I Picked Up the Abandoned Hero

14 – 14. Things I’m Not Interested in

“…I’ve said it so confidently, but this job is a bit difficult for me too.”

“Are there any problems? Anything I can help with-“

“Not that I need your help. It’s just that the dwarves are so weak that they’ll die in the middle.”

Alfred looks at Stella carefully.

The problem is not that the disease itself is difficult to cure, but that the patient is too weak to withstand the treatment.

It seems that Stella herself did not know about it, but her physical condition has not been normal since she first came here.

“They have weaker bodies than humans, and no matter how hard they train their bodies, there is a limit to that. Because they’ve been living like flowers in a greenhouse from the beginning.”

“Ugh, ugh…!”

Besides, the disease is already halfway advanced.

If you collapse while vomiting blood, after that your body will slowly be eaten away and you will act regardless of your will.

If there is something that touches your nerves, you will be satisfied only if you destroy it, and in the process of destroying yourself, you will not be able to recognize it.

It is a terrible disease in which nerves and senses are paralyzed, pain disappears, and eventually even the ego disappears.

“Ah, Arsel… Get away from me…!”

Still, that elf belonged to the side that held up quite well.

Is it because he is still young, or does he value Arcel that much?

Alfred thought it was worth praising that at least he still maintained his reason.

Of course, that’s only true by the standards of elves.

“hahahaha…! Whoa…! Ugh, I feel strange…”

Pick up the bow.

With a broken arm, attach an arrow to a string.

The process seemed very painful.

“…Next time it would be right to tear it off or cut it off instead of breaking it, because in the end, if you put up with the pain, the best you can do to suppress it will be meaningless.”

Stella’s gaze turns to Arcel.

“You stay calm there, if you move freely, you will become like me?”

Alfred created a magic circle under Arcel’s feet and then pointed his finger at his head.

It was a warning that if you get out of there, you could die at any time.

Anyway, the opponent was an elf, the race with the best eyesight, and Stella was one of the few elves among them.

Finding a momentary gap and sniping shouldn’t be a chore.

“Damn it, my body won’t stop…!”

Stella begins to aim her bow.

Currently, Stella is left with only her bodily instincts and experiences.

I have no choice but to watch the instincts of the body while reason is cut off.

Since I was born, I have been running and hunting in the rough forest, and I know how to kill opponents in battles with demons.

And then the arrows start pouring down.

There are no more control devices attached to the body.

That elf doesn’t even feel the pain of his own body collapsing, and becomes a creature that kills only what he sees in front of him.

“…?!”

Nevertheless, this is an astounding sight.

Alfred slowly walks towards Stella.

Innumerable arrows are aimed at him, and the power of each arrow is enough to break rocks and split the ground.

Elfs, in particular, have the constitution to absorb mana from nature if their surroundings are in a forest, so they were able to generate many times more than their original strength in such a place.

‘What is the identity of that monster…?’

But even that didn’t make any sense.

Fire-!

Even the arrows that went beyond the speed of sound were engulfed in black flames and disappeared before reaching Alfred’s body.

Stella’s body instinctively senses danger and distances itself, and takes other measures if the arrow does not work.

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The trees in the forest sway.

The earth rages and reveals its shape.

Natural rocks appearing from the ground, they appeared with the same shape as a giant.

“Those are the magics that the elves used in ancient times…”

Arsel was well aware of that magic.

Because it was a magic that Stella used in the past when she was in a hurry.

As elves are a species that lives in nature, they naturally know how to deal with nature.

It is said that it is possible to bestow a will on an inanimate object and use it as a chess horse, and an excellent elf can command a summoned beast with power comparable to that of a mythical dragon.

“How long will you guys use that old-fashioned magic? This is also why races with long lifespans do not develop.”

However.

Even that summoned beast Alfred looked down upon.

The giant tried to trample Alfred, but his legs fell off in an instant, and the roots that rose from the ground tried to bind him, but he was also reduced to ashes by black fire.

“Ugh…!”

At some point, Stella wanted to completely kill Alfred, including her mind.

Not because of illness, but because I felt really dangerous when I saw him.

“You know, I think humans are stronger than you dwarves. Even though my lifespan is too short compared to you guys, and there’s nothing particularly outstanding about it-“

Besides, Alfred was right in front of him.

Even though they were clearly walking slowly, Stella hurriedly ran away, but there was no distance at all.

What happened?

Why can’t I escape?

Why am I walking in place?

That’s when Stella’s thoughts came to mind.

“On the contrary, I am better than you because I have a short lifespan. Humans are at most 100 years old, so I want to achieve more and move forward in that short period of time.”

“!”

“…But not you?”

Pu-wook!

“Uh-?”

Alfred’s hand went through Stella’s belly.

“Alfred?!”

“It’s okay, just watch.”

After pulling out his hand, Arcel saw Alfred’s hand stained black.

Alfred’s hand was not red blood, but an ominous, unknown black stain.

“As expected, I feel bad. Is the principle itself similar to rabies?”

That’s also very sticky.

“Oh, dirty.”

After that, he put on an expression of sincere contempt.

I wonder if he even cut off his hands with black stains and burned them?

Alfred repeatedly squeezed and extended his regenerated hand, then turned his attention to Stella.

