“...Your Rekka?” Satsuki’s eyes narrowed when she heard Iris’s words.
She moved a little away from me. That was a small relief, but I had the feeling that things were only about to get worse.
“Rekka, what does she mean?” Satsuki had a scary look on her face. It was the exact opposite of how she’d been before.
And then Iris interrupted. “I SAID, what are you doing to my Rekka?!”
And now Satsuki’s rage was directed at Iris. “What’s your relationship with Rekka, anyway?”
“He’s my lover!”
“The Rekka I know wouldn’t make a move on a girl he’d just met! He wouldn’t make a move on anybody, so he can’t be your lover.”
“We’re real lovers now! Rekka put his life on the line for me! And we’re both in love now!”
“Well, then, I’m his childhood friend. I’ve been with him since we were little kids, so I’m above you.”
“What do you mean, above?”
“I mean above. I’ve even taken baths with him.”
“Huh? You can take baths with other people? I never heard about this! Then I’m gonna do it, too!”
No, I didn’t feel like going into Iris’s washing machine-style bath with another person. We’d probably hit our heads together. And wait... “That was when we were little kids, though.”
“Rekka, shut up!”
“Rekka, shut up!”
Why were they both in harmony there? At that point, I gave up. I decided to just let them have at it.
“I’m cuter, so Rekka will choose me,” Iris said.
“Rekka wouldn’t choose someone based on their appearance,” Satsuki said.
“Stop acting like you know everything there is to know about Rekka,” Iris said.
“I do know everything about him. I even know that there’s a hair growing out of a mole on his back,” Satsuki said.
Wait, seriously? I reached my hand around to my back to check.
“You flat-chest!”
“Don’t insult another person’s breasts. Besides, they’re average.”
I didn’t even know what they were arguing about anymore.
“And anyway, you don’t need to kiss Rekka! You just need to beat that Messiah guy!” Iris was throwing a tantrum and pointing her finger at Satsuki’s face while she spoke.
“If only it were that easy. He’s the strongest mage not just because of his attack magic. His defensive magic is even more powerful.”
“...What does that mean?” I interrupted.
“Remember how you flung that pipe at him at the factory and it didn’t work at all? That was his magic wall. It covers his whole body and stops any attack, physical or magical, from reaching him. It’s so powerful that even a hundred mages working together couldn’t break it.”
“I’m not quite sure what a hundred mages would look like... but like, how strong is that?”
“Hmm... for example, if there was an attack powerful enough to destroy Earth, he’d be the only survivor? Though I guess even he would be in bad shape without oxygen.”
So basically, even a bomb that could blow up Earth wouldn’t be good enough? He really was the strongest mage. There was no way I could beat him on my own.
But ironically, that ‘attack that would destroy Earth’ was just what King Satamonia was about to do. One of the two was bad enough. How the hell was I supposed to deal with bo— huh?
“Huh?”
And then I got an idea. It was the one advantage I’d had, which I’d figured out in the other world. I was caught up in multiple stories, and I didn’t need to be bound by the rules of just one.
Just as I’d defeated the Demon Overlord with a laser gun, maybe I could defeat the meteor and the mage by ignoring their rules? I thought back over everything I’d experienced today. The things I’d seen, the items I’d used, the items I hadn’t used, the people I’d met... they were all coming together, like the pieces of a puzzle.
Could I... Could I do it? No, I still didn’t have enough pieces. Was there something I could use? One last thing?
And then suddenly I remembered Harissa. “That’s right! Harissa could help me!”
“Huh? Rekka?”
“What’s wrong?” I realized that both Iris and Satsuki had stopped their argument and were staring at me. They must’ve gotten worried when I stopped talking and started thinking.
I told them I was fine, and asked Satsuki a question instead. “Satsuki, the Magic of Omniscience can tell you about anything except the future, right?”
“Huh? Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then there’s something I want you to look up for me. Thanks.”
