Bravado and Hope

—Raust—

「Why……」

As the hydra approaching, I let out my hoarse voice.

「… What? Is this real?」

「Why there is a hydra here! Monsters shouldn’t be able to use the transfer formation, right!?」

「… No, that’s a mutated monster. That hydra comes here from the deep into the meadow by itself.」

「Huh? You’re joking right?…… That hydra, if it’s by human legs standard, it would take a week of continuously moving at that speed from that distance!」

「This is hopeless……」

And then, a bit later than me, the adventurers also noticed the hydra and became agitated.

「What the, why a mutated hydra…」

……While others were agitated, I muttered so.
From its six heads, it was clearly hostile at me.
It showed that hydra was the one I cut two of its heads off.
And if it was indeed the same hydra, the time it took to mutate was too short.
Certainly, when injured, the rate of a monster absorbing magic power from surrounding would increase, which would shorten the time it would take for them to mutate.
Even so, it still would take somewhere around three to four months.
No, in the first place, for that hydra to still alive was stranger.
Mutated super-high difficulty monsters’ abilities were incomparably stronger than its pre-mutated state.
That was why, it was common for super-high difficulty monsters to be subjugated before it was mutated.
What happened, why the hydra came to this place, as I started to think that……

「Run away! Now!」

「… It’s useless. Look at that speed, even if we run now……」

「Shit! Why at this time!」

I was brought back to my senses from the other adventurers’ scream.

「Kh!」

Right, this is no time to ponder about that.
The important thing is that a mutated hydra is coming this way, not why the hydra is mutated.

… Also, it was obvious it wouldn’t take that long for the hydra to arrive here.

「Shit…」

Staring at the incoming calamity, I felt my knee about to buckle from the despair and fear.
…… This hydra, I was certain that even if everyone currently here fought this, we still couldn’t win.

During that time I made a certain decision. While the hydra is approaching, I must do what I can to protect the existence I want to protect the most.

「Narsena, run away by yourself.」

「Kh!」

When I looked back after saying that with a smile, I saw Narsena’s face distorted in fear.
It couldn’t be helped.
After all, even me was cowering in fear from the hydra.

「But, Onii-san will……」

However, even in that state, Narsena worried about me more.

Perhaps, Narsena really wants to run away from here.
but in a situation like this, she is worried about me.

… With that, I already satisfied.

「Please, go.」

「No! It’s no use if it’s not together with Onii-san!」

Even when Narsena said so, I didn’t move away from this place.
Besides, while I felt joy, I also felt guilty.

「The speed of that Hydra is abnormal. I can’t escape from that hydra. But if it’s only you, you can escape. That’s why, I beg you, only you can protect the people in this city, Narsena.」

「………!」

Teary-eyed, Narsena bit her lips when I brought the citizens into this.
I felt guilty about this.
I understood the most that the way I word that was unfair.
Still, even if I was unfair and deceived the most important person to me, if I could save Narsena, I would accept anything even if it would disgrace me.

「That is… I will not accept that!」

… And yet, what came out from her mouth wasn’t the words of resentment I expected her to say.

After once again biting her lips, she turned to look at the nearby adventurer.
The adventurer was trembling as he was already despaired, even so, without minding his condition, Narsena grabbed his collar and shouted at him while shaking him violently.

「Get a grip! Hurry up and go let the adventurer guild know!」

「Gh! Shut up! It’s too late! We will die …」

「So you want to be killed now instead? Because I will do so if you don’t go now!」

「Hyiii~」

From Narsena’s scolding, the despaired adventurer remembered his fear of her.
Apparently, he was one of the adventurers that Narsena had knocked down. With Narsena threating him, his face became pale, and then he ran back to the adventurer guild with a speed that didn’t look like he was injured.

「I will fight too, Onii-san!」

After confirming the adventurer was running back, Narsena said so to me who was still dumbfounded by the series of event.

「……Why did you do that?」

…… I unconsciously muttered that when seeing Narsena.
Because even now, she was still trembling from fear, I thought if I made a sound reason for her, she would leave this place.

Having declared her intention to fight together with me, maybe because she became emotional, but she shed her tears.
… However, even in her emotional state, her trembling didn’t stop.
Narsena feared the hydra that much.
Because of her ability, she could accurately understand the mutated hydra’s strength, which didn’t let her stop shaking in fear.
In that state, she still told me she wanted to fight together with me.

「I beg you, please—」

Only because I understood her fear that I thought her words were just a bravado.
That was why, I thought I would be able to convince her and looked into her eyes.

「———!」

It was then I noticed the light dwelled inside her eyes.

Narsena couldn’t withstand her fear of the hydra which made her body tremble.
So I believed I would be able to convince her, but that was a misunderstanding.

Even though she never thought she would be able to win against the hydra, Narsena hadn’t given up yet.
In that state, she still put her hope on something.

「If Onii-san is with me, there is no way we can lose!」

Seeing her state as she said so, I recalled a certain memory……

Man, my aunt’s family bringing a virus back from Vietnam I think, my 10 years old cousin have a better immune system than my 25 years old self apparently, he was only got a light fever on the boat on their way home while I got bedridden for 2 and a half days, with a more severe symptom, only us both became sick of this virus though, I guess I’m just unlucky, should I also mention this mess with my schedule

Onto the chapter, this is just a filler chapter, so is the next one, please be patient for a bit and don’t get too excited yet with the hydra battle