The Hope They Left Behind (Premium)

by Sakon Kaidou

  “She is definitely misunderstanding your actions,” commented Nemesis. “But I can’t help but agree with her on the apparel.”

  “Nemesis?!”

  Why would you say that?! Do you have the Confusion debuff or something?!

  “Funny you mention debuffs,” Nemesis said. “Not a day goes by when I do not wonder how many Elixirs it would take to fix your fashion sense.”

  A damaged sense would’ve probably been a mental debuff, though. Elixirs didn’t work on those.

  Wait, I mean, why are you even saying that? I asked Nemesis telepathically. It’s nothing like an animal suit, being shirtless, a junihitoe, a four-meter-tall jiangshi, or a damn lab coat.

  “Don’t use Superiors as your standard! They’re all nuts!”

  ...You have a point.

  “But Nemesis, all I’m wearing is demonic gauntlets, corpse boots, a light-consuming coat, and red and black composite armor. None of these are that bad, right?”

  “ALL! OF! THEM! ARE! Spend just a second thinking about the meaning behind all of these things, you fool!”

  “Hmm...”

  When you put them all together... I guess it’s a bit villain-like.

  “‘A bit’... You know what, that’s fine. It’s better than not seeing it at all.” Nemesis calmed down.

  Anyway, back to the masked woman. She was still brandishing her sword in my direction, not moving a muscle. That, combined with her comments on my appearance, made it pretty clear that she was far more wary of me than she had to be.

  But... to be fair...

  “I don’t think I want to hear anything about my apparel from someone wearing a mask that shady.”

  “I... umm... I must hide my face because I am on a secret mission from someone very important!” the swordswoman argued. “It is nothing like some scoundrel’s heinous clothing!”

  “Well, I only ended up looking like this because of what I was given or gifted,” I shot back. “And come on... this isn’t that bad, right?”

  “I simply cannot trust a person who sees that as ‘not that bad’!”

  “What a dodgeball game of a conversation,” Nemesis sighed. “Or perhaps it’s just catch where both sides are only hitting the other? Why is this even happening? How did Ray end up talking about fashion with some masked woman he ran into in the middle of the forest?”

  Hey, I’d like to know that, too, I thought. Anyway, I should get her to calm down, so—

  “Anyhow,” she cut my words short. “I cannot ignore a scoundrel who assaults girls. Forget the details — I shall incapacitate you and hand you to the authorities!”

  “The details are important, damn it!”

  And did she actually just say “incapacitate”?! Is she another meathead?!

  “You seem to be running into more and more of them recently,” commented Nemesis.

  Yeah, like Rosa!

  However, the masked swordswoman was, in a way, worse than her.

  Her left hand was exposed, and there was no crest on it, meaning that she was a tian, rather than a Master, and she was only hostile to me because she genuinely thought I was a dangerous person and was trying to protect the girl from me.

  Considering that it was all a misunderstanding, I really didn’t want this to get violent.

  Still, it didn’t seem like she’d be willing to listen to me if I tried to explain.

  All of this made her a real trouble to deal with.

  “Hey, listen, I just—”

  “Enough talk!”

  “No, it isn’t! Come on!”

  I made Nemesis switch into her shield form and protected myself from the masked woman’s blue blade.

  “Whoa, the speed!”

  She didn’t move at the speed of sound yet, so she was definitely slower than Figaro, Xunyu, or a number of other duel rankers. However, she was approaching their speeds in spite of the fact that she was a tian.

  Additionally, she was clearly a skilled swordfighter, and her attacks were hard to defend against for reasons other than speed.

  Shu’s skill as a fighter made his fists hard to avoid, and the same logic applied here. I wouldn’t have been able to defend against this if I hadn’t switched to the Black Shield.

  “Gh... Hm?”

  Though her swordsmanship was scary, something about it felt off. If I had to explain it, I’d say that I didn’t seem to be taking damage I was expecting to take.

  Of course, I was using a shield, but there was a great difference between what my senses were telling me and the actual damage I sustained.

