CHAPTER 10
HERO
1
Natsuki Subaru was always making promises he couldn’t keep.
“ ”
No one said anything to Subaru as he knelt quietly on the sand.
Not Beatrice behind him, nor Julius or Meili behind him. They couldn’t find the words.
But as if consoling him in his silent tears, the scorpion crawled up his arm, onto his shoulder, and leaned against his neck.
Subaru didn’t know what this tiny scorpion was.
Appearing from the mound of dust from the crimson scorpion’s massive body, did it actually have some connection to Shaula? Or was it actually her…?
“…No…that’s not it.”
Shaula was gone. Though it saddened him, he was sure of that.
That carefree smile, that annoying touchiness, that affection that seemed so misplaced…it was all gone.
If Shaula had wept and pleaded not to disappear, Subaru would have searched with all his might for a way to stop it, giving as many lives as he had to save her.
But that wasn’t what she wished for.
With a smile, she just asked that they meet again sometime and then disappeared.
He didn’t know how, he didn’t know if it was possible, but…
“I got it… Someday, somehow, I will meet you again. So…”
To answer the request of that woman who said she loved him with such a cheerful smile.
For that sake…
“—So farewell for now, Shaula.”
The desert wind carried away the dust of her feelings and body.
As he watched on, Subaru breathed deeply. And glancing at his shoulder, he saw the scorpion, as if telling him to cheer up, reach out and pinch his ear.
“Owww!”
There was a sharp pain, and he could almost sense someone telling him not to lose heart. His eyes teared up at the pain as he nodded.
“I got it, I got it,” he said as he grabbed the scorpion to pull it off his ear. “Owww! I said I got it; you can let me go already…owww!!! Hey, I’m bleeding…you little! Are you serious…?!”
“…What are you doing, mister.”
The tiny red scorpion was still holding on tightly, and he couldn’t pull it away. With a look of exasperation, Meili grabbed it.
“It might be tiny, but it’s still a beastie. Get it too close to your face and it might eat your eye or nose—this isn’t that half-naked lady, you know.”
Saying that, she placed the scorpion on top of her head.
Unlike with Subaru, it didn’t try anything with her. Under the influence of her blessing, its savageness receded. That proved the tiny red scorpion was a demon beast—proved that it didn’t have Shaula’s consciousness.
“Subaru, we need to heal your wounds.”
As he was about to look down again, Beatrice grabbed his sleeve, obviously concerned about his condition.
Biting his lip, Subaru nodded deeply. They couldn’t just stay out in the desert forever.
“—Subaru! Everyone!”
In the distance, the great door of the watchtower opened, and Emilia came running out.
From how battered her clothes looked, it was clear she had not had it easy. But that applied to all of them.
There was too much they needed to talk about and a farewell to finish.
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