Chapter 05: Hiiro Snaps

The reason that Hiiro Okamura had screamed was right in front of his eyes.

There was a fire and something big was burning inside of it. Hiiro rushed over towards the fire and extinguished it with 『Subside 鎮』.

He slumped down onto the ground and dropped his shoulders. He had noticed too late, most of the books had burnt and only ash remained. Hiiro picked up the ashes but it scattered in the wind.

The wrapping cloth that contained the books that Hiiro had used 『Send 送』on, should have been here. The scope of Folse’s attack must have engulfed the wrapping cloth and as a result it burnt completely.

There was certainly a book still remaining in the wagon but that book was『World’s Best! Girl’s with the Biggest B・O・O・B・S! 』and Hiiro wasn’t interested.

Everyone stared blankly at Hiiro’s odd behaviour.

“Fu… Fufu… Fufufufufufufufufufu.”

Hiiro suddenly started laughing strangely. Something inside of him had snapped.

Hiiro slowly stood up, sheathed 『Piercer』and scraped his feet against the floor while walking. Hiiro walked passed Arnold and co, stopped, and then quietly pointed the tip of his katana at Folse.

“How dare you burn up my books!?”

“Wait, those aren’t your books.” Arnold seemed to have retorted.

“Are you prepared for the consequences?”

“What are you talking about?” Folse didn’t understand why Hiiro was so furious. As soon as Folse had finished talking, Hiiro suddenly disappeared from his spot. Hiiro was actually moving so fast towards Folse that it looked like he had disappeared.

“Tsk!”

*STRIIIIIKE!*

Folse reflectively drew his sword and parried with Hiiro. Sparks appeared when the two blades hit each other.

Folse: “Damn! It seems that he’s not just an average Brat.”

Folse gazed at Hiiro in recognition. Again Hiiro moved quickly from his spot and before he knew it, Hiiro was behind him.

Folse: “Fast!”

Folse promptly jumped ahead to avoid the attack but he still felt a slight cut on his left shoulder. Everyone was dumbfounded by Hiiro’s fighting capabilities, but Hiiro’s movements were only possible by activating『Speed 速』.

Folse broadly grinned at Hiiro’s strange movements as he circled around Folse.

Folse: “Indeed, you move surprisingly fast for a kid, but…”

Folse removed the eyepatch from his right eye, disappeared from the spot and reappeared behind Hiiro’s back.

*SLASH!*

“Damn?!”

Feeling a presence behind him, Hiiro leaped forward to escape the attack but not before Folse slashed his left shoulder.

“Muahaha, that’s payback for earlier.” Folse said while pointed at Hiiro’s wounded left shoulder.

(The colours of his eyes… No, the shape of his eyes are different…?)

Folse’s left eye was blue but his right eye looked like an insect’s compound eye. Folse had closed his left eye and kept his right eye open. Then Folse pointed to his right eye.

“Muaha, are you bothered by my right eye?” Folse said with a sense of superiority and looked at Hiiro.

Folse: “I don’t have any obligation to tell you, but, I’ll tell you this. The one who implanted this into my eye was a beastman.”

The beastman in the area, Arnold and co, were startled by this fact.

Folse: “The pain and suffering I felt at that time slowly turned into hatred. I will never forgive beastman. I truly loathe them. It’s as simple as that.”

Folse moved towards Hiiro at lightning speed.

Folse: “That’s why, I also won’t forgive you for protecting beastman.”

Folse sword slashed at Hiiro at a frightening pace but he somehow managed to block it with his katana. Sparks flew as the swords hit each other. Folse removed his right hand from his sword and hit Hiiro’s face.

“Gah?!”

Their levels were too different. Hiiro needed to hold his katana with both hands to block the attack while Folse only required one hand. Therefore, he could use his free hand to attack Hiiro.

While Hiiro was dazed after being attacked, Folse returned his right hand to his sword and attacked. Hiiro dropped his katana in shock and was left defenceless.

Folse grabbed Hiiro’s collar and picked him up. Hiiro’s breath became constricted and painful.

Folse returned his sword to its scabbard and then punched Hiiro in the stomach with his bare hands.

“Gah! Ugh! Urgh!”

Folse punched Hiiro several times. It seemed that he wanted to completely torment Hiiro.

Each blow was heavy. At this rate, Hiiro feared that his HP would run out so in an attempt to use 《Word Magic》 he moved his finger.

To Hiiro’s surprised, Folse had grabbed his right hand.

Folse: “I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but I’m able to grasp all your movements with my right eye.”

Folse noticed Hiiro’s unnatural movements and stopped it before anything could happen.

(Damn… So he was this strong…)

Hiiro was only level 20 but because he had 《Word Magic》, which was almighty, he had thought he would somehow be able to manage; but the difference in battle experience between Folse and him was too obvious.

