#013 Departure
#013 Departure
Lucius was a hunter.
The guardian who had taken him in had taught him to hunt beasts and, from time to time, how to deal with Magic Beasts.
When dealing with Magic Beasts: quietly, swiftly, quickly.
Never move noisily.
When he asked why, the old man said this:
-Because humans are weaker than Magic Beasts.
Then what should someone with tremendous strength do?
When he asked that, the old man laughed heartily and said this:
-You just beat them all to death. If you have powerful strength, what is there to worry about?
"Uwaaah!!"
Power was overflowing.
The golden wind became one with him and tore the goblins to shreds.
SKREEECH!!
A goblin lunged from the side, swinging a club.
It was an attack precisely aimed at the joint of Lucius's arm, but it was utterly useless.
CLANG—!
Lucius instead struck down on the goblin's club with his elbow.
The faint golden light gathered at the tip of his elbow was like a solid spear, and the goblin's wooden club shattered against Lucius's elbow.
"Kiiiit!!"
The goblin threatened Lucius, swinging what remained of its club.
But Lucius lightly dodged the club and, still in his evasive stance, swung his sword in a wide arc.
WHOOSH!
As he swung the sword as if letting his whole body drop to the ground, a golden gale began to rage around him.
The goblins that had been trying to swarm Lucius from all sides were torn apart by the blade-wind, and thanks to the Holy Sword's power, Lucius was able to spin his body once using only the wind pressure from his swing and land safely.
"Hah, hah."
His breathing was ragged.
It was by no means because he was out of breath, but because of the excitement of cutting through the goblins as he advanced.
Pleasure.
A sense of accomplishment.
Even while intoxicated by overwhelming power, Lucius was learning how to gradually rein in his strength.
'Don't get cocky, Arthur.'
Lucius repeated to himself.
'Master is watching.'
While no one else could keep up with Lucius, only the witch was watching him precisely from afar.
Even with the village chief who had just tried to seize the witch and the distrustful villagers still nearby, the witch looked only at Lucius....
Smirk.
She was smiling.
As if proud of him, the corners of her lips rose slightly every time he struck down a goblin with the Holy Sword's power.
She seemed worried about Lucius using his power recklessly, and also seemed relieved that he was gradually figuring out how to use it efficiently, and she also seemed to find Lucius's performance itself admirable.
"Ke, keruk...! Stop! I'll retreat! Stop!!"
The green goblin, having fallen on its rear, waved its hands and pleaded.
"Mana Stones, I'll offer Mana Stones! Ones I've collected separately! Keruk! Just spare my life, please!!"
Lucius's sword hesitated for a moment at the goblin's desperate expression, but he steeled himself.
"If I kill you, Mana Stones will come out, won't they?"
"M-Mana Stones...? If you need them, I'll give them! Here, here they are!"
The green goblin held out the Mana Stones.
There was a considerable amount of Mana Stones in the leather pouch, and Lucius used the Holy Sword's blade to collect the leather pouch.
"......What should we do?"
Lucius's gaze turned toward the witch.
Soon the witch began walking toward Lucius, and the villagers gulped and began stepping aside.
"...I do need at least one messenger. Hmm, very well."
The witch grabbed a handful of Mana Stones from the pouch, then aimed a twig at the green goblin.
"Go and tell the Demon King. That I, the Crimson Mage, have awakened from a long slumber to seal him once more."
"D-Demon King...?"
"Scram."
FWOOSH!
The moment a small spark flew, the green goblin turned and fled in terror.
"Is it all right not to kill it?"
"Why? Afraid it'll come back to bite us?"
"I'm not afraid. It's just...."
"It's fine. We have a Holy Sword Hero, so even if the goblin brings back stronger Demonfolk, so what?"
The witch lightly patted Lucius on the back.
"I'll trust you. Lucius. My Hero, and my disciple."
"...Yes, Master!"
The witch, grinning from ear to ear, was sending Lucius boundless trust.
Or so Lucius thought.
* * *
After the battle ended.
I ordered Lucius to recover the Mana Stones from the goblin corpses, then met with the village chief alone again, keeping our distance from the others.
"You have committed two sins. One is the sin of not believing the words of me, the Crimson Mage."
He had tried to brand me, who had come to this village to break the Holy Sword's seal, as a witch and have me killed.
"And...."
"......."
A cardinal sin that could not be spoken of in front of others—one that, if spoken, would shatter the village chief's authority.
The sordid 'sin of lust': abducting me in the dead of night and trying to do who knew what to me.
"I pardon your sins."
"P-pardon...?"
"What did you hear? I said I pardon your sins."
"Th-that's...?"
The village chief began to grow confused.
I wasn't some pushover like Lucius. Was I really supposed to let the village chief's attempted crime slide?
"Humans can make mistakes. Thank you. Thanks to you, I've resolved to be more careful in how I introduce myself from now on. Assuming that someone like you is the average, I, the Crimson Mage, shall set out on a journey to seal the Demon King."
"Th-that's...."
"Well, consider it payment for showing me how the world views me. I pardon your cardinal sin. However, there will be no further mercy."
I was giving him a warning while simultaneously granting forgiveness.
The elder shed tears and fell to his knees.
"Ugh...! Thank you so much! I, Nerotian!! I sincerely thank you for the mage's boundless generosity!!"
