Chapter 5 — Country of Hot Sands
Episode 67 — To the New Continent
～ Part 3 ～
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After running for a short while, the battle situation became visible. Mitarai Azuki was being chased by several men and women. Even if he looked at that, it still took Kyousuke some time before he could understand the situation.
“No way, humans…?”
Yes, humans. Kyousuke understood that Rin who wrapped around his body tensed up.
Azuki who was being chased, as well as the ‘youkai Azuki-arai’, was a kind of monster whose appearance was not so different from human. She whose outward appearance that had no objection to say as a girl, was being chased around by several humans holding weapons.
The humans were 5 in total. About 3 of them were holding weapons. Two man and one woman. Slightly later than them were a man and woman wrapped in robe and cassock.
Adventurers, Kyousuke intuitively thought.
Got out from the Empire’s control, established a guild, the existence of mercenary who could act freely. In many case, when merchants crossed the sea or travelled long distance, they would always request adventurers for escorts. Other than that, reclaiming savage land, exterminating monsters were also their jobs.
Since they were out of the Empire’s control, the students of 2nd year class 4 had been thinking they could have a certain degree of cooperation.
But the ‘monster’ they were attacking and trying to exterminate right now was Kyousuke’s classmate. It was impossible for him to overlook this.
“Kyou, Kyousuke-kun!”
Rin called.
“What is it? Rin!”
“Are we going to fight those humans!?”
“If it’s necessary!”
Of course, Kyousuke wasn’t going to resort to violence from the very beginning. But if the other party only considered this side as monsters and wouldn’t listen to the bitter end, then fight. That much resolution, he had meant to pile up from everything so far.
“But … they’re humans?”
“Right.”
“Kyousuke-kun, are you fine with fighting humans? That is … to kill those people?”
“If it’s necessary.”
Even if he said so himself, it was indeed surprising that he had no qualms about spitting out those words.
“I have killed Suou, killed Tokihara. Even those guys were humans. If it’s necessary, I will do it.”
“That, that’s right…. We, killed them, didn’t we…”
Rin’s muttered voice was slightly shivering. Yes, the time he killed Suou, the time he killed Tokihara, as well as the time he killed that nameless Pawn, Kyousuke was in combined state with Rin. Until now, Kyousuke and Rin had killed 3 ‘humans’.
Slightly, he felt his body became heavier. A sense like leads weighting down his hands and feet.
“Rin…?”
“So–sorry. Somehow, I am…”
As expected, she wasn’t all right. Not «completely heal~thy~!» at all.
Rin now, was kinda strange.
No, perhaps, what strange was «Rin of up until now», or Kyousuke himself, Rin of now was only showing a «normal» reaction, no?
Kyousuke recalled the word «Filter» that Akai had spoke of just before the teleport incident occurred.
However, now, he didn’t have time to worry about Rin anymore than this.
“Rin, I’ll leave Mitarai to you!”
“Ehh…?”
“You right now can’t fight! That’s my hunch!”
Mitarai Azuki was desperately escaping. Her breathe feeble, fresh wounds clearly visible. Noticing them, she showed a slightly relieved smile. Behind her, the adventurers who were chasing Azuki also noticed Kyousuke and Rin.
“But, Kyousuke-kun, you are…”
“I can fight. More or less!”
That was only about his mental attitude in the end. How far could he fare against a party of adventurers?
“Hi, Himemizu-san! Utsurogi-kun!”
Azuki shouted and ran straight over here. She who jumped in was received by Rin.
“Azu-nyan!”
“U, uuu…. It was scary. Really scary…”
There wasn’t enough time to feel relieved at Azuki’s weeping voice. Kyousuke stood in front in order to protect the two.
The chasing adventures also stopped moving in front of Kyousuke. Wielding a sword, the man who seemed to be the leader quizzically knitted his brows and uttered words.
“A skeleton and … a slime? It’s a strange combo.”
Next to the sword wielding man were a woman readying a poleax and a man holding short-swords.
Further behind them was a man wrapped in robe, holding a staff. There was also a woman wrapped in a white cassock-like clothings and same as the man, holding a staff. 2 warriors, 1 scout, 2 magicians? Kyousuke analyzed with his fantasy game knowledge.
