Strange Grief Wants to Retire ~ The Weakest Hunter Dreams of a Hero ~-Chapter 29: Nightmare

Nightmare

I had a dream. A dream where the Capital was burning brightly, a dream of the world’s end.

The sky burned a deep red. Screams cried out. The hunters, knights, merchants, and the townspeople ran away in mass confusion.

The wide streets were awash with people, all frantically trying to escape the city. And, the walls originally meant to protect them, prevented them from leaving.

I was alone in an empty room as I looked down at the Imperial Capital from above. The room where I always spent my time, the top floor of the clan house of

『Footprints』.

Overlooking the Capital I understood the circumstances perfectly. And also the reason why the sky was burning.

The Imperial Capital that was soon to surpass a history of three hundred years, Zebrudia.

The well ordered streets were covered by burning red liquid.

Thick viscous liquid slowly spread outwards through the city.

It was as if a giant tsunami was consuming the Capital, however there were no oceans in the vicinity.

From above it could be seen that the way it flowed was different to that of water. That was – clearly aiming towards the living.

Rather than the vacant buildings, empty carriages, and unmanned stalls, it prioritised the escaping children and elderly, and the knights trying to control the chaos.

All life that came into contact with the liquid without exception burst into flames like a torch, vanishing without a trace in seconds.

Emptied armour and clothes, swords tumbled by the wayside. The air that touched the skin was hot.

For three hundred years, the walls that protected every person from the surrounding monsters and phantoms prevented each one from escaping.

The Capital Zebrudia was surrounded by walls, and the exits were too narrow for the amount trying to escape.

With the capacity overflowing, the slow evacuation didn’t advance.

The castle seen from far away already showed no sign of life.

Already, half the city had transformed into ruins. Buildings were undamaged and life had vanished cleanly without corpses. The quiet streets were extremely eerie. There might be survivors inside the buildings, but the surrounding liquid made escape hopeless.

There was no indication the volume of liquid would decrease. On the contrary, little by little it looked like it was increasing.

This liquid wouldn’t stay inside the capital. Eventually it would exit the walls and wash over the whole world.

No, that – wasn’t liquid. I already knew. That was a living thing.

It was the weakest monster that existed in nature.

That was it’s base of creation, a product of madness that shouldn’t exist. Told to treat with caution, and thoughtlessly set free (maybe).

Before I knew, a girl was standing next to me overlooking the same scene that I was.

A gentle impression was given from her droopy eyes and short cut pink blonde hair.

A featureless simple grey robe, it wasn’t something magical that Magi would wear into Shrines. They were work clothes worn under the assumption they would get dirtied.

The girl turned to face me as if just noticing. Her eyes were opened wide.

She was smiling in spite of the crisis, and spoke in a soft voice as if for small talk.

Her voice was heated. I wasn’t sure what she was saying, but I could see her excitement from her glittering eyes.

I desperately tried to stop her but my voice wouldn’t come out. My whole body was filled with dark despair and impatience.

I seized her shoulders, and the girl gave a bashful smile and embraced me. That’s not it. I’m not praising you!

I gripped both shoulders, and pushed her body away. As I shook the shoulders of the child that was happy with the results of her slime, I woke up.

I rose from bed in the total darkness of the room, my body trembling. My back was cold with sweat, and my heart still pounded furiously.

That was a terrible dream. Yet it held sobering reality. Particularly when she embraced me.

I was someone that was prone to worrying so I often had bad dreams, but that was unmistakably the number one of recent times.

I slowly regained my breath. I persuaded myself. It’s ok, the Capital wouldn’t fall into ruin that easily. Zebrudia’s strength as a nation was high.

It’s knights boasted of invincibility, several hundred Magi assembled a force of sorcery. And there were many hunters and former hunters here.

It wasn’t just the military might that was powerful. The Empire was also at the forefront of information, technology and research.

It was without a doubt the strongest of the surrounding countries. And the Imperial Capital where it wouldn’t be strange for anything to happen considering the surrounding Shrines, had the greatest defence capabilities.

If the Capital was destroyed by a sudden disaster, the other countries also wouldn’t be able to be a match for it.

...Hm? Could this maybe be bad?

For some reason the vividly remembered scene from the dream entered into my mind, and I shook my head.

“No no no no no, my dream can’t be true.” “mm... what’s wrong?”

A sluggish voice came from the left.

Looking over while laying on her side, Liz got up as if it was natural.

Her face slightly resembled the girl in my dream – Sytry, and I involuntarily grimaced.

Liz and Sytry were blood related sisters.

They had many places they were different in such as hair length, eye type, and height. But their appearance was so similar that if you put them in disguise you wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.

