Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari - Chapter 364

Chapter 364: Two Years

“Melty…”

Right now, the only one by Melty’s side is Firo.

Quickly. As fast as we can, we have to go save her.

“Don’t worry. You guys don’t seem to believe in me, but let me explain. With your origin of power, and the Spirits’ help, I don’t think that Goddess can sense you.”

“I just fight by my rules. I’m a God Slayer. And by My rules, I will expel those who destroy the order of this world. As long as… the Spirits who chose you continue to want you around, then I’m probably an ally.”

Around Arc, spirits begin to circle.

“I can’t see them, but aren’t you guys quite well liked by the Spirits?”

The lights surrounding him crowd around me and Raphtalia.

“Those are the Spirits of worlds destroyed. So I think they’re praying for you to protect for their share as well.”

“I can’t see Spirits, but by listening to the wills dwelling in the weapons, I can hear them. Your Shield… has a Spirit with a relatively moderate personality, right?”

On his words, something rises to the surface of the Shield, and begins to take shape.
The figure that appeared suddenly clung to me.

“Naofumi-sama!”

It was… Atlas.

She really did work hard with the Spirit of the Shield for my sake.
Her will, the regrets of the Spirits, everything… I won’t let it go to waste.

“Oy, you. The one who’s been trying to talk to me for a while. Are you… a Spirit? Or are you a being with nothing but a soul left behind? You’re half transparent, and I can’t really see you, but it seems a strong power dwells within you.”

After gripping me tightly for a while, Raphtalia wrenched her off, and Atlas answered the question.

“Yes. Together with the Spirit of the Shield, we’re sharing our power to turn it into Naofumi-sama’s. Eventually… My consciousness, and the Spirit of the Shield’s will mix together, and I will become both a Spirit, and a being with a soul.” (Atlas)
“Ah, good luck with that…”

Though Arc’s explanations defined me as a God, I’m not really feeling it.
It’s just that I’m aware that the amount of things I can do has increased, so the only thing left is to test it in battle.

“Naofumi-sama, it’s alright.” (Atlas)

As she said that, the Spirits started rotating around Atlas.
I begin to feel my own power increasing.

“Just now… the Spirits have granted us some power. Naofumi-sama, do you feel it?” (Atlas)

I’m aware of the process Atlas describes.

But while I can receive their power, I cannot steal it.
My nature as the Shield binds me, but it also becomes my power.

“Isn’t it about time you left? I have some other things to do, so I can’t really follow, though.”
“For teaching us quite a few things, I thank you.” (Raphtalia)

Raphtalia and Atlas lower their heads to him

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s a power you guys realized yourselves, and built up from scratch. As long as you don’t forget the thing you wanted when you obtained that power, remember that you guys are not my enemy.”

And Arc smiled happily.

Anyways, I understand my goal, which had once been unclear.

But for now, we’re in a situation where neither of us considers the other an enemy.

He did do us quite a few favors, so if something happens in the future, perhaps helping him isn’t the worst option.
Of course, that’s only if me and Arc share the same interests at the time.

“If you ever find pain in the path you walk, and want to sleep; if you want it to end, just search for me. Granting an end to some things is my job as well.”

“Well then, I’ll see you then. Best regards.”

For those barred from rest for eternity, they will eventually say this.

I wonder if he’s the one granted that role.

But ’Best Regard’… he returned my cynicism with some of his own.

Not that it matters. Now, we don’t have the time to worry about such things.

“Listen here. Before you enter the world, the first thing you have to do is make sure you’re not sensed by the enemy. Your Shield’s become something like the lynchpin that protects the world, right? In order to put in a new pin, I guess you’ll have to remove the old one.”

Lynchpin… I see.

The heroes and Spirits from Glasses world probably hold similar positions.

And when they’re gone, the world falls apart.

Then… should I just increase the amount of pins holding it together?

But with that, it’s unreliable.

That means…

“Naofumi-sama.” (Raphtalia)

“Fine, I know. Let’s go pick up Ren and Motoyasu.” (Naofumi)

We should be able to find and bring those two back.
Like us, they should be clinging onto life somewhere.

