A full moon hung in the night sky, its beams gently illuminating the surface of the earth.
“Gyurururu…”
“There there, Kyanos. It’s time to polish your scales.”
In a monster stable attached to a certain inn, one of Yuu’s companions – a Tamer1 named Faupan – gently caressed his dragon, Kyanos.
As he brushed Kyanos’s scales, Faupan thought about how Yuu, whom he admired like an older brother, had shut himself in his room. Absentminded, the boy scrubbed the dragon’s scales harder than usual.
“Kyuu! Kyururu!”
“Ah! S-sorry, Kyanos. I was thinking about some stuff…”
The scrubbing must have been uncomfortable, as Kyanos had cried out in protest, or maybe in pain.
Faunpan quickly apologized and began carefully wiping down the dragon’s scales with a cloth, and then his ears twitched, having caught a sound.
“Oh, that you, kiddo? You’re still awake?”
Someone appeared in the stable doorway — the party’s Warrior, Owen Lowpast. He was a towering man with short, sharply-cropped hair, carrying a greatsword as long as he was tall and clad in armor made of magical beast material.
“…Oh, that you, old man? I thought it was someone suspicious.”
“Nice try; I’m sure you already knew it was me, by my footsteps. You got beastman blood in you, after all.”
“Yeah, sure, maybe. So what were you doing, old man?”
“Hm? Obviously the same things I always do: drink and share drinks with cute girls, of course.”
“…Nice try, but I can tell you haven’t been drinking.”
“…You serious? How’d you know?”
“I don’t smell any alcohol on you. I got a good nose on me, after all.”
Faupan rubbed his nose, chuckling as his beastly ears swayed to and fro. He had a habit of doing so, but today, it seemed a ltitle forced.
“You got me, kiddo; I usually drink enough to bathe in, but I’m just not in the mood…. Is our little lord still up in his room?”
“Yeah, he is. Chris has been trying to get through to him, but he’s not responding. I think May went up just now, too. But me… I can’t do anything for him, so I’ve just been here, with Kyanos…”
“That so? Well, it’s the same for me. I’ve been everywhere now, trying to find something to do, but I just don’t feel like doing anything. And when I got back, I thought you might be here, so I came over.”
Owen plopped himself down beside Faupan.
Neither said a word for a time; the only sound came from Kyanos the dragon, who mewled in contentment as Faupan continued to scratch him.
“So about big brother…”
“Uh-huh…”
Faupan suddely spoke up.
“I asked about that Foil guy once, and big brother, he had this… weird look on his face, but he was really happy that I asked. And May, well, she looked a little upset at first, but then it was like she started to soften up, and she had this faraway look in her eyes, like she was remembering something.”
Faupan had wanted to know about the friend that had been in their lives.
And when he did ask, thetwo had given him that reaction. In the end, Faupan had not learned what had happened between them, nor what led to them parting ways.
Even now, he did not know what kind of person this Foil was.
But he did come away from the exchange knowing the emotion behind the relationship.
That emotion was affection — a very deep, close-knit affection.
“Is that so… Hey, kiddo?”
“What?”
“Have you ever had any regrets? Like, regrets about your Job or your Title?”
“…No. Because I know if it weren’t for my Tamer Job, I wouldn’t be here, with Kyanos, and around humans.”
“Kyururu ♪”
Kyanos mewled happily, leaning forward to better feel Faupan’s hand.
Owen nodded.
“True enough. Most people are like that, living their lives following their Job. Nobody ever really questions it. Do you know why?”
“Nope, no idea.”
“See, here’s what I think. Having a Job means your life has a set path for you to follow, and it’s comfortable to follow, especially compared to thinking about an uncertain future. Really, why not just follow the path the Goddess has set out for you? Means everything would turn out just fine, right? But see, the thing is, life doesn’t work out that easy, ’cause people still make mistakes or they still fail. On the other hand, Jobs — Jobs can’t ‘make’ mistakes, and it’ll always be there to support you. And it’s the same for me, too; I don’t regret becoming a Warrior — I’ve become strong and I never doubted I was a Warrior; when I slew a dragon and became a Dragon Slayer, I didn’t doubt that, either.”
