Oukoku e Tsuzuku Michi

「I would have liked more portents of magic being cast, like my head hurting more or my legs becoming wobbly. It happened instantly.」

I groan as I look up at the familiar dirty ceiling.

I even remember the stains and chips.

『That is proof of how deeply engraved in your heart this place is. Fufufu……I’m sure it must be painful and terrifying.』

Indeed, I’ve been here since the earliest I can remember until the time I escaped.

I look at my own body.

「I’ve shrunk considerably, but I’m not a child. My build is roughly that of the time right before I escaped.」

「Don’t mumble! You slaves are only supposed to move when you are told and to sleep otherwise!」

Just as I was about to reply to the boss’s voice in my heart, the cage was kicked by the person on watch duty.

Right, I remember. This guy always did that to intimidate me.

『Fufufu, it must have been scary for a young boy like you. Now fear the nightmares of your past! Despair!』

I answer the voice resounding from heaven with a wry smile.

「What’s with those eyes, you got a problem……?」

「And what if I did? Are you going to punch me?」

I make eye contact with the guard and use a bit of a threatening tone.

「……keh! Damn slave, go to bed!」

『Huh?』

There, he backed off.

This guy won’t hesitate to hit small children or girls, but he doesn’t lay hands on men who have grown to a certain size.

Looking back now, he was a pretty big coward.

I don’t know if this is a dream or an illusion, but even though my body is smaller, my heart is that of my present self.

There is no reason to be scared of a small fish in a shallow pond.

『……don’t get cocky. This is a swamp in your own memories and you will wander in hell for eternity if I don’t release you from it! Here comes the next horror!!』

Approaching the cage is another familiar man.

「Get out Aegir. Time to fight.」

「Today’s opponent is a drifter, but I hear he’s tough. Good luck surviving.」

『Fuhaha, time for a harsh experience. Cry out in terror! Despair and beg for forgiveness!』

I sit cross-legged in the middle of the cage and don’t move.

「I’m not in the mood right now.」

『Haaah!?』

「Don’t screw with me! You damn slave!」

「Do you want me to cripple you!?」

I stare at the angry guard.

「If I don’t feel like it, I don’t feel like it. If you want to hurt me, go ahead. Try to make it useless.」

「Guh……」

They can’t do it.

The only reason these guys can act tough against children and live is because the slaves are earning money from the customers.

Looking back, the amount of money I was making didn’t compare to the amount made by the girls entertaining men.

Then again, I couldn’t tell back then because I couldn’t even count.

「What’s wrong? Not going to fight?」

Obviously, if I can’t fight, the customers won’t bet money, and profit can’t be made.

A lowly guy like him can’t disable me on a whim.

I fold my hands behind my head and lean against the wall.

「Bring me a woman first. Then I’ll get in the mood.」

『A woman, you say!?』

「This arrogant son of a……」

I take my thumb and start bending it back.

「If my finger breaks, I can’t hold a sword. I’m sure the spectators will be disappointed.」

「Do that and you’ll be disposed! I’ll beat you up and throw you in a cellar!」

I bend my finger further back.

「Profit will disappear and your pay will decrease. How are you going to explain to the master why his biggest earner was killed?」

The corners of my lips curl up.

「This brat……」

「As irritating as it is, this kid earns close to ten times more than the others. It’d be bad if we killed him.」

『What are you thinking!? Be scared! Be in despair!』

The guard glares at me, spits at my feet and then opens the door of another cage.

I hear a small shriek and yell, then the pit-pat of bare feet walking……

「Ooh.」

I couldn’t help being excited.

Walking in, while trembling, was a young Leah.

「Right. If this is my memory, then Leah would be the only girl I knew.」

I was a fool in my teen days after all, and didn’t have the slightest interest in girls.

Originally, the face of the girl who was about to sleep with me was also hazy, but now I see that I remember after hearing what happened from Leah.

「Please lay with me……don’t……hurt me.」

I gently embrace the tearful Leah after she takes off her clothes.

「I won’t hurt you. In fact, I know all of your weak points.」

I kiss Leah’s thin body as I stroke her hair.

「Ah……」

Leah told me she always remembered how her hair was brushed softly.

