Story of a Cannon Fodder who Firmly Believed He was the Protagonist, Misunderstood the Actual Protagonist as the Cannon Fodder, and Ended up Victorious
Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Derpy
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 048 – Strengthening [B]
― Round Table Heroes – Gaiden “Exorcist awakening”
This is the story of the farewell between two exorcist descendants…
Exorcists. They refer to warriors who subjugated demons prior to the era of paladins and adventurers. Presently, very few of them were left.
“Rhine?”
“…”
“What is it?”
“I had a strange dream… about nee-san disappearing… and fighting against me.”
“Why are you suddenly calling me nee-san? You’re usually only willing to call me Barbara.”
Legions. It referred to the faction groups of adventurers. Among the many legions, one of them was called “Romeo” and was considered one of the greatest legions where the chief (Barbara) and vice chief (Rhine) held great status.
Rhine woke up on the sofa in Romeo. He had a dream where his sister wielded an old and ominous sword, and used it to pierce him. It felt strangely vivid and made him uneasy.
“W-well. It should just be a dream… By the way, it has been about 10 years since our father died.”
“That’s right… We have to visit his grave soon――”
――Just as the two were having a friendly chat,
“Chief!”
“Hm?”
“Something’s wrong… the dungeon-”
“Dungeon?”
“Another entrance appeared… at a different spot…! And demons are overflowing from there… endlessly!”
One of the legion members reported. His flustered expression and uncoordinated words made them understand that something odd had occurred.
When they hurriedly left their base… they heard the sound of a large crowd coming from the opposite direction. It felt similar to the demon stampede that happened in the Free City the other day.
Days have passed since then and the city was slowly being restored, yet fear still remained in both the ordinary people and adventurers. A disturbing atmosphere gradually permeated the city. However, it was their duty to shake it off as they ran toward the noise.
Hundreds of demons had already invaded the Free City. However, other adventurers were also fighting back. After the previous invasion, they had prepared ahead of time in case of whatever might occur.
Barbara and Rhine left the city’s defenses to them while they headed for the source of the commotion. Where did all these demons come from and why did they suddenly appear? Things wouldn’t improve unless the root cause was solved.
Barbara and Rhine continue to fight demons in their path and they eventually discovered a large hole connected to a certain world. The hole was about 50 meters in diameter and seemingly bottomless. The demons were overflowing from there.
They used magic to close up the hole a bit so fewer could come out. However, their actions stopped when they felt someone’s gaze.
“This gaze… you are Della, aren’t you?”
A man wearing a black robe came toward them from several dozen meters away. This man was called Della. He was the one who planted a seed of dark art into Yururu back in the Britannia Kingdom and corrupted her brothers to the darkness.
He was also the man trying to kill Tlue back in a certain village.
Not only that, he was also responsible for killing Barbara and Rhine’s parents. While both of them weren’t aware of all of Della’s vile deeds, it was natural for them to hold a grudge and hate him since their parents were killed.
“To think you actually remember me.”
“Of course I do. You are the one who took away my father’s magic eye of a dragon snake and killed him after all.”
“Ah~ that did happen. Well, I had a hard time taking it away back then. But now I no longer need it…”
“Are you the one who made this huge hole?!”
“It’s been a long time, Rhine. As for your question, it indeed was I who did it.”
“Return the dungeon to how it was!”
“Return it to how it was, huh… Rather, this dungeon was originally a natural experimentation ground made by the Eternal Foundation, though.”
“…The Eternal Foundation…?”
The Eternal Foundation was a group that pursued the limits of human life and aimed to achieve greater breakthroughs. They were people who conducted illegal experimentation and used others for their own personal gain.
“Why is it that only demons from the Free City’s dungeon will drop magic stones? There’s no such phenomenon outside this city.”
Della no longer seemed to care about mystery and tried to present the answer in an obvious manner.
“Let me tell you why, since it no longer needs to be kept secret – it’s not as interesting if nobody else knows after all… It was originally a gigantic magic stone. The dungeon, that is.”
“The Eternal Foundation discovered a magic stone sleeping in the ground, so they developed technology to create demons from the magic stone. That said, the final goal was to create a species that could rule at the top.”
“However, in the middle of the process, we accidentally created technology that created demons on its own by shaving bits off the magic stone! What do you think happened then? Those demons began to group up on their own! Self-analyzing demons with similar behavior patterns and creating their respective nests!”
“They expanded their territories to the point it became the dungeon it is now. We never thought it would expand this big.”
“Because of that, it became a situation where adventurers can easily go missing, so we can also easily secure ourselves experimental subjects by kidnapping them. How is it? That’s the truth of the dungeon!”
Della spoke with his arms spread wide open with a loud voice. Barbara and Rhine swallowed their breaths without having leisure of being exasperated at his attitude like a child boasting of his toy.
I heard the dungeon already existed a few hundred years ago… does that mean that the so-called Eternal Foundation has already existed since then…? If that’s true, it means the root runs deep. There are definitely people involved outside of the Free City.
