—Raust—
At that time, what flashed in my mind was the memory of when I first met with Narsena a few years ago.
It was a memory of the battle with goblins I thought I had forgotten.
It was a very blurry and full of noise, blood-red colored memory.
At that time, in self-abandonment, I jumped into the middle of a goblins flock and easily defeated.
No, it might be wrong to call it easily defeated, even if I said so myself, I felt I gave them a good fight.
After all, I who had no skill nor equipped with good armor was able to earn dozens of minutes against a flock of goblins that could even kill middle-class adventurers.
It was not an exaggeration to call it a satisfactory performance considering the escort man who fell some times ago should have a physical strengthening skill.
…… Even so, no matter how much I risked my life by doing this, I couldn’t stop unless help was coming.
In the end, I was lying on the ground after hitting the limit of my body.
With a loud buzz in my ears and the feeling of soil below my cheek, my mind felt far away as it was dominated by the hopelessness.
I knew the reason I tried to protect the girl was not something that could be praised upon.
I betted my life to save her.
Doing whatever I could.
… And yet, I still couldn’t save anything.
Now that there was nobody that could protect her, her death was anything but certain.
In the state where I did everything in my desperate effort, I was confronted with my limit.
At that time, my heart broke completely.
I could hear the ridiculing voice of my former party members that were killed by the hobgoblins.
It’s because you’re just a defect.
That’s why you can’t save anyone.
We were killed because of your powerlessness.
「———Ughh!」
From that hallucination, I raised a voiceless scream as I pray that the goblins would grant me a clean death.
I was confident that the girl who I tried to help was currently looking at me like I was trash.
That was how other people looked at me until now.
「…Jus-…kill..m-…」
That was why, with difficulty, I made my plea.
「Ah…」
As if to fulfill my plea, I could feel something standing in front of me, and then I smiled.
When I thought I would be freed…
「It’s fine now.」
「Huee?」
I could hear a voice that obviously not the goblin from the one who stood in front of me.
When I moved my barely-able-to-move head and opened my eyes, what entered my sight was the girl’s small back.
Because of the blood in my eyes, in that red-dyed world, the girl stood there with open arms as if to protect me.
Her whole body was trembling.
And in her desperate attempt to stop her trembling body, she clenched her teeth.
「Leave the rest to me.」
However, in that state, when she realized she was being seen by me, the girl forcefully put on a smile on top of her stiffened face.
「There is no way… we-we can lose to these goblins… if we’re together…」
Maybe it was because of her extreme fear, but the way she pronounced her speech was weird.
——— And yet, despite the loud buzz in my ears, I could hear the girl words loud and clear.
The girl who said that to me was still trembling.
Quaking, unable to suppress her fear.
But in her eyes, I could see she was putting her belief in me.
The moment I realized that, something hot spread inside my chest.
「《Heal》! 《Heal》! 《Heal》!」
And then, the moment I understood what that feeling signify, I instinctively activated 《Heal》 continuously.
「Guh-」
I somehow able to stand up, however, my body was far from being healed.
I was barely hanging to my consciousness because of consecutive use of 《Heal》, and even after that, I was still close to dying.
But this was sufficient.
I actually wondered if I could keep stalling for times against this many goblins, maybe that heat I felt in my chest was actually me getting crazy.
And for some reason, I didn’t doubt my thought at all at that time.
My body was tattered, I didn’t know when the help would come too.
Even so, I was confident this would be a cinch.
「Ah……」
Propelled by the heat in my chest, I gave a signal to the girl with my hand and then moved in front of her.
「AAAAAAAAAAA!」
I raised my warcry toward the goblins reflected in my hazy sight, and then, with a broken dagger and belief of my own victory, I took a step forward……
◆ ◆ ◇
「…How did I do that?」
A certain part of my memory suddenly came to mind.
While showing a wry smile, I retorted to myself.
Because I had no memory of what happened after that, I didn’t know how long it took for help to come, or what kind of state my body was after everything was done.
Still, I understood that surviving against that many goblins with that kind of wound was nothing but a miracle.
