Sendai Yuusha wa Inkyou Shitai

『Hero』

Just how much hope and desire is put into that one word.

The opposite of the Demon Lord that destroys the world. The messiah that will save this world.

……I, that 『Hero』, am ignoring those people that seek 『salvation』, and am now on a journey to tour the world.

As if running away, from the dark emotions that are similar to a curse, that is placed into the word 『Hero』.

◇

「……! Yashiro-san!」

「Nn? ……Is something wrong?」

Since I was spacing out too much and looked like my awareness had flown away, I was called out to by Bernadette and right there, I remembered that I was on the verge of marching into a labyrinth.

「Don’t “is something wrong?” me! I’ve been calling you for a while now!」

Bernadette inflated her cheeks and was indignant.

「Sorry, sorry. So? Did we get permission?」

Fiona, who reported to the Guild that managed the labyrinth that she was going to dive into the labyrinth, was stopped as if it were only natural.

When I showed the black Guild Card just as planned, the inside of the Guild was in an uproar from top to bottom.

Unable to make a decision on the spot, they asked that we meet with the Guild Master, but Fiona refused this. She told them to hurry up and get the Guild Master’s permission.

Looks like her usual hatred for influential people hasn’t changed

「That’s why I was calling you. Jeez, Yashiro-san. You’ve been spacing out the whole time.」

「Ah~, sorry, sorry.」

When I stood up trying to run away while thinking “is this going to be a sermon?”, in the corner of my vision, something black took flight.

「A bat? ……What is it doing in a place like this?」

It was an ordinary bat that had a body that looked like it be placed on the palm of my hand and had wings that spread out to several times bigger than that body.

……That’s right, it was an ordinary bat.

「Yashiro-san!」

「Ah, yeah. I get it.」

When I thought “What is an ordinary bat doing in a place like this?”, I made myself consent to the idea that it probably gone astray and came here from the labyrinth, and then I walked over to the place where Fiona and Kuon and the others were waiting.

Up until the moment I removed my gaze from the bat, I felt the sensation that the bat was conversely looking at us.

◇

That place was a small space that used stones like they were bricks.

The fire of the torches hanging on the walls illuminated the stairway of the labyrinth whose interior had been filled with darkness.

「Now then! It’s the 『Black Rose Sky Pirates』’ first job!」

「「Roger that, Nee-san!」」

「You nitwits! Call me using Captain. Using Captain!」

In front of the entrance to the labyrinth, Angelica folded her arms and let out an encouraging yell.

Not feeling in the mood to make a halfhearted tsukkomi, I stroked the beak of Silber, who was carrying a large amount of luggage on his back.

「Before we enter the labyrinth, I’m going to give you a light explanation about this 『Nordyord』 Labyrinth.」

Wearing glasses that she pulled out from somewhere, Fiona started talking.

「This labyrinth is a fixed-model labyrinth, so it’s a type where maps are effective. Mapping has been done up until sub-floor 31.」

As she said that, Fiona pulled a thick book out from inside her white robe.

「Elf Nee-chan, is that a map?」

「While it is a map, it is also all of the information that was confirmed in this labyrinth.」

Fiona handed over the book to Kuon in response to her words. It probably meant that she wanted her to check it herself.

Kuon opened a page and became speechless. The information volume written on each and every page was incredible, and closely packed explanatory notes were written on the side of the maps.

「……Uwah, this is amazing. Things like the monster that come out and characteristic of the floor are even written in here.」

So in other words, it’s a walkthrough book. Well, since the subject of it hasn’t been conquered yet, it isn’t complete, so it’s probably more like a walkthrough of the opening of a game that goes together with the game on the day it goes on sale. Though, this one is handwritten.

「Sub-floor 30……Fiona, we can’t tell whether this is shallow or deep, can we?」

「I intuitively think that it’s plenty deep but……as I thought, without any positive proof, I can’t come up with a conclusion.」

Fiona let out a sigh, and then she took a long and narrow glass utensil that looked like a test tube out from the holster meant for a dagger that was attached to her thigh.

「A potion?」

「It’s a Mana potion. It’s a special make.」

When I asked that while thinking that I had a recollection of the emerald green liquid that was inside the test tube, Fiona corrected me.

「This Dungeon has a Transfer Magic Formation laid out every ten floors. I was the one that laid them out.」

「I see, so that means that we can go down until floor 30, correct?」

When she nodded to Bernadette’s words, Fiona turned the test tube upside down and poured the medicine into her mouth.

「Kuhah……Let’s go.」

Extremely distorting her face for an instant, Fiona instantly restored her facial expression.

Maybe it’s disgusting enough to break down her cool character, that potion.

「──『gate』, Activate」

When Fiona activated the magic, a line of light ran at the bottom of our feet, and started to mold the magic formation.

That performance, or perhaps I should say, expansion speed, I guess that’s to be expected of an Elf.

「……Hey, hey, Aniki. I guess it’s a little late to be saying this now, but is Transfer Magic something that can be used on a person themselves?」

Gazing at the state of the creation of that magic formation, Kuon asked that with a low voice.

She probably did that out of consideration so as not to reduce the Magician’s concentration.

「It depends on the situation, but the possibility certainly is there.」

Transfer Magic. It was the so-called Teleportation magic.

Among the Transfer Magics, there are several varieties, like the Wormhole model that opens up a hole that ties one target to another target.

