Tsuyokute New Saga (LN) - Book 1: Chapter 2

To the East of Rimarze was a small hill, which offered rotten old ruins. Since there was still a stone-paved foundation left, the children of the town often visited this location to play. Kyle himself frequently enjoyed a round of hide-and-seek there.

Now, he moved to the upper part of these ruins, and gazed at the setting sun. From his position, he could observe the entire town, as it was illuminated by the beautiful sun. He hadn’t gotten to enjoy such a peaceful view with such calm feelings ever since the town was destroyed.

“To think I’d get to watch the setting sun from here again.” Kyle muttered, as he gazed down the crimson-colored town. “…Jesus, how many more times am I close to breaking out in tears.”

That being said, with everything that happened today, Kyle believed that nobody could blame him. Silently, he took out the ‘Heart of the Divine Dragon’ from his pocket.

“Returning to the past…what was he trying to redo…?” Kyle thought about the Demon Lord who wanted to time travel. “Redo…huh…” He whispered, as he looked at the magic item in his hand.

“So this is where you were hiding, I was looking for you.”

Hearing a voice behind his back, Kyle frantically stuffed the ‘Heart of the Divine Dragon’ into his pocket. Even without turning around, he could tell that the voice belonged to Lieze. At the same time, he picked up a tone of displeasure from her voice, most likely connected to the incident in the morning.

Hugging her first thing after waking up, while fondling her butt and pressing my crotch against her…

“I’m sorry.” Right as Kyle turned around, he immediately prostrated himself on the ground.

No matter how you looked at it, his previous action was nothing short of a crime, and it wouldn’t be weird for him to be sent to jail for it.

“…Seems like you’re reflecting on it.”

“I had a weird dream, and I was still in a daze right after waking up, so I went too far. I’m really sorry.” Kyle confessed his crime as he rubbed his face on the dirt, until he finally heard a sigh coming from Lieze.

“For crying out loud. If only you two idiots wouldn’t do anything stupid like that.”

“Two…? Ah, Seran. So he went to beg as well?”

“Yup, went on his fours the same way you’re doing right now. You two really are way too similar.” Lieze spoke like she was complaining, and sat down next to Kyle.

He pushed up his body to sit, and the two gazed at the setting sun.

“I really don’t like the idea of being similar to that guy…So, did you make him something?”

“It was way too pathetic for me not to…Also, did you seriously eat everything by yourself? That amount was planned for four people.”

“Yeah, on a whim. It’s been about a year since I got to eat something delicious like that.”

“I feel like I made something similar not even ten days ago…Still, leaving aside Seran, I was really lost on what to do when even Seraia-san came to me with ‘Please give me something to eat~’, you know.”

“…I’m so sorry for the trouble my Mom always causes you…” Kyle apologized with all his heart.

“I’ll make food for you until Uncle Roel comes back, so you better be thankful.”

“Ro…? ……Ah, my old man. That reminds me, he wasn’t home today.” Kyle muttered, finally remembering his inconspicuous father.

Kyle’s father Roel was a craftsman, especially focusing on accessories like rings or necklaces. His talent was fairly well known, but his individual work was known to take its time, so he was highly regarded by a selected few. Since he barely spoke, and only smiled in silence, he sure didn’t stand out. Since both Kyle and Seraia were helpless when it came to housework, he took care of most of it, making him seem like a house husband more than anything. Sporadically, he would visit this country’s capital to deliver some ware, which is probably the case right now.

“…Did you seriously forget about your own father?”

“Of course not, he just slipped my mind for a second. But, more importantly…”

After cutting the topic about his father short, Kyle started talking about his mundane daily life, which he never assumed would return. He smiled naturally, as he exchanged words with the childhood friend in front of him, achieving exactly what he deeply wished for the past year.

“How did you even know I was here?”

“I can see through all your actions…So, what was that dream about you had?” Because of Lieze’s nonchalant words, Kyle’s smile froze up. “Did I die in that dream by any chance?”

“Well…something like that, yeah.”

“I see, that’s why you were in such a panic…” Lieze sounded oddly happy when she said that.

Watching her face, Kyle remembered the day Lieze died.

One year ago, or in three years speaking from the current timeline, this village, which was located directly next to the demons’ territory, had been targeted first during the Great Invasion. They must have wanted to present their fighting prowess, as the demons utterly destroyed this village, burned it down until no houses were left standing, and slaughtered all its inhabitants. The hometown Kyle had known all of his life had turned into a living hell. There was no way he could forget that scenery ever again. Not to mention Lieze—

When Kyle arrived, it was already too late. By the time she showed him a final smile, all her warmth had left Kyle’s arms. No matter how much he called out to her, she never opened her eyes again…Just by remembering that sight, all the blood inside his body started to boil. That day, he swore to strike down his enemy, revenge being his main driving force to keep living.