  The thing my senses were telling me about was that blue blade. It had an absurdly dense air of intimidation around it. In all honesty, it was far more menacing than the masked woman herself.

  In fact, the power I felt from it seemed to be on the same level as Figaro’s Gloria α... or perhaps even higher.

  Despite that, I wasn’t taking nearly as much damage as that impression would’ve had you expect. It was a curious blade that didn’t seem to live up to its aura.

  But even if her sword was weaker than expected, she handled it beautifully.

  The most skilled tian fighter I’d met was Liliana, but this woman was clearly above her. Though she looked weird, she was definitely a first-rate fighter.

  The relentless chain of attacks, similar to Liliana’s, was pretty hard to defend against, most likely due to stat differences.

  “...Hm?” My own thoughts just now made me realize something.

  The masked woman’s swordsmanship was really similar to Liliana’s. Similar enough to make me feel like their style was the same.

  However, Liliana’s sword-fighting technique wasn’t the same that was popular among this country’s knights. She herself had once told me that her technique had been invented by her father, the Celestial Knight, Langley Grandria. It was a unique mix of pirate sword-fighting techniques he’d brought from his birthplace of Granvaloa and the knight techniques popular here in Altar.

  The only people who could use this technique were the late Langley himself and Liliana, who’d learned directly from him. Otherwise...

  “Langley Grandria,” I said.

  The masked woman gasped.

  “Did you learn swordfighting from Liliana’s father?”

  Indeed, that was the only other possibility.

  “You know Lilia... Vice Commander Grandria?” she asked, as she made some distance between us. She was still brandishing her sword, but at least she was willing to listen now.

  “I’m Ray Starling,” I said. “I happen to be a Paladin, and Liliana’s my friend.”

  “Ray... Starling?” she said, as she made a dubious face.

  I proved my identity to her by removing my hood and showing myself.

  Her gasp made it clear that she knew my face.

  “You are the same one who appeared on the broadcast of the events in Gideon! The one with one arm!”

  “Yeah.” Thanks to Miss Aberration, I wasn’t one-armed anymore, but it was clear that this woman knew me.

  “Why is one of the main people behind the stemming of that incident assaulting a girl in a place like this?!”

  “I’m telling you that I’m not!”

  “Eh?” She made a surprised face.

  “I beat a monster that was attacking her. She fainted, so I went to see if she was all right.”

  “Ehhh?!” the masked woman cried. She looked around at the trees damaged by my battle against the Teal Wolf (?), and then muttered, “Why didn’t you say so?”

  “I tried, but you just said, ‘Enough talk!’ and jumped at me!”

  “You could have said that instead of making comments about my mask!”

  She has a point. I guess we’re both at fault here.

  “Hold on! But you attacked me before we even talked!” I cried.

  “I thought it was an emergency! My teacher told me that, in emergencies, victory goes to those who make the first move!”

  Well, I couldn’t guarantee that I would
n’t have gone with a preemptive strike in her situation, either, but...

  “Hey, I’d understand taking that approach with a monster, but don’t go for a guy’s neck just because he looks a bit bad,” I said.

  “Do you have a mirror?!” she exclaimed. “I’ll show you what you’re calling ‘a bit bad’!”

  “Oh, yes, we actually have one in our inventory.” Nemesis, turning back to her human form, started to dig through our stuff.

  Nemesis dearest, why, might I ask, do you insist on taking her side on this?

  “I am happy to have finally found a person who shares my sentiment about your fashion. Everyone else ignores it, after all.”

  “Is my gear that bad?”

  “Why do you think I am looking for a mirror?”

  As we had such an exchange, the masked woman looked at Nemesis in surprise.

  “An Embryo who can become human...” she said. “So you’re a Maiden, just like that parasite’s... I mean... High Priestess’s Embryo.”

  Wow, “parasite” is pretty harsh, I thought. Well, Miss Aberration is pretty infamous.

  “Mm-hm,” Nemesis nodded. “I am Nemesis. Ray’s Embryo. Here. Mirror.”

