Isekai Mahou wa Okureteru! (LN) - Volume 5 - Chapter Pr

Prologue: The Third Hero 

A black sea was once again washing over the horizon. A black sea that was really a swarm of living beings. They were the enemies of humanity, the embodiment of evil devoted to the destruction of anything and everything. They were demons. 

The wasteland below of dirt and sparse greenery was trampled by the black power that clad the demons. Like a piece of cloth as it slowly soaked in dye, they seeped ever forward. Standing atop a hill with an unbroken view at the south end of the Norfolk wastelands of the Alliance, the Alliance’s hero, Kuchiba Hatsumi, was observing this situation. 

Once in a while, a refreshing, dry breeze would blow in gently from the north, typical for the area. What was carried on the wind, however, was a sensation that felt like it pierced and numbed one’s skin. The reason for it was undoubtedly the demons’ bloodthirst and impatience. It was like a sea breeze of their desperation. 

They were left in an unfavorable position after their last battle. They were practically cornered now. After being abandoned by the rest of their forces, the writing was on the wall for them. And so, in order to regain their honor, they were trying to even the score a little by rushing in while gripped by the madness of inevitable death. 

Keenly sensing that battle was steadily approaching, Hatsumi looked over her shoulder. Behind her, as if hiding themselves within the forest, were the companions she’d made when she was summoned over, as well as the soldiers of the Alliance. To her right was the martial artist from the Alliance country of Larsheem, Gaius Forvan. To her left was the female mage from the self-governed state, Selphy Fittney. And right behind her, kneeling down like he was calmly meditating, was the swordsman who served as the prince of the Alliance’s sovereign state of Miazen, Weitzer Ryerzen. 

These three names were known far and wide across the northern continent, for they were all valorous warriors who possessed skills the people praised. Skills that were already well proven. They had engaged in battle with the demons four times so far. And each and every time, they had entrusted their lives to each other and cooperated perfectly. 

After Hatsumi nodded to the three of them as if signaling them, Gaius returned a hearty smile as he struck his chest, Selphy quietly nodded back, and Weitzer stood up with a stalwart air about him. After confirming their determination one last time, Hatsumi leaped off the top of the hill. 

She spoke no words to signal the beginning. She said nothing to rally her soldiers like a commander would. There was no need. She simply dashed straight towards the demons, and even without a single word exchanged, her companions followed her. As fellow followers of the sword, their wills were all as one. 

Thus, she ran down the hill without even looking behind her. She was plunging downwards head-first. The steeply inclined slope that would normally make anyone uneasy to run along was a mere trifle before her body, blessed by the divine protection from the hero summoning. Darting forward at a tremendous speed, she blazed down the hillside. The companions and soldiers behind her saw her as the vanguard, and followed in her fervor. That was why there was not a single person among them who felt uneasy, anxious, or apprehensive. 

While maintaining her speed, she came down at the demon army spread out over the wastelands and cut right into the center of their formation. Taking a surprise assault from an unexpected direction, their reaction was delayed and chaotic. 

Kuchiba Hatsumi drew her sword. The weapon in her right hand was something she’d received from a dwarven blacksmith. Made of the materials of legends, it was a rare beauty forged with techniques of fancy and fantasy—an uchigatana. It was a long, mithril sword with a blade nigh 120 centimeters long. 

With Hatsumi’s talent in wielding the silver luster of the blade, the demons before her were just like thin sheets of paper. Whether iron or flesh, anything that stood against her was so swiftly and cleanly split in two that it left no grease or blood on her blade. 

She just had to swing it. By moving her body, her sword and arm were as one. Once she gave herself over to it, there was no way she would ever lose. And swing her sword was exactly what she did in the midst of the panicked demon army. The demon standing before her was cleaved right in two. And then following the flow of the strike, she rotated her body and sent the head of another demon flying. 

Weitzer and Gaius swooped down on the demons on either side of her. The martial artist’s fist and the swordsman’s slash annihilated several of them. Soon, after cutting down all the nearby demons and clearing an opening in the black sea, they raised a battle cry. Though belated, the unit parted to the left and right. The swordsmen cut into the stretched-out flank of the demons. The demons were completely divided. Seeing this happen, magic support came pouring down from the rear. 

The mage unit commanded by Selphy was dealing the finishing blow to the divided demons just as planned. Before long, the demons, who’d had their formation completely destroyed, were bitterly crushed according to plan by Hatsumi and her troops. When the initial strike went well, all that was left was to follow through. 

Perhaps because the demons’ formation had been destroyed, or perhaps because they weren’t exactly team players to begin with, they no longer cooperated as they fought. The demons lashed out with their own strength. Things quickly devolved into a melee, with each demon fighting for themselves. Such grandstanding while fighting would prove to be a fatal mistake. 

