Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

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After leaving the command center, Kyle walked through the streets of the now-militarized town of Rimarze. Even if it carried the same name as before, everything was so different that he didn’t recognize it. The sun had already set, as the lamps lit up through the use of magic, illuminating Kyle’s path. This light made it look like it was the Middle Ages, as the employees and bar owners called out to the people walking around. Many people crossed Kyle’s path, many of them being soldiers. Some with bandages, probably because they got injured during today’s battle. Some got wasted and filled their stomachs, some went to the red-light district to use the money they earned, and some went to the temples to thank the Goddess that they had survived another day. Everybody had their own way of spending the evening. The noisiest place was probably the bar, of which there were several in this town. And since today was a harsh battle, they put the alcohol on discount so that the soldiers could take their minds off things.

Amidst all this chaos, Kyle put on his hood to hide his face. Since he always fought on the frontlines, most of the people here, soldiers or not, knew him all too well. If they realized it was him, they would surround him in an instant, possibly dragging him into a bar to get him drunk. Thus, he decided to hide his face.

Many of them would just hide their dissatisfaction with alcohol. And although that’s not wrong, I don’t really…

Looking at the soldiers drowning in their problems with alcohol, Kyle had a complicated feeling in his chest. In a way, this was to be expected, considering what they went through during the day. To heal the mental and physical pain, and to grieve their comrades, alcohol was necessary. Even Kyle remembered relying on this sweet embrace before. However, it only helps you momentarily forget the pain, and he still suffered the pain once the initial drunkenness stops. That’s why he abstained this time. And for now, that was fine. But there was no telling when they would reach a breaking point. Kyle knew that things were changing because he fought at the front lines.

“For now, the best course of action would be to end this war, huh…”

Kyle was now making his way to a house in the residential area where the higher-ups lived. Most soldiers inhabited a regular home, often packed into multi-purpose rooms, but Kyle owned a regular home. And it was quite the luxurious home, no less. Not a place where only one person would live.

“Oh, Kyle. Welcome back.”

Realizing that Kyle had opened the door, Lieze jogged over to him with a smile.

“Yeah, I’m back.”

Kyle could feel his heart warming up when he saw that smile. He was used to it at this point, but being greeted by this after a harsh battle was definitely quite effective. And after they had moved here, this kind of scene had repeated countless times over, and although Kyle had no complaints here, it felt like they were a couple of newlyweds. Except the fact that the two weren’t the only ones living here.

“Welcome back. The meeting dragged on quite a bit today, huh?” Urza appeared from the back, her smile healing Kyle’s exhausted heart.

“Come on, let’s have dinner. Everyone is waiting,” Lieze grabbed his hand, pulling him to the kitchen with the giant table that could fit at least ten people.

The girls wished to have dinner together if possible, and usually, this would be the time when you’d normally have already eaten dinner, but they were all waiting for Kyle to come back.

“Ah, Kyle. Oh…Welcome back,” Minagi seemed to have arrived a few moments earlier, already sitting at the table.

She saw the wound on Kyle’s face and showed a slightly perplexed reaction. Kyle wanted to say something to her, only to feel something bump into his leg.

“Welcome back!” said the young Alessa, Kyle’s younger sister, who was currently five years old.

She probably didn’t understand the meaning of “Welcome back” all too much, but she just wanted to copy Lieze and the others.

“…I’m back.” Kyle caressed her head and picked her up.

She smiled from the bottom of her heart as she gently slapped his face.

“Welcome back, Kyle. Come on, Alessa, sit down. We’re gonna have dinner now,” said Kyle’s mother Seraia as she peeled Alessa off her brother.

“You’re a good girl for being able to wait until your brother’s back home. Today, I made your favorite fluffy rolled omelet.” Lieze said with a giggle as she placed plates on the table, clapping her eyes together.

Seeing that, Seraia and Urza both smiled along. Minagi wasn’t used to this kind of casual atmosphere, but she tried to push out a smile.

“You do remember we’re technically living on the frontlines, right?”

Watching such a family scene, Kyle could only sigh.

“I’ve been asking this before, but can’t you really just evacuate to a safer place?”

“What are you saying? We’re all a family, so we should be living together,” said Seraia with a proud face, only worsening Kyle’s headache.