There was nothing that Hiiro could do in this situation; he had dropped his sword and he couldn’t use 《Word Magic》.

(His eye… it didn’t only increase his field of vision, it also increased his physical abilities, too…)

People normally wouldn’t be able to calmly analyse things in this type of situation but it was Hiiro’s nature to do so.

Hiiro’s face distorted in agony. Folse seem to have gotten tired of tormenting Hiiro and drew his sword. Then he pointed the tip towards Hiiro’s chest.

Folse: “It’s over, Red-Robed Brat.”

Folse sneered and readied his attack but then,

“Uwooooooooh!” Arnold screamed as he threw his great sword towards Folse.

Folse: “Hmph, are you an idiot? I can see you!”

Folse exhaled and easily repelled the flying sword with his own.

Folse: “I’ll kill you later, so stay still. Crimson Spear!”

A thin crimson spear made out of fire hit Arnold.

“Gaaaaaaaaah!”

Arnold promptly crossed both his arms to guard against the attack but the spear exploded upon contact and the impact sent him flying backwards. Muir frantically chased after Arnold and desperately tried to extinguish the fire on his arm.

Folse: “Don’t intrude when you’re weak. You’re just like the adventurer beastman I recently exterminated.”

Arnold: “Hahahaha… I-is that so? It was you who did those things at that village!”

Arnold glared at Folse after realising that he was the one responsible for what had happened at Wondo.

Arnold: “Why did you do something so cruel?!”

Folse sneered and said,

“Didn’t I already tell you? I loathe them.”

“Ah?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

*FLASH!*

All of a sudden the surroundings were covered by a dazzling light.

“Guuaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

The focal point of the light was right before Folse’s right eye. The light was so bright that even Arnold and co, who were quite a distance away, closed their eyes.

“Urrrrggggh!”

Hiiro rubbed his neck and laughed since things were going well. He had used 『Light 光』.

While Folse had been distracted by Arnold, Hiiro had quickly written the character and waited for an opportunity to activate it. Hiiro escaped from his restraints and looked down upon Folse, who was holding his right eye in agony.

Arnold and co had no idea what had happened and were surprised. They were relieved to see that Hiiro was fine.

(Hoh, I owe the Old Man big time.)

Hiiro had been close to dying but thanks to Arnold, he was able to escape and make his counterattack. Hiiro was really thankful towards Arnold.

Folse grew accustomed to the pain and while closing his right eye, he glared at Hiiro with his left. Folse couldn’t use his right eye for a while. When Folse stood up,

“Urgh! Gah! Omph! Ugh!?”

Hiiro didn’t waste any time, he quickly punched Folse several times. He ended it with a strong blow to the face. Just like Folse had done earlier, Hiiro pointed to his wound and said,

“Muahaha, that’s payback for earlier.” Hiiro mimicked the exact words that Folse had said.

Folse: “Guh… You Brat…”

Since there was a level difference between them, Folse didn’t seem to have received that much damage and would soon recover.

Folse’s right eye was still unusable because of 『Light 光』, which left his movements and reaction times impaired.

Hiiro immediately wrote『Speed 速』and activated it. Hiiro judged that Folse would be at a disadvantage in close combat so in order to settle the fight, he quickly closed the distance between them.

Folse: “Damn! If this gets too tough then I’ll use magic to deal with it! Crimson Spear!”

The current Folse couldn’t keep up with Hiiro’s movements.

*WOOSH. WOOSH. WOOSH. WOOSH!*

Hiiro magnificently dodged the crimson spear and Folse gradually became frustrated.

“Tsk! Who are you?! Why would you take the side of a beastman?! You are human, are you not?! The beastman are the enemy! It’s common sense! Adhere to common sense!” Folse said.

Hiiro stopped, glared at Folse and said,

“That has nothing to do with me.”

Folse: “Wh-what…?”

“You said it earlier, you loathe beastman. I can understand where you’re coming from.”

Folse: “…”

“But that has nothing to do with me.”

Folse: “What?!”

“You ruined my fun… So, I won’t forgive you.”

Of course Hiiro was talking about the books being burnt but Folse was dumbfounded at Hiiro’s words; he had no memory of ruining Hiiro’s fun.

“If common sense means that you win, then I will distort your common sense.”

“Wha-!”

“When I defeat you, that is!”

Hiiro thought that the true value of 《Word Magic》was that it distorted common sense. Just as Hiiro was about to obtain victory,

“That’s right! You’re going to loseeeeee!” Ur uttered as she came close to Muir.

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

“Ur, noooo!”

Her mother was surprised when Ur had left her side unnoticed.

“You weird-eyed freeeeaaaak!”

Folse heard Ur’s screams and blood rushed to his head; his thirst for blood increased.

Folse: “… What did you say?”

Ur: “Freak! Freak! Freak! Freak! Freak! Freak! Freak! Freeeeeaaaaaak!”