“W-What’s wrong? Why’d you go pale like that?” Through Lieze’s concerned voice, Kyle returned to the present.

“No…It’s…nothing.”

“You’re sweating profusely.”

“I was just feeling a bit dizzy, no problem.”

“If you say so…” Lieze clearly wasn’t won over by Kyle’s vague excuse.

Strictly speaking, Lieze was scared. This was the first time she had seen such an expression on Kyle’s face. It wasn’t anger, sadness, frustration, or anything of the sort, but rather like it was emitting an unfamiliar darkness that couldn’t be put into words. Because of this expression, it felt like she suddenly knew nothing of Kyle anymore, and this terrified her to the deepest parts of her heart.

At the same time, Kyle was still baffled at this miracle that had opened up in front of him, and this peaceful reality he found himself in.

It’s peaceful right now, yeah…But, that peace will end in three years. Since I’m the only one who knows about that, if I don’t do anything, the same will repeat again…and I will be forced to see that scenery once more…

“As if…”

“W-What happened?”

Since Kyle suddenly jumped up, Lieze looked at him with concern, but he didn’t answer, and instead looked at the setting sun. At this rate, he would lose it all again: His family, his hometown, this world, and the childhood friend in front of him. Realizing this, Kyle grit his teeth to a level they could break apart.

“I’ll change it…”

That entire past year, he was constantly filled with regrets, imagining what could have happened if he acted differently. In the midst of despair, someone said the following. It was fate that made things turn out like this, fate that could not be rebelled against. Just as these words suggested, Kyle saw this as fate he had no other choice but to accept.

“Then, I’ll change fate all-together.”

Right now, through nothing short of a miracle, he returned to the past. He could not let this chance go to waste.

“I’ll change the fate of this world for the better.” He strongly formed fists with his hands, to a level blood came out, and stared into the horizon—In other words, towards the direction of the demons’ territory.

“I will definitely…do it! No matter the method I have to use!”

Kyle once again made up his determination, just like he did one year ago when he lost Lieze. However, his determination to set out on revenge now turned into one to protect those close to him.

At the same time, Lieze stared at Kyle in disbelief, who suddenly jumped up from his seat to scream random words at the setting sun.

Eh? What? What is going on? Has he gone mad for good now?

Kyle talked about some irreversible fate, something about saving the world, and whatnot. Even though she, as his childhood friend, should be the one who knew him the most, she felt like he had left her behind. Not to mention that he was heading for a place she could not hope to reach.

Lieze grew scared for a different reason compared to before, as she realized something crucial.

“W-Wait, is it because I hit him too hard this morning…?” Her face grew pale. “W-W-W-What do I do…how can I…S-Should I just hit him one more time and hope that that fixes everything?”

Kyle, who was burning with passion and determination, didn’t even realize that Lieze stood behind him, forming a fist filled with equally strong feelings.

***

“Or so I said, but how should I go on about doing that.”

Two days after he made up his determination up on that hill, Kyle sat at his desk in the early morning, holding his head in despair. Despite him deciding on saving the world, his head could not come up with any passable plan to achieve that.

First, he thought of revealing it to everyone. About the fact that he came from the future of four years ago, and that the demons will attack in three years.

“…No way they would believe me. If I wasn’t in this position myself, I’d laugh in the face of such a story.”

Thinking about it rationally, what Kyle experienced should not be possible. The others not believing him would still be a fortunate ending, as he might end up isolated and treated like a madman, or captured under the assumption of being a secret agent of the demon race in order to cause panic between the rows of the humans, and executed. And, even if a small number of people might believe him, that would not be enough to change fate.

If he couldn’t warn and unite all of human folk as a whole, the chances of victory were pretty slim. The reason for their utter destruction at the hands of the demons was clear to Kyle.

“…Our first response was awful. We were caught off-guard completely, and couldn’t even bring together our military forces.”

Even if they wouldn’t have been able to win with all their forces combined, they would have at least stood a better chance than they did now. If there was a method that would allow humans to prepare themselves for the approaching Great Invasion, they could save themselves a lot of casualties.

