Vol. 2 CH. 6 - The true pain of reality

There have been corpses laid upon a field. Standing behind those corpses was a female elf knight that refused to stand down. Her left arm was wounded and blood dripped right from her wound. Furthermore, her armor and clothing were torn here and there.

She held her sword with her right hand, shaking from the weight and the excessive fatigue she had incurred.

It was hopeless; she could not win against such army. But how did such bandits gathered so many members in a mere short period of time? There have been no reports of bandits gathering so much in such small place.

Rather, the place where the bandits should have been was at the old elven fortress and not a field of grass and weeds. There were no traces of houses built here nor there any underground bases.

It was just a simple plain field with nothing in it besides grass, trees and bushes. Weak monsters can be seen watching from a far and strong looking monsters don't seem to appearing.

It was weird...

But they have laid a trap.

The female elf knight, Elyria Rosemary, glared at the army of vile bandits that stood before her. Having fought twenty or so of those men, Elyria had reached her limit. Even if she were to use a strength enhancing skill or a magic item that boosts strength or speed, she doesn't have the power to pull of one last attack.

Elyria was in a bind where she herself couldn't do anything except surrender. However, to such men, Elyria would rather choose death than surrender.

"C-Captain!! Please flea from this place!! We shall hold them back for you!!"

One female elf knight shouted with her intense gaze fixed at the tens of men in front of her. Next to her were remaining comrades that were filled with wounds as well. They too were thinking the same sentiments as her.

Elyria bit her lower lip as she could not help but agree to their wishes.

"Everyone.... I...."

Elyria has no choice. If no word were to reach the capital about the numbers of bandits reaching that of a whole army, the whole city of Caladium would fall into ruins. The heroes might defend against the attack but there was no saying that they would be able to fend off an attack against a large army.

In this place where her comrades had fallen, she chose to flea and return with knowledge. As for her comrades, it was plain to see just what will happen to them.

"I am very sorry, all of you.... May we meet once again, someday..."

"Yes... we too, captain Elyria-sama"

And so Elyria ran. Using most of what strength her legs have left, Elyria ran with all her might back to Caladium. Leaving behind the five comrades that stayed behind to give her some time to get away; no tears fell from her eyes but the blood dripping from her wounds splashed off and reflected the final end of her comrades...

As the blue sky was slowly filling itself with dark linen clouds, the clash of swords ended with blood raining from fallen corpses...

-

Rain fell had from the loud sky and onto the land below. Houses made with wood could only prevent water from entering inside the house and most of the tall buildings in the human settlement were either patched with woodwork so it was questionable whether or not it was enough to defend from the rain.

Kyoushiro had already entered the human settlement by bribing the gate guards with fake gold bars so he and the mother and daughter, Edsel and Dahlia, easily got in the human settlement.

The one power Kyoushiro could proudly use was the power of money. After all, making fake gold was easy with his skills and using such power on people that are on the darker side of the spectrum was soothing.

For Kyoushiro, it was but a simple revenge.

"Ah~... I forgot that it's been a since I felt cold rain on my skin"

Kyoushiro was not in the mood for joyous talks but the cold air and the cold water drenching his skin was enough too cool his steaming heart down. Rain was quite an occurrence from when he worked in the past so it was very nostalgic.

Although the part where he would get beat up by some clients afterwards were not so good of a memory. Kyoushiro coughed out such feeling from his mind and cleared his throat.

In front of him was Edsel and Dahlia. They were wearing mantles to protect themselves from the rain; furthermore, they were huddling together because it was too cold for them. Kyoushiro didn't see such thing so he was completely ignorant about it.

Edsel tightly embraced Dahlia in her arms to warm up her daughter.

"Muu... I want papa to hug me, mama"

"Lia-chan, he is not your papa..."

"Like I'll be your father... I already have a child after all" Kyoushiro thought while ignoring the child extending her arms towards Kyoushiro.