“Are you guys adventurers?”
First of all, he asked, then the adventurers were astir.
Skeleton can talk, as expected, that kind of common sense didn’t exist in this world.
“Oi, Wombat, does talking skeleton exist?”
The leader man asked the bandit-looking man next to him.
“Undead reanimated by famous necromancer seems to have ego, but I have never heard anything about the species as a whole.”
“Superior species of hell knight can use magic, can’t they? But I never heard that they can speak.
The woman holding a poleax continued the bandit man’s words.
But they showed no sign of giving any response. While anxious about Rin and Azuki behind him, Kyousuke cautiously and patiently laid out more words.
“We mean you no harms. So if you leave this…”
“Don’t reply, Rezbon.”
Not even letting Kyousuke finished, the magician-looking man informed the leader man.
“It’s possible that it’s not a skeleton but a mimicry species like mimic.”
“Ahh, the soul-sucking type. That’s possible. It’s the type that will suck out your soul little by little if you continue the conversation.”
Wombat, the bandit man nodded.
This trend wasn’t too good. Kyousuke was impatient.
“Please wait, that’s not the case! You can just overlook us! It’s not like we’re aiming for you guys or anything…”
“Well, whatever. I guess this guy is a rare monster.”
The leader man corrected his stance. Kyousuke gulped.
“There’s no mistake that it’s not an ordinary skeleton.”
“Then,”
The man — without his face being tainted by insanity or anything, as if he spoke the most natural thing in the world — declared:
“We’ll subjugate it.”
Behind Kyousuke, Rin and Azuki raised a small scream. Simultaneously, the 3 vanguards standing in front held up their weapon and charged in at once. Kyousuke turned around and shouted.
“Rin! Mitarai! Run!”
However, thunder ripping up the air roared, blue lightning struck in Rin and Azuki’s surroundings. The robed man used magic. Only one person, only the woman with an appearance like a clergy was bewildered, but finally resolved herself, she invoked magic.
Jumping in first was the bandit, his short-sword carried an strange light. A chill ran through Kyousuke’s spine. He felt that he must never touch that light.
“Oraaa!!”
“–kuh…!”
The bandit man’s short-sword attack was barely avoided.
Following that, the leader man brandished his sword. Kyousuke had just avoided the short-sword, therefore, he didn’t have enough time to avoid it. The sword strongly hit Kyousuke’s shoulder bones. The bones toughened by Akai’s blood didn’t break, but he couldn’t withstand the impact and was blown away.
“Oh, this guy is surprisingly hard!”
The leader man shouted.
“In that case, leave it to me!”
Finally, the one who jumped out at the end was the large build woman wielding a poleax.
“Kyousuke-kun!”
Rin shouted in the back. Certainly, if he was to eat that attack, he wouldn’t ended in one piece. But his posture had already collapsed. The adventurers’s cooperation was splendid. Kyousuke can’t void it anymore.
But to be able to resolute for ‘death’ here, Kyousuke wasn’t sportsmanlike enough. If Kyousuke was to lose, then next would be Rin and Azuki’s turn. He couldn’t afford to die in this place.
Until the very last moment, he had to find a way out.
Before his eyes, the edge of the poleax wielded by the woman was approaching. Avoidance was already not in time. What else could he do? Kyousuke desperately thought and thought. What could he do to return alive from this situation?
But even if he sought, that kind of thing couldn’t be found. The situation was hopeless. Even the slightest thread to counterattack couldn’t be found.
“…Shittt!!”
What came out from Kyousuke’s mouth was curses.
This suddenly, this easily, everything was going to ‘end’, there was no way Kyousuke could accept that.
That moment, black flame ripped up the sky and swallowed the poleax wielding woman. The woman’s scream echoed, the poleax fell to the ground. Kyousuke took that chance to take some distance.
The fame just now was «Evil Flare».
Did his other classmates came to save them? Sakuma? Kaoruko? Thinking so, Kyousuke turned his gaze, and there stood a being completely outside of his expectation.
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