A Former Child Soldier Who Uses a Magic Sword Wants to Live with an Older Sister of a Former Enemy E

Seto was sinking.

The darkness blocking out all light gently enveloped his body, slowly falling like dandelion fluff.

Anywhere he looked was dark, as if his eyes were closed, and he could not pick up any smell either.

But the one thing he was certain of was that there was something down there keeping his sanity intact.

He was about to land on what seemed to be the ground.

As soon as Seto had this intuition, his feet felt the ground.

He stood there in mild shock and waited for a while, then he gradually felt his surroundings getting brighter.

When he squinted his eyes to adjust them to the light and check the area, what was presented to him was a “post-apocalyptic world.”

The sun shining from a sky with an unsettling color made the wilderness all around sizzling hot.

Countless animal bones, including those of humans, and worn-out swords and spears, were lying around, which served to indicate how harsh this environment was.

Seto could not believe what he was seeing.

Since he was not knowledgeable about magic, he had no way of telling if this was an illusion or not.

However, the ambient heat he felt was definitely real.

The sensation that he was steaming in his clothes was unpleasant.

And most of all, just being there made his mouth dry.

He wanted to get out of this space as soon as possible, but he had no clue how to do that.

And most of all, he could not find the “wraith” that was supposed to be waiting for him there.

Seto decided to explore this world first.

As he walked, the vestiges of life he passed by seemed to be telling Seto of the intense tragedy that destruction was.

He could hear the moaning and sobbing of the dead in the flickering, shimmering sunlight.

This was not a normal world.

Even Seto, who had had his fair share of battlefields, frowned in discomfort at all this.

And then…

[———Repeated hardships and tribulations gradually dry up the heart. ] (???)

A mysterious voice echoed out of nowhere.

It was the voice of a sinister man, which sounded as if it came from the deepest of darknesses.

[They will eventually create an endless wasteland in the heart. And instill brutality in it!] (???)

Seto looked around.

Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him.

When he turned around spontaneously, a man dressed in black was standing there.

He was wearing a black cloak that covered his entire body, a triangular hat worn by aristocrats, and he was holding a lantern designed to look like a skull in his right hand.

His face was hidden behind the mask of a clown with dreadful makeup.

A muffled voice emerged from within the mask.

[Sadness is meant to bring tears to our eyes. It is a blessing that brings moisture to the heart, and opens the way to the next step. But with a dry heart, one cannot shed any tears. Therefore, they can never be fulfilled.] (Dark clown)

He put his words together as if reciting a curse, which echoed through this devastated world.

Seto also had a bad feeling about him.

It was as if the words of the man standing before him were eating away at his heart.

However, this was not enough to intimidate him.

Without saying a word, he drew his magic sword out of its dimensional pocket, and held it in front of his eyes.

He kept his center of gravity low, and he did not put any more strength than necessary into his body.

This allowed him to keep a good balance.

Because this way, he could instantly exert his power that way, and respond to any attack.

Convinced that at this distance, he could close the gap between them at once, Seto quietly waited for the chance to strike a blow to the stranger’s neck.

As if in response to Seto’s fighting spirit, the man’s cloak fluttered in the hot wind.

He exuded a majestic aura, like a Demon King in a play.

Even the words he uttered were filled with hatred.

[No moisture can be brought to this wasteland. The tears that should be flowing do not, and the soul is left in a desiccated heart that cannot heal from its sorrow. And it remains as such, forever and ever. ——Alas, what loneliness! Sorrow feels lonely, indeed! …And gradually, you feel nothing about anything anymore. Not even the fact that you should not be able to live without tears. Nothing…!] (Dark clown)

The man vigorously opened his cloak and raised his right hand, then a reddish-purple hot wind gathered into his lantern.

[My name is “Dry Sorrow”. Do you hear the voices of the woeful ones? The deep outrage of those pitiful souls who can no longer shed any tears… CAN YOU HEAR IT!?] (Dark clown/Dry Sorrow)

Seto felt an unusual aura from him and immediately stepped back to widen the gap between them.

The hot wind brought about a whirlwind of sand around the wraith to protect him, one that covered the area where Seto had been standing just a second ago.

Its radius was about five meters.

The heated wind was sapping Seto’s strength.

Even from where he was standing right now, he could feel the heat, so if he went inside that whirlwind, it would get even hotter.

In order to defeat that wraith, he had to rush into that sandstorm and slay him.

With his sweat pouring out profusely and his breath becoming erratic, Seto was gradually being driven to a corner.

I see. So I was already under attack the moment I entered this space. And it’d be really easy for him to beat me. ——I should just buy time. If I wait for him to exhaust his strength and cut him down when he’s too tired to move, then I can score an easy victory. (Seto)

While staring at the wraith eerily cackling inside the whirlwind, Seto readied his magic sword once again.

This was not his first time fighting in a harsh environment.

The sensation of the battlefield, where he nearly died numerous times while defeating his enemies, still lingered.

And then, there was his ordinary, but fulfilling daily life with Satis.

Normally, living a peaceful life would usually cause your body to become sluggish, and your senses on the battlefield would grow dull as well.

Then when the situation calls for a fight, your body would often tend not to move as you intended.

But Seto was different.

Every battle-related switch was flipped on in Seto’s mind.

Electrical signals passed through all of his nerves, and his body shifted to a mode that allowed him to act specifically for “destruction”.

Was it his ability as a magic swordsman, or was it innate in Seto himself?

It was unclear which it was, but Seto was now focusing on destroying the enemy in front of him with the power of his magic sword.

An aura different from the battles he fought up until now exuded from Seto’s body.

It was even more intense than when he first fought Sebek.

