Chapter 196

“Usato-sama is a kind-hearted person.”

　The knight of the Kingdom of Lingle who had him interrogated mentioned such a thing.

　I’m sure the results are going to be good for me, although I shrugged off the fact that I could have easily told him what I wanted to hear just by torturing him and then showing him the illusion of being rescued by his friends.

　Healing magician, Usato.

　The best friend of the two heroes.

　Humans belong to the Rescue Mission, an organisation with notorious healing magicians.

　Their role is to heal and save wounded people on the battlefield.

　I was filled with a feeling of joy as I had succeeded in finding out about healing magicians, who until now had existed in a nebulous way, and I was uncharacteristically full of joy.

　It’s not only that you can see the holes that need to be poked, but more importantly, you can see the distinct weaknesses of the two heroes that are our obstacles.

　The only kind people are easy prey for me.

　It’s easy to show mercy not only to your friends, but even to your enemies.

　I kill them because they are my enemies.

　Because they are enemies, I will not let them leave alive.

　I am glad from the bottom of my heart that the boy Usato is not a person who can make such a decision.

　Because then there are so many ways to do it.

　—But when I saw him in the flesh, I realised what a monster he was.

　I should have realised that it was unusual when Koga-kun talked so much about it.

　To the casual observer, it sounds as if he took it easy on the Second Corps commander, Koga-kun, just for the fun of it, and got a painful blowback.

　But when you look at him, he really doesn’t seem human.

　I don’t think I can even define it as human.

　There’s a black, wispy thing growing out of its body, and it’s carrying an unusual, demonic-looking bird on its shoulder. What is strangest of all is that the flying dragon that was hit is clearly taking impact from something other than its fist when it attacks wearing the light of healing magic.

　I have no idea what the principle behind that is.

—It seems impossible to deal with that thing. ……

　The moment our eyes met in the air, we understood.

　It’s not like the humans we know. Somewhere …… At least the appearance and shape of the demon was appropriate.

　Let my men do their best to stall them and I’ll just leave.

　And as I was about to tell that to my men who were holding the reins of the flying dragon, a thought occurred to me.

—Wouldn’t I have a strong army if I could get my hands on it?

　So I got a bit greedy.

　To put it mildly, he has subdued the second flying dragon just now, and he has the strength of a corps commander class. Perhaps he could be considered even more troublesome than the current heroes.

　If …… I can control him with my magic, I can eliminate my only weakness —my stand-alone weakness.

　The more I think about it, the more the benefits are too great to pass up.

　I have come to a conclusion.

　I’m not going to run away, I’m going to do something about it.

—I’ve decided to play a trick on the “gentle” healing magician.

　In order to do this, you must first switch with a female soldier of about the same age that you have brought along as a decoy in case of emergency while he is fighting with the subordinates that you have recruited to buy time.

　It’s a stupid plan that any normal person would come up with, but I’m sure he’ll fall for the trap.

　After all, he is kind.

　He’s not mature enough to deal with an unresisting person.

　Being kind is not always a good thing.

　While there are people who are kept alive by this kindness, there are also people who are hurt by it.

　He is the best example.

　He is a sweet, sweet boy, whose good intentions will be trampled on by me, and whose whole life will be spent on my behalf.

　Fear was no more.

　The healing magician, or rather Usato, was a young, yet easily manipulated child like Koger, and would be easily fooled.

　By using my men as discarded pawns, his defenceless back finally showed.

　Making no sound, I approached him pretending to hold the reins, and my hand successfully caught Usato’s head.

　With the magic power of the phantom system, which is impossible for an ordinary human to even resist, being sent to his head, I had a kind of sense of accomplishment and let out an unbearable cry of joy.

“Ha, ha! I did it! I did it!”

“……”

　The first heartfelt laugh I’ve had in years.

　I can’t remember the last time I laughed, but it doesn’t matter.

　I was now able to use the monster known as man as a pawn.

　And it’s a healing magician no less.

　I’ve got a powerful healer that no demon could have created.

“Let’s start by misidentifying me as an ally.”

　It’s not just a pawn for this battlefield.

　Rather, it would be too regrettable to let go of a person who has more prowess than a demon tribe, so we should carefully imprint him with illusions and bring him back to the demon lord’s territory even after the battle.

“Hmph.”

　Just when I was convinced that I had won completely — at the same time as his torso wriggled, something like a black sharp thorn was thrust out to pierce my heart.

　Suddenly, I was caught off guard and couldn’t move properly.

“Fuck you!”

“What?”

　His right arm, which was supposed to be in control of him, moved and grabbed the thorn to stop it.

“Ferrum, stop.”

“!? Usato, you’re being …… manipulated by ……!”

“Don’t worry. I’m fine.”

　I did not order Usato to stop.

　So why did he move in front of me? My own magic shouldn’t be able to do anything.

　Ignoring my stunned reaction, he removed his hands from my cheeks and said, ” Hmph!” He then pushes out a kind of spirit(?). He then pushes away the magical power of the illusion I poured into him.

