I ran away.

The training was hard.

I didn't want to fight Mina.

I didn't want to waste any more effort.

I didn't want to be ridiculed.

For a variety of reasons...... No, there is an excuse.

All of them are pathetic and reminded me of how small and weak I am as a human being. It may have been this way since he awakened to the magic of healing magic, or it may have been decided that he would be oppressed from the time he was born in the first place.

 

"U......"

 

A dark and narrow back alley that is not popular.

He sits down in the alley, which is so inconvenient that even a subhuman can't pass through, staring at the ground in agony as he feels helpless.

Whenever she is about to be bullied by Mina and the others, she runs away. This is my secret place, where no one knows or wants to get close. No one would ever know that there was such a road, and even if I remembered it, I would quickly forget it, and it seemed to me that it was a place that was more relaxing than any other place.

 

"Ugh...... Ugh."

 

I cry in such a place as I always do.

- I shed tears earnestly in this place where no one comes without shame or hearing.

I'm always crying because I'm being bullied, but today I had a different reason for crying.

 

"I'm sorry...... Sorry...... Please."

 

I ran away.

Mr. Usato...... Not from Mina.

I was simply horrified by that face yesterday, that smile that looked down on me, mocked me, and made me feel innocent without any mercy. I understood. - She had been oppressed for several years, and as if imprinted on her face, there was an obsession that seemed to be madness hidden in her joyful expression.

My body trembled. The faint hope of victory was crushed.

I thought I could grow. I ...... that I woke up to a nasty magic called healing magic and my life was turned upside down, but I grew up, was recognized by everyone, and became as strong as Usato.

When I thought about it, I managed to endure the painful training.

I gritted my teeth and endured the thought of fainting.

Even when chased by a blue grizzly, he suppressed his fear and ran frantically.

He tried his best not to let Usato's taunting voice be directed at him.

However, he was exposed to the innocent malice of Mina, and he suddenly cooled down.

It's just a training to run.

What to do with your legs?

Why do I have to do healing spells while running?

Why do I have to go through such a hard time and take on a game that I can't win?

 

Wrong.

 

It's all a convenient excuse.

Usato's training made sense. As proof of this, my legs and body are so light that I can realize that I am clearly different from myself a few days ago. I was surprised at how much physical strength I had.

This achievement in just two days of training. There was nothing wrong with Usato's training, it was clearly me who was wrong.

Yesterday it would have been time to run, but I'm sitting in a place like this, crying pitilessly and despairing.

 

「...... I'm an idiot......

 

I'm scared to fight Mina.

Fighting him is the scariest thing of all.

If you lose, you're going to be treated even worse. I can't really imagine it getting worse than this, but I wouldn't be surprised if Mina shows a level of brutality far beyond what I imagined.

Then that's fine.

What if you're the only one who is unhappy...... However, if he loses, Usato-san and one of the heroes will be forced to make amends to Mina. I ...... because I tried to play a game that made me run away.

 

"I didn't want you to expect anything...... Huh?"

 

If this was going to happen, it would have been better if I didn't hold on to hope.

I wish I was the only one hurt.

I wish I was the only one who was hurt, because the wound healed on its own.

Then no one expects it, and I don't expect anyone either.

To Usato, and to the brave...... I didn't have to deal with Kiriha, the beastman who lent me a bed.

 

「...... Wow...... Wow."

 

When I thought about it, I couldn't stop crying.

It reminded me of the memories of the past two days.

It was a tough training.

Even if such painful training was an imposition of good intentions, it was the kindness of a person who had not been touched in a long time.

Usato-san tried to train me when I was not good.

He didn't let go of me for using my failed healing magic.

He encouraged me as I lost consciousness over and over again.

I was too tired to go home on my own, so he carried me to Kiriha's dormitory and served me warm food.

It was a good memory to be stunned to see Mr. Usato, who transcended the boundaries between beastmen and humans and was happily chatting.

