The Rebirth Of The Hero’S Party’S Archmage [EN]: Chapter 150

150.

“Why… why?”

The heroine, barely supporting her trembling body, vomited a mouthful of blood.

The blood-soaked ground turned into a swamp, and even the leaves that once fluttered gracefully through the dojo’s courtyard were now soaked and spread out in the blood.

Every living thing in sight was either dying in the blood or melting into the abyss, becoming unidentifiable masses of bubbles.

Who would believe that this dojo, once called Heavenly Fire (天火) because its appearance beautifully illuminated the sky like flames, was now in such a state?

Heavenly Fire Sect (天火派), one of the six major sects of the Republic. The master of Hwayeon Peak (花宴峰) in the Crimson Mountains.

All five hundred disciples had become miserable corpses, strewn across the mountain paths. Not even those who had studied together with her, nor the elders and the sect leader in their full regalia, had escaped this fate.

“There’s a magic circle I need to carve on this peak. That’s why I warned you three times, isn’t it? To move if you didn’t want to die.”

The eight-hundred-year prestige of the six major sects was shattered in a single morning by one culprit, just one.

Walking nonchalantly through the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, the woman drew a demonic array with the blood, her tone almost serene as she replied.

That woman, wearing a deep, dark blue bamboo hat, was once called a savior, as far back as 200 years ago.

“Just, just for that reason…!”

Mana coalesced in her Manaheart (心 – the core of her mana), and her body emitted a red glow. She gathered her last bit of power, her final burst of energy, into her fist.

Even if she couldn’t defeat her, it would be enough.

If she could only show this anger, this sorrow, this hatred, and leave a scar that, while not fatal, would make her regret this day.

“Hmph, just for that reason…”

But at that moment, the woman in the bamboo hat suddenly raised her head.

In those eyes, which had been empty and vacant at every moment of slaughter, something akin to agitation flickered strangely.

Just meeting her gaze was enough to paralyze her, as if she were pinned down. As if something invisible had tightly wrapped around her entire body….

Then, with a thud, a fist pressed into the flesh of her abdomen, digging into her internal organs, and the martial artist collapsed, unconscious.

When had he appeared? It was a man in a dark blue robe and an iron mask. As he withdrew his fist, the martial artist’s body slumped forward, leaning against his shoulder.

“Did I disturb the ritual?”

The iron-masked man turned around and asked politely, and the woman silently put her pipe in her mouth and returned to her work.

“Then I’ll bury her on the hillside like the others.”

It was when the man slung the martial artist over his shoulder and was about to leave that she opened her mouth.

“Don’t even think about letting her go. Make sure to cut off her breath. It’ll be a nuisance if the Martial God Alliance (武神聯 – a powerful martial arts organization) catches wind of it.”

The man, who had stopped walking, replied after a long pause.

“Yes.”

* * *

The time I was finally able to have a real conversation with Goblin Slayer was on the fifth day after entering the Crimson Mountains.

Until then, Miria had been silent.

To the point where it was even harder to strike up a conversation with her than with the taciturn Eldevique. She only said these three things:

“Wait.”

“Follow me.”

“We’ll camp here tonight.”

Like the precise and perfect machines of the Dwarves (兒人; also known as Dwarfs), she would simply massacre goblins to clear a path, and after the day’s work was done, she wouldn’t open her mouth no matter what.

By work, I meant moving through the tunnels during the day and camping inside them at night.

Because at night, a giant winged shadow flew over the mountains, flashing three eyes. Every time that happened, Aki would bare her fangs and burrow deep into my clothes to hide.

“Hey, Goblin Slayer.”

Goblin Slayer only glanced back at me.

“Can I ask you something?”

“I’m going to scout around. Don’t light a fire until dawn.”

She always disappeared like this when I tried to talk to her. There were so many things I wanted to ask….

All my relationships with women so far had been initiated by the women themselves, so I didn’t know what the right thing to do was in this situation.

After spending days in narrow, dark tunnels filled with the stench of rotting corpses, I was overcome with a strange sense of loneliness.

“PiPi, is that Rista?”

“Fake, fake.”

“But doesn’t she look exactly the same?”

“Rista, PiPi’s friend. Rista, Lynn’s friend. That’s fake, fake, fake.”

PiPi replied primly, preening her wings with her beak.

Logically, PiPi’s judgment was probably right… but if it was really her, and she was ignoring PiPi, PiPi would be very upset.

At night, when I fell asleep using Seresia as a blanket (Seresia expanded and thickened like a giant fur blanket), Rista appeared in my dreams.

– Lynn!

– Lynn?

– Lynn.

She smiled dazzlingly and gestured for me to follow her… but the more I tried to follow, the further away she seemed to get. Every time, I would wake up with a start.

“Awoo?”

“Ah, woo?”

“Awoo!”

No sooner had I woken up than I heard a familiar voice, layered with an unfamiliar one.

Half-asleep, I squinted and looked for Aki, the source of the voices… and to my surprise, they were together.

