Arc 3 - Chapter 6: Burning Village

After their deal with Kigaro, Yu reluctantly went in search of the missing demi-lion children at Yurine's request.

Kigaro, who was guiding them through the jungle, was leading them towards one of the other lion villages where the children might have gone.

"You said I owed you an animal, but I'm not sure this is the right way to repay someone!" Kigaro, running in front of the Rinos, tied to the wagon, shouted.

"You can walk behind us if you want. Of course, we'll get there slower if you do that."

He wasn't saying it because he didn't want it to be like that, he wanted it to be like that. There could be a battle going on where they were going now, and if they moved fast they would get there before it was over, while the enemy was still in the area.

Of course, if they moved slowly, by the time they got there the enemies might already be done and gone, saving them from entering danger and facing the demons.

It meant that if they got there late they might find the lifeless bodies of the half-lion children, but Yu cared more about his own daughter than about a few monster children, and he would rather see them dead than put his own daughter in danger, even if their deaths would trouble his conscience.

"If that makes me a bad person, I'll be a bad person."

He didn't need to be Yu to think this way, it was obvious that everyone would disregard the values of others rather than their own.

"And if you think I'm gonna let you in the wagon like that, you're wrong. You can't get in when you're covered in mud... Besides... The rain washes the dirt off your body when you're like that."

The driver's compartment of their wagon was protected, so Yu and Yurine were able to move along without getting wet, but Kigaro was completely soaked from the rain. In fact, there was not a single dry spot on the jacket he had tied underneath.

"Now that I think about it, I couldn't have let you in the car even in your normal state. You probably wouldn't fit in there because of your height, it's already full. Besides, didn't you say you are thirty years old? You should cherish the young."

"In my village, the elderly are cherished."

"I should be the only one cherished here!" Yurine hugged Yu's waist a little too tightly. "Yu, you must cherish me."

"Yes, my lady."

When Yu offered him to pull the wagon, he did it to mock him, but Kigaro took him seriously and accepted the offer, and despite his near-death experience, his speed of movement was amazing.

At first Yu thought that he would be crushed by the rinos, but Kigaro exceeded his expectations and started running as fast as the rinos, even making him feel that he could beat the rinos if he wanted to.

"I'm sure it would be very useful if he turned into a slave who obeyed our orders completely. At least in a scenario where one of us has to die, Kigaro can be the one to die in our place."

Although it was a selfish thought, this was Yu's true feelings.

That's why he wanted to bind him in a false magical pact and make him a slave. Kigaro seemed like someone who would sacrifice his life to protect Yurine or Yu if the circumstances became undesirable.

He hadn't formed this opinion based solely on Kigaro's appearance and the way he spoke. Roaron culture also compelled him to do so.

Yet Yu had not only hoped for it, or trusted in the roaron culture, he had made it clear that he owed them his life so that he would sacrifice his life for their survival if necessary.

"Though he must think his life debt is to Yurine, will he protect me?"

He could grieve his death, or anyone else's, and feel constant remorse, but he did not want to die himself, nor could the grief and torment he would feel at Yurine's death come close to what he would feel at the death of Kigaro, Ana or Sivina.

That's why he wanted the two girls with him in the first place. When Yu first offered to take them along, Yurine claimed that Yu wanted them because he was a pervert who liked Ana's ass, but of course that was not the truth.

Trustworthy people were always hard to find, and Sivina and Ana had a short history with him. Besides their strength, Yu had faith in their loyalty. For Yu, at least Sivina could be a useful pawn, dying when necessary.

Did he have the right to decide someone's death? No, Yu Valarfin had no such right and all his thoughts were wrapped in the sins of arrogance and selfishness. He was still haunted by what he had killed in Rolderhelm, and yet he had no problem putting someone to death today.

"Because I have to. I have to do it, even if what I do or will do will make everyone hate me. It's not a choice, it's just the only logical path I can take."

If there was any other way, he would wish for the well-being and happiness of those who accompanied them on their journey, and not only wish for it, but even strive for it.

But there was no point in doing it in this world. This world was already over in his eyes and Yu had to turn back time in the next few years. He had no more time, he couldn't fool around, couldn't waste time trying to make people happy.

"I don't... I don't want..."