「Yet, why I feel like this…」
—— Despite understanding that was a miracle that wouldn’t happen for a second time, I believed I could make the miracle happen again now.
No, in fact, it was not that miracle that I wanted to conjure now.
The threat level of a mutated hydra and a flock of goblins was incomparable.
Even though we were stronger now, that was still in the level of margin of error compared to the mutated hydra.
If we could defeat that hydra, it was akin to a phenomenon that surpassed that miracle.
And even after understanding that, I still believed I could make that happen.
Narsena was still trembling.
But her trust in me never wavered.
For some reason, she was unconditionally convinced I would win against the hydra.
The same heat I felt a few years ago spread in my chest when seeing her figure.
My fear of the hydra that almost made me buckle was no longer exist.
It felt like the heat in my chest overflowed outside to my entire body and pushed out the fear out of it.
And while feeling like I was being pushed back by something, I opened my mouth.
「Narsena, can I say something a bit silly?」
「Eh……」
Narsena blinked two, three times from my abstract words.
And then as if she understood everything, she smiled.
「No need to ask for things like that, Onii-san. I already said it right? If we’re together, everything will be fine, there is no need to be afraid of that snake thingy.」
I smiled as I noticed Narsena was aware of what I was about to say.
From the roaring sound and the tingling feeling on my skin from the hydra’s hostility, I knew it was about to arrive here.
「Should we go?」
「Yes!」
However, Narsena and I turned toward the hydra as if to welcome the incoming calamity.
And then, we started running toward the hydra.
「Fu ——– uuuuu!」
With that huge body and its earth-shattering roar, I understood how strong was this hydra.
Even still, my belief that I would win didn’t disappear.
「I don’t think I’m stronger than you.」
I said so to the hydra that directed its hostility-filled twelve eyes toward me.
「But together with Narsena, there is no way I can lose to the like of you, Haaaaaaaaa!」
「FUUU ー ー u!」
The hydra raised a roar as if responding to my warcry.
And the next moment, the battle started.
—Raust—
At that time, what flashed in my mind was the memory of when I first met with Narsena a few years ago.
It was a memory of the battle with goblins I thought I had forgotten.
It was a very blurry and full of noise, blood-red colored memory.
At that time, in self-abandonment, I jumped into the middle of a goblins flock and easily defeated.
No, it might be wrong to call it easily defeated, even if I said so myself, I felt I gave them a good fight.
After all, I who had no skill nor equipped with good armor was able to earn dozens of minutes against a flock of goblins that could even kill middle-class adventurers.
It was not an exaggeration to call it a satisfactory performance considering the escort man who fell some times ago should have a physical strengthening skill.
…… Even so, no matter how much I risked my life by doing this, I couldn’t stop unless help was coming.
In the end, I was lying on the ground after hitting the limit of my body.
With a loud buzz in my ears and the feeling of soil below my cheek, my mind felt far away as it was dominated by the hopelessness.
I knew the reason I tried to protect the girl was not something that could be praised upon.
I betted my life to save her.
Doing whatever I could.
… And yet, I still couldn’t save anything.
Now that there was nobody that could protect her, her death was anything but certain.
In the state where I did everything in my desperate effort, I was confronted with my limit.
At that time, my heart broke completely.
I could hear the ridiculing voice of my former party members that were killed by the hobgoblins.
It’s because you’re just a defect.
That’s why you can’t save anyone.
We were killed because of your powerlessness.
「———Ughh!」
From that hallucination, I raised a voiceless scream as I pray that the goblins would grant me a clean death.
I was confident that the girl who I tried to help was currently looking at me like I was trash.
That was how other people looked at me until now.
「…Jus-…kill..m-…」
That was why, with difficulty, I made my plea.
「Ah…」
As if to fulfill my plea, I could feel something standing in front of me, and then I smiled.
When I thought I would be freed…
「It’s fine now.」
「Huee?」
I could hear a voice that obviously not the goblin from the one who stood in front of me.
When I moved my barely-able-to-move head and opened my eyes, what entered my sight was the girl’s small back.