Goblin Slayer was carefully holding Aki, with her arms tucked under Aki’s armpits, and giving a shy smile. She had taken off her helmet, revealing a face identical to Rista’s.

“When did you two get so close?”

As I raised my upper body and asked that, Miria’s shoulders twitched. The next moment, she gripped the hilt of her sword.

“Quiet.”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you hear a goblin’s voice just now? Didn’t you hear it?”

“?”

“Ah, or was it. Woo, was it…”

“???”

“Judging by the developed vocal cords, it must be a hobgoblin. It seems there are a few left. I’ll have to scout around.”

Quickly hiding her reddened face with her helmet, Miria disappeared into the darkness. Of course, after handing Aki to me.

I was dumbfounded.

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t even laugh… and I couldn’t escape the lingering echo of that sweet voice for a long time.

“By the way, Aki, why aren’t you crying after being separated from me?”

“Awoong?”

“You like women better, is that it?”

“Ah-baat.”

Seeing Aki clinging to my leg and rubbing her face against it as if to say that was absolutely not the case, I lost all will to interrogate her.

“But that’s strange. You weren’t like that with other women. Kasena would be very upset if she knew.”

Was it the third day, or the fourth day… anyway, after that incident, more constructive conversations began to take place.

“Get up, the sun’s up.”

In the morning, we had to leave the tunnels and traverse the terrain of the Crimson Mountains until we found another tunnel.

The towering peaks of the Crimson Mountains might look beautiful from afar, but they were extremely rugged up close.

Despite such rough terrain, Miria avoided all the stairs and mountain paths that the Red Dragons had created for humanity and moved along the slopes.

“We don’t take the mountain paths. There will definitely be eyes in places where people can pass.”

“What eyes?”

“The Seven Fiends (七凶 – a group of notorious black witches and wizards). The seven black witches and black wizards who have been gaining notoriety since the Black Spot Incident. They’ll be looking for you too, I was told.”

In fact, the branches that endlessly scratched my face and the roots that grabbed my feet were tolerable enough.

What I couldn’t stand was the heat that boiled like geothermal heat (地熱 – heat from within the earth) inside the mountains.

Being here in the middle of summer felt like being inside a steamer, and sweat poured down my body like rain.

“Abubut!”

“Abut, abut, abut.”

Aki and PiPi, whose body temperatures were much higher than humans, were having a great time….

According to 『The World’s 11 Great Mysteries』, this geothermal heat creates a tropical climate in the Crimson Mountains during the summer.

Due to that climate, the forests of the mountains were dyed in beautiful, vibrant colors all year round. Red, yellow, orange… a feast of primary colors so bright and stimulating it hurt the eyes.

“Woo-ah!”

In the midst of that feast, Aki couldn’t hide her excitement and shook her head back and forth (another bad habit she learned from PiPi).

‘Alakish…’

Looking at Aki, who was peeking over my shoulder and taking in the scenery, the great True Dragon Alakish naturally came to mind.

Are you watching now?

We’ve come to the homeland you wanted to return to so much. Aki loves it. Is it because it’s warm, or does she know your heart….

“I found the next path. It’s here.”

It was that evening that I was able to have a real conversation with Goblin Slayer, Miria.

“Did you wait long? It’s ready, Aki.”

As I took the skewers dripping with oil and savory juices out of the fire, Aki, who was sitting on my lap, cheered.

“Pali, joo-taeyo!” (Hurry, give it to me!)

Sniff, tears of emotion….

I heard that the growth of dragons is faster than that of humans, and without being taught separately, she is gradually able to speak human words.

After giving the skewer to the very admirable Aki first, I handed one to Miria as well.

“Do you want to eat one too? It’s made with salted meat, but it still tastes good.”

Miria, who had been sharpening her equipment covered in goblin brains and fat on a whetstone, turned her gaze away from guarding the tunnel exit and glanced at me.

Of course, I couldn’t see her face because she was wearing her helmet as always, but her tone was dumbfounded.

“You never get tired of talking to me. Do you perhaps have a fetish for being insulted?”

“No, I used to have a fetish for insulting people. Back in my Lynn days.”

Not anymore.

“Is that something to be proud of? And in a place like this… to eat a meal, how strong is your stomach?”

The inside of the tunnel was littered with goblin corpses.

The vomit that goblins spewed when they died, the stench of rotting flesh, and the flies and ants that had already smelled the blood and swarmed in were more than enough to irritate the senses.

It was all Miria’s handiwork.

Since becoming a fire mage, she couldn’t use grand magic in these caves… but her skills were so excellent that there was nothing to help with.

“You don’t know anything. Aki cries if I don’t give her my special skewers for a week straight. You can’t even imagine how loud she gets.”

As if my answer was absurd, Miria turned her gaze outside the tunnel.

Just when I thought the conversation would end briefly as usual, Aki crawled over and offered Miria a skewer.

“Ah, awoot!”

Miria seemed more surprised by that action than me or PiPi. The blood drained from her voice in embarrassment.

“No, it’s okay… I’m not very hungry.”

“Dabuoot.”