A Title was basically something that could be added to a Job after the fact.
The exceptions to this were for the Hero and Saint Jobs, as well as for those blessed with talent to begin with, like May and Mary.
“So I don’t know what to think about the guy named Foil Austin — I couldn’t tell you what he was thinking or what he believed in, calling himself the Hero. But you know what I do know? At the very end, in his final moments, he entrusted the Holy Sword to our leader.”
Owen remembered it clearly, that final moment, the very reason why Yuu had holed himself up in his own room.
If it had been possible, Owen had wanted them to come to a peaceful resolutioni, not an ending like that. But unfortunately, there was nothing any of them could do now.
“And, for the first time, I started thinking — thinking about the world and how unfair it could be…”
Owen spoke in a voice that sounded like he was trying to hold himself back.
In the back of his mind, Owen was thinking of his compaion, Yuu, who was like a younger brother to him.
◇
He was tormented by a regret that washed over him, again and again.
Endless waves of different feelings — powerlessness, remorse, sorrow, emptiness, despair, grief, melancholy.
Every kind of negative emotion surged through his heart in turn, like suffocating mud.
It was under these conditions that Yuu had shut himself in his room, ever since that day.
A knock came at the door.
“Yuu, I have brought you dinner from the inn. Would you like to eat?”
Outside the room, Christina, holding a tray with soft, white bread and clean water, spoke in a worried tone.
No response came from past the door.
“Please, Yuu, if you could at least drink some water…”
Still, there was no sound — of neither movement or reply.
“…Please pardon my intrusion.”
Christina seemed to have resolved herself, and she pressed her hand against the door.
The door was not locked; had Yuu been careless, or had he not even the room in his thoughts to consider doing so?
Christina believed it to be the latter.
Either way, she carefully opened the door and crept inside.
Yuu simply sat there, motionless.
The room showed no signs of Yuu having lashed out — rather, the young man was quietly sitting at the edge of his bed. But it was as though he were carved from wood, so motionless, lifeless, that he was.
And he was wasting away…
…but still alive.
Christina felt some relief from that fact; she had become deeply worried, having imagined the worst-case scenario.
As she looked around, she found the Holy Sword, the symbol of the hero, unceremoniously left on the ground, as though it had been discarded.
For a moment, her thoughts turned to correcting the disrespect shown to such a gift from the Goddess — as a Priest, the right thing for Christina to do was to admonish Yuu for his irreverence.
But that wasn’t important. Right now, worrying over Yuu took precedence above all.
Christina took a deep, careful breath.
“I’m sorry but I have some bad news, Yuu. After what happened, I sent a request for the Church to begin a full search of the area, but they were unable to find any sign of the Fa– ah, my apologies, I misspoke. Ahem, that is, any sign of Foil Austin… Furthermore, after having found nothing, the Church has informed me they would be suspending the search. But let me say this: even as we stay here, the Demon King’s Army continues to hurt people. We need you, Yuu; we need the hero. So please, can you find it in you to continue your journey? To save the people from the Demon King’s Army..?”
“Needing… the hero..? Heh. Hah, hahaha…”
He gave a dry laugh, devoid of emotion.
It was a self-deprecating jeer, one that did not befit a hero that should have been carrying himself with confidence.
Yuu turned his head, to stare at Christina.
And the moment she beheld his face, Christina staggered backward.
The soft, gentle face she knew was nowhere to be found.
His eyes, usually bright with an amber glow, were lifeless and lethargic, devoid of their usual color.
“What even is a Hero? They’re supposed to be someone who protects people. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, the Hero is the light of hope, shining the way to peace with the Holy Sword–“
“Then why did I have to kill him?!”