All Hatsumi and her companions had left to do from here was to cut out the source of the infection. Unlike the demons, the hero’s team stood firm like a rock. And it didn’t take long for the problem to come to them. A demon whose status was an order of magnitude higher than the others approached Hatsumi. It was the demon general. Holding a sword clad in mana in one hand, it appeared to be a skinny demon swordsman wearing an overcoat. If she remembered correctly, his name was Mauhario. Calling himself the Violent Flickering Wind, he’d allegedly beheaded many of the Alliance’s soldiers with his sword skills. 

“Hero of the Alliance!” 

The demon’s roaring, thunderous voice—far more than what anyone would expect from his slender frame—washed over them. Shaking the wastelands, it kicked up and blew away the sand in the area. Just at the sound of his voice, the movements of the Alliance soldiers became dull. It must have affected morale. Realizing the strength hidden within this monster, their spirits faltered. The only ones who were unfazed by the demon’s roar were several of the commanders, Hatsumi, and her companions. Mere moments after his shout, Mauhario closed the distance to Hatsumi in a flash. He wasted no time in unleashing a slash accompanied by a devilish storm. 

“Take thaaat!” 

“Hyaaah!” 

Matching him, Hatsumi swung her own sword. As her blade cut through the air, it made a sharp whistling sound and repelled the incoming blow. His attack deflected, Mauhario regained the distance between them in an instant. And then, in the blink of an eye, he snaked around to her left and brought his sword to task. 

Raising her mithril sword to defend, the harsh sound of metal clashing against metal rang through the air. Not relenting, the demon who was taller than Hatsumi pushed down on his blade and brought the fight to a deadlock. She only had the muscles of a mere young girl, but she was able to push back against the demon thanks to the power of the blessing from the hero summoning. 

“Hero of the Alliance! Today will be the day I defeat you and offer your damn head to Nakshatra-sama!” 

“Ugh... Sorry, but I don’t have any intention of dying here.” 

Finding his angry roar from close proximity to be rather annoying, Hatsumi slipped past Mauhario’s sword as she pushed it to the side. But then, as she went to slash at him, contrary to her expectations, Mauhario sensed the danger and broke away in the opposite direction. 

Mauhario corrected his stance once he’d safely escaped the range of her blade. His movements were terrifyingly fast. So much so that they were almost incomprehensible. This demon swordsman was the type whose primary strength was speed. He always kept out of his enemy’s range. For he could leap in, close the distance, and strike in an instant. It gave him the upper hand. Indeed, it seemed that Hatsumi should be at a disadvantage like this. 

Yet she offered not a word of complaint. Slightly opening up her stance, she rotated her left ankle towards her right heel and dropped her posture. Her sword was hidden behind her neck as she held it over her right shoulder. Along with the breeze in the air, she could feel its cold metal against her skin. 

She estimated there were about eight meters between her and the demon general who held his sword at the ready. Her sword was just over a meter long. For such a demon who specialized in speed and charging power, this was likely the ideal distance. Seeing her prepared to attack at any moment, a scornful and joyous expression floated up on Mauhario’s face. 

He judged that Hatsumi was gambling to launch herself at him, hedging her bets in a game of kill or be killed. The expression that had come over his face revealed his confidence in the outcome of this sort of match. Based on Hatsumi’s estimates, if she held her blade out in front of her, she still had six meters between her and her opponent. It was a distance that her blade could never reach. But this was a trivial problem for her. On the other hand, for the demon general who didn’t know any better, it was a fatal problem. 

“DIIIIIIIIIIIE!” 

The demon general let out a ferocious and violent scream, an expression of his fighting spirit. It rang through the area like a herald of his killing intent, yet Hatsumi’s heart was as calm as a perfectly still pool. All the sensory information coming to her right now registered as trivial. In that moment, not the demon general’s howl, not the screams of the soldiers, and not her companions’ panicked cries caused a single ripple in her heart. 

Then it was time for her to play her hand—The Phantom Sword of the Kurikara Dharani, the Longsword of the Absolute Blade. 

In the instant she abruptly opened her eyes wide, she exhaled with purpose and brandished the sword on her shoulder as if she intended to clear away every single demon on the other end of it. 

In the distance behind the demon general, there was the rumbling sound of rushing wind. To the tremendous surprise of each and every being present, when Hatsumi swung her sword, the demon general’s lower half tumbled gruesomely over in the blink of an eye. Debris, wind, his upper half, and a smattering of blood were blown jumbled in the opposite direction. 

