Heroes and Their Qualifications (12)
What’s the difference between winning and losing?
There’s a saying in the world: only the victor is just. It means that the winner takes everything from the loser.
So, people try to win at all costs. If you’re lucky, you can gain everything, so why not give it your all? Unless you’re not trying from the start, that is.
Of course, if you lose, you’re left with nothing but a lonely ending… But most people only see the positive side and take the challenge, deliberately ignoring the negatives.
I was like that too.
But what if the duel was a losing battle from the start? Would anyone willingly risk their life knowing there’s no chance of winning? Of course not. No one would step forward to challenge a fight they’re bound to lose.
I should have done the same.
I should have run away.
I knew there was no chance of winning head-on. I should have spent the time I wasted on the impossible notion of striking with the holy sword on figuring out an escape route instead.
With Valkvogel there… if she bought me some time, maybe I could have managed a narrow escape.
Yeah.
By now, you can tell how the fight ended.
The moment Nicola’s afterimage caught my eye, my consciousness blurred. I think I swung the holy sword before completely losing consciousness, but… I can’t remember the middle part because of the blow to my head. Given the state of my body, it seems unlikely that I won.
I can’t feel anything. I can’t sense anything.
It’s impossible to even try to look ahead.
All that’s left for me is to think. To reflect on the bitter defeat.
There’s only one reason for this.
I lost the fight. I’m not foolish enough to think I won in this condition.
Yeah.
This is how my journey ends.
So anticlimactically.
Without having achieved anything significant.
It’s over.
It’s really over.
I have no regrets left in this world. Just a bit of emptiness, perhaps.
Back in my original world, I lived through grey days before coming to this otherworld. I thought I’d have a happy life here─ but I don’t have many good memories from this side either. The happiest time of my entire life was here, but… well, that’s how it went. The last promise, my only salvation, was ruined because some damned soul went ahead of me.
In the end, isn’t someone like me allowed to at least return home?
That’s what I thought as I stepped forward, but in the end, this is how it finishes.
Haha.
Well, I know.
I don’t deserve to be saved. There’s no way I’d have such a fortunate tale.
I wanted to live, sure, but I went too far. Even at a conservative estimate, a guy who’s killed tens of thousands hoping for happiness is absurd.
So, this is how it ends for me.
I tried desperately to achieve at least my final goal.
But in the end, was it all meaningless?
I have no regrets.
But if I let my thoughts wander, I might start to have some.
So let’s stop now.
It’s time to accept it.
…What will be the last scene I witness?
Will I open my eyes right in front of the execution block?
Or will they start with interrogation to find out Aeon and Cecilia’s whereabouts? Then I’ll probably be moved to a cellar, tied to a chair with my arms bound… just like the position I was in once before.
If I’m lucky, maybe my neck will be snapped before I regain consciousness.
If not, I might wake up in front of the emperor.
I’d rather not wake up at all.
‘Get up.’
Just as I was about to give up, a voice came from somewhere.
My ears were ringing, so I couldn’t tell who was speaking. Maybe it’s just a hallucination. There’s no way the outside world can reach me when I’m out of it.
‘…Was the shock too strong?’
The voice became a bit clearer.
But it was still fuzzy.
I thought I could finally rest, but there’s still someone who can’t wait to devour me.
Why not just kill me while I’m unconscious? Would that make things worse?
What’s the point of trying to wake me up?
It would have been nice to sleep forever, but unfortunately, my body was trying to regain consciousness. Little by little, the sensation returned to my entire body. The wind brushing against me, the acrid smell of blood, the pain assaulting my whole body, and the ringing in my ears from all directions. And my arms and legs seemed to be lifted by something, shaking.
It’s a strange sensation.
Is Nicola carrying me?
It felt a bit different for that.
My feet were scraping against the ground.
Nicola is about the same height as me, so there’s no way my feet would drag. Unless someone was dragging me by the hair, being dragged like this is impossible.
It could be someone else carrying me… but for some reason, it didn’t feel like that.
If it were someone else, would they have covered me with something like a blanket? Considering the trouble I’ve caused, it would be a truckload of people who’d be bothered.
‘Are you awake?’
My consciousness became a little clearer.
The person who spoke to me was definitely not Nicola. Unless Nicola’s gender changed while I was knocked out, it’s not him.
Who could it be, then?
What came into my blurry vision was a too-small back and tattered wings. And… hair with remnants of horns.
It was a form all too familiar to me, one that I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to.
“…Valkvogel?”
No, that can’t be right.
How could Valkvogel have possibly carried me and fled from that situation? It would be more believable to say that I had killed Nicola.
