Chapter 167: Hero dying a glorious death
“Children are not welcome in the Valley of Kalwin. They will have less food”
Neia takes a bandage out of her tool bag at the waist and rolls it over the half-split armor.
“Many old people who can’t work can’t live long. It’s useless”
“……Abandonment?”
“They have not abandon them yet. ……They’ll be send to another village when there is a famine. Children and old people who can’t be supported”
“……That’s it”
I was scared.
“Even if you can’t do it with your relatives, if you don’t know the person……you can kill and eat. Grandpa and grandmother know it and were send away. It’s a bit better for someone to eat than to be eaten by a monster. ……And laughing”
“…………”
“So in the age of famine, there are fewer old people, and fewer children. Gaping wide, the number of people of that generation decreases. ……I am one of those of that generation. I was a child who was supposed to have died and be eaten”
Intense past, plainly. Neia is neither angry nor sad, nor hate.
“There are two reasons I survived. One is that one of my parents was an elf. Elves mature quickly and work longer, so under the same conditions they are given a little preferential treatment. I wonder if there was a dead child instead of me. And……because the hero Faria, who was based in our village at that time, told me to take over”
“Is the hero acting as a parent?”
“She was a little too unbridled to be a parent. She left me alone in the village for weeks without me trying to learn anything about cooking. She left all the cleaning, sewing and cooking to me and still she brought me the meat of the monsters she had defeated and I was deeply adored because she was bright……a bright woman”
Neia smiled a little as she tried to tie the bandage. I’ll help her to tie it.
“Every child is raised once away from their mothers so that their parents’ feelings don’t change too much……so there was no such thing as being a true parent. Instead, Hero Faria was said to be the strongest of our time. She told me that she would raise me, so I was excited to become a great warrior since I was a kid”
“It’s difficult to be a hero”
“Yes. Usually, the children who were recruited as candidates for the heroes don’t return and 80% die during the training stage”
“……Isn’t that a problem?”
“If you’re an arm that’s going to die in training, you’ll usually die in the first camp”
“……How can someone think this is normal? If you train slowly……”
“It’s not a country that can hold so many warriors openly. Everyone knows that……”
It is too severe that I´m speechless. I am frightened by Neia who talks about it with her usual calm face.
“I still decided to be a hero. I had the pride of being a child chosen by a hero and a girl brought up by a hero, so I was convinced that it was my destiny. From Faria’s perspective, it’s just because she felt sorry if they just killed me”
“……But it’s actually happening”
“Eh, well……I think Faria was emotional with the fact that I was practicing the sword like an idiot. During her work as a hero, she started teaching me the sword……huhuu, it was tough. She had the usual bright tone and smiling face, but she was not the type to go easy on someone”
Neia lowered the collar of the hat. Tears might have come out.
—————————
Listening to Neia, I reconfigured it in me.
Trained by Faria, the hero, Neia showed skills that could be called a swordsman in her youth. By the time she was 13 years old, she had already been able to defeat the Hard Wolf with a wooden sword, so it seems that her talent and leadership were in balance. Without going to the Royal Hero Training Center, ehe began wandering around the valley with Faria to hunt monsters. ……Later, Neia learned that not only Faria but also other heroes who took a disciple and passed on the technique as a successor is not so rare. Needless to say, she wasn’t an official hero, so she helped with field work and although her training was very demanding, Neia, who believed that, like many others, was the last humankind in the world, she felt an endless cause in the work of protecting her small 「World」 and also practiced hard.
“Neia´s memory is very good. It’s a big difference from me”
Faria was always laughing and saying that. It must have been a flattery. But for Neia, who doesn’t know the public, it accelerates the growth of the inner heart. She can already be a good hero. Can stand side by side with Faria and protect the world. Therefore, the desire to be recognized as a hero has become stronger day by day.
“Children think that if they can become 『Something』, they will be happy from there. Adults, professions, etc. are the best. I also wanted to be such 『Something』. Instead of being a half-hearted child, I became a real 『Hero』……I wondered if there would be a bright future beyond that”
“……You don’t know what to say”
“I forgot, maybe I don’t want to remember it”
————————–
One day, Neia and Faria captured a nearby labyrinth. If you leave it alone from the labyrinth, monsters may overflow. Even if you hunt monsters once every few years, it is quite different. The battle was going well. As usual, Neia was not allowed to have a proper sword and it was said that this was also training, so she was fighting only with wooden swords and martial arts. Perhaps it included the intention that a tidy weapon was only provided only to the hero and to put the brake on Neia. Neia was dissatisfied with it. If she has a proper sword, she will be able to fight as good as Faria. It was also mysterious that Faria was not using the Flash sword hung on her waist, but was wielding an off-the-shelf sword that the craftsmen of the kingdom made. The Flash sword is said to be the proof of a hero. It must be strong if used. To Neia who thought so, this labyrinth battle was a great opportunity for self-appeal.
Fighting in the large labyrinth wasn’t completed in a day. After proceeding to some extent, they take a rest in the middle room. Repeating it. The labyrinth was planned to be traversed in about three days. At the second day of rest.
Neia silently took the Flash Sword, laid next to the resting Faria and she set foot on the rest of her journey. She has stepped out.
In fact, the Flash sword didn’t have the special power that she expected, but it was stronger than the wooden sword that chooses a bad place because of the fact that it usually breaks. The monsters are at best rock dolls and blood worms (They are more ferocious and quicker than sand worms) and Neia’s technique was never delayed. After about an hour of struggle with them, Faria caught up and kicked Neia away.