This is bordering on unfair, but it shouldn’t matter since we are in a dream.

I gently push Leah down as her nervousness visibly fades……

『Enough of this!!』

The voice in heaven shouts, and then I hear the clatter of footsteps.

Not long after, multiple guards holding spears come running.

「Master’s orders. Injure him. He said to kill him, to torture him.」

I see, so that’s how you want to play.

『Kukuku, this is a dream realm I created based on your memories, and I can easily change it to a nightmare.』

When I reluctantly bring my dick close to Leah, she gives the tip a kiss.

『I wonder how long you can keep that attitude up. In this world, you cannot die, but you are by no means invincible. It means you can feel the fear of death and infinitely feel pain. The moment your heart breaks from the nonstop suffering is the moment you meet your end!』

Stroking Leah’s hair as she sucks on the tip, a small smirk forms on my face.

『What’s so funny!?』

Of course it’s funny.

「I thought it was weird from the start.」

I grab the spear of one of the guards with one hand, pull him toward me from inside the cage, and punch him.

『It’s useless. The guards in this nightmare represent your fear. As long as you feel fear, you cannot defeat them within this world!』

Contrary to what the voice in the sky said, the guard falls down with a dent in his face.

「Don’t tell me, you……think I’m scared of this place?」

I twirl the stolen spear and pierce the throats of two more guards.

『Y-you’re a child slave in an underground arena! There’s no way you aren’t frightened! The violent guards, the unbreakable iron bars of the――』

His words trail off as the cage is destroyed by a front kick.

「I don’t feel a shred of fear. I’ve been here since as far back as I can remember. What is there to be afraid of?」

I can understand being frightened if I was taken from a peaceful life and thrown into a hellish arena.

However, I was here from the beginning. Until Lucy taught me, this was my ‘normal’.

「Speaking of fear toward the guards-」

I catch the spear thrust at me with the handle of mine, flip the weapon up to the ceiling and return a thrust to the guard’s eyeball.

「Even back then, there were no guards stronger than me. Now the me inside has grown more. What’s scary about amateurs with sticks and rusty swords?」

I dodge the incoming spears from the left and right in one breath and sweep the legs of the wielders.

I step on the face of the right enemy, then gouge my spear into the stomach of the left enemy.

In reality, I would use this momentum to run, but right now it’s fine to take it easy.

All the guards can rush at once and I would still be stronger.

Where’s the response from the voice in the sky?

The only way I can tell his presence is from the voice so it’s troubling if he becomes speechless.

Let me try calling out.

「Honestly speaking, I feel happiness rather than fear.」

『What!?』

I pat Leah behind me whose legs have given out.

「When I was a kid, I was dumb and didn’t understand the world. If I could redo it――」

I swipe my spear, and in a flash, the locks of the cages around me all get sliced.

I didn’t have such skill back then either.

The boys and girls that shuffle out don’t have faces.

It must be because they weren’t in my memories.

『Happy……you say? You’re insane.』

A fat man comes running from the back with a terrifying expression.

「Oh, I remember your face well. I’ve never met a more funny face than yours to this day.」

As a greeting, I casually lop off his head.

『Are you saying that you, who has gone from a high-ranking noble to a king……felt no fear or despair during your hellish youth?』

「That’s the funny thing. It’s when I left this place that I’ve been closer to death more times.」

I thought I was done for when I met Lucy, it was the same when I left the forest and headed for the Federation, and I felt on the verge of death on the way back as well.

During my time in the ‘Wings of Dawn’, I was also in countless life-and-death fights.

And even after becoming a noble, it was constant war.

No matter how I think about it, facing off against a battalion of heavy cavalry in front of a castle gate and battling a number of giant insects enough to cover the ground is way harder than a one-on-one in an underground arena.

「Maybe it was the second safest time in my life.」

Of course, the safest was in Lucy’s forest.

I would study, have sex, do housework――although I did sometimes get sent flying by Lucy and come close to dying.

『W-what the-……that’s not normal!』

I agree, it’s not a normal life.

Oops, here comes the wife of a high-ranking noble wearing heavy makeup from behind the dead pig.