Without even taking a single step forward, Mauhario had tasted defeat. All that was left was silence. At least for a moment. Immediately following that were the cheers of joy raised by the soldiers. They’d witnessed and were celebrating the demon’s defeat. The demons they were fighting, on the other hand, were stunned. Not only were they violently confronted with the reality that someone much stronger than them had been defeated, but first and foremost, they were completely bewildered as to how, exactly, he’d been defeated. 

Having yet to actually die, Mauhario looked up at Hatsumi from the ground in surprise. 

“Im... possible. The range of your sword... was surely...” he said, blood spewing from his mouth. 

It was true the tip of her sword never touched the demon general’s body. But just as Hatsumi had thought, that was a trivial matter. Looking down coldly at the body of the demon general who would never get up again, she flicked her sword as if removing blood from it, and replied to him. 

“I thought you were a swordsman yourself. You should know better. A swordsman who can only cut things within their sword’s range is, at best, second rate, no?” 

Her cold declaration would send shivers down the spines of all who stood against her. But the true target of it, the demon general, was numb to the sensation. He perished then and there. 

Eventually, the skirmish between the demons and humans came to an end. The Alliance claimed victory that day. The cheers of joy from the human swordsmen and mages alike could be heard from a great distance. It was proof that the fighting was over. A particular young man dressed like a knight emerged from the crowd of celebrating soldiers. 

It was the prince of the Alliance’s sovereign state of Miazen, one of the Seven Swords, Weitzer Ryerzen. He knelt at Hatsumi’s feet when he reached her. 

“Your fighting style is magnificent, Hero-dono.” 

“I thought I told you to stop calling me a hero already, Weitzer.” 

Kuchiba Hatsumi let out a disconcerted sigh upon hearing the overly serious and stubborn young man’s flattery. However, he paid it no mind and took her hand in an attempt to kiss it. Perhaps it was ceremonious. Hatsumi didn’t frown on the gesture itself, but for some reason, today she also pulled away her hand like it was fleeing. As Weitzer looked up at her, his shrewd expression became slightly disappointed. 

“Hero-dono...” 

“Like I just said, Weitzer...” 

And then, from the opposite direction, Hatsumi’s companion Selphy Fittney called out to them. 

“I’m afraid there’s no helping it, Hatsumi. You are, in fact, a hero after all.” 

“You too, Selphy...?” 

“Even if such a thing bothers you, you cannot change the truth.” 

“Ugh...” 

As Selphy drew her conclusion in a taciturn tone, Hatsumi let out a groan. Selphy was wearing a pale green robe with the hood pulled over her eyes. She truly looked like a mage. But from under that hood, stifled laughter was beginning to leak out. Hatsumi then noticed that at some point, a large shadow had appeared behind Weitzer. 

“So you were rejected again today, huh, prince?” 

An awfully lively and loud voice came pouring down on Weitzer. The one standing behind him who looked the part of the brawny muscle-bound giant of the group, Gaius Forvan. He slapped Weitzer’s shoulder with his hand that had an old scar carved into it. Hatsumi thought that even though they were companions, he should hold back a bit when interacting with a prince. But setting that matter aside, it seemed that he’d misinterpreted Weitzer’s flattery. Weitzer looked back at Gaius with a sharp gaze and bitterly narrowed his eyes. 

“...It’s not that I was outright rejected.” 

“Oh? From what I’ve seen, I think that’s exactly what’s going on.” 

“Ugh...” 

As Gaius tried to play innocent, Weitzer’s eyes revealed just a little bit of irritation. 

“I-It’s not like I hate Weitzer, you know?” Hatsumi defended him. “It’s just that I’m not used to being treated that way. It’s not that I dislike it, per se...” 

“I gotta say, you certainly looked like someone who disliked it.” 

“Gaius, will you be quiet? Hero-dono, I behave this way because I genuinely respect you...” 

“Both of you, don’t go troubling Hatsumi like that.” 

Selphy candidly offered an end to the conversation. However, the two men looked like they still had plenty to say. But with dissatisfied expressions, they nodded and acquiesced. 

“Well... At any rate, good work everyone.” 

Hatsumi changed the subject and voiced her appreciation. She raised her hand to say that no reply was necessary, and her three companions nodded. 

“But... it’s surprising that there weren’t as many as we thought there would be.” 

Hatsumi furrowed her brow as she spoke. It was Selphy who answered her concern. 

“That’s because only one of the three armies of demons showed up this time.” 

“As I suspected, the demon army we defeated just now was nothing but a sacrificial pawn.” 

Right now, there were three demon armies assaulting the Alliance. They had just defeated one of them, but there were still two remaining armies that were significantly larger than the one they’d just fought. 

“It’s fine, isn’t it? Today’s fight bodes well.” 

