LIGHTNOVELWORLD Episode 11: The Burdens We Carry_ A Journey with Alshade in the Dark
Chapter 11:The Burdens We Carry: A Journey with Alshade in the Dark
“I don’t hear any sounds that indicate movement. I don’t think there are any undead over there,” she said.
“Alright, then get on,”
“Alright then, excuse me,”
“Good, here we go!”
As I felt the weight on my back and Alshade’s arm wrapped around my neck, I passed my arm under her legs and stood up.
“Is it too heavy?”
“I’m fine,”
Thanks to my talent as a strong character in this life and my mother raising me healthily until I was ten, my physical abilities and reflexes were quite high. Even if I was
slender, carrying a girl of the same age on my back was no problem.
… To be honest, if I were to answer honestly whether it was heavy or not, I would say it was. But I knew it wouldn’t be good to answer that way to a girl. Mostly based on
knowledge from web novels and light novels.
If I were to say it was light, it would be a lie. So, I would deceive her with words that could be interpreted either way.
If there is a problem, it would be that the feeling of Alshade’s soft body transmitted through her clothes, her body temperature that tickled my nose, and the scent that
enveloped me were causing my heart rate to rise abnormally.
Furthermore, occasionally I would catch her whispers in my ear…
“(Calm down, don’t think about it anymore. I’m starting to have perverted thoughts! All is void, void is all!)”
“You stopped, is everything alright?” she asked.
“…No problem, I’m fine.”
Alshade began to worry as I stood still, so I started moving my feet.
The reason I suggested carrying Alshade on my back was to have her close to my eyes. I considered holding hands, but in case we fell and got injured by the bones on the
ground, it would be troublesome. That’s why I chose this method.
“We’re getting closer, so please use magic,” I said.
“Understood. If I deploy a few ‘Illumination’ spells, it will serve as a deterrent for the skeletons and zombies. Concentrate on escaping in case they
come out,”
“Got it. Since we live in the slums, swift legs are important,”
After confirming several floating light orbs around us, I stepped onto the mound of dirt, being careful not to step on bones and corpses.
As expected, Gad’s corpse was completely naked, proving my expectations correct. Although he was originally an enemy, I silently prayed in my heart for his miserable state
and passed by his side.
Even though I had been reincarnated as a strong character, it was a character who was destined to die in the future. Moreover, this was reality. If I let my guard down, I would
end up exposing my miserable corpse just like Gad.
I must not overestimate my own abilities and knowledge from the original work.
I don’t want to die due to carelessness, and I can’t face my mother like this.
It was because I was on guard like that, that I noticed.
I saw a hand that was slightly protruding from the ground near my feet twitch, and instinctively I avoided that hand and ran forward.
I could hear the sound of something crawling from behind and a muffled, eerie voice.
“Vaah…”
“That was close,” I said.
“Is something wrong? If there’s a need to fight, I’ll fight”
“No, it doesn’t seem to be coming this way, so it’s not necessary. It looks like we passed by a place where zombies happened to appear,”
As Alshade had said, the “Illumination” spells seemed to serve as a deterrent. The zombies turned their attention toward us, but they didn’t come closer.
“We’ve passed that place, so you can get off now,” I said.
“Understood.”
Alshade slowly descended from my back, and she seemed a little down.
“…Sigh, it’s not good to be so flustered just by hearing about the opposite sex’s nudity. I guess I won’t be able to become a splendid future head of the
family,” she said.
“You’re about the same age as me. You’re still a child, and it’s natural to be immature. You should gain various experiences and grow. What’s
important is what you learn from your failures, including the mistakes. Besides, they say that happiness runs away when you sigh,”
It was a quote from a teacher I had relied on during my middle school days in my previous life. It would probably have more effect than me trying to encourage her by saying
this and that.
“Yeah, thanks. Talking to you made me feel like I am talking to an adult,” she replied.
“I-I see? Maybe it’s because I’m quoting my mother,”
I managed to encourage Alshade, but she seemed to have caught on to my sharpness. Maybe it felt strange for her to hear words that were spoken by an older person?
“By the way, I’m eleven, but how old are you, miss?” I asked, diverting the topic and trying to confirm what I knew.
I knew I was eleven years old, but since her age wasn’t specified in the original work, I had no idea how many years earlier it was compared to the present.
On the other hand, Alshade was supposed to be twenty-one at the start of the original work. Even if there was a mistake in my memory, it should only be a year or two off, so I
could roughly figure out the time period.
“Raios, you’re one year older than me. Though I’m taller,” she said.
“I heard that girls tend to grow faster, I think I heard that somewhere. Within five years, the height difference would be reversed,” I said.
Alshade mentioned that she was ten, but then she teased me about the height difference. It’s a good thing if I think of it as her revealing her true self for the second time, but I
can’t help but feel a sense of rivalry when teased.
Maybe there’s something to that idea of being drawn to the body in web novels.
If that’s the case, it’s not good for me, who was still a high school student in my previous life and mentally immature, to be teased by a ten-year-old Alshade without any
reaction.
“(I said something like that to Alshade, but I’m still immature, aren’t I?)”
“Ra-ios, when you’re lost in thought, your emotions tend to show on your face. It’s also not good to be so absorbed that you can’t see what’s around
you. Well, maybe it’s because you’re smart that you’ve developed that habit. Look, look ahead, it’s the staircase,” she said.
“Huh?”
As Alshade pointed it out, I realized that I had unknowingly dropped my gaze to the ground. In front of us was indeed a staircase, and I couldn’t help but let out a
dumbfounded voice.
“I’m glad you trust me. Actually, I can defeat the undead before they approach us. But I’m not so confident that I can prevent you from falling down the stairs,” she said.
“…Sorry, I’ll be careful,” I apologized.
Although she didn’t say it herself, I could imagine that the words “You’ve caused trouble before” followed. As someone who had caused trouble, I couldn’t say anything in
return.
Since deciding not to let my guard down, I had to be careful from now on, or else I dreaded what might happen.
“Let’s take a break before going up the stairs. I’ll summarize what I’ve been thinking,” I suggested.
“Sounds good. I’ve been walking for a while too, and climbing the stairs uses up energy. Let’s take a break here,”
With Alshade’s approval, I sat on the stairs and began organizing the information.
Alshade had said she was ten, so it was now about eleven years before the start of the original work. Assuming her birthday hadn’t come yet, it would be about ten years ago.
Since the start of the original work was in Unified Calendar 1564, it would be around 1554 or 1553 now. The activities of the organization that was opposing the protagonists in
the series should not be so active during this time.
In other words, I had plenty of time to become stronger. Ideally, I wanted to reach a level where I could compete evenly with the final boss by the time the original work
started, but since everyone was unreasonably strong, it would be more realistic to be able to match or defeat the mid-boss.
Technically, there was a way to reach the level of the final boss. There was a rule in this world that one’s soul level rises through battles and training. If the soul level rises,
naturally, one becomes stronger.
In conclusion, as much as possible, I would fight stronger monsters with precautions based on my knowledge of the original work. I would also train my defensive and evasion
skills and improve my speed in case of unexpected battles.
These would be the basic strategies.
“Alright, I’ve sorted out my thoughts. Have you had enough rest?” I asked.
“I’m fine. Shall we… go?”
To ensure that I could respond immediately even when my legs reached their limit, I decided to go up the stairs first, and Alshade would follow behind.
I started climbing the stairs, making sure not to rely on her healing magic.
“Oh, by the way, I counted when we were coming down, and there were two hundred steps,” she said.
(Don’t say that now! It’s demoralizing!)
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