How many minutes, no, hours had passed since then?
I rose from my consciousness, and slowly opened my heavy eyelids.
Warm light shined down from the wood ceiling, and the scene reflected in my eyes was a familiar one— my room.
…I remembered that I defeated the ogre, but the rest of my memory was completely missing.
I racked my brain and wondered when I had returned to my house in the first place.
And as I was asking myself such questions, a sharp pain shot throughout my body, making me want to moan as my senses kicked in.
“Ouch…”
It was the pain that should’ve been faded by the time that I was done confronting the ogre’s tremendous power and adrenaline, so I tried to endure the pain, telling myself that this was the correct state to be in.
But the pain was so terrible that I couldn’t help but to scream out.
“…This is beyond painful…!”
Both my arms and legs refused to move properly, even when I tried putting strength into them.
No matter how hard I tried to raise my upper body, it only trembled to the extent that I felt as if it was convulsing.
I felt the aftermath of my victory, and it was not very pleasant.
It was really the feeling of winning a fight with all my might.
“Even with that said… it was really close.”
Me dying instead of the ogre wouldn’t have been weird at all.
I just simply got lucky.
Even if we were to fight again, it wouldn’t be a battle where I would be conceited enough to think that I could win.
It was really just a last-ditch attempt to fight to the death.
“I’m… still lacking a lot of things.”
And thanks to that battle, I found an immediate agenda to deal with.
What I currently lacked— what I needed to learn —became clear to me.
“…I need to overcome the walls that will come to me. I… I need more experience. The present me is not enough, I’m lacking everything.”
I had to overcome the wall in the name of the strength that rose before me, even if it meant risking my life, as I did this time.
I had learned clearly from this battle that I had to continue to fight and study superior opponents like that ogre.
In addition to that, I needed to work on the number of times I could use the special technique, the “Shooting Star.”
Many problems turned out and were brought to light.
I was simply not good enough.
I think it was because I was forced to recognize it, whether I wanted to or not.
Even though my body was exhausted, I wanted to train myself, even if it meant undoing the bandages wrapped around my arms and legs—
“…Hm?”
Ban…dages?
I wondered.
“…Huh? Why are my arms and feet bandaged?”
Not a single person in the village knew anything about treating people.
No one had even prepared bandages of this magnitude in the first place.
***
Reaper Scans
***
“You’re finally awake.”
She said, with a clang of her armor.
The knob to the door leading out of the room twisted, and a woman peeked out as if at the right moment.
Soon after, she walked up to me.
“Well, being wounded by that degree, no wonder you’ve been in a coma all week.”
“A-All week?”
“Yes. You’ve been in bed all week, you know? You’re just lying there, like a dead man, Hoshikiri-kun…”
TL Note: Hoshikiri-kun (Romaji and direct translation of ‘Star Slayer-kun,’ which is also how it’s phonetically pronounced.)
That’s when I finally remembered.
Yes, I did know the woman who was talking to me right now.
But rather than that, she called me by such a nickname. Perhaps it was because of my fading consciousness and my memory was being vague, but now I finally remembered.
“…You’re the… adventurer.”
“Correct. Also, take note that I’m still rather upset about the fact that you lied to me with a straight face, so regards to that.”
…Now that I thought about it, I indeed did lie to her and went to get a piece of stick.
It had completely slipped my mind until she pointed it out.
“But, I’ll have you answer my question and call it even. And I’ll let you know that I’m a very persistent person… So if you refuse, look forward to what I might do to you.”
And… she threatened me.
I didn’t know what she might do to me if I did otherwise, so I gave her a positive reply and urged her to continue.
“I’ll take your word for it then, Hoshikiri-kun. Just— what in the world… are you?”
“…Huh?”
And so the question came, but I had no idea what she meant.
“In actuality, that girl asked me— I was really going to help and save you, but I couldn’t. No… I was fascinated by the sight of your swordsmanship. And I was forced to understand that I, an outsider, shouldn’t be involved in that very battle. Yeah… and that you’re a “sword-crazed” being…”
That was what she wanted to ask me, she said.
“I mean no offense, but I just don’t see how a being like you could possibly be born in such a village like this. That’s why I have to ask you… What in the world are you?”
…After having it elaborated to me that much, I finally came to an understanding.
Though, it was a question that I had already answered.
I’m a “Star Slayer.”
Just a person who developed a longing for being one.
No matter how much I tried to boil it down, it was neither more nor less than that.
There was only one answer to that.
“I already know that you intend on being a “Star Slayer,” but that didn’t stop the astonishment that swirled inside me. I know it’s not my place to ask you this, but frankly speaking, you would’ve been dead if you made even one mistake.”
“…You’re not wrong, and I’m aware of that. But I can’t reach my goal unless I do something like that. An ordinary person like me has to do that much to get there.”
“…That much, huh… Most of the bones in your body were shattered and broken, and you’re bleeding profusely. You’re also carrying several wounds that could’ve reached your internal organs in a few centimeters, and you say that’s only “that much.” Recognize it. You are broken.”
She didn’t say what was.
Her mouth quietly relaxed, and she didn’t say more.
“…But, I see. So that was the reason why, huh…”
In her mind, she seemed to already get the answer, and for her, what I said was satisfactory enough.
“I thought you were like me, but you’re not. I’ve been through enough ordeals to know that you’re so passionate about being a “Star Slayer” that it makes what my sword is for look cute.”
And the reason for my passion was not something that could be explained by logic.
Perhaps she understood it and didn’t question me further.
“I don’t hate it, that kind of straightforward passion. Even if it’s broken in some way that’s fatal.”
She concluded her words.
And in the end, she never got the answer to what she wanted to hear from me.
I was left wondering what on earth she wanted to hear from me.
Through the door, which was halfway closed, I heard a new voice.
“Hey, Lilea. Are you almost done? I’ve also got one thing to talk about with that brat too—”
A good-looking man peeked out at me as he made his remark.
The other person whom I told of me being a “Star Slayer.”
However—
“We’re going back, Lowe.”
“HUH?!”
“You’re just going to ask him to be an ‘adventurer’ anyway, weren’t you? …Don’t bother. That boy isn’t the kind that we can handle.”
“Hey, hey, hey. What do you me—”
“Come on, stop grumbling about everything and move it.”
The woman called “Lilea” pulled the hair of the man called “Lowe” roughly and forcibly left the room.
And so they went.
“Ah— I completely forgot to mention. We were the ones who treated you, by the way. But she’s the one who’s been taking care of you all this time, she’s been worried sick about you.”
I looked in the direction Lilea was pointing and saw Sofia leaning against the wall, dozing off.
And with that, they really left my room this time.
——
——
pronovels.com
