Suimei couldn’t do it. The man couldn’t be saved. It was impossible. But after seeing all his wounds close up, Lefille couldn’t understand what Suimei was saying. The man looked nearly healed to her.
“Wh-What are you saying? Didn’t you just heal his wounds with your magic? So why...”
“His wounds were healed. His wounds were, sure, but...”
“Then―”
Didn’t that mean he was healed? Suimei was sure that was what she was about to ask, so he preemptively shook his head as he frustratedly bit down on his lip. Seeing that, Lefille looked both pained and confused.
“Why...?”
Lefille’s disappointed voice was painful to Suimei’s ears. Deep down, he felt his powerlessness swelling. Even though he’d hated this man at some point, he couldn’t escape that bitter feeling. Lefille, however, still seemed suspicious of why Suimei had stopped his treatment.
“This isn’t because he’s the one that drove me out of the trade corps, is it? Don’t belittle me. I don’t care about what happened back then! Just hurry up and heal him!”
“...”
“Suimei-kun!”
“No, it’s useless. Like you saw, I can heal the wounds to his body. I can heal those, but just as I said, his astral body... With the shell that serves as the vessel for his soul so badly damaged, I can’t save this man no matter how much healing magicka I use.”
“What...?! That can’t...”
Staring at the life that was pulsing away like a haze before her eyes, Lefille was at a loss for words. Seeing her like that, Suimei regretfully explained the situation.
“Under the right conditions, there may be a slim possibility, but we don’t have time for anything like that. Even if I started preparing now, this man’s body won’t hold out long enough.”
Hearing Suimei’s declaration, Lefille clenched her jaw and dropped her shoulders. Watching somebody die was hard for anybody, but this was the work of demons. It was especially painful for Lefille.
But as Lefille and Suimei both watched on in horrified disappointment, the man suddenly turned towards Lefille.
“Th-The others... a-are still being attacked... by the demons...”
“There are survivors?!”
“I don’t know... By some miracle, maybe...”
“But they might be alive?!”
Lefille asked him once more, but there was no reply. The adventurer was moving his mouth like he was struggling to get air into his lungs, but there were no words. It seemed he could no longer speak. Seeing him like that, Lefille had an idea and asked the man something else in a calm voice.
“The others are in the direction of the mountain, right?”
Was there a meaning in such a question? Her voice was so calm that it could have easily been mistaken for cold. But when the man heard her question and the glimpse of dread in it, he slowly nodded. Not long after, he drew his last breath.
“Hrgh...”
Lefille fell silent and Suimei averted his gaze.
After a few moments, Lefille stood up from kneeling at the man’s side. Her attitude was completely different. Turning her back to Suimei, she looked off in a certain direction.
“H-Hey... Lefille?!”
Suimei called out to her, but Lefille didn’t turn around. Instead, she apologized for some reason.
“Sorry, Suimei-kun.”
“You can say sorry all you want, but what are you planning? Why are you facing that way?”
“Why? That’s a foolish question, Suimei-kun.”
Was she saying the answer was obvious? Certainly it was. She’d turned to look back down the path they’d been walking along so far. And when it seemed she’d fully steeled herself, she turned to Suimei and put her determination into words.
“Suimei-kun, I’m going to go save the people of the trade corps.”
“Going to save them? Are you serious?”
“I wasn’t joking.”
“Even though you don’t know where they actually are?!”
“It’s likely that they’re along the mountain path. Even if they strayed off of it, it should be easy to find where.”
“But you don’t even know if they’re still alive!”
“No, but they might be. That’s why―”
She was going to go save them. She was going to make a daring, reckless rescue. But Suimei couldn’t let her do that. After all...
“Don’t you get it?! This is a trap laid by the demons to lure you in!”
“A trap, huh?”
“That’s right! Those guys indiscriminately attack upon seeing humans, right? Do you really think they’d let a single wounded man get away?! Rajas is definitely lying in wait back there!”
Indeed, it was a trap. They were anticipating that Lefille would come to save the people of the trade corps. It was a cruel plan to lure her back. And part of the scheme was letting one mortally wounded adventurer wander off to find her and spur her to action.
Certainly, in such a dense forest, the fact that he’d actually managed to reach her was a complete coincidence, but he was the perfect bait. It wasn’t hard to imagine Rajas doing something so sinister. However, all of Suimei’s protests were in vain. Lefille remained calm and unwavering.
“...That may be so.”
“No, not may be so! Don’t you understand?!”
“Indeed I do. It’s just as you say. I know that this is reckless.”
“Then...!”
“But even so, I still want to go save them! Things are like this because of me in the first place! That’s why!”
As Suimei persisted, insisting that she shouldn’t go, Lefille grew emotional. It must have been the pangs of conscience that had been tugging at her all this time. She was desperate to go and save these people, but that was nothing more than a manifestation of her guilt. Suimei thought she was taking it too far.
“Like I’ve been saying, that isn’t your...”