However, as of right now, hoping for this was futile. The biggest problem was the race with the biggest numbers of the human folk, the humans, were not gathered together. Territory rivalries between countries, economic disparity, religious problems…there was no end to them. Even smaller clashes happened sporadically, and if they had no common enemy in the shape of the demons, a larger war would have broken out by now. Can’t forget the quarrels humans have between the other humanoid races, like the elves and dwarves. Bringing them all together would be no easy feat.

“…If possible, I would have wanted the demons to be a bit more aggressive. That way they would have at least kept up their guard.”

If all of humanity realized that they had a common enemy to fight, they might have grouped together much more willingly. Leaving aside the elves who can live up to a thousand years, three hundred years have passed, and several human generations have changed. The newer generations don’t know of the threat of the demons, even if they are known to be humanity’s worst enemy.

The next method Kyle came up with was to immediately sneak into the demon territory, and strike down the Demon Lord that would be crowned three years into the future. Since the Great Invasion was a decision made by that Demon Lord, the future Kyle had experienced should not happen if that demon would not rise to power.

“But, that’s definitely impossible.”

First, Kyle barely knew anything of the Demon Lord. All he could remember was the appearance when they were in a clash, but that was about it. Even the Demon Lord’s name was a mystery to Kyle. With such limited information, charging into the demon territory was nothing short of suicide. Not to mention that barely any information of the demons reached the humans, so there was no option for a human to cause interference in their territory either.

On top of that, even if Kyle were to use up a lifetime’s worth of luck, and happened to spot the Demon Lord by pure coincidence, actually defeating him was an entirely different matter. Around the time they made it into the Demon Lord’s castle, Kyle had a hundred and more allies with him. They were all strong fighters, and yet barely ten people actually made it to the Demon Lord’s chamber. And, the only one standing at the very end was Kyle himself.

In all reality, Kyle considered himself lucky to have made it there. It was a win by a hair’s width, and it would definitely be impossible to replicate again. Arriving at this conclusion, Kyle let out a sigh, and dropped his head on the desk.

“In the end, defending against that Great Invasion as just myself is impossible…But, what should I do then?”

At a loss, Kyle picked up the booklet on his desk.

“All I have going for me…is my good memory, I guess.”

Kyle’s biggest strength was his knowledge of what would soon happen. He took the time to write down everything that had occurred in the four years he experienced. Of course, it’s not as if he had written it down to the smallest details, but it was still plenty to fill this entire booklet. It took the entire previous day, and a lot of pain in his hand to write.

Since Kyle didn’t know what exactly would be useful, he wrote down the situation of the various countries, the attack magic types of demons, the weather on specific days, and even delicious food he had tasted. He should be able to use this information for his advantage in some way.

Something else that would be useful is Kyle’s own strength. During his battle with the Demon Lord, Kyle was the highest level of a magic swordsman upon the entire human folk, but…he could tell that he lost most of his skills.

“I need to confirm that after all…Not to mention my own physical status…”

Will be a great change of pace, Kyle muttered, as his gaze drifted towards the sword standing at the wall.

“Ah, good morning, Kyle. It’s great that you got up early on your own today.”

Feeling hungry, Kyle headed over to the kitchen, and was greeted by Lieze, who was working on breakfast again today.

“Foff forfing Fyle-fan.” Seraia showed him a smile, stuffing some more food into her mouth.

“Morning you two. Mom, maybe you should stop talking with food in your mouth, hm? Also, you got jam all over your cheeks.” Kyle showed an exhausted smile.

“Come on, eat up before it gets cold.” Lieze pulled out a chair, and had Kyle sit down.

“Thanks……Say, Lieze, aren’t you being oddly kind ever since yesterday?”

Kyle did spend most of the previous day in his own room, working, but Lieze would periodically stop by to ask him if he wanted something to drink, or if he wanted some help with something. Of course, it’s not as if Kyle was bothered by any means, but it felt like she was forcing herself to be considerate more than usual, like she was a child who wanted something from their parents, or kind towards a sick person.

“That’s not the case. Ah, let me cut up the bread, it’s a bit too hard and big for you. Wouldn’t want it to get stuck in your throat,” Lieze said, as she worked on the bread, looking like a caretaker after all.

She must be hung up on that day when Kyle suddenly lost consciousness after confirming his determination. When he woke up again, he found himself in the local church of the Great Goddess of the Earth, and was treated with healing magic.

“So, Kyle-chan, are you gonna lock yourself up in your room again? That’s bad for your health, you know?”

“No, I’m heading out after this. Wanna practice my sword skills a bit.” Kyle felt slightly bothered to hear these exact words from his mother of all people, but he swallowed that complaint.

