Yari no Yuusha no Yarinaoshi (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Lingering Fragrance 

“Nice to meet you,” Father said. 
The horrible creature hissed and growled. Father was greeting the dispatched creature—a gruesome, filthy, evil dragon. 
The surrounding soldiers bowed and Father grabbed the creature by the reins and leapt onto it. The dragon growled at the filolials and me. 
“Hey, Motoyasu, your turn,” Father called. 
“I know, Father.” 
My whole body shivering uncontrollably, I took a tentative step forward. I reached out and took Father’s hand, and he helped pull me onto the horrible beast. It let out another fierce growl. 
“Everyone stay calm,” Father said. 
The awful creature writhed unpleasantly, but the soldiers were able to calm it down. 
“Sakura, you filolials don’t get along with dragons, so you can’t ride one, right?” Father asked. 
“Buuuuut!” Sakura looked at Father. “But I want to protect you, Naofumi!” 
“Come up here, then,” Father said. “You can protect us!” 
“Got it!” Sakura chirped. “I’ll protect everyone!” Father’s words seemed to energize Sakura, and she got on the dragon too. 
“Let’s protect Motoyasu with ritual magic from below,” Yuki called out to the other filolials. “Now then, everyone, let’s get ready!” 
The filolials all cheered and chirped. 
As I looked back at the crowd of filolials, the dragon flapped its wings and took to the skies. My thigh started to itch where it was touching the dragon. I had to get off this thing before my whole body broke out in hives from head to toe. I wouldn’t be able to think straight from all the itching. 
As expected, the dragon didn’t fly particularly fast, which takes away the whole advantage of flying in the first place! 
How could I possibly survive so much time on a dragon? By resolving to do it for Filo-tan, I say! 
I noticed the father of the Filo-tan I loved so much was right in front of me. So I hugged him tightly from behind. 
It distracted me from the itching a little bit. 
“Uh, Motoyasu?” Father said. “Where are you putting your hands?” 
Embracing Father strengthened my very soul! 
“Don’t smell my neck! What are you doing!?” 
“Filo-tan . . .” 
I quivered in sweet, sweet agony. I had caught a whiff of the lingering fragrance of Filo-tan on Father’s neck. 
Filo-tan? 
Filo-tan. 
“Ew, ew! Stop sniffing my neck, Motoyasu! Stop it! I’m begging you, please act normal!” 
Filo-tan. 
Filo-tan. Filo-tan. Filo-tan. Filo-tan. 
Fiiiiiiloooooootaaaaaaaaan. 
Filo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tanFilo-tan Filo-tan Filo-tan. 
“Somebody! Help me! Somebody fix Motoyasu!” 
The dragon let out a terrible roar and I suddenly returned to my senses. 
“Motoyasu, are you back?” 
“Father, I detected the lingering scent of Filo-tan on you, I say.” 
“Motoyasu, I beg you, please don’t get distracted,” Father said. “The only scent you’re noticing on me is Sakura! I was just riding her a few minutes ago.” 
Huh? Well, that was true, I supposed. 
Yuki and the rest of the filolials looked so small from above. 
“Motoyasu! It’s time!” 
Father called to me and I focused on the task ahead. There were five planes. They stayed in a tight formation as they fired down at the villages below. I had managed to forget the fact that we were riding a dragon just a little. 
Takt’s pig subordinates were in those planes. 
When I remembered that, it was all the motivation I needed. 
The airplane guns fired on, raining bullets down below. 
“Air Strike Phaser Shield V!” Father called, summoning a shield. 
One of the planes aimed at us and started to shoot. 
Since there were Takt’s subordinates in the plane, they were likely high-level enemies. Aiming Lancer might not have enough power to kill them, and Gungnir would probably only take out one at a time. I wasn’t sure what to do. 

 

I, Motoyasu Kitamura, would never fail! 
One of the planes was shooting directly at us, keeping an even distance. I grabbed my spear and locked onto the enemy. 
When I thought about it, I realized that I did have an attack that came in handy precisely for times like this. After I learned Brionac, there was an attack that had reduced frequency but still summoned devastating power. 
“Shooting Star Spear X!” 
Shooting Star Spear, true to its name, is a skill that launches a glittering light like a comet in the night sky, similar to Ren’s Shooting Star Sword skill. Certainly, it’s an attack that I used against Father in the first go-around. Immediately after the initial attack, even more stars fired at the foe. Still, Father was ultimately able to stop them all. 
