CH 26

RAW:

9: i can’t believed it I reached the 9!! the 9!!!!its 9 in a row!!!!!!

Chapter 26 – The Circumstances of the 3 Sisters End

“Now then…”

Gametts was in a cold sweat as I pinned him with my arm. While I was thinking of what to do with him since I don’t want to kill him, Gammets glared at me.

“D-d-don’t get cocky!”

【Gammets used <Gold Shower>!】

Countless gold coins were released from Gametts and flew at me. I was surprised because it was from such a close range, but I just blew them away with one hand.

“Gwuuh! I-I am!”

【GammetsLv: 21Class: MerchantRank: None】

“Merchants aren’t made for fighting, but they can be helpful depending on the situation.” (TL:「戦闘に不向きと言われた商人だが、立ち回り次第では」)

He was being noisy so I gave his head a light tap. I think I still used a little too much strength since his head was nearly blown off. Gametts fainted immediately. It seems he had trained his body a little. That could have turned out much worse.

“Ryua-san…did you come to help me?”

“Yeah. Let’s go back to your sisters now.”

“You’ve done so much…I can’t even imagine how I can repay you…”

“I just want the 3 of you to be happy. I don’t want to see people die anymore.”

Ai embraced me. It looks like she was terrified. She was crying and repeating her words of gratitude again and again.

Someone stood up behind me. I turned around and saw Zangiri, his head still gushing out blood, grasping his weapon tightly.

“Do you still want to fight?”

“If you want to defeat me you’ll have to cut off my arms and separate my head from my body.”

“You’ll die fighting with a body like that.”

“Yeah, seems so.”

As he said that I recalled how he felt in my hand earlier. I felt something off when I threw him down. It was similar to that thing…

“Old man, are you already dead?”

“Hou, how did you know?”

I had an unpleasant premonition about this situation. It’s like the time at the Ghost Mansion. This person is already dead, so to speak he’s a <Vengeful Ghost>.

“You died 70 years ago, right?”

“Master swordsman Zangiri…no, human killer was my more famous title. I regretted never meeting anyone stronger than myself. But now…I see you as a worthy opponent.”

“Just for that…”

“I thought you of all people would understand.”

“Shall we finish this?”

“<Kokuu Shuugetsu>…” (TL: Arc Moon: Heaven’s End)

I had been surrounded by a brilliant vacuum of blades, flowing towards me with the intent to mince. Being trapped like this isn’t a threat to me, since this attack is like being swung at by a dull blade. (TL:こんな 刃 もついてい ない のと同じような もの に囲まれた ところ で ボク にとって は何の 脅威 に もなら ない) I quickly spun around and erased the attack with wind pressure.

“<ChiriSakura>” (TL: Falling Sakura Blossoms)

Using a pinpoint attack I aimed at the center of his weapon and broke it with my fingers. However his weapon began to melt into a viscous liquid.from where I attacked it. (TL:しかし 、 折ら れた部分 から 少しずつ 刀身 が実体 化する 。) I wonder how many other <Vengeful Ghosts> exist…I’m still trying to figure out how to deal with them.

“It seems it’ll be possible for me to die again.”

“Why are you so concerned about fighting strong opponents?”

“I started to kill at a young age. My parents were killed before my eyes and everything else was snatched away except my urge to kill and kill and kill…Getting stronger and killing faster until I eventually died from a strong enemy. In the end, my reason to live was to kill until I am killed. Although I should have fulfilled my goal, I was still unsatisfied.”

Zangiri quietly told us. His quivering body stopped before I knew it.

“How many decades passed like that, I wonder…? I eventually was exhausted and ambushed.”

I didn’t interrupt him, I just leaned a little closer to hear what Zangiri had to say. His story didn’t really seem that interesting. But you should never miss out on listening to a conversation. Both of this guy’s parents died. I caught that much from his tale.

“I revived instantly and slew the ones that killed me. I attacked with the intent to kill. Right at that moment…that was when I felt that I wanted to fight strong opponents.”

After he was done talking, he once again readied his weapon.

“However, no matter how far I travelled in this world I never found what I desired. I gave up and rolled over, becoming that old guy’s bodyguard. Young girl…no. What is your name?”

“Ryua.”

“Ryua…use that longsword hanging on your waist. Show me that you can kill what I have become.”

“Old man, you are fine with disappearing?”

“There will never be a more fitting way.”

“…I understand”

I drew my sword. Zangiri seemed satisfied.

I went at him with all my strength.

Zangiri was unable to react just like the last time I charged him. I cut his corpse with all of my might. Both his weapon and wavering body were cleanly cut.

“That much…strength…you…as I expected…could do it…”

He collapsed onto the floor and before long he had starting turned into light and slowly disappearing.

“…I will be fine you know”

“I wonder…about…that…”

As he muttered those final words, Zangiri completely vanished.