“Oh my, it’s been quite some time since you were swinging your sword, right, Kyle-chan.”

“You’re right, I didn’t expect that. Did something happen?”

Both Lieze and Seraia gave Kyle a dubious look.

“Just wanted to get a change of pace, I guess.” Kyle bit down a part of the bread, and thought.

Oh right, during this time, I skipped out on sword training, huh.

Moving to the hill located in the outskirts of the village, Kyle stood in the middle of the ruins, and wholeheartedly focussed on his sword swings. He wasn’t just rapidly swinging his sword around, but sometimes implemented a fake slash, and even emitted real killing intent—Or so he acted, and instead evaded an incoming attack, only to intercept a follow-up.

Nobody was around Kyle. However, he could clearly see an enemy, who slashed at him with no remorse. This was a type of training magic he learned from his master, called Phantasmal Enemy. By using hypnosis magic on oneself, you can fight a phantom of an enemy you have encountered. Of course, although it was just a phantom, it didn’t just let you cut it, but actually evaded and fought back.

If you were familiar with the real deal of the phantom you created, it served as great one-on-one training, and those with greater mana have an even greater use of it. In most cases, the knowledge of the enemy was far too little to create an accurate phantom, but thanks to Kyle’s memory, he generally achieved this by battling the enemy once. And right now, the phantom Kyle was clashing against was none other than the strongest enemy of his—the Demon Lord.

“No good, I get killed every ten seconds, not to mention several times at once.”

After fighting for a brief moment, Kyle stopped his movement all-together, gasping for air. At the same time, the Demon Lord’s phantom disappeared as well. Back when Kyle fought the Demon Lord for real, he somewhat managed to stand his ground, but as he was right now, he saw no chance of winning. Rather, he would have died countless deaths if this had been a real fight. Of course, that didn’t mean that the Demon Lord magically grew stronger, but rather that Kyle had gotten weaker.

Three days ago (saying it in Kyle’s perception), he wouldn’t have been out of breath like that, let alone needing to take a break, but right now, his arms and body couldn’t even keep up with the movement he was used to in his head. He was lacking basic stamina and endurance. His experience in battle and techniques were still as before, but his physical body had deteriorated—or reverted back to normal, which would probably give him a harsh aching all over his body the next day.

Thinking about it, when Kyle lived through this period the first time, he spent his days in laziness, neither training his sword skills or studying magic. Later on, Kyle regretted wasting such precious time.

“Then…[Strength], [Haste]!”

Kyle cast muscle strengthening and acceleration magic on himself. As a magic swordsman, these two skills were the basics of basics when it came to strengthening oneself. By letting the mana inside your body circulate faster and faster, your physical abilities would rise rapidly. That being said—

“What is going on? It’s more effective than before.”

Kyle felt a greater amount of magic flowing inside his body, and just by moving a faint bit, he felt the effects had increased much greater than before.

In order to use such Ancient Language Magic, you need mana, and the skill to control magic. The more mana you have, the stronger and most effective your magic will be, and it even raises the times you can actually use it.

Magic control means to understand the logic behind the magic, and strength to put it into an image. The better you get at this, the more different types of magic you will be able to use at the same time, and you can activate magic without actually needing to chant it, like Kyle just did.

As for attack-based magic, you can control the range of effect, so that more enemies and a greater area is influenced by it, and even shrink it as well to make it more effective. At the same time, by controlling the amount of mana you use up for your magic, you can save some mana for another use later down the battle.

Adding to that, these rules work for Holy Magic and Spirit Magic as well, as this magic control equals stronger faith towards the gods, and friendship towards spirits. Since they have similar basics when using magic, if you raise your overall rank with magic control, you will be able to use higher-grade magic. Basically, if you lack mana, you can’t ‘use’ magic, and if you lack magical control you can’t ‘adjust’ the magic.

In the event that you can’t use magic, there’s barely any drawbacks, but if you were unable to control and adjust your magic, a failure could lead in an explosion up in your face, fire magic could turn you into a living torch, and ice magic could freeze your entire body. Through thorough training, you can raise your mana and magic control, but because your overall mana pool is decided at birth, that one is much harder to actually raise. As a matter of fact, the Kyle in the previous world was barely able to use advanced grade magic thanks to his mana pool.

“Right now, it feels like I might even be able to use high grade magic.”

In all of Kyle’s previous battles, he used his magic merely as an assistance, namely to raise his physical abilities and weaken the enemy. His main point of attack was definitely the sword. So far, forgetting about attack magic and instead focussing on strengthening oneself was Kyle’s main idea, but with his mana pool having grown, he might be able to use some attack magic efficiently.

