Ch.16Hero Esmeralda (5)

# Hero Esmeralda (5)

At first, I was just going to abandon him.

Even if Lug was holding the party together, what could be more precious than one’s life? This was a rational judgment.

‘About Lug leaving… Yes, I’ll say he wanted to rebuild his village, so I had no choice but to let him go.’

He wasn’t kidnapped or killed—he left of his own will. If I explained it that way, Millia wouldn’t immediately go berserk.

It might seem a bit awkward given how I’ve been holding onto Lug and refusing to let him go, but time would take care of that.

And strictly speaking, it wouldn’t be a lie. Lug would return to his real hometown, not the fake one, and live happily ever after.

Well, since he’s joined the Demon Lord’s army, we might meet again someday.

‘Sigh… Until then, I’ll have to find a way to get along with the others.’

Yes, I failed this time.

But it wasn’t a painful mistake, nor one that couldn’t be corrected.

So I just needed to escape while my opponent was showing mercy.

‘…Right, there’s no shame in losing to someone stronger.’

As long as I win in the end.

Originally, Esmeralda was just an ordinary country girl. Even after becoming a hero, she didn’t immediately become strong, so it was natural that she experienced numerous defeats.

She became strong because she survived humiliating defeats. This time was no different. She just needed to become stronger in the future.

Esmeralda came up with several excuses like this.

But…

“Ha! Really… This would be truly stupid.”

Esmeralda sensed killing intent.

It wasn’t directed at her.

She just happened to notice it flowing from inside the tent.

No, perhaps she had been subconsciously focusing in that direction, thinking something like this might happen.

In the end, Esmeralda noticed the situation she had been worried about.

“Ugh, really, nothing ever goes right in this life.”

She turned back the way she had come.

***

“Haha!”

Esmeralda laughed.

She truly didn’t know what she was doing.

To say she was just following her heart would be tantamount to suicide.

And if asked whether Lug was someone worth risking her life to protect, she could firmly declare that he absolutely was not.

Yet Esmeralda had blocked the sword of Legion Commander Eleven.

Despite knowing he had spared her out of annoyance. She had made herself even more annoying to him, so now there was no way out.

“Hmph, I thought you had some sense, but you’re truly foolish.”

“What can I say? I prefer following my heart over my head.”

“Do you know who this person is and still do this?”

“Of course. I know very well.”

Clang!

Esmeralda grinned as she deflected Eleven’s sword upward, which had been pressing down on her holy sword.

“He’s my precious comrade. At least until he betrays me first.”

“You fool…!”

“If I were pursuing rationality, I wouldn’t have become a hero in the first place!”

Esmeralda shouted in response to Eleven’s angry voice as she swung her sword.

But the moment their swords clashed, Esmeralda’s sword began to be pushed back one-sidedly.

The difference in skill was evident.

Not just in strength, but in technique as well, so there was no way Esmeralda could overwhelm Eleven.

‘But!’

Swoosh!

At that moment, swords flew toward Eleven from all directions, tearing through the tent.

The holy sword that moved according to its owner’s will. Esmeralda’s power to synchronize that ability with other swords and control them.

‘I can move up to 12 swords at once! But for one-on-one combat, that’s more than enough!’

Esmeralda deliberately retreated as if pulling the opponent’s sword.

She appeared to lose her balance and fall. But Esmeralda knew. Her opponent was clearly a monster.

To defeat him, she needed the mindset of someone willing to sacrifice everything.

“How crude!”

Clang-clang-clang!

But Eleven was a veteran who had survived a hundred years on the battlefield.

Without being flustered by Esmeralda’s crude improvisation, he deflected all twelve swords with a single swing.

“…!”

For a moment, Esmeralda was captivated by the sight.

A single stroke swung as fluidly as flowing water.

She took in the ability of a swordsman far beyond her level.

As the sword returned directly toward her and was swung with precision, Esmeralda came to her senses.

“Ugh!”

She blocked that single stroke.

And Esmeralda was sent flying backward by the force she couldn’t handle.

The tent that Esmeralda had torn instantly became a tattered mat that flew into the sky and disappeared.

“Strange.”

“…”

Eleven looked at Lug, who showed no signs of waking up despite the situation, rather than chasing after Esmeralda.

“I see. You drugged him with a sleeping pill?”

“Haha, he kept trying to escape. It’s easier to just put him to sleep.”