Folse: “… It seems that you want to die. Then so be it! Flame Bullet!”

Flame bullets shot towards Ur. If a child like Ur was to receive a direct hit, she would be instantly killed. Ur’s eyes widened at the sudden attack. Her mother loudly shouted her name.

“It’s dangerous!”

Muir ran towards Ur and protectively shielded her.

“Muuuuiiir!” Arnold shouted but he couldn’t move because his body was too wounded. Muir tightly shut her eyes in resignation. However, her body began to float.

*KER-THUMP!*

By the time she noticed, Muir was enveloped by a warm body. She remembered this feeling. It was the same feeling that she had several days ago when the Barbarous Bear attacked her.

At that time she was also saved in the nick of time and was held like this. The person who had saved her before and even now, was Hiiro.

Muir: “Eh… Hiiro-san…?

“Sheesh, you’re a hindrance so get away.” Hiiro bluntly said as he held the two in his arms. His left arm was horribly burnt. The attack had hurt him while he was saving Muir and Ur.

Muir: “Hi-Hiiro-san… Your arm…”

Muir’s faced paled when she realized that Hiiro had been hurt because of her. Hiiro was indifferent and he had the same surly expression on his face.

“This can’t even be called an injury.”

Folse glared at Hiiro full of hatred.

Folse: “Tsk, it missed?”

“Sorry, but I will be protecting them.”

That was Arnold’s request. But the two children who had heard this, blushed upon Hiiro’s words.

Ur simply thought that Hiiro was cool. Muir on the other hand, had never been protected by another man other than Arnold so the impact of the words were quite large.

“Hey.”

“Ye-yesh!” Muir said in a weird voice.

“Anyway, get away.”

Muir: “Y-yes! Fank you very mu…”

“… Fank?”

Muir: “… A… Ah…”

Hiiro tilted his head in wonder at Muir, who had her head hung down and vapour coming out of her head. Muir blushed at fumbling over her words while thanking Hiiro.

“Whatever, just get away!”

Muir: “Y-yes! Le-let’s go Ur-chan!”

Ur: “Ok-okay!”

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

Seeing Muir and Ur leave, Hiiro felt relieved at the fact that he could finally fight freely.

“Seeing you really irritates me! But you’re still unable to move freely with that arm!” Folse said with a smirk.

With a, “Hah” Hiiro sighed in amazement at Folse.

“Don’t sound so superior.”

Folse: “… Hhm?”

Hiiro wrote 『Heal 治』onto his left arm and activated it. A blueish-white magic covered the injury and it instantly healed. Hiiro’s face, that Folse had punched, was also completely healed.

“Wh-what?!” Folse was completely surprised.

“Now I can move freely. Did you say something?”

Folse: “… Wh-what are you…? Healing magic? The light from earlier as well, so you’re a light magic user!”

It was common knowledge that only light magic was capable of producing healing magic. That was why Folse came to the conclusion that Hiiro was a light magic user. Folse didn’t know that he had completely missed the mark.

“Who knows? You’re free to think that if you’d like.”

Light magic was a rare attribute. Originally it could only be used by the 『Spirit Race』. Folse realized that Hiiro wasn’t someone he should take lightly.

Folse: “It seems that it’s time to stop playing around. I’ll blow you away with my strongest magic!”

This time Folse used two hands instead of one. Hiiro put up his guard while looking at Folse and moved his finger in a way that wouldn’t get noticed.

Folse: “Now, turn into soot!”

Ten fireballs appeared around Folse, they were all around the size of a volleyball.

“Burn Strike!”

The ten fireballs flew towards Hiiro with tremendous momentum.

*BANG BOOM BAM!*

Dreadful heat and impact sounds enveloped the area that the fireballs had rained down on.

Arnold: “Hiiiiirro!”

Muir: “Hiiirro-ssannn!”

Arnold and Muir’s screams could be heard from afar. If someone had taken a direct hit from such strong magic, they’d be done for. But Muir and co had worried needlessly as Hiiro jumped out of the cloud of dust unharmed.

Muir: “Hiiro-san!”

Seeing Hiiro’s unharmed figure, Muir smiled. Folse had anticipated what Hiiro would do and aimed his next attack.

Folse: “I knew that’s where you’d attack from! Die! Flame Bullet!”

Hiiro fired a character while aiming for the flame bullets then the big ball of fire gradually became smaller and smaller on its way towards Hiiro.

Hiiro lowered his body and leaped to the front. The fireball passed over his head and gradually disappeared. The character he had used was the same one he used to extinguish the flames from the burning books, 『Subside 鎮』.

It took a bit of time for the flames to be extinguished so Hiiro had to bend down in order to avoid it. Seeing Hiiro bend on the ground, Folse had no idea what had occurred and widened his eyes in surprise.

Folse: “Wh-what did you do!?”