Shooting Star Spear’s attack just grazed the first plane, ricocheting outward and striking two planes further back with stars. How about an attack that packs even more punch than Aiming Lancer, you vile pigs! 
The airplane grazed by the attack started to flash red lights before it abruptly exploded. An effective strike! The other two planes suffered direct hits and, emitting giant plumes of smoke, plummeted out of the sky. I guessed that the attack had set the fuel on fire. 
“Just two more, Motoyasu! Keep at it!” Father called. 
“Leave it to me!” 
With two left, I only needed a single attack. I readied my spear and set the target lock. A high-powered skill that guaranteed direct hits would do the trick! 
“Gungnir X!” 
The spear blasted a ray of light at the airplanes, and it pierced straight through the first one. 
“Yes!” Father punched the air. 
The last plane swerved back toward us and kept firing. 
Did they want to die? 
Father summoned another shield. “Air One-Way Shield!” 
His shield sprouted a sort of gentle wind around us, and the dragon adjusted its position, hurtling forward to meet the plane. The airplane started to spin as it hurtled toward us, whirling like a tornado. 
“Looks like the airplane is using a skill that creates a blast of wind,” Father said. “Motoyasu! Stop it!” 
“I shall, Father!” 
If I used Brionac, it might miss the mark. This time I went for a magic spell. I focused intensely and, raising my spear to the sky, chanted a spell. 
“Liberation Firestorm X!” 
A whirlwind of fire erupted from the tip of the spear. Sucked through Father’s air shield, the tornado of fire grew massive and took down the airplane in a fierce inferno. The fire blazed up the surrounding clouds in a flash of heat, and the weather suddenly cleared into a sunny day. 
“Whoa,” Father said. “Wouldn’t it have been faster to just use that magic from the start?” 
“I don’t think it would’ve gotten them all at once,” I said. With them flying all around us, it would have been difficult to get a good aim. 
“Fair enough,” Father said. “Great, so this should put a stop to their bombings.” Then to the dragon he called, “Let’s hurry back down before Motoyasu goes crazy again!” 
At Father’s direction, the dragon started to swoop back down toward the ground. 
“Ouch!” I yelped. “It itches!” 
As soon as the dragon landed, I leapt off to find my skin covered in furiously itching hives! But the feeling started to fade pretty quickly. 
We returned to the command center and met back up with the Siltvelt leaders. 
“So did Takt’s remaining soldiers meet up with the Shieldfreeden army yet?” Father was asking. 
“At the moment, we don’t believe any of them have joined Shieldfreeden’s vanguard unit,” Werwer said. 
“Got it. Does it look like they may retreat?” 
“They seem to be relentless,” Werwer said with a pained expression. 
Even though we took care of the airplanes, we were still in a difficult position. 
“They refuse to withdraw on the orders of Shieldfreeden’s aotatsu chief,” Werwer continued. “They’re still furious that the Whip Hero, Mallet Hero, and goddess dragon have been killed.” 
“Hm . . .” Father trailed off. 
“However, since we do have an advantage in hand-to-hand combat, we’re confident that they won’t start a battle that they don’t think they can win.” 
“Got it. Let me know if anything happens. If any more of Takt’s remnants show up, we’ll take care of them.” 
At that moment, a soldier came rushing in. 
“It’s an emergency!” 
“What is it?” Father asked. 
“Melromarc’s army has suddenly reappeared and is joining the war against us!” 

“Again? Now of all times?” Father shook his head. “No, of course—now is the perfect time for them to move against us.” 
“We’ve confirmed a sighting of their battle formation!” the soldier continued. “The Wisest King of Wisdom commands from the rear, and the high priest, wielding the Legendary Replica Weapon, is leading the charge!” 
“The Legendary Replica Weapon?” Father exclaimed. “What is that?” 
“We believe that it is a reproduction of each of the Four Holy Weapons of legend!” 
Now that he mentioned it, the high priest did have something like that. It had been quite a powerful weapon. Had Father’s cursed shield not managed to stop it, it might have been powerful enough to defeat us. Well, back then, before I had my current strength, that is. 
“Motoyasu, what do you think we should do?” Father asked. “My guess is that we could leave the Shieldfreeden army to Siltvelt and handle Melromarc ourselves.” 
Hmmm. What should we do, indeed? 
