LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 89: Story Time
It wasn't just me who told my stories, everyone else from the fantastic dreamers also tell their own side of the stories.
"I mean, look, the Crimson Demons are already powerful, us joining in the fight will be like adding oil to forest fire, so we decided to hold a concert right then and there."
"A concert? Like the one in Axel? The princess said."
"Yes, smack dabbed in the middle of the battlefield, we performed. Not only that, but we also buffed the Crimson Demons around us and… well, I kinda pitied the Demon King Army back then, Aqua also used her skill to force them all forward so none of them can retreat."
"Can you sing it for me? The princess said."
"Well it's a war song and I don't really feel like shouting during dinner," I told her. "How about sometime later, I'll send a formal invitation via Lalatina so you won't miss out on our concerts."
"Alright, please continue, what happens next? The princess said."
"The next part is mostly boring, I was planning on my wedding with Megumin and asking permission from her parents to wed her," I then looked at the rest of my party. "Yo, anything interesting happened in your end?"
Yunyun raised her hand.
"Does spreading brochures and arranging a one hundred meters diameter teleportation magic counts as interesting?"
I turned to the princess and she whispered to her bodyguard.
"Didn't you defeat the Demon King General Sylvia before the wedding? Can you tell me how you defeated her?"
Oh, right, it completely went past my radar because for the most part, my 'battle' with Sylvia was extremely NSFW and unsafe for children.
"It wasn't me who defeated Sylvia, it was actually Komekko, my little sister in law," I gestured at Liz. "Liz was the one present during the whole event, if you want to know what happened to Sylvia, you should ask her."
The three of them turned towards the dragon. She's currently sitting calmly on her desk, smiling proudly to herself.
After a moment Iris relented and whispered to her bodyguard.
"I apologize for being rude and disrespectful. Please tell me how you defeated the demon king general, the princess said. I also wanted to know, isn't Komekko merely a child with no battle training?"
Liz gazed at the princess, her bright purple eyes gleamed with wisdom.
"It is true that Komekko is merely a child compared to you, it is true that Komekko cannot fight as well as any of you, however, in my eyes, her spirit is that of a powerful warrior and it is the spirit that makes a warrior, not the other way around."
The tone in which she spoke brings forth a heavy atmosphere around us. Unlike me who kept the story lighthearted, Liz took Komekko's story very seriously.
"Father didn't mention this, but Mother and her sister was raised in extreme poverty. Komekko grew up malnourished, her body weak and feeble, even for a Crimson Demon such as herself."
"One would think she grows up to be a spiteful and sorrowful individual. Yet when one gaze upon her eyes, no sadness lies within, only the light of joy, innocence, and an impressive appetite."
"One day, I took her out to roam around the forest. I treated her as my own sister, eager to help her get stronger. I would capture a mighty beast, attack it till its last breath before having Komekko deal the final blow."
"But then, we encountered a large group of the Demon King Army. I was… I was blinded by my arrogance and challenged them to a battle. I was stronger than them, yes, I crushed them all like mere insects on the ground."
Liz paused for a bit.
"I was swayed by the thrill of the hunt that I forgot about Komekko. When I returned to her, the Demon King General already got her. Komekko was bound by thick ropes with a blade pressed against her neck. The demon demanded me to bring my father to them."
"It was… it was one of the most horrifying moment of my life… Just the mere thought of it… to return home to tell the news that I failed to save someone so precious to me, to my family… I was intent on giving Komekko a swift death and have Aqua revive her later."
"But Komekko… That girl, there was no trace of fear in her eyes. Just annoyance and threats directed at the demon king general. Her confidence in me, her trust that I will somehow save her… That girl, she won't let me give up."
"So I told the demon that I could do anything my father can and more. They then led me through the outskirts of the village, to a location unknown. Along the way, Komekko would say her plan to free herself out loud, and though it serves no purpose, it fills me with courage."
"Then… the demon began their monologue, their hatred at my father and Aqua for the concert the other day. They said it is personal now, they said they will make my family suffer if it's the last thing they do."
