Ryuu Kusari no Ori - Kokoro no Uchi no “Kokoro” - Chapter 4.05

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I want to say thank you for your continued supportEspecially for my patrons This is a bonus chapter, enjoy

***

There is a profession called adventurer.

In this Arcmeal Continent where there is a threat of demon beasts, it is extremely dangerous for ordinary people to enter the territory of demon beasts, and only those who wanted to commit suicide or those who were unable to enter the city entered such places.

However, it is certain that there are precious untouched materials and minerals with high rarity value in the area full of ​​demon beasts.

Adventurers are those who challenge such a dangerous territory with their lives, and they had a certain position in this continent in a way different from knights.

The adventurer's guild is the place where they gather, adventurers buy and sell various things and come to look for requests.

The same is true in the Arcazam Guild, but you can see young boys and girls among the adventurers. They were students of the Solminati Academy, and they too were gathering here in search of the requests they would receive.

In such a guild, there was a young man who left his back on the wall and looked around. He is a beastman with golden ears and a tail and in the uniform of Solminati Academy. He is the second-class Feo Rishitza of the third year.

(Hmm~, it looks like that Nozomu isn't here ~)

He is looking for Nozomu Bountis, a male student of the same year who had recently begun to interest him.

Feo heard that Nozomu was sometimes asked to do miscellaneous tasks in the guild.

After school today, he saw Irisdina and her friends leaving school near the main gate, but Nozomu wasn't there, and he guessed he was probably looking for a request in the guild, but he wasn't.

(Hmm~. Where is he ...)

As Feo was pondering about Nozomu's whereabout, there was a sudden voice talking to him. 

"Yoo. Fox guy. You're going to sell your charm to another guy today?"

The one who spoke to him was one of the students who reached rank A in the same year. Kevin Ardinal. Feo sighs with his inner heart.

(Haa, this annoying guy ~)

The Fox Tribe, which is the Feo’s tribe, is very cautious and rarely forgives others except for relatives.

Also, they are known to be surprisingly capricious. Their obsession with what they are interested in is fierce, but their obsession with what they are not interested in is quite sloppy.

If that were the only thing, they would be isolated from other communities. However, they were very good at bargaining.

Even if they were initially estranged, they were able to recognize themselves by sensitively sensing the emotions of others, conducting skillful negotiations, and doing various things dexterously.

Feo is not any different. Even in practical lessons, he does not have a specific party and moves around from party to party.

However, the way the Fox Tribe roamed around while adapting to their surroundings seemed to Kevin, the Silver Wolf Tribe, as if they were just selling their charms.

The Silver Wolf Tribe is a race that takes pride in its strength, trains every day, and controls its own community with that strength.

Kevin, the same silver wolf, also takes pride in his strength.

He was obsessed with Irisdina because of her strength and pride.

For him, the ideal way of Feo was not recognized.

"You always had a party with different people, is it interesting doing nothing today?"

"Who cares. And also, today I was going to refrain from being invited. "

"Hmm? What does that mean?"

When Kevin said so, Feo pointed to a place.

There is a bulletin board with various requests written on it. Every part of it is used as a bulletin board, and something big was written in the center.

"What is it... Kyclopes!"

"That's right. I heard that an adventurer's party saw them in the depths of the forest yesterday. So it seems that the notice was hanging over there to make it known to the surroundings."

Kyclopes are three-eyed giants, a higher ranking species than the one-eyed giants, the Cyclopes, and are one size larger compared to the Cyclopes.

As a demon beast, it is said to have the danger next to the highest rank Lóng (TL : Chinese Dragon), and it is a dangerous demon beast classified as rank A.

It has extraordinary strength, and its power is enough to easily pullout a tree from its roots, and the muscle that covers their whole body is harder than steel, and ordinary attacks are not that big of a deal for them.

It is a demon beast that is extremely dangerous to challenge in close combat, and it is said that the standard practice to kill it is with a long-range magic attack. This is because the effect of muscle armor is weak against fire magic and lightning magic, and it is possible to kill them before they approached.

However, that is not the only danger of this demon beast. The most alarming thing is their extraordinary ability of both Kyclopes and Cyclopes, which is called the "Demon Eye of Madness".

Their extraordinary ability causes one's instinct to run wildly and doubles the muscle strength of their whole body.

When activated, their eyes turn red, and the muscles of their whole body strengthened.