And then there’s the Teleport model that sends things to the target’s place.

The Transfer Magic Formation in Lizwadia’s Clock Tower was the latter Teleport model.

The ones that were placed in my glove and weapons were the Wormhole model Transfer Magic Formation.

If it’s for personal use, the Wormhole model is the limit, while the Teleport model is something that can’t be activated unless there is large-scale operation equipment.

In Lizwadia’s case, it needed a magic formation that drew Maryoku from the leyline, which was an enormous stream of Maryoku.

「In that case, is it possible to instantly go around to an opponent’s back and go 『I’m behind you!』, is it!?」

Kuon had her eyes sparkling. ……I understand what she wanted to say. I was also in her place once, and had a time where I embraced the same thought after all.

The time when I had fallen ill to the invisible illness known as Chuunibyou.

「Unfortunately, that isn’t something that can be used in battle. Transfer magic needs to accurately know your current coordinates and the aimed coordinates. In the middle of battle, you can’t quickly operate such concentration, and it’s possible to do what you said if you use 『Shukuchi』.」

Kuon nodded saying “I guess that’s true”.

Transfer Magic was no good, but it might be good to teach her some other general magic. There’s no loss to remembering them after all.

When I was thinking such a thought, Bernadette came and poked me at my side.

「Wait, baka, that tickles.」

When I turned to her, Bernadette had a serious expression and was looking around at the vicinity.

「What’s wrong?」

「I can feel a gaze. ……It’s from someone other than us.」

Being told that by Bernadette, I also looked around the vicinity, from the stairway that extended down to the next floor of the labyrinth to the several stone torchlights that hung on the walls and were the sole light sources for this room.

I couldn’t see anything odd in this room.

「Sorry. I can’t sense anything other than bloodlust. ……Oi, Kuon. Kuon.」

When I called Kuon, who was looking at the walkthrough book together with the Three Stooges, with a low voice, Kuon’s ears straightened up and then she turned her head and came over to me.

「What’s up? Yashiro-aniki.」

*Koten*, Kuon tilted her head. Dammit, that was pretty cute.

She has a well-featured body the more that I look at her. Of course, as a girl.

Her chest isn’t all that big, but being slim in general, I guess I should say she has a model’s body.

「What are you doing turning perverted eyes towards your own disciple!?」

Seeming like my thoughts were exposed, Bernadette looked at me with scornful eyes while pulling my earlobe.

Since it felt like it had been a long time since Bernadette had returned to her original self, I felt kind of happy.

「I, I’m sorry. ……Kuon, can you feel a gaze?」

When I asked that to Kuon while my earlobe was being pulled, she was surprised with a 「Heh?」.

Jean also said that Kuon’s strong point was sensing presences. We should go to a specialist for the best results.

「By gaze……Do you not mean Sister-nee-chan’s hot gaze towards you, Aniki?」

「Tha, that’s wrong! While it’s certainly true that I’ve been looking at him the whole time, but it wasn’t hot! That’s a false accusation!」

Bernadette went into a panic while her face turned bright red. What you mean by a false charge, huh!

Well, putting the jokes aside, it would seem that Kuon hasn’t noticed the gaze.

「It seems that there is a gaze from something other than us but……」

「Hehー……I found it.」

Her fox ears standing up straight, when Kuon looked around at the vicinity, in an instant, she located the origin of the gaze.

「……A bat?」

The bat that I saw before was hanging upside down right in a corner of the ceiling that had become shadowed.

「……It looks like it was watching Aniki’s group. Though, maybe because it knows that it was discovered by me, it’s now turned its senses towards me as well.」

Kuon’s eyes gradually became sharper, and at the end, she started to emit a light bloodlust.

「Oi oi, don’t jump the gun over a simple bat.」

Although I said that with a smile to Kuon, I myself certainly felt an intense foreboding.

I felt a bad premonition for the first time in a while.

「……No, it isn’t just a bat!!」

*Jyaki* Pulling out a Magic Gun with a speed so fast that even my eyes only saw a blur, Bernadette shot a Maryoku bullet faster than she could establish her aim.

「Wha……っ!?」

It was anticipated that the Maryoku bullet would shoot down the bat going by the bullet trajectory, but that anticipation was greatly derailed.

『Kikiki……Quite the belligerent nun. As expected of one of the miko bloodline.』

Together with a sensation that felt like it was tampering with the inside of my head, a charming voice that seemed to eat into my mind resounded in my head.

*Bekin*.

「!? ……My aria, it was erased……ッ!?」

Together with a sound that seemed like something had broken off, Fiona groaned.

「Ah……Ahh……!」

And then, Bernadette, who saw that her Maryoku bullet had disappeared in mid-air, looked at the being that got down right before her eyes while her body was trembling.

「Wha, wh-wh-wh, what in the world is that!?」

「You guys, shut up for a bit! ……っ!!」

「Kukehーッ!」

Kuon and Silber stood in front of Angelica’s group, who was making a fuss over the being that suddenly appeared, and took their stance.

『Kiki, to think that a miko would visit my awakening as if it were prearranged. ……This truly is fortuitous!』

What peeked out from that thing’s smirking mouth were sharp canines that made one tremble with fear.

It grew bat wings from its waist, and its golden eyes that cast a bewitching light looked like they were jewels.

Possessing pallid skin that looked like it gone pale, it was a Vampire Princess that was beautiful enough to make you go mad.