Chapter 314: The Enemy to Fight

The Enemy to Fight

“…Eh? We have… met?”

Nikki stared at Hiyomi, the man clad in black who was giving off an aura of a strong person. The reason behind her shock was the fact that he knew about the place she used to live in. It seemed that that shocked her more than the fact that they have met before.

However, after hearing those words, both Hiiro and Lilyn were certain of this person’s identity. It was a black-clothed man who created the cause that robbed Nikki of her family.

And Hiyomi matched that description because he was the Black-robed. Hiiro was already sure deep down that they were the same individuals.

He lightly knocked on Nikki’s head, who still seemed to have the wrong idea, and spoke towards Hiyomi instead.

“I see. So I take it you are the shithead who robbed her of her family.”

“…!?”

Nikki looked up at Hiiro with a great force. And then, she slowly rotated her head towards Hiyomi, as if she was a robot that lacked oiling.

“I-Is that person… Ikki and mother’s…”

“Yeah, isn’t that right?”

“I don’t understand what you mean, but it is true that I experimented by using the monsters from that place. And I remember there were two bamboo bears and that kid nearby.”

“Did you wear the same getup?”

“…? Yeah, what about it?”

There was no mistaking it anymore. There was only one person in black that appeared on the [Bamboo Hill]. If you added the fact that he wore those black clothes and went there to experiment using monsters, the answer was already obvious.

“It was youuuuu!”

Suddenly a tremendous amount of magical power was released from Nikki’s entire body, producing a small tempest. Following that, she tried to concentrate all that magical power into her fist and charge ahead, however…

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Smack!

“Nowah!”

While she was running wild with anger, a first was slammed down her head. Naturally, it was Hiiro’s fist who stood next to her.

“Aaaughh! W-What are you doing, Masteeeer!”

She looked up at him teary-eyed, her cute face dyed with pain. Hiiro folded his arms and responded with a sigh.

“It’s okay to be angry. But keep your promise with me.”

“……”

“Repeat once more what I taught you.”

“…When we found the enemy, I would be the one to fight him.”

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“You can get angry. But not be impatient.”

“And?”

“To work hard so I can win.”

“And finally…”

“…Not to die, no matter what.”

As she spoke those words, the stiffness gradually disappeared from her expression. It appeared that she had somehow regained some of her rationality.

“That’s right. And, you aren’t the only one that he is an enemy to.”

“…Camus-dono.”

“…Yeah. I also worked as hard as I could all this time so I could defeat that guy. You are the same, right… Nikki?”

“Yes… that’s right!”

Hiiro originally wanted to steal a glance at Hiyomi’s «Status» by using the word “Peek”, but for some reason, it had no effect on him. However, the overall aura he had already made it clear that he was no pushover. Moreover, the presence he gave off was enough to rival the likes of Leowald and Judom.

“Listen, you two. That guy is strong. Perhaps on the level of the Beast King. That’s why both of you have to fight him at once, even if that dissatisfies you.”

“On the level of Beast King-dono…”

“Mgh…”

As Hiiro pointed that out, Nikki thought back on her fight with Leowald, making her face stiffened up, and while Camus stayed expressionless, his eyes laid bare his desire to fight.

“This is a war. You aren’t going to tell me that you can’t take him on unless it’s one on one, right?”

“Of course not. I will simply deal with my opponent, regardless of who it is. All the more so if he is someone I hate.”

“It’s good that you understand. That settles it then. You two take him down. Kill him… and avenge your families.”

The two responded with strong nods towards his words.

“Then follow me. I will guide you to a place where it’s easier for us to fight.”

With those words, Hiyomi made a big leap and proceeded towards the west.

“Hiiro…I’ll be going for a bit. Sorry for parting from your side.”

“Don’t worry about that. That just means you have to quickly defeat him and come back.”

“…Right. If I win… will you praise me?”

“Hah? …Say after you actually win.”

“Okay.”

“Agh! No fair! I also want a reward if I win, I do!”

“Again, save that for when you actually win.”

Hiiro leaked a sigh listening to their tedious words.

“Kukuku, isn’t it fine, Hiiro. If you promise them that would boost their motivation, so doesn’t that sound just perfect?”

“You have some nerve to say that about someone else’s problem…”

The two stared up at him with upturned eyes. Then he let out all his accumulated air with a big sigh and answered.

“Fine. If you win, that is.”

Hearing those words, the two’s expressions bloomed into satisfied smiles. Even Camus looked obviously happy compared to his usual self.

“You two, don’t do anything reckless.”

“T-t-that’s right! Please be sure to escape if it gets dangerous!”

Silva and Shamoe also chimed in.

“…Nikki, don’t you lose!”

Mikazuki said in a loud voice to hide her anxiety.

“Just leave it to me! I shall definitely win and have master reward me!”

