Lost Fantasy-Life After Reincarnation (Arc 1)

Chapter 51

Tetsuya slowly felt the paralysis wear off as his body regained its mobility. He cautiously brought his hands underneath himself and slowly started pushing his torso up. Then, he carefully brought himself off the ground. Next to him, Marsha had risen from the ground as well, and the two of them slowly walked over to Loganel, who held onto the armored man after defeating him in their short duel.
 
"I don't think I'll ever be ready to shoulder the responsibility that you placed on me," Loganel whispered with tears rolling down his eyes. His hair hid his face from Tetsuya and Marsha, making it so that they couldn't see his weeping face as the armored figure slowly dissipated into ashes and disappeared.

"You alright?" Tetsuya placed a hand on Loganel's shoulder.

Feeling his touch, Loganel slowly got up from the ground. He didn't look at Tetsuya or Marsha in fear of them seeing his crying face and walked over to where the Zweilgr stood embedded in the ground where the original Loganel had place the blade as he fell in battle. Loganel pulled the blade out of the ground and held it in his right hand.

"You're gonna take that with you?" Tetsuya looked at Loganel with a surprised look. He couldn't see Loganel's face or did Loganel say anything to him. However, from the slight nod of Loganel's head, he could tell that Loganel was intending to bring the blade along with him. "I don't know what to tell you." Tetsuya shook his head.

Slowly, the coliseum door that was closed earlier began to slowly open. The sound of the metal door frames rubbing against the ground created an unpleasant noise, but the three endured it. The sound of battle from the outside world seems to have died out and all is quiet.

"Looks like it's all over," Marsha sighed. She glanced over at Loganel, who appeared oddly moody. The gloomy aura that he emitted made it so that she dared not question him on his actions during his battle with the armored figure.

"Madam!" Knights gathered in a crowd before Marsha as she emerged from the coliseum.

Marsha immediately looked around, surveying the aftermath of the battle. There were numerous piles of bones laying about on the floor due to the deaths of hundreds of Undead Skeleton Warriors. In addition to that, there were also many corpses of adventurers and her knights. Her apathetic facade didn't crumble despite the fact that only a small portion of the original expedition team had survived.

"The hell's with her attitude," an adventurer spat on the ground.

Marsha ignored the derogatory words of the adventurers and walked over to her knights. "Report."

"Yes Madam," a knight responded. "It would appear that these Undead are controlled by an Elder Lich."

"Elder Lich?" Marsha's eyes wavered ever so slightly, reflecting her uncertainty. However, this was only visible for a fraction of a second, causing one to wonder if they did see it or not.

"Yes," the knight continued on. "This Elder Lich is the reason for our mass casualties."

***

"Sorry for leaving you guys," Tetsuya apologized, walking over to his party and sheathing Exflage after Loganel had returned the holy blade to him a few moments earlier.

On his face was an apologetic smile that he used as a mask to hide his wavering emotional state. He was confused as to why Loganel was able to wield his blade and why the blade responded to Loganel more than it responded to him. Why is it that the blade decided to lend Loganel more of its power? That question disturbed him, and it caused him to wonder if he truly deserved the title of the Summoned Hero. However, he knows that this uncertainty should be concealed deep within him. That is the reason why he forced a smile and approached his party members.