Defiled Hero c8

Defiled Hero

Water Fairy

Looking around Reyl Lake, you could see that the water became muddied.

After it was purified, it was clear enough to see the bottom of the lake, though.

Going from the forest on the edge of the lake, we headed towards the

fairy’s whereabouts.

It was supposed to be around this area...here!

Confirming that there were no traces of humans or monsters nearby,

I took off my coat and unfastened my weapon, giving them to Astrea. I jumped into

the lake and began swimming underwater. The water fairy should be in the deepest

part of a cave in the water.

Continuing through the cave, I entered a space with air.

Rising from the water, I progressed through the cave until I reached

a shrine.

『Allele-chan! Come out! The beautiful

angel Astrea-chan has made her appearance!』 (Astrea)

This girl isn’t actually worried is she? After saying that, a small

pale light came from the shrine.

『……Uuu, I-I can’t take it anymoreー』 (Allele)

『Allele-chan? Everything will be

fine! Astrea-chan is here to revive you with my beautiful girl powers!』 (Astrea)

I thought so, she wasn’t worried huh.

『P-please save meeeー My power is being taken awayー』 (Allele)

『This is bad, Izayoi! At this rate

Allele-chan will die!』 (Astrea)

(Is there a way to save her?) (Izayoi)

『It’s no good. Right now Astrea-chan

doesn’t have the power to do so. We don’t have any way to stop her power from being

drained.』 (Astrea)

『It’s no gooood, I can’t hold on

anymoreee, save me nowww!』 (Allele)

(What do we do Astrea?) (Izayoi)

『What do we do... The way to save

Allele-chan――Ah, I’ve got it! Doing what you did to Astrea-chan to Allele-chan,

taking her into you, should work!』 (Astrea)

(Into me? There’s going to me more than one?) (Izayoi)

『There’s nothing else we can do.

This is the only way to save her!』 (Astrea)

Going by this feeling, to do the same thing with another fairy......

(I understand. Allele will also be within me, I’ll be transferring

her to where Astrea is.) (Izayoi)

『Allele-chan! Is it alright? Izayoi

has a terrible personality and is a slave driver. He’ll use you roughly but will

you be able to endure?』 (Astrea)

『I don’t know who that is but it’s

fineー, hurry up and save meeeeー』 (Allele)

『Well then Izayoi! Touch the crystal

on the shrine!』 (Astrea)

As Astrea said, I touched the pale light blue-glowing crystal on the

shrine.

『Hyan! That was a bit strange of

a feelingー』 (Allele)

『Now Izayoi! Aggressively rub it!』 (Astrea)

(Oi, I definitely don’t need to rub it, do I? Stop screwing with me

and save her.) (Izayoi)

『I beg of youー. Don’t tease me, hurry up and put it inー』 (Allele)

(Allele. I don’t have any bad intentions towards you, but please shut

up.) (Izayoi)

The crystal was enveloped in a white light. Allele emerged from it,

and the small wavering ball of light entered my body.

『We did it! We did it! We did it

Izayoi!』 (Astrea)

(I got it, no need to say it three times.) (Izayoi)

『Since she’s weakened, giving her

Astrea-chan’s power over a few days should make her better. There’s no need to worry.』 (Astrea)

I didn’t get any sense of danger from this rescue play at all.

The water fairy Allele is safe now, but there are also the wind, earth,

and fire fairies to deal with.

Whether or not the other fairies were honest, I’m doubtful from my

memories.

The water fairy was rescued safely this time, but with the other fairies

I’m not so sure.

(Astrea, were you able to contact the other fairies?) (Izayoi)

『Yeah, but the rest don’t seem

be in a situation like Allele-chan where we had to immediately save her. It seems

like the decrease of magic power in the continent is advancing from the outside

in. Since Earth Fairy Rodia-chan’s powers come from the middle of the continent,

I think she’ll be fine.』 (Astrea)

(You think, huh. Then the fairies in the nearby continent... do you

know the fire and wind fairies’ situations?) (Izayoi)

『Wait a bit, kay? I’ll take a look

through Allele-chan’s memory...... Ah, two months ago Fiere-chan said that she would

come and save her!』 (Astrea)

(Fiere? The wind fairy, is it. If I’m not mistaken, she has the ability

to move freely.) (Izayoi)

『There’s a problem! Fiere-chan

has no sense of direction! I feel that Fiere-chan is definitely in danger!』 (Astrea)

(It was a pain searching back then as well. A lost child, huh......

How should go about finding her? Can you sense her power?) (Izayoi)

『I don’t feel anything! Did she

use all of her power somewhere? Could she have gone somewhere far away? What should

we do?!』 (Astrea)

(Unless there’s a trail we won’t be able to find her, right? To confirm

the situation let’s head towards Earth Fairy Rodia’s place. The next continent over

is far away, so we’ll need the flame fairy to wait a bit.) (Izayoi)

Laketown’s Inn.

Lying in bed, I stared at the ceiling. Astrea was nursing the weakened

water fairy Allele by giving her some power.

I’ll need to confirm the safety of the other three fairies. The earth

fairy Rodia should be in the mountains to the north. It’ll take a week on carriage

to get there.

Though it’ll take a week, there should be a city somewhere midway.

The cause of the magic loss phenomenon should be there, the continent’s current

king Zenesys.

If the cause of the weakened fairies and decline of magic could be

stopped then things would be over quickly, but as expected it isn’t that simple

to do is it? Certainly the cause of the decline in magic was due to Zenesys, but

how would we stop it?

If I did not have Astrea’s divine protection, then the current me would

likely lose against someone of Emperor class strength. Zenesys is the only person

in the world who has reached Saint class strength. Fighting him is the same as having

no chance.

