368 365. Hero Promise.txt (2/2)

It is chained and almost suspended.

It was immediately apparent that she wasn't being treated as a human being.

The Director held up a bloodied hand to the unfortunate girl.

''Then, I will release the flame god's restraints.

Just like the thick door before, the chains came off again.

At the same time, all the bandages on her torso were also unraveling and falling off as if they were rotting away. I feared that the girl's naked body would be exposed, but I didn't have to worry about that.

There was no such thing as human flesh in the untied bandages.

From the girl's neck down, only flames were burning. The moment she was released from her restraints, the limbs of fire suddenly stretched out and poked her knees and hands on the ground instead of human flesh.

This is 'The One Who Steals the Reason of Fire'.

It has the appearance of a monster as good as the one next to it, 'The One that Steals the Truth of Darkness'.

While I'm thrilled with the girl's appearance, Tida quickly moves on to her next action.

'...... Okay. Now all that's left is Kanami.

He urged his mentor to move closer to the girl.

The Master nodded back and tried to move more quickly than Tida.

''Yeah. As planned, I'll hold her, so Tida should focus on the Dark. If you just want to run away, you can use the Dimension at all costs, and the rest is easy--

No. From now on, Kanami will have to be persuaded.

But that master's move and statement was denied.

The two of us, except for me, rolled our eyes in amazement at the abruptness of the story.

''Se-persuasion?　Tida, what are you talking about?

'Mr Lans: ......?　I'm sure that wasn't part of the plan: ......

Tida left them puzzled and moved on alone.

'Persuasion is a must. Because she doesn't want to be able to help herself. --Hey.

He approached the girl who was kneeling and hanging her head and called out to her.

At the same time, I released a darkness that seemed to be 《Dark》 and shook the flames of her body. It's a way to wake her up because she's familiar with the ”Demon's Poison”.

''Oi. I'm not going to be able to get rid of it. There's someone coming for you.

The girl, who had been silent for a long time, begins to let out a voice as darkness strikes.

'...... Ugh, ohhh, ha--!　Oh, ahhhhh, ......!

He raises his face from its prostrate position as if waking up from a nightmare and begins to wail against the darkened ceiling.

He also repeats the words of redemption over and over.

''Aaaaaaahhhh ......!　Sorry, I'm sorry: ......!　I'm sorry, guys. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry--

It was a prayer itself, looking no different than the congregation above.

The more he said it, the more the flames in his body flared and curled up.

'It's my fault. All because of me, because of me, because of me, because of everything I was ......!

Tears of fire spilled out of the girl's eyes, scorching the air in the room.

The Master and the Director were immensely disappointed by the bizarre scene.

The girl still continues to cry.

'My village, my family, everything is ......!　Because this 'eye' was spotted by those 'apostles' ......!　It all burns and burns and burns and burns ......!　It burned and disappeared!　I'm sorry ....... I'm sorry, guys, I'm sorry, I'm sorry ......--

And he continued to regret it.

The girl did not flee when the restraints were gone. Tida spoke to the girl, who was motionless, as if she had given up on life.

'Are you sure you want to be in a daze?　Here I am.

It was a voice that sounded like it was speaking to an old friend.

The girl seemed to know the voice, interrupting her wailing and turning her face from the ceiling to the side.

'............?　Oh, you're the dueling agent of the House of Langs?　Oh ....... Are you here to get rid of me by any chance?

Looking at Tida, the girl smiled and said the words as if she wanted to die.

Her appearance overlapped with her mentor from a while ago. It's the same as when he was smiling in pain while helping many patients with 《Level Up》.

Is that why?

Even though he doesn't understand the situation, his master, who seems to understand only what he has to do, interrupts the conversation.

''No, it's not. We're here to help you.

He said that and stepped ahead of Tida.

The girl just didn't seem to understand the meaning of those words.

'To help me ......?'

Yeah. Come on, let's get out of here together. There's no reason for you to keep doing this to yourself in this place.

The master tried to hold the girl's hand that had turned into fire.

Then the girl seemed to understand the meaning of the word 'help' and pulled her hand away to escape.

'Thank you, masked man. But I can't go.''

'Can't go ......?　Why?

'If I leave this room, the light will be lost from this city. That's all the more reason for me to be here.

It's .......

The same words I had expected to hear came out of the girl's mouth.

--Now, let's get to the point.

I guess I wanted to talk about this (...) here, and Tida was hiding the persuasion part of her plan.

I remain motionless and static. Both looseness and my mouth tighten properly.

Then Tida adds to the story to my master, who flinches and goes silent.

'Kanami. All the happiness in this city is made up of this guy's fire. And no matter how 'the one who steals the reason for the fire', if you are too far from the city, that flame cannot be sustained.

