“If you’re scared of that, you can’t become a hero!”
“Uuh…”
Unable to refute the claim he couldn’t become a hero, Yu fell silent.
Having heard Yu’s desire to become a hero, the other children stirred into an uproar.
“Ohhh what’s this, what’s this? Yu plans on becoming a hero?”
“For real? Impossible for a crybaby like him, right? Riiight?”
“Uuh…”
The others laughed at Yu’s dream. All of them said it was impossible.
But Foil alone silently stared straight at Yu.
“What’ll you do, Yu?”
“…I’ll go! I’m going too!”
“Hey hey, don’t push yourself.”
“That’s right, that’s right—”
“I’m not pushing myself! I’m going too!”
Whether it was stubbornness or pride, or perhaps a child’s rebellious spirit.
Yu refused to back down.
“Heh, that’s just like you, Yu. It’s decided, we all go together. And I’ll take the lead, of course.”
Amidst the other children’s laughter, Foil believed Yu would come.
And decided to head to the goddess’ shrine first, to insist on his own bravery.
(That’s right, if I do that, Mei-chan will realize I’m the better man!)
Curiosity and…just a single faint sentiment.
Foil tightly clenched his fist. Then rallied the others.
“Alright my brave friends! Let the adventure begin—!”
“””Ohh!”””
“O-oh…”
Raising a fist, the children headed into the forest.
The night forest they entered for the first time was dimly-lit, and frightening for that reason. Unlike the liveliness of the daytime, the lifelessness made it eerie and stirred unease.
Foil unknowingly gulped.
“Hieee!”
“Gah! D-don’t make weird sounds, Yu!”
“B-b-but just now, something long and thin is …… around my feet—!”
“Hey, quit saying stuff like that!”
“W-wait, lemme shine the lamp for a bit.”
When Foil shone the lamp at Yu’s feet, all that was there was a thin snake slithering on the ground.
“It’s just a snake. A kid at that! Getting scared of this, Yu really is a crybaby!”
“Scary stuff is still scary, you know.”
“No good, if you wanna become a hero you can’t cower at stuff like this! Look at my courage!”
Tattatta, running ahead of Yu, Foil advanced. His friends followed after Foil.
“W-w-wait up, Foil-kun! It’s dangerous to get too far ahead!”
“Yo yo, is the scaredy-crybaby worrying?”
“Tha~t’s right, if we don’t hurry up we’ll leave you behind!”
“Look, Yu! I’m ahead of you!”
Talking as they walked, the group kept going. However, there was still no sign of the goddess’ shrine.
“Strange…I heard it was around here.”
“Yo yo, for real? Don’t tell me we’re lost or something.”
The boy who claimed to know the shrine’s location looked around. Foil searched as well.
“We really don’t see it anywhere.”
“Hold on, Foil-kun! P-press on…! It’s okay, I’m not sca…uwah!?”
“Yu!!?”
While hurrying to catch up to the ahead Foil and the others, Yu missed his footing and tumbled down.
Shining the lamp on the spot where he fell, Yu was nowhere to be seen.
“Wahhh, crybaby Yu fell down!”
“Oh crap!”
“Everyone stay there! I’ll go check! Don’t get separated or it’ll be bad!”
Ordering the other children to wait, Foil carefully yet quickly climbed down.
He was able to go down the slope, impossible for a mere child, without injury.
“Yu! You aren’t hurt!?”
“Fo…Foil-kun.”
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
Luckily, Yu was quickly found. The place he fell conveniently had a wide area, without any jutting branches or sharp leaves. He wasn’t severely injured, just very dirty.
Seeing the relieved Foil, Yu’s reaction was somewhat dull. He seemed distracted by something. Foil followed Yu’s gaze.
“This is…”
“Yeah…I found it. The goddess’ shrine.”
Yu murmured as if deeply moved. Foil also inadvertently held his breath.
At the end of their sight below the great tree was the shrine, with an enshrined statue of the goddess.
“To think this is the goddess’ shrine…What a presence…”
There was also a church in Foil and the others’ village. With statues of the goddess erected.
Unlike that statue receiving offerings, the neglected statue of the shrine would surely be shabby in comparison. However, it had a majestic atmosphere that compelled the eyes more than the church statue.
Unintentionally, even Foil gazed at it as if forgetting time. And then he recalled that he had left the other children behind.
“Yu, let’s go up. Everyone’s waiting.”
“Ah, okay!”
Reluctantly pulled away, Yu turned back.
Somehow climbing up the slope again and meeting up with the other children, Foil boasted right away of finding the goddess’ shrine.
“Ehh—! You really found the goddess’ shrine!”
“Yeah. Yu found it. Right?”
“Yeah…It was really pretty.”
“Lucky…But like Foil and the others, we can’t climb down that slope.”
“Tch, so only you two guys saw it.”
The children who couldn’t see the goddess’ shrine lamented.
“Anyway, we accomplished our goal. Let’s go back to the village.”
Foil told them to return to the village. Dissatisfied, but lacking the courage to descend, the children followed.
“…!? Wait, just now I heard something…”
At that moment, Yu sensed a faint sound and shuddered.
“Huh? Another snake? Heh heh, then the great Foil-Austin will smite it!”
Shining his lamp at the sound’s origin,
Foil lost his words.
What the lamp illuminated wasn’t a snake.
With black fur and sharp claws, its body length over three times Foil’s size. It was a creature resembling a bear. Frightening enough by itself, but even more eye-catching was its eyes.
“Purple…”
In this world, there was only one existence with purple eyes.
The Demon Army. Only the demons and monsters belonging to it.
The first monster he had seen. It was enormous, ferocious and sinister.
“Ah…ah…”
“Hiii—! A mo-monster!”
“Uwaaaa!”
“Hey, don’t move on your own!”
Unable to withstand the terror, the other children scrambled to flee in different directions.
“Ugh!”
Shu, the friend who first fled in fear among the cowering group, had his body torn by the monster’s claws.
“S-Shu-kun was…!”
Without moving an inch after blown into the tree, blood dripped steadily from Shu’s ripped body.
Seeing that, even Yu’s face turned pale.
And Foil had also crumpled down, dropping the lamp.
“Haah…haah…”
Breathing raggedly, his pounding chest felt out of place.
What is this…
Scary.
Scary.
Scary scary scary!! The staff in hand was woefully unreliable. He had already lost his earlier confidence.
Foil had been swallowed by the terror of his first time experiencing it.
Luckily its gaze was still on Shu.
With the terrifying bloodshot eyes of the monster dyed purple looking this way.
“Ah…ah…u,uwaaaa!”
“Haa!? What are you saying?”
“Shu-kun is still alive. We have to help him!”
“Wait, it’s not that…!”
“Hiii!”
“Uwaaa!!”
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
BUY THE SOURCE MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR !!!
Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated.
Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.
Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 3-10+ additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
Donation for faster release is always welcome
Additionally, I am now accepting translation requests.