“I don’t know how that happened, but…I’m happy that my options opened up.”

For now, Kyle decided to take this as a bonus, and kept on training.

***

“Ouch…I guess this is my limit.”

He tried it out with some light practice, but the strengthening that was imbued in his body was too much for him to handle. Feeling pain in his muscles, Kyle held his leg as he fell to the ground, groaning.

“My mana went up, but my current body can’t handle it, huh…I guess I need to get used to it bit by bit.”

The fact that his body had grown weaker turned out to be a bigger minus than he previously assumed, and his sword movement couldn’t come up with the one he envisioned inside his head. Right now, his physical body, his talent, and his magic were heavily unbalanced. But, his mana pool grew, so if he continued to train like this, he should be able to become stronger than he was three days ago.

“Stronger than back then, huh…”

The one year during the Great Invasion, where Kyle lost everything, was a struggle to escape death on a constant basis. If one didn’t fight, didn’t win, you would die for sure. Using every trick to get stronger in this existence, Kyle became the strongest magic swordsman the human folk had to offer. However, the price for this was immense. Through the use of forbidden strengthening magic and secret medicine, he continued to poison his body, which left it in tatters. Even if he had survived that battle against the Demon Lord, he most likely wouldn’t have had more than ten years left in his life, and this was generous.

“I’ll get stronger in a more healthy way…and spend the rest of my life in peace once everything is done!”

Thus, Kyle’s final goal was decided.

“Can’t tell if you’re aiming high or ridiculously low there.”

With a sudden voice answering Kyle’s words, he jolted up from the ground. He had felt no presence approaching him. The source of the voice was a woman with a healthy tan, looking to be in her thirties. She wore a light, heavily-used armor, and had a greatsword hanging down her back. She possessed a certain level of beauty, but if you were to approach her carelessly, you would get shredded to pieces—or so was the image you got from her. She was about the same age as Kyle’s mother Seraia, but she gave off youth in a different way.

“M-Master!? Since when…”

The woman’s name was Leyla, and she was a former gladiator who taught Kyle the way of the sword, as well as Seran’s adoptive mother. Gladiators are fighters who battle other humans, members of other races, even magical beings or magic beasts in an arena for the pleasure and amusement of the audience, fighting for glory and accomplishment. In return for the great danger this system encompasses, you receive great fame and rewards.

As for Leyla, she made herself a name in the greatest arena of the continent, located in the Galgan Empire’s capital Luos, where she continued to battle other gladiators or monsters to the death, and came out on top every single battle for a consecutive time of five years, becoming a legend in the process.

After she had retired ten years ago, because of some complicated circumstances as she called it, she asked Seraia for help, and moved to Rimarze. Around the same time, she took in the orphan Seran who was related to someone she was indebted to, or so Kyle had heard. She had a strong habit of wandering around, sometimes suddenly leaving from the town. Because of her dirty armor, it seemed as if he had just returned.

“S-Since when were you watching?”

“I saw you get killed about six times, I think? More importantly, what kind of monster were you fighting? You wouldn’t have lasted five seconds if that was the real deal.”

“…I actually managed to last ten seconds now.”

Judging from Leyla’s words, she had watched Kyle’s phantasmal enemy for quite some time.

“I appreciate you trying to aim higher, but there’s no meaning to training with that kind of enemy if your difference in skill is that vast…Also, when did you even meet that guy? The details on ‘em were insane.”

“…I just tried to imagine the strongest enemy I could think of. More importantly, Master, how would you fight that enemy?”

“Me? Well…I’d have to be ready to sacrifice an arm or a leg at least. Then I’d throw in attack with all my might…and if he’s still standing after that, then it’d be my loss.”

“I see…I guess so.”

That was the exact method Kyle used when he battled the real Demon Lord. Maybe he picked up this kind of mentality from his teacher after all.

“Also, it’s rare to see you practice without me around. Always thought it was a waste that you possessed such talent, but never did anything with it.”

Some time ago, Kyle was told that he possessed ‘A talent only appearing in a hundred years’ from Leyla, who was known as one of the few strongest sword users in the entire world. Thanks to her teaching him, Kyle realized that this talent with the sword had gone up drastically. However, the Kyle back then barely showed any motivation, so he was often regarded as a useless disciple by her.

“Aren’t you teaching Seran as well?”

“He’s technically my son, so I kinda have to. If I don’t force this onto him, he wouldn’t even bother with me.”