For a master, it would be the part that he dared not think about.

It would be relentlessly passed on.

'If Fania loses its lights, it will undoubtedly fall into disrepair just like the surrounding cities. For it would lose not only its lights, but also its means of processing iron and its means of defending the city. That outcome is not one that 'steals the reason for the fire' would want.

When he heard the word ”surrounding city”, his master's body shook.

He must be remembering the miserable state of the city that he had seen during his journey. Tida also read his mind and continued to supplement it.

'I see. If you've seen it, then you're talking fast. Most of the people who are now in Fania have all fled from the devastation. They fled and fled and fled, and finally found a place here - a Fania where her sacrifice kept them alive. Kanami, before you reach out, imagine this carefully. The more than 10,000 people who were finally saved from death are reduced to the depths of despair again. If you take out the Thieves of Fire, Fania's way of life will collapse, the rule of law will lose its meaning, everyone will suffer from hunger, and the weak will return to that city, humiliated and waiting to die.

It wasn't just words.

Tida let the 《Dark》 spread, and the darkness enveloped Master's surroundings. Furthermore, he let the mud flow out of his body and surrounded his master's feet with slush.

The 《Variable》 that was the same 《Variable》 was now interfering with Master's mind.

''The greatest misfortune of all is the loss of the means to alleviate the illness of the 'Devil's Poison'. The suffering of that illness should be well understood by the princess there. I hope you'll consider ...... how many people's hearts were saved just by alleviating the pain. Pain is the greatest fear that can weaken a person's heart.

I came up to the conversation, but Master didn't look away.

Thanks to his family, Sister Yotaki, he must have imagined the suffering of the illness of The Demon Poison more deeply than anyone else.

''However. At the same time, there is no doubt that the One Who Steals the Reason of Fire is terribly unhappy. After all, she has been forced to keep creating flames in such a dimly lit subterranean place - nearly three years now. She hadn't been fed even a piece of bread in all those years. After repeated experiments, she found that the energy required for the Stealer of Reason to live was despair. She continues to be shown nightmares in the name of life extension, instead of food. Every night she is shown the corpses of her own family, made to regret it to the point of madness, and unable to die, she continues to spit flames from the back of her throat. Naturally, I want you to think twice about this one. And--

Tida does her best to make him hesitate to help 'the one who steals the reason for the fire'.

Is that really the right choice?　And, as if swirling his master's mind around, he spoke out of the messy future before retreating.

'We're running out of time (・・・・・・・・), Kanami. Now, here and now, give me your 'answer'. What do we do now?

We are in the middle of hostile territory.

We can't afford to waste a second of our lives for our own safety.

This is Tida's plan.

He wanted to hear his master's true intentions on the spur of the moment, so he took away the time to let him calculate his self-defense.

'The one who steals the logic of darkness' is well aware of it. There is nothing more important to bring out the darkness in a person than to take away the leeway.

--and slowly Master moves in as Tida and I watch.

Master's reaction was quick.

He approached The One Who Steals the Reason of Fire as if he didn't need to answer, and touched his fiery hand this time. Even if the palm of his hand was burned, he clenched it tightly and strongly.

''What, what--?

In front of the astonished 'The One Who Steals the Reason of Fire', Master drags the 'Dark' and 'Variable' from 'The One Who Steals the Reason of Darkness' in front of him as he continues to talk about the continuation of what he said earlier.

''Listen. The lives of everyone in this city are important, but that doesn't mean that you aren't important.''

Tida and I both listened carefully and listened to our master's heartfelt words.

'I want you to be the happiest person in town,'

The girl on the other side of the room must have realized that her master was speaking his mind, just as we were.

Realizing that it wasn't a joke or a seduction, she slowly shook her head, though her cheeks were stained.

'No. ....... I don't deserve that, I don't deserve that. Happiness is not something I can ...... do.

'Yeah, I know. I don't know what you've done before and I don't know what you've done before, but I can tell you that you're really not qualified (・・・・・) in the thin air. When I look at you, I can relate to you ...... kind of, I can relate to you so much. Just like Tida there, we're the same, so ......

We're the same?

Same.

Even from my point of view as a third party, there are many times when the two of us overlap.

I even feel as if I am reflected in a ”mirror”.

The girl now must be feeling the sympathy peculiar to 'the one who steals reason'.

But just because you don't qualify doesn't mean you've lost your desire to be happy ....... That feeling isn't going to go away ...... no matter how many times you crush it!　I didn't go away!

With that sympathy, the master decided that the 'one who steals the reason for the fire' was lying about his feelings.

Whether it was a figurehead or not, the girl expressed her emotions and abjectly refuted him.

''--!　S-So, if you understand so much, why don't you leave me alone ......?　I can't help myself anymore: ......!　I've made a lot of people unhappy, so I have a 'duty' to help a lot of people. We also have a 'responsibility' to get this mighty power. So, we need to keep crushing our selfishness to be happy. All the way here: ......!

I have that 'duty' and 'responsibility' thing, too. That's why I'm going to help you from now on. I don't care what you say, I'm going to help you.

Oh no, that's selfish ......!

Hearing his master's unwillingness to discuss it, the One Who Steals Fire's Reason becomes enraged and tries to back off again.

However, his hand remains in his grasp and cannot move even a twitch.

''--?

Master grabbed the flaming hand that would have been insubstantial and would not let go.

This surprises me as well.

I wonder how he does it.

I think it's an application of the dimensional power in the example: .......

The one who steals the logic of fire wants to brush his hand away, but he doesn't have the power to do so.

I'm going to have to try again to get a verbal rebuttal from the one that steals the reason for the dimension.

'...... Could it be that you are trying to be a hero?　Then it's a huge inconvenience. You'll just play the hero, do something irrevocably stupid and make a lot of people unhappy ...... someday, and end up like me now!　I can see that!

Maybe. Maybe, but I'm not letting go of my hand. --I want to help you. Because if I don't help you, I won't be able to help those people up there. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't help them from the moment I came to know you. So please, let me help you now. Please. ......

Oh, please, ......?

Even in an argument, 'the one who steals the reason for the fire' begins to be pushed and defeated.

It's probably over by now.

She's exactly the same as she was one day, and now her face is bright red.

After years of being trapped in prison, losing hope, and telling herself that it's her destiny, the hero she's been waiting for deep down in her heart all along has come to her rescue. There was no way I could resist that temptation.

...... But not ”help” or ”I want to help”, but ”let me help you”?

What the Master is saying is simple. In order to feel good about helping the people in the city who live up there now, you have to help the people who are suffering the most in this city first - it's about emotional priorities.

But I think there's one problem with that.

From my point of view, as I'm good at reading people's faces, the person who is suffering the most in this city is my master.

Undoubtedly, the Master is lying about his feelings more than 'the one who steals the reason for the fire'. Everything you just uttered is what you have been told (・・・・・・・・・). Master understands this himself, so he looks a little bitter, even though he is still in the middle of helping people.

I blush, as does 'The One Who Steals the Reason of Fire'.

Then, in my mind, I say, ”Oh. I love it, after all,' as I mutter to myself, the battle between 'That which steals the reason of dimension' and 'That which steals the reason of fire' is being settled.

''It's a cold hand. Even if it is, I won't let go, is it ....... You're really the same as me, aren't you ......?

That's right. We're the same, we're friends.

Friends. That's why I've been lying to you for a while now: ......

'The One Who Steals the Reason of Fire' lowered his eyes and was acutely aware of how special his master was.

However, he still couldn't seem to honestly ask for help, and he admitted his surrender in a cute and distant way.

'I never, ever want to be happy ....... But if there is any other way to help the people up there ....... Then I will .......

'Don't worry, we'll help you all together. I'm not fully in my power yet, but I'll make sure you're happy to be out of here. I promise.

Master lightly undertaken.

Certainly, with that 《Level Up》, even if it's impossible to process iron and lights, he can at least provide some relief. No, perhaps with the knowledge of the other world in the example, he might even have the confidence to solve the problem of iron processing and other problems. Without a doubt, it's light because he has some alternative plan.

Seeing that master's appearance, 'The One Who Steals the Reason of Fire' could only stop himself from continuing and nodded 'yes'.

Now the persuasion was a success. Master smiled with relief and laughed with the red-faced and embarrassed 'The One Who Steals the Reason of Fire'.

'............'

In the midst of watching that moment of success, my mind was buzzing strangely. I felt as if 'demonic poison' was entwined in my limbs, and I couldn't stop being filled with anxiety.

For some reason, I didn't feel like I could keep this promise at all. These two were doomed to such a fate that their true intentions would never be intermingled forever. ......

'--Congratulations, Kanami.

Applause rang out.

Tida was also smiling, more pleased than anyone else with the success of his persuasion in this short time.

Only, with that expression on his face, he was able to make the dark magic--

So far, so good, so good. But not yet. What you do next is very important to me. --The Dark.

Release.

All the 《Flame God's Stone》 attached to this spacious basement are released from the darkness and the flame lights are turned on. Furthermore, the color of the lines of stone that were between the walls and the ground also change from red to black.

Something that should never be done while in seclusion is done, and I turn my killing eyes to Tida.

He took it with a smile and disappeared, his body melting into the new shadows created by the lights.