“No, it is my fault. You said so yourself, didn’t you? Rajas resorted to attacking the convoy and sending this man into the woods as a way to find me.”
“That’s... But even so, why are you so eager to rush off to your death?!”
He had a point. An ambush wasn’t a halfhearted affair. Setting all of this up required a certain amount of preparation, and the demons knew exactly who their target was. Walking into their trap would put her at a serious disadvantage. That’s why Suimei wouldn’t back down, and continued to plead with Lefille as she stood there looking down the path.
“Lefille, think it over! Just take a step back and think about it!”
But still, Lefille didn’t turn around.
“Lefille, look at me! You should understand better than anyone!”
“...”
“Lefille! You can’t die, right?! The power of the spirits can’t be eradicated! So―”
Before Suimei could say another word, Lefille—who had otherwise been silent—trembled and cut him off.
“What do you...”
“Huh?”
“What do you even know about me?!”
“―?!”
Suimei was at a loss for words when confronted with the scream from the depths of her heart. What she was letting loose was a flood of emotions.
“Would you have me look away even more than I already have?! After abandoning those dear to me?! After abandoning my family?! You want me to abandon these people too?! These people who are in peril because of me?!”
Lefille’s words struck a chord in Suimei. Perhaps the violent emotions she was embracing were something that she’d been stifling in her heart all this time. The bitterness of being unable to save anybody before. The continued pain of being unable to save anyone now. The questions she was shouting at him told him loud and clear how much she really wanted to save these people. Who was he to stand in the way of that?
“Just how long should I run away?! Just how long should I keep abandoning people?! All just to protect my own life! Sacrificing both my own feel
ings and the lives of others.... I’ve had... I’ve had enough of that!”
Her screaming voice was pointed towards the injustice of the world. It was her lamentation that had gone unheard until now. Precisely because she’d had to betray her own emotions all this time, her guilty conscience had been all the more difficult to bear. It was even worse knowing that the terrible things she’d done were objectively the correct choices. The contradiction just was too much.
Tears formed in the corner of Lefille’s eyes as she shouted out her feelings. It was agonizing. It was painful. Bound hand and foot by those fetters, those tears were the crystallization of her overflowing sorrow.
Eventually, her rough breathing settled and she calmed down. She apologized for losing her composure, but still didn’t turn around. It seemed her decision was fixed. And as if to reaffirm that, she gave her farewell.
“...Sorry, Suimei-kun. We weren’t together long, but thank you for what you’ve done up until now.”
“Lefille?! Don’t go! Wait!”
His words fell on deaf ears. Perhaps using the red power of her spirits, she took off running down the path at an abnormal speed.
“H-Hey... She’s really gone?”
Standing there dumbfounded after being left behind, Suimei’s muttering hung in the air. His voice certainly wouldn’t reach her now. Stopping his feet that had immediately begun chasing after her and lowering his outstretched arm, Suimei stood there stock still. She was gone. She’d left to go save the very people who’d driven her away. She left for the sake of staying on the path that she believed in.
“Tch...”
Suimei ground his back molars. Was it okay to just let her go like that? Towards a battle that would only bring despair? All on her own?
As he thought about going after her, his heart trembled. If he followed, he would be taking his life into his own hands. That much was obvious. They wouldn’t be up against just Rajas, but all of his subordinates too. It would be a serious battle, and if he handled it poorly, it could cost him his life. And Suimei couldn’t let that happen.
Suimei had a reason why he couldn’t yet die. He had to grant his father’s wish and realize the ideal of the Society. He’d made a promise. Even if it wasn’t an agreement that was communicated between them, even if it was a decision Suimei unilaterally made, a promise was a promise. It was final the moment he made his decision. Until he fulfilled it, he couldn’t cast it aside.
But still... was this okay? If he decided that was reason enough to walk away, if he used the excuse that he had something that he had to accomplish no matter what, would he really be able to walk down the path to that goal without looking back? Could he really pretend not to see the fight that was about to take place? Could he really abandon that girl who was running full speed towards her doom? This girl who had not a prayer of salvation on her own?
Even if his thesis was about saving those who couldn’t be saved, would it not be preposterous to abandon this girl in the name of that work?
As Suimei questioned his own motivations, a voice began screaming to him inside his head. Just when did he start fearing something like death? Just when did he start to shy away from things because he was worried something might happen? Just when did he start embracing the same feelings that the powerless did? Since when had he been willing to throw it all away because he was gutless?
It made him wonder. Just what was it that he possessed? Wasn’t the art of magicka—something he’d studied since childhood—something that could be outdone by no one and nothing? Were there not the mysteries to cut down any and every difficulty before him? Was it not the very power that brought salvation to those who wanted to be saved?
His heart wavered. No, in reality, he already knew that there was only one answer before him. Even if he was conflicted, even as alarm bells rang in his head warning him of danger, even as he weighed the probability of success and failure on a scale. Even then...
It was for this purpose that he’d made an oath on that day.
“That’s right, Yakagi Suimei. You’re a magician of the Society. Just what would a magician of the Society do if they didn’t chase after their dreams?”
