Translated: Sei, MTL-sensei-tachi
Edited: Sei, Grammarly no Danna
Source: Syosetu

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Chapter 267


　We entered the underground, where demon soldiers were swarming.
　Moving with an invincible enemy sensor named Amako in the lead, we surprisingly made our way without encountering any enemies.
　The world she sees is ahead of ours.

"Suzune, stop."
"Suzune, they're going to come around the corner"
"Suzune, don't talk."
"Suzune, don't try to touch my ears."

　Is this what they mean when they say there are no openings?
　Before I could even think about it, Amako spoke it out loud.

"Amako, I'm not going to touch your ears...?"
"No, Suzune suddenly reached for my ear without warning. You probably weren't thinking anything of it. That's the look on your face."

　As Amako said, I didn't think anything of it.
　Because there are animal ears there...!
　...Jokes aside, I can sense that the presence of enemies on this floor has been fading for a while now.

"Amako, it's clear that the number of soldiers has decreased, right?"
"Mm. Looks like the patrol has gone upstairs too."
"So, Kazuki-kun... I wonder if he's okay?"

　...Let's believe in him.
　It's too late to turn back now, and things are certainly moving forward.
　Just a moment ago, there was the sound of some kind of fighting echoing downstairs... Could it be that Usato and Leona are already fighting below?

"Do you think that was the fighting noise just now, Usato?"
"At first I thought it was the sound of two big monsters fighting, but... then I thought it wouldn't be so strange if it was Usato."
"I have no proof..."
"I think he was fighting Koga. Usato was fighting him because he had no choice, but then he started to fall into Koga's pace and they really went at each other."

　It's as if she had seen the whole scene.
　Is it easy for Amako, who has the overwhelming advantage of being on a journey to deliver the letter, to read Usato's movements?

"Kuh..."
"I don't know why you're so frustrated, but... wait."

　As we proceeded down the passageway, Amako called out to stop us.
　Quickly, I take a stance while placing my hand on the hilt of my sword.
　Amaco looks ahead down the passage for a few seconds, concentrating on her foresight, and then looks up at me.

"I think ... we can go down like this"
"Are you sure?"
"The soldiers just kept going up without looking back, so it's fine."

　Then let's go downstairs while we still can.
　While descending the stairs, we hurry ahead as much as possible.

"If Usato-kun and Leona-san are already below, then they have either reached the Demon King's location or are being held up by Koga and Amira..."
"If that's the case, we need to hurry up."

　I nodded to Amako's words.
　Now that we have conserved our strength, we should hurry ahead even if we encounter some enemies here.
　If Usato-kun had reached the Demon King first, I was worried that he might be pushing himself too hard.

●
——— seireitranslations.blogspot.com ———

　———From then on, Hisago-san's situation could be summed up in one word: the worst.
　Thrown into a land where he didn't know his left from his right, what awaited him was magic training that could be described as brutal.
　He was treated like a puppet who had only been given the formal honor of being a hero, and was simply beaten down.
　After being verbally instructed on how to use magic power, the time passed with magic simply being slammed into him.

『——Don't get too cocky, you outsider』

　With those words spat out, he collapses to the ground, with no one to help him.
　What I saw was only a small part of the violence he is subjected to.
　But even so, I can understand that this is not right.

『To think you can't even use magic properly.』

　They haven't even taught Hisago-san how to use magic.

"Why aren't you of any use? If you're not of any use, you have no value!!"

　Although they summoned him to another world without question, he was subjected to heartless abuse.
　What did he do?
　Wasn't he summoned to this world to be the savior?
　And then they treat him like a convenient punching bag, then just spit on him and leave him out in the cold?
　It's just too unreasonable.

"———What is this...!?"
"U-Usato...?"

　I look at the Demon King with angry eyes.
　The man himself has a faint smile on his face, as if he's enjoying my reaction.

"This isn't training! It's just torture!"
""...""

　Nea and Ferm turned their faces away, as if they felt the same way as me.
　Ahh, there's no way this should be considered training.

"In the first place, the very existence of a hero was doubtful to the soldiers, wasn't it? If that's how higher-ups are, it's only natural that those who serve them are of the same standard."
"Why isn't this person resisting?"

　If you are treated that badly, you must be angry.
　At least I was angry.
　I was so angry that I even thought, "I'm going to do what I can, you bast*rd!"
　The Demon King leaned his elbows on his throne in response to my question.

"He's not dissatisfied with his current situation at all."
"...Hah?"
"I don't think he'd even care about it."

　Even though he's being treated like that?
　Is it because he has accepted the status quo that he doesn't resist or complain?
　Is there no rebellious spirit, or even anger, there?

『———』
"Usato, this person is still trying to move..."
"...!?"