Liz paused once again and took a deep breath.
"The demon proved their point by mercilessly hurting the child in front of my eyes. They drove a knife through her body and I quickly healed her. They then did it again, and I healed her again, and again, and again,"
"Twas a nightmare, her look of pain and her screams still haunted me till this day. But despite everything, she never cried, not a single tears were shed. She never begged for mercy, cried for help, nothing… It was as if the pain was nothing but a minor inconvenience to her."
"After what felt like eternity, we made it to our destination. A large structure located far from the village. The demon said a powerful weapon was sealed in there and I have to bring it to her. So we entered the structure."
"Inside, I saw my mother standing in front of a sealed entrance. I was both relieved and ashamed. Relieved to see her standing there and ashamed of having her witness my biggest failure,"
"When the demon saw my mother, they held Komekko by the neck. They then demanded my mother to step aside. My mother told me that she will open the seal if they let go of Komekko, but they refused."
"Then, my mother relented. She opened the seal so easily, as if she was just opening a regular door. The demon then stepped into sealed entrance, still holding Komekko by the neck."
"I tried to stop them, demanded them to release her with all the bloodlust I could muster. But then, I felt two presence behind me, two soothing presence that filled me with hope."
"My father and Aqua nee sama was waiting behind that sealed entrance. I simply stepped aside and let the demon walked forth into their doom. My only hope that time was for Komekko to be saved, so that she wouldn't have to taste death."
"Soon, Aqua returned with Komekko. She has healed her of all her pain and the child was unconscious. We brought her outside where Darkness nee sama has brought in the reinforcements."
"My father and mother dealt with the Demon General with ease. The weapon was destroyed forever, and the demon king general were left to rot and die inside that seal."
"Then, when it was time to face Komekko once again… I simply couldn't bear it. I begged father to erase her memory so that she wouldn't remember anything that happened today… so she wouldn't have to remember my failure…"
"But my father refused and Komekko proved me wrong once again. When the girl woke up, she smiled at us as if just waking up from a nice dream. She asked us about what happened after she fell unconscious, eager to hear the epic fight against the demon king general,"
"My mother told her that yes, there was a fight, but it wasn't as glorious as her battle. Then my father declared that Komekko is to be the one to officially end the Demon King General's life and claim all the exp and bounties for her and her family,"
"I couldn't agree more. For if it wasn't for her strength and bravery, I wouldn't be here telling this story. If it weren't for her, I might've failed and perhaps, I won't be able to face my family ever again…"
Liz then turned towards the princess once again.
"O' princess who has everything in this world handed to her on a silver platter. O' princess who was born with wealth and power beyond all else. O' princess who never knows the hardships and the harsh reality of this life…"
A pair of bright purple eyes bored straight into her soul.
"Do you think of Komekko as someone lower than you are? Is she not deserving of a respect for she was just a poor feeble girl from a poor family?"
Iris lowered her head and slowly shook her head.
"No,"
For the first time, Iris spoke by herself.
"No, she is deserving of my respect. I have realized my mistake and I sincerely apologize for my rude and arrogant behavior."
Iris lowered her head. Both her servants tried to stop her, but the princess ignored her attempt.
Liz nodded and gave the princess a soft smile. "I'm glad you understand princess, I too apologize if my words hurt you in some way," the dragon lowered her head. "Thank you for listening to my story."
---
After Liz's story, Aqua lightened up the atmosphere once again. She played a nice little song with her harmonica called 'the little adventurer'. She and Megumin also told Iris the sillier parts of our adventure.
"... and then he said, 'show it to me, the strongest spell', so I showed it to him. I aimed at a vast empty clearing and cast explosion, depleting all my mana and render myself immobile."
"The explosion woke up a bunch of giant frogs and the guy was forced to fend off all the frogs himself. Not only that, but he was also forced to carry me back to the guild."
Iris giggled silently while Claire and Rain just chuckled after hearing that.
"Now, Kazuma, I think you're forgetting something," Megumin said.
My eyes widened a little and I put a hand over my forehead. "Ah! I forgot!" I turned to princess Iris. "Princess, can you please stay for a bit longer? I forgot about the gifts I brought you,"
A bunch of maids walked towards us. They carried with them all sorts of different types of odd devices and items.
Iris and the two bodyguards watched the items in slight curiosity. One of the maids put down a bunch of modern writing utensils and a piece of paper.
"Ahem, princess Iris, have you ever accidentally knocked a bottle of ink on your paper? Or put down a quill for far too long and the ink just blots out on the paper?"
The princess tilted her head before slowly nodded.
"Well, worry no more princess! Because here I have different types of pens and markers," I picked up a pen and handed it to the princess. "Here, princess, try opening the cap or the sheath at the bottom."
The princess did exactly that and looked closer at the point end.
"Now write as you would with a quill,"
The princess slowly write on the piece of paper and her writings appeared on it, clear as a day.
"As you can see, you can write easily with it and you don't have to worry about dropping it," I prove my point by picking up another paper and dropping it. "See? Now the rest of these are just the variants of the one in your hand with different thickness and sizes and colors."
After that, a maid brought in another gift, a desk fan. I aimed the fan at myself and turned it on. It hums a little as the blade spins and spreads cool air all over the place. The air was just a little cooler because of the magic patterns I put on the blade of it.
"Here Princess, it's a bit hot here isn't it?" I slowly aimed the fan at Claire and then to Iris and Rain. They both smiled a little in slight relief at the cool sensation. "Your very own personal breeze from yours truly. And you can adjust the heat and the power with a click of a button,"
I showed Iris how to operate it before moving on to the next item.
Next, a maid brought in lighter and a flashlight.
"Claire san, tell me, have you ever found yourself wishing you can use the tinder spell? Or the far sight skill?"
"Not really, no,"
"Well I have good news for you!" I showed her the lighter and slowly uncapped it, revealing a fire within. "This is a lighter and it contains an eternal flame… well, not really, it makes fire the moment you open it, but it's pretty cool right? It might come in handy and it requires zero magic to operate."
Then I picked up the flashlight and aimed it upwards. "And this my friend, is a flashlight! It's bright in here, but I'm sure it can come extremely in handy during the dark, doesn't it? Say you want to go to the toilet at night, but a little scared of the ghost,"
"But I'm not…"
"You've welcome!"
Iris giggled some more after hearing that before gesturing at Claire to just accept the gift.
"Say, Satou san," Claire said while pocketing the gifts. "Pardon my impudence, but may I see your adventurer card? I found it hard to imagine you could pull off all the feats you've told me about as an adventurer."
"Woman, I can only pull off all the feats I told you because I'm an adventurer," I took out my card and showed it to her.
Claire took one look at the card and her eyes widened in disbelief. She quickly showed the card to Rain who simply stared at the card in shocked silence. They then whispered something to each other before Claire returned the card to me.
"Satou san… Is everyone in your party… around level sixty?"
"Of course, well, my wife and my daughter are stronger than me, and…" I turned to Yunyun and realized that she hasn't have the coffee yet. "Can we talk about something else?"
"Right… Sorry for prying," Claire cleared her throat before turning towards the princess. "Princess, is there something else you want to ask him? It's almost time for you to leave."
Iris looked at me for a moment and bit her lip.
"Kazuma dono… Will you, come with me to the kingdom? I want to hear more of your adventures and… learn more from you."
I smiled at her. "That can be arranged Iris sama, I've mastered teleportation so I can teleport between the capital and my mansion. But you'll have to wait until my party and I visit the capital, okay?"
Iris smiled after hearing that before stepping closer to Rain.
"Well, we shall take our leave, take care Fantastic Dreamer! We shall wait for tales of your adventures and victories!"
The mage began chanting her teleportation magic and we all just smiled and waved at the princess. The little girl now have a smile on her face befitting to her age. She also waved back at me and…
She took my hand.
"Teleport!"