That lantern of his not only manipulates hot air, but it also absorbs the surrounding moisture? A long term battle would be overwhelmingly disadvantageous for me. (Seto)

Seto calmly analyzed the enemy’s movements and characteristics.

It had to be even hotter inside that whirling sandstorm.

Walking from inside there at a slow pace as if he were wearing heavy armor, he marched in Seto’s direction.

He would’ve been more of a threat if he ran or flew at me, and yet… I see. It seems he can’t move that freely when he’s manipulating wind and moisture with that lantern. (Seto)

But knowing that would not be enough for him to bring down that stronghold of sand and hot air.

Even in an overheated world that was gradually robbing him of so much, Seto kept a cool head.

[O child haunted by death. Can your dry heart heal my sorrow? Can you cut through my storm? If not, then you will end up as another dry husk.] (Dry Sorrow)

[My ‘dry heart’? That’s a fine thing to say. I may not look like it, but I’ve come a long way, you know? …I’m going to surpass you! Just you wait!!] (Seto)

Seto moved forward at high speed while keeping a low posture.

As a sharp air slash fired from the tip of his magic sword pointed downwards gouged the ground, the wraith stopped in his tracks, and raised his lantern high in the air.

[Uooooooohhh!!] (Dry Sorrow)

When the wraith shouted, a fiery hot wind, full of sand and roaring eerily, whirled up and blocked Seto’s way.

It was like a raging wave of earth, or a huge curtain of heat.

To prevent his nose and mouth from being burned by the heat and sand, Seto tore off an excess part of his clothes and covered his mouth and nose with it.

He had not plunged through a sandstorm since back when he was a child soldier taking reckless orders from the adults on the battlefield.

His body felt like it was on fire.

As all the sweat gushing out of him dried up and evaporated instantly, Seto moved towards the wraith at full speed.

From the moment he decided to make it a short-term battle, Seto came to terms with the likelihood that he was not going to make it out unharmed.

His dark fighting spirit, which was so out of ordinary and free of all hesitation it was hard to believe it belonged to a child soldier, seemed foreign even to the wraith.

In the midst of all the mental and physical damage he sustained, Seto tried to persist with his will to run his blade into the wraith.

[…Interesting. Go ahead and face my sorrowful trial!] (Dry Sorrow)

He turned around as he vigorously flapped his black cloak with his left hand to reel it in.

It happened just as Seto was about to reach the wraith after breaking through the wind that was repelling him.

Together with the sandstorm enveloping him, the wraith disappeared instantly.

[What!?] (Seto)

The sensation that time was frozen caused Seto to stop moving.

He saw nothing but the endless wasteland, as if nothing had ever happened.

Left alone in the middle of it all, Seto was feeling thirsty from all the water he had lost, but he remained vigilant about his surroundings.

[Sorrow engulfs the heart. But no amount of tears can ever fulfill it. It shall dry up forever in this dessert…] (Dry Sorrow)

Suddenly, a voice could be heard.

It seemed to echo directly into his mind.

Seto’s intuition told him that it came from nearby, then he turned his gaze to the sky.

The sun was blocked by something huge, which came down on Seto.

————It was a storm of sand and hot wind.

At the center of it was the wraith, with his cloak spread out like wings.

He was holding the lantern in his right hand, and an ax in his left one. Then with the fury of nature, he attacked. 

[Oh crap! Is this guy for real!?] (Seto)

[Uooooooohhh!] (Dry Sorrow)

The force of the ax he wielded along with the sandstorm was so great that it caused the dry air of the wasteland to vibrate, creating a shockwave that reverberated throughout the area.

When the sandstorm was cleared up by that clash, the two were crossing blades, and sparks were flying.

Seto battled the wraith, swinging his sword in the middle of this scorching land.

When Seto realized that he had the advantage in close combat, he encouraged himself even further to keep swinging his sword at his foe. 

[Guooohh!?] (Dry Sorrow)

The tip of his magic sword gouged out a bit of the wraith’s body.

The latter grunted in pain, jumped backward, and summoned another sandstorm to protect himself.

But of all things, the entire sandstorm actually started to disperse.

The additional heat it generated made Seto feel dizzy.

Seto dropped to one knee in exhaustion, as he had lost most of his body water from having moved so much.

[Such sorrow… Such sorrow… Ohh, you poor woeful ones! For dust you were, and to dust you returned! ——Now, you shall vanish as well. Along with your soul.] (Dry Sorrow)

The wraith, who was convinced that he had already won, tenderly announced it to Seto, and a bright red light began to shine from the lantern manipulating sand and hot air.

Shining like the countless stars surrounding this planet, it was guiding Seto towards his own death.

Alone and suffering in a world that was no longer a suitable environment for the living, what Seto did was…

[W-What?] (Dry Sorrow)

Shake his head to keep himself thoroughly conscious, and stand up.

He firmly planted his feet on the ground, gripped the magic sword with both hands, and assumed a middle-level stance.

——The boy had not given up on anything yet.

The will to clear a way even in the harshest of circumstances exuded from his fighting spirit.

[Sorry, but I can’t find the right words to respond to that sorrow of yours. I’m not very smart, so I’m not good at making witty remarks. …But I gotta do my best to ‘destroy’ you. For the sake of walking down the path I’ve set my eyes on.] (Seto)

At the same moment his magic sword took on a red glow, a bright red light leaked out of Seto’s eyes as a glint.

And for the first time since his journey began, Seto uttered the ‘name’ of his magic sword.

[Magic sword, unleashed. …——Let’s go, Baal Zebul*!] (Seto)

(*: Baal Zebul is another name for Beelzebub, the Lord of the Flies. The kanji used for it mean “Bountiful Harvest and Benevolent Rain”.)