Chapter 85 Koichi
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
(Koichi’s POV)
I really don’t like my little brother, Hiroya.
Before school, he was always running around and full of energy, but he never stood up for himself or did anything to show he was his own person.
But after the start of third grade, he came back acting like a totally different person. When I teased him like usual, he actually talked back!
He even said, “I’m going to get better at sword fighting!” and he really did get a lot better, which annoyed me.
Then, the ‘haunted house’ incident happened.
Hiroya was hanging out with 2 pretty girls, Kazumi, the daughter of Knight Lord Müller, and Rena, the daughter of the famous doctor Mister Rudolf. They teamed up to fight a group of ten goblins, including a high goblin, and saved a girl named Martina who had been kidnapped.
Everyone in the village recognized their skills. Our dad was really mad that they went out alone and scolded them, but I think he was secretly proud of what they did.
I think that’s when I started feeling jealous of him.
It bugged me that all the cute girls wanted to be around him.
The moment I felt totally defeated was on the night of the ‘Dragon God Festival.’ That was the day of the ‘Dungeon Burst.’
I found 2 goblins wandering near our house and thought I could impress everyone by taking them down. I sneaked off to chase them without telling the soldiers or Mom. I thought I could handle 2 goblins, but I was wrong. There were actually 4!
I managed to take down 3 of them, but then I got cornered by the last one and thought I was going to die.
Just then, Hiroya showed up and saved me. He yelled at me pretty loudly, probably because he was worried. It was the first time my little brother had ever scolded me, and it really hurt my pride.
But that wasn’t the worst part. After that, an ogre appeared in front of us.
I was so scared I couldn’t move at all. Hiroya looked a little scared too, but he charged at the ogre with just a wooden sword.
In the end, our mom came and defeated the ogre, but I realized I couldn’t even stand up to it like Hiroya did. I felt like I had lost to him.
From that day on, I trained hard every day.
”I want to catch up to Hiroya.”
That was all I could think about.
Then, at the end of summer vacation, I saw him do that ‘log cutting’ thing.
Hiroya had gotten a short sword from Knight Müller, his teacher, and was practicing in the yard.
It happened so fast. I saw a flash of light from his left side, and suddenly the log he had stuck in the ground was cut in half. The cut was so clean and beautiful.
”Why is he so much better than me?”
That was the moment I felt real anger.
But there was a reason he was so good. Hiroya wasn’t just lucky.
I knew he had been training with Kazumi, Rena, and their adventurer friends every morning during summer vacation.
I thought, “They’re just having fun.”
I didn’t believe that just playing around could make someone good enough to cut a log.
(I thought he must have something special that I didn’t.)
Summer vacation ended, and on the first night back to school, I noticed something different.
Before, I never paid attention to when Hiroya disappeared after dinner. He was either taking a bath or studying.
But this time, it was different.
One night, I looked out the window before bed and saw him running around the house.
I got curious and started watching him every day…
After dinner, he would do basic training until late at night.
In the mornings, he practiced sword fighting before the sun came up.
…He had been doing this kind of training since he started sword fighting.
I found out from Dad and it hit me.
Hiroya had pulled ahead of me because of his hard work.
That day, I told Dad,
”I want to find a sword fighting style that suits me.”
And that’s how I ended up choosing ‘2-handed sword fighting.’ Hiroya had gotten me a new long sword made of a special metal from the capital, and it felt light and comfortable to hold. Even though 2-handed sword fighting can be slow, this sword let me move quickly and use fast techniques.
Feeling confident, I decided to take a break from school, gather some friends, register as adventurers, and form a party.
(Hiroya was in charge of “Conquering the Dungeon,” so I wanted to help him out as much as I could.)
That’s what I decided.
We kept fighting goblins around the forest, and my friends and I, who started as rank E adventurers, moved up to rank D.
Individually, we were just beginners, but we were really good at working together.
Our dad and the guild master recognized that, so they let us aim for the center of the forest.
Then, during our 4th attempt to reach the center of the forest, we were exploring an area where we were told we might run into dangerous monsters like trolls when our friend, the female swordsman Aelia, suddenly disappeared…
Aelia had been with me since we were 7. I wasn’t great with girls, but Aelia was so lively and strong that I didn’t feel awkward around her.
While most girls focused on magic, she chose to train in sword fighting with me.
When I registered as an adventurer and looked for party members, she was the first to join.
So, when this important friend ran into 2 ogres and got separated while fighting, I started looking for her while continuing to explore the center of the forest.
While we were searching, our magician friend received a ‘Telepathy’ message from Rena, who was with Hiroya’s party.
We rushed over and found Rena helping Marty, who looked hurt, near what seemed to be the dungeon entrance.
”Hiroya and Dorothy went inside. It’s been about 2 hours, and they still haven’t come out. They’re probably fighting Otto.”
Rena and Marty told me about all the bad things Otto had done. They thought Aelia might also be captured by him.
Rena used her healing magic to stop Marty’s bleeding and close his wounds, but he couldn’t get up. So, I left him with my party and went into the dungeon with Rena.
After going a bit further, we found a pair of big doors. We carefully checked them before opening, and inside, we saw a half-n*ked elf holding a collapsed Hiroya in her lap.
”Mr. Hiroya… He collapsed because of that power…”
Hearing the elf, Rena rushed over to Hiroya and used her healing magic on him.
I looked around the room and saw 2 women lying on the floor.
According to the elf, they were just sleeping. It seemed Hiroya had defeated Otto, and the elf had taken down Otto’s magician friend.
The bodies had been teleported away by someone claiming to be the dungeon master.
There were definitely 2 big pools of blood, which looked pretty serious.
I quickly ran over to the two women.
One was a thief I had seen a few times at the guild. She was part of a party from the capital.
The other one was…
”Aelia…”
I felt relieved and called her name without thinking.
Aelia slowly opened her eyes, as if she heard my voice.
”…Ko…ichi? …Koichi!”
She hugged me tightly, crying.
”Are… are you hurt?”
I was confused by Aelia’s sudden tears, but I finally managed to ask. She shook her head repeatedly.
I took Aelia with me and walked over to Hiroya.
”…Koichi… you’re amazing, you made it to the dungeon…”
”Hiroya, are you okay?”
”…I’m just really sore all over. Thanks to Rena’s healing, I’ll be able to move soon.”
Hiroya still had that cheeky smile on his face.
”…Thanks to you, I saved my important friend. I really appreciate it.”
As I said that, Aelia bowed her head in gratitude.
”Well… I just made Otto pay for his bad deeds.”
Hiroya laughed while resting on the elf’s lap.
”…Let’s head back. If you don’t wake up soon, I’ll tell Kazumi that you were enjoying a pretty elf’s lap pillow.”
Sometimes, I want to be a bit better than him, so I say things like that.
”…Kazumi already knows.”
He said that with another cheeky smile.
I really can’t stand my little brother, Hiroya.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply