Prologue – Chapter 2

Chapter 02 Claire

The funeral of the villagers who had unfortunately been attacked by monsters was held promptly.

――――The monster was dealt with by the men of the village who heard the woman’s scream and rushed over after that.

Her body was so badly damaged that almost no one could recognize it, but her body was buried under the ground along with the things she treasured during her lifetime.

“…………”

Louis stood alone at his mother’s tombstone.

The funeral ended long ago, and the villagers went back to their jobs.

It seemed as if the same everyday life would continue from now on – the only thing that changed was the addition of a new tombstone to the cemetery.

The villagers didn’t get angry with Louis for failing to escape.

On the contrary, people said, ‘You don’t have to worry about it.’

The same was true for Louis’ father.

He didn’t blame Louis for the sudden loss of his beloved wife.

On the contrary, he comforted Louis, who lost his mother in front of him, and hugged his son saying, “I’m glad at least you survived.”

Originally, monsters themselves were rarely seen around here.

Wild animals existed, of course, but there were no dangerous animals in places where mothers and children would go to pick wild vegetables — so this must have been an unfortunate event.

But Louis couldn’t believe that.

The monster is dead.

It was easily surrounded by the men of the village and beaten to death.

That’s what they said.

If only an adult man had been there, even if he was alone, he would have been able to escape with his mother and survive.

But that didn’t come true.

That’s because Louis was too weak

“—-“

Blood oozed from Louis’ tightly clenched fists.

Louis’s mother should have known.

The fact that she can’t win against monsters on her own, merely to buy time.

However, she still confronted the monster.

To protect her son Louis -.

In that place, Louis was an existence to be protected and an existence to escape.

This was extremely frustrating for Louis.

If he were stronger

If only he had more courage in himself.

—His mother might have been saved.

Thinking that, Louis even felt angry at himself.

“Okaa, san… I’ll become stronger. I’ll become stronger, I will… To the extent that I won’t lose to anyone, so I can protect anyone…!”

I didn’t want anyone else to be sacrificed in front of me.

His eyes filled with strong resolve poured out as if swearing at the gravestone in front of him.

◆

From that day on, Louis’ life changed.

Originally, Louis was an only child, so Louis’ house had enough stockpile to live on without wasting money.

On top of that, Louis was still young.

He turned 9 years old this year, and although he was entrusted with helping with farm work, his body was not yet fully formed, so he was not counted as a force in the village.

Most of Louis’s day is free, since he is only entrusted with helping out.

Louis devoted all his time to training his sword.

I asked the village guards how to swing the sword.

The man who was the guard of the village didn’t look very nice to Louis, who suddenly started saying that he wanted to learn swordsmanship, but he nodded, “If only a little,” from the standpoint of Louis.

Suddenly, he grabbed a wooden sword and began to imitate training.

His mother was attacked and died in front of him.

It will take time for the wounds in his heart to heal…

Behind his daily work, Louis wields his sword as hard as he can, even cutting down his sleep time.

To him, the village residents, both boys and the girls, showed pity and pity in their eyes.

He disliked that gaze, and trying to shake it off, Louis devoted himself to his training.

“Louis!”

However, there was someone who didn’t hesitate to talk to him.

“… Claire”

“It’s already been a week since Louis stopped coming to the usual place! When are you planning to come?”

She called out to stop Louis, who was swinging a wooden sword in the garden of her house.

She was a girl with long fiery red hair.

Her name is Claire, she glares at Louis with the same color of her hair as her eyes, filled with fiery red passion.

“I’m sorry. I won’t play with Claire anymore.”

“why?”

“Because I have to be strong”

“……I see”

Louis tells her, who is a childhood friend one year older than him, and who is also the child of the man who taught him swordsmanship.

He used to hang out with her almost every day in his spare time.

She is particularly energetic among the village children and is known for being quick to get into a fight, and as a brake for her, until recently Louis accompanied her around and calmed her down many times when she was about to run out of control.

Claire, too, probably knew about the incident that had happened to Louis when he was young, so she lowered her gaze in response to Louis’ words.

She lied if she said she didn’t feel guilty about the way she looked.

“But this is also for the sake of becoming stronger.” Louis tries to get back to his training.

Claire’s eyes, which were shining brightly, pierced through him as she lifted her head up at him.

“But I can’t take it anymore!”

“……Huh?”

“It’s boring without Louis! There is only Louis who can follow me!”

“No, but I have to train…!”

“It’s okay! I want to play! That’s right, let’s chase each other today! Then Louis will have no complaints!”

Louis could only be stunned for a short while due to the excessive criticism.

Claire grabbed his dumbfounded hand.

“Come on, let’s go!”

The arm that was pulled with a jerk was stronger than he thought, and Louis stumbled.

……To be honest, for Louis, who wanted to become stronger right now, it was an annoying act.

But it’s also true that I remember feeling somewhat relieved to see her in such an unchanging appearance.

“Wait, wait, the sword! I’ll put the sword down!”

Saying that, Louis stopped Claire.

―――― On his face, a small smile appeared for the first time since his mother’s funeral.

Please support the author by checking his site/fantia/fanbox

You can check advance chapter in my Patreon