Chapter 35
Prologue
Translator : PolterGlast
Splashing sounds
filled the air. Looking up at the grey sky, large drops of water were falling
endlessly, and I slowly placed my feet on the muddy ground. I liked the rain.
The muddy ground is hard to walk on, but there's nothing to be scared of. My
red raincoat was chosen by my older brother. It was big and baggy when I first
got it, but now my ankles were showing, so I really needed to get a new one
soon.
I had heard that in a
distant country, beyond the sea, there were thick, large clouds covering the
sky, yet it never rained. In another country, the scorching, glittering
sunlight was unbearable, and in contrast, there were countries where the
falling snow would obscure everything in front of you.
--I wonder what those
places are like.
I had only heard about
them in words, so I couldn't imagine them well. I walked through the forest,
making splashing sounds. Suddenly, I noticed that the rain had become a
drizzle. I knew it wasn't good, but I thought I would just go a little further.
That was a mistake.
"GISHAaaAAaAaaa!!!!"
"...Hiss."
A snake-like monster,
showing its large fangs, stretched out its thin, long tongue. It slithered
through the trees, slowly approaching. I collapsed to the ground. The rain had
stopped, and it was all because of my foolishness. When I thought my vision was
shaking, it was me who was trembling. I was going to die.
"Ugh."
Scared, I closed my
eyes.
"Uwaah,
waaaaah!!"
The monster's cry
echoed above my head. I clenched my hands, screamed, and stiffened my body. But
why? Something was wrong. When I slowly opened my eyes, a black-haired man had
split the large snake in two.
As if it had been that
way from the beginning, the man stood in the middle of the monster, which was
divided into left and right halves. Strangely, not a single drop of blood was
on him. The man returned his sword to one of the two sheaths he had. Then, he
turned around to face me, who was collapsed on the muddy ground. It was then.
The man's eyes, the left and right were different colors. For some reason, I
thought so. But when I blinked, both of his eyes were the same blackish-purple.
There were young men
in the village, but he was much taller and slender than anyone I knew. He was
young, but probably over twenty. His turned face had his eyebrows raised as if
he were angry, and he was a little scary. But even putting that aside, there was
no doubt he was handsome.
"Uh...
um..."
Facing the man, I
tried to squeeze out some words. But no sound would come out properly. The
rain, which had stopped for a moment, started to fall quietly again. The hood
of my raincoat slipped, soaking my red hair messily.
"U, umm..."
"LOOOO-TUUUU-SSSS!!!"
"Ungh!"
Something pierced him.
It was a blonde girl. The man's expression didn't change, but his voice became
muffled. After that, the man swayed left and right as if something had hit him
three times. But I couldn't tell what had hit him.
"Lotus, don't
give me that 'Well then, I'll go first'!" the girl said, shaking him
vigorously. "You're too fast, I can't keep up, and because I hurriedly got
on Ichi and the others, they were one step away from a slime reaction and
splitting up!?"
"Oh, my
bad."
"That's a face
that doesn't look like you mean it at all...!?"
Lotus-san, while being
shaken by the girl, muttered to himself without concern, frowning, "By the
way, so you call it a 'slime reaction' when slimes multiply?" And without
paying attention to that, the girl now started hitting Lotus-san's waist with
plop-plop sounds. His chest was probably out of reach unless she stretched out.
At their feet lay the
monster's corpse, split cleanly in half. In the pouring rain, it was a
completely incomprehensible scene. The blonde girl, with hair a little longer
than shoulder-length, seemed to give up on Lotus, who didn't react no matter
how many times she hit him, and sighed, looking around. It was then that she
finally seemed to notice me. She blinked her large eyes repeatedly, and then
put her hand to her mouth as if surprised, "Ah!"
She looked about my
age, so probably a little over ten. "T told you so, Lotus...!" She
looked back and forth between him and me, and then shook her head vigorously.
Ignoring the now heavy rain, she splashed through the mud, getting her feet
completely dirty, and ran to me. Then, she took my completely cold hand,
saying, "Are you okay?" Her palm was warm.
"Sorry for
startling you. I'm El. That's Lotus. We're traveling. Are you hurt anywhere? If
you are, Lotus will carry you."
"You're saying my
name really casually. Well, whatever."
"I want to do my
best, but it's difficult for the current me, remember!?"
"That's
true."
I was bewildered by
the sudden rapid-fire conversation happening in front of me. Meanwhile, the
girl who called herself El looked at me anxiously, so I panicked. "Ah, no,
I'm totally fine! I was just startled and fell down!" I stood up, feeling
embarrassed about my muddy bottom, and subtly tried to hide it.
"Um, Lotus-san,
El-san, thank you. I'm Elma. I live in a nearby village."
"Oh, Elma! You're
welcome!"
She smiled like a
bright sun. It was a country with a lot of rain, so I had only seen a bright
sun a handful of times. In the pouring rain, her smile was as dazzling as her
golden hair. Then, she laughed a little shyly, saying that it wasn't her who
helped, but Lotus. She was a cute girl.
--This was my meeting
with El, and Lotus-san, and the others I couldn't see right now.
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