Chapter 15 (2/2)

（Ugh… Not this shit again…）

The world began to spin .

Her situation was too similar to my own . I couldn’t help but want to empathize . The dark emotions I always tried to hold back began flaring up with me .

「Mind if I ask you something?」

「…?」

I gently called out to Shuria sometime after the letter finished playing the sound it contained .

「Is the flower that just fell onto the letter the same type as the ones you have growing in your garden?」

「Yup . They’re a type of plant capable of growing under almost any sort of condition . They grow really well, but they don’t seem to be able to multiply . 」

「They look really pretty . 」

I stood up from the table as I spoke .

「I have to go . Could you please keep everything about me a secret? The truth is, I wasn’t actually supposed to talk to you . 」

「R-Really? O-Okay! I won’t say a thing!」

Shuria balled up one of her hands into a fist and squeezed down on it as she made me a promise . I was confident that she wouldn’t tell anyone about me, not even Yumis, because the look on her face was pretty much identical to how it’d been when she first ran up to me earlier .

「Um, could you tell me your name before you go, Mr . Spirit?」

「Sure, why not? My name’s Kaito . 」

「Kaito… Okay! Do you think we’ll ever meet again?」

「Yeah, I’m sure we will . 」

I transformed my body back into that of a ghost’s and dispersed the effect brought about by the【Heart Flame Ghost Blade]in order to return to my body .

☆

「Haah… The world sure is full of scum, isn’t it?」

I returned to my body after experiencing a strange floaty sensation not too different from the kind I felt when I teleported .

I was currently the only one present, Minnalis had yet to come home .

「Alright, I guess I should get going . 」

I felt my anger flare up again as I reflected on what I had just discovered . I felt like it had come time for me to vent all the rage I had built up . The original plan was for me to grab Minnalis in two or three days so we could have her experience fighting a horde of enemies while also farming exp, but, I felt like I had to change it . My encounter with Shuria had come off to me as a twist of fate .

I’d been planning to test out my trump card some time soon anyway . I needed to know just how effective it would be against Yumis with my stats as they currently were before actually putting it into practice .

Moreover was the fact that I simply couldn’t stand what was happening .

I decided to stop trying to justify myself . I was fully aware that my drive came not from reason, but instead from emotion .

I wanted to just go on a rampage and destroy everything around me . I felt like a ball of flame that’d escaped its container and no longer had anywhere to direct itself .

「Gulp gulp gulp . 」

I drank a potion to replenish the mana that becoming a ghost had drained before leaving the inn and heading out the eastern gate .

I detached myself from the crowd and headed down the path that lead into the forest all by myself .

Logically, I understood that what I was just wasting my time, and that I should’ve instead focused on conducting additional investigations . I knew that I should’ve been focusing on verifying my hypothesis, but I just couldn’t .

I didn’t want to see Yumis’ face . I didn’t feel like I would be able to hold back any longer if I did .

「Oh sweet, there they are, the perfect things for me to use to both blow off all my stress and test out my trump card . 」

There were many more monsters here now than there were back when we killed Barkas and his companions . It came to me as no surprise that my current impression was that the place would soon be overrun .

My lips curved up into a smile . The more things I had to hit for no real reason, the better .

I walked into the forest with casual gait, only to be attacked by a pair of goblins before even taking ten steps . I cut down through both, bones and all, asI summoned the【Soulblade of Origin]in my right and the【Emerald Crystal Blade]in my right .

「「Gugyarah!?」」

「Sorry, I don’t particularly have anything against either of you . You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time . 」

I used a decorative string to mount the【Emerald Crystal Blade]to my hip drawing【Holy Blade of Vengeance]in my left as if to replace it .

「Gugyoh!!」「Bubrah!?」「Kyupi!?」「Gogyaaah!」「Borouu」「Gyann!?」

「This isn’t going anywhere . I can’t seem to calm down . I must look really pathetic right now, I should make sure I never let Minnalis, my accomplice, see me like this . 」

I went on a killing spree; I annihilated all the monsters that approached me, and went around rushing down the ones that didn’t . Their dying cries filled my ears, there wasn’t a moment in which I didn’t hear at least one monster scream in pain .

「Again, I’m really sorry . 」

It only took me a few minutes to more or less completely exterminate all the monsters located within the forest’s shallower part, so I moved towards a clearing that happened to have a huge swarm within it .

The clearing was about as large as a gym, and had so many monsters present that it almost seemed to resemble a sort of camping ground .

There were all sorts of monsters, namely red caps, green boars, hobgoblins, sword goblins, grey garms, orcs, and trolls . At a glance, it seemed to me that there were actually enough monsters here for me to fight to my heart’s content . Many of the 100-odd individuals had already began putting on a display of either fear or hostility .

「Gulp gulp gulp . 」

I downed an entire MP potion in a single swig and chucked its container skywards .

「Gugya!?」「Gugyu!!」「Gogyaa!!」

I didn’t really think about my approach and instead just dove straight in . My first target was a group of three goblins that happened to be just a bit cut off from all the other monsters . I impaled them all spilled their blood all over as I extracted my blades from their corpses .

「I’m going to have all of you die so I can vent my stress . 」

I shifted gears, honed my focus, removed my body’s limiters, and went an entire step beyond just using the full extent of my strength .

☆

「Kuhaaaaah! Ahahahahahahahaha!!」

Heads flew and hearts stopped as my blades engaged in a merciless act of violence .

「Die! Man, this feels amazing! I can’t get enough of it!」

The blood that’d risen to my head impaired my ability to think . I’d almost felt like I’d downed a hard couple shots of liquor; my thoughts were drowned in both intoxication and exhilitartion . My instincts drove me to kill and think about nothing but the act of murder .

I was glad that there existed something I could kill for fun .