  “Thank you,” replied the masked woman. “My name is... Azurite. I am a Swordmaster.”

  Swordmaster was a swordsman grouping high-rank job with very difficult conditions.

  Anyway... “Azurite,” huh? That name sure suited her azure hair.

  “That aside, I’ll say it again,” Azurite continued. “Your equipment is both black and has a sinister design. Even the Fallen Knight pales in comparison.”

  “Hey, Juliet’s armor has a different direction,” I say. “Hers is gothic, while I look like... a bit of a bad boy?”

  “You look like at least the final member of an evil ‘big four,’” said Nemesis.

  “You remind me of Lord Ira from a play I saw once,” Azurite agreed. “Except worse.”

  Do I really look that bad?! I’m genuinely concerned now.

  “As you should be,” said Nemesis. “Let’s forget about fashion for now, though. While you two were having this meaningless dispute, the girl seems to have woken up.”

  Azurite and I looked at the girl and, sure enough, she was slowly getting up.

  The girl introduced herself as “Shirley.” Her parents owned an inn in Quartierlatin, and she’d come here to this small forest to forage for edible mushrooms and wild plants.

  She was using a monster-repelling item that kept the low-level monsters here at bay. However, it hadn’t had an effect on the machine-wearing monster, and we’d come right on time to save her from it.

  She also remembered that I’d come to help her, and that completely cleared up Azurite’s misunderstanding.

  All’s well that ends well, I guess.

  Anyway, there was no guarantee that another machine-wearing monster wouldn’t show up, so we decided to escort her back to Quartierlatin. We were going there to begin with, so that certainly didn’t inconvenience us. And apparently, Azurite was heading there, as well.

  “Nemesis and I are going to the ruins they found there,” I said. “What about you?”

  “I’m going there to investigate the ruins, too.”

  So we had the same destination, huh?

  Well, these were the first ruins ever found here in the kingdom, so they were bound to attract many various people.

  “Really?!” exclaimed Shirley. “Then please come stay at our inn! You saved me, so I will ask them to make it cheap!”

  She tightly clenched her fists in front of her chest. It was some impressive enthusiasm.

  “But I—” Azurite spoke up. She probably wanted to say something about the fact that she hadn’t fought the monster, but Shirley just cut her off.

  “I’ll tell Mom and Dad everything that happened, then ask Lefty to prepare a chicken... Ah, the customers really liked the quiche I made recently, so maybe I should...” The girl just didn’t give Azurite a chance to say anything.

  “Hey, you were just trying to help her, too, right?” I said to Azurite. “Don’t sweat it.”

  Sure, she’d been trying to protect the girl from me, but that wasn’t a big deal. Really.

  “Ah...” Azurite opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it.

  According to Shirley, Quartierlatin was less than an hour’s walk away.

  That was why I chose not to get on Silver and just walk there alongside these three.

  Thirty minutes passed. As I talked with Shirley, who was still as energetic as she’d been at the start, something began bothering me.

  Azurite was silently walking behind me, and I could feel her gaze on me.

  I had no skills that would make this possible, but that was just how intense her stare was.

  Why is she looking at me like that? Does she still suspect me?

  “Hm?” I exclaimed as something held me back. I turned around to see Azurite, grabbing the edge of my Black Warcoat.

  “...” She still didn’t say a word. She was hanging her head, so I couldn’t see her expression.

  As I was about to ask what was wrong, she finally opened her mouth.

  “Sorry... for attacking you back then...”

  “Ohhh.”

  So she’d just been looking for the right time to apologize for her sudden attack. Well, all that tit-for-tat we’d gone through had made her miss her opportunity. Still, I had no reason not to accept her apology. It seemed a bit awkward, like she wasn’t used to saying sorry, but I could tell she was trying.

  “It’s fine,” I said. “We’re both okay, and you were just trying to help her, too.”

  “But...”

  “Again, it’s fine. But keep in mind not to judge people based on appearance. I might look like a bit of a bad boy, but there are people in the world who look downright heinous, and are actually pretty nice.”