This is the most dangerous situation. If the power of the giants with extraordinary strength is doubled, even an average adventurer can't compete.

Furthermore, doubling the muscle strength means doubling the defense power of the giants whose muscles are their source of defense, and also doubling the agility of the giants who are moving with their muscles. 

"Well, that's why, and it seems that the Silver Rainbow Chivalric Order is also on a business trip. "

Silver Rainbow Chivalric Order

It is a knight order being stationed in Arcazam, in addition, it is a group made by collecting selected elite knights from each country.

This knight order was based on the knight order dispatched by the country of Forsina 10 years ago and absorbed the armed forces of each country while fighting against the invading demon beasts. It was reborn as a knight order to which humans from many different countries belong, and the establishment of the knight order brought together the armed forces of each country and played a major role in repelling the demon beasts.

After that, the Silver Rainbow Chivalric Order was maintained, assuming that there would be another major invasion.

Currently, the scale has been reduced compared to the time of the Great Invasion, but the quality of the human resources that make up the knight order has been further improved, and literally, only Mighty Men of Valor are allowed to belong.

For humans who aim to become a knight, it is a knight order that they admired, and it is also the strongest knight order in substance.

Jihad Roundel, a swordsman who belongs to the school, has been transferred from this knight order. He teaches at Solminati Academy and is the chief adviser to combat techniques in training younger generations.

"Well, it's okay. Looks like it's in the depths of the forest, so if we don't go too far, it will be alright."

Kevin said so and left the guild with his party.

Feo soon lost interest in Kevin and started thinking about Nozomu again.

"Where is he now?"

The most interesting male student right now. The person that the black-haired princess cares about. In the hustle and bustle of adventurers, the cheeks of Feo's face, which was always smiling, were slightly raised.

***

Nozomu was walking through the city when Feo was in the guild with Kevin. He was on his way to the woods to train himself in Shino's hut.

In that place, even if the Ability Suppression was released, there is no fear of being noticed by people because the surrounding area is only the forest. For Nozomu, who is afraid of many conspiracies to emerge when his concealment of dragonslayer powers are noticed, training there was indispensable.

Nozomu was absorbed in his own thoughts as he walked around the city.

However, the more he thinks about it, the more anxiety he can't express.

Nozomu was thinking about the rumors that had made him isolated from his surroundings.

In the past, Nozomu turned away from everything at the school, but now he is gradually able to look around himself by making promises with Shino and interacting with Irisdina and the others.

However, because he can see the surroundings, he has come to feel a sense of discomfort that he has not felt until now.

It was something he never noticed when he was in his shell ... no, he consciously tried to not notice it, and Nozomu was afraid that something inside of him would be fatally destroyed if he knew about it. 

That morning in the past, Nozomu was meeting with Lisa in front of the main gate of the school. But when she appeared, she suddenly slaps Nozomu's cheek.

Lisa unilaterally said goodbye to Nozomu, who was dumbfounded because he couldn't understand the reason, with her eyes full of cold hatred and disgust, then left. She disappeared into the school building without looking back.

Then everything around Nozomu has changed.

His classmates no longer deal with Nozomu and he is completely isolated.

As a person who hurt Lisa, who was popular with both men and women, Nozomu was mentally and physically punished by students, both senior and junior, and both men and women, and as a result, his dreams and hopes were completely destroyed. 

However, when he thinks about it now, it was too unnatural when the rumor came up.

Lisa is certainly a celebrity. Given that, the rate at which the rumors spread itself is understandable, but what is strange is that Lisa believes in Nozomu's affair.

Initially, other students believed the rumors because Lisa did not deny Nozomu's affair.

However, in the first place, Nozomu himself is not cheating. Nozomu and Lisa are childhood friends and from the same hometown.

In order for her to believe in Nozomu's affair, it needs enough evidence and a person who can infuse it.

Also, the person who can do that must be a person who has a relationship of trust that makes Lisa believe so.

And at that time, there was only one person in this school.

(………… No way …… Is it him?)

Ken Notis name float across Nozomu' head, another childhood friend from the same hometown.

It is true that he would meet the conditions that Nozomu had in mind.

In a relationship of trust with Lisa, it was Ken that she trusted as much as Nozomu at that time. 

(~Huh! So that's why ... If he spreads the rumor, he can date her after that ...)

He shook his head to shake off his own thoughts, but Nozomu already had the reason in mind.