Of course, he was still a human being and he couldn't just dismantle his emotional side. Even though his rational side told him what to do, his emotional side still questioned how he could so easily give up his human life.

"It's not about what I want, it's about what I have to do. I have to remember that."

He looked at Kigaro running in front of him, then turned to face Yurine, who was hugging her waist. Her red eyes stared straight ahead, her ears flicking occasionally, trying to catch a sound.

"Compared to their importance, my promise to her is worth more than anyone else's life. To keep that promise, I must not refrain from sinning. There is nothing in this finished world that matters except our plan. To keep my promise, to rebuild what I have destroyed."

Emotional thinking would increase the chances of failure.

This wasn't one of those worlds where high schoolers from another world gained amazing powers and wrote themselves a story that blended harem and comedy. The moment Joy's skewers entered Yu's body, he experienced firsthand that this was not the case.

This world was no place for Yu or Satoshi. In fact, from the memoir he had read, the world would have been a terrible place for Denise without Natalia.

If he hesitated, if he pauses, if he loses time for a single moment, this world would show him no mercy. If he had to sacrifice others to achieve his goals, he would either do it or he himself, or worse, Yurine would die and Yu would be left with the mess he had made.

"Death... They have to die for a better world. In return, I can make a better life for them in the new world I will build, sacrificing myself if necessary."

But he would not do that in this world. In this world there was no point in putting himself in danger for others.

"People live because they hope that life will satisfy them."

That's what Ryu once told him.

Satisfaction, everything in this world is based on satisfaction. Satisfaction was the philosophy Yu believed in.

People lived for fulfillment and worked to satisfy themselves with their earnings.

No human being loved unconditionally. They all demanded love in return for the love they gave, they were satisfied to be loved by those they loved.

The fact that one partner was loyal to the other was also purely for satisfaction. If one was loyal to the other, the other would be loyal to him, and this loyalism was satisfying.

People obeyed the law because lawlessness was not satisfying, but would block the way to future fulfillment.

Sacrifice, heroism, hard work, birth, death... Underlying it all was the desire for self-gratification.

Yu wanted to satisfy himself with a long and happy life, but he couldn't. So he had to do what many people do to satisfy himself.

Yu was clinging to an ideal.

Realizing this ideal would satisfy him, and if he had to sacrifice others to realize this ideal and achieve satisfaction, he had to do it.

"That's why I'm afraid to wake up, even if this is all a dream. Even a world where I end up in darkness is more satisfying than the world outside the dream."

Yu's thoughts were interrupted when Yurine spoke. "Yu, I feel something is ahead."

The cat ears on Yurine's head flickered as she continued to hug Yu's waist, and the girl looked in front of her, as if trying to see through the trees.

"I wonder if what she felt, did she feel with her ears or was it a magical sensation through her core? If she felt it with his ears, does that mean she heard it? Or did she feel it magically but reflexively moved her ears?"

He wondered how far Yurine could hear with her cat ears.

"I feel it too, something is happening in the village we are approaching."

When Kigaro's feelings confirmed Yurine's, Yu already regretted accepting the offer to look for the children. Right now he blamed himself for not being more insistent about not going there and wanted to turn around and get out of the forest.

But when he saw the flames glowing behind the trees ahead, it was impossible to convince Yurine and Kigaro to turn back and get out of danger. Kigaro sped up even more, the rinos struggling to keep up.

"Are you sure you don't need this sword?"

"It's too small for my hands, I couldn't use it even if I wanted to. Anyway, like you said, keep it. You can count it as the clothe you gave me."

"Okay."

Swords were more expensive than clothes and he profited from the exchange. He didn't know how to use the sword he had bought, but he was glad to have it because it looked cool.

Of course, if it was a magic sword that showed its rightful owner where it was or harmed its wielder, there would be problems, but he didn't have time to think about that right now.

"It's very bad... It's very bad..."

The fire was not the only problem of the village in flames, something else was going on there. A battle was going on there!

It was a battle between the roaron people, who had the appearance of lions, and the monsters that Yu did not expect, who looked like humans but were easily recognized as demon. And the roaron people were not doing well in the battle.

No demon corpses could be seen on the ground, but the corpses of roarons - men, women and children - littered the village. The sounds of roaring and laughter, screams, sobs... They were all very loud and ear-splitting even before they entered the village.

