Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? On the Side: Sword Oratoria, Vol. 10
Page 28
The hand was bathed in its own blood.
Next its right hand. Then its wings.
As the boy screamed, the monster’s clawless hands tore off the dragon wings from its back, letting them fall to the ground with a thud.
Aiz froze as its humanlike blood splattered across her cheek.
“Wiene?!” Bell cried out, hugging the monster that collapsed to the ground.
Aiz was speechless as the despicable claws and wings fell at her feet.
Having offered up pieces of its body, almost as reparations, the monster leaned against the boy’s chest, struggling to breathe as it looked up.
“If I…if I ever stop being myself again,” it started, placing a hand on the red stone in its forehead, “I’ll disappear for good this time…”
Her hand moved from her forehead to her chest and her magic stone.
Aiz’s mask cracked at the actions that should have been impossible for a monster.
“…I was alone for a long time.” The monster slowly moved its lips. “It was cold and dark…and I…Before I became myself…I was alone. Nobody came to save me. Nobody ever held me close…”
She spoke hoarsely, drowning in a sea of dark memories, and that sadness, that loneliness ate away at Aiz.
The blazing black inferno, the fury emanating from her back dissipated.
The outline of the monster melted.
“I was cut; I was hurt…It was scary. And lonely.”
Its eyes became dim as a single tear cascaded down its cheek.
What are you doing?! her back cried out.
Don’t lose yourself, Aiz’s skills shouted.
But she couldn’t stop anymore or peel her eyes away from that tear.
The fog of the black flame cleared. The monster completely vanished.
In the end, what she saw standing there was a crying dragon girl and—
“”
The younger version of her, a young Aiz hugging the dragon and protecting her, just like Bell, pleading for Aiz to stop with tears in her eyes.
Standing there with her sword thrust out, Aiz could hear her heart cracking. She didn’t know how to put these feeling into words.
Should I call you a liar? Give you hell and say I won’t forgive you? Tearfully beg you to stop?
Hey. I want to ask you—over there looking at me like you’re about to cry:
Was I wrong when I thought we understood each other? Was it all an illusion? What are you doing? Why are you over there?
Why are you protecting that monster?!
You’re cruel! Heartless! Inhuman!
You’re a ruthless traitor!
We should be one and the same!
On that day, we had everything stolen from us and realized that we had lost everything! We swore to kill monsters together!
Her legs trembled. Deep in her heart, the other Aiz was sobbing.
“But when I was all alone, Bell saved me.”
“!”
“When everything was hopeless…when no one would help me, Bell saved me!” cried the girl.
Aiz had come to a realization. When she heard the dragon girl shouting, it all fell into place. The past and present overlapped. The moonlit scene before her eyes and the desolate winter scenery sleeping deep in her memories—the dragon girl and the other, younger version of her melted together. They blended and merged into one person.
Reflecting in her eyes was…Me…A crying Aiz.
It’s me…
Aiz’s composure melted away.
She’s the same as me!
The one who had lost everything, who was always alone in the cold and dark, who no one would save.
But—
The boy had appeared for the dragon.
And no one had come for Aiz.
The boy had held out a hand for the dragon.
And no one had taken Aiz’s hand.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if you met a wonderful partner, too?”
“I hope that, someday, you find a hero—your hero.”
She remembered the mother’s and father’s words.
You both lied to me!! her heart cried out.
A hero never came for me!
It didn’t matter how much and how long she cried; no one appeared, until she finally realized that no one would come save her. That was why Aiz had taken up the sword herself!
The dragon before her, that other her, had her hero appear before her!
No fair! No fair! No fair!
No one came for me! I had no choice but to choose the sword!
Inside her crumbling heart, the young Aiz’s whines echoed. The girl was crying, the sobs of the weaker version of her she’d left behind.
Aiz looked at Bell, at the dragon girl’s one and only hero holding her tight.
Anguish filled her. Sorrow enveloped her. Her golden eyes trembled in envy.
“…………”
As she sealed away the remnants of her past with her last scraps of willpower…Aiz slumped over, like a doll whose strings had snapped. The sword she’d thrust out clattered to the floor.