We prepare ourselves to cross worlds once more, as we start drifting through space.

… Motoyasu is close. He’s somewhere parallel to that world.

On the contrary, Ren is far.

Is that Ren’s world?

“Ah, when you’re fighting, I think this will prove handy to you. Whatever happens, remember it’s only for spirits. Don’t go about drinking it.”

Saying that, Ark tossed the medicine of immortality over to me.

Just how high would be the output on the skills unlocked through the undiluted formula?

“I pray for success in your battle to come.”

Ark waves his hand.

“Your arrogant attitude… I definitely will never be able to trust you from the depths of my heart.” (Naofumi)

The way he offers trials to people is somewhat irritating.
The result is fine, but I hate how it feels like I’m dancing on the palm of his hand.

“Ahaha… as expected of you. But I don’t hate you. Yep, good luck.”

“I see. If I need help, I’ll call for you then. See, I’m just a single man.”

Good grief… he doesn’t seem to have everything in one place, this guy.

Even if we do end up repaying that’ll be after this mess is over.

“Raphtalia, Atlas. Let’s go.”

“Understood.”

We change to light, and head off to Ren and Motoyasu.

Even from the outside, I could tell Ren’s world was one out of a Sci-Fi novel.

They can’t traverse between them yet, but perhaps in a few decades, they could put their knowledge to practical applications.

“Then should we enter?”
“Yeah.”

Me, Raphtalia and Atlas infiltrated Ren’s world.

The location is… it seems to be Ren’s room, for when he’s alone.

We land on the floor, and look around.

It just looks like an exceedingly normal apartment room.

I imagined flying cars, but there’s nothing of the sort.
Well, even if our civilizations are on different levels, it’s still Japan.

Ren is… sitting at his desk. On his head is a large helmet.

If we weren’t in such a hurry, I would like to try it on for a bit.
I mean, I’m an Otaku, am I not?

Ren is… stuck in that position. He really isn’t moving.

Is he asleep?

“What should we do?” (Naofumi)

“Yes, I think that’s the best option.” (Atlas)

I start poking the person I thought to be Ren’s shoulders.
His body convulses for a second, before he slowly starts removing the helmet.

“… Who is it? Mom?”

And as he turned around and saw us, he was at a loss for words.
At the same time, I moved my hand to my chin.

“Sorry, I got the wrong person. Goodbye.” (Naofumi)

Raphtalia and Atlas have a questioning expression on their faces, as they bow and prepare to leave.

No, I’m not saying his face was bad.

It’s not like he came to that world with his game character.

From what I can see, he’s a bit different than Ren, who still had a hint of his youth. He seems older.

There’s no doubt he’s Ren’s brother, or some other relative.

Where did that guy go?

And when I was preparing to jump through dimensions…

“W-wait…”

The Ren-like man grabbed my hand.

“You! You’re Naofumi, aren’t you! And there’s Raphtalia-san… and there’s even Atlas-san, who’s supposed to be dead. What’s happening?”
“What?” (Naofumi)

The one who looked much like Ren made the face of a person meeting someone of their childhood.
Eh? Could it be that this is Ren?

“Wait a second, you’re… Ren?” (Naofumi)
“That’s right. More importantly, I’d like you to tell me. Why is Naofumi in my world?” (Ren(?))

So it really is Ren.

Right now, my overgrown hair war restored to normal when I got back my Shield.
And my body is telling me that not much time actually passed.

“Um… let’s organize our information. Ren, why have you… grown so big?” (Naofumi)
“Why, you ask… because two years have passed since I returned here from that world, of course.” (Ren)

… Ren’s story goes like this.

And after various things happened, he tried to see if there was any way to go back.
But in the end, the Sword remained silent.

Luckily, it still had enough power left in it to be used as a weapon if necessary.

Or so it seems.

This is a failure… before we entered his world, we should have looked into its perception of time, and taken that into account. I’ll bet the Spirit of the Shield was doing various regulations for me in that aspect.