An agonized wail, from the very depths of his soul, crashed into Christina, whom had never before heard Yuu so anguished.
“He said the same thing, that I was the light. But that can’t be true. I killed my precious childhood friend… to become the hero. If I knew that was going to happen… I never… never should have..!”
Yuu rose to his feet and staggered toward Christina; he grabbed her by the shoulders in his grief, before falling to his knees.
He choked up before finishing his sentence, breaking down with tears and mournful sobs.
He may have been the Hero, but he was also still just a child — a child in the throes of grief.
Christina was flustered and confused, having no idea what to do.
“…I knew this was going to happen.”
“Huh, oh, May.”
It was only now that Christina noticed May. She stared down at Yuu with eyes full of concern, but she scolded him nonetheless.
“Yuu, please don’t attack Chris like that. She’s just a Priest; she’s doing the best she can, with what the Goddess has told her. She doesn’t know how you feel, but she’s not denying what you feel, either. You can’t take everything out on her like this.”
“…”
Hearing May’s words, Yuu weakly let go of Christina’s shoulders.
“Um, May?”
“I’m sorry for all of this, Chris. Could you just leave us alone for a little while?”
“…Of course. I understand.”
Christina hesitated for a moment, turning to look at Yuu, who had returned to sitting on the bed with his head hanging down. After a moment, Christina left the room with a sad look on her face, quietly closing the door behind her.
With the light of the hallway now covered, the only light in the room were the pale moon beams coming through the window.
May quietly took a seat on the bed beside Yuu, saying nothing as she waited for him to speak.
“I… didn’t actually understand a thing about Foil, at all.”
After a long moment, Yuu finally whispered.
Regret, sorrow, despair, loss — negative emotions swelled in his chest as he put voice to his thoughts.
But May quickly denied it.
“That isn’t true at all. There isn’t anyone I know that got along as well as you two did with each other. And you two were always closest to one another back home, remember?”
“Yeah. And I thought that, too. But I’m not so sure anymore. Because… the whole time, until Foil said it himself, I hadn’t thought about what he might’ve really meant… The whole time, I thought he really had changed, even though he really hadn’t… He really hadn’t… And I hadn’t believed in him…”
Why hadn’t he been able to believe in Foil?
It wasn’t just anyone, either; he should have been able to figure it out himself.
What gripped his heart in a suffocating vise… was that guilt.
They were friends; they were best friends; they were childhood friends. He should have known Foil’s true feelings.
“He was always there for me…”
“Hey, Yuu, what’re you doing, spacing out like that? Hurry it up, let’s get going!”
“He was always there to give me courage…”
“Hey, c’mon now, everyone fails, y’know? So don’t worry about it, Yuu. Focus on yourself, and improve at your own pace!”
“He was always… there to help me… no matter when it was…”
“Wow, that was pretty pathetic. But I know you tried your best, so just leave the rest to me, Yuu.”
“He was always… always… there for me…”
“What the, crying again? What for? C’mon Yuu, you’re such a crybaby!”
Tears flowed, dripping, falling, one by one.
“So why… why did things have to turn out this way..?”
It came out in a soft, fragile little whisper.
“Maybe, if I wasn’t this True Hero, then maybe we could’ve…; maybe we could’ve stayed together, forever, like we did back home. And Foil, he… he did all that because of me. So it’s all my fault. It’s all because I wanted to become the hero that all of this happened. If only I had just stayed a Nameless; then Foil would still be alive… I just wanted the three of us to be together, that’ sall. But now, I… with my own hands, killed–“
“Yuu.”
Hearing his own named called, Yuu suddenly stopped, only for May to take him into her arms in an embrace.
The soft, warm feeling of another person’s body held him tight.
“M-May..?”
“Really, you and Fie… neither of you had ever changed. Both of you always try and shoulder everything without ever relying on anyone else. Fie was always stubbornly trying to solve everything on your own, and you always blame yourself for everything.”
“…That’s not true at all.”
