Chapter 36: Like A Cirsium V (1/2)

Sanperie cut off his own leg. I had a bad feeling. Blood gushed out from the wound. A new leg grew out. It was a bare leg that was covered with bloody animal hair. It wasn’t human.

An incomprehensible thing happened.

Sanperie hid that leg with his cloak. It was almost like he was hiding something shameful.

「Let's go!」

Ryutetto and Irvin slashed at him. Although Sanperie was hobbling on one leg, he dealt with the two of them easily with his sword.

Think. The situation will become gradually worse if things stay like this. Their stamina won’t last. If they were to get hit by a decent counterattack, they’ll be dead in one hit.

A memory became an image and flashed through my mind.

What had come readily to my mind was a vividly horrifying image. Immediately before I had been blown away by the roar, I had seen Sanperie’s face. The left half was an oval-faced youth, and the right half, as if it had forced its way out from inside, was a hideous beast face. I couldn’t tell what type of beast it was. As if a patchwork of beast parts had been kneaded together, it was nothing but a hideous beast.

It was even more horrifying because of the halfway human parts that had remained.

The right arm that he kept hidden probably looked like that too.

「No way」

I had come up with an idea. It was such a low-level idea that it couldn’t be called a plan. If it went badly, I would be stirring up a hornet’s nest, but I had no choice but to try it.

I poured the arrows out of my quiver, and then laid down beside them.

Supporting the bow with both legs, I used one hand and my upper body to draw back the bow string. I held it with my teeth temporarily and nocked three arrows to the string.

Can I aim like this? Will I hit the target? No, don't hesitate.

「Both of you! Scatter!」

At the same time as my signal, the two of them dodged to both sides.

Out of the three arrows, one of them went where I had targeted. The arrows that missed had become good feints. His hood was torn, exposing that ugly face.

「Ahhh aaah aaah aaah!」

Sanperie desperately grabbed at the tattered cloth and pulled it back over his face to hide it.

He knew neither how to speak nor his friend, but the knight still knew shame. His pitiable attempts to hide his own ugly, bizarrely transformed appearance was very human. Then, was the remnants of his humanity also what was making him swing his sword and kill others in a human-like manner?

「Hah!」

Ryutetto didn’t overlook this opening.

Swinging her sword from high above her head, she sliced through the crown of Sanperie’s head and severed his left hand.

He roared once more, and Ryutetto’s body was blown away.

With a hand still attached to it, the treasured sword, Gadeddo, stabbed into the ground beside me.

By a strange coincidence, Ryutetto's slash had sliced through Sanperie’s beast face. Unmistakably, as if the thing possessing him had left, Sanperie looked at him.

「Ar—win?」

The human part wept.

I couldn’t see it, but I thought that Irvin must be weeping in the same manner as well.

However,

There was no hesitation in his sword.

At least, without letting him suffer.

Like how his grandfather used to, with the pride of those who took lives mercifully, Irvin swung his sword, and Sanperie’s head was cut off.

One beat of silence followed.

It’s over

Was what I thought.

The headless body twitched.

At the same time,

「Urgh, arghh」

My left shoulder joint popped. Flesh burst open and the damaged tissue was reborn anew. My regeneration point caught my eye. It was filled with a liquid redder than fresh blood and was bubbling as if boiling.

I held the bow powerfully in my left hand.

I stood up and nocked the treasured sword, Gadeddo to the bow. With all my might, I drew back the bow string and released.

Strangely, no, with the Lycan bow, I suppose it’s inevitable, but tremendous power was unleashed. The sword pierced through its former owner and pinned him to the wall.

The sword had stabbed into his stomach.

I had missed.

I had been unable to fully control my body. It was hot, as if all of the blood in my body was boiling.

I heard the birth cry of an ugly beast. In a spray of blood, a new head was born. It was the ”true beast” that Sanperie had been suppressing.

「The heart, crush its heart!」

At my shout, Ryutetto tried to struggle to her feet using her sword as a cane, but her strength failed her and she collapsed.

「Irvin!」

Irvin threw aside his shield. Holding his sword with both hands, he flung himself at the beast. His slashes were bloodcurdling and without a shred of mercy. He struck the armor that was in his way again and again, fragmenting it, and then twisted the tip of his sword in through a slight gap.