I drop my spear and bow deeply.

「I killed you when I was a kid. You were a disappointing woman with a face caked in makeup who scavenged for boys in the underground pit, but that was the one thing I regretted.」

『T-that part……?』

I take the hand of the lady.

「That’s why if I had a chance to redo it, I want to fuck you and make you my lover. Got it?」

I say as I touch my crotch with her hand.

「……it can’t be helped. Let’s be lovers.」

『Why is a nightmare proceeding so smoothly!?』

Well, it’s hard to think a wife who searches for boys in such a place is not lewd.

And obviously, she will fall in no time if she touches a big cock.

『Such ridiculous assumptions, is your worldview itself twisted!?』

I push a guard aside and turn around.

「Alright, the boys can run. As for the girls, if you follow me I’ll look after you.」

The girls shriek gleefully and crowd around me.

「Y-you won’t accept boys……?」

「Of course not. If you’re a boy, look after yourself.」

Then an androgynous kid who can’t pick between the two sides grabs my leg.

「H-how about me? Umm……a female! I’ll become a female.」

I ponder briefly and gesture for him to follow me.

If he’s going to become a female, that pretty much makes him a girl. Mm, this is a dream so I don’t have to think too deeply about things.

『What’s going on……?』

Looks like there are twenty other girls besides Leah.

It would be harsh to make all of them work, I guess I’ll hold onto the pig’s gold for now and buy a house in a town, then find a job as a mercenary.

「If I have time, I also need to greet Lucy, and meet Celia and Carla. Even if they resist, I’m sure they’ll fall if I forcefully sleep with them. Nonna’s Elektra is a bit far off……she’d just turn me away if I meet her when the family is still intact. I know her erogenous zones though, so I can just make her mine if I get her in bed.」

I destroy the underground exit with a front kick, and smile as I twist the head of the final guard.

「Things are getting interesting now. It’s smooth sailing from here. Hahahahaha!!」

I crack my neck and step outside.

『I-I’m at my limit――!!』

Everything turns white in front of me, and the underground scene……changes into an underground unlike that of my past.

「……」

I instinctively stick my hands out in the direction I sense bloodlust and grab the heads of two punks.

「Gah……what is this strength……?」

「My head……is being crushed……」

My eyes go directly to the boss.

「How boring. It was just getting to the good part.」

I hear the sound of nuts being smashed from either side, and after a scream, a disgusting warmth covers my hands.

Apparently, the hours within the illusion were merely a few seconds in the real world.

I take a firm step toward the boss.

「Stay away!!」

Before he used that weird magic, he was composed, and now he’s clearly terrified of me.

「I’m definitely coming. I came to eliminate you after all.」

「Eeeh, then how about this!? The darkness that remains in your heart――become an illusion and appear!! You have driven thousands to their deaths. Surely you must carry a profound darkness! Die at the hands of the cursed army born from within you!!」

His right eye opens wide again.

「Oh, is this going to be a continuation?」

I watch in anticipation, but nothing happens.

No, I can’t say it was nothing.

「I’ll curse youー」

「So bitterー」

「Damn youー」

Translucent pipsqueaks about 30 cm tall are muttering their grudges.

Looking carefully, they resemble the previous king, Erich, and Agor.

Oh please, don’t complain too much.

「……that’s it? You killed all those people, acted wildly, and backstabbed left and right, and these are the only ones who resent you? 30 cm……so tiny.」

I resume walking and grab the boss by the collar.

「Well, that’s because I fought them face to face. I killed them after crossing swords with them. My worry is about being impolite, I guess.」

I pick up the mini Erich.

Seeing as how he has no weight, this must be another form of illusion.

「I’m also human. I still feel something when I kill people close to me. Even now, I occasionally visit their graves and feel sorry about what I did. That’s the extent.」

I place the mini Erich on the boss’s head.

He then disappears when the boss snaps his fingers.

「It’s over.」

I put my hand on the boss’s neck.

「Stop, don’t kill him――!!! We need information――!!!」

Rebecca shouts as she runs in together with the knights.

With a wry smile, I punch the boss in the face, knocking a few front teeth loose as well as knocking him unconscious.