The Traveling Hero Won’t Let the Innkeeper’s Son Escape

The knife that should have disappeared could have been taken. I can realise that the cold sensation is authentic in a world that cannot be described as a reality or a dream.

"What the hell? ……………"

I was surprised by the knife that showed up again, but soon I noticed a shadow demon approaching. Not if you are lost.

(If this...!

Ruth flips his fleeing body and confronts the demons of the shadows. The Shadow Demon shook his arm up against Ruth, who looked back. Instantly avoided beside him, Ruth approaches the Shadow Demon again when he kicks the bookshelf that was nearby.

"Huh!

He cut off the Shadow Demon's arm with a cold, brilliant knife. The knife was able to cut the arm of the Shadow Demon, which had not appeared to have sustained any injuries, whether it had unleashed sorcery or hit objects. Bottoms and black arms fall to the floor.

―――

Until then, no matter what you do, a shadow demon who hasn't responded can look at his fallen arm and blatantly wolf. I didn't know Ed had disappeared before I knew if he was surprised by his ability to absorb it, but they also had a reaction.

(This knife can cut these guys off, they won't even grow arms again! I can!)

The Shadow Demon doesn't seem to have the ability to regenerate. Being able to defeat them like this with magic might mean that this knife looks like it's slaughtered and has the power to take away the magic.

Ruth, who had the skill to fight and saw a winning chance, dared to jump on the opposite arm swung up like he was left to anger.

"Ha!"

Double-cut a fist with power with your head. Ruth's unleashed blow caused his head and arms to fall off unevenly. Because of the loss of the head or the remaining body falls straight to the front.

The body, which was three-dimensional, loses its thickness, assimilates to the floor and disappears. It never came back to life. Looks like we can make him disappear like Ed.

"Awesome. This, cut? is different."

Either the ability of the knife or the nature of the shadow demon, he did not feel the resistance of the other body and did not feel the lack of power, which was usually the source of Ruth's troubles, because he could break off the running water.

From there it was Ruth's specialty.

Ruth, who beats the Shadow Demon at speed, turns back avoiding their attacks and repeats the action of cutting them. Repeating even a few attacks can cause fatal injuries. I'm gonna clean up with the two of them.

Eventually, when they realized that Ruth's attack would be their own threat, the Shadow Demon formed a party to attack them. I'm sure he thought he could defeat more than one, but he's not the enemy of Ruth, who's usually hunting for the wolves that come attacking him in groups.

Avoid the whole thing, squeeze the two bodies, and slash off the third leg. Physical differences became a vendetta, and to Ruth their bodies were like moving playthings. As long as you have the means to attack that can stop you from moving, you are not an unbeatable opponent.

"Wow!

Ruth breaks the last united head in two, and all the demons of the shadows disappear to the floor. It didn't take that long.

Natasha, who drank tea and was able to afford it, rose out of her chair angrily after being defeated by her own soldiers.

"Hey, hey, what's that knife!? Where did you bring it from?!? It's against the rules to physically cut off magic! You can't even revive our soldiers!

"I don't want to be told by Natasha, who's using a treacherous technique of locking me in here."

Natasha pulls her cheeks slightly on Ruth's objections. For once, I felt like I was using an irregular technique.

Turning softly to Natasha, she frowned.

"Please get me out of here. Otherwise, I'm going to attack you."

"Huh... are you serious?

"I mean it."

That's what I said with my mouth, but to be honest, Ruth is not at all willing to slash her. This was only a threat. Because I thought I had to do whatever it took to get Ruth to make an exit to a gap that was upset me by mistake that she meant it.

"Nice, keep it up, Zach!

As Ruth stared at Natasha with a serious face, her earlier voice echoed in her head again.

(I don't like it. I can't kill people!

Even though Ruth has killed animals and demons to live, he has hardly ever pointed a weapon at a person. Even when practicing with Alec, it was as simple as attacking a puppet opponent, replacing a thinly shredded tree or something when the two of us were facing each other and practicing. Even though Alec was easily prevented from attacking Ruth and knew there was no way he could have been injured if he had hit him, he couldn't really imitate cutting him with a real weapon.

"Ha, I'm not saying anything sweet! If we don't do something about that woman, we're not getting out of here, are we?

(Huh?)

'It's the woman who's making this world. So if you don't do something about the woman who's the nuke, you can't get out of here on your own!

Certainly Natasha in front of me is behaving the way she likes in this world. All of the phenomena that are not normally thought of as changing the shape of the room or coming out of nothing are done at Natasha's will. It doesn't seem to be a mistake that she's a nuke.