When the change of Rimarze as a town was decided, it was Seraia who said they should all live in the same house together, even though Kyle was strictly against it. He wanted to keep the citizens of Rimarze as far away as possible from the war, so this would be nothing but counterproductive. Still, Seraia protested, saying she wouldn’t be able to rest easy far away from them either way, and many of the former residents decided to stay here, too. Their love for this place seemed far stronger than what Kyle had anticipated, which completely blew him away.

“I get what you’re trying to say, but if you think about it, the place here has the best security in the whole world,” said Shildonia, who appeared next to Kyle out of nowhere. “If the people who live here are in danger, then that means the whole war has been lost, no?”

The war between demons was an issue that involved all of humanfolk, so if the final line of defense was lost, they wouldn’t be safe anywhere.

“Well, I mean…”

“Yeah, yeah. Sit down, we can’t start eating like this,” Shildonia grumbled, completely ignoring Kyle’s worries.

“Yo, where’s the food at.” Seran barged in without so much of a knock, sitting down.

Seran was the only one who didn’t live with them. He probably didn’t want to get constant scoldings by Lieze for his way of living, so he only came over for dinner. And with everyone present, the dinner began. They would enjoy the delicious dishes and indulge in a bit of banter, thinking back on the past.

“Oh yeah, Leazel-sama’s gonna open another store, it seems. He sure is doing great.”

The Leazel Seraia spoke off is an old man and one of the villagers who stayed here.

“Isn’t he close to 100 years old…?”

He had always kept a small miscellaneous store, but now he had two whole bars, which only surprised Kyle more.

“By the way, Urza…Rifuaro-san was present today, you know?”

“I know. What about him?”

“Aren’t you going to…see him…?” Kyle was bewildered at this lack of reaction.

He wasn’t a bad person by any means, but he was too overprotective when it came to his own daughter, which is regularly evaded by Urza. Since Kyle partially was the reason for this dispute, he at least wanted to try and patch things up.

“I’m going to see him before he returns tomorrow.”

“I see…”

It seemed to be her compromise, so Kyle didn’t try to urge her more than this. The peaceful mood continued with this until Kyle stopped and spoke to Minagi.

“…Minagi, why did you save me today?”

Since Kyle’s voice sounded grave, Minagi also stopped eating. He was talking about when he was fighting Byakumu. Minagi threw a smoke bomb to help Kyle, but that wasn’t actually her job.

“You were supposed to watch over the whole battlefield today. Not to get involved with individual battles. If they know you’re out there, they’re going to be more cautious of you later on…Luckily, I don’t think anybody spotted you, but you still put yourself in danger.”

“…”

Minagi couldn’t argue. Kyle was absolutely right, and she knew that doing that would bring a great risk to the future plans they had. But, she still helped him. She saw Kyle’s injured face and reacted without thinking.

“I’m so—”

But before Minagi could apologize…

“I don’t know the details since I wasn’t present, but I don’t think you should hammer down on Minagi like that,” said Urza, protecting Minagi.

“She saved you, right? Then you’re at fault,” Lieze also jumped on the bandwagon to declare Kyle the one at fault.

They would probably do the same thing for Kyle if they were in the same situation.

“That’s not good, Kyle. Think about how Minagi-san feels.”

Even though Seraia was in the dark, too, she sided with Minagi. And Alessa even looked at Kyle with an angry expression, leaving Kyle in disarray.

“I’m sorry…”

In the end, Kyle was the one apologizing. He had known that this was what would happen, and more than anything, he was happy that Minagi did that for him, but he still had to say it no matter what.

“So, Minagi. It’s about time. Can you start what we discussed?”

“Alright…But…”

They had thought of this plot a long time ago, but Minagi still seemed hesitant. Or rather, she almost sounded against the idea.

“What’s wrong? Isn’t that what you shinobi are good at?”

“Yes, of course. But this kind of strategy…I’m shocked you can come up with something so gruesome,” Minagi seemed almost in disbelief.

Because of that, all the other girls stared at Kyle, but he just cleared his throat and moved on.

“Aaanyway, as we discussed, I’d like to ask you to join her starting tomorrow, Seran.”

“Guess I’m not participating in the war for a while. Don’t lose while I’m not around, you hear?”

This was also exactly as they discussed prior, so Seran didn’t argue much and just nodded.

“But that white one’s gonna be a pain, right? Swords don’t work on him, either. Got any tricks up your sleeve?”