“Eh?……What?”

“Your illusions don’t work on me. Even if it did, it would only blur my vision.”

　—That’s weird.

　It must have caught them completely by surprise and poured magic into them.

　If you’re a normal human, you’ll be affected by the illusion the moment you touch it.

　It was as easy as a child sweeping away a spider’s web.

　What am I being shown?

　What is he talking about with his harmless face? This guy.

　What the hell is this?

　I’m scared.

　My body trembles with an unfathomable fear.

　At that time, a sudden speculation crossed my mind.

“Yah, I knew you’re the devil incarnate …… of ……?”

“What? No that’s not——-“

“Yes, you are. It’s a demon in human skin. It’s a demon that can use healing magic.”

“Huh?”

“Hey, Nea!”

　The owl on his shoulder started to talk.

　This bird is not a demon! Why is it talking?

　Is it possible that I’m being shown an illusion? How long have I been seeing these visions?

　Could it be that the elf has shown me a vision ……!

　The sequence of events up to this point has been so unusual that I can’t decide where the illusion or reality comes from.

　Could it have been an illusion from the beginning?

　If you think about it, it doesn’t make sense that such healing magicians exist.

　If you think about it more calmly, even the fact that there are people flying around like that is fearless.

　It’s an affront to life.

　In other words….. The scene I’m seeing now is an illusion, not reality.

“And if you don’t unravel ……. If you don’t wake up, ……”

　In order to counteract the illusion that has been cast on me, I cast a visionary spell on myself, tormented by fear, but my vision does not change at all.

　I want to return to reality.

　I want to escape from this impossible reality.

　But no matter how hard I try to cast a spell on myself, the scene in front of me never changes.

“The scene you are looking at is an unmistakable reality.”

“No, that’s not true. This can’t be true. There can’t be such a person. ……!　It must be an illusion! I’m under some kind of mental attack!”

“Hmmm ……”

　The owl’s eyes glow red.

　The edge of Usato’s mouth hangs up like a twitch.

　The nightmare never ends.

　I am cornered and take out a small knife for self-defence that I have kept in my pocket.

　I know that I can’t kill the demon in front of me with this thing. But it is possible to force myself to wake up from the illusion by hurting myself ……!

　I swung the knife down to thrust it into my own thigh.

“Hey! What are you doing!”

“Kya!”

　But it was easily grabbed by the blade and taken away.

　When I looked up in despair, I saw that Usato had snapped the knife in half and was glaring at me with a scowl on his face.

“Don’t you dare do anything rash!”

“Wow, are you trying to torture me?”

“Uhh what……?”

　I was not allowed to wake up or even to lose consciousness easily.

　I am frightened, and the owl with the red eyes mocks me.

“Just stop your futile resistance. If you don’t, who knows what this guy will do? …… Ferrum.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

　As he says this, bat-like wings sprout from his bewildered shoulders.

　Disastrous, jet-black wings sprouted from their backs.

　He looked down at me with a face shadowed by backlighting, and his white clothes, which conjured up images of holiness, were now frightening to me.

“Ahhh ahhhhh……”

“Um hello? What’s wrong?”

　He tilted his head and reached out to me in fear.

　The sharp shape of his devilish hand was so close to me that my spirit reached its limit.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I won’t do anything bad anymore, please forgive me……!”

“? It’s good that you’ve changed your mind, but if you back off any further, you’re in danger–“

“—–Ah!”

　As I fell backwards to escape, I was enveloped in a strange floating feeling and my vision turned black.

　Hanna almost gave me a vision, but after successfully getting over it with my own resistance, I attempted to restrain her.

　But then I noticed that she was in a strange state of dismay, and she fell down and jumped off the flying dragon, apologising furiously as she ran away from me.

“Oh, that was close …….”

　I breathe out a sigh of relief as I grab Hanna’s hand and pull her up, as she is about to fall off the flying dragon with white eyes.

　I can’t let the corps leader get away, you know.

　If she escapes and manipulates my allies again, I’ll be in a lot of trouble.

　…… All that’s left is to get down.

　With this in mind, she spoke to a Demon Army soldier who was forced to pretend to be Hanna behind her.

“Please bring this flying dragon down to the ground.”

“I’m sorry, but my soul is not delicious! Please forgive me. ……! I don’t want to die yet. ……!”

“……”

　Not just teary-eyed, but crying and begging for her life.

　What’s going on? Why does she think I’m going to take her soul? What have I done to her in this whole exchange ……?

　I’ve never been treated like a monster before, and I’m used to it, but I’m confused.

“Hey. If you’ve done something to her, tell us. We won’t be offended.”

　I leave the reins of the flying dragon in the hands of the soldier and, with Hanna  by my side, I pursue the two suspects.

“No, nothing?”

“It’s just that you look like a demon, don’t you think?”

“Well, I’ve done some devilish things.”

“Yeah, right.”

　This owl and this demon girl……!

