Chapter 177
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 177
Chapter Title: Counterattack
"What... what is all this?"
Chris muttered, dumbfounded, within the faded world.
Rain... went through something like this?
She fought to save the people of a strange world, getting gravely wounded and hurt in the process?
She knew from what she’d heard that Rain had lived in this world, the Astria Continent. No, she *thought* she knew.
Thinking she understood it in her head and seeing Rain's journey with her own eyes were two completely different things.
This is just a special in-game event, right?
But why? For what reason?
Rain’s story.
Why is such a brutal story being shoved in my face?
When she saw a younger, cuter Rain, Chris had covered her mouth, letting out a pained sound as she waved an unreachable hand over Rain’s head.
When Rain’s eyes had sparkled as she looked at Chris from Melissa’s arms, a fiery jealousy had ignited within her. When the princes of the fallen kingdom had shown Rain favor, she had unknowingly growled and shaken her fist at them.
But Chris could do nothing but watch, even as Rain lay dying.
Chris had no idea.
She wasn't the least bit prepared to see something like this.
The very fact that Rain was alive before her eyes now proved her safety in this incident, but...
She couldn't turn away from the past.
To know Rain.
Clutching her chest, screaming a silent scream that couldn't escape her lips, Chris could only pray for the blood-soaked Rain’s safety.
*
That day, the attack by the Eastern Corps Commander left the human resistance with countless wounded and dead.
But the resistance hadn't just taken the blow. Although they failed to kill the Eastern Corps Commander, they had achieved the magnificent feat of annihilating the Demon Generals who had attacked alongside him.
Of course, that was the work of a single Hero.
The priests of the resistance stayed up all night, tending to the wounded until they collapsed from exhaustion.
And the high priests clung desperately to the one person who had to be saved above all others.
Pouring every last drop of their faint holy power—so weak in this age where the goddess's strength was barely felt—they strove to save just one person.
The princes prayed.
To their little friend.
*Please, don't die.*
Perhaps their prayers reached the heavens. Rain survived the night without dying.
The princes, who hadn't slept a wink, just like Melissa, entered the barracks with weary faces and let out a sigh of relief upon confirming Rain’s faint breaths.
However, they couldn't be completely at ease. Her life was merely hanging by a thread. She had lost too much blood. The only reason the small child, whose life had been in grave peril, was still alive was thanks to the girl’s strong will.
The priests of this era, with their weakened holy power, couldn't fully heal Rain's grievous wounds. She might not wake up the very next day.
Melissa’s face was a mask of despair as she gazed at Rain’s pale, sleeping form, still etched with pain.
Bern spoke to Melissa, his expression conflicted.
"Master."
“…”
Master Melissa didn't answer. She just stared at Rain with a vacant expression.
To think he would ever see the confident Master Melissa, who seemed unshakable in any situation, wear such an expression.
Melissa cherished Rain far more than Bern had ever imagined.
And now, that same Rain was dying before her.
Trapped in a situation where even the Master’s power was of no use.
*Thump, thump!*
"It’s our fault...! She ended up like this trying to save us...!"
Leon fell to his knees, slamming his fists on the ground.
Blood trickled from Bern’s bitten lip.
*How can we, so powerless, ever become kings of men?*
The princes could do nothing but be protected by the small Hero.
"What in the world is the goddess doing!? If only I had holy power, if only I, a mere priest of the royal family, had holy power like the Saintess...!"
As Leon was cursing his own powerlessness,
life returned to Melissa's eyes.
Abruptly.
She carefully lifted Rain's small, prone body into her arms.
The princes stared blankly at Melissa, who had begun to act erratically.
"Master?"
"The Saintess!"
At Melissa's cry, the princes' eyes widened in surprise.
"Why didn't I think of that? For Rain to avoid ending up like this, the Saintess just needs to stick with her at all times!"
"The... the Saintess? B-but, isn't she at the main sanctuary of the Church of the Supreme God, maintaining a barrier that protects the entire central continent from the encroaching demonic energy?"
"That demonic energy is nothing. If I just work a little harder, it won't be a problem. All I have to do is make life miserable for the Corps Commanders—the ones causing this demonic energy to spread across the continent—right?"
The princes' jaws dropped at Melissa's bombshell of a statement.
No matter how strong Melissa was, she couldn't face a Corps Commander alone. While a one-on-one fight to the bitter end where both sides were grievously wounded might be possible with Melissa's power, the Corps Commander wasn't the only foe she would have to face in demon-occupied territory.
