Chapter 152

When Usato-kun appeared in front of us, Flana was standing there looking stunned.

The man in question urged his friends in the rescue squad to go ahead, then lowered Bluerin with Ferrum on it to the ground and faced me and Amako once more.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your training. ……”

“No, that’s okay though. Aside from Amako…… What is senpai doing here?”

“I was looking for you.”

“Me?”

I tapped the still-falling-apart Flana on the shoulder, bringing her back to her senses and encouraging her to introduce herself.

“Uhm, right yes, my name’s Flana. It’s hard to tell right now with my hood up, but I’m an elf.”

“Elf ……?　Oh, the one Kazuki met on his journey, ……. Nice to meet you, I’m Usato Ken. The owl over here is my familiar, Nea.”

The owl, which had remained silent on Usato’s shoulder, stared at Flana from her toes to the top of her head. It looks as if she is observing her, but it’s the privilege of being cute so I let it off.

I wonder if she’ll let me fluff her later.

Perhaps my evil thoughts have leaked out, Nea with all her hair bristling, moves to the opposite shoulder of Usato to hide from me.

I was soberly shocked, and Flana looked a little surprised at Usato-kun’s normal response.

“You don’t need to use honorifics with me. I think we’re probably about the same age, human age-wise.”

“Eh, I see. …… Well then, nice to meet you again.”

……W-Wait a minute!? Isn’t this a good opportunity to get Usato to drop his honorifics for me as well?

I’m not too pushy here, but I’ll try to start casually.

“Usato-kun, you don’t need to use honorifics with me either. In fact, you can call me by my nickname without hesitation, Suzu-tan!”

“I cannot do that.”

“Why not?!”

“Because senpai is senpai.”

He rejected me like a flowing stream!

Bitterly laughing at me for being so upset, he looked around.

“It’s a little conspicuous here. Why don’t we talk somewhere else?”

“In that case, there’s a place to sit next to the store.”

At Amako’s urging, I sat down where the wooden boxes were.

On that occasion, Amako who was asked to take over the shop had somehow secured a seat next to Usato-kun.

It was such a natural movement that I didn’t feel that it was wrong of her to do so.

“Usato, why is this person on Bluerin’s back?”

Amako asked Usato about Ferrum, the demon girl on Bluerin’s back.

“She collapsed while running. Because of her position, I couldn’t just leave her here, so I strapped her to Bluerin and carried her away.”

“Hmmmmm.”

Amako listens to Usato-kun’s story and gives Ferrum a sharp look for a moment.

What is it with her? As I tilted my head, Amako lowered her voice slightly and spoke to Usato.

“Are you sure about that? That person seems to already be awake.”

“!!!”

Amako’s words made Ferrum’s body shake with fear.

However, Usato-kun on the other hand smiled smugly.

“Hahaha. Of course I’m aware of it. I’m planning to make her run until she faints after this.”

“……!?”

“I see. I’m a little surprised though. I can’t believe Usato’s not mad.”

“Well, to be honest, I didn’t think she’d want to take the initiative to participate in our training. That’s why, for my part, I’m glad that Ferrum is participating in the rescue squad’s training. Maybe I’m just too focused on the training.”

A smile without a hint of malice.

However, Ferrum on Bluerin’s back is shaking her head to indicate her rejection, but Usato-kun is talking with Amako without noticing it.

“She tried to keep up with us earlier and pushed herself too hard, so I’m letting her rest for now, afterwards I’ll firmly assist her as a healing magician and make her run.”

“Oh, is that okay?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let her faint.”

Ferrum shivered as Usato said this with a smile.

A kindness without any malice. But when it comes to the standards of the rescue squad, it’s so terrible that it transcends malice or good intentions.

“What should I do, Suzune? I couldn’t understand what’s okay or not anymore.”

“Don’t worry. Me too.”

The words that would make me flutter if said to my face are not at all enviable in a different situation.

…… No, I would be lying if I was a little jealous, though.

As I was struggling inwardly, Flana asked Usato-kun a question.

“U-Uhh, uhmm, why are you running with a blue grizzly on your back?”

“To train, I guess that’s the main reason. My role in the rescue team is to move and heal people who are wounded in battle to safety, so I’m training like this so that I don’t get tired at a critical moment.”

“Oh, yeah, I see. ……”

It may look shocking on the outside, but Usato-kun’s training has a well-defined purpose.

