Kuro no Maou

up with an answer.
If you don’t have feet to propel you from the ground, you can use magical power instead.

And the idea of Wind Magic could have come to my mind immediately because I experienced it first-hand when I fought against Dortos.

A faint green breeze was blowing from the rapier in Sister Yuuri’s hand.
The emerald green airflow generated by it carried her otherwise immobile body and gave it the freedom it otherwise lacked.

As a result, Sister Yuuri flew forward about three meters.

I could see it happen and acknowledge it to be real.
But it still felt like a dream.
Due to her lack of lings, Sister Yuuri’s habit was too loose, and now her wimple was large enough to hide her face.
I wondered if the violently fluttering white and navy blue fabrics wouldn’t get entangled with each other.

Then, she flew forward with the power of the wind towards the octopus that was on the verge of throwing Eva into its gaping maw.

A flash of silver was drawn in the void.
The way she had pulled the sword had been magnificent, and the motion of her wielding the blade had been very beautiful as well.
In spite of myself, I found myself completely enthralled by it.

Then a slash, which I hadn’t noticed until I saw the tentacles that had captured little Eva all cut off, and the octopus screaming in pain while splattering green blood from its wounds.

As I turned my gaze a little to the side, I saw Sister Yuuri making a splendid landing.
She was holding her rapier by the blade using her tiny mouth, as her left hand was busy holding Eva.

She had freed her only hand right after cutting the octopus’ tentacles so that she could catch Eva before she could fall to the ground.

That series of actions had been completely invisible.
The only way to understand what had happened was to see its results and then guess the rest.
It was as if I had witnessed the miracle of God happening right before my very eyes.

But I knew that God had had no hand in this outcome.
This had been possible purely thanks to Sister Yuuri’s own superhuman prowess.

“…Air Slash.”

After softly putting Eva down onto the ground, Sister Yuuri took her rapier in hand again and unleashed her martial arts to deliver the final blow to the octopus.

For some reason, the octopus’s body was split into four pieces, despite the fact that the blade itself hadn’t actually reached it.

Then I realized.
That was the famous “blade of wind”.
Priest Kuroe once told me of the lower-level spell “Air Sagitta”, which could create this blade of wind to tear through foes with.
He also told me that reproducing similar effects with weapons would make it a martial art rather than a magic spell.

“I-I didn’t know she could do… something like that…”

I was at a loss for words.
I was just standing there completely dumbfounded, as if there were no enemies left to defeat, looking like a total idiot.

“Eva! You’re safe… Ah… Thank you so much, Sister Yuuri!”

The first person to rush to Sister Yuuri was Eva’s mom.
She lay softly on her ground, holding her daughter tightly in her chest, never letting go, and tears ran down her cheeks as she thanked her savior over and over again.

“It’s dangerous here.
Let’s make haste.”

Sister Yuuri looked as cool as always as she gave her reply.
She always had this expressionless look on her face, as if nothing ever impressed her.

Even though we were under attack by a swarm of monsters, her face was mostly unchanged.
…It was as if she had no human emotions.
And the series of movements she had just performed weren’t something the average Sister could do.
I wondered if she was actually some sort of first class swordfighter.
Even though she had lost both of her legs and her dominant arm, she had managed to cut the monster down while keeping a cool face about it, and to rescue the baby without causing her so much as a scratch.

I suddenly failed to understand her any more.
Who the hell was this person?

“…Ah.”

However, the answer came in like a flash.

(That’s right.
Of course she’s going to be incredibly strong.
After all, she’s Priest Kuroe’s companion.)

I didn’t have any actual proof of this, but I was convinced by this answer either way.

“A-Ah… So after all… Reki won’t do, right?”

(What am I even doing?”)

Even this fight suddenly felt like it was for nothing.

“Reki.”

I was in such a daze that it wasn’t after a few eyeblinks that I realized that Sister Yuuri was calling my name.

Her red eyes, which looked like those of Barbadian ascent but felt terribly different, were pointed straight at me.
My “Yes?” came out low in spirits, and I involuntarily turned my eyes away from her gaze.

“I will help you as well.”

“Y-Yes… Thank you…”

My feelings of gloom were nowhere near to stopping.
There was no reason for it to stop.

Sister Yuuri, who had no legs and no dominant hand, was arguably the strongest among all of the people here.

It made my existence feel worthless.

“–Air Overblast”

Another swing of her sword, and a strong green blade of wind blew through the road.

As I turned around, I saw a number of octopuses that were approaching the vigilante forces being torned apart, their blood splashing everywhere.
The blade of wind, which had shone in a pale emerald, was sharper than an iron sword, we could all easily see how easily it tore through their bodies, as if a block of butter had been sliced by a hot knife.