“Okay, but... Rekka, what are you going to do?”
I started to explain my plan to them. In order for it to make sense, I explained to them everything I’d experienced today, and the bloodline of the Namidare, too. Suddenly their faces clouded.
“Then you saved me because of that bloodline?” Iris looked a little uneasy.
Satsuki wasn’t saying anything either, but she was looking at me, worried.
Maybe they were feeling guilty that I’d been forced to solve their problems against my will? “Don’t worry about it. My bloodline may have gotten me into this, but I really do want to save you.”
That was true. I had the right to give up on a story. Since I hadn’t, this was my own responsibility. So there was no need for them to worry about it. At least, that’s what I tried to say.
“I see! Wow, you really are cool, Rekka.”
“I’m glad you’re here for me, too.”
They both started to smile again... but was I imagining it, or were they blushing? Well, whatever! I just had to make sure this worked. I asked them both for their opinions.
“I think you can do it!” Iris said, optimistically.
“...It’s going to be close, but it’s not impossible,” Satsuki agreed.
With the two of them on my side cheering me on, I steeled myself for what was to come.
“Okay. Then we just have to do it!”
It was up to me to make these stories have a happy ending!
Chapter 5: The Stories Start to Intertwine
While I had Satsuki gather the information I needed, there was someplace I needed to go.
“I didn’t expect to be heading back so fast.” I looked at the red thread on my wrist. If I wished for it enough while wearing it, I could go back to Harissa’s world.
My watch said it was just a little past six. There were just six more hours until the meteor strike. If I wanted my plan to work, I needed to get a certain item from her world.
I had Iris show me to the courtyard so that I could use the red thread.
“All right, time to go.”
“Yes, let’s.”
For some reason, Iris was wrapping herself around my arm. She seemed excited.
“Iris, if you keep clinging to me like that, you’re going to get dragged to the other world.”
“That’s exactly why I’m doing it.”
“I’m not exactly going there to play.”
She had her fancy bag on her shoulder, and seemed to think she was going on a little trip. I tried to get her to wait here, but instead she just got mad.
“You already defeated the Demon Overlord, right? So it’ll be fine. I had Daddy give me all my tools back. It sounds fun! And I’m definitely not letting you leave me again!” She pressed herself against me some more.
H-Her breasts! I wasn’t sure how to handle the soft feeling on my upper arm, but I was happy to see she was feeling better. I didn’t expect this to be dangerous, so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to take her.
“Fine. I’ll take you, so get off me a little.”
“Pussy,” R said.
I wanted to tell her to take her flat chest and shove it.
But instead, I ignored her, grabbed Iris’s hand, and made a wish on the red thread. “Take me to Harissa.”
The bracelet started to shine. And then a singl
e ray of red light— a red thread, just like the name— stretched out into the air and formed a circle with a one-meter radius. I could see what looked like dancing flames on the other side. The red opening instantly swallowed us up.
▽
When I opened my eyes, I was back in the castle at Aburaamu. The red thread frayed and fell from my arm. Evidently, it could only be used once.
“Wow... That felt pretty different from a warp, huh?” Iris seemed impressed. She was staring at the stone walls around her, her eyes shining with curiosity.
“H-Hero?!” I heard a voice behind me.
“Are you the cook?”
I turned around and saw the old cook who’d been worried about Harissa. She was blinking in surprise at our sudden arrival.
“Huh?” I had been sure it would take me directly to Harissa. Well, I guess I could just ask. “Excuse me. Do you know where Harissa is?”
“She’s gone.”
I didn’t expect the answer I got.
“Huh? Why?”
Her expression got sterner after I asked the question. “Because of you!”
“Me?”
“Because you’re a fake! They said Harissa’s a liar, and they’re going to execute her!” Her shoulders were shaking with rage. But her anger quickly turned to sorrow, and she covered her face with both hands and started to cry. “It’s your fault! It’s your fault!”