Kiriha, Kyo, and Satsuki didn't look particularly bad.

I remembered how one person's dinner was so colorful when we all ate it together.

 

"Oh...... Huh...... Aaaaaaa......aa Whew."

 

I destroyed those memories and the future that I would have had in the future.

I let go of a happy moment so much that I forgot the warm memories with my abominable family.

This time there will be nothing left.

All you have to do is wait for the sanctions from Mina.

But this is my fault for giving up. At the very least, let's not bother Usato. I'm on my own, and at all costs to keep Mina out of the way, and that's it.

 

「...... Huh?"

 

He swallows his sobbing and wipes his eyes.

Let's go. I'm not a beastman, but I'll do anything for you.

Rather than trying to challenge Mina with a broken heart and feel miserable because she lost, it's better to choose the best future where no one but me will be hurt.

 

"I have to go......

 

"Okay, I found it."

 

"What......?"

 

Just as he squeezes his knees to stand up, a cheerful voice that seems out of place echoes through the dark alley.

At the sound of the voice, his legs relaxed, and he sat down on the ground again, and turned his head in the direction of the voice...... In the dark space stood a boy in a white coat that stood out of place.

His face is too dark to see, but his lips naturally move at the sound of his voice and the way he stands.

 

"Usato, ......."

 

●

 

It was very easy to find Nak.

It's easy to find without me running around town on my own, but it's a different story with Bulllyn and Amako.

First, he chases Nack with Bulllin's nose. We can't pinpoint the exact location just by following the scent, but we dare to parade around the place where we are likely to hit. In the midst of this, Amako sees the future if she "looks for it in the place she just passed."

He narrows down the range with Bulllin's nose and searches for the knack that would be within the range narrowed down by Amako's foreknowledge. It's a perfect integration...... I'm not helping at all.

As a result, I was able to find Nak in a short time, but when I first found him, I was sobbing and crying with a suppressed voice, so I was quite panicked.

Was the training so hard?! It's a lie...... I tried to be as gentle as I could.

I'm more conscientious than Rose for taking a break every now and then, but wait, isn't it normal to take a break in the first place?

.........。

For the time being, I try to have a one-on-one discussion with him while driving the little fox and the little bear out of the alley, who are watching me accusingly behind me.

Talk to him as lightly as possible to see how he reacts before sitting next to him to make it easier for you to discuss.

It's cool and cold because it's a back alley where the sun doesn't shine, but when I look down at Nak, who has looked down after taking me in view, he looks down as if it's awkward to face me.

 

"Oh, what...... What, in?"

 

"It's such a small city, and we won't be able to find you."

 

I haven't done anything myself.

He laughs self-deprecatingly at Nak, who looks up with disbelief in his eyes.

 

"I'm sorry, I think I was a little too harsh. After all, I wasn't used to teaching people something, so it didn't work at all."

 

"Oh, no...... It's different. It wasn't Usato's fault that he ran away, it was me...... I wasn't ready to fight Mina, and I was scared......"

 

"Did you feel intimidated ......?"

 

Didn't you get tired of the training?

Then why were you crying here? Tilting his head in wonder, he began to tell me why he was crying here.

As I listened to the story, I realized that he was afraid of Mina...... Rather, it turns out that something similar to imprinting has deeper roots than I imagined. After all, it is enough to break his heart once he has made up his mind just by meeting him once.

It would be beyond my imagination.

 

"You're a healing wizard, so you were bullied by Mina?"

 

I didn't dare to ask for the past two days. If you're going to get to this point, it's better to know.

 

「......... In my hometown, we were just acquaintances. That said, my family was very close to each other......

 

If you are close to each other and your family is close to each other...... That? I've heard that Mina is the daughter of a nobleman, but maybe Nak is too?

No, even if it is, I don't understand it more and more. If Nak's house belonged to a nobleman, he would be treated the same as Mina.