For argument sake, Kyoushiro did not take off his magic glasses again. The striking similarities she had with the little girl was just too much so Kyoushiro chose to stay as the "gray haired and red eyed young man" in front of Dahlia.

It would be too troublesome if he would go and create some kind of misunderstanding and gain the favor of a little girl with a beautiful mother. Kyoushiro weren't so fond of clichés so he chose to stay as some mysterious savor.

There were already too many problems going inside his head. Kyoushiro sighed while passing a dry towel to Edsel and Dahlia.

"Thank you"

"Papa..."

Kyoushiro ignored the little girl's cries and turned forward. Edsel caught Kyoushiro's red blush and let out a quiet laugh. It seems that Kyoushiro was not all resistant from being called "Papa" by a cute little girl that had mistaken him as her father.

Although they were different people, her husband and Kyoushiro was the same "Demon-Spawn". It was no surprised if Dahlia were to make a mistake about that.

"Where we'll be going now?"

"I'd like to at least get a guild card now and look for any information about the movements of the other heroes but with this rain, I think it's best to look for shelter first"

Kyoushiro took a glance at the pouting young girl in the arms of her mother. There was no way Kyoushiro was cold hearted enough to let a young girl like Dahlia to sleep in the cold.

"Is there an Inn that we could stay in for a while?"

"There is one but it is more of a pub than an Inn..."

"As long as we get dry then its fine; one loud bunch is enough for me to endure not pulling their heads off"

"V-Very well then..." Edsel frightfully stuttered so as she lead Kyoushiro to a pub that was said to be the settlement's proud bar. The fact that Kyoushiro was so easily keen on murder scared her for a while but being someone that was saved by such peculiarity, Edsel did not complained.

The pub that Edsel chose was a rundown one but the rowdy voices inside were enough for one to tell that it was a good place to stay. Kyoushiro took the lead and entered the pub, but once he had entered, silence roamed.

It seems that Kyoushiro entered in a bad way.

"Oi you stranger, what brings you to this kind of place with your family?"

"Ah... looks like bringing in these too was what made them curious huh?" Kyoushiro thought as he took off the hood covering his face. Once he had done that, the people inside the pub returned to their business. The person that welcomed Kyoushiro was the bartender behind the counter.

A weird frivolous looking man prepared two glasses of alcohol and warm milk for the little one that was with her mother.

"Looks like you're not from around here... come from some town in the south?"

"Something like that. Mind letting me stay here with these two until the rain lets out? I'll pay for the lodgings of course"

Kyoushiro placed copper coins on the counter. The coins scattered in front of the bartender, taking a glance, the bartender took the money and gave Kyoushiro a key. It seems that he had given Kyoushiro the permission.

The power of money is indeed amazing.

"You can use the room at the end of the hall upstairs. That one's free"

"Thanks....ah also, here's for something... to make some bugs leave us alone"

A gold coin shined on the palm of the bartender. Feeling such weight and the shininess of coin, the bartender immediately understood what Kyoushiro meant. The bartender took at the glance of the mother and child next to Kyoushiro and nodded.

One look at that breast, it was enough to know what Kyoushiro meant...

The bartender quickly hid the coin in his pocket and nodded. Afterwards, he advised Kyoushiro come down for dinner later. It seems that it was self-service when it comes to meals.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind"

Saying so, Kyoushiro prompted the two ladies up the stairs and left the pub. Once Kyoushiro's figure disappeared, the jolly cheers and jeers came to a stop. There seems to be a good prey that came into town... or so everyone thought...

-

Koizumi and Katsuto had met up at the foot of the northern mountain. After taking separate ways in order to widen the search area of the missing princess, the two heroes accidentally bumped into each other when they were returning to Caladium.

Koizumi with his band of elven female scouts and Katsuto with his exhausted elven knights; everyone looked so tired after a long days of search so when they caught a glimpsed of everyone's faces, the two heroes decided to camp up for the day.