“How odd. You call such a person your comrade?”

“What’s so special about being a comrade?”

Esmeralda roughly wiped away the blood trickling from the corner of her mouth due to internal injuries and gripped her sword again.

“If it’s enjoyable and comfortable being together, that’s a comrade.”

As Esmeralda spoke, she felt as if she was convincing herself.

Ah, that’s right. It was fun being together. Despite everything, she couldn’t think of Lug as purely an enemy.

That was probably because Lug had never crossed the line until now.

Even Esmeralda had put sleeping pills in Lug’s food.

Yet Lug had never thought of poisoning her or attacking her while she slept.

“If Lug was truly a hopeless piece of trash, I wouldn’t have tried to save him. But that wasn’t the case. Even when he had the chance, he didn’t try to kill us.”

Whether he didn’t want to dirty his hands.

Or whether he felt guilty deep down.

Esmeralda thought it was cowardly, but that was all.

That wasn’t reason enough to kill Lug.

Yes, she was someone who always pursued goodness, even if she was taken advantage of like a fool. Someone who pioneered paths others wouldn’t take.

“So, I’m taking Lug back.”

Hero.

Esmeralda charged forward with a somewhat refreshed feeling.

The odds were still slim.

She was outmatched in strength, technique, and even the amount of experience accumulated.

A fight with no chance of winning.

‘And I’m always the one who takes on such impossible challenges!’

Clang!

Esmeralda’s holy sword struck Eleven’s sword. It felt like swinging a sword at a massive rock.

Despite the overwhelming gap, Esmeralda deliberately smiled.

“Haaaaa!”

Twelve swords followed the trajectory of the sword she swung.

“…!”

Eleven widened his eyes and stepped back at the technique.

Swordsmanship aimed at breaking swords.

Even Legion Commander Eleven couldn’t think of directly clashing swords against Esmeralda’s radical fighting style.

Clang-clang-clang!

Eleven smiled at Esmeralda’s swordsmanship, which was like wielding an open fan rather than a sword.

The opponent was weak.

Compared to him, her swordsmanship was insignificant, and she lacked the strength to push forward.

The twelve swords that followed Esmeralda’s holy sword no matter how many times he deflected them. The technique of offense and defense united, swinging like a fan and blocking like a cloak.

Eleven didn’t judge it as cowardly.

Why should he be displeased that the weak devise means and methods to defeat the strong?

“Good! Show me more!”

Eleven let out a wild laugh as he pushed Esmeralda back.

He didn’t care about the twelve swords that followed, trying to break his sword. If the opponent aimed for a single point, it was easier for him to respond.

Instead of dodging, Eleven decided to push forward as if aiming for a quick decision.

“Hah!”

Esmeralda gasped.

It was hard enough just to block the sword that was pushing her fiercely, let alone using the twelve swords to counter.

Esmeralda smiled, wringing it out, in the midst of such a fierce attack that she almost forgot to control the swords.

‘But at this distance!’

Esmeralda had retreated considerably from her original position. And that was exactly what she was aiming for.

She had drawn him away from the campfire into the depths of the forest where the tall trees blocked even the starlight.

Slowly, bit by bit, she lured him in. To the point where their eyes had adjusted to the darkness and they could perceive each other’s movements.

“My specialty is swordsmanship, but that’s not all I have.”

“What?!”

[Common Magic Lv. 21]

Learn whatever you can learn.

The more means you have at your disposal, the better. Fortunately, she had plenty of teachers around her who could teach such things.

Esmeralda’s main skill was swordsmanship using the holy sword.

But because of that, her opponent didn’t suspect that she could use other means.

A strike that exploited that gap.

Common Magic

[Flash Bang]

A brilliant white light burst in front of Eleven, who had come close while pushing Esmeralda back.

Eleven’s vision, which had been wide-eyed and adjusted to the darkness, was instantly consumed by the light.

Esmeralda’s strike took advantage of that opening.

Around the holy sword positioned horizontally to the ground, the twelve swords arranged themselves in a circle. They maintained regular intervals, like looking at the hour hand of a clock.

Simultaneously, the swords were imbued with colorful sword energy.

A secret technique that maximized the power of the swords synchronized with the holy sword.

Unique Swordsmanship

[Midnight]

The hero Esmeralda’s secret technique poured toward Eleven.