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Volume 1 Chapter 37 - Trample

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Taking his gaze away from the dragon puppy, crushed and half-mangled by his stick, Nella’s clown mask that had tears spilling out checked the surroundings. At monsters rolling on the ground, and at monsters that were still moving even now.

“All of you, disappear!” (Allen)

Allen took out red and blue balls one after another from the bag he wore on his waist, stuck them together, and threw them at the monsters.

The balls were fired at such a speed that they could not be seen, and their momentum blew away the monsters, furthermore, the balls exploded and the monsters screamed as their bodies melted from the purple liquid coming out of it.

The peculiar and unique smell of acid enveloped the area.

There were no more monsters flying in the sky. All of them had crashed to the ground, struggling as their bodies melted.

Allen stabbed the remaining monsters that were still wriggling with his stick, choking the life out of them. It took only a few minutes from the time Allen appeared until all the enemies were annihilated.

After confirming that no more enemies appeared, Allen hurried back to Eric. From what he's seen, although he was injured and tired, he didn't think he was hurt enough to be in danger of dying, but he was still worried.

Allen reached into his magic bag and pulled out a high-class potion that he had purchased as Nella in case of an emergency when he goes on an adventure.

“Eric, are you okay with your injury? For now, drink this.” (Allen)

“Aniki?” (Eric)

“...You’re wrong. I'm Nella. I'm definitely not your brother.” (Allen)

Allen instinctively put his hand on Eric's shoulder and, in a quiet, admonishing tone, refuted Eric's statement. Then, as if to deceive him, he half-forcefully shoved the high-class potion he was holding into Eric's mouth, and poured it in without giving him a chance to say no.

As expected from a high-class potion that cost 1 million zenny, its effects were outstanding; the blood that had been flowing from his wounds both large and small had stopped, and the burns had gradually peeled off, revealing new skin underneath.

Although Allen was relieved by the change, he was also panicked in another way.

(Crap. I completely forgot myself. No, but Eric was about to get killed, so I couldn't help it!) (Allen)

To the point that he was thinking of excuses like that to who knows who.

Allen had decided to go help Eric, but of course he had no intention of revealing that Nella is him. Because he knew that in Eric's position, if he learned of Nella’s true identity, he would have no choice but to report it.

Allen had thought that he would keep quiet if he asked, but he thought that doing so would likely cause him to get into an unnecessary commotion. So he decided that in that case, it would be better for him not to know anything.

However, when Allen saw Eric almost being killed, he completely lost his temper. Hiding his true identity is suddenly relegated to a trivial matter, saving Eric, and annihilating those guys who did such a thing. Everything beside those two things disappeared from his mind.

He said, “My precious little brother,” as soon as he appeared, so there was no way to pretend otherwise. It wasn't a very loud voice, so it got lost in the sounds of the battle, so no one else could hear it, but Eric, who was right next to him, definitely heard it.

While being forced to drink the potion, Eric couldn't see his facial expressions due to the mask, but when he confirmed that Nella's left hand was opening and closing repeatedly, he let out a small laugh. That was because Allen had a habit of doing it when he was troubled and in deep thought about something.

Eric was already convinced. That Nella's true identity is Allen. The question of why never went away, but it still easily made sense.

Eric was thinking. What is the most optimal response? And...

“Thank you very much, Nella-sama. We are grateful for your rescue.” (Eric)

“O-ou.” (Allen)

Even while a little confused by Eric's sudden formal expression of gratitude, Allen replied. Then Eric released his posture of gratitude and continued his words.

“I'm sorry, but I have one request to make. An adventurer named Iseria, who was helping with the defense here, was taken away by a huge dragon. It's probably the legendary ancient dragon. That dragon had a message to Nella-sama; ‘Strong one, come and rescue her, time is not so long.’” (Eric)

“Iseria? Geez, that idiot.” (Allen)

“I apologize for our lack of strength, but could you please come to her rescue?” (Eric)

Scratching his head, looking as if he was chewing a bitter bug, Eric asked Allen that.

To Allen, that face was similar to the face Eric, who was never selfish, showed when he really wanted to ask for something when he was a child, even though he had grown up and was already an adult.

Like when he asked him to let him attend a swordsmanship dojo because he wanted to work as an adventurer like Allen.

Allen nostalgically remembered this, and his expression softened as he nodded his head.

“Got it. Now I’ll head to the rescue.” (Allen)

“May fortunes of war be with you.” (Eric)

After two of them exchanged those words, and just as Allen turned and took one step to run, he stopped and turned to face Eric again. Eric wondered why, and Allen put his hand into his magic bag, rummaged around, pulled out a single sword and held it out to Eric.

“I’ll give you this. Use it with care, you hear.” (Allen)

After confirming that Eric had received the sword that vaguely resembled the one that had been broken by the dragon puppy, Allen kicked the ground and started running. His figure disappeared from the scene in the blink of an eye.

While the remaining soldiers and adventurers stared blankly at the place where he disappeared to, Eric took the sword he had received and pulled it out of its scabbard.

Its slightly reddish blade had no nicks in it and looked like new, but it didn't have that inorganic impression that is typical of new equipment, and on the contrary, its rugged yet beautiful appearance gave off a warm feeling, and Eric's expression loosened at that.

Although its appearance had changed, Eric could tell that it was the sword that Allen had been using for many years.

“That's a good sword. Did he give it to you?” (Kenneth)

As Kenneth called out to him, Eric nodded and laughed.

“Yeah. ‘Use it with care,’ he said. It's a sword given to me by a hero. Of course I'll use it with care.” (Eric)

“Hero, huh? He just seems like an oddball to me. I admit that his ability is in a different league though.” (Kenneth)

“Well, I think that outfit is kinda meh too, but he's still a hero.” (Eric)

‘At least for me, he’s always been one,’ holding those words in his heart, Eric was relieved that they were able to stay just short of the collapse, and then began to move to regroup and call for rescue in order to prepare for the next wave.

While carrying the sword he received from Allen on his waist.

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