46.Raging Fire

Editing/Standardisation: Medicine Melancholy
Original Translation: Medicine Melancholy

Iris

“……ey!!… ake up! Hey!”

I was woken up by someone shaking my shoulders.

I think I was dreaming about something, but I could no longer remember… What was I doing just now?

My vision was blurred from sleep, and for some reason I saw everyone peering at me anxiously. I tilted my head to look at them.

“…For now, Iris-chan, take this.”

With that said, Philias-san held out to me… a handkerchief?

“Wipe it away, will you?”

When she said so and pointed to my cheeks, I involuntarily touched them… and felt something wet.

“Eh…? Is this… tears?”

“Yeah. You were crying in your sleep just now… Are you really alright?”

In the past few days, I had been waking up more and more often like this. I think I was definitely dreaming about a certain thing… but no matter how much I tried to remember, I could not retrieve that scattered memory.

“You don’t get much sleep at night, do you?”

That’s kind of true, I felt myself sleeping less or sleeping much less due to the constant dull pain in my head. Therefore I often fell into a shallow sleep during daytime, just like this…

“I’m fine. I just have a little trouble sleeping, that’s all.”

“Well, I’ll take your word for it… If there’s something wrong, just tell me right away, okay?”

“You don’t have to worry about me that much… Rather, aren’t those two the ones you should be worrying about?”

I was talking about the two who were taking turns to drive the carriage. They were the only ones with experience in driving a carriage, and I was more worried about their fatigue than myself.

“So, where are we now?”

“Um, let me see, just one more hill and we’ll reach the town we’re heading to…”

It had been a day since we crossed the border and parted ways with the merchant party. We were finally about to arrive at our destination, the next town.

When we passed the hill and were about to see our destination…

“…?!”

All of us gasped.

The town that was our destination… Small shadows crowded around the exterior walls that were set up to block the canyon, as if the gray walls were covered in black.

“…Hey, aren’t those goblins? Let’s hurry up and kick their asses!”

The first to spot the goblins, Weiss-san, shouted in agitation.

I activated “Eagle Eye” myself to take a good look at the situation… The gate had already been breached, and the reddening figures being trampled upon by the black shadows… are those people?

“No… are we too late?!”

“…I don’t think so, it doesn’t look like it has been breached very long yet. We must hurry nonetheless.”

“Even if you say that, I can’t go any faster…”

The vibrations in the interior of a rented carriage were quite severe, and even if the horse still had some strength left, the carriage could topple over or disintegrate if it is not handled properly.

While everyone was feeling impatient, a hand went up… Reiji-san’s.

“If that’s the case… I’m going to break past those gobs somehow and save anyone inside. Iris, can you use your support magic on me?”

“…Understood. I’m going to do that to everyone as well. Since I can’t expose my wings when I go outside, let’s get it done while I still can.”

I nodded in agreement and apply as much support magic as possible to everyone currently in the carriage. Just this much wasn’t enough to make me fatigued, and there was still plenty of time to spare.

However, Reiji-san, who was sitting directly in front of me, still looked uneasy. The small shadows that could be seen on the way to the destination were so numerous and crowded.

“Please take care of yourself out there.”

“Of course. I’ll try to save as many people as possible until you arrive. After that… it’s your job.”

“…Yes.”

After patting me on the head a few times to calm my worrying mind, Reiji-san flipped up the top and jumped down from the back of the carriage, and with explosive acceleration, the overtook the carriage and moved away from here.

“And off he goes. Reiji-san is really fast, isn’t he?”

“Agreed… I don’t think I’m a match for him anymore… so don’t worry about that, Miss Iris.”

“…Pardon?”

As I looked off at Reiji-san’s back, which was quickly fading into the distance, a voice called out to me unexpectedly.

“He’s strong. Or rather, he got way stronger than before. Remember how we often spar with each other? The first few days, I had the upper hand… however, he’s caught up considerably since. I really can’t be careless when fighting him anymore…”

Zeltis-san had a bitter smile on his face, as if he were troubled. Did that mean Reiji-san had been winning more and more of their duels?

“It’s frustrating of course, and I don’t intend to keep losing to him like this… but that’s what makes him your fated knight, don’t you think so?”

“N-No, what are you talking about?! He’s just a friend!”

