Only the Party Members Returned, Not the Hero

32. Justice of the Hero (1)

32.

“Ah.”

Jump up.

I got up from my seat with only my upper body standing in the same position as I was lying down.

The itchy feeling of grass on the back, the lap pillow, and the night sky.

There was no such thing.

As usual, I was greeted by a soft bed, gray pillows, and a plain ceiling.

“Is it a dream?”

I shook my head and stood up.

My body was strangely light. As if someone cast a healing spell on it.

It was still night when I pulled back the curtains on the window. Rather than night, it was closer to dawn.

When I checked her mana inside her body, I noticed that her mana was not moving little by little to see if her Elish was sleeping as well.

It must have been some kind of deep, old dream.

I don’t remember.

I opened the door and went out to get some fresh air.

When I came down the stairs to the living room, I saw Elish sitting blankly in front of the table.

Could it be that he also knocked?

“Elish.”

“Uh, huh.”

Pronunciation that is somewhere between surprise and delight.

She looked at me with thick dark circles around her eyes and waved her hand frantically, as if she was dozing instead of sitting idly.

“Joe, good morning, Ellen. It was waiting.”

“No, even knock.”

“I couldn’t help myself because I looked so tired. So, being nice, I was waiting here until you woke up.”

Then it looks like Elish didn’t do it.

I pulled out a chair in front of the table and sat across from Elish, took the teacup that had cooled down in front of her, and took a few sips.

“It’s mine, it’s mine.”

“I’m thirsty.”

“Uh, yes, I drank it….”

Elish’s dark eyes widen as if he was embarrassed.

After half emptying the cup, I pushed the cup in front of her again and stretched her while touching the back of her neck.

“Did you sleep well?”

She asked while fiddling with the teacup placed in front of her.

“Good night, how about Elish?”

“I slept well too.”

“You haven’t been sleeping, you’ve been sitting here all along. Why are you lying?”

“Ugh, huh? It’s just a courtesy…. It was such an answer, not a lie….”

“I know, I just said it.”

“… ….”

Elish’s eyes are floating.

It seemed like I was trying to figure out if I was teasing her or picking a fight on her, but she wouldn’t be able to tell no matter how much she looked at it.

She was both joking and quarreling.

I don’t have to wake up either.

“So why did you wait for me?”

“Ah, there is a reason. Before that, the hand… ?”

“This.”

I looked at the one hand that had been pierced by the sword, and held it out in front of Elish, towards the palm of her hand.

Elish tried to put her own hand on top of her outstretched hand.

What did her future I do with her, how she tried to reach out to her as if it was natural, like her dog.

“… ….”

“…… Wow, you look fine!”

Elish, who manages to break her awkward mood, fanned her own cheek with one of her hands.

“It’s fortunate, I wanted to show it to you from today. From what I heard from EL, she is learning a new swordsmanship… ?”

Couldn’t it be that this saintess spread rumors all over the neighborhood?

She said, “Only I was told it was a secret. She can’t help it, because if it’s not me, I can’t handle her magic that much….”

“Yes, it’s embarrassing to say it’s swordsmanship, and I just had something to prepare.”

“I heard that it is a technique for cutting things that do not have a form.”

How far does EL know?

I didn’t know what to say, so I scratched my cheek, then just nodded.

“Okay, if what I heard from Ellen and what Ellen thinks match, then I can help. To call it help is just providing the environment.”

Elish was about to get up, but he picked up the cup I had half eaten and drank it down.

“Let’s go, I have something to show you.”

Elish’s face answered enthusiastically.

From the thread of her mana that connects her heart to mine, she begins to feel a sense of relief that she can be of help to him.

***

As I followed Elish out of the temporary lodgings, I saw the Ergenuke Knights setting up a tent and camping.

Maybe that’s why the area around the inn, which should have been dark in the middle of the forest, was quite bright.

One of the knights who was on guard bowed his head politely to me.

“Good evening, Champion Ellen.”

“Yes, you are having a hard time.”

“Of course this is what you have to do. Thank you.”

Don’t ask unnecessary things, and don’t say unnecessary things.

