Nidome no Yuusha

Chapter 17 – The Hero will help a bit 1

It did not take long for the living beings inside the cell to perish.

They all had turned into a pile of goblin corpses. With that, part of Minnalis’ revenge had been completed. Minnalis’ passion had been ignited, and now, that same burning passion that had become a part of me cheered in delight and ecstatic joy.

I shook with delight at the sight of those that turned into monsters and helplessly devoured their food even though they knew that it will lead to their demise.

Every time I heard the cries of pain from the slave dealer and the slaves as their bodies gradually warped. And each time I heard their screams of agony from the monster poison. I felt shivers of excitement run down my spine.

「Good, that’s really good, Minnalis. Instilling the feeling of starvation, having the food change them into monsters, and then killing them by using the monster poison already inside of it! As I thought, my eyes did not deceive me.」

These heartfelt words unconsciously spilled from my mouth.

I was unbearably pleased. This girl thought through about what she needed to do in order to really make them suffer.

Be that as it may, but the words I told Minnalis were not just simple lip service. They resulted from what she had shown me.

The pleasant sensation caused by Minnalis exacting her first bout of vengeance coursed through both our bodies.

「Ah, finally… I’ve finally gotten one of them, Mother.」

In the center of the prison, littered with the corpses of the humans-turned-goblins, was the silhouette of Minnalis with both of her hands to her chest.

Her praying figure exuded a solemn feeling, and her peaceful face showed that she had finally achieved vengeance against one of her targets. This was her first taste of true vengeance.

It was indeed the appearance of a demon of righteous vengeance. As she basked in its afterglow, I simply watched without speaking, knowing I couldn’t disturb her.

☆

「Well then, are you ready to go?]

She basked in the afterglow for a while, but I couldn’t have let it go on forever, so I tapped Minnalis’ shoulder before calling out to her.

「…Yes, thank you. It was because of the power you, my lord, have granted me that I was able to take revenge.」

「It’s not a big deal. This isn’t a one-way relationship. What I want from you is a mutual relationship. Furthermore, from the moment you chose to take revenge, we began carrying our revenge together. Your revenge is my revenge, and my revenge is your revenge. Didn’t I say so? That was the contract, and for this reason, we are accomplices.」

So I said, but Minnalis shook her head in disagreement.

「I had a choice, but you had the right to decide. And so, I chose you. That’s why I offered you this desire for revenge with the same feelings of gratitude. It was thanks to you that I was able to obtain this chance at revenge. I was burning with hatred, yet I could do nothing but wait for death to come. The only thing I have is this desire for revenge that I share with you. Therefore, you may have everything except my revenge.」

「No, I don’t need anything like that. Just calm down for now.」

「Ahh~? As expected. My lord is a mean person~?」

Minnalis approached and pushed onto me as she twined herself around my body.

Even though this girl, that is a head shorter than me, has a ragged appearance, she emitted a strangely seductive appeal with her wet eyes and blushed cheeks.

Kufufu~, her bewitchingly smiling face emitted an atmosphere akin to a beast who had found her prey.

Perhaps she was still feeling MP sickness due to the repeated MP consumption and restoration, so her beastkin instincts, that had been restrained by her reasoning, clearly manifested.

(She’ll return to normal in a bit, perhaps her unusual sex appeal will recede as well when she’s calmer.)

There’s no problem with ignoring her when she’s drunk, and it’d be a pain to care for her otherwise.

「Let’s go, this is only the first part of your revenge. Our revenge has only just begun. Set aside your gratitude until our revenge is complete because these sacrifices are not enough to satisfy my burning hate yet.」

「Yes, it is as you say, master. I still haven’t used my power’s full potential yet. I will try my best to make my cooking even more delicious. Kufufu~, ahh, I can’t stop having wild ideas!!」

(…Will she, turn back to normal? Is it possible that she will be in this mood every day because of the various things she has suffered through…?)

I was somewhat concerned about Minnalis’ condition as we left the building. Noon had just arrived, so it seemed a fair bit of time had passed by. In this world, clocks are expensive, so to tell the time, one would listen to the church bells that rang three times a day. Otherwise, one would have no choice but to attempt to tell the time by using the sun’s position.

