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The Raven Dark Hero 38
🕑 Added 2021-05-12 00:01:00 +0000 UTCChapter 38 : The Troubled Man
TL:SummerPeanut
-A few days ago, the hiding place of the filth organization ‘Fuzen no Tomoshibi’.
For the past week, the NDF has been on a nationwide campaign to wipe out the filths’ lairs.
The NDF’s plan to wipe out the filths included the new recruits, and Hiro was naturally involved in the operation.
“S-spare me?!”
It is the boss of this organization who is now begging for his life in front of Hiro's eyes.
"Spare you? Filths have no human rights. Don't you dare to beg for your life."
And then the gun operated by Hiro shot the boss in his temple.
(I'm strong. I can even destroy this level of organization alone... But why can’t I feel like I would be able to easily beat that guy(Bright)!)
The operation to clean up this organization had ended successfully, and the soldiers had begun to retreat.
Even so, Hiro stood there in silence as the afterglow of killing the boss and his sense of powerlessness mashed up.
"Hiro-kun~, time to retreat"
And then the leader of this assault, Second-Lieutenant Kashiwagura, came to call Hiro.
"Second-Lieutenant Kashiwakura... Just what am I lacking?"
"Hmm? Mmm... experience, perhaps? Your attitude has become much better lately, you're putting more effort, and you have a high-rank gift. I'm sure in another ten years or so you'll be quite the big guy."
"Then... then like that, I can't win against Bright!"
"Bright is the monster that killed Lieutenant Saejima, right? That's not exactly what I would say a good comparison."
"But...but he's..."
Hiro suddenly shuddered from recalling Bright. There is no doubt that Bright really meant to kill him at that time. It was as if he was just stepping on a random bug. That fear is strongly carved into his head.
"Even among the general-class combatants, there are not many that can go toe-on-toe with Lieutenant Saejima, you know? That Bright must have trained for God knows how many years to become so strong. So you don't have to be in such a hurry either."
"...I’m saying that I don’t have that much time! The next time I see Bright, the one he would kill first might be me. When he stared at me that time, his eyes are not joking at all."
"I see... You are being marked by such a scary guy huh."
Hiro was annoyed by Kashiwagura’s words. She was speaking as if it’s none of her problem. However, he remembered that Bright’s revenge might not be limited to only Saejima and him.
"What are you saying as if you are a bystander? Didn’t Second-Lieutenant Kashiwagura met him once before? And you even punched him as hard as you could, didn't you?"
"What? ............ehh?! That guy was Bright?!"
This is the first time Kashiwagura heard that the man who she and Hiro caught previously was actually Bright.
"W-w-wh-what should I do?! If he found me, will he kill me too??"
"Who knows? Bright seems to hold a grudge against those who were at that place so that might be possible. In fact, I was almost killed while Lieutenant Saejima was really killed by him."
Kashiwagura’s face turned pale blue.
"...I, think I should transfer to the registrar department..."
Kashiwagura's ability is a detection-type gift. The range is about a 3km radius, so even though she won't be on the front line, she will, unfortunately, be deployed to the scene most of the time.
Even if she’s a second-lieutenant, one’s strength depends on one’s gift. Even Hiro understands that combat capability is not the only evaluation criteria. However, the fact that Hiiro was regarded as a promising candidate was definitely due to the strength of his gift.
The fact that he was vastly inferior to Bright in terms of strength was humiliating for Hiro, and more than anything, he was terrified of Bright.
(Bright… Sure, it's not common to have more than one gift, but how many years of training does it take to get that kind of strength?)
In Hiro's mind, Bright has already become a symbol of fear that he will never be able to oppose. Despite this, he is also beginning to feel a slight sense of rivalry, albeit reckless.
...and then Kashiwagura came back to Hiro.
"Oh, Hiro-kun. Next weekend, there will be a National Defense Force event at your local shopping mall. You have been ordered by the higher-ups to attend. Good luck."
The NDF regularly organises what is called festivals. It's a great way to tell the citizens and show them how the NDF is working hard to protect them.
This time they are going to make a big announcement that they have destroyed eight filths organisations in the country.
"Why me? I'm only a private, remember?"
"High school kids in the army are rare. Some human rights groups say it's outrageous to send young people to war. You need to prove how good you are as a soldier and get rid of that notion. And you're a local to that area."
Initially, Hiro's presence in the military was concealed from public, as Kashiwagura said, out of consideration for human rights groups.
But the other day, the blunder at Nerima branch's was not disclosed to the public, but information will inevitably leaks from somewhere.
In the end, in order to restore the confidence of the army, the purpose is to let people know that there is a promising young man in the future and to strengthen the trust to the NDF. It’s akin to a scapegoat story according to the higher-ups.
(Tsk..in other words be a mascot panda for them? ...and at times like this...)
For Hiro, who wanted to get stronger and faster, the festival was just an annoying event.
But what he didn't know at the time was that this event would also be the start of a big change for him...
Author’s note:
※To commemorate bookmark count going over 10000, I will post another chapter at 15:00 today! It’s everyone’s favourite Azusa (I’m sorry) appearance time…(^^; Please look forward to it!
TL: Not me.
