A Former Child Soldier Who Uses a Magic Sword Wants to Live with an Older Sister of a Former Enemy E

[Aah, fear. The rain that pours down on you right when you feel happy. It pounds against your body, crawls down your skin, and takes the heat out of your heart. Fear, sweet fear. No matter how much happiness surrounds you, no one can escape fear.] (Pouring Fear)

While the wraith was muttering to herself in the main square, Seto was making preparations for his strategy using items he found inside a house.

[I’ll need this, and this… There’s actually quite a lot in here. I think I can work something out.] (Seto)

Seto took a deep breath to relax, and then exhaled slowly to clear his head.

From here on out, he needed to act quickly.

This was basically war.

As a former soldier himself, he never thought that he would be able to plan and act on his own.

He had no talent as a strategist, so his plan had to be rough around the edges, but he needed to take action and win this battle.

Seto realized from his earlier fight that he would never be able to win against that wraith if he was not that hungry for victory.

And so… Seto launched his counterattack.

Meanwhile, the wraith was partially frustrated with Seto for remaining hidden for so long.

But then, a sudden explosion and spreading fire made her shoulders tremble.

[What? What’s happening?] (Pouring Fear)

The houses were on fire.

A flurry of knives automatically rained down into the flames, as if in response to the wraith’s fright.

[Did that kid set the city on fire? …What a ferocious bad boy. How dare he frighten me so!] (Pouring Fear)

The wraith trembled in fear in the face of that blazing savagery.

She frantically searched for Seto in the spreading fire, and rummaged through the rubble and lumber using the knives raining down on the flames.

However, she got no response from them, and as time went by, the city turned a heartless red.

As the wind began to carry the flames to the main square, the wraith flinched from the force of the fire, and retreated step by step.

Before she knew it, she found herself leaning her back against a large tree in a corner of the main square.

And Seto was hiding on top of that tree.

In the end, I made quite the flashy mess. …Okay. Starting now, it’s do-or-die. I’d better make this quick, or I’ll burn. (Seto)

The plan was to anticipate the wind, set the city on fire, and draw her attention to the flames while leading her to the great tree.

Then he would wait atop that tree and move on to the next phase.

To be honest, he did not expect his plan to go so smoothly.

Seto had basically no talent as a strategist, nor had he ever done anything as sophisticated as formulating a step-by-step tactic and following it.

For Seto, who always acted as he was told, this was his very first display of ingenuity.

This was precisely what made the fact that everything was going so well so terrifying.

Maybe this was a bad omen of some sort.

However, Seto shook off that worry with his inner spirit.

Clutching his magic sword in his right hand and moving the knife in his left hand to his mouth, he entered the next phase of his plan.

—Soldiers valued proactivity.

Seto’s resolve outweighed his fear.

Meanwhile, right below him, the wraith was staring into the flames, remaining alert to her surroundings.

She was ready to throw her knives no matter when Seto would show up.

However, an unexpected event befell her.

The burning top of the large tree behind the wraith suddenly fell down.

Seto had ignited and slashed it apart with his magic sword before it went up in flames, and mercilessly dropped it on his opponent’s head.

[EEEEK! NOOOO!] (Pouring Fear)

The fear she felt allowed her to avoid the burning tree falling on her.

After taking some distance as if she were dancing, she checked behind her and on her left and right, but Seto was nowhere to be seen.

This made her even more terrified.

What the—!? What’s going on!? Where in the world is that boy!? (Pouring Fear)

Just as she wondered about that, she heard a *clang* on her right.

When she turned around, she saw a knife lying on the stone pavement.

It was the one Seto had used, but the key point was that Seto was not there.

The wraith was stunned for a moment.

And Seto took advantage of that opening.

He was just like an owl hunting in the forest at night.

Without a sound or any sign of movement, he swung his sword down on the wraith’s back from above.

The evil spirit, who was taken aback and whose fear faded for just a moment, did not notice Seto’s attack and was slashed across the back with a single vertical slash.

[GAH! …Eh?] (Pouring Fear)

[……] (Seto)

The greater her fear, the more accurate her ability to evade was.

But what if you could make her fear fade away, even if only for a second?

Setting the city and tree on fire was all a bluff.

To scare her to the max and distract her with an unusual scenery.

Honestly speaking, it was almost a gamble.

That was why the way it all went so smoothly was so terrifying.

If he had made a bad move, she would have seen through his trickery along the way and counterattacked.

Seto thought that the reason it worked out so well was that this wraith was the spirit of an ordinary person who was not accustomed to combat.

Also that she probably gained her power after becoming a wraith, and that she was a human with zero experience in combat itself.

—*Slash*!

Even as blood gushed out from her back, she held the cloth covering her chest with her left hand as it was about to fall off, then she made several knives appear from her right hand so she could slash at the boy.

Using practiced movements, Seto quickly thrusted the tip of his sword into the wraith’s throat.

Unable to do anything against that powerful stab performed with both arms fully extended, she fell to her knees.

[…Aah. So I lost…] (Pouring Fear)

When Seto pulled out his magic sword, his opponent bowed, as if in resignation.

It was not fear that she was feeling, but rather something close to relief.

Two people in a plaza surrounded by a burning city.

Was this a scene from an urban battle, or an execution?

Flickering flames brightly illuminated their figures, while at the same time casting their eerily dark shadows.

Seto had once again defeated a wraith, but this time, he had no lingering sense of victory.

Even after fighting for his life, he did not feel any euphoria from the carnage, nor could he afford to feel proud of his own strength.

The only reality was that the precise trajectory of his sword has mercilessly reaped the life of the wraith. Nothing more.

He had no feeling of repentance, and no intention to at least hold a memorial service for his foe.

What he always felt after a battle was a “void”.

A flower of blood bloomed in the main square.

Without saying anything more, the wraith fell with her upper body arching backward.

With her soft body drawing an arch, her chest puffed up, and her exhausted arms opened wide, with her palms facing up.

It was a sensational, blood-soaked death.

Seto could see her lifeless eyes peeking through her thinly opened eyelids, and her tears streaming down her face.

For him, the death of a woman was a sight he was used to on the battlefield, but it was still unpleasant to watch.

After watching the wraith’s body disappear into black particles, Seto shook her blood off his sword as a way to regain his composure, picked up his knife, and headed for the next opponent.

Dry Sorrow and Pouring Fear.

Those were probably special feelings toward death.

Although he was a little curious about the life stories of the wraiths who bore those names, Seto immediately discarded that curiosity.

All I can do in this trial is just cut down. So that I can live. And be with Satis. (Seto)

The wind fanned the flames, sending a blast of hot air toward Seto as he walked.

But even that heat felt somewhat nihilistic to Seto.

In the midst of all this, he suddenly felt lonely.

Although it should have only been a short time since he left Satis, the illusion that he had not seen her in decades filled his mind.

[Fear, huh… In my case, what scares me would be… Yeah. Not being able to protect the people I care about, I guess. In that case, I need to be strong.] (Seto)

Muttering so, Seto moved forward, with the sounds of buildings burning and crumbling in the background.