“Yes, it is. It is absolutely true. I know this for a fact.”
Mei quietly, solemnly mumbled.
She began gently stroking Yuu’s head.
“Ever since we were kids, the two of you would always go off on your own, only to come back all beat up and hurt. I always told you two to not be so reckless, but you guys never listened. Eventually I stopped trying to stop you guys from being reckless, but I kept watching, always. And you know, you can’t imagine how worried you guys always made me.”
“I guess so… Whenever we came back with injuries, you were always there to help us…”
“Of course I was. And I bet you can’t even begin to imagine how worried I was, every time.”
“Urgh… S-sorry… All I ever did was cause everyone trouble,” Yuu apologized after hearing her words.
Mei gave Yuu’s head another gentle stroke.
“Yuu, did I tell you, I was talking to Fie that day, before, and after, he had you leave the party?”
“Huh?”
“He was still acting the same way he always did, and… After that, when I heard he made you leave, I was too angry to have known, but now, after everything that’s happened, I think I finally understand why he…”
She had found him in his room then, but he seemed to be distracted, lost in thought.
And afterward, before they parted ways, he had whispered “Please take care of him” while making a face like he wanted to cry.
If only… If only she had stopped him, asked him why he said that, why he looked like that.
“You said you didn’t understand him, but the same goes for me; I didn’t understand him either, not until the very end. So don’t… don’t blame yourself for everything, don’t just cry alone, keeping it to yourself… don’t just cry… on your own…”
Something warm and wet dropped onto his cheek, causing him to look up.
May was also crying.
Warm, clear drops ran down her eyes, and yet she still smiled, trying to cheer Yuu up.
Yuu blamed himself once more.
All this time, he had thought he was the one suffering the most… but that had not been the case at all.
After all, all of this was just as hard on May as it had been on him.
“I’m sorry…! May, I’m so sorry..! And Foil.. Foil, I… I…!”
“Oh you really haven’t changed at all, Yuu, always crying so easily… But today, just for today… It’s fine for me to cry too, right..? (sniffle)”
“U, a, aaahhh… Uwaaaahhhhhhhh…!”
“(hic, hic) Waaahh, uwaahh! (sniffle) Fie… Fie..!”
The two of them cried together, stifling their voices as best they could.
Right now, they were not the True Hero and the Great Magician; no, they were simply children mourning the loss of their precious childhood friend…
“…You know, your eyes sure are red, May.”
“Yours are too, Yuu. Oh no, they’re going to be all swollen tomorrow… Mister Owen will probably tease me for it…”
“He’ll probably tease me, too…”
They forced themselves to smile.
The atmosphere in the room had changed; they were still forcing themselves to be cheerful, but there was now a warmness that teased their smiles back.
Even so, the sadness was not completely gone, though he was able to shed some of it. Though, even now, a festering pain seemed to gnaw at him, deep in his chest.
And Yuu knew that this pain his his eart would never truly go away, for the rest of his life.
“Hey, May?”
“What is it?”
“I will defeat the Demon King and his army.”
“Of course you will.”
“Because that’s the only way I can make up for what I’ve done.”
“…Right.”
Why, at the end, was Foil smiling? Yuu still did not know, but even so, with the feelings his precious childhood friend had entrusted to him, he had found the resolve to continue moving forward.
Yuu reached over to pick up the Holy Sword he had left on the floor. He held it aloft, watched how the blade reflected the pale moonlight, how it seemed to twinkle with a solemn, sorrowful gleam.
And thus the True Hero was born.
He had claimed the Holy Sword and with it, would defeat the Demon King that threatened the world.
But the thoughts this True Hero carried in him, in the innermost depths of the heart of the one said to save the world… were his thoughts – his intentions – truly pure?
Nobody could know.
And right now, the only light was the sorrowful moon beams coming through the gaps in the closed window.
- 魔獣使い (magical beast user) read as テイマー (Tamer) ↩︎
Headcanon TL 
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