「Kuhaaaaah! Ahahahahahahahaha!!」

A seemingly insane laugh continued to leave my throat despite the fact that I hadn’t intended on it .

I continued to move and trample anything in my path .

I didn’t bother attempting to kill my enemies in the most efficient manner possible . I didn’t go for vital points or aim for weak spots . I simply used the strength I’d obtained from removing my limiters to bash my weapons into them the moment I saw them .

It only took me five minutes to finish my rampage and pile the monsters’ corpses into a sort of hill . The blood that drained from their bodies soaked into the ground and turned into a sort of crimson mud . The only thing left alive in the midst of all that chaos was me .

「Hah… Hah… Whew . 」

I sighed deeply after making sure there were no more living things in the surrounding area . I’d finished venting . I was still a bit pissed off, but the flames of hatred within me had already been reduced to mere embers . The only thing I was really still feeling was a sense of emptiness .

「How come I can never figure anything out until it’s already too late for me to do anything about it?」

Words began to leak out of me, one by one .

（You were right, Retishia . This world is… as real as can be . There are good parts to it, but its filled with all sorts of scum . ）

My nails dug into my palms; I squeezed my hands so hard I began to bleed .

I felt like trash . I knew that I would choose the course of action that worked best for the purposes of my revenge regardless of what ultimately ended up happening to Shuria . I only sympathized her and selfishly vented my anger because I knew she wouldn’t be able to get in the way of my revenge

「…Why can’t things ever just be undone?」

I gave voice to a complaint that’d been swirling around inside of me . I knew, but didn’t want to acknowledge that it was just a pretext, something I was saying because I was throwing a child-like tantrum .

…Why did I have to be taken back to the moment I was summoned?

It was too late .

I’d already lost everything by then .

Why couldn’t time be pushed even further back?

「Ahaha… How pathetic of me . 」

The fact that I was given a chance to enact my revenge was already, in and of itself, a miracle .

I knew that the world didn’t exist for my sake . Time would continue to tick regardless of how I felt . I’d been given a second chance, but that unbreakable rule still did apply . I’d sworn vengeance, but that didn’t mean I’d actually wanted a second chance .

But again, my feelings were utterly irrelevant . I ended up going back in time regardless because that was what some Goddess had dictated would happen upon my death .

I knew that I didn’t have any say in it, and that it was something that would’ve happened regardless, but, I still wanted to pathetically lament just how unreasonable my circumstances were .

That was the real reason why I’d thrown a fit of rage, the real reason for which I’d needed to vent . Seeing Shuria and coming to understand her situation had been the same as a blow to the nuts . It hit me right where I was weakest .

「Oh man, I’m being really lame right now . I have to make sure no one ever sees me like this . 」

I wanted to take back everything I’d lost .

My lingering affections for the past, for everything that I’d held dear prior to my summoning, caused me to break down, almost into tears — a sight I didn’t want anyone to see .

Because that wasn’t how an avenger was supposed to be .

「I’ll kill them . I’ll murder every single last one of them in cold blood, and trample over their emotions for my own enjoyment . 」

I honed my thoughts and concentrated them on my bloodlust .

I’d already made my choice, all I needed to do now was abide by it .

I cleansed my heart of any remaining weakness and focused the entirety of my being on enacting my revenge . I burnt away all the impurities I had within me and left nothing but the a filthy, cold vengeful flame .

I renewed my vow to kill every single last one of the bastards that’d betrayed me .

There was no point in wasting time being sentimental when my prey was right before my eyes .

…I was going to torture and torment her in every which way before finally killing her as she wallowed in despair .

Revenge was a twisted, jealous mistress . I needed to focus on it and nothing else as enacted it .

「Haah… Okay, looks like I’ve finally managed to calm down a bit . 」

Spitting out all my excess emotions had allowed me to immerse my entire mind in displeasure and rage .

「Ahaha… Aw crap . This… isn’t really a laughing matter, is it?」

I only just realized that my body was covered from head to toe in monster blood . I hadn’t noticed it when I was running about swinging my sword around, but now that I had, I realized I was extremely uncomfortable .

I still had about 30% of my mana left, I was feeling really mana drunk because of how high my rate of consumption had been . I normally hated the feeling, but today, I kinda seemed to like it . It felt like it was warming me up .

（It took me longer to wipe them out than I’d been expecting even though I used my trump card . I guess I’m still far, far off from what I used to be . ）

I decided, after entertaining the thought, that I wanted to clean myself off immediately, so I pulled out a barrel I normally used to store water I could drink in an emergency and raised it overhead so I could wash myself clean .

And as I did, I recalled a bit of the conversation I had with Shuria .

『So um, Kaito… Do you think we’ll ever meet again?』

「Yeah, I’m sure we will . 」

I decided, there and then, that, if she so desired, I would lead her down my heretical path, much as would a demon in fairytale .

「Okay…」

I shook myself dry and stretched after washing myself off before allowing my shoulders to drop back to their usual positions .

「Man, I’m starving, tired, and I feeling kinda sluggish . 」

I rubbed my stomach as I voiced a few complaints .

It was about 3 in the afternoon . I knew I already had lunch, but for some odd reason, I was feeling as hungry as I would’ve had I not eaten all day .

The method I had employed to wipe out all my enemies not only made it easy for me to get mana drunk, but also made me hella hungry .

I ignored the bloody landscape around me and immediately grabbed a piece of dried meat within my round pouch and immediately chowed down . I knew I couldn’t just leave all these corpses here, so I had Slucky devour them . He wasn’t able to get rid of the scent of blood that filled the area, but that wasn’t really something I could do much of anything about .

I didn’t really have any reason to stay around, so I left the area so I would no longer have to smell the scent of blood as I continued to chew on a chunk of jerky .