"If Ken was really the culprit, he wouldn't change his way of speaking to deceive Nozomu in the first place."

(………… No way, is it to monitor me?)

Because of the rumor, the person who feels the most uncomfortable and is struggling to solve the problem is Nozomu, who was dumped by Lisa.

That's why Ken blocked Nozomu's movement and didn't change his attitude towards Nozomu so that Nozomu didn't feel uncomfortable with him.

At that time, Nozomu, who was completely isolated from the surroundings, was desperately looking for a place to escape.

There was an escape place called Shino's training outside the school.

When human beings are pushed to the limit of their minds, and as they continue to face pain, they will run on an easy path and manages to protect their minds.

Ken was so immersed in Nozomu, who was desperately trying to protect himself and Ken did not change his attitude to watch Nozomu so that Nozomu doesn't try to dispel the rumors.

At this point, Nozomu cannot run away anymore. At least he has promised Shino that "even if he ran away, he will not look away from the fact that he ran away."

(.........I have no choice.....but to check it...)

"Yaa, Nozomu. What are you doing in a place like this?"

At that time, there was a voice talking to Nozomu coming from the side.

The voice of the person he was thinking about right now.

The voice of a childhood friend that he trusted and believed from an early age.

"... Ken"

Ken Notis.

A handsome man with fluttering blonde hair stood there.

"What are you doing in a place like this?"

Ken talks to Nozomu with a smile. As far as Nozomu could see from the side, he couldn't be seen as a person who was tricking Nozomu.

"N, no. It's just  ..."

Nozomu was suddenly felt upset.

Looks like there is no Lisa, he seems to be alone.

“………… Ken, I want to talk a little bit, is that okay?”

"? I've promised to meet Lisa after this, but I can spare a little time. ……What is it? "

"It's hard to talk here. Follow me ..."

Nozomu turns his back on Ken and begins to walk. The destination is the outer edge of the city.

The place where he was training with Mars and others recently is not good because there is a possibility that he might get in touch with them, so Nozomu heads to a place different from that place.

Ken also follows Nozomu without saying anything.

(Ken, it's not the case, right …………)

Nozomu keeps walking while talking to Ken in his heart as if praying.

***

"So, what are you going to talk about?"

Ken asks Nozomu.

The two were facing each other at the outer edge.

The sunset illuminates the sky red and also dyes the two figures red.

The sun's rays setting on the horizon extended the shadows of Nozomu and Ken for a long time, reflecting the two facing each other on the dimly lit field.

"Ken ... when rumors about me and Lisa spread inside the school. Why didn't you change?"

"…………Eh?"

Nozomu hesitates for a moment, but he then decides not to mind Ken, and asks his own question.

"The content of the rumor was that I had an affair, I haven't done that, but Lisa didn't doubt I had an affair."

Nozomu didn't want to believe it inwardly, he can't help but make sure.

(That's not the case.)

(It's my misunderstanding.)

While wishing so inside his heart, Nozomu's mouth continues to spit out his suspicions that had been pushed in until now.

"Thinking about it now, it's just too weird. In order for Lisa to believe in my affair at that time, she needs a good basis for it, and a person who can make Lisa believe it. "

Nozomu diverts his gaze for a moment, but when he looks at Ken again.

"......... And you are the only one who can do that."

"What are you talking about! If so, didn't my way of speaking towards you did not change!"

Ken rushes to Nozomu as if it is "Upsetting" for him. But Nozomu keeps spinning his words regardless.

"... Yea, I don't want to believe it either ... But I can explain it enough. What you were most worried about after spreading the rumor was that I'll dispel the rumor myself. It would have been possible to get rid of the rumors by pressing Lisa for an answer if the days hadn't passed yet. Anyway, now the rumors are completely settled. That's why you prepared a place for me, who was desperately trying to escape from reality. An escape place in the form of you who treats me with the usual attitude ... "

He finally said it. Nozomu waits for Ken's answers with a tense look.

A few seconds passed after Nozomu finished spinning his words. But for him, it felt like a few hours.

For Nozom, it was the longest time he had ever felt. His heart is pounding and making noise behind his ears.

And Ken opens his mouth. The words he spun after that were exactly what Nozomu had expected.

"......... What the? Did I get caught ..."

"... Then Ken. As I thought, you are ..."

"Ah, I made that rumor."

Ken says that the rumor was spread by himself. His face was ugly and distorted, unlike anything Nozomu had ever seen.