“The enemy you defeated just now was a demon general, Hero-dono. Asking for a greater military accomplishment than that would simply be aiming too high.” 

“But...” 

“Hatsumi, leave it at that. If you say any more, then we’ll all be left ashamed of what we accomplished before you came along.” 

“Yeah. Before you showed up, a single demon army was enough to push back the Alliance army. But as soon as you set foot on the battlefield, not only could we stand up to them, we could drive them back. And today...” 

“We crushed one of their three armies and killed one of their generals. All because of your power, Hero-dono.” 

“What? All because of that? What about the ones I defeated?” 

“The fact that we were able to crush the demon army, that we were able to slay the demon general, and that you were able to defeat the other demons, Gaius, is all thanks to Hero-dono.” 

Hearing Weitzer’s curt manner of speaking, Gaius’s eyes flashed fire. Seeing that that this was probably going to turn into another fight, Hatsumi let out a sigh and tried to diffuse the situation. 

“Weitzer, we only won because we prepared sufficient forces for the battle. That isn’t just all thanks to me, right? Besides, the hard part is yet to come.” 

“...That’s right, isn’t it?” 

The only one who spoke up in agreement was Selphy. The demons they defeated this time were led by a demon general who was the type that was confident in his own strength. He wasn’t much of a commander, and mostly left his subordinates to their own devices on the battlefield. All in all, that made him a relatively easy opponent to deal with. 

When Hatsumi first faced him, she was easily able to get the upper hand. But when demonic reinforcements arrived, it brought the situation back to an equilibrium. The general leading the troops who arrived was one who laid out proper plans, which made the fight much harder. If not for that, the Alliance would have reclaimed its territory much sooner. Seeing the pensive look on Hatsumi’s face as she reflected on the battle, Weitzer spoke to her as if to say such a thing was unnecessary. 

“As long as you’re here, Hero-dono, the likes of a demon army is nothing to fear.” 

“Yeah. And don’t forget about me.” 

Brimming with confidence, Gaius powerfully struck his chest like he always did. This time, not just Weitzer, but Selphy too rolled their eyes at him. In contrast to her comrades’ high spirits, Hatsumi appeared slightly gloomy. 

“...Hey, what do you guys think I am?” she asked before remembering an important detail. “Ah, and you can’t say a hero, okay?” 

Her three companions exchanged glances with each other, and then each gave their reply. 

“The hero part aside, you’re an extraordinarily beautiful swordswoman.” 

“As for race, saying you’re a human would suffice.” 

After Gaius and Selphy gave their answers, Weitzer put his fist to his heart with an extremely serious expression and looked at Hatsumi. 

“You are our princess, Hero-dono.” 

“Wha...?! Weitzer, that kind of thing is super embarrassing.” 

“Oho? What’s this? It doesn’t sound like you hated him saying it, little princeeeeess!” 

“Come on, Gaius!” 

Having such embarrassing things said right to her face, Hatsumi’s cheeks turned as red as the setting sun. She then immediately hung her head like she was somehow dispirited. 

That wasn’t what she had wanted to hear. Selphy approached and leaned in to look up at her eyes. Eyes that were racked with anxiety. 

“Does not having memories make you anxious after all?” 

“...Isn’t it obvious? I can only remember my name and the way of the sword, you know... There’s no way I wouldn’t be anxious.” 

The hero summoned by the Alliance, Kuchiba Hatsumi, had no memory of her life before appearing in the Alliance. In other words, she had no recollection of her time before being a hero. In short, she had amnesia. She had no idea what she’d done with her life, or what she wanted to do with it in the future. The only two things that remained with her were her name, Kuchiba Hatsumi, and the sword techniques that she used. The anxiety that produced in her made her feel distant. Faraway. Like her feet weren’t touching the ground. Gaius then walked up to her and slapped her shoulder in a friendly manner. 

“We’re here for you. Got that?” 

“Yes... but...” 

“Hero-dono, if you have no memories, then you can just make some together with us.” 

“Weitzer...” 

Yet even with Weitzer’s kind words and gentle smile, she could not shake her anxiety. Then, as if to make a public announcement, Gaius cupped both his hands around his mouth. 

“Oooooh, here we go again! Weitzer’s corny speech is starting!” 

Weitzer stood behind him and quietly drew his sword from its sheath. After glancing briefly around at her companions who were still in a celebratory mood after their victory, Hatsumi looked up at the sky. 

“...” 

She had lost her memories. But every once in a while, she would see something in her dreams that she believed was from her life before she came to this world. The dream was always the same—it was a world full of things that didn’t exist here, and the same person was always there. But when she woke up, the dream was always vague. This only fanned her anxiety more. 

There was something she must never forget, something extremely important. That feeling stabbed at her heart like a buried needle.