“Congratulations anyway, you are the only elf I saved twice. Even though he pierced his body, he was the only one who didn’t have his heart ripped out. You can think of it as a family honor!”

Puff!

Of course, Stella collapsed, losing her consciousness.

I didn’t actually get pierced through the stomach, but I accumulated a lot of fatigue and pain comparable to that.

There was also a limit to enduring with mental strength.

In order to meet her friend who was more precious to her than anything else, she had come all the way here with her sick body.

“Stella…! Alfred, is she okay?!”

“No? It can’t be okay, did I tell you? This disease cannot be reversed once symptoms appear. I just forcibly pulled out the diseased part.”

“So- then, is there no way to fix her…?”

Is that why?

“…You know, aren’t you just worried about the dwarves?”

“Ah-“

Alfred showed a little dismay and leaned against Arcel from behind.

“Because I was treated badly too? Even her hair was blown right in front of her eyes, wasn’t it too much for her not to worry about anything? If he was a normal person, he’d be dead.”

“That, that is…”

Only then did Arcel realize that he had made a mistake.

Of course, it was Stella’s side that was serious, but that didn’t mean Alfred didn’t work hard.

“…I believed that you would be fine. The Alfred I know doesn’t fall over like that.”

“Yeah, actually it’s fine. In the first place, there’s no way a weak race like a dwarf could kill me.”

Fortunately, Alfred greeted me with a bright smile as if he liked the answer.

However, it does not seem to be going quietly.

“But, the hardest thing for me was having to ignore the idea of tearing him to pieces and killing him twice as badly as he did.”

“Alfred?”

Wrap his arms around his neck as if hugging Arcel from behind.

It was a warm embrace.

However.

“…Never twice, that’s an epidemic. A terrible disease that could destroy the world you saved if you do it wrong. Let’s end this entanglement with personal feelings.”

The voice that sounded like a whisper was very cold.

I’m not callous.

That was a warning that contained only the truth.

He said to keep in mind that humans had no choice but to imprison the elves and burn them, and that everything in the world has a cause and consequently comes its consequences.

“Anyway, if I had suffered, or if I had missed that elf, the plague could have spread because of you, and not only the elves, but also the humans could have become like that. Never forget.”

“…”

At least Stella had the will to reject his instincts to the end, but he had better not think that other people would do the same.

I heard that there is no ending as unsightly as the destruction of the world because of such emotions.

“But wouldn’t it be possible for you to make such a mistake? More than anything. You will keep your promise.”

“Yes, I am here to keep my promise.”

As Arcel said with a wry smile, Alfred didn’t bother to say more.

It was just as desperate.

“But even so, it’s a bit serious…”

“Is Stella’s condition serious?”

“Your friend is also a friend, but I think the outside world is more serious than I thought. Are you new to that disease?”

Alfred wasn’t talking about the fallen Stella.

“Do you know how that disease is transmitted?”

“I don’t know. But aren’t most contagious diseases usually caused by air or body contact?”

“Right, that disease is mostly transmitted through physical contact? Something like a black spot sprouted from the contact area. But your friend is different.”

“Wait, Alfred, what are you doing?!”

Alfred tore off Stella’s clothes.

The whole body was exposed with no hiding place.

“Don’t get me wrong, a caterpillar on the side of the road is more interesting than a body without breasts and flesh.”

After that, Alfred looked around, and he responded that he knew that too.

“Look closely, is there any part of your friend’s body that looks particularly strange or contaminated?”

“…?!”

Come to think of it, it was strange.

Stella’s body was clean.

Obviously, according to what Alfred had just said, something had to be wrong.

But Stella had none of that.

“In the case of this goblin, there was an infection site in the body. In terms of you humans, this would be equivalent to the digestive system…”

After entrusting Stella to the skeleton, Alfred said as he folded her mat and prepared to return.

“In other words, it can be assumed that the infection was caused by eating the wrong thing.”

“Isn’t the river polluted? Perhaps, if the drinking water in the elves’ estate is contaminated—”

“Maybe not? If the water was polluted, it would have turned black and turbid or had a terrible stench. That is a case where only a very small amount of contaminant is introduced into the body and multiplied.”

Hearing that, Arsel’s expression hardened.

“A very small amount, so that you don’t even notice that it’s contaminated. Do you know what that means?”

Alfred enjoyed Arcel’s reaction.

“No way, that means someone deliberately told Stella-“

“Answer! 10 Out of 10 points. Your friend was someone deliberately trying to infect you with the disease. At first, I thought he had been infected in his hometown, but now that I think about it, it was normal for him to run wild before arriving here.”

Arsel was shocked, but Alfred laughed.

Should I say naive or pure?

Arsel’s reaction to being surprised by such an obvious fact was very cute.

“Alfred, who the hell, why did Stella…”

“Well? Maybe someone who has a grudge against you did that.”

“That can’t be. Even so, I didn’t do anything to bring her resentment to her…!”

I thought that was just like a child.

“Ah-“

“Now, are you tired? If the emotions get too intense, the mana leaks out again. Let’s think about today’s work until today.”

“…Ah.”

Arcel lost his consciousness for a moment and fell asleep.

Alfred headed for the castle with Arcel in his arms.

“Oh, that’s right. I brought a packed lunch, but I couldn’t eat it.”

In the end, I only regretted the soggy sandwich.

Alfred hadn’t thought of anything else.