　Then, the vision of Hisago from the past begins to move.
　Battered by a sword and covered in wounds from magic, he stood up, gripped the blood-soaked handle, and began to swing.

"He's a soldier."
"......?"
"In the world before he was summoned, he devoted himself to war as a soldier and was defeated, and was supposed to end up as a defeated soldier who was tortured to death by his enemies, but somehow he came to this world through the summoning of heroes."

　Hisago-san just continues to swing his sword single-mindedly.
　We can roughly guess what era he lived in, but is his understanding different from ours?

"He no longer has a master to protect, nor a family. With nothing left of him, he is trying to repay the favour to the Kingdom of Heigar, which by chance saved him from the brink of death."
"...Repay the favour..."
"You don't understand, do you? I couldn't believe my ears when he told me this story."

　The Demon King laughed happily.
　He wanted to repay the favor because his life was saved.
　In a way, that was an understandable reason, but I didn't understand why he was so determined to stick to it even in that situation.

"And I was intrigued."

　The Demon King twirls his finger.
　Then the surrounding scenery moves around in a flurry, and is fixed on a single scene.
　It is a swarm of jet-black magic beasts running so fast that they cover the ground.
　The monsters attack, and people who appear to be Heigar's knights are attacked and killed.

"I had no intention of doing so, but I sent these magic beasts that I had created with magic into the territory of the Kingdom of Heigar to see the hero's strength."
"...!"
"Naturally, the panicked king of Heigar attempted to counterattack, but the military power of a country that cannot even be taken seriously by other countries is simply not up to the task. Left with nothing to do, and realizing that his country was about to be destroyed, what did the king do?"
"... He sent Hisago-san out?"
"You're half right."

　Half...?
　I tilted my head and Hisago-san appeared.
　Behind him were people dressed in extremely soot-stained clothes —— no, these people...

"Beast, folk."

　Countless beastfolk, two hundred in number, were being sent forward by the knights with shackles on their hands.
　They were clutching crude swords with nicked blades, but their emaciated bodies made it difficult for them to wield them properly, as they were too weak.

"The Heigar Kingdom decided to use the beastfolk they were keeping as slaves to feed the magical beasts, and buy themselves some time."
"———!"

　Suppressing my inner anger, I slam my fist down on the table.
　The table, made of marble or something, shatters in half and falls to the floor.
　I can't forgive the Heigar Kingdom for nonchalantly using the beastfolk as a decoy.
　I can't forgive the Demon King for giving them a reason to do so.
　But getting angry here and now will not change the past.

"Usato, calm down."
"Yeah, I know..."

　Ciel-san was unable to stand up.
　Feeling a little sorry, I sat down in my chair and straightened my collar.
　I am glad that Amako is not here.
　While I am calming my anger, the scenery begins to move.
　A swarm of black magic beasts covered the land, weapon-wielding beastfolks were thrown in front of them, and Hisago-san.

『You beastfolks』

　He turned his eyes to the beastfolks and silently swung his sword, cutting through the iron shackles.
　Without turning around to look at the beastfolks who stared in shock as the shackles fell to the ground with a thud, he made the same light magic as Kazuki's emerge from his palm.

『Run!』

　With that one word, the beastfolks were freed and ran away.
　The magic beast was about to attack them, but right before that happened, a ray of light was fired from Hisago and pierced the beast.

『Your opponent is me...!』

　Like a stream of muddy water, the magical beasts attacked Hisago-san in numbers.
　However, even with such a large number of beasts in front of him, he does not stop, but rather uses his sword and magic in both hands to cut down the beasts.
　Even though he should not have received proper training in magic.
　It should have been his first time even fighting magic beasts, but he easily cut them down and turned them into corpses.
　When the rays of light he shoots are cleaved off, the bodies of the magic beasts in the line of fire are cut in two.
　This is not Kazuki's use of light magic to suppress damage as much as possible, but only to destroy his opponents.
　As he continued to fight with overwhelming strength, there were no more enemies in front of him, only the corpses of the magic beasts lying there.

『———』

　But even so, he continued to search for the enemy.
　As if to say he wasn't done yet, he didn't let go of the hilt of his half-broken sword, and walked unsteadily across the battlefield, covered in the blood of the monsters.
　While I was wondering what it was that made him do this, and his actions which now seemed almost like an obsession, a small hand grabbed hold of his clothes.
　He turned around and saw a beastfolk child standing there.

"It's already... over...?"

　Messy, dirty blonde hair.
　We all shared looks of surprise when we saw the fox-like ears and tail that had grown from her.

"Amako...?!"
"Why, that child...?!"

　A beastfolk girl of about 10 years old looked up at Hisago with lifeless eyes.
　Hearing her voice, Hisago-san finally regained his senses, dropped the sword he was holding to the ground and spoke in a hoarse voice.