“Hmph, you best watch your feet, Topknot.”

Folse: “What?”

Hiiro had already made his next move while listening to Folse’s shout. He wrote a character onto the ground and activated it. The character glowed a blueish-white light, then sparkled like an electrical discharge. Folse was surprised at the sudden uncomfortable feeling at his feet.

Folse: “I, I can’t move?! Wh-what is this!?”

Folse frantically tried to move his feet from the spot but his feet were stuck to the ground. Seeing the ground become like glue, Folse’s confusion increased.¹

『Sticky 粘』

That was the character that Hiiro had written on the ground and just like he’d imagined, the ground turned into glue.

Folse: “Yo-you did this!? You can use earth magic as well!?”

Hiiro looked at Folse, who was stuck on the spot, he adjusted his glasses and then laughed coldly. Folse’s face grew pale upon seeing Hiiro’s expression.

Folse: “Wh-what! What are you planning to do?!”

“You’re confident against fire, aren’t you?”

Folse: “… S-so what?!”

“A fire magic user being defeated by fire. Wouldn’t that be interesting?”

Folse: “… Eh?”

Hiiro wrote 『Burn 燃』and released it; it splendidly hit its target.

“Guuoooooooooaaah!”

Folse’s body suddenly started burning.

“Oh ~ oh, you burn well!”

Folse dropped to the ground and his whole body fell into the『Sticky 粘』ground. He frantically tried to free his body but couldn’t move at all.

The flame had done less damage to Folse than ordinary people, since he was a fire magic user and thus had fire resistance. Even though there was less damage, Folse was still badly burnt.

“You should have learnt your lesson. On who you should pick a fight with.”

The fire finally subsided. While faintly breathing, Folse said,

“… Y-you…”

“Oh? You’re still conscious? As expected of a fire magic user.”

Hiiro was honestly surprised. Resistance was a larger factor than he had thought.

Folse: “Y-you… What… Are you…?”

“What am I? Well now.”

After thinking for a little while, Hiiro put his hand on his chin, looked down on Folse then answered,

“I’m just a unique cheat.”

Folse: “What… Is that…?”

“Well, find out for yourself.”

Folse: “Ar… Argh… I’ll remember…”

“Hah?”

Folse: “I’ll remember… Yer²… Face… And their face’s too…!”

Hiiro was surprised that Folse wanted payback when he was already beaten this badly. Perhaps Folse would continue to chase him from now on. However,

“Oh, really?”

Hiiro looked like he didn’t care. He had already lost interest. Hiiro was about to leave but decided to stop and said,

“Ah, by the way you’re completely naked right now. You Perverted Topknot.”

Folse’s clothes had completely burnt away. It was fortunate that he fell face down, so his private parts were concealed. But his wobbly butt was still exposed.

“Goooaaahh! I’ll never forget thhiiissss!” Folse shouted while squirming and Hiiro sighed.

(It’ll be troublesome if he pursued us. Should I use『Forget 忘』for this…)

While he was thinking this, he asked himself if it was alright to just use it on Folse. It wasn’t just Folse who knew about them, his unconscious subordinates did as well.

『Forget 忘』didn’t completely erase one’s memory. There was a possibility for the memory to be recalled with the right trigger. At least, that was what Hiiro thought.

In order to completely erase this incident, he had to use forget on everyone here. Since even if Folse forgot, if his subordinate were to ask about this incident in detail then Folse would definitely remember it.

Since Hiiro had yet to use this character, he didn’t know the effects of it. It would be meaningless to use it, if the effects only lasted for one minute.

(It’s inevitable. If he pursues me, I’ll just have to beat him again.)

Hiiro’s level had increased while fighting Folse. From here on out he just had to keep increasing his level. That way, if Folse chased him, Hiiro could turn the tables on him without having to rely 《Word Magic》.

Folse was yapping noisily so Hiiro picked up the rock that had rolled under his feet,

Folse: “Nguhh!”

Hiiro threw the rock at Folse’s head to shut him up. Folse’s eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness. People began gathering at where they were. Hiiro judged that it would be better to get out of here before things got troublesome.

“Hey, Old Man. Let’s get out of town.”

Arnold: “Sure.”

Arnold had used up most of his strength in the previous battle but he seemed to have recovered a little by resting. Muir moved closer to Arnold and put his hand around her shoulders to support him.

Ur also hugged her mother tightly, she was happy to be safe. They walked towards Hiiro and,

Mother: “Thank you so much for saving us! How can I ever thank you?!”

“It’s fine. After all, it’s part of the request.”

Arnold: “… Request? What’s this about?”

Arnold had indeed made a request for Muir’s rescue but he had forgotten about the existence of the mother and daughter, therefore he did not commission Hiiro to rescue them.

“Ah, you see…” Muir told Arnold about what had happened when Hiiro rescued her.