Confirming that Minnalis was by my side, we walked along the main street, deciding to buy her clothes for the time being.

「Can you hide your ears and tail? If it is unreasonable, then we will buy clothes in the slums to hide them before going to the main street.」

「I’ve recovered quite a lot of my MP, so I can hide them with an illusion.」

Skillfully using her magic with ease, in but a moment, her long rabbit ears and tail faded away.

Even with assistance from 『Illusion Magic Lv3』, performing chantless magic is many times more difficult; her ability is nothing to scoff at.

「………」

「Hya!? M-my lord!?」

From some time earlier, I realized I had been touching around the area where her rabbit ears were. I groped around until I began to feel a wonderfully soft and fluffy feeling in my hands.

「N~, ah-, no-, not in a place like this…」

「Ah, my bad. I was just curious.」

I came to my senses and removed my hand due to Minnalis’ soft coquettish voice.

The first time I defeated the demons, the only thing I had in my mind was to kill the Demon Lord and return to my original world. Thinking back, it was quite a waste of time.

「Which reminds me, I haven’t talked about what we’ll be doing from now on. I plan to leave this town by the end of today.」

「Huff~, huff~, today?」

Minnalis adjusted her breathing while looking at the sky, saying so in a dubious voice.

That reaction was to be expected. In an hour, the sun was going to set.

The town’s traffic management at the North, South, East, and West gates will all be closed at sundown, making it impossible to enter or exit town.

Furthermore, because it takes about half a day to the nearest town after exiting the gates, barely anyone leaves town after noon has passed.

「From my past experiences, my targets for revenge are numerous. This country’s Princess, the King, the Queen, and the Knight Company too, I think? Though, I already made light greetings with the princess and knights. Probably around this time tomorrow, those guys will be able to speak, so I want to be able to leave this town by the end of the day because I don’t have enough power yet and there is no time to relax. Ah, on that subject, what do you think of my last moments from my past?」

The Holy Sword of Vengeance doesn’t allow her to relive every memory, so she shouldn’t know about my memories ever since my second run-through started. But if that’s the case, then…

「Err, eh? Come to think of it, my lord, are you a ghost? Or a hero? A public menace?? What exactly is this memory…」

「Oh, so it ended at the part where you were killed as well? It’s that way for me too, only the important experiences are left. For the time being, there are still a lot of things that need to be explained, so for now, let’s go.」

Listening to me, she just nodded in confusion.

「I see. So we just need to buy enough food and clothes to get out of town early.」

「Hm? Oh, no, you don’t have to hurry because I’m not planning to leave until nightfall. More importantly, you accepted the royalty as our enemy more readily than I thought you would.」

The Royal Family that is considered to be the absolute reigning body of this country has turned into the enemy. It is the same as making enemies with the entire nation.

「Well, certainly, it was a little surprising at first, but because of your past experiences, we know who the enemy is this time. It doesn’t matter who our enemy is as we’ve decided to get our revenge on all of them, right? Regardless, be it the King, the Princess, the Queen, or the knights, what we have to do hasn’t changed.」

Seeming to become excited when it was said that we would be turning against the entire country, she ended up smiling.

「…Ah, you got me there. I said something unnecessary. Indeed, I’m pleased that I’ve got you as my accomplice.」

It seems that somewhere inside me, I had still been making light of her. Her will had shown me that she was suitable as my accomplice.

「Ah! Yes, I’m also happy that I was selected by you, my lord, as an accomplice.」

For a moment, Minnalis had an embarrassed expression, but she immediately glossed over it with a smile. Her MP drunkenness must have worn off.

「For now, we have to deal with clothing. Since the features of the beastkin can be hidden, then we need to prepare clothes, weapons, and of course, food.」

「How will we leave in the evening, the gates will be closing soon, right?」

「Oh? You don’t have to worry about the gates closing because there is a small hole in the walls that we can escape from.」

「There’s a hole in the ramparts? But…」

Minnalis asked in puzzlement.

Since the castle walls are meant to protect from demon invasions, it’s a big problem if there’s a hole. That’s why the walls have multiple layers of self-repair magic to prevent degradation; a hole that people can pass through wasn’t something someone would think of.

「Be at ease. At this point in time, all you need to do is poke the walls a little and they’ll collapse. I know that fully well.」