Leyla would often complain about Kyle being a good-for-nothing disciple, and Seran being the worst disciple.

“More importantly, you’ve gotten better, Kyle.”

In terms of physical abilities, Kyle’s constitution hadn’t improved drastically ever since Leyla left for her travels, but when it came to his actual skill with the sword, it was like he had trained for a hundred years, which is what left her surprised. What had changed the most however was Kyle’s overall frame of mind. Before, he had been like a small puppy loitering around the grass plains and sleeping in broad daylight, and now he had grown into a lion cub.

“You’re even getting better at using magic, and the overall atmosphere around you changed…Did something happen?”

Kyle judged that trying to make something up towards a sharp person like Leyla would only backfire, so he twisted the facts a bit when he explained.

“I just had a change of heart. That’s why I want to focus on getting better with the sword, and magic.”

No matter what his future plans of actions may be, becoming as strong as possible would surely be useful down the line.

“…You really changed…so much that it’s making me sick.” Leyla said, looking like she was about to puke.

“Can’t you just be happy about the growth of your disciple?”

“It feels like you jumped ahead four, or five years ahead…Was it really just a change of heart? No other reason?”

“None…I just want to become stronger, that’s all.” Kyle confirmed his determination, tightly grabbing his sword.

“…Did you eat something foul? Hit your head anywhere?”

“Can you stop acting so concerned? That really hurts, you know?”

“Just what happened to him?”

“It’s not like him at all.”

Seran and Lieze were hiding in the thicket, a bit further away from Kyle’s location, watching the two’s conversation. Lieze was curious about where Kyle was heading off to, and traced after him, whereas Seran joined up with her mid-way. Neither of them could call out to Kyle, diligently training his sword, and instead watched him from afar like this.

“Seems like my old hag caught on to Kyle’s change as well. Still, when did he get this good?”

It had been a while since Seran had observed Kyle’s sword training, but he never expected to see such a difference in skill compared to before.

“Can you really change that much in such a short amount of time? …But, it doesn’t feel like he’s possessed or anything, so this must be Kyle himself doing this.”

Since Seran had been with Kyle for many years, he could tell that this was a determination that came from Kyle himself, and yet he felt a sense of discomfort that couldn’t be put into words.

“Like, the root of his being is the same…but it’s almost like we haven’t met for several years, right.”

At first, Lieze assumed that it was because of her hitting him, but watching him now, she grew doubtful of that.

“Can’t imagine he’s the same guy who’d piss on an ant’s nest with me three days ago, celebrating and calling it a flood.” Seran shrugged his shoulders.

“You two really never do anything worthwhile, huh.” Leyla walked towards the two, letting out a sigh of disbelief.

“Yo, Old Hag, you realized as well?”

“Welcome home, Leyla-san.”

“I’m back, Lieze-chan. You’re about the only person who properly greets me.”

“You came back after you almost died again?”

“Don’t wanna hear that from you, you idiot son of mine. Were you at least living on your own? You better not have bothered Lieze-chan, alright?”

“He came begging for food on a daily basis.” Lieze snitched without hesitation.

“At least hesitate for a second, you wench!”

“Well, I’ll properly hear you out later…More importantly, what the hell happened with Kyle?”

You were watching him from afar because you were curious, right?—Leyla added, to which Lieze and Seran nodded.

“T-That’s right! Kyle always had the dead eyes of a fish, but now it’s like he has a goal in his mind…Overflowing with motivation! To a level where it’s pretty discomforting!”

“Looking at his future dream, namely playing around with his parents’ inheritance, which he proclaimed proudly all the time, this change is honestly sickening, yuck.”

“Now I really get how you two thought of Kyle…So that means, you two don’t know the reason why he suddenly changed, huh.” It seemed as if Leyla had hoped the two knew something, but that was off.

“Yeah, the day before yesterday, his attitude changed. No idea what happened, and I can’t be bothered to ask. Not like he’d tell a friend like me anyway.”

“Hmmm…if such a useless brat had such a change of heart, there can only be one reason…” Leyla crossed her arms, and clapped her hands together like she came up with something. “He must have gotten a woman.”

“Huuuuh?!”

“!?”

Seran screamed in disbelief, whereas Lieze froze up entirely.

“Or, maybe he just found one he’s interested in. Did he turn into some sexual fanatic? That damned brat.”

Compared to Leyla’s reaction however, Kyle’s two childhood friends weren’t as calm.