“Why are they saying that Harissa’s a liar? Please, tell me!” Harissa and I had defeated the Demon Overlord. I thought I’d brought Harissa’s story to its end.
But when I heard what she had to say, I realized how stupid I’d been. “I didn’t draw the Hero’s Sword, so they refused to accept me as the hero?” That was what it came down to.
The warp watch had malfunctioned, and so the two of us had gone into the Demon Overlord’s castle and defeated him without anybody knowing. It had only taken a little over two hours. Thinking back, nobody would believe that happened unless they were there. And worse still, I hadn’t drawn the Hero’s Sword to prove I was the hero.
Harissa had summoned a normal-looking kid like me, and I’d vanished from the castle in only two hours. And the Hero’s Sword was still on its dais, too. What would happen then?
“They all think you got scared, turned tail, and ran!” Of course. Everybody would think that.
And since Harissa had failed to summon the hero, she was going to be executed, as was originally planned.
“She kept saying you were the real hero right up until the end. But nobody believed her, so she gave me this red thread before they took her to the execution grounds.”
“Damn it!” I’d been in such a hurry, I’d forgotten to explain things to the king and his men!
“Wait, Rekka! Where are you going?” I shook Iris’s hand off my sleeve.
“I have to go save Harissa!”
“But they all think you ran, right? If you go now and say you defeated the Demon Overlord, they’re not going to believe you, are they?”
I froze like somebody had dumped cold water on my head. She was right. Now that they thought I was a liar, they wouldn’t believe me without proof.
Calm down! Think. Think about what you have to do. The first thing I needed was prove that I was a hero. The other was prove that I’d defeated the Demon Overlord. I needed the latter especially, and if I was going to get it, I needed to go to the Demon Overlord’s castle.
“Crap! I forgot the warp watch!” The Self-Defense Fleet had taken all my stuff when I’d arrived at the Owaria. I was starting to panic when Iris poked my shoulder.
“I have the warp watch with me.”
“Huh? Really?!” I didn’t see anything on her wrist.
“All my tools are in here.” She took the warp watch out of her bag. “This bag uses wormhole technology, so it can hold anything. I’ve got a laser gun each for you and me in here, too. I’ve also got snacks, drinks, shampoo, and a change of clothes.”
Wormholes connected two points in space, right? My guess was that anything put in the bag was sent to another place, where it could be retrieved whenever she wanted it. Alien technology was incredible.
I took the warp watch and said thanks to Iris. Okay, now I had my means of getting to the Demon Overlord’s castle.
“All right, let’s get the Hero’s Sword first! Ma’am, can you take us to the basement where the Hero’s Sword is sealed?”
“Huh? I... I guess.” She quickly nodded.
“Thank you. Let’s hurry!”
The cook led us down into the castle’s basement. The Hero’s Sword was kept in a surprisingly small room, only about two meters to a side. In the center was a dais that seemed to be carved from solid rock, and there was a two-handed sword buried within it.
“This is the Hero’s Sword?”
“That’s right. Thousands of people have tried to draw it, but nobody can.”
Since nobody could draw the sword, they didn’t even put a guard in front of the room. That meant that all we had to do to get in was use the laser gun to blow off the lock. Okay, time to pull this thing out and go to the Demon Overlord’s castle.
I grabbed the hilt and pulled it... and it wouldn’t come out! “Huh?” Next, I tried pulling it with both hands.
“Fnnnggghh!” It moved a little, but it still wouldn’t come out.
Huh? What was going on here?
“Y-You really are a fake!” The cook was sobbing.
Hang on a second. I might have been a normal person, but I was summoned here to save the world. Shouldn’t I be able to pull out the sword? I did what I always did when I didn’t know what was going on, and turned to R for help.
“Hmm? I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because you’re advancing multiple stories at the same time?”