But the reality is quite the opposite.

 

"As you may have wondered, I come from a wealthy family, and I am aware that I had a reasonably good life before I came here."

 

"What is it?"

 

"Most of the people in my family have awakened to the magic of the water system, and my mother, who married my father, also went out of her way to choose a wizard with a water system...... Naturally, I was supposed to learn water magic under a wizard instructor hired by my father......"

 

「...... Is it healing magic?"

 

"Yes, on my ninth birthday before I came here, I was going to find out what kind of system magic my sister and I had, and of course my parents thought that both me and my sister would be water type magic...... But as it turned out, my sister was the only one who showed an aptitude for the water system."

 

There was a sense of emptiness in his self-deprecating smile.

At the point of this story, the worst possible foreseeable scenario emerges.

Looking at the current situation of Nak, who was born into a noble family that prides himself on his family and blood ties, his parents are probably .......

 

"Since then, my daily life has changed, and my father and mother, who were so kind, have become cold as if they have changed, and I can't see my sister, who I was very close to...... Hahaha, you look like an idiot. You get discriminated against just because of your aptitude for magic, right? In the end, he was forced to put Luxvis in order to kick him out of the mansion. At that point, there was nowhere for me to go...... But my heart was lighter than when I was in the mansion. I'm finally free, that's what I thought......

 

When I think about it, when I first met him, I wondered if the reason why he was so panicked was because he was desperately trying to take classes so that he wouldn't be kicked out of the school, which would be his last place.

Since the place where you live is at stake, that panic is understandable.

But even the academy, his last home, could not be a place of ease.

 

"So, Mina, who wasn't very close to me, ...... you."

 

"I don't know why Mina is tormenting me, although there are a lot of passages where I can think of it as her parents' fault or her healing magic...... Either way, I'm ...... I don't want to go back to my old house."

 

「.........」

 

Heavy......

Why do all the people I know have such serious problems? I wonder if Kazuki and Amako have a constitution that makes it easy to attract such people. If that's the case, it's too bad for my mental health.

Even so, I don't think abandoning him at that point when I heard about his troubles.

 

"So it's okay that Mina isn't on good terms with you, but she's a troublesome child who cares about you for some reason, right?"

 

"No, it's not that cute......

 

"I know your parents are pretty stupid, and I know you have nowhere else to go. So where do we go from here? When you graduate from here and have to leave...... What are you going to do?"

 

"Oh, that's ......."

 

It's a tougher world than you think.

It's easy to forget when you look at the Lingle Kingdom, a country ruled by a peaceful and gentle king, but in other countries, you have to be very careful about buying and selling slaves, bandits, monsters, and moving from country to country.

In such a situation, if you were to ask him if he could stand on his own with only one skill, which is healing magic, he would answer that it would be quite difficult.

Perhaps he knew this, but his expression contorted and he looked at the ground.

I smile bitterly at him and slowly stand up.

 

"You just have to come to the rescue team."

 

「...... What?"

 

"I told you about the Lifesavers, there are three other healing wizards like you and me, and one of them is different from you...... Is that what you mean? Well, it has a similar healing spell. Is it cozy...... It's a good place to be if you turn a blind eye to the unreasonableness of the leader of the group, the nonsense of his fellow demons, and the noise of the monsters."

 

From what I've seen of him over the past two days, he should be able to handle Ferm's training once he's gotten used to it.

When it comes to healing magic, there is a way to become a black-clad lifesaver like those tough-faced people when they can heal their bodies. Either way, Rose wouldn't refuse.

 

"If you can't, you can come to the Ringle Kingdom, because a friend of mine, a healing wizard, wanted help with the infirmary. If you don't want to go through more training in the rescue team, you can start from scratch there."

 

With Olga and Uluru, he can get along well.

Even Nak's healing magic may be restored.

 

"Wait a minute, what's going on with me and Mina?! If I don't fight like this, Usato-san ......"