“Damn it! Getting some great memories and leaving me behind in the dust…I won’t forgive him!” Seran cursed, forming a fist with his hand.

“Didn’t you call him a friend just a few seconds ago?”

“There’s exceptions! I can’t see him as a friend if he graduated before me!”

A man’s jealousy is a terrifying thing, Leyla thought to herself.

“But, I wonder who it is?”

“Yeah, I haven’t the foggiest. Since the greatest candidate I can think of is stuck frozen next to me, it must be someone else…I don’t mean to brag, but there’s no girls in this town who’d give positive affection towards me or Kyle.” Seran commented, as he glanced at Lieze.

“That really isn’t a brag.” Leyla sighed.

“You’re right though, that’d be a perfect reason for him to change like that. Shit, who is it…”

There, Lieze broke her silence, and finally showed movement again. Seran wanted to call out to her, only to be stopped by Leyla.

“…If you treasure your life, you should refrain from stopping her.”

“The killing intent she’s emitting is no joke, yeah…” Seran started sweating buckets, merely watching off Lieze’s back as she walked towards Kyle.

“Confess. Who is it?”

“Uuuuuuuuggh…W-What are you talking about…? And, what are you doing out of the blue like that!?” Kyle held his stomach in agony, looking up at his childhood friend who just gave him a real gut punch with a straight smile on her face.

“Don’t play dumb! Who! Who did you lay your hands on!?”

“C-Calm down, I can sort of guess what you’re on about, but it’s definitely a misunderstanding! And, why would you even think that!?”

“Leyla-san and Seran both said that it has to be that!”

“Blurting out nonsense, that damned mother and son. Also, you should know that neither me or Seran are liked by the other girls of this town!” Kyle felt a sharp pain in his chest as he admitted this sad reality.

In the past few years, Kyle received quite the amount of popularity from people his age, but not back when he was a demotivated loser.

“It’s true that there’s no girl in this town who’d look your way…so what? Coercion? Brainwashing? Magic? Drugs?”

“Do you really think that badly of me!? I wouldn’t commit a crime just for that!”

“So then…Don’t tell me, you forced yourself on Aria-chan!?”

In their neighbourhood lived a young girl called Aria, which was quite clingy towards Kyle, and was seen as a little sister by Lieze.

“She’s three years old! What are you thinking!?”

“Then…is it Razelle-sama!?”

This time, she took the opposite extreme, which was an old lady living in this town, always spoiling Kyle and the others.

“An old hag now!? She’s close to a 100, right!? Do I really seem that desperate to you!?”

“I-I mean, there’s no other girl in this town who would put up with you!”

“You don’t have to go that far! Not to mention that back then, you—”

Kyle spoke that far, and only closed his mouth when it was too late.

“Back then? I knew it! Who is it?!”

“No, you got the wrong idea…D-Don’t strangle me!”

You were my first, is something Kyle could hardly say right now.

***

“Have you calmed down?”

“Yeah…”

“Are you reflecting on what you’ve done?”

“I lost myself there, I’m sorry.” Lieze sat on the floor, apologizing as she looked at Kyle.

After what happened, Kyle almost passed out from being strangled by Lieze. He barely managed to calm her down in time, but his view was blurry even now.

“Well, I’m glad you understand that it was just a misunderstanding…Just, why were you going crazy like that?”

Lieze often got the wrong idea about things, and went violent as a cause of that, but this was different than any other time before. In response, Lieze pouted, and wiped away the tears in her eyes.

“I-I mean…Without me around, you can’t do anything…so when I thought you suddenly had someone else…I-I just felt lonely, and frustrated.” The last part she turned more quiet as she went on.

Was she always this jealous…? No, I guess I just never realized.

“I got it, I’m not angry anymore, so cheer up.” Kyle gently caressed Lieze’s head, who started blushing ever so slightly.

“Yeah…thinking about it, there’s no way Kyle would have the guts to actually do it when the time comes. I should have known, I’m sorry.”

“At least don’t insult me when you’re apologizing, that really hurt.”

“What do you mean?”

“No, forget about it…I’ll go practice some more, and then go back, so wait for me. I want to focus a bit.”

“Got it. I’ll make dinner.”

“Yeah…Also, tell those two idiots over there as well.” Kyle complained, as he looked over at the thicket, with Seran and Leyla hiding in there.

When Lieze walked towards them, it didn’t take long for Seran to appear, a bright smile on his face, as he waved his hand at Kyle. He felt a bit annoyed at seeing that shit-eating grin, but swiftly ignored that to focus on his training again.

