Translator: Haruto.

I’ve exhausted all the strength I had left in my body, and as if to pay for all the strain I put it through, a wave of pain washes over me.

I try to use the Talisman of Regeneration but I don’t have enough life energy to do so.

The dark life energy had already disappeared before I noticed, together with that dark aura.

As for my arms and legs, they hurt so much that I think they might come off at any moment.

Even breathing is proving to be quite a hassle.

I drop to the ground, and as my consciousness begins to fade, I feel like I’m hearing Amane’s voice…

“…-kun… I-It’s… okay… I’ll…”

An unknown ceiling…

Seriously, where am I?

I wake up only to realize I’m covered with warm blankets.

Is this a hospital?

I try to stand but then I see Amane sleeping peacefully on my legs.

Both my clothes and my talisman are gone.

I’m wearing the usual hospital-patient attire.

Where did they put my stuff?  

Oh well, I’ve got nothing better to do so I guess I’ll just keep enjoying the sight of this angel—I mean, Amane.

It must be pretty uncomfortable to sleep while sitting in a chair, so I pick her up and let her sleep in my bed.

Children’s body temperature is pretty high, huh. It’s been a while since I last felt the warmth of another person.

We slept through the night side by side.

The next morning, I woke up feeling the sunlight enter through the window. My beloved Amane lay beside me, sleeping still and with her clothes all messy.  

You see this kind of scene in anime and manga all the time.

Dear father, I’ve become a man…

Alright, time to stop with the dumb jokes and get out of bed already.

I shake Amane gently, waking her up.

“Morning, Amane-chan.”

“Hmm… five more minutes…”

“Oh? I’ll have to leave without you if you don’t wake up, you know?”

She rubs her eyes and opens them at last.

“Huh?! H-How…?! You were asleep, Shuu-kun…!”

She widens her beautiful and deep purple eyes.

She looks so cute when she’s surprised.

“…Shuu-kun?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re moving… Is this a dream?”

“It isn’t.”

To prove it, I pat Amane’s head.

After being away for almost a year, just touching her glossy hair gives me a warm feeling inside.

“A-Aahh… Shuu-kun… I thought you were deeeaaaad!!”

“I’m alive… I’m home.”  

I continued patting her head until she stopped crying.

“I was so worried!!” she said while pouting angrily.

Everything she does is adorable so I wasn’t quite scared.

Ker-chak!

“Shuu! You’re awake!”

“Ah, hey dad. I’m back.”

“Shuu-chan! Welcome home!”

My mom embraces me in her arms as tears fall from her eyes.

We enjoyed our little family reunion for a while and then I asked my father how I arrived at the hospital.

From what he told me, the Purging Mask tasked Amane’s team, which was the closest to the scene, to investigate the unusual clash of life energy and malice that they had detected, caused by my battle with the general.

As to why Amane was there, I was told that she was appointed as a shrine maiden after I was teleported away, and so she was in the middle of training to become stronger…

It seems Amane had been in a terrible mood ever since I disappeared, so they kept looking for me to prevent my absence from hindering her growth.

And who footed the bill for my search? The Aoyamas.

Thanks to that, Amane calmed down a little and her training continued, but it was then that the strange outburst of life energy was detected and she received a mission to investigate the mountain.

And that’s how they found me.

“You were a mess, Shuu-kun! You were bleeding everywhere, and like, your life energy circuits, or whatever they’re called, were in complete tatters, which is super dangerous for some reason!”

My life energy circuits, huh…

“…And that is also why your mommy doesn’t want you to use life energy right now, okay? Will you be a good boy and do as I say?

“Yeah, okay.”

I guess I’ll try using some later to check their condition. [He’s not a good boy.]

“We’re still busy cleaning up the forest so we have to go now.”

“Ah, I also have to go home. Bye!”

“Bye, guys.”

Alright, now I’ve got an idea of what kind of state I was left in.

Now, let’s try using my life energy.

“Oh, you really shouldn’t! You’ve got a death wish or something?”

“…?!”

The hell?! Some old fart entered my room without me noticing!

“Who are you?”

“Ohohoho! Relax, will you? My name is Shikiryuu Yousei.”

Shikiryuu Yousei?!