"I just need to gather like-minded companions, starting with the Saintess. Together with them, we'll raise Rain, and with a stronger Rain, we'll defeat the Demon King."
Melissa had regained her Master's countenance.
And at the same time, she cast a look of pity and affection at the Rain she held in her arms, then left the barracks.
She left one final word for the princes watching her departure.
"The formation of the true Hero's Party."
*
That day, the human resistance, which had been on the verge of annihilation, was fortunately able to recover. This was because most of its leadership, including the princes, had survived. Of course, they had to move their headquarters, as its location had been exposed.
News that the human resistance had repelled the impossibly powerful Corps Commander and his subordinate Demon Generals spread, and powerful individuals who had been hiding throughout the continent began to flock to the resistance one by one.
The resistance's forces grew with each passing day. Now, the human resistance possessed the strength to face a single Corps Commander's forces without being significantly outmatched.
"Assuming, of course, that there's someone to stop the Corps Commander himself."
"It would be difficult for anyone less than a Master. In the end, we need Master Melissa's power. ...And."
"...I wonder if Rain is okay."
Now seventeen years old—adults by the standards of the Astria Continent—Bernhard and Leoner had grown into fine young men.
Many years had passed since that day of the Eastern Corps Commander's attack, years during which the princes had not seen Rain.
Fortunately, the Eastern Corps Commander, having lost all his Demon Generals, had holed up in his occupied territory and not emerged. Instead, high-ranking demons had begun to move across the continent, tracking something. They were likely trying to eliminate a threat more dangerous than the visible human resistance.
"Well, look who it is. You've grown so much I almost didn't recognize you. I thought you were already done growing back then, but you're even taller now, aren't you?"
And finally, today, three years later.
A welcome face visited the resistance's encampment.
At the familiar voice, the princes whipped their heads around, their eyes falling on a woman with a blue ponytail.
Bern and Leon's faces lit up as they recognized her.
"Master Melissa...!"
"Where have you been all this time!?"
"I'm on my way back from dealing with the one who was causing trouble in the north."
"The Northern Corps Commander...! But how?"
The princes were dumbfounded by Melissa's bombshell.
One of the Corps Commanders who had tormented humanity for so long had been defeated without the resistance even knowing.
"Has it been three years already? Do you remember the day we parted?"
"Yes."
Bern's expression hardened slightly.
The day of the Corps Commander's attack. The day Rain and Melissa had disappeared together.
"That day, I went to see the Saintess to save Rain. And I dragged Elena out of the main sanctuary of the Church of the Supreme God. I told her that instead of just maintaining a barrier here, we should go after the Corps Commanders ourselves."
"Th-then what you said that day, you really...!"
Such incredible drive.
Melissa had really pulled the Saintess out and formed a Hero's Party to deal with the Northern Corps Commander.
"It took a long time for our hope to attain her full strength."
Hope.
She was talking about the Hero, Rain.
The princes' hearts pounded.
Three years had passed since then.
Rain, who was the same age as the princes, would soon be an adult.
The beautiful girl Rain, who had been like an unopened flower bud.
She must have grown into a stunning beauty by now.
The sound of familiar footsteps could be heard, treading on the dirt of the encampment.
The princes' eyes widened as she appeared before them.
"What's this, you little squirts. Why'd you get so tall?"
"Rain...?"
The princes' gazes lowered.
There, stood.
Familiar silver hair, large obsidian eyes.
It was indeed the Hero they knew, Rain.
But.
Her height... she hadn't grown?
No, she had definitely grown.
But compared to the princes, who had shot up by more than a handspan, she was still so small.
Melissa swept up the approaching Rain into her arms with a beaming smile.
Then, she shot the princes a sharp glare.
"You two aren't getting any funny ideas looking at the beautifully grown Rain, are you? I let it slide when you were kids, but not anymore. Rain is mine."
"Grown...?"
Behind Bern, who was muttering in a daze, an unfamiliar voice rang out.
"Melissa...! What are you talking about! Give Rain to me!"
"Elena! No!"
Melissa pointed an accusing finger at the blonde beauty who had suddenly appeared and snatched Rain away.
"Keh heh, the battle for the Hero begins again today? Never fails!"
"Sigh, Melissa, Elena. Are you really going to do this even here, while meeting with the resistance?"
A dwarf with a small but sturdy frame, and even a white-haired elf.
These were the members of the Hero's party. Rain's companions.
Surrounded by them, Rain declared with a confident smile,
"Princes, the time has come for humanity to strike back."