“Your punishment. ……Your training was to fight with a wooden sword, so you receive punishment for skipping it”
That’s all there is to it and Faria forgives Neia. It was supposed to be so.
However, a huge monster appeared there. 『Devil』 Orn. At that time, he had bat wings and five long arms on a body that neither resembles a giant snake, lizard, nor centipede and was aiming for the hero and the hero candidate who had been alert from the depths of the labyrinth.
——————–
“Faria didn’t dodge the first blow. To protect me from being kicked and falling, she intercepted that light bullet with a normal sword that couldn’t really bear it. ……The sword was broken and Faria’s dominant arm broke in the middle”
“…………”
It hurt just to hear it.
“And then, even with that condition, she fought against the devil……I couldn’t even try to help. I couldn’t figure out how to fight such a big demon……”
“Yeah. You weren’t fighting any specific enemies, you couldn’t fight any bad enemies, you didn’t have the power to apply. Faria was always worried that the basics were too fragile”
Flash sword complements. Neia kept her face hidden in her hat, ignoring it and continuing.
“Still, when I thought that Faria would die, I was moving my body before I knew it…… then the Flash Sword acted for the first time. But at most, I cut one of its five arms. I wasn’t the one who could manage only with the performance of the sword”
——————————-
However, Faria and Neia escaped in the gap created by the damage. However, Faria with a broken arm has a limit to move without care and pokes her knees in the middle. If you looked closely, the whole body was full of scratches due to the fight with the devil and it was not possible for ordinary people to move. Still, Faria put on her beloved hat on Neia who was trying to escape with Faria.
“Survive. This is the last order from me”
“Faria!”
“Children should listen to their parents. ……Give the Flash Sword to the next Flash Knight. I’m sorry, Flash Sword. It is unlikely that I can bear your power with my dominant hand like this”
“I know”
Soon after being surprised by the sword speaking for the first time, Neia is pushed by Faria, who senses the sign of the approaching devil.
“A hero is a profession that protects someone and dies. Understand, Neia, you will someday protect someone and die. ……So if you think it’s bad for you, survive. If you want to survive, live for as long as possible, live, win, protect everyone and then die. ……The last teaching of me as a hero”
“But……”
“You can’t beat him. I can’t get away from him. The answer is fixed.Courage is a decision, Neia. ……Go ahead! My death is wasted if you didn’t escape!”
“Neia, run. If you think of her, run. Run and get out of here”
“But……”
“This is your punishment”
“!”
“It’s a punishment for you who thought up. It was a punishment for you when you thought you could wield the sword of a hero. If you did not do that, Faria would have won. You are to blame. Get punished. Let Faria go and run away”
“Y, You’re Faria’s sword, aren’t you……!?”
“I’m the hero´s sword. No more or less”
The Flash Sword pulsed.
“Next hero, survive until you can defeat him. I am angry. I am deeply angry that I cannot kill that devil”
“Tss……”
Neia hesitated. And at the end she ran.
Only the devil called Orn would know what happened to Faria afterwards.
—————————–
“After that, I delivered the sword to the royal palace……then I was officially appointed as the Flash knight Grans. Then I retrained with other heroes and hero candidates at the Royal Training Center, after many battles as a hero, again I challenged Orn a few months ago”
“…………”
“Without defeating him, I can’t face either the Flash Sword or Faria. When I return to Kalwin, the Flash Sword will be confiscated because of my long-term disappearance. Before that, I was going to dive into the labyrinth again and settle it with the devil, but what I found here saved me a lot of work”
“But can you win, with that body?”
I don’t think his movement was such a huge creature. Most of the body is destroyed, and in reconstructing it, it seems that it corresponds to high-speed combat with a small body. The adaptability for that battle may be well above Breakcore.
“I can win. If nobody else is there, there are trumps that I couldn’t use at that time”
“……Releasing the power of the Flash Sword”
The Flash Sword pulsed a rainbow of light.
“Yes. If I release this strength, one blow will determine the game”
“But Neia can’t withstand it”
“It’s not that I’ve been scratched like that because of elegance and caution”
Neia casts a spell from above the bandage. When tapped, the bandage and underarmour made a metallic sound. A spell to cure it?
“Smithson-san. If something happens, I ask you”
“……I, If?”
“You may also run away with this sword. If that happens, please visit the Royal Palace of Kalwin”
“I, Idiot, that’s where you’re going to win, so watch it”
“……Maybe that’s right. But now I’m a revenger. There’s not enough of a hero to protect someone and die”
Neia’s smile on her own.
“It’s embarrassing, but I’m excited about the opportunity to defeat that guy with this hand”
“There’s no other way. I´m the same”
The Flash Sword is in tune with Neia. I sighed.
“……Foolish”
“Excuse me”
“At times like that, we talk about it after we win. ……I’ll tell you, because I own you one as you saved me”
A lender that dragged you into a dark place, took off your clothes, massaged your boobs and warmed you up. ……It’s because I don’t think it sounds like a debt.
“After winning……?”
“I’ll take a bath with you to thank you for this time, so I’ll tell you what, but I’ll listen to you”
“!!”
“……You’re a lot cheaper than a hero. Is that courage?”
I think it’s different. Flash sword.
“So don’t be the heroine of tragedy without permission. I don’t want a guy who works hard to have a boring ending”
“……Ye, Yes”
“Good”
I return the cloak to Neia who directly wear it.
“Then, how about going to find that guy?”
“Ye……Yes”
“It looks like it’s getting dark, so let’s go outside”
We crawl out of the cave. And. we saw a pale monster smiling over the snowfield.