I don’t have enough strength... huh.

Even if I were to lose the divine protection, in this world I have

the strength to have never lost against a monster... The most dangerous things aren’t

monsters, but humans.

There’s also the recovery of the sacred sword, and to save the fairies

it’s been decided that I have to go the city I guess.

I stopped that line of thought, and closed my eyes.

Since Astrea was busy nursing Allele, I was able to easily fall asleep

without any hindrance.

『We’ve got a problem Izayoi! Something

dangerous is coming here really fast!』 (Astrea)

While I was in a shallow state of sleep, a loud voice had awoken me.

I thought I would be able to rest easy, but I’m about to get involved

in something troublesome again......

(What kind of danger? How long until it reaches the town?)

(Astrea)

Getting up from the bed, I put on the coat and slung the sword that

was leaning on the wall over my shoulder. Clasping my belt, I opened the window

and looked outside.

It was still night. Though there were small lights on the outskirts,

there was an awfully bright light coming from the northern entrance. Straining my

eyes I could see people carrying weapons. It was likely the local lord’s personal

army and various adventurers noisily moving about.

......It seems to be something really serious.

『Anyways there’s something dangerous!

It’s definitely stronger than an S rank monster! It might be as dangerous as the

demon lord! It’ll be here in two minutes!』 (Astrea)

(Around the same level as the demon lord? There’s still something like

that in this world?) (Izayoi)

If something that strong were to attack, the ten adventurers and private

army members won’t be able to do a thing. If they were at the King class level,

which equaled the strength of a hundred men, even if they were in perfect condition

they wouldn’t be able to hold for even a few seconds. I’m not certain about the

strength of the people, but they’ll absolutely be annihilated in an instant.

Opening the window, I jumped from the second story and headed towards

the North gate.

『But there’s something even more

dangerous Izayoi! The enemies have suddenly increased!』 (Astrea)

(Suddenly increased? Can you determine who they are?) (Izayoi)

『I tried but it’s impossible! Something

stronger than Astrea-chan is interfering! There hasn’t been anyone capable of doing

this!』 (Astrea)

Since they have the power of a demon lord, Astrea’s power has been

nullified.

......A dark spirit.

As I thought that, it might have been better for them to evacuate.

Arriving at the northern gate, the ten people carrying weapons and

the local lord Alfred were surprised. They haven’t decided what to do yet have they?

I pushed my way through the soldiers and made it to the local lord.

「I-Izayoi! What a disaster. The

defending magician had noticed some sort of flying object coming towards the town

and assembled a force to intercept it.」 (Alfred)

Though they seemed to be confused by the sudden attack, they didn’t

seem to know what the attacker was.

Preparations to counterattack, is it.

「It’s impossible. The opponent

is a Demon Lord ranked monster. Send your soldiers to shelter the nearby citizens.」 (Izayoi)

「Demon Lord rank!? Is that really

true?」 (Alfred)

The soldiers became restless at my declaration.

「Yeah it’s true. There’s no more

time. I’ll hold it off. In the meantime, evacuate the citizens.」 (Izayoi)

Carrying on, I headed towards the gate and was strongly grabbed from

behind. Turning my head, in front of my eyes was an armored man who carried a severe

expression.

「Oi, let me go――」 (Izayoi)

「―― You bastard, are you planning

to die out there alone?!」 (Bernando)

This voice, this face, is this guy Bernando?

The guy yelling at me was Bernando. A long time ago, when the Redgrow

Wyvern attacked this area, he was the private army leader who fought with me. At

that time, when I was going to fight the Wyvern, he had yelled out to stop me.

「I heard everything from Alfred-sama.

I heard you were a capable person introduced by Aaron-sama, but a youngster like

you doesn’t have to put his life on the line to protect people he doesn’t have any

relation with. Even more so if this is a Demon Lord rank enemy. It is our duty to

protect the citizens. Go and leave.」 (Bernando)

Bernando’s serious look. He had a high amount of pride, and held lives

with great caution. ......You haven’t changed, have you. I shook off the arm that

was grabbing my collar, and gripped through the crevice in his armor in return.

「Don’t screw with me. Don’t be

concerned about how I look. The people living in this town are beneath me. I, who

have no relation to this place think only of my own life. I care about my life the

most and don’t want to hear some speech about it.」 (Izayoi)

「But!」 (Bernando)

「Shut up.」 (Izayoi)

Bernando’s level of pride was troublesome. No matter how much you argue

he will object.

In that case, I don’t have a choice but to be high handed.

The strength of my grip began to dent Bernando’s armor. Furthermore,

I had increased my strength until I could pull Bernando, I stared at him with nerve

and spoke in a very low voice.

「If you want to protect them, if

you want to save them, hurry up and move......

I’m not changing my mind.」 (Izayoi)

I pushed Bernando away. He fell towards and was caught by his crowd

of subordinates.

「In case there’s a misunderstanding,

I’m not doing any of this for anyone at all.」 (Izayoi)

Turning my back, I continued to outside where my opponent was. Bernando

raised his voice.

「Evacuate the citizens! Rinzel,

Joel, and Andrew, come with me! We need to buy time for the evacuation!」 (Bernando)

「「「Understood!」」」 (Rinzel, Joel, Andrew)

The soldiers assembled at the gate began making their way inside the

town.

「Apart from the people in charge

of the streets, it’s impossible to do everything on your own. I’m coming with. You

have a problem with that?」 (Bernando)

That’s the most you’ll concede? Well, that’s fine then.

「I’m an outsider who has no connection,

you know that right? In that case, you don’t need me to agree with what you want

to do.」 (Izayoi)

「That’s how it is, isn’t it. ――The

residents of this town, I will protect them!」 (Bernando)

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