 

"Well, you don't have to bother to receive a reward, and if you threaten and silence to some extent, you'll be fine."

 

"yes, yes, yes!?"

 

To be honest, I didn't need to take Mina's retribution, and I was thinking of stepping on it if it was an unreasonable request anyway. Well, that's only a last resort.

Frankly, even if you are an aristocrat, if you don't have the power of the house, you're just a little girl, very ...... It's very painful, but I'm willing to make my heart a demon.

I'm going to do it with a bang.

By the way, let's invite Inugami senpai.

 

"I'll prepare a place for you to go back to, so don't worry about it, it's stupid to be crushed by idiots who mistake magic for fashion or something, right? You should be happy where you can make the most of your strengths."

 

「......... Huh?"

 

"I'm on an important journey right now, so I can't take you directly to the Lingle Kingdom, so I'll write you a letter instead...... I'm not used to writing yet, so it might take a little while."

 

I take a breath and look down at Nak.

Now, I'm starting to wonder if it's okay to proceed on my own. Olga and Uluru will be fine. But about that Rose, I can only be afraid because there is a very high possibility that she will be angry and beaten up, such as "Since when did you become in a position to increase the number of members without permission?"

Oh, maybe I'll be in a terrible situation if I get home safely, right?

...... Well, let's not think about it.

 

"What are you going to do?"

 

「...... Are you sure you want ......?"

 

"It's up to you to choose, I'm just showing you the way."

 

Just as Rose did to me when I came to this world, now I'm going to show you the way.

He looks up at me and holds out his hand to Nak. His eyes fluttered wildly at the sight of the proffered hand, and he wiped his eyes with his sleeve before approaching his hand and stopping it at the last minute.

 

"I'm going to fight Mina......

 

"You can't overdo it, do you?"

 

You don't have to take risks.

He shook his head slowly at my words, and his red, swollen eyes went straight to me. In his dark, stagnant eyes, he had changed from the gloomy and gloomy of the past to a reassuring one with a faint light.

 

"I'm not qualified to go to Usato-san's place right now, and I can't convince myself until I've cut ties with her properly and been able to face her properly. That's why ......."

 

After a pause, he grabbed my hand and stood up.

 

"To me...... Train me!!"

 

For the first time, I felt that Nak and I were on the same page.

Maybe it's because of my mind, but I don't hate this feeling of meshing with each other's intentions.

If...... I'm going to stop projecting myself onto him and making him sweet. This sweetness is not good for Nak, and in fact, it is rude to do so.

 

"It's fine, but I'm not going to be gentle this time. Even if you try to pass out, I won't stop even if you say you want to. If you pass out, wake him up, and heal him if he can't move his legs. No matter what happens, I will keep it moving as long as the magic power is exhausted."

 

"What............ I'll do it! I won't complain or complain anymore!!"

 

What's in between?

I felt that the intentions that were about to coincide were separated for a moment.

...... Well, let's not worry about that.

 

"Okay, let's get out of this dark place as soon as possible, and we'll start training when we get back to the academy."

 

"Yes!"

 

From the dark alley, head towards the street where Bullyn and Amako are.

There are only three days left to train Nak, including today. I lost a bit of time, but that's not a problem. He's very motivated, and most importantly, I can train him without worrying about him.

In fact, I was reluctant to use a means like Rose's from experience, but the idea of sparing him disappeared when I saw his will.

But I wonder if I can train like Rose............. No, you can't, you do. He trusts me. It's like my mission to live up to that trust.

Let us abandon all the goodwill, compassion, and sympathy.

I'm going to make my heart a demon for him.

At this time, it does not matter if you are reviled as a gaido.

I put all the running skills that have been applied to me into my body, not my head.

- Three days left, I'm going to be a devil de S.

 

「...... Ugh, I ...... chills."

 

「？」

 

What happened to the Nak walking next to me, whose face suddenly turned pale?