Liz had no malice and smiled at me. “Morning, Cry-chan. Sleep well?”

Thin fabric. Liz stretched out in her nightclothes made for comfort, and she came over and clung to my arm as my heart beat in ill manner.

Brimming with energy, Liz’s body temperature was quite higher than mine. Being embraced would make me gradually sweat.

This was the nightmares origin. She wasn’t there before I went to bed though... I felt like making a complaint, but it was no use saying I had a nightmare.

As I didn’t reply with anything, Liz’s leg twisted around my own.

The ring around her ankle touched me, and it felt slightly cold.

It was the form of Liz’s Relic, Highest Roots, when it was on standby. When it wasn’t in use, her shoe type Relic transformed into a ring.

Liz who was always saying to be combat ready at all times, didn’t remove her Relic when she was taking a shower or when she went to bed. In a day she would only remove her Relic for an instant.

As she stuck closely to me, a faint sweet fragrance drifted off of her.

Her arms, chest, and her flexible legs coiled around me. Everything felt soft and warm.

The cuddling and nuzzling body gave a sensual pleasant feeling that gradually made my brain come to boil.

She seemed like a gentle young woman.

And it was her hobby to genocide the ones that approached her like fodder. As I stayed silent and got my breathing in order, Liz spoke in a coaxing voice. “Hey, Cry-chan, today, are you free?”

“What about Tino’s training?”

“Mmm-....She might break if we overdo it, so todays a day off.”

“Your training?”

Graduating, and inheriting the name of her Master 『Severed Shadow』, she was a hardworking person.

She was usually busy within the Capital with either Tino’s or her own training. At my question, Liz gave a foolish grin.

“Today’s a day off”

.....Is that ok? Well, I didn’t have the right to comment.

I don’t know what she wants to do, but if Liz was around as an escort, then I could go outside. I didn’t have anything else planned in particular.

This wouldn’t be the first time Liz had accompanied me.

Particularly after I stopped getting involved with Shrines, these opportunities had increased little by little.

Getting involved in recreation was also part of a leaders duties. No, I can only do that much... so I’ll do it if I’m asked.

One of the reasons was because it was a time when they were more docile. I decided to forget the silly nightmare I saw a short while ago.

It was a bad dream. Just a bad dream.

It was because of Sytry, and also Liz that I was unable to sleep well. Unbelievable sisters.

“Alright. Lets go out together.” “Kya-! Thanks, Cry-chan!”

Liz raised a shrill voice and buried her head into my chest.

I stroked the head of my friend giving violent skinship, and breathed a sigh.

§

At the entrance to the clan house, Liz glared at the large man, with a look more dangerous than a runaway monster.

Whether the opponent was a noble, a knight, a veteran soldier, or an acquaintance, belonging to her own group or a higher up of the Explorers Association, her attitude remained the same.

Liz’s figure was different to when overcoming shrines, it looked completely casual and unlike a hunter. No knife, belt, or other held weapon.

The colour of her attire remained black, but she wore a skirt and her stomach was showing.

However one thing from when she hunted shrines was constant. Most of her legs up to the knees were covered by a black Relic, and her foot was tapping the ground in irritation.

From the good humour of earlier, the difference was too intense.

“You know Cry-chan is busy today? Can you not get in the way of Liz-chan with something stupid? We don’t have the time to clean up after some small fry, so beat it.”

“Liz...? So the bitch has already returned has she? How was the 『Myriad Demon Castle』? You’re supposed to make a report when you capture a shrine level 7 or higher right?”

Gark-san scowled at the tiny berserker that he hadn’t seen around lately.

They had been associating for a long time, so he knew how tiresome Liz was when she was in a bad mood. 𝙗𝙚𝒅𝒏𝒐𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Behind him was Kaina who wasn’t a former hunter, her expression turned pale as she watched the other two.

Ah-, the timing was bad. a

Translator Notes

I think previously I named the level 7(or was it 8) shrine – fortress of 10,000 demons? I read the manga, and it looked like the disney castle, so I changed the name.

In my defence I feel like it had been built up as an ominous place.

Gark calling Liz a bitch. So he says ‘Temee’ here, which isn’t something nice but could just be taken as him being rude to her.

It’s honestly quite difficult to convey that. And using bitch makes him seem sort of sexist which isn’t there originally. You’ll just have to forgive me on this, since I want the scene to have the dramatic impact but I don’t have the skills. Something else is that when Liz says ‘clean up after’ she literally says ‘wipe the ass of’.

Droopy eyes. Apparently Japanese have a thing about the attractiveness of slanted eyes and droopy eyes. I’m ignorant of it though.