Chapter 109

Fallen trees were stacked against each other, blocking the view .

Several voices could be heard from the other side, shouting and screaming .

Indeed, unlike a moment ago, it was now the citizens of light that cried out loud with delight .

The majority of the screams were from the monstrous spider people .

The fight from our direction was pretty much over .

The Arachne were turning their backs and fleeing .

I thought that we should just leave the mopping up to the surviving soldiers of the citizens of light .

We were only reinforcements after all .

On top of that, I wasn’t very knowledgeable about this world .

There was still a lot more I needed to learn .

I had heard most of what I needed to know from Lucia, but there was a lot that she did not know herself .

Especially about this world being destroyed tomorrow .

It was going to be necessary for me to ask Rin about those matters in particular .

In fact, it was right when she was explaining such things to me that the enemy had launched the attack .

For now, I better return to Rin through the teleport gate…

I was about to turn on my heels when something made me stop .

Arisu was surrounded by several soldiers .

It did not look threatening .

If anything, it was the opposite .

The soldiers were on their knees before Arisu, they bowed their heads with a mystical reverence .

“O Saint, please, I beg of you . Please help our comrade . ”

“Oh, uh, um . ”

Arisu looked towards me with a troubled expression .

Well, I’m not going to be much help…

“She brought someone back from the dead . It’s no wonder that they would worship her . ”

Lucia said as she stood next to me .

Ah . That was true .

She’s performed genuine miracles .

Though to be precise, the soldier that Arisu had helped was only close to death .

She could not have brought a completely dead body back to life .

I learned this at the Q&A in the white room after I defeated my first orc .

Even then, such a sight could only look like the work of God to the people of this world, as they did not live with the skill system .

The soldiers were starting to call Arisu ‘Servant of God’ and ‘The Saint’ .

She was a young girl who performed a miracle, and this was a world where God really did exist .

It really was no surprise that she would be worshipped then .

“I’m sure there are many who were dealt grave wounds in this battle . The citizens of light have their own restorative magic, but Arisu’s magic is a cut above the rest . ”

Lucia added .

“But isn’t she still rank 5?”

“The sight you are seeing now is the answer . ”

From what I’ve heard, the capabilities of the sorcerers of the citizens of light were around rank 3 at best .

Well, she would look pretty good then .

I switched my mode of thinking .

It would not be a bad thing to show our devotion here .

“Arisu, can I leave the healing of the wounded to your care?”

“Ye- yes! Thank you, Kazu!”

Why was she thanking me?

Ahh, I see .

She very much wanted to heal the wounded soldiers .

However, the MP was our shared asset, so she couldn’t say anything .

But the fight was over, it didn’t even matter .

In any case… We would be quite free while Arisu tended to the men .

“Mm . Kazucchi, why don’t the two of us go and see Rinnchi?”

“Ah, we could do that . Why not . ’

By the way, there is a healing magic called ‘flame heal’ in rank 5 fire magic .

That meant that Lucia could use healing spells .

However, it was quite inefficient compared to normal healing magic .

Furthermore, Lucia’s MP was almost empty .

And if I was going to go hear what Rin had to say, then I very much wanted Lucia to be there as well .

As a resident of this world, she would be very useful as someone who could explain things or butt in with her jokes .

“Well, Tamaki . I’m sorry, but would you mind staying and guarding Arisu?”

“Huh, do you mean it? But Kazu, won’t that mean you only have the rearguard?”

Ah, right .

Wait, no .

The fight was over anyway .

“I don’t think there is any danger left for us…probably . ”

“Mmmm, I suppose so . It’s probably more dangerous for us that stay here…”

“It’s settled then . Tamaki, take good care of Arisu . ”

Tamaki’s eyes shone . ‘Leave it to me! I am capable of anything when I put my mind to it!” she said as she puffed out her chest .

Alright then .

There was something about her when she was confident that made me very, very worried…

No, everything would surely be fine this time .

This guard thing was just a formality . Arisu was likely to use healing magic without reserve if she were left alone to her own devices .

All the boss rank monsters on the enemies side had been killed .

The remaining monsters in this land were not our enemy…supposedly .

But thinking such things was like raising a flag . That was such a Mia thing to think .

They were child’s play .

There was no way they were strong enough to pose a threat to Arisu and the others .

“Bye Arisu . You take care of things here . ”

“Yes, Kazu!”

She nodded energetically as she was lead away by the soldiers and towards the wounded men .

She sure was happy, in spite of the battle that just transpired .