What was your impression of seeing the Knights returning to their seats after exchanging light greetings?

That’s why it’s called knights class, that’s about it.

“This way, Ellen.”

Elish, who is one head shorter than me, quickly leaves the camp and heads into the deep woods.

Looking at its back, relying on the moonlight at dawn.

Often often.

It sounds like there will be footsteps like that.

It was not difficult to reach the place where Elish arrived, it was a wide meadow.

Originally, the meadow, which must have been in the middle of a deep forest, was painted with a huge magic circle engraved on the floor, and the magic circle was shining softly, about as much as moonlight.

And I saw a scarecrow placed in the middle of the magic circle.

A scarecrow that looks like a child’s work.

An old helmet was also put on his head.

“There is no need to be surprised already.”

Elish’s shrugged voice.

I wasn’t surprised at all, but I think I should be surprised to say that.

“What is this?”

“It’s a training ground.”

“Anyone can understand what a training ground is, but why did they make it this way….”

To say that it was simply a training ground to match the assortment, it was quite complicated and a large amount of mana was elaborately floating inside the magic circle.

“There is a saying that it is better to see once than ask ten times.”

“Where is that word?”

“I just made it.”

“… ….”

“Give me your sword.”

Elish held out a hand to me.

I wonder why he suddenly became so impudent, but that’s what wizards are originally. The kind of beings who raise their noses the higher they are in front of the creations they put their heart and soul into.

So, without a word, I placed my old sword on Elise’s hand.

Even on a dark night, it’s such an old sword that I wonder if it will ever break.

A sword I bought with great determination at the cheapest blacksmith in town to enter the warrior school.

I wondered if I could cut wheat with this if mana didn’t flow, but it’s a precious sword.

While examining my sword here and there, Elish excitedly unsheathed it.

“The sword smells like Ellen.”

“Yes?”

“Oh, no, I don’t mean that…. A lot of your mana flowed, so that path was visible to me. Enough that you can tell it’s your sword no matter where you look.”

My sword was light enough for Elish to hold and wield.

It’s not that high-end iron was used, it’s just that it’s poorly made.

If it’s not mana, it might bend if you put it on a rock once.

“This scarecrow is not just a scarecrow.”

Elish holds my sword and stands next to the scarecrow in the center of the magic circle.

The scarecrow, which is taller than Elish, was probably tailored to my height.

“The swordsmanship you want is a sword that cuts the invisible. Furthermore, it is a sword that cuts what cannot be cut.”

More precisely.

One day, the sword that cuts the goddess.

If anyone hears it, you idiot, will that be? Even if you say it like that, it’s a dream without words.

Since it was a swordsmanship that was promised ridicule from the start, there was no name more appropriate for the son of an apostate.

“There are two layers of mana flowing through this scarecrow.”

Cancan.

My old iron sword strikes the helmet on the scarecrow’s head.

“One layer is Ellen’s mana, and one layer is my mana. The two are obviously the same but different. It is a stream of water flowing from your heart, but it becomes mine the moment it enters my body.”

Blue mana forms on the iron sword.

“And people cannot cut their own mana.”

He could destroy the mana he created, but strictly speaking, that wasn’t destruction.

It was close to absorption.

No matter how much Elish cuts the doll made with Elish’s mana, the doll will be distorted as if cutting water, and only the area of the sword will be absorbed back into Elish’s body.

I could see what Elish had in store for me.

The same but different scarecrow that overlaps the mana of two people.

I can’t cut them with my sword because they’re essentially the same.

It’s obviously different, so I should be able to cut it with my sword.

The iron sword flowing with blue mana slices through the scarecrow.

Perseok-

The scarecrow that couldn’t withstand the mana splits neatly in half, but soon the mana that flows out sticks back together and sticks together.

As if it had been cut off, it was once again firmly established in the middle of the magic circle.

“To cut things that cannot be cut, you must first cut things that can be cut.”

Elish placed the iron sword in my hand again.

The soft palm skin of Elish is wrapped around the rough back of the hand.

“I hope the first step of that will be this scarecrow.”