Bathed in the resulting spray of blood, a gory Irvin put on a grim expression. The beast flailed its limbs in resistance. Sharp claws tore up Irvin's armor, skin, and flesh.

Paying it no mind,

With all of his might and his full weight behind it, he plunged his sword into its heart.

「GYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!」

The scream pierced my ears.

Throwing aside the bow, I ran. To Irvin.

I closed my hand around the hilt of his sword and, with the abnormal power welling up inside me, I pushed.

A large amount of blood spurted out.

I was bathed from head to toe in the warm, viscous liquid. The feel of it trickling down my neck to my back gave me goosebumps. I paid it no mind. I couldn’t care less.

Push. Kill.

From my hand, I felt the sensation of something thick and rubbery rampaging.

Irvin caught the claws closing in on me with his bare hand.

While choking on the smell of blood, I took a deep breath, held it, and then gave the sword one last push.

The beast howled noticeably louder.

Its voice tailed off and grew smaller.

That was its death cry.

But we didn’t let our guard down. The two of us didn’t let go of the sword. Twice, three times, we twisted the sword, cutting up its crushed heart.

「Well done, you guys」

I was patted on the shoulder by a tottering Ryutetto.

My fingers had stiffened and wouldn’t budge.

Irvin and I both looked terrible. We would have to take a bath as soon as we returned.

「How………how’s that? Are you still going to say that our leader isn’t cut out to be one?」

「My bad」

Irvin smiled wryly at Ryutetto’s apology, and then crouched down and vomited. My stiff fingers let go of the sword and I patted Irvin's back.

I checked my own regeneration point. As if what I saw earlier had been a hallucination, there was only a small amount of red and a scant amount of magic power.

What on earth was that? The power of the Lycans? In that case, what had possessed Sanperie? It’s no use. There’s too little information. It would be dangerous to jump to any sort of conclusion.

「………………ry. I’m, sorry. I’m sorry」

Irvin pounded the stone floor.

I couldn't find the words to say to him.

「What? Did you know this guy?」

「Sorry. For now, please give him some time alone」

Lost in thought, Ryutetto ignored me.

「That armor, it’s St. Lyridias'. Beast? Lyridias? No way, right?」

Ryutetto’s face was pale.

『――――ember―――ya. Team member Souya. Explain the situation. A problem has occurred with the data link. Explain the situation』

「Izora, we won somehow. Damage-wise, Irvin got wounded a little on his face」

Oh, should I have not said that? I hope she doesn’t lose her head——

『Error, you aren’t the registered user. There should be an adventurer called “Souya” nearby. Please return the device to him immediately. We have urgent business with him』

「Izora? What are you talking about? It’s me, it’s Souya」

What on earth is going on?

『Voiceprint check, 98% match. Retina image check, 50% match. On account of being outside the supervision of the Makina System, a check will be performed under the sole discretion of the Izora Program. Question, what is the position of the person who interviewed you before you were sent to the alternate world?』

「President」

At my one-sided conversation, Ryutetto made a wondering expression.

『Question, what is the name of the first dish that you made when you arrived in the alternate world?』

「Miso soup」

『The name and title of the person whom you offered that dish to』

「Geto Bado of Mojubafuru, Apostle of Grizunas」

『Please state the name and race of the woman that you’re pretend married to』

「Rauaryuna・Raua・Heures, the second daughter of the Heures family. Elf」

『This is the last question. Please state the names of both of your sisters』

「One is Ea・Raua・Heures, the third daughter of the Heures family. The other is......the other is............huh?」

I have a sister.

It’s the sister that I had left behind in my original world.

Ever since she was small, she was given special education for the gifted, was stupidly good at studying, was like a superwoman in sports, and was several tens of thousands times more well-balanced as a human than a worthless person like me, which is probably why she was always so strict on me. After this and that, we ended up living apart for a long time and we only reunited five years ago, when, after choosing the demanding path of becoming a professional athlete, she lost her leg in an accident. For the sake of her medical expenses, I came here.

Her name……

Her name is………

It’s a destroyer of the Japanese Navy, a lucky ship, transferred to the Republic of China after the war, and finally, in a typhoon.

You're kidding me, right? What on earth is going on?

Only her name isn’t coming to me.

It’s not at the level of something slipping my mind. Only that one piece of my memory had fallen out and disappeared.

『It’s Yukikaze-sama. Have you remembered?』