CH 104

Chapter 104 – Clearing the Cemetery

Good grief, I never thought that even Akama Cemetery would get turned into a dungeon.

Although there was always the possibility of something like this occurring, after actually seeing it happening before my eyes, I decided that I couldn’t just leave things be.

After all, this was the place where my parents were buried. It would be a problem if their graves were destroyed.

With this in mind, I hurriedly flew the [Jet Book] towards the cemetery.

I retrieved the [Search Paper] above the cemetery and looked down below. There, I found a few people in the graveyard, cowering with monsters surrounding them.

“―Ior?!” (Yofel)

From the sky, Yofel could confirm Ior’s figure. It seemed that he was squaring off against a medium-sized monster all by himself. It was far too reckless.

Seeing this scene, Yofel jumped down from the [Jet Book]. In the midst of falling, she launched an arrow and successfully hit her target, showing off her prowess with the bow.

I took Sol and Shiki with me and decided to wipe out all the monsters on the other side of them.

Taking [Sakuranami-hime] in my hand, I dropped down and used the momentum of the fall to pierce through the head of a monster.

After relaying instructions to Sol and Shiki, I decided to leave the rest to them. But at that moment…

“―Birdie-oniichaaaan!”

…I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

No way, that voice couldn’t be… I thought to myself as I slowly turned around. There, I saw a little kid running towards me. She leaped straight into my arms and looked up at me with a satisfied smile.

“M-Ma-chan…?” (Bouchi)

“….Bouchi-kun…” (Koine)

….Seriously…? What are you doing here… Totoki?

Then, Totoki slowly began to approach me, her speed gradually picking up along the way. As I stood there frozen in place, she ran towards me, and without even slowing down, embraced me.

“H-Hey, what are you…?!” (Bouchi)

“I was… so scared…” Totoki blubbered between sobs. I was about to try and tear her off of me, but I lowered my hand with a sigh.

“……You’re wailing into my ear, you know…?” (Bouchi)

That was all I said, unable to do anything else until she stopped crying.

When I looked over, I saw that Yofel was tightly embracing Ior, shedding tears of joy. It seemed that she had managed to safely reunite with her little brother.

There was a woman whom I wasn’t familiar with standing there, but she looked somewhat like Totoki. Perhaps they were related. But she did look a bit too young to be her mother.

Then, that woman approached me and spoke.

“Are you Bouchi-kun, by any chance?” she asked.

“…That’d be me.” (Bouchi)

In response to my blunt reply, the woman gave a bitter smile, then turned her gaze to Totoki.

“Come on, Koine. And Mahina, it’s about time for you to let go too. You’re troubling Bouchi-kun.”

“No! Ma-chan wants to stay like this!” (Mahina)

But Mahina didn’t seem to want to listen.

“Oh come on, Mahina… Sorry about this, Bouchi-kun.” (Aika)

“….It’s fine. By the way, who are you?” (Bouchi)

“Ah, I haven’t introduced myself yet, huh? I’m their older sister, Totoki Aika. I’ve heard about you from Koine. Please allow me to formally extend my gratitude to you. Thank you so much for saving Mahina’s life.”

…As expected, Mahina told her that I was the one who saved her. That was exactly why I didn’t want to see her.

Either way, I didn’t think that we would meet again in a place like this and that they would even be a witness to my power. Darned fate.

“It just happened to be by coincidence, so please don’t worry about it. I was just there to get revenge on a guy who pissed me off.” (Bouchi)

“…Ohsaka-kun, right? Did you… kill him…?” (Koine)

“Yeah, I killed him with my own hands.” (Bouchi)

“…?! …I see.” (Koine)

I answered honestly. Totoki’s older sister had a grim expression on her face, but Totoki just looked sad.

I’d be thankful if this made them think that they shouldn’t be involved with me though.

It was with this thought in mind that I spoke frankly that I was a murderer.

“Master, Sol found the Core!” (Sol)

Sol, who had already finished wiping out the monsters, contacted me at that moment.

“Sorry, I have a little something to do. Ma-chan, could you let go?” (Bouchi)

“….Don’t want to.” (Ma-chan)

She was clinging onto me tightly, as if she didn’t want to let go. I wasn’t one to be harsh to children, but…

“Come on, Mahina. Don’t speak so selfishly. You don’t want onii-chan to dislike you, do you?” (Aika)

“Wuuu… Onii-chan, you’ll come back, won’t you?” (Mahina)

“….Yeah, I just need to take care of something real quick,” I assured her, patting Mahina on the head. She responded with ‘okay, it’s a promise!’ and let go of me.

“Yofel! I’m leaving this place to you!” (Bouchi)

“…Understood, Bouchi!” (Yofel)

I left her in charge of this area and followed Sol’s instructions to the place where the Core was located.

I thought there might be a Core Monster, but it seemed that only the cemetery area had been dungeonized, not the entire mountain, so the scale of the dungeon wasn’t that large.

I destroyed the Core that Sol found for me, restoring peace to Akama Cemetery. Now, my parents could rest at ease once more.

…Now then. If possible, I’d like to make a getaway now, but…

But sure enough, that wouldn’t do. I had been seen using my power in my original form as Bouchi Hiro.

If I knew this would happen, I would have transformed into some other form. I kind of regretted not doing so.

Well, I also felt like it would have been the same result if they saw Sol.

And since they knew that I snuck into the dungeonized community center and single-handedly rescued Mahina, there was no point in trying to deceive them anymore.

But I had to at least have them keep quiet about me, and I couldn’t just leave Yofel there.

I gave up on sneaking away and returned with Sol and Shiki to where Totoki and the others were waiting.

“―Onii-chan!”

Again, it was Mahina who spotted me first and ran over.

“Hug!” Mahina said, holding her arms outstretched. I gave a wry smile and did as she said.

….I mean, why does she even like me so much?

“Wouldn’t that be because you saved her before, milord?” (Shiki)

Suddenly, Shiki’s voice appeared in my head.

Hmm, I wonder. Well, I didn’t really mind being liked by kids per se, but… if it was my former classmate’s younger sister, then maybe I would mind it a little bit.

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“Bouchi! Thank you so much! Thanks to you, I was able to save my little brother!” (Yofel)

Yofel approached me with her little brother in tow and bowed to me in gratitude.

Her little brother, who I did hear was shy, peered at me anxiously from behind his sister’s back.

I see. They really do look alike. Rather, with his appearance, I can only imagine him as being Yofel’s little brother.

He was an adorable elf child that looked like he came straight out of a manga or game.

If I had a little brother like him, I would dote on him a lot, too. I’m a little envious. In any case, for now, I should introduce myself at least.