15 – clue

They are confused by Iris’ sudden appearance.

Why is she here when she should be in the North? why do you smile at me

I don’t know. I can’t find an answer to my advice, but one thing is certain. that smile is uncomfortable It’s like the devil’s whispers that tempt me with hope, and it’s like whispering that my last life wasn’t enough, so I feel uncomfortable.

Thoughts come along with uncomfortable feelings. As the rushing thoughts fill my head, Rachel stabs me in the side.

“Brother, the opening ceremony is over. What do you think?”

“It is nothing.”

We put away our thoughts and go down the stage where only we are left. As we step off the stage, we watch the brackets being announced.

In a tournament of 32 players, I was assigned the first match and Rachel was assigned the last match.

“I’ll see you in the finals, brother.”

Those words make me, who have not completely abandoned my thoughts, face reality.

In order to escape from the future I’ve been through, to kill the beast, I have to fight a monster that might have lived for hundreds of years and win a victory.

There is no time to indulge in thoughts. Let go of everything except the thirst for victory.

“yes. We’ll see you in the finals.”

“Then see you then!”

After showing the little text, she goes back to the waiting room. Looking at her back, prepare your mind. In order to hunt down monsters who would have outlived me, even including my past life, I sharpen my sword in the corner of my heart.

Time passes, and she and I win the victory without hindrance, and head to the stage with the struggle to decorate the end in front of our eyes.

I wait for her who will become my biggest wall on the first stage. She appears with shouts that fill the Colosseum.

The baggy robe he had been wearing until the morning went somewhere, and he appeared wearing a helmet that covered his entire head and a tight leather suit that exposed all the lines of his body.

Throwing away the bulky robe that would interfere with the fight, she waved at me and said hello. I just nod my head once, draw my sword and take a posture. She also fixes both daggers.

The horn that announces the start blows through the noisy crowd. With that sound she moves slowly. It’s slow, but I feel the warning of my instincts with the movement that feels like a snake, and I raise the mana in my body to strengthen my body and prepare to block it. I didn’t.

She was digging into my arms before I knew it, and I saw it with my eyes, but my slow body couldn’t react. To block the dagger aiming at the neck, twist the left shoulder to protect the neck. I tried to protect my neck and continue the counterattack right away, but it smoothly slipped out of my gap.

The distance, which had been her only advantage over her, was meaningless. Her slowed down body can’t keep up with her, so she moves freely between me and attacks.

The shoulder that was first hit and the small cuts that increase as time goes by take away the strength from the body. On the other hand, she looks for an opportunity in a normal state.

In order to keep up with her speed, even if you increase your physical abilities by raising a small amount of mana, your body can’t keep up with your thoughts, and you are only fooled by her attacks.

In such a situation, as time goes by, the spirit of victory gradually disappears and the mind becomes impatient. I forcibly suppressed that feeling, and continued to follow her with my eyes.

Once again, digging into the gap, anticipating where she will come, she inserts her sword. The stabbed sword pierces the air and opens a gap again.

Blood oozes from the new cuts and many earlier cuts, and consciousness gradually fades.

Consciousness gradually blurring, the body losing strength from shedding a lot of blood, and now mana showing the bottom. The situation is worst. Defeat is right around the corner. Even if it’s the worst, I have to win, so I forcefully squeeze my strength. Gathering the last remaining mana to the bottom, preparing for a gamble, waiting for her to dig in again.

Half-victory, she hovers around me and comes to decorate the end. He throws his sword at her. The sword couldn’t even brush the hem of her clothes, and she couldn’t stop moving.

Her dagger reaches towards me, who has lost the sword. I accept the dagger soaked in my blood without avoiding it. The dagger he accepted pierced his left shoulder and stomach.

The prepared mana for this moment is condensed into the wound and hardened like muscle. The moment when he grabbed the sword with little mana and muscle power was a fleeting moment, but it was enough.

I reach out to her neck, unable to get the dagger out of my body, and succeed in grabbing it. Grabbing my throat, she whipped the knife through me. Muscles and flesh were lost, and the pain surged, but the fruit in front of my eyes was too sweet to give up in pain.