I guess you could say it’s Rose’s skill that she’s able to train with a proper understanding of the significance, rather than just training her body in the dark.

“I’d like to ask you about the Wicked dragon as well, if that’s okay?”

“Oh that? That’s totally fine.”

Usato-kun nodded after giving Amako and Nea a look.

To him, Amako and Nea were both involved in the fight against the wicked dragon, so I guess he was checking to see if they confirm?

“First of all, ……, did you really defeat the wicked dragon?”

“I didn’t defeat it by myself, but …… in a sense, we defeated the wicked dragon.”

“…… What kind of opponent was it?”

“A dragon corpse …… with scars all over its body? Still, it had great power, deadly poison, and scales that would not allow a half-hearted attack. I also tried to hit it, but it was too hard to get through and my fist felt electrifying.”

“You what?! You hit the wicked dragon?!”

Flana was surprised by the statement, but Amako on the other hand nodded in agreement with Usato-kun’s words.

“I was surprised at that time too. Usato, you usually go for the punching bag.”

“That’s the quickest way to find out for sure.”

Amako and Usato-kun exchange nostalgic words with each other.

Let’s not worry too much about the fact that the conversation is very surreal.

…… Honestly, if I hadn’t heard about the wicked dragon from Usato-kun beforehand, I think I would have reacted the same way as Flana did.

“Are you really a healing magician?”

“Huh? What do you mean by that ……?”

“Well, normal healing magicians don’t carry blue grizzlies on their backs or punch wicked dragons, so I thought that ……you’re too far away from being a human.”

“………….He-heh………”

He glares at Amako with his smile twitching, who is holding back her laughter as she looks sideways at Usato-kun, and he coughs once before opening his mouth.

“It’s true that I’m a little different from the average healing magician, but I’m still a healing magician. You can say I’m a bit of an overtrained healing magician……. There’s nothing special about me other than that.”

“A little? I don’t think ‘a little’ can describe you? You can’t do that, Usato. Don’t lie to me.”

“Hmm, is this where I can keep your mouth shut?”

Amako hurriedly covered her forehead as Usato-kun took a decoupling stance.

His physical abilities were the result of his bloody efforts.

I’m sure I can’t even begin to imagine how many hardships and unspeakable tormenting experiences his words, spoken without a second thought, must have gone through.

“…… There are other people like this besides Kazuki. I feel like I’ve just been reminded of how naive I am…….”

Is that the right place to describe as naive? ……

I feel that the existence of healing magicians like Usato-kun and Rose-san should be treated as rather out of the ordinary.

“Can I ask something this time?”

“Oh, yes. What is it?”

“Is there any connection between the monster that Kazuki fought and the wicked dragon?”

In response to Usato-kun’s question, Flana paused for a few seconds before opening her mouth.

“That’s …… not for me to know. My grandmother’s fortune-telling says only that it’s three plagues that are eating away at the continent. But if there’s any similarity, it’s that they were both sealed away by the previous generation of heroes.”

“…… Sealed by a hero, right. If the wicked dragon’s awakening was unintentional, but the ravenous monster’s awakening was intentional,…….”

Three calamities are consuming the continent.

I’ve killed one of them, a man-eating thunder beast, but it was just a mutated monster.

However, the beings that Usato and Kazuki fought are the same in terms of the root cause of their occurrence.

They were both “unsealed”.

Perhaps Usato is wondering about this too.

“Do you think it was the work of the previous hero that woke up the ravenous monster, Usato-kun?”

“I don’t know. The hero is no longer in this world. …… I thought about the possibility that the previous hero is still alive, but that would be too ridiculous…….”

“That’s certainly true.”

Ordinary humans can’t live for several hundred years.

It’s not unthinkable that the previous generation of heroes might, but there’s too much judgmental material to conclude that.

“The most likely thing is revenge on the people who used them, but I don’t understand why that would be on people hundreds of years in the future.”

“If it’s revenge, it should be directed at the people of that time who made them suffer unreasonably, right?”

Looking back, what is the previous generation of heroes that we know?

A hero who saved humanity from the threat of the Demon King?

A tragic person who was exploited by humans?

Although hidden behind the glamorous legends and sagas, the battles of those days must have been horrific and far from beautiful.

What did the heroes of the past who fought through the glimpse of that reality try to do?