I firmly denied that statement. Between Reiji-san and I, there’s no such master-servant relationship. He’s just a friend… whom I trust more than anyone else… yes, just a friend.

“…Still, you think of him as my knight instead of you, Zeltis-san? That’s nice of you.”

“Aww, thank you! But I’m always ready to offer this sword as your knight whenever you ask me to- Ack! That hurts, sister!”

“Oh, shut up, we don’t have time for any more of your nonsense. Stop fooling around and get ready to leave, idiot brother.”

As usual, Zeltis-san tried to take my hand, and Philias-san grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the carriage. I couldn’t help but chuckle at such a comedy routine. But it also made me feel a little more relaxed.

“Well then, Iris-chan and her brother, we’ll be departing soon. You two take care of the townspeople, leave the rest to us.”

“Got it. I’m going to carry Iris and approach the town by air. By the looks of it, there’s going to be a lot of damage to the whole town, so I’m going to rely on you, Iris… can you do it?”

“Yes, Nii-sama, I’ll leave the escort to you.”

I held out my hand, and Nii-sama quickly grabbed it and began carrying me in his arms. We then went out to the driver’s seat, where Weiss-san was concentrating on his arrow. The arrowhead was filled with wind magic.

The arrow was released, and as if guided by something, it shot through a small shadow that was holding a bow in the distance.

That was “Guided Arrow”, which is a technique that requires wind magic qualities in addition to archery, and apparently Weiss-san had a small amount of those qualities.

“I’ll try to cover for you. Now go.”

He told us bluntly and began to aim again.

“Thank you very much, I’ll be counting on you then.”

“…Hmph, just doing my job.”

We’d gotten to know each other a lot better, but he was still not being honest with me, I thought so while shrugging my shoulders, when suddenly Nii-sama switched positions to separate me from Weiss-san.

“…No matter how many points you earn, my sister is a no-go, you know?”

“I told you I’m not into her! Just go already!”

“That’s rude to Weiss-san, Nii-sama! And stop treating me like a child!”

It’s true that our first meeting was a little awkward, so I could understand Nii-sama’s wariness toward Weiss-san, but this was too much, even for a joke.

“Yeah, uh, sorry…”

Weiss-san fired another arrow and struck another goblin that was climbing up the outer wall.

“Anyway, Reiji’s waiting for us. Hold on right, we’re leaving.”

“Please do.”

Saul-niisama picked me back up firmly, and with a flap of his wings, he leapt into the air.

We got further and further from the ground… If it hadn’t been for this situation, we might have enjoyed the aerial walk, but now we were in a time sensitive situation.

While still directing the extended gaze of “Eagle Eye” toward the town in the distance, I raised my concentration to be ready to use magic at any time.

“…Would we be able to make it if we were faster? We could have saved this town from taking so much damage.”

“Probably, but we can’t predict the future. We can only do what we can… I’m going to speed up, so keep holding onto me.”

“…Yes.”

I squeezed my arms around his body, and all the scenery seemed to flow backwards, as if I was being blown away. It wouldn’t be long now before we entered the town. No matter how horrific the scene was, I would do what I could. I started chanting to save the wounded, who would surely be in great numbers.

Reiji

I sprinted across the ground while keeping a low profile. With each step I kicked the ground, there was a sound and a feeling of something hard cracking underfoot, but it was quickly left behind.

To be exact, I was more like “jumping” than sprinting. My stride was much longer than if I just sprinted normally. The scenery blew backward in a flash at a gut-wrenching speed.

This was one of the ideas I came up with in order to become stronger, which I tried, albeit only for a few days in training before departure.

What I’m applying to my gait now was the way I move when I use my skill, “Skanda”. However, I was not using the skill. Using it as a reference, I tried to control my body posture, as well as the concentration and release of the fighting spirit into my feet kicking the ground.

It’s my own body that uses skills after all, so if I could reproduce them, I could achieve the same effect… After practicing it through trial and error, I was able to confirm that it is indeed possible to some degree. And unlike skills that for some reason cannot be used continuously, as in the game where there was a cooldown time, I could confirm that it is possible to continue using this technique as long as my strength and concentration lasts.

That being said… it’s no easy task running at several times the normal speed. Unlike when using skills, I had to handle all the information by myself… I had to think with my own head and body how I was going to move my body. It was as if the most efficient macros are being scraped and everything was being entered manually, and it put a huge strain on me. My current speed wasn’t comparable to what I used to normally, and at first I was quite dependent on potions as I fell over and crashed into trees because my brain could not keep up with my reaction time.