(So, but... if you do that, Natasha will)

'Cause it's okay. You look like a woman, but that's only a phantom. It's not a woman's body. Ruth said it would be okay if she stabbed him a little.... if you cut it into boulders, all the main units will die... but... oh, come on, look, it's crisp!

The voice speaks lightly, but it doesn't. Ruth thinks this is the world of her dreams, and she looked like it, but that's why she's a phantom, and there's no guarantee that she'll be safe to stab.

"If you don't make your way out of there, we can't even rescue you, so hurry up!

(So, I can't. It's a person, it's a woman person!? You can't stab me!

"So it's fake, so I'm fine."

(Still!)

I don't know if Ruth was fake, but I couldn't imitate cutting it off for a woman. Even if they say it's okay, my hands are shaking. Whether they say no intention, there's nothing I can do about all this because of the belief that "let's take care of women” stained from previous lives.

But Natasha, who was nervous, laughed thinly at what she thought of Ruth talking in her brain with the voice echoing in her head.

"Yes... if you're going to do that, I have an idea too. I'll use your most cowardly hands."

Natasha spun on the spot when she grinned. Her black dress and red curly hair spread around her, closing Ruth's sight for a moment.

"What... Huh!?

The next moment I saw her, Natasha was gone. I was there.

"Ruth......"

A brilliant blonde, young man with green eyes, who seems to be of strong will. He smiled happily when he found Ruth.

"Ah, Alec......?

Alec, the blonde young man, always approaches with the same grin as when he meets Ruth. Ruth pulled in the arm he was stretching and kept the knife away from him. Alec looks happy when he sees it.

"Ruth, what's wrong with weapons? Put it down, dude."

The young man with Alec's face fills the distance with a trick, a language that is no different from what Ruth remembers.

"Alec... not, ah, you're, you're Mr. Natasha, right?

"Natasha? Who is that? When I realized I was here, and you were pointing the knife at me, I said don't do it."

Alec tilts his neck with a really strange look on his face. There was a good chance that Natasha was lying, but to that familiar look, he didn't know if it was fake.

"Oh... Oh, no use lying, huh? I saw you disappear..."

"So you're not lying. Ruth, what are you talking about? I was walking in the woods with my buddies, wrapped in fog, and I was here when I realized.

"Fog?"

"Oh, it was some creepy fog, but I missed it while I was letting Garcia and the others get away. So, when I found out, I was in a slightly different space. Is this the one someone made, or is this it?

Hearing "Creepy Fog," Ruth remembers when she got lost in this world.

Both Ruth and Ed entered the fog and were brought to the mansion where Natasha was when they noticed. Considering that, Alec's words in front of me also make me unilaterally incapable of saying that they are lies.

(Maybe Alec really did Natasha's trick to get here......?

I can't deny that possibility.

"This is a weird space. But nothing seems dangerous. Maybe I can protect you better here than in real space."

"Eh?"

Alec, with a calm face, has reached out to Ruth.

"Ruth, I'll stay here with you. You don't have to do anything, and if you stay here, I'll protect you from everything. I'll give you whatever you want. You don't care how the world goes, you can even forget the time and spend it with me. I'll take care of it, so I'll stay here forever. Huh?"

Beautifully shining green eyes change color. Looking into his eyes, he spreads the sweetness as if he had been sugared in his head.

"Let's live together all the time in a world just for the two of us?

Drowsy and boiling sweet words. To a corrupt temptation that seemed to melt down to the brain - I hung up all the time.

"- Then what are you going to do on a world trip, you idiot!

To Alec, who had made a declaration to break an inspiring promise a few months earlier, frustrated Ruth was waving his hand reflexively, smiling and fisting out. Alec, who made an unpleasant noise and received Ruth's fist on his cheek, flips beautifully on the spot. I seem to have forgotten to avoid it. I knew Alec wouldn't hurt anything like Ruth's fist, so I didn't have to worry about it.

"I promised to travel the world when my journey was over. What is that! I'm looking forward to it! And on the way to the brave journey, Mr. Garcia was with you, even though you'd be annoyed if you were suddenly gone along the way! Alec said he wanted to run the inn with me, and this is where..."

"- There he is. - Whoa!

"Eh?"

Complaining about fallen Alec, I hear a half-crying voice. Alec, with his hand on his cheek, turned around, saving tears in his eyes.

"It's terrible, why are you hitting me? This man is your loved one, isn't he!?

"Oh, um... don't use a woman's language with that face and voice... Natasha."

Alec turning around - also, the moment I saw Fake Alec's face, I was clearly aware that the person in front of me was not him, as if it were a lie that I had been lost until just now. Alec is too creepy to protest with his body twisted and tears. I guess this is what Natasha was transforming into.