“Oh, the fog…”

Of course, we could all see it very clearly because the fog that filled the road was gone as well.

The fog had been cleared away by the magical wind unleashed by Sister Yuuri’s blade.

But it wasn’t completely gone.
Sister Yuuri’s “Air Overblast” had brushed away a large portion of the fog, but everywhere past a few dozens of meters away, which had been outside its area of effect, was still covered in that swirling white fog.

Still, our visibility had improved considerably.

“Whoa! What the… You’re amazing! Way to go, Yuuri!”

Ryan, who was honest to a fault, seemed to be a little envious rather than simply surprised.

“A sorcerer has come to help us?”

“We can beat them now!”

Not only Ryan, but other vigilante members were on the same page…

But in reality, I must have been the only one having mixed feelings about Sister Yuuri’s prowess.
I was ashamed to admit that I couldn’t bring myself to feel honestly happy that she had jumped in to help us.

“Air Overblast.”

Without responding to the vigilantes’ joyful voice, Sister Yuuri just continued swinging her sword.

With a single swing, the fog in front of her was cleared and dozens of octopuses were cut down.
The number of enemies that managed to sneak through her blade of wind to reach us was less than half of what it was before.
The vigilante members split into groups of three to safely take down the remaining enemies.

One would stab an enemy with their Ignited Lance while another member would use a long-edged weapon such as a sword or an ax to cut deeply into its head.
Their solidly coordinated work was the result of training with Priest Kuroe, and Chloe, and thanks to that, the octopuses were killed one after another smoothly.

Thus we continued to advance rapidly while dyeing the road with the octopuses’ fresh green blood.
Miraculously, without any casualties on our side.

“Oh, the fog is receding!”

Soon, the fog would clear up.
To our right was a quiet snowy forest, and to our left we could see a large mountain range –which seemed to be Galahad– in the distance.

But as we looked behind ourselves, the white fog continued to drift as if a cluster of clouds had fallen from the sky.

“Looks like they won’t come after us if there is no fog around.”

I looked around the surroundings carefully, but I couldn’t see any octopuses anymore.
However, I had no doubt that they were still lurking in that fog behind us.

For now, we would be safe as long as that fog wouldn’t come this way.

“Phew, we managed to escape thanks to you, Yuuri.”

With a refreshing look as if he had just finished a job, Ryan shared his joy about everyone being safe with the other vigilantes.

We still had a long way to go to Alsace Fortress, but we had managed to survive those relentless octopuses’ pursuit.
We were entitled to some honest joy at this point.

“Hey, Reki, you worked really hard too! I’ll tell the priest that you did a great job! Haha!”

Worked hard? A great job?

(Who, me? Can I really throw out my chest and accept Priest Kuroe’s compliments for what I’ve accomplished here?)

“…No.”

No.
Absolutely no.

I haven’t accomplished anything.

“Hey, Reki, what’s wrong? What’s with the grim face? Did you get hurt somewhere?”

Ah, that’s right.
I haven’t suffered any injuries.

What an easy battle it was! Even a sparring session with Priest Kuroe would’ve made me break more of a sweat than this.

I didn’t even fight.
All I did was keep myself alive.

All while Sister Yuuri saved us all.

Priest Kuroe’s special someone.
And, without a shadow of a doubt, someone strong enough that he’d choose her as the one to remain by his side.

“I have no way to catch up at all at this rate.”

That day, when I betrayed Ur, my own sister…

I had made up my mind.

I would chase after Priest Kuroe.
I would follow him to the ends of this world if I had to.

“Children can’t be taken to the battlefield.”

I would follow him precisely because he said that.
I would make sure I’d catch up to him and show him.

I would show him that I wasn’t a child, and that I’m much stronger than ever.
Strong enough to be by his side.

I wanted to become strong.
I had to be strong enough to be able to fight alongside him instead of just being a burden.

I couldn’t let myself be saved by Sister Yuuri like that.

But far from having become stronger, I was inferior to Ur.

Beyond that fog, at the 203rd Supply Base Colony, she was still fighting side by side with Priest Kuroe.
And I couldn’t help but wish we’d switch places.

I felt so worthless I couldn’t stand myself anymore.

“Go to hell!!”

So I jumped out.

I turned around and started rushing back to the village along the path we had conquered so far.

“H-Hey, Reki! What are you doing!? Come back!”

I could hear Ryan’s screams calling me from behind.
Perhaps he was not only trying to stop me, and was actually chasing me..

Naturally, I stopped.
I was well aware of how stupid this was.

But still, I couldn’t stop these feelings of helplesness anymore.

“Reki will do it, Reki will do it for sure! Reki will definitely… definitely follow Priest Kuroe!!”

I took up my halberd and jumped back into the monster-infested fog.