That day’s dinner was quite luxurious, most likely meant as an apology by Lieze.

“Great timing you came back.”

“You can say that again.”

“Why are you two here?” Kyle complained in the face of Leyla and Seran sitting at the table already.

He was still a bit bothered by the incident of this afternoon, but swallowed that for now.

“No need to complain like that. I was the one who hunted this rabbit, you know?”

“I’m finally home again, so let me eat something delicious, aye? Eating at home while facing this brat here is too much for me to bear, and ruins the taste.”

“Kyle-chan, eat as much as you want~”

Not to mention that Kyle’s mother Seraia had joined them as well, to which Kyle let out another sigh. He wasn’t used to such an energetic dinner compared to the past year he spent.

“Mom and Master, as well as the other two, there’s something I’d like to ask you.”

“Faf fif fif?”

“You can talk after you’ve finished eating, Mom.” Kyle realized that scolding her wouldn’t work either way, but he still did it. “I’m a bit worried at asking you folks, but there’s nobody else I can rely on right now.”

“That sure ain’t an attitude to have when asking something from someone, but go on?” Seran complained arrogantly.

“Is there a type of individual who can voice their opinion in the royal families of the human folk, influence other countries and alliances in the process, and hope for that influence to have some kind of result?”

Today, Kyle realized that he indeed could become stronger before, but even this strength had a limit. With strength alone, he won’t be able to avoid total destruction like he had experienced. To achieve this, he would need a military force enough to bury the entire horizon, but that will prove impossible.

Hence, as a more realistic approach, Kyle thought about becoming someone influential in the rows of the various countries and races, prepare for the approaching attack of the demons, and possess an adequate response once that time comes around. This should lessen the numbers of deaths and losses drastically, but in order to achieve this plan, Kyle would need to reach a position where he could lead the entire humanoid population.

“Voice their opinion, huh.” Leyla crossed her arms. “If you want to influence other countries with your decisions, then you’d have to be the king of a major power.”

“Maybe the Emperor of the Galgan Empire, I guess…” Seraia added.

“Ahh, that…” Kyle muttered.

The Galgan Empire was a militarist country which continued its expansion even now. Kyle remembered the young Emperor, who would die if his pride asked him to.

“Sounds like you speak from experience?”

“Heard the rumours.” Kyle responded. “Anything else?”

“Well…I think the influence of the head priest of the Goddess of Earth Cairys’ cult is pretty big.” Leyla named the religious god that receives the most faith by humans, as well as the leader of its cult.

“Maybe Randolph-sama if he was still around?”

As for Lieze, she commented with the name of the noble hero who defeated the Demon Lord during the great war against the demons three hundred years ago.

“Oh yeah, let alone humans, even dwarves and elves spoke of him highly, right.” Seran agreed.

“A hero, huh…”

The sound of being a hero made it seem like he would be able to influence even countries. At the same time, becoming the Emperor or the head priest clearly was impossible in these three years. Judging from that, there was only one possibility.

“Then, I guess…I have to become a hero.”

He would not become a hero after saving the world, but instead aim to be one in order to save the world. The logic was backwards, but it couldn’t be helped.

“That’s my only option, huh.” Kyle stood up—and got seconds.

The other four people present watched Kyle’s back, and muttered to themselves.

“Hey, something must have happened while I was travelling, right?” Leyla asked.

“I can’t think of anything.” Lieze shook her head. “We had a healer look at him, and used some healing magic on him as well, but they didn’t find anything different from before.”

“Hmmm…That reminds me, a few years ago, both Kyle-chan and Seran-chan thought they were special, warriors a few selected by the heavens, or something along those lines, right? Maybe he’s just reverted back to that?” Seraia said as she dwelled in memories, to which Lieze and Leyla let out a snicker.

“Sure did, yeah. All their friends were pretty bothered by that.”

“Back when they got a bit stronger with their swords and magic. Saying they found their own magic or sword skills…I think they only quit their nonsense after Seraia and I got them into a near death-state like ten times.”

“Don’t remind me of that, it’s a part of my dark past…But, if he’s really going through that, then I’d like to watch over him. Especially since I want to see his regretful reaction once he’s over it.” Seran said with an odd way of phrasing things.

“Right…as long as he’s started working on himself, that’s all that matters.”

“Since it’s Kyle-chan we’re talking about, he should be okay.”

“Whenever you say ‘Okay’ about something, you never have any basis for that, Seraia…But, you’re right. I’ll watch over him as well.”

The group of four watched over Kyle scooping out seconds with a warm gaze.