I wanted to see her face, to know who she was, but unfortunately, my body didn’t last long enough.
It couldn’t be Valkvogel.
With that thought, my eyes closed.
Let’s stop with the vain thoughts and accept reality.
And when I opened my eyes once more, I saw a familiar sky. Not the sun-filled sky of the Empire, but a grey, bleak one with shallow, widespread clouds that made an impression. It was the dark, cold sky I had seen often recently.
…It’s so dreary.
And then, blocking that sky, appeared…
“Are you finally coming to?”
It was Valkvogel.
*
I won.
To cut to the chase, I beat Nicola. Despite all the fuss I made earlier… well, anyway, I won. I don’t know how I did it, but I emerged victorious against Nicola. It’s the result that matters, not the process. After all, only the outcome remains in this world.
It feels a bit unsettling, but a win is a win.
Still, I couldn’t help but be curious.
So I asked Valkvogel.
How did I win?
How did I come out victorious from a situation where I was sure to be defeated?
According to Valkvogel, as I fell from Nicola’s blade, the power of the holy sword I had thrown reached him. It hit him squarely, rendering his defense useless. It was a blow that would have killed an ordinary human instantly, but Nicola, having exerted himself to the utmost, somehow managed not to lose his life, she said.
Did I hit him?
I didn’t feel like it.
After all, I swung the holy sword forward, and I was knocked out by a blow to the back of my head.
Hmm. Anyway, I threw the holy sword, but I ended up collapsing, and Nicola was on the brink of falling.
That’s when Valkvogel intervened.
Her being blown away in the first clash was just a feint. Knowing she couldn’t win head-on, she waited for the right moment to ambush Nicola. Even Nicola, who still had enough strength to capture me after being hit by the holy sword, couldn’t stand against a fully prepared dragon, and ultimately, he fell to Valkvogel’s strike.
And Valkvogel carried me and fled.
Something feels off.
Perhaps the explanation is still lacking, or maybe it’s just Valkvogel’s nature not to explain things thoroughly. I guess I’ll have to accept it. In the end, I defeated Nicola. Even if I used the strength of a comrade, a win is still a win.
“And this.”
After finishing the explanation, Valkvogel handed me a letter.
It was the letter from Troka, which Nicola had taken.
Valkvogel said that Nicola, while attempting to flee, personally handed it to her. What was he thinking?
I decided to read the letter once we reached the North. There’s no point in reading it here; there’s nothing I can do about it right now, and besides, there’s something else that needs to be dealt with first.
“So, where are we?”
We need to find our way.
Nicola told Valkvogel to run quickly because there was a lookout nearby when he handed her the letter.
Thanks to that, Valkvogel ran off without looking back.
She must have kept running without knowing where she was going.
It’s unlikely Valkvogel would have paid attention to our direction, so we need to find our way again.
Judging by the dense forest around us, we’re certainly not at the Dragon Capital. It makes sense that Valkvogel wouldn’t know where we are since she fled without thinking. But I’m not panicking.
At least we’re still in the Dragon Kingdom; we haven’t crossed into another country.
My body feels broken again, but it’s not in a critical state yet. I should be able to move for now. So, this is the time to move as quickly as possible.
I forced my aching body to stand and grabbed Valkvogel.
There’s no time to rest.
We need to get to the North as soon as possible.
“We don’t have time, where are we? Which way is North?”
“…What are you talking about?”
I wanted to say we need to find the way quickly, but my tongue kept getting twisted.
Valkvogel looked at me with a puzzled expression and then tapped my back. She pointed toward a distant mountain with her hand. But the meaning was lost on me.
When I conveyed that I needed a more detailed explanation, Valkvogel finally spoke up.
“You’ve been asleep for over two days.”
“…And?”
“In that time, we’ve already arrived. This is the North.”
I looked toward the mountain range Valkvogel was pointing at. Between the peaks, I could see flocks of wyverns. Far off in the plains, the ground seemed to tremble as if earth dragons were on the move.
“…I see.”
I had come to in the northern part of the Dragon Kingdom.
I should be happy to have reached the North, but I felt a sense of emptiness.
I thought my journey had ended, yet it’s not over.
Is there still a long way to go?
Well, I’m probably fated never to rest.
I’ll have to keep struggling in hell forever.
…But then again, such gloomy thoughts don’t suit my personality.
“Thanks for carrying me while I was out. But time is short, so let’s get moving.”
So, I thought, let’s finish this last leg of the journey on a brighter note.
With that in mind, I looked at Valkvogel.
She was looking back at me with a slightly strange expression… but it wasn’t too bad.
The final stretch of the journey begins.