“I am…”

The regret I felt at <Bees Forest>. It was a brief moment, but at that time I felt like I needed to be even stronger. I definitely thought that. In that brief moment…maybe I was the same as Zangiri. No…even 10 years ago when I was in the <Caves of Hell> I killed many enemies in my pursuit of strength.

Was that it?

Just so that I could defeated that one-winged demon?

Once again my head is getting fuzzy.

“Ryua-san…are you okay?”

Ai had been listening to Zangiri and I talk since the beginning and came over to me.

“Yes…let’s head back now.”

I extended my hand to Ai, though she paused for a bit before she took it. I don’t understand why I feel anxious. That can wait, I need to take Ai back to her sisters as soon as possible. I want to see their smiling faces…

Oh, we turned Gametts over to the Kingdom’s security force, he was still out cold. I have no idea what they did to him afterwards. I entrusted his fate to them.

/ / /

“Onee-chan!”

The 3 sisters embraced each other. It seems Roel had been encouraging them all this time.

“Onee-chan you big idiot! Leaving the two of us to live on alone is overdoing things!”

“………please don’t go anymore.”

“I’m really sorry you two. but if I didn’t…”

The scene unfolding in front of us was radiant. I, who was only able to escape by myself those 10 years ago, was able to save another person now. Zangiri’s path…maybe pursuing power leads you to destruction. Though that very power was what saved them this time.

“Ryua-chan…you are beyond strong, just like I thought.”

I think…Zangiri had too much power. He didn’t have anyone he could trust or rely on and was eventually swallowed by his strength.

“We all lose someone important eventually, but we’re never alone.”

“What was that?”

“It’s nothing.”

I once again looked upon the sisters who were beaming with happiness. Their tear-stained faces were a thing of the past. As I looked, I realized Ai was deeply lowering her head again.

“Ryua-san, our gratitude alone will never be enough to make up for all that you’ve done for us. I may not be able to do much, but if you are ever in trouble, I will lend you all of my power.”

“Me too! Me too!”

Mai was being energetic while Mi was silently bowing. However, I had something I wanted to know.

“Will the three of you continue to be adventurers, even after all of this?”

“Yes. Thanks to you and Roel we truly understand what it means to be an adventurer. You don’t have to worry anymore.”

“Fufu” Ai laughed, I can’t feel any of the despair she had in that man’s room. I’m a little worried about them, but didn’t their level rise quickly in one go?

“If something were to happen again, we will lend our strength to you. Please don’t do something rash by yourselves.”

“No problem~! Even though we’ve been relying on you thus far, we can’t keep going like that forever. My skill with this bow has risen quite a bit so we’ll be all right!”

“It seems that having your level rise doesn’t change much about your actual skill. Aude-san said that before.”

“Didn’t Aude hear that from Seigel? Oh! I wonder if he’s woken yet?”

“Let’s check when we return.”

The sisters said their farewells and we headed to the Heal Station.

“It’s been a long time since the three of us went, but let’s visit Father and Mother’s grave.”

I heard Ai’s gentle voice from behind me. I wonder if AI will tell them the truth. It seems she doesn’t have any intention to. Though I think she will eventually.

/ / /

The room hadn’t changed since our last visit. Tube sticking out and covered in bandages, Siegel had his eyes closed.

“Just as I thought…he still hasn’t recovered.”

“Hey, Roel, is it forbidden to use your <Heal> on him?”

“I think a lot of people have already done that, and this Heal Station has a famous High Priest. I heard that person already used <Heal> on Siegel, so for me to do it…”

“But you still haven’t tried to do it?”

“Yeah, um…”

Roel used her gentle <Heal> on Siegel. However, Siegel’s eyes stayed closed. There wasn’t any apparent change.

“Just as I thought, it won’t-”

Just as she gave up, Siegel’s fingers slightly moved.

“W-what? Just now, didn’t he move?”

“Eh? That can’t be…”

“Try healing him again!”

Roel used <Heal> on Seigel once again. This time his eyelids moved a little.

“…ah”

His lips briefly moved. He mustered all of his strength to leak out a faint voice.

“Seigel-san?”

“….is”

“Is he conscious!?”

“…-re is. this place is…”

Though his eyes stayed closed, his mouth was moving here and there. Roel continued to heal Siegel in disbelief, trying to infuse him with life. Before long, his eyes opened and he stared at the bright lights before him.

“…am I still alive?”

“Yes!”

“I see…”

“Should I call the staff here?”

“No, that’s fine……more than that, please listen to me…About the Gametts Firm.”

“I managed to do something about them.”

Seigel was at a loss for a while. The first time I met him, he gave off a feeling of overconfidence. But right now he has quite the woeful expression. I spoke about what happened. Siegel only had one thing to say.

