38-Dreams and signs

That night. I had a dream.

It was my dad and my mom and me and Sierra. My dad was still cheerful, and my mom was smiling at him, and my ten-year-old Sierra was happily following me around.

Hey, Gerald.

Hey, Gerald.

Hey, big brother.

My dad, my mom, and Sierra smile happily when they call me that.

I nod each time and walk off with them all.

Dad walks ahead of me in a taut moment.

I see my mom's right hand in my left, and Sierra's left hand in my right.

But then I realize the contents of my left hand are empty. When I look to my left, I see that my mother is dead, pierced through her chest by a silvery blade.

When I look at my right hand in a hurry, I see Sierra walking there with her head cut off and still holding my hand and not letting go.

When I look ahead to call for help, I see my father lying on the ground with blood gushing out of his body.

Even though he's obviously dead and has bled a lot, he stands up casually in front of me and looks back at me, but he doesn't look at me.

However, when I turn around, the figure is not Dad, but rather the Gant I saw in the guild's training grounds before I knew it.

Gant Belfort, a senior adventurer with a long history of bad rumors, dressed in silvery white armor.

--the man who is going around blowing around that he killed Mei Fan's father with his own hands.

''.........''

That's where I suddenly awaken. Zeez, I gasp and pick myself up from where I was lying.

My nightgown was soaked with sweat.

''What was that dream........shit.

The place is the usual inn. It's not the bed I'm sleeping on, but the floor.

The bed is currently being used by Meil and Mei Fan.

Gant has the abominable name of Gant the Dojo Breaker. The dojo that Gant was forced to leave after his father's death was destroyed in battle, Mei Fan has been living in the back alleys with little money in hand.

But it's not possible for him to continue living like that forever. I proposed that I would take over the identity of the person, and since Mei Fan didn't refuse it, she now sleeps in the same room.

........I honestly understand the feelings of love for your parents, and it hurts. The loneliness of mourning the person you love is something I've never experienced, but I can also imagine the loneliness of mourning the person you love.

I had a bad dream. So you remember what you heard in the daytime, huh?

Gant killed my father - apparently what Mei Fan told me has been imprinted on my consciousness more than I thought.

Even though it's not like my parents were actually killed, the hatred for Gantt is rising without reason.

It's utterly abhorrent.

And it's not just Gant that I'm worried about. The story Noel told me also probably still haunts me to this day.

She said this at the time.

'I told you earlier that there was an incident with a demon outbreak six months ago. But, you see, I later realized that there was an omen in this incident that I didn't understand at the time.

I remember it well, I remember it well. And I remember how Noel-san said that I had no choice but to get involved in this case.

Right before the outbreak of the demon, the distribution of demons was greatly disrupted. It was as if powerful individuals were being pushed out of the backcountry to the outer edges. That's why it's not uncommon to encounter intermediate and higher level individuals even in the immediate vicinity of entering the Zephyros Forest...

What it means, that is.

''And you see.......this time, the distribution of demons is greatly disturbed again. Beyond the category of being due to my imagination, this disturbance is remarkably similar to that of half a year ago. I can assert that it's a definite matter. This is, surely........

The reappearance of demons.

The movement as if to show it is happening now in the seal site (dungeon).

--

From the next day, I began to lead a life with Meir, Karius and the others, going to the forest in the morning and returning to the city when it was close to dusk.

The purpose, to put it simply, is to get rid of the demons. We will hunt down the intermediate to advanced individuals that have begun to appear in shallow areas, and we will go around hunting them from one side to the other for now.

My power comes in handy at times like this. It's a good idea to use shifting magic and capture the enemy through magic power detection.

It's a good idea to make use of this power to keep the efficiency of the work-like "extermination of demons" at a high level.

"It's a shame to admit it, but it's still a useful tool.

That's what Karius said. These words were spoken to me when we were taking a short break in the forest.

I wish I had that kind of power. I can't help but wish I had that kind of power.

'If you're aware of that, in addition to your power, it's not often that you make a fatal mistake. Talent and power eat away at the attitudes of their owners, but not so much you, apparently.

Oh, uh, that's, uh... thank you.

Since he is usually unfriendly, it's probably not fair that he sometimes praises me unexpectedly like this, isn't it?

I'm embarrassed, I can't help but turn my face away and feel my cheeks heat up.

"Hey, hey, I'm not?

The one who puts his head between me and Karius-san is Meiru.

''Well little girl, you need to learn to be a little calmer. It's nice to have some physical strength, but you're always a bit boisterous.

I might add that you need to learn to understand people a little better.

Since Mei Fan came to live with us, Myl's behavior has also changed a bit.

The fierce self-assertion of before........is still probably still there, but even so, his rebellious words and actions towards Karius-san like before have decreased.

At first, he was also very hostile and cautious towards Mei Fan (probably mainly because of me), but nowadays, it seems that he is not so much so.

The fact that he doesn't think deeply and tends to act based on his emotions and feelings hasn't changed much, but even within that, something like reasoning is beginning to dwell within him........

''Ugh........Karius-san is always so difficult to talk about.

Stupid as always.

Well, that's how it was, and despite the tension of the possibility of a demon appearing, we were still living a peaceful life there.

As for Zeto City, I think it's a state of emergency. That's why I sometimes wonder if it's alright to live such a carefree life.

But if you ask Noel, my impatience is a 'waste of worry'.

So, we've come to the common view that we'll continue to do our daily tasks, while still maintaining a sense of mental comfort.