Seran’s question made Shildonia stop violently gulping down the food, as she explained.

“Its real identity is like a spiritual body, which means he exists in a place different from this world. Let alone physical attacks, even magic won’t work against him. And since he can even turn half-invisible, it makes it hard to even spot him. And yet, he can momentarily create a real body to attack… It’s extremely dangerous.”

Kyle listened to Shildonia’s explanation as he rubbed the wound on his cheek.

“In other words…As of right now, we have no means of dealing with him.”

“Yet, you don’t seem all too worried. You got something?”

An opponent you can’t kill normally would be a top priority, but the way Kyle made it sound, he didn’t seem too concerned.

“He’s troublesome, but not more than that. He’s not someone we have to defeat no matter what. Plus, he’s the type of demon who loves to look down on us humans, so he’s wide open most of the time. If he’d participated in today’s battle from the very start, who knows what would’ve happened…”

“In other words, you can deal with him, but you can’t defeat him, right? Why not counterattack the moment he tries to go on the offensive?”

“He only materializes his claws, so I’d just be giving his nails a trim.”

“What a pain in the ass.”

“…Wait, maybe…”

Kyle seemed to have thought of something, beginning to dive into his thoughts.

“Can you not? We’re having dinner right now, and you shouldn’t get your family involved in your work,” said Seraia who had stopped eating.

“It’s not work, it’s a war, but…Well, fine.” Kyle listened to his mother’s comment and focused back on the food.

“But…should we really be taking it this easy…?” Minagi mumbled.

The fate of humanfolk, possibly the whole world was on the line, yet it felt like they were on vacation.

“Yeah, weren’t we supposed to be fighting for the sake of humanfolk?” Urza also seemed to struggle to swallow this situation.

Of the elves, many had experienced the war 300 years ago, so she heard many skin-crawling stories.

“Whatever the situation may be, you still get hungry. And if you’re gonna eat, at least make it a pleasant time.”

“That’s true. It’s important to keep the stakes in mind, but it shouldn’t crush your psyche.”

Seran was as nonchalant as always, and Shildonia agreed.

“I get that, but…I just wonder if this is really what we should do.” Lieze sounded anxious as she looked over at Kyle.

There was something mixed in there, and Urza agreed.

“I keep telling you, but I want you to stay behind here. I can give it my all because I know you’re safe.”

Both Lieze and Urza did not directly get involved in the fighting. Not because of their lack of strength, but rather because Kyle wished for it. There is always a chance that the demons might go for a surprise attack while Kyle and the others are off fighting. Of course, the defenses of this town were nothing to scoff at, but he wanted two people he could trust to stay behind. And although they knew what Kyle was thinking, they still felt restless not doing anything all day, wondering if their friends would come home safely.

“But I have to say, you’re really helping me out a lot, you two,” said Seraia, who probably got the most from the two staying behind.

It had been more than ten years since she raised Kyle, so they often helped with Alessa.

“You’re both going to be great wives…and completely wasted on Kyle.” Seraia gave Kyle a smile with a harsh undertone, who could only avert his gaze.

Being the same age, Kyle, Seran, and Lieze were all 19 now. In this day and age, it wasn’t weird to see people getting married at 15, and so not being married in their twenties was seen as a late start and an irregularity. Of course, they were in the middle of a war against the demons, so they had to make priorities, but even so, Lieze and Urza, as well as Minagi, all looked at Kyle with a gaze of anticipation.

“You better think about your future, okay?”

“Yes…”

Met with his mother’s pressure, Kyle shrunk.

“That’s true, Kyle.”

“…You were here, old man?”

A voice came from the corner of the room, where Kyle’s father Roel participated in the conversation.

***

Although the food was extremely delicious, Kyle lost the ability to taste the food by the end, and so he went to his room and sighed. He was thinking of just going to bed, but after changing his clothes, he once again raised his body. He then checked himself in the mirror, looking at his own face. This was his second life, and he had already spent three years like this. His face, his physique, it was slowly reaching the point of how it was right before the final battle in his past time. And although they were still in the middle of a war, Kyle looked a lot better than before. He could look forward to tomorrow, hope in mind. He could even smile today. It was completely different from how his days were nothing but despair in the previous time.

“I’m going to end this. I will end it soon…!”

Just one more step was left, as Kyle formed a fist.