Because of the blood in my eyes, in that red-dyed world, the girl stood there with open arms as if to protect me.
Her whole body was trembling.
And in her desperate attempt to stop her trembling body, she clenched her teeth.
「Leave the rest to me.」
However, in that state, when she realized she was being seen by me, the girl forcefully put on a smile on top of her stiffened face.
「There is no way… we-we can lose to these goblins… if we’re together…」
Maybe it was because of her extreme fear, but the way she pronounced her speech was weird.
——— And yet, despite the loud buzz in my ears, I could hear the girl words loud and clear.
The girl who said that to me was still trembling.
Quaking, unable to suppress her fear.
But in her eyes, I could see she was putting her belief in me.
The moment I realized that, something hot spread inside my chest.
「《Heal》! 《Heal》! 《Heal》!」
And then, the moment I understood what that feeling signify, I instinctively activated 《Heal》 continuously.
「Guh-」
I somehow able to stand up, however, my body was far from being healed.
I was barely hanging to my consciousness because of consecutive use of 《Heal》, and even after that, I was still close to dying.
But this was sufficient.
I actually wondered if I could keep stalling for times against this many goblins, maybe that heat I felt in my chest was actually me getting crazy.
And for some reason, I didn’t doubt my thought at all at that time.
My body was tattered, I didn’t know when the help would come too.
Even so, I was confident this would be a cinch.
「Ah……」
Propelled by the heat in my chest, I gave a signal to the girl with my hand and then moved in front of her.
「AAAAAAAAAAA!」
I raised my warcry toward the goblins reflected in my hazy sight, and then, with a broken dagger and belief of my own victory, I took a step forward……
◆ ◆ ◇
「…How did I do that?」
A certain part of my memory suddenly came to mind.
While showing a wry smile, I retorted to myself.
Because I had no memory of what happened after that, I didn’t know how long it took for help to come, or what kind of state my body was after everything was done.
Still, I understood that surviving against that many goblins with that kind of wound was nothing but a miracle.
「Yet, why I feel like this…」
—— Despite understanding that was a miracle that wouldn’t happen for a second time, I believed I could make the miracle happen again now.
No, in fact, it was not that miracle that I wanted to conjure now.
The threat level of a mutated hydra and a flock of goblins was incomparable.
Even though we were stronger now, that was still in the level of margin of error compared to the mutated hydra.
If we could defeat that hydra, it was akin to a phenomenon that surpassed that miracle.
And even after understanding that, I still believed I could make that happen.
Narsena was still trembling.
But her trust in me never wavered.
For some reason, she was unconditionally convinced I would win against the hydra.
The same heat I felt a few years ago spread in my chest when seeing her figure.
My fear of the hydra that almost made me buckle was no longer exist.
It felt like the heat in my chest overflowed outside to my entire body and pushed out the fear out of it.
And while feeling like I was being pushed back by something, I opened my mouth.
「Narsena, can I say something a bit silly?」
「Eh……」
Narsena blinked two, three times from my abstract words.
And then as if she understood everything, she smiled.
「No need to ask for things like that, Onii-san. I already said it right? If we’re together, everything will be fine, there is no need to be afraid of that snake thingy.」
I smiled as I noticed Narsena was aware of what I was about to say.
From the roaring sound and the tingling feeling on my skin from the hydra’s hostility, I knew it was about to arrive here.
「Should we go?」
「Yes!」
However, Narsena and I turned toward the hydra as if to welcome the incoming calamity.
And then, we started running toward the hydra.
「Fu ——– uuuuu!」
With that huge body and its earth-shattering roar, I understood how strong was this hydra.
Even still, my belief that I would win didn’t disappear.
「I don’t think I’m stronger than you.」
I said so to the hydra that directed its hostility-filled twelve eyes toward me.
「But together with Narsena, there is no way I can lose to the like of you, Haaaaaaaaa!」
「FUUU ー ー u!」
The hydra raised a roar as if responding to my warcry.
And the next moment, the battle started.
