Rokka no Yuusha - Volume 6 - Chapter Pr

Prologue 
Avenger 

“I don’t have the time to bother with trash like you, Adlet.” 
Fourteen-year-old Adlet bit his lip at Atreau Spiker’s cruel assessment. 
“Just be our servant instead,” the elder apprentice suggested. Adlet ignored him and his condescending tone. “I’ll get your revenge. I’m way stronger than you.” A hint of scorn was etched on his face. 
Four years had passed since Adlet was first apprenticed to Atreau, and he was the worst of all Atreau’s students. None of his skills were remotely up to par—not his sword, not his throwing needles, not the cleverness needed to make use of Atreau’s secret tools. 
With rage burning in his heart after his hometown’s destruction, Adlet had tried and tried. He’d sworn he would devote everything to vengeance, but no matter how he poured himself into the attempt, he couldn’t improve. 
At this point in time, Adlet was anything but the “strongest in the world.” 
But even as miserable as he was, there was someone who was kind to him—another boy the same age, who had become an apprentice a little while after him. He scolded Adlet for always being so reckless in his training, and when Adlet got hurt, the boy treated his wounds. 
One day, he handed Adlet a letter in the training field. “Hey, Adlet. You should leave.” 
Adlet didn’t even look at the letter, instead focusing entirely on swinging his wooden sword. 
“Becoming a Brave of the Six Flowers is impossible for you. You must know that, right? Give up already. Focus on your own happiness instead.” 
“Shut up, or I’ll kill you.” 
The boy pushed the letter at Adlet one more time. “A cousin of mine is a peddler. Says he wants to help you. I sent him a letter asking if he would get you some work, and he agreed. Work with him. Make new friends and start a new family. It’ll be way more fun than staying here.” 
Adlet yelled and swiped at the boy with his sword, fully intending to beat him to death. He’d made up his mind to kill anyone who interfered with his revenge. 
But even though Adlet’s swing was at full strength, his fellow student avoided it easily. Before Adlet could lash out again, the boy kicked Adlet in the stomach and sent him tumbling to the ground. “…You meant to kill me? Your only friend?” The boy looked down at Adlet disdainfully. “Atreau told me that’s why you’re so hopeless.” 
Adlet tried to stand, but his legs were too weak. 
“Without your lust for vengeance, you’re empty. You can’t get strong like that. You’ll never find true strength if there’s nothing you want to protect. No one matters to you—not even yourself. Someone like you can never become the strongest in the world.” 
The accusation pierced Adlet’s heart. 
“I’ve really had it with you. Just throw yourself into your pointless mission until you die,” the boy said, then walked away. He never spoke to Adlet again. 
Atreau claimed that those who valued nothing couldn’t become strong. But the day Adlet’s village had been destroyed, his heart had been shattered. All the people he’d loved were now gone. Everything he’d wanted to protect had been lost. And that sense of loss prevailed over everything else in his heart. 
When he was about to start a new friendship, Rainer would appear in his mind and say Will you forget me? And before he could show kindness to anyone, Schetra would turn up to stop him. Nothing mattered to him except the dead. He couldn’t love anyone else. Any consideration for another felt unnecessary, an obstacle to his revenge. 
Everyone he saw was an enemy. His life was only for killing. When people spoke kindly or compassionately to him, their words never reached his heart. He knew he would never get any stronger at this rate, but he couldn’t control the flames of vengeance that burned in his heart. 
Then one night, he had a dream. 
In it, he met someone and fell in love. He reached out to her and started running, trying to embrace her. But his fingers never reached her. 

He was surprised at himself. He’d believed his humanity was long gone from his heart—that he was a monster incapable of anything but killing and hate. But now, he loved someone. 
Still unable to embrace her, Adlet opened his eyes. He was lying in a corner of the cave, gazing up at the morning sun in a bleary daze. 
Usually, he would forget dreams immediately, but mysteriously, this one left a deep impression on Adlet’s heart. His failure to touch her saddened him. “…Damn it.” 
I don’t have the time to be thinking about some dream , he thought, getting up. He rushed through his morning wash, grabbed his wooden sword, and began doing practice swings. He couldn’t forget that three-winged fiend if he tried. Fantasizing about the day he would slice it to pieces, remembering his friend Rainer and his sister, Schetra, bearing their regret and suffering on his shoulders, Adlet brought the weapon down over and over and over. 
But that girl from his dream drifted through the back of his mind. He found himself recalling the loneliness of reaching out only to find her out of reach. The thoughts were chasing Rainer and Schetra from his mind. 
“…What the hell? I can’t believe this,” Adlet muttered quietly. “I still have human feelings?” 
Adlet realized then that it was impossible for humans to dedicate everything to revenge and bury their hearts in hatred alone. You just couldn’t stop yourself from falling in love with someone. 
From that day forward, Adlet began changing, bit by bit. 
He started talking with other apprentices. He could be grateful for their kindnesses again. He could see the importance of lifting others up and being lifted up, however slightly. His scowl gradually softened, and his impenetrable heart was opening. 
And most surprising of all, his training began showing distinct results. He was still far from catching up to the other apprentices, but still, change was change. 
“I suppose you’ve improved somewhat,” Atreau commented upon seeing Adlet’s progress. It was the first time Atreau had ever praised him. “Don’t ever forget the desire to protect someone, to keep from losing them. But…you’re still hopeless trash. Barely human. If you fail to show me results, you will be leaving regardless.” 
Atreau was still harsh. 
About three months after Adlet’s dream of a stranger, he sat in a cave, holding a stake. 
Atreau had told him this was one of the secret tools he’d developed himself. Since the tool was still incomplete, it had yet to be named. But Atreau told Adlet it was sure to be his greatest masterpiece. 
This weapon made use of Saint’s blood. Atreau had created a pure extract of the element poisonous to fiends, crystallized it, then fitted that crystal onto the tip of a stake. According to him, this weapon would have the power to kill any fiend without fail. 
“Find a way to make practical use of this tool, Adlet,” Atreau had ordered while handing him the stake. “Something no one would ever think of. Figure out a new way to deploy it that no fiend could imagine—no matter how intelligent. You must accomplish this, or you’ll never be able to surprise the fiends, and there would be no value in chronicling your efforts in my research. 
“This is a test for you as well. You must shock me with your idea, or I’ll drive you off this mountain. A stupid boy could never master my secret tools.” 
With the stake before him, Adlet racked his brain. He really would be expelled if he couldn’t surprise Atreau. Atreau was not a coddling man—in fact, it was baffling Adlet hadn’t been kicked out already. 
If Adlet was to leave the mountain now, then his dream of being the strongest in the world would end. He would never get his revenge. He’d never avenge Rainer, Schetra, or the rest of his village. 
Once again, Adlet had a strange premonition about the girl in his dream three months earlier. He had to become the strongest, or he wouldn’t be able to keep her safe. He needed to reach that goal, for her sake. He had no basis for this feeling—no logical reason. That girl was nothing more than a figment of a dream. But for him, that was enough. Even if she was just in his mind, she became his reason to fight for his goal. 
He never wanted to lose her again, and that determination made him stronger. 
“…I’m not gonna let myself get kicked out over this,” Adlet muttered to himself. “I will get revenge for Schetra and Rainer. And…I’ll protect that girl when I meet her someday. And if I want to do any of it, I have to become the strongest man in the world.” 
Adlet stared at the stake for a while before closing his eyes and bracing himself. 
Then he flipped it in his grasp to pierce his own heart.