Chapter 50 (1/2)

Translator: Kurehashi+ Aiko

VOLUME 2 CHAPTER 15: The Boy Regrets

Happy New Year, everyone!

I hope that you will support Dragon-san this year as well

Elvie still ree deep in the ether with his father, where h father told thee since they did not knoas out there, having been bored with playing with village children or staying in the house, Elvie - as ten at the tie while father was at work, and took Marca with him - as six at the ti Brother, spirits, for some reason, they are afraid]

Marca said that to hi, tree-cli inside of the woods

For some reason, spirits seehtly envious of her, but he was also proud of her, for her h

So if she said so like that, it was probably no lie

Elvie also tried to listen carefully, but didn't hear or sense anything at all

[Everything's fine, now look, how about this?]

And since he didn't want to go back so soon, he tried to divert Marca's attention by pointing her towards different kind of trees and showing her different leaves

For a while, young Marca was playing along, looking at leaves dancing in the wind, but then she stopped and asked with an uneasy voice

[Big Brother, let's go back? The spirits, they say it's dangerous, that we should run!]

When she pulled on his sleeves over and over again, even Elvie couldn't take it anyan to speak, all at once

Even Elvie was able to hear their voices clearly, and he had ical aptitude than Marca The voices were afraid and arning the the fear and uneasiness in their voices, Elvie took a firo back] [Yes]

And then they went straight towards the village

It appeared withoutasBrother!!]

He re his hand, as well as the look of shock on their father's face

The moment he passed the passed-out Marca to father, while hi of tree branches lashi+ng against his skin

Strange feeling, as if being 'devoured'

The s to lose it

He could only watch as the thing slowly approached him

The black tentacle that was about to reach towards unconscious Marca

He couldn't protect her He couldn't protect her

He wanted to save her, just her, it would be h ------

He was ready to do whatever it takes, just to achieve that!

[----- Does the little brat desire power?] [……!!!]

He could hear confusing, frag, shadow-like creature blocked his view

That so

What did he answer to that voice's question?

Earlyeach other in the corner of the training ground that was open for every student to use

Elvie was holding a sword that was clearly not all that well suitable for training, while Mikoto, on the other hand was using a wooden one, oddly rese around each other, exchanging blow for blow So far Elvie was yet to land even one successful hit on her

He swings his sword doards from over his head, and Mikoto blocks it with her wooden branch infused with ical power When the teapons collide, she pushes the sword back with little to no effort

Her response was instantaneous, and little by little Elvie was unable to folloith ripostes, falling back

Mikoto's judgeed to parry every single one of Elvie's attacks, eventually striking the sword out of Elvie's hand and sending hi a sweat, looked doards Elvie, as panting heavily and was out of breath

[Your heart does not pass through to the sword, your intentions are disturbed]

Having recovered enough to talk again, Elvie was barely even able to reply to her harsh words

[Sorry]

Mikoto was an international exchange student, as attending the Magical course at the Academy, and she also knew e to know And because she was present at the training grounds, Elvie asked her to be his sparring partner without a h he didn't knew her face, only naical Course, Elve heard the ru Arts Hence, he was surprised just how strong her offensive ic really was

Back in Mikoto's country, 'Shrine Maiden' was a profession si monster extermination, so Elvie was rather surprised once he learned the truth about both her profession and the reason behind her being so quiet

Apparently, the Academy misunderstood that 'Shrine Maidens' of Eastern countries were soic rather than monks, and because of that decided to put Mikoto in the Healing Magic Course

Since Mikoto's pri monsters from the Western countries, she would often end up in an unresolvable s, since she only knew the bareto know a few healing arts and spells ht not be so bad, since they are more advance and could really coe as Elvie, he could souess that she has already travelled to quite a lot of different places

[If that's the case, then would you like to enter istered as an assistant at the 'Hunters Guild' and I sometimes help out with monster suppression I can even take you there if you want Aside froicks] [!!] [In return, could you please teach ht in your country?]

For Elvie, it was a coreed to join hio and be accepted to any other club if only she felt like it

Since then, Elvie invited Mikoto to join hi, as he wanted her to teach him the martial arts fro Elvie's club, so there were two of the Elvie in his effort to build histo fuse the device with power

To Elvie, Mikoto was not only a precious friend, but also a master/mentor

So, no matter the reason, Elvie without his usual enthusiasize, that was not et hurt even if it's just practice]

Hearing his words, Mikoto couldn't help herself but to let out a sigh as she extended her hand towards Elvie

[This will be it for today But, prepare yourself for ' down as if he received an important lesson from Mikoto, Elvie picks up the sword that he dropped

Then, as Mikoto was putting away her oord back in its sheath, he spoke again

[So, did I really do soh he didn't exactly specify, Mikoto was sure that Elvie was talking about the events of a day before yesterday

She did her best to try to hide her amusement, and answered in a serious manner

[No, was that really just an coincidence?] [Not really You looked troubled, so I thought I ht as well help you] [Ok, let's just call it a coincidence Don't worry about it]

Mikoto's ears move as if she was relieved, but then the spirit continued with his questions

[That child, she's Eru's sister, is she not?] [Well, yeah]

Mikoto nodded, calling Elvie with a quickly thought nickna 'vie'

[Is it not good?] […… It used to, way in the past]

Yes, it used to be good

Until that incident about five years ago when Marca followed hi went south froh it was Elvie who got irritated upon res fro silent

On the contrary, when Elvie looked in Mikoto's eyes, words began to spill fro to tell you, even though I wanted to forget] [………] [In Marca's eyes, I was always her cool 'Big Brother' I was able to use ht I was fine the way I was But then I lost that ability and tried to hide it from her, and now I don't even kno I should look Marca in the eyes]

Mikoto already knew soave her a rough explanation about as going on

At that ti it all at once, but should she have any questions she could just ask Aru later to explain it to her

However, thinking about it made her really curios

Mikoto stared at Elvie in silence, but then she finally spoke up:

[Lies are, not good] [Well, of course they aren't]

As Elvie smiled wryly to her words,

[But, sos we are afraid to say]

Hearing a voice full of sadness, Elvie rose his eyes to see Mikoto's face drowned in sadness and sorrow

[I know that I can't just go back, but I don't want to hurt her at the saher the wall between us gets It's not good] [At this point, it h to overcome] [But, really, I really want to talk to her]

Bullseye

[There are things that you ize to her you are only going to be hurt even more] [But, my sister is……] [It's because she's your little sister that she's worried about you She wants you to be fine and full of energy She doesn't want to be depended on And she doesn't want to only be protected]

Elve was astonished hearing Mikoto of all people saying things like that, and with each passing second his arer at hied hiht like that to hi for school and changing his unifor about what happened yesterday

It was a great opportunity for him to come clean, so why did he hid the fact that he was unable to use ly getting sed and thinking that he died, Marca soh to have lessened the i to know that he was unable to use any kind ofto do with that deical core Elvie had no idea, for during being exa that he could think about was Marca