Perhaps it was due to being level 23 .

It must be .

I too have been fighting a vicious battle since the morning, yet I don’t feel that tired .

“Hey, you guys . I will escort you . The teleport gate is this way . ”

A different soldier said as he proceeded to act as our guide .

Wait a second, this is the guy Arisu brought back a moment ago .

Ah, well, I was still thankful that someone was guiding us .

“Oh, I guess I haven’t introduced myself yet . I’m Haganran Nagaraga from the Hagusa clan . You can call me Hagan . ”

“Much obliged, Hagan . ”

I offered my hand but he looked confused .

Ah, they had no tradition of handshaking here .

Lucia had been confused as well, now that I think of it .

“In our clans, we shake each other’s hand as a sign of friendship and trust . ”

“I see . You give them your hand instead of your weapons then . That is a good tradition . ”

I shook hands with Hagan .

His hand was very rough and strong .

The fearless man gave a jolly laugh .

He’s probably a good guy . I think .

Though we met under the worst conditions .

“Well then, show us the way, Hagan . ”

Hagan nodded with a hardy “Aye . ”

※

Mia cast ‘fly’ on everyone and we all rose into the sky .

Even Hagan was balancing himself artfully .

We made a straight line towards the teleportation gate .

As we were flying, Lucia’s stomach did a cute little growl .

Oh, my .

Come to think of it, the rest of us had eaten a feast before we warped to where Rin was, but Lucia looked like she hadn’t eaten yet .

“Want to eat this?”

Mia took a Snickers bar from her rucksack and opened it before handing it to her .

The strong smell of chocolate wafted around us .

Lucia looked at it dumbly .

Hagan was flying in front of us, his dog ears were twitching .

Ahh, really now, I suppose I had no choice then .

I took out my own Snickers bar from my rucksack and handed it to Hagan .

“Please try it, consider it a poison tasting for Lucia . ”

“Oh, oh . Well, if it’s a poison tasting than I have no choice then . ”

Hagan bit into the chocolate bar .

He ate it so enthusiastically that the stubble around his mouth had pieces of chocolate stuck all over it .

Seeing this, Lucia cautiously bit into her own Snickers bar that she was holding .

“It’s…sweet . ”

“It really fills you up . I brought it as a field ration . ”

“I see, it seems that you have some amazing preserved foods in your world . ”

It wasn’t exactly the best feeling to receive such high praise for this kind of junk food…

But as I watched Lucia ravenously devour the snack, chocolate covering her cheeks, I was able to make peace with it .

Lucia noticed that I and Mia had been staring at her, and her cheeks turned bright red . Her mouth was still full of chocolate when she turned her head down in shame .

“I am sorry . That was very vulgar of me . ”

“But this is a battlefield, and you’re a soldier . I don’t think you need to worry about such things . ”

“Is it that simple, I wonder . ”

I looked over to Hagan and pointed .

The man who was practically the poster child of a rough-cut soldier was licking the chocolate off his fingers and the candy wrapper . He looked quite delighted as his dog ears wiggled .

“That was great! Do you have another one?”

“See . You should be avaricious like him . ”

I said with a laugh and handed over a second chocolate bar to Hagan .

Lucia laughed shyly .

“I’m quite full from this one bar . ”

“Mmm . You’re fuel efficient . ”

Fuel efficient? The elf princess cocked her head to the side .

Ahh, this is a world where cars don’t even exist . I’m not really sure how to translate it .

“It’s like the destruction efficiency for a given amount of MP . In other words, a small meal . ”

“I understand . It’s like a horse that runs off a small meal . ”

She understood the nuance with this simple conversation .

I didn’t know if translation magic was just that great or what .

Most likely it was just that Lucia was quick to catch on to things .

“Hands, sticky, sticky . Kazucchi, water, pour . Wet the handkerchief . We should wash for them . ”

“Ah, right . ”

“Kazucchi, you should lick the chocolate off of Lucia’s cheek as well . ”

“No, we won’t be doing that . ”

I gave both Lucia and Hagan a wet cloth and had them wipe away the mess from their mouths . After that, we finally reached the tree where the teleport gate was .

Perhaps it was camouflage, but there was no bridge plate or ladder around . Only a giant tree .

However, the ground surrounding the tree was hardened from being trodden over .

Even the grass had been stepped on, you could see the soil underneath .

As it were, the camouflage was not very effective…well, it was fine I suppose .

According to Hagan, usually you were supposed to make a signal and a rope ladder would fall from the top of the tree .