'I don't care about your name.'
I waved my hand dismissively and stepped back.
The truth was, I forgave him because, more than anything, I wanted to leave this village quickly.
'If I linger for no reason, flies will swarm.'
The owner of one of only seven Holy Swords on the continent had appeared.
Those seeking the Holy Sword—human, Celestial, and Demonfolk alike—would surely gather here.
'In exchange, they can deal with the trouble.'
While they remained here singing the Crimson Mage's praises, they could deal with the troublesome matters themselves—whether Demonfolk came to avenge the goblins or Holy Knights arrived from the Church.
That was why I was sparing those worthless bastards.
'They're not even worth the mana it'd take to kill them.'
Anyway, even if I didn't kill them, they'd be dead within a month.
"Then we will depart immediately after dealing with the goblins. Handle the rest yourselves."
"Thank you!!"
If among them there happened to be some empty-headed girl who said she'd follow the Holy Sword's owner....
"Lucius!!"
There was.
"Are you really...leaving?"
A country village maiden—who at a glance seemed cunning and whose only boast-worthy asset was a chest that could fill a tin milk bucket—was making advances on Lucius as he collected Mana Stones.
'This bitch?'
How dare she try to seduce my pushover with her body.
"Are you really just going to leave?"
"Stop."
"......."
The moment I wedged myself between the two of them, the woman's expression changed instantly.
At an angle Lucius couldn't see, I could clearly see her cursing me with her eyes.
'Women, honestly.'
Maybe because I was inhabiting a woman's body, I was more sensitive to hostility from other women.
Especially women's 'jealousy.'
"Do not block the Hero's path. Woman."
"W-woman...?"
"Master."
Lucius called me from behind.
I didn't particularly like the look in his eyes, but I obediently stepped aside.
"Goodbye. Thank you."
"How can you...!"
Lucius was trying to part ways kindly, in his own way.
But this woman was clinging to Lucius, obsessively trying to appeal to him somehow.
'Damn it, don't I have to recover Mana Stones from the goblin corpses?'
While Lucius was tied up with that woman, he obviously couldn't recover the Mana Stones from the goblin corpses.
But should I, of all people, degrade myself by rummaging through goblin corpses?
Absolutely not.
"......."
I quietly crossed my arms and glared at Lucius.
I kept signaling him with sharp eyes and sheer willpower: shake off the woman quickly and collect the Mana Stones from the goblin corpses.
Waaaaah!!
The woman left, crying pitifully.
The way she glared at me through her tears as she went—there was no doubt those tears were fake.
"I'm sorry, Master."
"...Be careful around women."
"Pardon?"
"There are truly many women in this world. Among them, there will be women who use you. Surely...."
Ah.
Wait, could that sound like I was talking about myself?
"...Ahem. To be clear, lest you misunderstand, I am by no means trying to use you."
"It's all right, Master."
Lucius placed his hand on the Holy Sword's hilt.
"Please use me as much as you like."
"What?"
"I am your sword, Master."
Soon the Holy Sword vanished with the wind, and a golden breeze began to settle on the fourth finger of his left hand.
"I became a Hero thanks to you, Master. I would never betray you just because I've obtained the Holy Sword's power, nor abandon you to covet...someone else."
"......."
It felt a little unsettling, but Lucius's eyes were sincere.
'Does this kid have conversations with his eyes? Does he have an eye-contact fetish?'
Lucius's strange insistence on conveying his will so clearly through his eyes gave me chills, but still, I decided not to dismiss the possibility of betrayal entirely.
"...Right, right. Never betray me."
"Of course, Master. Ah, but...."
Lucius glanced toward the village and asked me,
"Will it just be the two of us on the journey?"
"What else?"
"...Pardon?"
"You and me. The two of us are enough."
The Holy Sword you possess is the very sword that tore the Great Demon King Belphegor's heart into four pieces, so you alone are enough.
"...With your strength alone, every obstacle can be overcome."
I forced down the words that had risen to the tip of my tongue.
There was no point in carelessly invoking the name Belphegor in this world—someone might have a fit like the village chief did.
"Or what? Do you think I'd expand our party?"
"...Weren't you planning to gather the Holy Sword Heroes?"
"Hm?"
"There are seven Holy Swords, aren't there?"
"That's true."
Fire, water, wind, earth, light, darkness, and twilight.
"Shall we go looking for those Holy Swords?"
"...The other Holy Swords all have owners."
"Oh, really?"
That was good news.
"Then while their attention is drawn to those others, we can move as we please."
"...Are we really traveling just the two of us?"
"Why? Do you need a man you can talk to—"
"No."
For the first time, I heard a serious tone in Lucius's voice.
"I will do my best."
"......."
Well, a Holy Sword Hero had no particular need to take on male companions.
Historically, that had always been the case.
"Heh, so you're a man after all, aren't you?"
So he was planning to fill his party with a harem.
As expected of a Holy Sword Hero.
"Jokes aside, while I look at the map, finish recovering the Mana Stones from the goblins. I'll be waiting."
"Yes!!"
Lucius grinned and went off to finish harvesting the remaining corpses.
"That brat, is a harem really that appealing?"
He was already that happy at the thought of dating a whole bunch of women.
"His qualifications as a Hero are undeniable."