『Hinagi...!?』
『...?』
『No, that's not her. Who are you?』

　Exhausted, Hisago-san sits down on the ground, and the girl who resembles Amako reveals that she doesn't have a name.

"Where are the others?"
"They all ran away."
"I see. Then why are you here?"
"This was the safest place, so I stayed."

　Her words sounded so confident, as if she knew it was coming.
　Understanding that it was not a lie and that she meant what she said, Hisago-san let out a loud sigh.

『Do you have any place you want to go?』
『No, I don't think so』
『What a coincidence. Just like me...』

　He puts his hands over his eyes to hide them.

『I've lost my lord, whom I was meant to protect, and my wife and children, whom I swore to cherish above all else, are gone too. Why won't they let me die?』

　It was a human emotion that Hisago-san was finally showing.
　Seeing him like that, the girl was also stunned, not knowing what to do, when she saw the knights of the Kingdom of Heigar coming to the battlefield where they were.

『What are you going to do now?』
『I can't run away now, and I think I'll be back to being a slave again.』
『... Ah, sh*t, I guess they won't abandon me now that I've come to this point...』

　Scratching his head, he stands up and faces the girl.

『Are you coming with me?』
『...Is that okay?』
『Yeah... You didn't have a name, did you?』
『Mm...』

　As the girl's eyes widened, Hisago-san folded his arms as if he was thinking hard.
　After a good ten seconds or so, he turned his gaze back to the girl.

『Your name is Nagi... Kannagi.』
『Kan, Nagi?』

　So this girl was Nagi-san...?
　She looked so similar to Amako that I didn't even notice.
　Come to think of it, they have the same bloodline, so it's not surprising that they look alike...!

『You don't like it?』
『No, from today onwards I'm Kannagi.』

　The child Nagi-san mutters her own name over and over again as if ruminating.
　Or rather, I had seen the past Nagi-san without her knowledge, but is this okay?

"This is the encounter between Hisago and the Kannagi you know. Hisago saw in Kannagi the image of his dead daughter, while Kannagi found her identity in the name she had acquired."
"..."
"But in this battle, Hisago showed many people his power as a hero. The people of Hegar, and even me at the time."

　Show his strength as a hero.
　That probably wasn't a good thing, considering the conflict between nations that took place at the time.
　Above all, the one who summoned Hisago was the Heigar Kingdom, which is trying to use him in their conflict with other humans, so there is no way they could overlook a man who is capable of taking on large numbers of magic beasts by himself.

"Don't tell me that Hisago will be used as a tool of war———"
"Well, about that. Interestingly enough, he was banished."
"...Hah? Banished?"

　The Demon King chuckled, and not only I, but Nea and Ferrum too looked confused.

"Heigar finally realized what kind of being they had summoned and was frightened."
"...No, I don't understand."
"A force worthy of a hundred men, that is the kind of hero Heigar had hoped for. However, Hisago had achieved an extraordinary feat of single-handedly destroying not a hundred, but ten thousand of magic beasts. And the king realized ——— that if Hisago wanted to, he could easily destroy the kingdom of Heigar."
"That's ridiculous..."
"They seemed aware that they had oppressed Hisago the hero. It was indeed an amusing sideshow. Seeing them fear retribution from a being whose power was beyond their own."

　Hisago was an unparalleled presence, with the strength of a hundred men and even more than a thousand warriors.
　I don't know if he acquired that much strength by acquiring magic or if he originally possessed that much power, but I never thought he would be feared because of his excessive strength...

"In other words, the king of Hegar did not know him and gave up on even confronting him. As a result, he gave up the fighting force that was Hisago and set themselves on the path to ruin."

　I couldn't help but hold my head in my hands.
　If he was going to do something so irresponsible, he shouldn't have summoned the hero...

"First of all, Hisago is different from the two heroes you know."
"That's... obvious, isn't it?"

　Despite their similar processes, the surrounding environment is too completely different.

"You all have the foundation of Hisago's heroic deeds, but he had nothing. He has no anecdotes to his name as a hero, and no reason to be praised."

　Senpai and Kazuki's position was also established because the previous hero, Hisago-san, had accomplished the feat of sealing the Demon King.
　I see. If that's the case, Hisago-san was only recognized as a hero after he sealed the Demon King, so up until then he was...

"The people of his time were interesting. I mean that in a bad way for you guys, though."

　The Demon King said this repeatedly, and with a look of genuine amusement on his face, he turned his gaze towards Hisago-san and Nagi-san.

——— seireitranslations.blogspot.com ———

Author's Notes:
When she was a little girl, Kannagi looked just like Amako.
However, their growth rates seem to be completely different.