Wait. So since I wasn’t the hero of this story alone, I didn’t quite have the right to pull out the sword? Or was it because I wasn’t the real hero, and just their stand-in? This wasn’t part of the plan, and it was very bad news.
In the worst case, could I just bring proof that I’d defeated the Demon Overlord to the execution grounds? No, if they told me it was fake, I’d be finished. The Demon Overlord hadn’t left his castle since he’d come back to life, and nobody in Aburaamu had seen him. You’d think anybody who saw that huge dragon would be convinced, but since they thought I was a liar already, they’d probably get suspicious. If I was going to convince them, I needed to be the hero.
“When was the Hero’s Sword sealed, and why, anyway?” If I wanted an out, I needed information, and I needed it fast.
“Well, it was sealed by the Legendary Hero for when the Demon Overlord revived.” The old cook was still sobbing as she spoke, with snot running down her face.
“He could’ve just thrown it in a treasure chest somewhere. Why’d he put it in this rock?”
“I don’t know. Maybe to keep people from using it for evil?”
That didn’t help me. Was this the end? I needed the Hero’s Sword to stop the meteor, too! If only the Legendary Hero hadn’t put this seal on it... wait. Seal?
“Hey, if it’s sealed, does that mean this sword’s stuck in here with magic?”
“Of course it is. If it was just stuck in there on its own, a strong man could pull it out.”
The reason I couldn’t pull out the sword was that I was acting as the protagonist of multiple stories. That meant I didn’t have the right to be the hero, and so the seal was stopping me from pulling it out.
But I’d forgotten something important. It was my one advantage. There was no need to break the seal on the magic sword.
I just needed to get the sword itself. I had the high-tech items that Iris had brought me from Finerita. Take out. Move. Transport. What tool could do that?
“Iris, put coordinates into the warp watch.”
I offered her the arm that was wearing the warp watch, and with my other hand, I grabbed the Hero’s Sword.
“What should I put in?”
“I just need to
move about a meter.”
“Got it.” Iris had the coordinates entered in under a second.
“Coordinate entry confirmed. Ten seconds to warp. Nine. Eight. Seven...” The electronic voice started its countdown. It felt like it was taking forever, and I kicked the floor in frustration.
It felt like an eternity, but after ten seconds I warped. Since I’d only moved a meter, I was still in the room. But now, the Hero’s Sword was in my hands.
“Yes!” Iris had said aboard her spaceship that the warp watch could transport what you were carrying. The dais was carved out of the ground, so it was part of the ground. And so, I’d warped carrying only the Hero’s Sword.
“Wh-Wh-Wh-What’s going on?!” The cook seemed very confused, but I didn’t have time to explain.
“Iris, the next thing I want to do is go to the Demon Overlord’s castle.”
“I could calculate that fast, if I had a map of this world.”
“Then let’s go to the study. Hurry!” I ran out of the room, carrying the Hero’s Sword, but before I did, I said, “Ma’am, I promise I’ll save Harissa!” And then I ran to the top of the western tower where the study was.
▽
By the time I got back from the Demon Overlord’s castle, Harissa was about to be executed.
She was on her knees on the execution platform, her arms and head locked in the stocks. She looked exhausted. Behind her, the executioner stood silently. A bunch of idiots had gathered in the plaza to watch the execution.
It was too packed for me to get through on my own, but Iris made a path by picking people up and tossing them aside, so I was able to run straight up to the platform. Behind the platform was the castle balcony. One of the ministers was up there, reading something off a scroll. He was probably reading out a list of Harissa’s crimes. When he was done, the executioner would bring the ax down on her neck.
I wasn’t going to let that happen. I’d thought I’d ended Harissa’s misery and her story. She was supposed to be happy now. I wasn’t going to let it end like this!
The minister rolled up the scroll and sent a signal to the man on the platform.
He took his huge ax and moved next to her. It didn’t look very sharp, and the blade was covered in scratches, but the weight alone would be enough to make sure it went right through her thin neck.
I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 1 Page 10