“Is that true? I wasn’t able to do my job well…sorry…haha…”

“T-that’s not true!”

“You don’t need to be like that. I wasn’t able to even hit that katana-wielding bastard on his hand or leg. Hey, Ryua, what are the <Roots> of your strength?”

“<Roots>?”

“Why are you so strong? What did you do?”

“That’s because I fought in the <Caves of Hell>…”

If I say something about that place, will I regret it? ‘He won’t believe me anyways, so I don’t need to worry’ was what I was thinking.

“<Caves of Hell>…?”

“Just as I thought, you don’t believe me either.”

“No, I think I heard something like that somewhere.”

Siegel smiled, showing his white teeth. “Regardless, it’s fine” he said, and the topic was changed.

“I already delivered Gametts to the Kingdom’s security force,so it’s probably already the end for him. An investigation was started at their office and proof of their fraud was found. It’s not coming back.”

“With this, no one will have to cry anymore, right?”

“Ah, I wonder if that family is smiling now…I haven’t apologized properly to those people. I was unable to lend my assistance to them.”

“Aah! You’re up?!”

A boy was standing in the entrance to the room. Behind him were his parents.

“Ojisan! You’re better now!”

“Not quite, haha…I still have to go through some more treatments.”

“Seigel-san, for you to end up like that for us…”

“If you want to say your thanks, direct it to this tomboy. I ended up getting the tables turned on me.”

As Seigel explained it to the parents, the family of 3 seemed to understand and said their words of gratitude to me. Only the boy was looking at Siegel with a pleased face. A staff member came by and saw Siegel was conscious and talking. He quickly ran over to him.

“Se-Segeil-san?”

“Yo, it appears that I was saved.”

“Hahahahahaha!” Siegel laughed more than he should have. Before long the staff had gathered and an there was an uproar for a while. It became a discussion of this and that related to his body, but Siegel was able to settle everything.

<Caves of Hell>. It’s not a lie that I fought in that place. Even Siegel didn’t know about it.

I wonder why? What is the danger level there? What was my level now? Seigel said that my strength was because of my <roots>. Suddenly, things changed.

/ / /

In a dark basement made of stone. Candles were lit and a single person was quietly sitting. On the corroded table was a skull, it looked rather important. A person in a black robe was gently brushing it.

“Ah, it died.”

Even though the person was alone, a grumble was heard. The person inside the robes had black paint on their white body and a childish face.

“Zangiri, the killer from the east…even though I went through great pains to revive him, it seems he ended up doing nothing in the end.” (TL:「アズマの人斬りザンギリ。　せっかく、蘇らせてやったのに結局こいつ何もしてないでやんの」)

“Then, how about you make a subordinate with your own hands?”

There hadn’t been anyone else in the basement a moment before, but now a middle-aged man wearing a hat was leaning on the wall.

“At least learn how to knock.”

“Last time I did knock but nobody was here.”

“Were you surprised?”

Robes was mocking the man. As if replying to that, the man made a large cobra appear in his palm.

“Yeah, I was really surprised.”

“Back off a little. What business do you have with me anyways?”

“At least be a little scared.”

The man erased the the cobra in his hand.

“Anyways, it’s about the status of the surprise attack we have planned for the festival. I was wondering if you’ve finished yet.”

“If you are here for something useless like that, go home. Doing things this way has been quite irritating and I don’t have any good pieces left. Since it’s a big event I want to make sure it’s flashy.”

“Can’t you get the woman that hung herself at her mansion? Isn’t that a good specimen?”

“It was erased before I could get to it. It was probably an exorcist, but it’s the same troublesome fellow that’s been appearing everywhere.”

“How unexpected! I recently encountered the same fellow and my subordinate was easily killed.

Once again the man took out a large cobra from his palm as an example.

“Of course, since that’s a small fry monster.”

“No, seriously, it was a shock. I thought that I could do them in since it looked like they were just loitering in that dungeon.”

“Did you go there to play?”

“Those guys seem like they’ll be a hindrance. Especially that adventurer I tried to erase. How am I supposed to deal with that lady?”

“If you want to get rid of them just use a stronger monster…jeez I’m tired. I don’t have time for your comedy act, get out.”

“Don’t take too long. The festival starts soon.”

The capped man casually left the basement through the door.

“Fuun…noisy servant. Such an uncivilized beast master. I can’t stand seeing that guy’s stunts. Even so, the festival…”

A smile floated on the boy’s face and once again he caressed the skull.

“So, it’s really dead.”

The boy had an ecstatic expression on his face, his gaze was piercing the ceiling.

“Waaaah…I ‘m jealous…I’m jealous of a corpse…death is the ultimate beauty you know, when will I reach my goal…I wonder if there is a lovely girl being left to die somewhere? Mufu…muhihihihi…”

The boy held the skull in his arms and caressed it endlessly.

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