Like Father said, we couldn’t afford to ignore Trash and the high priest. Most likely, they were devising some way to cooperate with Shieldfreeden and take us out. But at least we managed to take out Shieldfreeden’s trump card—their airships. I assumed that Melromarc had already started their march by the time they were notified that we took out the planes. 
“I think that’s right, Father. Let’s go face the Melromarc army!” I declared. 
“Sounds good.” Father nodded. “It’s going to be different from last time. I won’t let any harm come to any of my friends!” 
“Yes, Father!” I said. “If it’s been decided, let’s go quickly!” 
“Faster is better,” Father agreed. “Let’s do it.” 
But the messenger had something else to say. “There’s one more important piece of information.” 
“What?” 
“We’ve sighted additional airplanes near the Melromarc army.” 
They had airplanes circling near Melromarc as well? That made it even more necessary for us to take care of things. It also proved that Melromarc and Shieldfreeden were cooperating. 
I resolved to kill every last one of Takt’s remnants. We had no choice but to fight. 
“Let’s get ’em, everyone!” Father called. “To the next fight!” 
The whole room roared with applause and agreement as everyone began preparations for the next battle. 

Father, Yuki and the filolials, some Siltvelt soldiers, and I were headed to the battlefield where Melromarc’s army was waiting. 
“They’ve shown themselves at last,” one soldier said. “That evil king that deceived the shield and spear heroes.” 
The battlefield was a wide plain in Siltvelt that looked out on Melromarc territory. A surprise attack was out of the question. Father gave his orders to us as we approached the enemy. 
The two armies faced each other in the field and Father marched out to the front. 
“All of you,” Father called out to Melromarc. “You’ve been cooperating with Shieldfreeden, haven’t you?” 
The high priest and the crimson swine stepped forward and responded. 
“Cooperating?” the high priest shouted. “We would never cooperate with the filthy likes of demi-humans! This is a holy war!” 
“Oink, oink!” 
The crimson swine was squealing about something. What a revolting sight. 
Should I shake free from Father’s restraint and kill her on the spot? 
“Father, what is the swine blathering on about?” 
“She’s saying that they shouldn’t have expected the whip hero to win against the evil magic of the Shield Hero. If he had killed the shield and spear heroes, her father had promised that she’d get engaged to Takt, but now that’s impossible thanks to us,” Father explained. 
Then he addressed the crimson swine directly. “What a selfish thing to say. It’s your fault that . . . we all know what you really intended!” 
The crimson swine kept oinking. 
“Cut the nonsense!” Father shouted. “How can you possibly enjoy watching so many innocent people suffer?” 
Father and the crimson swine were really going at it, I say. 
“This is a holy war,” the high priest said. “We’ll prove to the world that we are in the right! We’ll defeat Siltvelt in this holy war and make your wretched nation vanish from existence! We’ll exterminate the filthy demi-humans and witness the birth of the perfect world!” 
“Unimaginable,” Father said. “We’re trying our best to help everyone survive and make it through the waves, but you . . .” Father stared down the high priest and the crimson swine with an ice-cold gaze. 
At that moment, Trash suddenly screamed from far behind. 
“What are you going on about up there!? Kill them already! Kill all the Siltvelt demi-humans!” 
That Trash was no end of trouble. If I killed him now . . . I saw no reason why it would be an issue. Trash had already cast his lot. It was unnecessary to worry about the consequences anymore. 
“Motoyasu,” Father said, “I thought if we talked things through with them, they might understand our position. But there’s no point. They won’t listen to us no matter what we say.” 
Father held his shield forward as if ready to begin a duel. 
Father was right. From the beginning there was no point in talking with this despicable lot. 
“Very well then!” said the high priest. “In that case, I shall introduce the hero that will be the one to kill the Shield Demon!” 
Father turned his head in confusion. The ranks of Melromarc soldiers broke, making room for none other than . . . 
“Itsuki,” Father whispered. 
“Itsuki, I say,” I announced. 
“I’d prefer if you didn’t say my name so casually,” Itsuki seethed, approaching and watching us with an ugly expression. 
What was this rebellious attitude of his? Even though he used to do whatever Father asked, like a slave! However, I suppose that hadn’t happened yet this go-around. Itsuki had pretty much faded to the background, so I hadn’t bothered to remember. 
If I had to rank them strongest to weakest, it would go Takt, Takt’s remnants, the high priest, Trash, and then Itsuki. So why did they choose Itsuki, the weakest of them all, to fight here? We were essentially guaranteed a victory. 