However, after countless failures and repeated use in mock battles to simulate actual combat, I had now brought it to a level where it can be used in actual combat to some extent as a result of that trial-and-error process.

…And simply “moving faster” had a further effect by itself already.

“GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!!”

When the enemies noticed me and the first one raised its sword, I had already readied my own. The poor victim’s body was easily cut in two, and not only did the upper half of its body fly up in the air as if it had been hit by a truck, but the impact caused by my sword moving at high speed also blew away several others who were caught in my path.

High speed could be transformed into destructive power when used this way.

I readjusted my sword. Its tip scraped the ground. Sparks flew from the stone padding due to the friction.

I charged headfirst into the enemy group. Nothing could stop me now!

“Promotion… Bazookaaa!!”

While gouging the ground, flames gushed out from the tip of the sword as it slashed upward, and since the sword was moving at a super high speed, the fire became like an explosion. That was an intermediate skill of my secondary class, “Promotion Bazooka”.

The fire that was like an explosion swallowed up the small shadows that were swarming in front of the gate and pushed forward, turning those caught within into charcoal and paved the way past the enemies.

I could see the town, with its walls broken and its gate breached now… Let’s go!

The landscape blew away with explosive speed, and after easily leaping over the still numerous goblin hordes, I skidded on the cobblestones with the soles of my boots and landed in the town.

I was welcomed… with the thick smell of blood. The town was a hellscape. The soldiers were falling down in a heap, overrun by the goblins, who seemed to have no regard for their own lives, let alone those of their allies. The wounds seemed to be deep, and some of them were still breathing, but they would not survive… under normal circumstances, that is.

As long as they were still alive, Iris could save them. All I needed to do was to keep as many lives as possible from being scattered further until then.

Some small shadows turned around at the appearance of the new intruder… too slow!

“You’ll become test subjects for my new move, come at me!”

I took a step forward with my left foot. The nearest enemies were a few steps away. Pushed by the strength of my legs and the fighting spirit exploding beneath my feet, I instantly rushed up to top speed, reaping off enemies along the way as I passed them.

That was unstoppable. Next, I stepped forward with my right foot and kicked the ground in the same manner. The forceful change of direction placed a tremendous load on the legs, but this “Reiji” robust body of mine overpowered even that and ran. The rapidly changing vision was so intense that it is almost intoxicating, but I desperately processed the information and looked for the best next step.

Faster, faster, faster!

One slash, one kill. Each time the ground beneath my feet was kicked by my own foot and exploded, a flower of blood bloomed in a flash, but by then I was already on to the next enemy, and the next, and the next.

Colors disappeared from my field of vision, which had focused all its attention on information processing and prediction, and the world began to flow in slow motion.

Frantically calculating and drawing in my mind the most efficient route of extermination, I scrambled through the myriad of deadly weapons, weaving in and out of the gaps between the hordes of enemies, cutting down anything that stood in my way and laying waste to them.

I quickly lost count of how many times I’d swung my sword.

The last enemy was killed when it was about to swing its machete at a dying soldier. But not letting my guard down, I checked my surroundings while keeping my stance.

There was already no enemy in sight, leaving a void around me. A new shadow was approaching from the gate, but I still had a little time to catch my breath.

Originally, the swordsman series was a relatively well-balanced vanguard position, but while powerful against single opponents, it is a typical boss-killer style with the disadvantage of weak crowd-control capabilities, which could become disheartening in this situation where I had to fight off a horde of goblins.

So my answer to it was… “Just do as many one-on-one fights in as short a time as possible”. It was quite a muscleheaded answer, if I say so myself.

“It’s like coming up with my own swordsmanship style… Not a bad idea. Well then…”

I waved my sword to rid it of the blood, but as a matter of fact, I felt quite fatigued at the moment. It’s not so much that I can’t move, but I guess I’ll just have to fight normally from here on out. I inwardly clicked my tongue.

I looked down over my back at the soldier whose head was almost split open by the last enemy I cut down. He was pierced here and there, and looked mortally wounded, but he still had some breath left in him.

“Hey, are you still alive?”

Even if it’s just one person, the more lives saved here, the less tears she would shed…