Would anything change by cutting down this man? They felt like something outrageous would strike the city, nation, and the world.
“Barbara…”
“Yes, it seems we have no choice but to defeat him here.”
“Ah well, I know well that magic eyes aren’t effective against you two… But the fact that I am blatantly showing myself here means I’ve already prepared.”
“…Eh?”
“――Come forth, Gigant Claw (Abyssal claw dragon).”
The moment Della raised his hand to the sky, the ground shook. They could feel something trying to come out from the huge hole as the earth beneath them ran with cracks. Every nerve in the siblings’ bodies fired off signals of danger, and they quickly retreated from the spot.
Dust clouds rose toward the sky along with the strong wind. The pebbles and wind hit everyone painfully. When the dust subsided and they opened their eyes, they saw a large dragon there.
It wasn’t a metaphor, as they felt an absolute gap between them the moment they saw it. They would die if they tried to fight it. Their souls screamed.
Perhaps they might be able to do it somehow if all the adventurers in the city worked together. However, that was impossible. Being one of the biggest factions meant that skirmishes often occurred and it was hard to unite everyone together. In that case, would it be possible if it was just the two of them?
If it was just “Romeo”… Barbara began to think hard but soon came to the conclusion that it was impossible. Their current selves were unable to defeat it. However… Della was their father’s enemy, and the fate of the city was at stake – the fate of her brother and other members of the legion were at stake, she had to reconsider.
Barbara wanted to protect everything and wished to put an end to this vengeance.
“Rhine, I’ll be away for a bit… Please hold him back for a while!”
“Wha-?! Barbara!! Wait!”
Barbara ran as fast as she could, becoming faster than the wind and rushing to Felmi’s house. She stepped inside and stopped in front of a certain room she thought she would never open.
The Sword of Exorcism her father treasured was inside. Barbara has never seen it before, but it was said to be sealed in Felmi’s house. There were a lot of talismans there, but Barbara peeled them all off and entered the room.
An ominous wind blew from the dark windowless room. The gust prevented her from opening her eyes. However, Barbara kept going while covering her face with a hand and picked up the sword… nay, katana, from the pedestal with her other hand.
Many talismans were wrapped around the blade and even the slightly visible iron part was rusted, with its handle also covered with talisman.
The moment she picked up the sword, the scenery changed. The surrounding area became pitch black and the ground under her feet turned into something stagnant like a swamp.
[“Oh my, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a human child. You come well, you really are. Come over here.”]
In the swamp, there was something like a throne made of big rocks. There was a woman sitting there. Barbara involuntarily thought it was her who sat there.
She looked exactly like how she did, so much so they could pass off as twins.
Both of them had pink hair and blue eyes. It made Barbara aware once again that she was a descendant of a clan of exorcists. The woman who looked like Barbara sat there. However, there was something that was clearly different. First of all, it was the length of her hair.
Barbara’s pink hair was in a bob cut, but the woman’s hair extended down to her waist.
Even their clothes were different. The woman was wearing something that looked like a yukata, but it exposed most of her body.
“Um…”
“You don’t have to say it, human child. You know who I am, right?”
“…You are the exorcist ‘Baragi’-san… aren’t you?”
“That’s right. Well then, what are you visiting this ‘oni’ for?”
Barbara’s ancestor, who called herself Baragi, had a pair of horns on her forehead. She descended from her throne of rocks and slowly walked over to Barbara. Barbara was quite surprised to see that she was actually taller than she thought.
She was a size larger than Barbara. And as she stood looking down at her, she slowly touched Barbara’s forehead.
“I see… I understand the situation roughly. You want the power to save everything, huh…? Kakaka, that’s fine, then I will give it to you, the power you seek…”
“Really?! I-I don’t have much time, so please, hurry up and give me power.”
“Don’t rush me. I will grant you power. However… I’m quite bored from staying in a place like this alone… so I will take your body in return.”
“M-my body?”
“Indeed, once I save your precious little brother and subordinates, I will have your body as my own from now on.”
“…No way.”
“Well, I won’t force you.”
“…”
“How is it? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. There, you can return by walking in that direction, you know?”
“…Can we defeat that dragon as we are?”
“Isn’t it impossible? You knew that already, isn’t that why you came all the way here?”
“…Um, once you take my body, what will happen to me…?”
“You’ll die. I’ll spare you with just that. I loathe exorcists very much, but I will still help if you are willing to give me your body.”
“So I’ll die… Either way――”
Barbara came to her decision. Since that black dragon would come to destroy everything…
Want early access to Executed Sage, Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer, and I Was a Man Before Reincarnating, So I Refuse a Reverse Harem? Support the translator on Patreon!
Also, Tsukii has picked up a new series called “A Story of a Cannon Fodder who Firmly Believed He was the Protagonist, Misunderstood the Actual Protagonist as the Cannon Fodder, and Ended up Victorious!” The title really says it all. Early access to more chapters for this story is available on Patreon.
Wow wow wow what the heck is happening here??, Just 1 chapter ago the moment so calm
your answer for complaint of short arc