On their faces, it was very obvious that they were ridden with fatigue. Koizumi had spent a long day slaying monsters on the icy mountain while Katsuto spent all day capturing bandit hideouts.

Both fought but with completely different opponents. Koizumi fought monsters while Katsuto fought humans,

"You look tired Katsuto"

"Ha-ha... Is it really that obvious?"

Katsuto sighed at Koizumi's words. Katsuto has dark circles under his eyes and his complexion was pale. It was very obvious that he gone through something horrible. Plastered on his face was a look of despair like no other, Katsuto let out a dry laugh...

"Did something happen?"

"No... well, I..."

Katsuto had troubled expressing what he had gone through the entire day. That he fought a group of bandit that had fought alongside the Taiga, a fellow hero and classmate, once? That he lost all sense and continued raiding bandit hideouts in order to search for an answer for the disappearance of a princess??

That he questioned his integrity as a hero? There was so much to say yet he couldn't utter a single word that he would like to express...

"Something did happen huh?"

But Koizumi had seen through Katsuto's woes. The burdened face of Katsuto was enough for Koizumi to realize that something happened when Katsuto was in the forest. For as long as the two were best friends, it was easy for Koizumi to see through Katsuto's thick exterior.

Katsuto's worried face crumbled into a self-depreciating smile and faced Koizumi as he gazed at the dimly lighted forest. The sun had already sunk a while ago.

"What... Just what is our role in this world...?"

"Role...? Aren't we the heroes that will save this world?"

"Yeah... there is that but what I mean is... our meaning in this world... At this moment, the only acting hero among us is Kagami right?"

"Ah... I guess you're right huh?"'

There was no denying what Katsuto said; even Koizumi agrees that among all of the 18 heroes, Kyoushiro was more of a hero than most of them. In his opinion even if all of them were put together, there was no mistaken that Kyoushiro was a hero.

Taiga has been misusing his title as a hero as of late, the ones in the Holy Empire were causing problem using this world's god's name and the ones in the beast kingdom were inside slavery business. Inomiri, their teacher, was currently in the land of scholars in order to give enlightenment to this world's advance technologies in terms of magic technology.

Indeed, what were their roles in this world? Were they heroes or villains? Koizumi was unsure what were their at this point...

"There was one bandit that I captured that came from the same mercenary group that left with Kurosawa... He said that it was our fault that he had fallen so much"

The face of the bandit that the elf knight killed in front of him was still fresh inside his mind. The hate filled and angry expression of that bandit has as he questioned Koizumi's innocence and righteousness as a hero.

Katsuto could not help but tremble with fear as he remembers that face...

"We all became skilled in taking lives in this world, be it humans or not, we became masters of that technique"

"Ahh... It's hard to admit but you're right about that"

For nearly half a year, everyone that was sent in this world had gone through a horrific change. Because of this world's expectations of them as heroes, they the very children of a different peaceful world learned how to wield a weapon.

They were given powers to achieve other people's goals and such powers were the very ones that took the normality of their life and turned it into something despicable. Indeed they were heroes but neither did they even accomplish a feat that was comparable to being a hero yet.

All of them were just inexperienced kids that go around making trouble for others but this world changed them. Their minds became distorted due to the power they were given and became abusive to those that were weak in front of them.

Katsuto and Koizumi, they both know what kind of path they would take from here on out but even so, they still wished to return to those normal days where they only think about passing exams and going through college...

Not some fate of the world but the fate of their own life once they grow old.

Thinking deeply such things, Koizumi let out a quiet sigh. His breath became white as it escaped from his mouth; signs that the temperature had dropped just now.

It had gotten cold as the sun sunk. There was no mystery behind such phenomenon as they were near the northern mountain which had its peak covered in snow.

"Koizumi... can we really go back to being normal?"

"Well that... I don't know"

Depending on what Katsuto meant as being "Normal" Koizumi would agree in going back. But in their class where every single one of them hides their true selves behind thick masks, it was hard to tell whether that as a normal life or not.

