đźź Chapter 22
🟧 Takeru's POV :
The fight was over—an overwhelming victory for Flora against the lizard Savra. Flora walked over to the corpse and ripped out its heart as proof that she'd killed the monster. I'd only ever seen fights like that in anime, but now it was right in front of me. That little girl had demolished the whole place. What's up with her—showing off or what? She didn't need to go that far.
When everything calmed down, Flora noticed me.
"The boy from the carriage—I didn't realize it was you at first."
"I never expected the girl who wrote in her journal that she might die today to be this strong."
"That's not even all my power."
"Ehh?!"
I'd told her before that I was strong, but how could I explain now?
"This lizard wasn't even worth me using my full strength on. By the way, how did you get here?"
Strange—she didn't seem to care about what I'd said in the carriage.
"I was hiding around, then this lizard found me and was about to eat me. Your sister came and saved me."
"Liliana saved you!"
So her sister's name is Liliana. Speaking of her, she was coming toward us with the other participants.
"Thank you both for saving me and my brother from that monster."
The participant thanked the two witches—turns out she and the other participant were siblings... they didn't look alike at all.
"You're welcome. We saw you in front of us, so we figured why not help while we could."
After that the two participants left, thanking the witches. I should thank them too—they'd saved me.
"Thank you for saving me. I was literally about to die. I appreciate it."
"You're welcome. By the way…"
Flora looked at me intently and asked, "What's your name?"
"My name? Takashi… Takashi Takeru."
"Takeru, then—how about you travel with us?"
It was surprising—I really didn't expect Flora and even Liliana to say that. I was stunned.
"We're both strong, and as long as you're with us you won't die in this test."
That's an offer hard to refuse. If I agreed to go with them, I'd survive. But… there's someone I'm already with.
"I'm sorry, but I have to decline your offer."
"What? Why? Don't you want companions?"
"It's not like that. There's someone I'm already with, so I can't accept."
"Is he your friend?"
"He's not a friend, but you could call him a companion."
"Who do you call a companion?!"
Talking about him, he finally appeared after everything had settled. The two girls glimpsed Haizen's face and, unlike me, they recognized him quickly.
"The swordsman from the carriage—are you Takeru's friend?"
No—I said companion, not friend. Unlike the girls, Haizen didn't recognize them.
"Who are those two and what happened here? I heard an explosion from afar so I came to check you were alive. Why are your clothes torn around your stomach?"
"First, those two girls were in the carriage. Second, there was a fight between a giant lizard and this little girl, and this is the result. Third, I got stabbed but they healed me."
Haizen looked at me in disbelief—he couldn't believe Flora caused this destruction.
"Hey, you're joking, right? This girl did that?"
Liliana stepped forward toward Haizen and pointed at Savra's corpse, the one Flora had killed.
"See that body over there? Flora finished it off, and we already took its heart."
Haizen was shocked to see Savra completely dead because of Flora.
"That grilled lizard—this girl killed it... You're insanely strong, little one."
A question crossed my mind: how many new hearts had that bald guy collected?
"So Haizen, did you kill any new monsters?"
"No, I didn't kill any monsters. By the way, do you have toilet paper? I need some."
"Why would I use toilet paper here, and why didn't you kill any monsters? Were you just taking a dump the whole time?"
"No, I didn't spend all my time doing that… only half the time."
Flora laughed at our conversation.
"You two are really weird."
We might have met this morning, but it felt like I'd known them for years.
Flora grabbed my sleeve as if to say something.
"Can we talk alone for a bit?"
"No problem."
We moved away from the others and she began to speak.
"Your freind is funny."
"I told you, we're not friends."
"Fine, then why not make him your friend… Takeru, you have to hold on to people. In this world, it's important to have close companions."
"I don't know. I don't know if I can be someone's friend. There was a person I was close to—closer than that swordsman even—but we parted ways in the end."
"And will you stay like that? Don't you want to give your life some meaning?"
"My being here was a mistake itself, so all I think about is how to survive tomorrow."
"Well, with your companion you might live longer. Try to cling to every chance in this world, even if you feel like a mistake."
"Maybe you're right. But it's not that simple. Sometimes you can't make friends easily, especially when every step is dangerous and every relationship can become a burden… or another source of pain. I don't have the energy to cling to anything. But who knows? Maybe with time something will change."
Flora gave a light smile.
"I'm sure you'll change."
Then she returned to her sister Liliana, and then each of us went our separate ways.
"All right, we'll meet at the end of the test."
Liliana and Flora went left; Haizen and I went right. I don't know how much time passed, but the test seemed close to ending.
Haizen looked at me and asked, "By the way, what were those explosive things you used against the previous monster?"
"You mean the dust bombs?"
"That's their name… awful name."
"But the name fits—they're literally dust."
Using some materials I had from Valoris, I'd managed to turn them into dust bombs. Haizen kept asking questions.
"But where did you get them? Did you buy them or make them yourself?"
I'd told him before I could make a sword for him since I'm a blacksmith, but I'm not a professional. I could make him a sword with the Factory skill. Maybe I should just tell him the truth.
"I made them myself."
"Really? How did you do that?"
"With a skill."
"A skill? You mean a magic skill?"
"Yes. It's called Factory."
"Facto—what? Man, why do you have such terrible names? But honestly, I didn't expect someone like you to have a skill. So it makes things, right?"
"Yes. With this skill I can make whatever I want."
"Wait, so you're not actually a blacksmith—you were tricking me at first."
"No… look, the truth is I do have some experience with blacksmithing, but I'm not a professional. At first I didn't plan to tell you the truth, but I was going to make you a real sword."
"Fine, whatever. But since you can make things, you're even better than most blacksmiths. So how about making me the strongest sword in the world?"
Huh? Hey, what is this guy saying now—'the strongest sword in the world'? I'm heading straight into trouble with him. That wasn't our agreement.
"Listen, we never agreed to that. I promised to make you a special sword, not the strongest in the world. Even with this skill I'm not sure I can make such a blade. My skill has levels and it's still weak. I need to kill monsters to develop it."
"Okay, how about this: I'll help you level up your skill by bringing injured monsters to you to finish off so you can level up, and in return I get a great sword. If we face a monster I can't handle, I promise we'll part ways."
That didn't sound like a bad deal. I don't really mind as long as the skill levels up, and since he'd handle most of the monster fighting, I'd be fine.
"I like your offer. I accept."
"All right, then until you make me a strong sword—we're companions."
That was the start of a partnership that, over time, would grow into something more.