Ah! I remember him now! He’s that pervy old dude!

He’s the leader of the Purging Mask—the strongest man.

His age and divine arms are unknown. No one has seen him use one.

He’s the only one capable of defeating a rank-two calamity with his bare hands right now.

But he does have a major flaw.

He’s a total pervert!

In the game, he appears a couple of times to give the protagonist and his party some words of advice, which come in handy indeed. I mean, he isn’t the leader of the Purging Mask for nothing.

The problem is, every time this dude appears on screen, he touches the heroines’ butts and blurts out inappropriate remarks.  

He always acts all cheerful so you never know what’s going on inside his head.

With that being said, he’s still the leader of the organization and considered to be the strongest man at the moment, making him quite a reliable and cool ally to have when a fight breaks out.

So, if we weigh the pros and cons of having him around… Nah, it still sucks. Touch Amane and I’ll freaking kill you.

“Pervy old dude…”

“Well, that wasn’t very nice.”

Ah! Shoot! I couldn’t hold my tongue.

“Alright fine, do you want me to act all respectful towards you because you’re the leader of the Purging Mask?”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t like it when people stand on ceremony around me. More importantly, though, how come you know I’m the leader?”

“You were there when I received my divine arms, remember? You were sitting at the top.”

“Youngsters are frightening these days.”

“So, what do you want?”

“Ah, right, I’ve got a few questions for you. First, take a look at this…”

I caught the object he threw at me.

“This is… the Talisman of Regeneration.”

“It’s yours, isn’t it?”

“Yeah…”

I was sure it’d be confiscated.

The Talisman of Regeneration is a legendary item. It’d make sense for them to keep it.

“I thought I should come to pay you a visit after I heard all your pieces of equipment were items. You should have seen the commotion that broke out when that talisman was found in your affairs.”

“I know how valuable it is so I assumed you’d just take it.”

“Well, there were some who advocated for taking it away, but I reprimanded them for it. It’d be quite outrageous to steal something a child put his life on the line to obtain.”

“T-Thanks.”

“I gave the rest of your equipment to your parents. They’ll give it to you later.”

“Got it.”

This guy is surprisingly reasonable.

He’s pretty cool despite being such a pervert.

“Now then, next question: Did you do it?”

“Are you talking about what happened to the rank-three? Yeah, it was me.”

“I don’t want to be rude, but you don’t really strike me as someone capable of pulling it off…”

“I know. You see, when I was one step away from death, I felt a sort of pulse coming from my divine arms and dark life energy flowed into my body. And well, before I knew it, I had won.”

“Dark life energy, you say?”

“That’s right, dark life energy.”

“Could I take a look at your divine arms?”

“Sure, I don’t mind…”

I bring out the Dark Blades of the Divine Dragon and hand them over to the old guy.

“The Divine Dragon’s… Huh, fate can be quite amusing sometimes… That’s enough. Thank you.”

It seemed like whatever he was mumbling was pretty important, but I wasn’t able to catch everything he said.  

“Okay, here’s the final question. What do you think of Himeyuri Amane?”

“She’s cute. An angel even.”

“Oh, you’ve got good taste. She’ll be quite a beautiful jewel.”

“Keep your hands off her.”

“Uh-oh, that’s scary. Fine, I will.”

“…But let me ask again. What do you think of her, and what are your intentions with her?”

He was just joking a moment ago, but now he’s serious.

“She’s a prodigy, but she isn’t perfect or invincible… that’s why she needs someone to be there for her. However, unless you’re a natural-born genius like her, you’ll just be left behind eventually. And well, I’m unfortunately not a prodigy, but I still want to be strong enough to protect her.”

“That’s not a thorny path, but a hellish one you’ll be walking then.”

“I don’t care! I want to stand by her side. And I can’t entrust this job to anyone else! I know it might be arrogant of me to think this way, but that’s fine by me. As long as I can remain by her side, I’ll be arrogant or whatever I need to be!”

“Hohoho, I’ve taken a liking to you! You pass! I’ll train you!”

“Huh?! For real?”

“That’s right. I give you my word, I’ll make you strong enough to rival the shrine maidens! Be ready, though, I won’t go easy on you.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, old perv.”

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