"An eternal invitation from a loved one, there's no way a reply could be fist!

"…… Ah, yes. I didn't say I hit you. But it's not like Alec..."

It was odd that Alec, who said he wanted to run a boarding house with me in the first place, would throw it out and tell him to stay here like this. Other than that, I couldn't accept the words from above.

(Alec...... I wouldn't say that)

For Alec the brave, Ruth would have only a brittle, small power, like a small animal. Even when I was in the village, if it's true, Alec could do anything alone. I'm glad Alec was all alone in hunting, defeating demons, and cleaning the ruins. There was no need for Ruth anywhere.

But Alec wanted me to act with Ruth. I didn't unilaterally protect him or hold him back.

They thought together about the structure of the bath, taught me how to use it for Ruth, who is not good at witchcraft, changed roles during hunting, taught me weaknesses so that even demons could be defeated, and also gave Ruth, who has no work to do with demon pruning. He respected Ruth's will and behavior, although it may not have been helping him properly in some cases as a result. Alec looked kindly at Ruth, who acted with him no matter how weak he was.

- There's no way Alec like that would say 'You don't have to do anything' to Ruth.

"You've been spotted, too bad. ………… but you're alarmed, hehe."

"To?"

Suddenly the pink space darkened and turned into something as simple as just a small light at the feet of Natasha and Ruth. I don't see the size of the room because of the darkness, but I can tell it's not that big of a space because of the breathlessness.

"hey what now...... natasha...... eh!?

At the same time Natasha, who was in Alec's shape, returns to what she was, as if she had lost her power.

- And in the belly of that black dress, a familiar knife stabbed deeply and there was blood running around her.

"... where did you really bring it from? This knife, you can't break my magic and take it all at once."

Natasha falls to the floor without force.

"Oh, that, no knife!?

If I noticed, the knife that should have been in Ruth's hand was gone. I had it backwards the moment I hit fake Alec, so it should have been there for sure until then. Yet now I don't have it.

"WHEN......!? Mr. Natasha!?

Ruth rushed over to Natasha, who collapsed in a hurry.

"Are you going to panic? Thank you. Ruth is sweet after all. I've just taken them all out of there."

"Hey, what are you talking about!? Or why did you get the knife I had?

"Why, I took it from you because I stabbed myself?

"What, eh!?

Natasha, whose complexion is bright blue, looks happy with her face on the floor.

"Though it was a bit unplanned. If this knife stabbed you, you'd take the magic away from him. I can't believe the power has been curtailed so far... but with this, Ruth, you're gonna have to stay here, right?

"... What do you mean?

"Because I don't have the power to bring you back to the main body after all the magic I've been given."

Natasha smiles in the face.

For the first time then, I understood why Natasha was laughing when she bled and fell.

(They did it!

I figured out why Natasha stabbed herself until she took Ruth's knife. She used the method of keeping Ruth here by stabbing herself with a knife that cut off her magic.

He probably knew that Ruth couldn't stab Natasha, or that Alec would spot him as a fake. If this happens, Ruth can't even get away with it. Because if you leave Natasha like this and she dies, you don't know what will happen to Ruth either.

"Take good care of me until I'm cured, okay? Otherwise, the body dies, right?

I felt a quiet rage and chill at the same time at Natasha, who still laughed at the victory as she put her face on the floor. Ruth, I have no idea why you're doing this to your opponent.

(Oh yeah...... sorry, what's going on!? Natasha says, oh is that true!?

Ruth didn't do it, but it turned out to be what that voice wanted. If you believe that voice, this should get Ruth out.

(Hey!?

I can't hear the voice that was ringing in my head until earlier. The voice said that if she stabbed Natasha, Ruth could leave, but she said she had no magic to bring Ruth back to the outside body. What the hell is this all about?

(... Did that voice fool you too?

I was confused not knowing what was going on. I don't even know what to believe.

"Come on Ruth, enjoy the world for two...... let's, VV!?

Natasha laughed with a nibble, but suddenly she raised an odd voice. She should have stayed calm and suddenly stood up and held down her own stabbed belly. From there the dazzling light was starting to leak. Seeing the light, she had a bright blue face, the opposite of what she had been able to afford.

"Hey, what's this!? Lies, someone interferes from the outside!? Oh no, that's why the outer barrier is not the inner ratio!? Gi, gi, gi, gi, gi!

The moment Natasha shouted, her body tore in two and a pillar of light appeared.

"GO, OOOO!

When I wondered if the roar of the beast had sounded, a knife and a young man of the Leion tribe jumped out of the pillar of light.