CH 221

My name is Amano Kotori. I was a middle schooler in Japan, but one day, I was summoned to another world.

It felt so oppressive. Everywhere I looked there were big imposing people, and I was being watched everywhere I went.

I received a rare job, spirit mage, and was told to go meet a certain person to learn spirit magic.

Her face was so beautiful that I couldn’t help but stare, but I never saw her smile. She was just like an emotionless doll, and she told me what I needed to know in a pretty robotic way.

Also, I got the feeling that her ears were pointy, but I only saw them once and for just a second, so I couldn’t say for sure.

“You sure worked hard.”

After a lot of work, I managed to form a contract with a spirit, the minimum I needed to be a spirit mage. Her patting my head for it left a big impression on me. I can still remember the warmth of her hand.

But I never saw her again after that. I asked my attendants about her, but I was just told she was working another job.

And then, it was one scary thing after another. I trained with the knights, and was taken to all sorts of places and made to fight monsters.

They gave me warnings to try to prevent me from getting hurt, but those monster groans I heard up close, those pained sounds I heard up close as they died… And above all else, those eyes. Those eyes filled with hatred and colored by insanity… Even if I close my eyes, I can still see them in my dreams. That’s how much it’s all burned into my brain.

It got worse for a while, and I spent days having nightmares, but I still managed to not go crazy, thanks to the spirit that formed a contract with me and my fellow countrymen.

Two older girls in particular, Kae and Miharu, were especially helpful. They probably had it pretty bad themselves, but they were always cheering me up. That really helped me.

Ah, and as for their jobs, Kae was a paladin, and Miharu a saint.

I gradually got used to this world, and just as I was gaining a bit of confidence, everything started to fall apart like a cogwheel broke somewhere.

At first it was a small deformation that got fixed right away, and I didn’t notice it.

By the time I was aware of it, it was too late.

“Something’s strange…”

Kae’s words were like prophecy, and eventually it started weighing on us in the form of reality.

There was this older boy that was like an ideal older brother at first, but he started spitting out violent words, and it became common for him to be abusive to the attendants. Sometimes he would even get violent.

I was scared, but all I could do was tremble.

Kae talked to him about it several times, but he never listened. What happened that made him change that drastically? I didn’t know.

And one day we left the royal capital and went to a different country.

There was something there called a dungeon, where we fought monsters every day. Of course, there were also days off, but I was basically locked in a room all the time. I feel like I wanted to avoid contact with other people as much as possible.

Eventually, we reached a floor so deep that no one had reached it before, fought its gatekeeper, and after a lot of effort, managed to take it down.

“It’s over…”

Taking that monster down and collecting its materials was our objective.

And of course, fighting all those monsters meant my level went up.

At that point I pretty much never lost in mock battles against the knights. Still, I didn’t feel proud. All I felt was a sense of ‘it is what is’.

And two weeks later, something happened.

We left the city where the dungeon was, stopped by that country’s capital, and were attacked on the way back to the kingdom.

“D-demons!”

Someone yelled, and we were plunged into hell.

The ones called demons, who had horns on their heads and wings on their backs, cut through the human knights like paper, before coming for us.

Kae stepped in front of me, and Miharu cast healing magic.

All I could do was shrink away in fear. I fought a dragon deep in the dungeon, but this was way scarier.

I feel like maybe I understand why that is now, but at the time I had no idea.

I only moved when I saw Kae collapse in front of me, and the blood flowing from her.

If only I was better… I thought.

I borrowed strength from the spirit, and unleashed my magic.

One of the demons saw it and looked surprised, and that’s the last thing I remember, because by the time I regained consciousness, I was in a cell. I guess they captured me.

What happened to Kae after I lost consciousness? No one would tell me.

I was in a cell, but I wasn’t really being treated poorly. They brought me food too.

But no matter how many times I tried calling the spirit, I didn’t get an answer.

And eventually, a demon came to my cell.

I looked at him once… And it was enough.

Those cold eyes. I thought my heart was going to stop. My body started shaking, and I shrunk back to try to get away. Obviously, the wall behind me wouldn’t let me, but…

And then I met… The person they call demon king. I heard about Sora, the one that was summoned along with us, and that Kae was worried about, heard the truth about our summoning, and was taken to a certain place.

“What is this place?”

I asked, but didn’t get a response. The demon was walking silently, so I ran a little to catch up. His steps were much bigger than mine.

We eventually arrived at a small town.

There were many different people. Ah, that person had dog ears. I’m pretty sure they’re called beast people.

Everyone was looking our way, and speaking with a smile. The demon didn’t really respond, but the others’ eyes told me he was respected.

Finally, we reached a house, and the door was opened.

I heard a voice coming from inside, and when we went in, I saw someone playing with small children.

I was later told this race is called elf, and I feel like those pointy ears are the same as the ones the person I met in the kingdom had.

“Mister Ignis? Is something the matter?”

The demon then talked to the elf, and went off somewhere.

The elf walked towards me, hugged me tightly, and whispered in my ear.

“You had it rough, didn’t you? But it’s all right now.”

The moment I heard that, tears came bursting out, along with my voice. I just cried and yelled, with no shame.

We were surrounded by small children, but I was the one crying.