  My words make her giggle for some reason before saying, “All right... Th-Thank you.”

  All tense, she gave me gratitude, and I felt like she was even less used to that than apologizing.

  Chapter Three: It’s Not Against the Rules

  Paladin, Ray Starling

  Just as Shirley had said, the walk to Quartierlatin took only a little under an hour.

  The town was paved with stone, and all in all, it looked significantly more well-maintained than the usual village here in the kingdom. There were trees and flower gardens everywhere, making it feel like a place where humanity and nature thrived in harmony.

  Needless to say, it was quite unlike Altea, Gideon, and Torne.

  The beautiful townscape made me stop in place and look around.

  “This is one flowery town,” I muttered.

  “Indeed,” nodded Azurite. “This was done by the will of Countess Quartierlatin. The lady has a taste for gardening. Her mansion’s gardens are particularly splendid. She oftentimes invites orphans and travelers to have tea parties with her.”

  “Well, someone’s knowledgeable,” I said.

  “The one I serve is close to the lady.”

  Uh huh. I guess she works for some noble, then, I thought.

  “A-Anyhow, let us hurry!” she urged me. “The Sun will set if you let the flowers divert you like this.”

  “Right-o,” I said as I resumed walking, still observing the sights.

  Shirley’s parents’ inn was in the outskirts of the town.

  It seemed a bit inconvenient for shopping and the like, but from what she’d told us on the way, it was close to the ruins we were after, so that was good.

  Suddenly, I noticed white smoke coming from further in the inn. Then I felt a certain scent tickle my nose. It was familiar, and it reminded me of a family trip I’d gone on...

  “Why build outside the town?” asked Azurite. “It seemed to me like there was quite a bit of open space in the center.”

  Shirley pointed at the nearby mountains before answering, “This place is close to the mountains, right? Well, that’s probab
ly why my prospector grandpa accidentally dug up a hot spring here!”

  “Oh? That sounds nice,” I commented. I haven’t gone to a real-life hot spring for a while now.

  By the way, although she’d said that his role was “prospector,” it turned out Shirley’s grandpa’s actual job was “Adventurer.”

  She explained, “He was crazy about Tenchi to begin with, and finding the hot spring lit a fire in him. That’s why he went ahead and built a hot spring inn!”

  “I see,” I said.

  So the smoke was actually steam from the open-air baths, and the scent was from the hot springs. I couldn’t smell much sulfur, though. This spring wasn’t particularly odorous.

  “I’m baaack!” said Shirley, as she opened the door.

  A moment later, a woman — presumably her mother — ran up to us. She looked exactly like you’d expect a hot spring inn hostess to look.

  “My,” she spoke up. “Why are you so late? You had us all worried.”

  “I ran into trouble, and these people here saved me!” was how Shirley prefaced her talk. Then she told her mother what had happened.

  “Oh my,” the mother gasped. “Thank you so much for saving my daughter...”

  “Anyway,” Shirley continued. “I’d like you to let them stay here for cheap!”

  “Forget ‘cheap’ — they don’t have to pay us a single lir. But... oh dear, this is troubling,” Shirley’s mother said as she placed her hand on her cheek and made a... well... troubled face. “Because of the ruins, we’re currently full of customers, so the only place where we have space is the annex.”

  “Ehhh? But that place is a bit...” Shirley made a troubled face, too.

  “What’s the annex?” I asked.

  “It’s a Tenchi-style building Grandpa built just because he wanted to,” Shirley explained. “It’s so different from Western buildings that our customers find it hard to stay there...”

  “Guests don’t even have beds,” added her mother. “They have to spread the bedding directly on the floor.”

  Shirley added, “Putting some beds there would make it way easier... but Grandpa’s will said that we’re supposed to leave it as it is...”

  Hearing them talk made me get the gist of it. Basically... the annex was a Japanese-style building. Tenchi was much like Sengoku Era Japan, after all, so that was completely certain.