I forcibly move the body that has reached its limit with mental strength. He choked her too thin neck and pinned her down to the floor.

The stone floor caved in, the movement of the sword that whipped around me stopped, and her body limp.

Upon seeing it, he breathes heavily and spit out bloody saliva, then raises his arms in triumph. My heart beats wildly at the ringing in my ears. The life lived as a warrior for a long time enjoys the joy.

When he reaches out to take care of the fainting woman while brooding over the joy, he loses control of his body with dizziness and collapses.

I lost control of my body and collapsed, but I couldn’t feel the touch of the cold, hard floor, I felt the warmth and passed out.

—–

With a hazy mind, I open my eyes with difficulty. When I open my eyes, an unfamiliar ceiling welcomes me.

“You tend to overdo it more than I thought.”

Hearing her familiar voice, he turned his head in the direction of the sound. Iris She sits in her chair and watches me.

“Why are you here?”

“Is it a problem to come to see my fiancée who is injured?”

Since the engagement hasn’t been broken yet, I can’t refute it, but when I keep my mouth shut, I open my mouth because I feel like admitting it.

“I don’t want to marry you.”

She looks at me and nods once.

“yes. you said so But I have no intention of letting you go.”

The words hit me.

Why won’t she let me go why do you shake my heart

A lot of thoughts came to her words, and I tried to spit them out, but they didn’t come out. Seeing me like that, she opens her mouth.

“You said you couldn’t marry someone who had no feelings. I don’t know how you knew that, but as long as that’s resolved, isn’t there a problem?”

At her words, the lump that was discarded and cut out comes back to life.

How can I find a way when I dedicate my life to searching for a way, wandering around the world and not finding it? Why did she, who had denied me, step forward?

Why do you have any hope in me?

Complex emotions swirl around and make me dizzy. And now I bring out the words I want to say the most.

“Why? Why are you holding on to me so much? I am a person who has nothing. If you catch me like that, what are you holding on to?”

She closes her eyes once and opens her mouth slowly.

“I want to hold on to it.”

My heart is agitated. I let her go, I let go of my past life, and she catches me.

That fact is inconvenient. It makes me feel insanely uncomfortable that I could have changed her if I had been a little better. Unaware of my feelings, she continues to speak.

“I don’t know much about you. But I think you will regret it if you miss it. So I won’t let you go Even if you reject me now, you will look back on me later.”

She utters the same thoughts I had in my previous life. It was like a devil’s trick, but it was attractive enough to make me want to reach out.

“That’s all I want to say. I can’t keep holding on to a patient who hates me, so I’m going.”

She shakes my heart and leaves, and I just stare blankly at the spot she left.

As she was looking at the place she had left, the door opened and Rachel came in wearing a loose hood.

“Brother, you have come to your senses. The priest healed and left, but are there any sore spots?”

My body doesn’t hurt, but it hurts elsewhere.

“Brother?”

My mind returns to the sound of her voice calling me again.

“yes. Your body is fine.”

“That’s fortunate. Than it was at the end too! It hurts a lot.”

I would have laughed normally at the words that didn’t suit the woman who hacked me up, but now I can’t laugh.

“Oh, more than that, do you know someone who took care of you?”

“yes. someone you know.”

“really? Have you ever received a blessing from the same place?”

I couldn’t believe my ears at her words.

“what? Say it again.”

“Are you blessed in the same place?”

“A blessing? Has Iris also been blessed?”

“Yes.”

At that word, the already complex head becomes more complicated, and one thought passes through my head and opens my mouth.

“Could you lose your feelings in exchange for blessings?”

“Well. I don’t know, but I think there’s a possibility.”

Those words become a dagger and pierce my heart, and instead of blood, emotions spurt out. A lot of thoughts come into my mind, and I want to spit out the lump, but I force myself to hold it in.

“Then can I find out if I visit the high priest you are talking about?”

“Yes! High Priestess, you know everything about Kaian-sama.”

The worries that had been weighed by those words were decided.

“Can you take me to the high priest?”

“Sure. If the high priest is also a blessed brother, he will welcome you.”

“Then let’s get ready and go together.”

“Yes.”

I find clues to the curse that made my life suffer, and hope for the possibility I gave up blooms.