NOVEL NEXT chapter 16
16. When I woke up, I had escaped from prison!?
—
I wake up in the darkness
I thought I had been killed by Melgia, but it seems I’m captured and being interrogated? A grotesque voice echoes in the dark, and then the door opens, revealing Melgia, who grins at me with a look of disdain. Then, he raises his hand.
At that moment, my consciousness begins to fade. When I awaken, I find myself on the battlefield, my body moving as I wish, killing the enemies of the Allied Forces. I feel better than ever before, my magical power surging. With this, I can save the world! On the battlefield, I pour my heart and soul into the fight, slaying my foes.
Then I face a certain party.
The moment they see my face, they wear expressions of extreme anguish.
A swordsman, a mage, and a healer—this party seems to lack defense. I use my martial skill, Shield Slash, to keep them at bay, surpassing the swordsman. It seems the mage isn’t casting spells on me; instead, they’re buffing their allies. The swordsman merely defends, not attacking, and time drags on. Suddenly, I blurt out a thought that comes to mind—an insult. The words flow out smoothly, and with each word I throw, the swordsman creates openings, their movements slowing amusingly.
Just when it seems I’m about to gain the upper hand, reinforcements arrive for the enemy.
It’s the Allied Forces. The moment they arrive, for some reason,
those three wear faces of despair. It’s rather
sad…? No, it’s the opposite—joyful, actually.
It seems those three were an ambush unit.
I quickly leap back to escape the scene.
However, it appears we have emerged victorious on the battlefield.
The enemy begins to retreat, and I manage to score my first victory in battle.
After that, I achieved great results. Perhaps deemed competent even as a Dark Knight, I was granted a position in the Demon Lord’s royal guard. In my overwhelming joy, I remember killing several enemies from the Allied Forces. Yes, many of them.
◇◇◇
“Haah!”
I bolt upright, drenched in sticky sweat.
I had a truly terrible dream…
Feeling goosebumps rise, I look around.
It seems I’m inside a carriage, the sound of horses’ hooves clopping rhythmically.
“Suuh… Suuh…”
Hearing the sound of someone sleeping, I glance at the person beside me.
A demon girl is curled up like a cat, sleeping.
However, her eyes seem a bit swollen.
Then, perhaps alerted by the noise, a guard outside the carriage notices and, seeing me awake, exclaims in surprise,
“Mr. Elg!? You’re awake! Gora—! Mr. Elg has woken up!”
Hearing that, Gora swiftly makes his way over to us.
“Elg!! You’re awake!?”
—
I cover my ears against that ridiculously loud voice.
From a distance, I hear Ayla’s laughter as she watches me.
“Ah, thanks to you, I had the worst awakening.”
While I throw out a light-hearted remark, I take stock of the situation.
Then Gora glances at the girl before he begins to speak. After the Guildia fell, it seems I had fainted from the fierce battle, and the demon girl, seeing that, clung to me, crying softly and refusing to let go. Gora, battered and bruised, tried to carry both me and the demon girl, but it seems the members of the Resistance came to help. When they saw me and the girl, they were surprised and hesitant to take us, but Gora pleaded, “This guy is our savior, so please let him rest in a safe place until he heals.” Because of that, I received treatment and apparently spent the last three days bedridden since escaping from prison.
Hearing this, I express my gratitude and apologies to Gora.
“Thank you, Gora, and I’m sorry for the trouble.”
Seeing me bow my head, Gora laughs heartily and says,
“Don’t worry about it, brother! Thanks to you, we managed to escape! There’s no way we’d abandon our savior here!”
Gora wraps his arm around Wide, a member of the Resistance, as he speaks.
Wide, with a slight wry smile, agrees.
“Of course! We owe our lives to your arrival!”
Hearing that, I feel a wave of relief wash over me.
“Is that so? Then I’m glad.”
As I say this, I take a seat.
“By the way, if Wide is here, does that mean you were part of the Resistance?”
I casually ask, curiosity piqued.
Wide and Gora laugh as they put their arms around each other.
Then Wide says,
“Yes! Thanks to Elg-san!! After being attacked by thugs, Elg-san saved me, and then Ayla invited me to join!”
As I process this, Ayla approaches and says,
“Well! What! Without a doubt, my discerning eye! This one will do the job properly!”
Ayla laughs heartily as she speaks.
Seeing Ayla like that, Gora chimes in,
“What discerning eye! That’s the power of divine revelation, isn’t it?”
Ayla, slightly embarrassed by that remark, retorts to Gora,
“Hey! Don’t go spilling a maiden’s secrets!”
“Did you have divine revelation? What kind of revelation was it?”
I ask, intrigued by the mention of it.
Ayla laughs, saying, “Oh, I didn’t say that!” and begins to share her story.
—
“My revelation is a prophecy!”
“Huh?”
I let out a strange sound at the impressive name of the revelation.
“Well, even if you call it a prophecy, it’s a pretty useless defective thing!”
Aira says with a laugh. Seeing this, Gora steps in to support her.
“But the MVP of this jailbreak is this guy! After all—”
Gora starts to chatter away.
It was Aira who calculated the day with the highest success rate for the jailbreak using her prophecy, and it seems she has achieved results in every action, from gathering comrades to deciding on strategies.
“Stop it, old man, but if we’re talking about that, Elg, it’s thanks to you.”
Aira speaks with a bashful expression.
“If we had tried to escape on our own, half of us would have died or been thrown back in prison. But since you came, Elg, we can see that we can escape without anyone dying thanks to the possibilities of the prophecy.”
Hearing that, I thought to myself, so that’s why she invited me to join!
“So! Thank you! Elg!”
Aira smiles brightly, a little shy, and my heart skips a beat.
Then we chat about trivial things as night falls.
—
Interlude: The Magic Empire Arc