Koizumi himself had hidden behind an ever-smiling mask to hide the ugly personality he has deep inside his mind. The part that which Koizumi refers to as his 'Other-self' was something inexplicable as that part of him was cruel and evil; the very reason why his own parents left him alone with his grandmother in the countryside such side of him, Koizumi was afraid to let it out.

Katsuto too had a thing or two he doesn't want others to know. He became an athletic person just to hide such side of him after all.

Because the true pain of reality lies upon the words of others, it was hard for them to express themselves to the world. In order to not be hurt by the condemning eyes of other people in society, everyone hide themselves behind a large wall.

Were they allowed to go back to their world where everything was normal? Where adults rule over the young ones, ordering them to do this and that as they wished?

Truly, no answer would come out. Even if they try to wonder about it and do something about it, there was no use. They could only find the answer once they had arrived there.

At the time when they would be made to choose "Will I go back?" or "Will I stay here for good?" Koizumi and Katsuto could only believe in their selves that they would choose the right answer.

And so, as the night came and the stars came out, the two decided to sleep and tried to forget what they had experienced earlier this day...

The sun's light shined through the thin curtains of the dusted and unkempt room which only had one bed and a table inside. The mother of Dahlia Rose, Edsel Rose, a female elf former royal adviser of Queen Elfianna of the kingdom Paracellumn slept soundly beside her black haired daughter.

The two who met an unfortunate event with a group of bandits were saved by Kyoushiro, who had been under the corruption of his curse that time, had be bathed and dressed by Kyoushiro and have been brought to a proper place to take a rest.

A day had passed since that incident and right now, the three had stayed in a rundown pub. Its state was rather questionable as a living environment when Kyoushiro had first entered it yesterday. Rats had made a house out of the bed and the walls and roof had large holes peeking through them.

Thanks to Kyoushiro's magnificent display of his skills, the room had transformed into a more proper room where one could rest as much as they would please.

"Now then, let's get breakfast downstairs"

Kyoushiro was already awake. Having to have slept on an uncomfortable floor where he was not used to due to his stay in his own room back in Ambrosia, his back had felt slight hurt. Kyoushiro let Edsel and Dahlia used the bed because there was only one.

It wasn't because Dahlia was insisting to sleep with her "Father" that Kyoushiro ended up sleeping next to the wall just a foot away from the bed. It wasn't because of that, it wasn't...

With the appearance of a red eyed, grey-haired young man that wore deep black clothing, Kyoushiro went out of the room and went down in the pub downstairs. The scent of ale drifting around and the stench of smoke coming from the cigars of the burly men seated inside the pub entered Kyoushiro's nostrils, making him winced due to not being used to such smells.

In their world, particularly in their country, those below 18 or 20 years old were not allowed to drink or smoke. Government officials had advocated the health of the younger generations for the sake of improving the future of their country. Because of that, there were hardly enough students smoking or drinking in public. However it couldn't be said the same for private places such as homes and well hidden places.

Kyoushiro himself had been curious once and tried to smoke only to end up having a coughing fit afterwards and drunken alcohol then ending up waking up in some place he hardly recognizes.

In other words, Kyoushiro avoid having him himself immersed in such things like smoking and drinking due to some unpleasant experience.

"Ahh... I hate these types of guys" Kyoushiro's face frowned as he heard and saw the loud group of burly men in one corner, drinking so early in the day. They were the type of men that would either ends up drunk all day and not work or sleeps through the entire afternoon then work late at night.

Seeing the minimal equipment of the men drinking merrily and being so loud in the morning, Kyoushiro concluded that they were of the former rather than the latter; even their weapons were crudely comprised of wrought iron swords and daggers.

They were equipment meant only for low-level monsters.

"Morning mister, want something to drink or breakfast first?"

"Give me something to eat and make some for the two upstairs. They'll be hungry once they woke up"