Just what were those words that he spoke to himself? It was like a self-directed poem to validate his own feelings. It was a modest ritual to once more revive what he desired within him.
And just as he crossed that bridge, something strange happened.
“...”
Suimei shut his mouth and coldly narrowed his eyes. He could sense the presence of something behind him accompanied by a power similar to the black aura the demons used. It swayed around just like a revenant. The frail life that had faded had now returned as robust.
This was the reason the healing had been difficult.
Realizing what was afoot, Suimei’s doubts regarding the unnatural loss of the adventurer’s astral body were cleared away. The damage to his astral body was beyond what could be normally done through physical harm. Not even fatal wounds could damage the cradle of the soul like that. Certainly when a person was wounded, the power of their soul waned as well, but that was the extent of it. The soul itself shouldn’t be damaged by any normal means of attack.
That meant the adventurer had been attacked by more than just what had caused his physical wounds. It was either an astral attack that was effective against the soul, or perhaps there was something else that actually had the power to penetrate his astral body. It had to be one or the other, and considering the circumstances, it seemed to be the latter. It was likely something put in place to bring down Lefille in a single strike.
“Tch!”
As Suimei decided to chase after the girl who had been brought to tears under the weight of her own conscience, a living corpse closed in behind him.
★
She ran. Simply and earnestly. Fast, but just slow enough that her feet wouldn’t be torn apart. There were people who were likely waiting for her. It was like she was being urged on by that reality. Lefille raced back down the path to them all on her own.
Making use of the abnormal power entrusted to her, her body glowed with the crimson blessings of the Goddess, and she slipped through the trees and forced her way through the coiling ivy and tree branches. Her feet seemingly tore apart the mountain’s surface. Even as the shadow of the worst possible outcome clung to her back as she ran, she simply chose to believe there was still a possibility the people waiting for her up ahead were still alive.
As she arrived about halfway up the mountainside, she came to a stop and looked back down the way she’d come.
“...”
The ominously dark and gloomy sky hung overhead and the eerie, unnatural sound of rustling in the trees surrounded her, but Lefille’s gaze was fixated on one thing. She was looking at what had followed her partway up the path.
Trailing behind her were a countless number of corpses. They were the remains of the damned demons who obstructed her path as she hastened towards those who should have been waiting for her.
They were likely those called by the demon general Rajas and were deployed all over, intent on striking her down. In only a few hours, the entire region of the mountain and forest would likely be surrounded by a wall of demons. There would be no escape.
Rajas was also probably in the area. He would steal everything dear to her, mete a dog’s death on anyone important to her, and even cut down those who had nothing to do with her. That demon would be ready and waiting for her, laughing as if bringing suffering upon humans was the only thing which brought him joy.
Lefille could still hear cries for help—voices begging for aid from a deep, dark, and distant memory. They were the voices of the people she couldn’t protect, even though she’d heard their pleas and reached out her hand. That was why she couldn’t leave things as they were. So that something like that would never happen again. And just as Lefille reaffirmed the burning rage within her heart...
“Don’t go! Lefille!”
“Ah...”
What suddenly struck her ears were the remnants of a different memory. A voice she shouldn’t have been able to hear anymore shook her heart. She couldn’t resist it as it took hold of her. What flowed through her heart now was a sort of dim sense of loss that she was completely unable to shake off. Like she’d lost someone important to her.
Yes, back in the forest was the mysterious young man that she had recently gotten acquainted with. His name was Suimei Yakagi. He was the eccentric mage that she had met in Metel, the capital city of the Kingdom of Astel.
He was a young man who had no special features whatsoever aside from his black hair, which was quite unusual for this region. If there was anything else unique about him at all, it was his gentle eyes. He donned completely plain clothing that was quite common in the area, though he did give off the air of a foreigner. No, that word alone did not describe it appropriately. After all, he was someone who could use magic that she’d never seen before.
He said he was a traveler that was headed towards Nelferia, but for some reason he seemed excessively estranged from the ways of the world. Yet even so, he also demonstrated surprising knowledge and insight. Lefille herself had been taken aback by exactly that just earlier.
To explain his nature in simple terms, he was softhearted. Perhaps because he was a mage, he gave the impression of a scholar who put on the self-important airs of someone who was cool and impertinent. But based on all of his actions and words on the whole, she felt like he had a childlike consideration for others. She sensed no cruelty from him whatsoever.
The day that he’d followed her after she split up with the trade corps was surely a perfect example. Despite knowing full well the dangers of remaining near her, he chased after her without a single hint of self-interest. He was simply thinking of her. After that, he even shook off her attempts to drive him away. That was how she knew what he was really like.
But that wasn’t the only time she’d caught a glimpse of his true personality. There was also the evening that the curse placed upon her by the demon had activated. After she’d finished the wretched deed, when her exhausted body could no longer move, he’d held her and supported her.
The Magic in this Other World is Too Far Behind! Volume 2 Page 21