Well, it does cause us a problem since we couldn’t just go ahead and kill Itsuki. 
“Itsuki! What are you doing here?” shouted Father. 
“What am I doing here? Isn’t it obvious?” Itsuki sneered. “I’ve come here of my own will, to defeat you for abusing your powers for evil.” 
“W-what? I thought you were in Melromarc, preparing for the wave of destruction . . .” Father trailed off. He glanced over at me and then looked out at the Melromarc forces. 
“That’s true, but the aotatsu chief of Shieldfreeden came to Melromarc to request my assistance,” Itsuki said. “He told me about how you caught the Whip Hero Takt in a contemptible trap and asked me to achieve vengeance for his people. I’ve heard about your evil deeds. You can’t hide them!” 
“Itsuki,” Father said, “listen to me, please. Takt tricked us, not the other way around. We just were protecting ourselves! Shieldfreeden is the evil one, along with Takt’s remnant soldiers—and the Melromarc army here right now.” 
But Itsuki was shaking his head, prepared to ignore every last one of our pleas. 
“While there are certainly ideals within the Church of the Three Heroes that are difficult to accept, my eyes, ears, and heart have told me that you are the evil ones,” Itsuki said. “You claim that Melromarc is evil? You really think I would believe that? I’ve lost friends because of your assassins!” 
“What are you talking about?” Father said. “Just listen to me for a second! We didn’t send any assassins!” 
“Of course, I can’t believe a word that you say. I am devoted to justice, and for justice’s sake—Naofumi, Motoyasu—I will take your lives! And I’ll tell everyone patiently awaiting our victory in Shieldfreeden the good news!” 
Father took a step closer, his eyes flashing with anger. “Itsuki, are you telling me you agree with exterminating all demi-humans?” 
“There’s something called hierarchy in this world,” Itsuki said. “We’re simply on top. There’s no way we would actually do something as cruel as exterminate them.” 
“Hierarchy? That’s insane, Itsuki!” 
“You’re the ones with crimes on your conscience! Don’t you dare accuse the innocent!” 
Apparently Itsuki really believed that the crimson swine and the fanatical followers of the Church of the Three Heroes were acting out of goodwill. 
What a clown. It was almost like watching myself in the previous go-around. Hah! He didn’t realize he was being used like a pawn in a chessboard! 
Well, to be used as a pawn in Father’s chessboard is the greatest of honors, I say. 
“I will eliminate evil!” Itsuki yelled. “Mald, Rojeel, everybody! Get them!” 
Itsuki and his followers pulled out their various weapons and prepared to attack us. 
What a pain. If I wasn’t careful, I’d kill Itsuki by accident. And then the loop would just start all over again. 
“Itsuki, do you really want to fight us?” Father shouted. 
“I can’t trust a word you say!” Itsuki replied. “You’re my enemy—and I’ll end you here!” 
“I’ve tried to tell you over and over again that we didn’t do any of it,” Father said. “I’m telling you, it’s the truth!” 
“So you’re playing the victim card out of sheer cowardice, now?” 
“The victim card? That’s not it! We were the victims! But Itsuki, if you really intend to kill my friends, I’ll fight to protect them. I’ll protect them.” 
Father gripped his shield. He looked as determined as ever. 
His words echoed in my heart. If Father would protect our friends, then I would kill every last one of our enemies. 
“Itsuki, you seem like you want to kill us, but we absolutely will not kill you,” Father said. “To protect the world—to not put anyone else’s life at risk—we can’t afford to lose you.” 
“What the hell are you talking about?” 
“I’m not saying this because I think you would understand,” Father said. “I’m saying it because it’s what we have to do!” 
Father was right. We couldn’t kill Itsuki. If we did, everything we did up until now would go to waste. 
Even if we agreed that this go-around had been a failure and we allowed the time loop to reset, everything up until now might just keep on repeating itself. No matter what happened, I swore to never give up. 
As I thought about such important matters, Itsuki called to his companions. 
“All right, everybody! In the name of justice, eliminate the evil that stands before us!” 
“JUSTICE!” they shouted. 
From the far back, a military unit waving the Melromarc flag hurried toward us. 
“There are that many of them!?” Father exclaimed. 
Trash was leading the charge. “Our nation has gathered together to help us defeat our enemy!” he called. “Everybody! No further delay! Begin the battle!” 
On Trash’s orders, the Melromarc soldiers let out a roar and started racing toward us. 
The gates of war had been opened.