“I really am okay. I’ll just take the thought.”

At that moment, Aki’s face turned tearful amidst the continued rejections. Miria hurriedly took off her helmet.

“Ah, okay. I’ll eat it. It’s really delicious~.”

Aki smiled brightly as she took a small bite of the skewer and smiled soothingly.

That girl, she can even make that kind of expression….

As I stared at her with a silly grin, Miria glared at me with a slightly irritated look.

“What are you smiling about? This is happening because you suddenly decided to grill meat.”

“No, she cries if I don’t give it to her? But aren’t you hot? I don’t know why you’re always wearing a helmet. It’s more comfortable if you take it off like now.”

Then a dark, cynical smile formed on Miria’s lips.

“What else could it be? It’s because of this face.”

“?”

“Because my face is like this, all the men I meet try to hit on me. Let’s form a party, come to our guild, please marry me… there was even a guy who chased me for over a year.”

“Isn’t it a good thing if people like you?”

“Like, like, like.”

“How good would it be when guys like you come every day and bother me?”

“Puck, puck, puck.”

That was the same with Rista.

The beauty of her face, like a flower bud blooming on the last cliff in the world, made most men court her.

Freedan used to say that if the Fayquanier didn’t have a rule to swear off marriage when being appointed as a hero, the wolves who wanted to marry Rista might have competed with each other and stained the empire with blood.

“Thanks to that, I don’t have a fixed place to work. I’m always moving around. If they don’t know my face, I’m just a goblin-killing, goblin-guts-smelling, unpleasant woman.”

Miria muttered, a self-deprecating shadow cast over her face. I needed to proceed with caution this time.

“You’re skilled… and you don’t seem to like goblins very much, so can I ask why you’re so obsessed with goblins?”

“…….”

“No, I’m not really trying to make fun of you. I’m just curious.”

Miria didn’t answer.

In the night, with moonlight shining in from outside the cave, and a lukewarm summer night breeze blowing, Miria suddenly drew the longsword she had on her back.

It had no scabbard and the blade was wrapped in bandages, which was also similar to Rista. The Supreme Star Sword Shirrpang didn’t have a scabbard, so Rista also wrapped the sword in bandages and hung it on her sword belt.

“Out of the 12,214 cases of village and city damage reported to the Alliance last year, 43 were caused by goblins.”

“Only 43 cases a year is not much? That’s across the entire continent.”

“Not much, not much, not much.”

“Not much. But can you say that in front of the people involved?”

Miria scoffed coldly and quietly stroked the bandaged blade. That touch was inexplicably poignant.

“It’s something someone has to do. But no one wants to do it. Even beginners hunt a few times and quickly back out, saying it smells, it’s dirty, and it doesn’t increase their contribution.”

“…….”

“The stronger adventurers get, the more they only try to climb higher. No one looks down. The people who need help aren’t just at the top, they’re at the bottom too.”

It was a scolding, a terribly cold voice, but it didn’t feel bad. Rather, a nostalgic voice overlapped with her voice, rapidly accelerating the rhythm of my heart.

Rista….

Rista used to say things like that too. Of course, she was much brighter and kinder than Miria….

“The nickname Goblin Slayer is a name for those people. If you want to laugh like you did earlier, go ahead. I’m proud of this name.”

With those words, Miria, who had cherished the sword she had been stroking, put it back on her back and didn’t look back at me again. And I could only stare blankly at her back.

– I want to create a world where everyone smiles.

Rista used to say that. Not as a pretense, but with pure sincerity without a speck of dust.

She never lied to others or herself. She never compromised and carried out the beliefs she thought were right.

Miria was clearly very different from Rista. More cold, more fierce… but I was sure that her beautiful inner self was definitely similar.

‘Is Miria the reincarnation of Rista, just as I am the reincarnation of Lynn?’

If so, it would be a mystery that even her appearance was exactly the same, unlike me….

It was only a speculation that I couldn’t be sure of, but when that delusion took place in my head, all the situations began to feel confusing to the point of heartache.

Even this awkward silence that flows between us now, and even that terribly cold attitude.

Just like in the turbulent period 300 years ago, when I first met Rista. As if I had felt this way from the moment we first met.

“You’re a good person.”

Just like 300 years ago, even now.

The thought that I had in my mind inadvertently came out of my mouth.

Then Miria gave a cynical smile, as if my words were funny, yet strangely sad.

“I’m a good person?”

That cynicism was so cold and bleak that I couldn’t even guess what kind of whirlpool of life was entangled there.

“If I were a good person, I wouldn’t take all the money while helping people.”

“……?”

“I’m just working for money in the end. The only reason I only hunt goblins is because it’s surprisingly lucrative since no one else does it. Don’t you get it? I’m just saying fancy things. Forget it all.”

As if the story was over, Miria put on her helmet and walked out of the tunnel. I blankly watched Miria’s back.

Even though we were so close, close enough for each other’s voices to reach, it felt like there was a wall between her and me that we could never overcome.

It was a little too early to know that the wall was built by a heartbreakingly miserable past and present.