"CHILDREN!"

According to Kigaro, this was the village from which the children had fled.

It was the closest village to Kigaro's village and the children knew the way to it.

But since there was baattle not only in Kigaro's village but also here, the children had just run into another hell.

As they entered the village and were moving straight ahead, the devil suddenly appeared in front of them and was crushed by their wagon. Yu and Yurine's hips were momentarily lifted off their seats by the concussion caused by the demon under the wagon, and the sound of things falling to the ground came from inside.

Yu didn't even realize what had happened.

"This is hell."

His eyes were wide, his mouth agape. After what had happened in Sigma Tower, he would have thought he would be resistant to such sights, but what had happened in this village was even more horrible than what had happened in Sigma Tower.

In addition to the oppressive flames, the aura of the place was so dark that even Yu could see it, and it was poisonous to the soul. The screams froze his blood, the childish giggling and malicious laughter was not chilling, but maddening.

What was happening here was not a battle, just some monsters torturing the victims they found.

The Yu Valarfin of a few months ago would have been here thinking about himself and looking for a way to escape without looking back, but the Yu Valarfin of now quickly pulled himself together, checked on Yurine and commanded the rinos to speed up even more.

When they reached the center of the village, Kigaro let go of the straps and rushed forward to help the demi-lion fighting a demon in front of them.

The demon in the middle of the two roaros smiled wryly, seemingly amused.

"Go away!"

As the Roarons prepared to launch a simultaneous attack on each other, Yurine used her wind magic to attack the demon.

The whirlwind spun around and slammed into the demon, throwing it into the flames. The scene looked funny, but the atmosphere did not allow them to laugh, the two half-lions turned their bewildered gaze on Yurine.

"His eyes!"

"Forget about him! Where are the kids! Did they come here?!"

Kigaro grabbed Roaron by the shoulders and shook him. Roaron responded to Kigaro's question by averting his eyes.

"They're in the bunker."

Kigaro let go of the roaron he was holding and raised his hand and shouted. "This way!"

Then he raised his hand and signaled them to follow him. Yu drove the rinos, ignoring the inferno around him, even though it was impossible, and even then the animals obeyed him faithfully and moved.

Flames were everywhere. Trees, houses, the ground... Everything was on fire. Even the bodies of the fallen roarons were in flames, sinking in and out of the puddles of blood on the floor as the wagon moved forward.

They needed Yurine's magic to get through the flames. As the winds cut through the flames, Kigaro leapt at the two-and-a-half-meter deformed creature that suddenly appeared in front of them, bit its neck, and with the piece he tore from it, the creature melted into black pitch.

"Holy shit!"

Yu was following Kigaro's sudden maneuvers when he saw a fallen log in front of him. He had to make a sudden maneuver as going over it could topple the wagon, and in the meantime more items inside the wagon fell to the ground.

Their wagon almost overturned, but luckily he managed to get it back on the level. The cost was the loss of Kigaro.

"What the hell!"

They heard a noise over their carriage and realized that someone had fallen on the roof of the carriage. Yu looked up, but nothing could be seen because of the wooden plate. If Yurine hadn't pulled Yu with all her strength, the black sword that pierced the plate above them would have pierced Yu's head.

Yurine's reflexes saved Yu from death for a while, but now the sword had entered his left shoulder and it was burning as if it had been set on fire.

"Fuck! Ahh!"

His bones were shattered, flesh disintegrated as the sword left his shoulder, and blood gushed from Yu's shoulder in an abnormal way, as if from a hose. Yu's mind was filled with pain and when he used his right hand to move it to his left shoulder, the strap that controlled the rinos was released.

"Die!"

There was laughter coming from the top of the wagon. Yurine couldn't see the top because of the wooden plate, but it was clear that whoever was there had to die. So she raised her hand upwards and sent out a wind knife, hoping it would find its target.

The spell shattered the plate and moved towards the demon that should have been there, but finding no target to meet, it rose into the sky and disappeared.

"Yu! Yu!"

Yurine was casting a healing spell when black foam mixed with blood started coming out of Yu's mouth. The sword fairy was suddenly in tears.

"Yu! Yu! I apologize! You were right! Yu! I'll listen to you again! Yu! Please! Yu!"

Yu didn't even hear what Yurine said.