“And… why is it that you people haven’t changed in the slightest? Well… it’s possible you just didn’t grow in that time, though.” (Ren)
“The Spirit Dwelling in your Sword is…”

Atlas starts talking to Ren’s Sword.

“Without enough power, the distance was just too far… it was waiting for the time when the worlds would approach one another.” (Atlas)
“…”

With that distance, wouldn’t it take quite a while for Ren’s world to get there?

I wonder just how much time that would take.
And wait, two years… the flow of time in Ren’s world seems fast.

“Um, it only took a week for me to be able to go, you know.” (Naofumi)
“What?” (Ren)

Ren is dumbfound.

“Then is the final battle already over?” (Ren)
“No, the flow of time in your world is just fast.” (Naofumi)

We explain the circumstances to Ren.

Ren fell into his chair, and sunk his head.

“Just what were my two years for…” (Ren)

It’s not like I don’t get where he’s coming from.

But perhaps that would have been okay in itself.

“Okay, then we’ll jump through time, and grab the you right after you got here. Is that fine?” (Naofumi)

With the powers we have as Gods, and the Spirits abilities to change cause and effect, it’s not impossible.

It’ll be like rewinding Ren alone.

“W-wait!”

Ren calls out again to stop me.

“What’s wrong? You hate the fact that you wasted two years of your life, right?” (Naofumi)

“That means… your past self will have to spend two years waiting, but is that alright?” (Naofumi)

On my response, Ren’s eyes fill with water for a moment, but after that, he clenched his fist strongly.

“Y-yeah! If I have to wait two years to go back, I’ll bear it!” (Ren)

Well, for this Ren, I think he would hate it if we abandoned him for a Ren two years prior.

And messing with cause and effect is messy. In the worst case, he’ll wait here forever.

“After that, I experienced various things. I’m confident that I’m definitely stronger than before! I mean I even went to another alternate world once!” (Ren)
“Hmm…” (Naofumi)

So the progress I saw in that field from the outside was no lie.

If I just go about dragging Rens from the past, perhaps the amount of Rens will just increase.
And he’ll just become a person with a Ren-like personality. Though Ren will become him one day.

“I got it, I got it. Then I’ll be taking you to that world now, but are you alright with that?” (Naofumi)

I think he’ll be of help, but Ren has a place here.

I ask Ren the same thing the Spirit of the Shield asked me.

“…Yeah. If it gives everything I’ve done up to this day a meaning, I’ll nod without hesitation. I will return to that land!” (Ren)
“I see… are you prepared?” (Naofumi)

Ren nods right away.

It’s a bit late, but those are some embarrassing lines he’s spitting out.
Though I said something quite similar.

“Then let’s go.” (Naofumi)

As if to make an offer to him, I extend my hand to Ren, and hy grips it without hesitation.

The current me and Ren are different sorts of existences now, so while moving like this, we can’t hold conversations.

Next is Motoyasu, right?

But by the world’s order, or something like that, I can’t enter it.

“What should we do?” (Raphtalia)
“Fumu…” (Naofumi)

I tried to touch the barrier surrounding his world a few times, but I was repelled.

I can’t get a grip on what the rules are.

On the other hand, Raphtalia can enter it just fine.

“Okay, in order to hit the lynchpin, I’ll leave Motoyasu to Raphtalia.” (Naofumi)

“Naofumi-sama, I’ll pursue you after I retrieve the Hero of the Spear.” (Raphtalia)
(TL: And here starts Raphtalia’s days of mental anguish)

And so we put off getting Motoyasu, and prepared to enter the world.

“Atlas.” (Naofumi)
“Yes. I’ll strengthen the power of the Spirits as much as I can, and try to conceal Naofumi-sama.” (Atlas)

Atlas changes to a ball of light, and returns to my Shield.

It’s worthy of praise just how far she stuck to her words.

In the world we’re going to, what sort of form will she take?

So we won’t know what will happen until we go and see for ourselves.

Anyways, Melty’s in trouble right now.
We were able to quickly recover Ren.

I strengthen my resolve, and broke into the other world.

(TL: So is he her type now?)