“There’s no point in thinking about it, is there?”

Nea voiced out as we were pondering about it.

Next to me, Flana showed a “What ……?” face which I don’t know how many times I’ve seen that expression today.

“That’s true. It’s better for me to move my body without thinking than to think about the details. Amako, senpai, Flana-san, it’s about time I get back to training.”

After saying that, Usato-kun stood up and shifted his gaze to Ferrum, who was at Bluerin’s back.

She was still pretending to be unconscious as before, but her shoulders shook greatly as if she was afraid when Usato called her name.

“Okay, Ferrum. It’s time to get up. We’re running now.”

“……D-don’t worry about me, you should be doing your own training.”

“Sigh. Ferrum …… did you think I’m that heartless?”

Shrugging his shoulders in disbelief, Usato-kun lifted Ferrum’s collar with one arm and made her stand up before speaking with a serious expression.

“Don’t worry, I won’t abandon you, no matter how weak you are or how badly you fall. I’m going to get you back up on your feet, and I’m going to push you to run on that back of yours.”

“Oh, uh, yeah ……. No, wait! That means you’re going to force me to run no matter what! I’m at my wits’ end!”

“If you still have the energy to whine, that means you can still do it! The real limits are the ones you can’t remember. As long as you can say you’re at your limit, you’re fine!”

“This guy doesn’t listen to me at all?!?”

“Give it up. He’s probably listening to you but ignoring you.”

The ex-black knight was half crying when some kind of switch was flipped on her and she went into hot-blooded mode.

Nea looks somewhat distant at Usato-kun’s reaction.

I’m not sure if it’s a familiar sight to Amako, but she’s not going to let it get to her.

“Okay, Bluerin! I’m going to do that thing I did in Lukvis! Get on my back!”

“Grrr!”

“And Nea, give me a binding spell!”

“Yeah yeah…….”

Usato was getting into the groove, carrying Bluerin on his back.

Nea’s magic had spread a thin layer of magical patterns all over his body, and Usato-kun locked on to the retreating Ferrum——- running so fast she could have been mistaken for a raging bull.

Ferrum’s face contorted in horror at the sight of Usato-kun’s bizarre run, as she ran for her life.

“I don’t get it, I don’t get it! Why are you chasing me!”

“There’s nothing difficult about it! Don’t worry about it and just run! It’s the same way Knack went! Fuhahahahaha!”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?”

Usato-kun and Ferrum disappeared in the blink of an eye with screams and laughter that seemed to echo throughout the kingdom.

As soon as the people in the castle town saw them off, they immediately returned to their normal lives as before.

Like them, Amako, who was standing next to them, looked up at us with a small sigh.

“Well then, I’m going back to guard the store.”

“Eh …… yeah, good luck …….”

“Yeah.”

Amako walked back into the store.

I spoke to the still stunned Flana with a little bit of respect for her, who wasn’t fazed at all.

“Well, as expected of Usato-kun, right? Like the storm.”

“……”

“Hmm, Flana?”

“Just now …….”

I listened to Flana, who muttered something to me.

“Didn’t that …… owl just …… talk?”

“Oh, did I not mention that? Usato-kun’s familiar is a vampire. She’s cute in her owl form, but she’s also really cute in her real form.”

“……”

“Hmm? What’s the matter with you, approaching me with such an angry look on your face? …… Fumuuuuu!?”

All of a sudden, Flana came over to me and pressed both of our cheeks together.

The suddenness of it all makes me sound dumb with surprise.

“…… Su-zu-neeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!”

“Wroo-Wroot arf you doooriiiin!? (What are you doing?!?!)”

“Why didn’t you say something earlier! Also, are all otherworlders like that? Or is he the only one who’s crazy?”

For the time being, it seems that she has got to know Usato-kun, but the encounter with him was a shock to her in many ways.

That being said, if you don’t get your hands off my cheeks soon, my cool image as a hero will be destroyed …… also, she’s surprisingly strong.

“Funuuhk.”

“If you’re still hiding something, tell me now ……! Is he hiding a ridiculous weapon, or using magic in an unusual way, or fought and survived an enemy even harder than the wicked dragon. ……!　Spit it out now ……!　If you don’t ……I’ll lose all sense of common sense!”

What to do, the fact that all of that is true.

My expression twitched as she played with my cheeks, and I spent the next hour trying to figure out how to explain this to Flana.