But we were flying this time, so that didn’t have much to do with us .

We slowly descended from above and landed in the branches of the tree .

A guard who was on watch saw us and pointed his spear in surprise .

The citizen of light watcher looked at us with a nervous expression and asked us what we were doing .

“Now, wait a minute . We are not on the pacifist side . The sorcerer behind me is an ally accepted by Rin herself . ”

Hagan stepped forward and tried to explain the situation to the nervous soldiers .

But wait a second…what did he mean by pacifist side?

“The pacifists are traitors to the human race . They claim to want coexistence with the monsters, yet they attack as terrorists . ”

Lucia explained briskly .

I suppose the question had been written on my face .

Even so… Coexistence with the monsters, I didn’t quite understand it .

I don’t even think it’s possible…to talk with them .

Was this group like a religion?

“Hmm . The coexistence side, the fifth generation…”

Mia was mumbling something to herself .

I think I will ignore it .

“In any case, you mean that such groups exist . That our enemies are not just the monsters . ”

“Yes . ”

“If being completely uncautious of them is bad, you really could have told me sooner . ”

“Well, actually,” Lucia says .

“These pacifists exist in any country . Embarrassingly, I have heard that they exist in my own country as well . For us, the existence of these pacifist groups was common knowledge…”

Ah, right .

I suppose they could not have guessed that we outsiders would not have known about them .

As an example, it would be like if a northerner came to Tokyo and hadn’t thought at all about the mosquitoes and cockroaches…I think .

…Well, that was a questionable example .

Though, I did not think that we were in any danger, currently, anyway .

The four of use entered into the magic circle .

A sorcerer who was amongst the soldiers began to sing the enchantment .

For some reason, I would always think of the national anthem when I hear thing song .

I feel a dizzying sensation, and at the same time, we disappeared and reappeared in the hollow of a different tree .

I can hear a song that sounds like the ringing of a bell .

It is the barrier magic that the world tree sings .

We had all returned to the base of the world tree .

We listened to that music as it echoed around us as we crossed the bridge that leads to the top of the tree .

And once again, we warp from a different teleport gate .

The next destination was also a familiar spot .

We stepped out of the hollow of the tree .

The sight of the treetop village where Rin was spread out before us .

“Well, you shouldn’t need me as a guide anymore then . ”

“Thank you, Hagan . ”

“No, thank you . You’ve done a lot for me . ”

We shook hands once again before crossing the bridge and parted with smiles on our faces .

Hagan said “Later then . ” and turned his back to us and walked towards a different bridge .

In the next instant .

Numerous spears landed in Hagan’s body .

The man who had been smiling a second ago was killed in the blink of an eye .

“Ah…what?”

I let out a dumb exclamation .

I frantically turned my gaze towards the direction where the spears had flown from .

A lone man was standing there .

He was smiling with an expression full of malice . He was an eerie looking man with cat ears .

There were over a hundred spears floating around him .

Uh…what was .

What did…

For a moment, I was not able to think .

“It’s the pacifists!”

Lucia dashed forward, she pulled the bone whip from her belt as she charged straight at the man .

The staff-like weapon curved like a whip .

The eerie looking man hurled a dozen spears in Lucia’s direction .

Lucia stopped .

She planted her feet in front of us as we all stood there in shock .

“Bright Shield . ”

A shield made of billowing flames materialized in front of Lucia .

The spears rammed into the shield of fire and melted away .

Wait, what… Were the spears that the man had been using all made of magic to begin with?

The shield of flame disappeared .

The man’s eyes had widened in shock .

While I and Mia were still unable to move, Lucia went in for the attack .

She swung her bone whip, it wrapped around the man’s neck . She pulled .

The man was pulled towards the ground, at the same time he sent all of the remaining spears towards…

His own body .

“Lucia, look out!”

A few of the spears were headed for Lucia who was close by .

Lucia threw down her bone whip and frantically tried to get out of the way .

She probably hadn’t killed him with magic because she wanted to take him in alive…

But her efforts had not been rewarded .

Pierced by his own spears, the man who had attacked us fell dead in an instant .

Blood ran from all over his entire body like waterfalls, his body fell limp .

I looked once again at the fallen Hagan .

Without Arisu, we could not save him this time .

For that magic, it was necessary to act within at least 10 seconds of the mortal wound being inflicted .

“What…what was that . What the hell was that!”

“That is a pacifist . ”

Lucia answered cooly as I began to yell in agitation .