her injured left arm hurt a lot, she didn’t say a word.
The claw must have been covered in poison.
She thought that it was lucky that it only paralyzed a part of her body.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!!!!”
Swinging the sword with her right hand while shouting, Leticia cut down the monster, and searched for another target.
However—

When she came to her senses, there were no more monsters around her.
At some point, the monsters who surrounded her had retreated from the reach of her sword.
When she stepped forward, the monsters in front of her stepped back a step.
The monsters who knew nothing but slaughter, were frightened.
The people gathered on the ramparts looked on, mouths wide open, at the unbelievable scene.
‘Now!’
The tip of Leticia’s sword shone.
As in the beginning of the battle, the sphere of light rapidly expanded.
‘More, more, more power!’
Devoting the rest of her magic power, it expanded to the point that it was larger than her.
The monsters understood it instinctually:
That ball of light contained considerable amounts of magic power.
It rivalled, or maybe exceeded, the power of their Demon Lord.
The monsters in front of the sword slowly backed away— and then scrambled away.
With that as a signal, the monsters besieging the fort also fled.
Then—
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Leticia screamed as she fired the ball of light, which mowed down the monsters in front of her.
The world was bathed in a flash of brilliant light.
There was a deafening roar and a blinding light.
Eventually, as the echoes ceased, and their sight returned, the people saw an unbelievable sight before them.
The ground had been gouged out in a straight line into the horizon.
The top half of a mountain before them had disappeared.
On the path of the line, there were no remains of monsters, their bodies having been completely obliterated.
At the origin of the indentation in the ground stood a girl holding up a sword in her right hand.
Her glistening, beautiful blond hair was darkened by the fluids of the monsters, and her clothes, made of the finest cloths, were likewise stained.
“We won… We survived.”
Everybody whispered.
However, there was no explosion of delight.
Eventually, holding her injured left arm, dragging her feet on the ground, the little girl who held the t.i.tle of “The Brave” eventually made her way back to the fort.

“That person… is she really… human?”
Somebody whispered.
The voice echoed awkwardly through the silence.
The battle had finished, and Leticia returned triumphantly through the side door.
The looks that were pointed at Leticia were the same those that the Ducal Household and the knights had given her.

‘Is she really human? Is she a demon in disguise? Monster…’

“Leticia, what a terrible-looking face. You should wash it.”
Tiara held out a clean cloth and a bucket of water.
Silently accepting it, she wiped off the dirt from her face.
The water had now become darker, but she continued to wipe her face, hands and feet.
“Thank you very much, Brave-sama. On behalf of all the villagers who survived, I thank you.”
With a quivering voice, an old man thanked her.
He must have been the village chief of one of the attacked villages.
Contrary to his words of grat.i.tude, his whole body was trembling.
Lowering his head, he hurriedly scurried back to the crowd of villagers.

“Brave-sama is a distant existence to us.”

“That person is not far from being a monster.”

Though they thought she couldn’t hear their soft voices, Leticia did hear them.

“Nee, Tiara,”

What is it?

“Tomorrow, we’ll depart. With me here, they won’t calm down.”

“Leticia…”

For her, it was a rare expression to be seen on her face, a sorrowful expression.
Lower than Tiara, Leticia looked down into the bucket of darkened water.
She continued disinterestedly speaking words.

“Either way, there are many people in the world who have been attacked by monsters. We should try to defeat the Demon Lord even quicker.”

“Leticia.”

“And also, from now on, could you call me Mavis in front of everybody? Brave Mavis… ”

“Leticia!”

Tiara enveloped Leticia in a gentle embrace.
For somebody who could kick around the monsters like it was nothing, she had a slender body.
That body was trembling.

“I— I’m not a mon- monster, right?”

“You aren’t.”

“Leticia is in no way a monster. That’s why we call you Brave Mavis.”

“I got it.”

“I want to go back… I want to see you… Onii-chan”

Embracing Tiara, Leticia cried, as the villagers looked on at a distance.

That was a battle that took place in a village near a fort.

Opposing the demon invasion, humanity had won its first victory, and the battle became the beginning of the legend of Mavis the Brave.

“Here, Onii-chan”

“Ah, thank you.”

Receiving the towel, Wynn wiped off his sweat while looking at Leticia.
Just like four years ago, before she left for her journey, Leticia stood beside Wynn.
With just that, her face softened.
It was a familiar place.
She drew water from the barrel with a bucket and washed the towel.
After wringing it out slightly, she once again delivered it to him.

“The coolness feels good. Thanks, Leti.”

“You’re welcome.”

She smiled pleasantly.
They had reunited at the school.
Wynn now went in and out of the room in his dorm.
In the courtyard in front of the dorm, she had attacked him with a surprise attack to show off her current strength.
However—
She had returned to that place, the small yard behind the Wandering Bird’s Mistletoe.

“What is it, Leti?”

She realized that tears had started flowing from her eyes.
They streamed down her cheeks, and fell off her chin.

“Did something happen? If there’s a problem, we can talk it out?“

“No, it’s nothing.”

She rubbed her eyes.
Again her eyes were swollen.
But today, it was not needed to conceal it with healing magic.

“I felt so lucky, so happy, that tears that flowed out.“

“So it was like that?”

“Yes. But first, I’m home.[5]”

Saying that, she smiled at Wynn.

“Umm, I don’t quite get it, but … Welcome home? Leti…”

Leticia gently reached out to Wynn.
In four years, she was unable to touch the one she loved at all.
That was an unbelievable burden.

“What is it, Leti?”

Curiously, Wynn’s face reddened at the fact that Leticia was unusually close.
Leticia was snuggling up to him, acting spoiled, but then—

“Oh, sorry.”

She sensed that Locke and Cornelia were standing there, motionlessly watching her.

The two had frozen with awkward expressions, as their friend scratched his head.

Translator notes