They make a blue streak when they are close to each other, which is unthinkable after seeing how they normally are.

　I’m definitely going to “ask” about it later, ……!

　After making a firm vow in my heart to do so, I look at the flying dragon descending to the ground.

“Ah, ah, be safe,……, be safe. But good luck, Shawn. You’re a strong flying dragon,……!”

“Gyaa……”

“When the battle is over, we promised to travel around the whole continent together,……!”

　She confirms that she has landed on the ground, slightly worried about the strong character of the soldier who was forced to take Hanna’s place.

　On the ground, it seems that Flana-san and the knights were still fighting with the demons and the soldiers, but when they saw that I captured Hanna, the leader of the army, they all stopped moving.

“Ha-Hanna-sama is ……”.

“The sky is supposed to be safe, but why!”

“For that matter, what should we do ……!”

　Thanks to the capture of one of the commanders, the corps commander, it seems that we were able to reduce the spirit.

“Gieea……!”

“Is that the flying dragon I dropped earlier ……?”

　But some of them are roaring with anger towards me.

　I changed my mind and glared at it to fight back — for some reason, the flying dragon turned around and let out a frightened scream, turned its back on me and ran away.

“I guess Glow Wolf is scared of Usato too.”

“Only if you knock down a flying dragon flying in the sky like that. It’s only natural for a demon to think on instinct.”

　In my mind’s eye, I see Mill’s words, “If you intimidate them with your eyes, they’ll naturally run away!” and Guld’s words, “If they think you’re one of them, they won’t attack you!”

　Ugh, I can’t believe I’m putting the most unlikely idea into practice ……!

“Without a corps leader, now is an opportune time! I’m going to take control of this place…!”

“””Ooooh!”””

　The knights go after the soldiers who are upset because of the lack of the army commander.

　As I look over the situation, I’m thinking about depositing the captured Hanna and another soldier as prisoners of war to the knights in the rear, when Flana-san comes running up to me.

“Usato, are you alright!”

“Yeah. …… I managed to get Hanna, the leader, and her subordinate soldiers, so I’ll leave the rest to the knights in the rear.”

“Then leave it to me! I’ll make sure they’re securely restrained so they can’t do any more harm!”

　I nodded to Flana-san’s words and handed her the unconscious Hanna.

　Flana-san tilted her head when she saw her fainted face and the prone and frightened soldier beside her.

“She’s fainting with a look on her face like she’s seen something out of this world. …… What did you do? The soldier who caught him behind me is also frightened. ……”

　That’s what I want to know too.

　I’m going to ask Nea, who has just blatantly looked away, about it later.

　But first, I’ve got some work to do.

“The fact that we got Hanna should help us get back on track somewhat, but …… that doesn’t change the fact that we’re still outnumbered.”

“But we still have to fight.”

　I can’t give up here.

　Both senpai and Kazuki are …… and now that Rose is fighting a strong enemy, I have to do what I can too.

“So, I’m going to the next place—–“

“Hey, Usato!”

“Oi!”

　As I try to walk away, I get a slight dizzy spell and almost collapse.

　Although I didn’t collapse, supported by Nea, who had reverted to human form, I couldn’t help but realise that I was more exhausted than I thought.

“Usato, you should rest your body, even if only a little! You look pale after all that fighting!”

“It’s as Flana said. You can’t keep going like this ……”

　I’m sure I’ve been trained to conserve magic power, but as expected, it seems to have been enduring a continuous outburst of magic power.

　But the vertigo only lasted for a moment and quickly subsided.

　When I tried to stand up alone, I heard a roaring sound not far from here.

　Looking that way, a snake as big as or bigger than the evil dragon is rampaging about. Its mouth appears to be dispersing a poisonous-coloured liquid.

“We can’t rest yet. ……”

“…… I understand. But if I decide that you’re at your limit, I’ll use magic to force yourself to stop.”

“When the time comes, I’ll move Usato using the armour.”

　I’ve never heard of that.

　If I faint, will Ferrum be able to move my body?

　But I’m aware that I can’t stop myself, so if it comes to that, I’d appreciate it.

　Sighing, I look at Nea, who has returned to her owl and then to her shoulder, and then I look at Flana-san.

“So, I’m going to go ahead ……!”

“Just like Kazuki, once you’ve made up your mind, you won’t bend. If so, I won’t stop you any longer. ……But if you do anything rash, both Suzune and Kazuki will be sad. ……Don’t die.”

“…… Yeah!”

　I nod to Flana-san, who looks at me and has a somewhat sad expression on her face.

　I turn around and head towards the place where the knights are fighting with the giant snake.

　Perhaps I won’t be useful in the fight, but I should still be able to heal those who are being poisoned by that snake.

Author’s Note:

Usato: “I’m a monster? No, I’m a demon…” (Hanna’s POV)

When the wings of a demon suddenly appear from a person who is moving strangely, it is easy to believe it.

Hanna herself was in an unstable state, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.

The next update is scheduled for tomorrow at 6pm.