“…I can’t kill this vouivre anymore,” she admitted in a hoarse voice, all she could wring out of her worn-down mind and body.
“Miss…Aiz…”
“I…I can’t help feeling you two were right…That’s why I can’t do it.”
“…”
“I can’t fight you anymore.”
She was bathed in moonlight, not raising her head.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at the dragon girl or the boy’s face, because she was afraid she might start hurling absurdities at them.
Upon losing her composure as the Sword Princess and the armor of an adventurer, Aiz was just a girl. A ground-down, empty shell of longing that had always waited for a hero.
“…—Gh.”
Left frozen by that shape, Bell pulled back the hand he’d started to extend, averting his eyes. He hugged the dragon girl close so her slender shoulders wouldn’t leave his hands.
Aiz didn’t say anything.
No self-deprecating laugh, no mournful voice, no falling tears. As she resigned herself, she mustered the last conscious thought of her rational mind and clumsily took an elixir out of her pouch.
“I can’t help you…I’ll be here.”
“Miss Aiz…”
She placed it on the stone pavement and stepped back, turning away.
“Go.”
“…Thank you.”
Bell took the elixir and left with the girl. Aiz didn’t turn around. Her golden hair fluttered in the wind. Forgetting to sheathe her sword, she let her gaze fall to the ground as the white moonlight bathed her in its glow.
On this day, Aiz broke her vow, the precious promise she’d made with herself: that monsters were to be killed.
“Aiz.”
“…”
“Is this okay?”
“…Yes.”
“…”
“…”
“I’ll head back.”
“…Thank…you.”
“What do you have to thank me for?”
The young man who’d appeared, the werewolf who’d seen it all from start to finish, left without saying anything.
Tranquility set in again. She was left behind.
The girl moved her lips as she looked up at the night sky.
“Someone…help me.”
Afterword
I’m sure that some people may have noticed, but the sequence of events in this book was shifted from the main series to make it easier to follow. It might be interesting to compare the two stories.
On that note, this is the tenth book of the side story.
I often wonder what I should show in this offshoot, but this time, I went with “the victims of Bell Cranell.” That might not be the best way to put it. I may have been affected by the main character of the main series.
The protagonist of the main series is weaker than the team in the side story, and his relationship to them isn�
�t that straightforward. I couldn’t use the standard literary technique of having him arrive to help them in a pinch. If he went to help, he would end up getting saved himself. Then what to do? Was there some other way to show his attitude toward life?
As we grow up, there are moments when we’re jealous of children. When I wrote the phrase “man-made hero” in this book, I thought it was mean, even though I was the one writing it. I suspect there are a lot of people who think that something they’re doing is superficial and they have no choice but to keep going at it. The truth is, I wanted to do a plot where Thousand Elf betrayed them and joined the side of the hero in the main series, leading a clash between her and her elven teacher à la the color insert in the eleventh book of the main series with master and disciple squaring off. But in the process of writing, I ended up wanting to see a certain character’s true feelings, which is why I changed course. I’m sorry, Miss Fairy Heroine. Please keep up all your hard work, Mr. Hero, for her sake.
I’d like to move to giving my thanks, albeit sooner than usual.
To my editors Takahashi and Matsumoto, I’m incredibly sorry for turning in my manuscript late as always. To chief editor Kitamura, I’m sorry for making you worry about this indecisive author. To Kiyotaka Haimura, who provided these wonderful illustrations, your drawings are always an incredible help. Thank you. And to everyone who helped make this book happen, I extend my thanks.
There will be a drama CD going on sale with this tenth volume of the side story. To all those who helped with that endeavor, you have my sincere gratitude. And to the cast who managed to overcome a terrible script, thank you. I thought I would die of embarrassment listening to it. I’m sorry (particularly to —nishi and —moto).
With this book, the side series has reached its third arc, and it’s about time to put a period on the plot that’s been continuing since the first book. It would be wonderful if you could keep watching over the characters as they reach their respective fates.
To all the readers, thank you for reading this far.
Let’s meet again in the next volume.
Fujino Omori
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