“Yeah, I will get my reward no matter what.”

The two’s eyes were filled with blazing flames. Hiiro reflexively leaked a sigh, thinking whether it was really revenge at this point, seeing that their incentives became so distorted.

“Let’s go, Nikki.”

“Yes, let us go! We shall be back!”

Thus, seen off by everyone, the two chased after Hiyomi.

“Well, then, time for me to go too.”

“Wrong. It’s time for us to go… right?”

Lilyn corrected his words.

“…So you’re really coming?”

“Of course!”

She was the kind of person who would not listen to anything he said at this point, so Hiiro decided to give up on that and instead concentrate fully on what he had to do. Finally, Hiiro gazed towards the black bird in the sky. The bird realised the meaning behind that action and started to move as if telling him to follow along.

“Can’t be helped. Let’s go.”

Hiiro glanced towards Judom who was still in the process of guiding the citizens, and he nodded back, telling him to leave this place to him.

He naturally still felt anxious to leave him all by himself, but he could not be everywhere at the same time. Hiiro had things he had to do, and it took priority above all.

“By the way, Hiiro. Why did you leave that annoying monkey in [Chaos]?

As Lilyn pointed it out, the “Spirit” Ten who always sat on his shoulder was missing now.

“I told him to come and report to me if there are some strange movements on that side.”

Ten was connected to Hiiro’s favourite sword «Severing Sword – Zangeki», so regardless of where Hiiro was, he could teleport to his sword’s location. However, it could only work one-way.

“You think something will happen in [Chaos]?”

“Who knows. I left him there in order to make sure.”

“Hmph, are you sure about this? If he is not present, you can’t wield that sword to its full power, can you?”

“No problem. That’s exactly why I trained until now.”

Indeed, he had acquired means to fight with his own power in situations like these. Hence, even if Ten was missing, he possessed more than enough power on his own.

“Well if you say so, then it’s fine, but if you fall behind and your life is at risk, I’ll intervene.”

“…That’s rare of you.”

“Mmh? What is?”

“The fact that you worry about someone else’s well-being so much. Are we expecting rain today or something?”

“Hohoh, then how about I give you the rain of blood instead?”

She narrowed her eyes down like a falcon and let her bloodlust run wild. Hiiro quickly moved his legs to escape from her and proceeded ahead.

Avoros visually confirmed as Hiiro chased after the black bird.

“Hmm, to think he would move on his own… that was a little unexpected, I suppose?”

He was originally supposed to be waiting for Hiiro’s arrival in this castle, but due to the arbitrary move of his comrade his plan had gone a little off-track.

“What should we do?”

Valkyrie No. 05 spoke with her cold tone.

“Mmm~ Since that guy showed so much interest in him, it means that Hiiro Okamura is the real deal after all, so just confirming that fact was good enough, I suppose? Don’t you agree, Mr. Hero?”

Avoros called out to Aoyama Taishi, whose gaze was fixated on Hiiro and his expression warped with pure astonishment.

“T-That’s Okamura…!?”

“Indeed, he is quite amazing. Releasing so many citizens form hypnotism in one go… That’s not something one could normally do. It is surely a deed of a hero that saves the citizens. Unlike you.”

“Kh…!”

The sound of grinding teeth came from his mouth.

“Hiiro Okamura is both the hero of “Evila”, as well as the person who single-handedly defeated the Beast King. And he is also quite like a hero gallantly fighting in a war. The heroes that were summoned, on the other hand, despite being called as such, were not aware of neither the vastness of the world nor the truth and were frightened by war, and the Demon Lord they should’ve subjugated had instead captured them and they have now become the Demon Lord’s underlings. What a stormy and dramatic life they had, it’s truly astounding.”

Taishi glared at Avoros, wanting to object to his words but unable to. Avoros found his behaviour amusing and raised the corners of his mouth.

“You see, in war, you can never save anyone with just power alone. For when you put noble intentions into it only then become able to save something or the first time. Right now, you have power. But… what about your intentions?”

“I will definitely save Chika and others, whatever it takes!”

He trembled all over as he shouted that, making it seem as if he was trying to convince himself with those words.

“…In that case, let me see the resolve behind those intentions. No. 5, give me the «Teleportation Stone».”

“Here it is.”

No. 5 quietly presented him a fist-sized stone of aquatic colour. It was a rare magic tool that would allow whoever touched it last to teleport to their desired location by breaking it.

Avoros took it from her and handed it over to Taishi.

“I pray your work goes smoothly, Mr. Ex-hero.”

“…I still am……a Hero…”

Taishi spit out those remorseful words, took the stone and went outside.

“Ahahah, with this the board will become more brilliant. Now show me, the comedy that is war! Ahahahahahaha!”

The loud laughter of Avoros alone reverberated throughout the castle.