And was it a long day indeed. By the sunset, the trio had in their camp a set of moonbear's paws, tusks of spirit boar, three varg's tails, manticora's tail, lurker's glans, and so on, and so forth. For a good reason, monsters' parts were treated as powerful alchemical reagents. Potions and poisons made with them were simply miraculous. Keyaruga already had plans to brew some berserk potions and a bunch of aphrodisiacs, along with some remedies.
All of the healer's trophies rested under the tent's cloth. Parts of the hunted animals, exotic plants and herbs… Two charming girls, using his bare chest as a pillow. He had to give the credit to Setsuna for a good part of the prey. After all, the huntress was much better at not turning the carcasses into a pile of bloody meat, like Freia. And if just killing was everything she accomplished that day, it would still have been fine. But no, at that moment, the hero held a scroll with the spell — his spell which was supposed to be non-improvable. But the sorceress has managed to optimize it, making its usage as simple as the jade eye of the red-haired lad. Also, now it counted as a third-circle spell, and the ex-princess was now capable of switching her vision simply by closing her eyes.
"You are surprisingly capable without your blind hubris." Keyaruga admonished the sleeping beauty. Even before becoming a hero, her god-chosen nature allowed the girl to master any magic she could reach. That… didn't make her life easy in any way, since living in the royal court is one endless cycle of betrayals, backstabbing, poisoning, slander, and framing among her own blood relatives and siblings. Could a girl who loved singing and flowers remain that same pure soul? Well, life itself presented the man with a cruel answer. But still…
"Why am I doing this? Do I—?.." Do I genuinely love Freia?
The question was difficult to answer. The hero felt true sympathy for Setsuna, but Freia was an entirely different story. He hated what she was, yet earned her attention. Loved her as she was now, but wouldn't stop gloating, as the girl desperately reconstructed her life, seeking answers only he could give. But the main enigma remained unanswered.
Maybe I just wanted someone to replace Norn for me? Her sister, for example?
"Heh." Keyaruga chuckled, realizing the sheer absurdity of his predicament. "I feel like shit." The man started to joke with the only listener — himself.
…
It was the 4th of May, the 781-st year of the Age of Order. Almost four years after Keyaru awakened as a hero. By that time, the Confederation of Demons had been almost nonexistent, a few pockets of resistance that wouldn't even last till autumn. Jioral was so sure of their victory that almost half of the captured territory was in the process of colonization. The kingdom was never so strong and powerful. But even so, the main beneficiary of that conquest received almost no praise from her reigning father. This is why the red-haired boy had to keep her happy instead.
"Hold on a bit, I'm almost done." The lad spoke, offering a quick glance at the bed, where the younger princess lay after they made love. Both Norn and Keyaru had no clothes. The former wouldn't bother after a rough sex, and the latter remained bare to amuse his lady.
"Well, hurry up. I feel like shit." For better or worse, that was the girl's favorite phrase recently. She impatiently twirled her hair while her man cooked a refreshing potion with mint flavor. After their first time, the princess changed many residences, but at some point, the Hero of Healing insisted on her always having her own alchemical instruments. And now she resided at the peak of Kinactith's castle, a former domain of the Me-Ua, or the demon king. The massive obsidian throne was long since transported to Capital, though. Norn took the smallest room that was available. She liked it there, with a great mountain view through the windows and the possibility to just ward other heroes away from her current dwelling.
"Now, let's mix it that way… And here we go." Not only did the youngster finish the greenish healing mixture, he also poured it into a cup on a plate, making it look like a noble sort of tea. "Your beverage, my lady." Then, Keyaru gallantly presented his lover with another portion of a healing drink. Which she snatched and drank in a single go. This sort of behavior didn't fit the noble lady that she was supposed to be.
"Damn, I missed it so much!" Even though the martyred hero taught the princess how to make the cure for her nerves, and even helped her defeat the alcoholism with it, only he was capable of making them tasty and refreshing.
"I could just heal you, you know. Make you absolutely healthy in just a single touch." The lad mused, sitting on the corner of the princess' bed. After all, every time they met, they washed together, and she even rubbed precious elixirs into his bruises and injuries. Because she `liked her dog clean`. And because it pissed Flare off.
"And I could just have you hanging from my ceiling while I mess with your dick in a way you wouldn't like." The princess shrugged, crawling closer to her informant. Recently, he had been ever more useful than even Bullet Hashlant, since the latter was slowly but steadily losing the rest of his adequacy. "Sorry, I don't want you to get hurt! And that hurts, right? Your healing power?" The girl mused, petting Keyaru's back. He didn't resist, trying to remain focused on what was truly important.
"I got used to it." The lad replied vigorously. Even though he stayed focused, that barely helped with his accumulated emotions. "I healed hundreds of soldiers, wise men and women, mages, martial artists, engineers, governors, and gods know who else. First, it was hell. Damn, it still is, thanks to your sis. So yeah, Norn, I doubt you would feel at least a little bit painful."
"Don't even think about it." The warlady shook her head. "Your life may be one big load of bloody shit, but I'm not here to make it worse. Even for a little bit." The girl spoke, leaning on the healer's broad back. "But you know, I do wonder, why would you have me hairy down here? Or is it just another of your terrific secrets?" Norn mockingly asked, twirling her pubic hair now.
"As long as you promise not to laugh." Keyaru shrugged.
"Try me, boy!"
"Heh, all right. This… This reminds me of my mother. My birth mother. When she was alive, I… Haa, Of course."
"He-he-he-he-heh…" Obviously, the princess giggled upon hearing his reasoning. "You dirty little motherfucker!" She tauntingly tapped his back before continuing. "Don't worry, Keyaru. You may be a fucked-up pervert, but I love you this way."
"Heh, you sure are swearing a lot for a princess." The man sneered, offering a short kiss to his partner. At that moment, it was her who upheld his sanity.
"Fuck you, boy! I'm a general. I lead armies, and armies don't swear. They talk that way!" Norn spoke, resting her chin on Keyaru's shoulder.
"Then you must have a hell of a lot of undisciplined men." He pondered, only to receive a slap on his head.
"Auch… Damn, I'll never get used to this."
That's right, compared to the hero, the genius of strategy was too weak and fragile, so every time she tried something like that, it was like punching a wall. The wall, which could gloat upon the princess' `success`.
"Anyway, how's your life been?" Norn asked, unceremoniously laying her head on the lad's lap.
"The usual. First, Flare spit on me, then Blade almost broke my nose and jaw." Keyaru shrugged, as if his suffering were nothing to worry about. His torturers now take their time in their majestic mansion. The witch believed her sister to be just as sadistic as she was. "Bullet, though… He's somewhat changed. Somewhat more… resilient and focused than usual. The way he teaches me his spying craft — I think he knows. It doesn't stop him from still fucking me in the ass, though. But enough about me, let's talk about business — there are only three places where the demon king might hide…"
"Don't bother. I have already got your reports. I had Gard check it, and he apparently found our target in the Tridaim passes, the worst damn place to survive in the whole world." Norn explained detachedly, noticing small yet meaningful changes in Keyaru's face. "Go on, lead your `pawns` and kill that thing. Rip out her heart and bask in your divinity. You deserve it." She wryly elaborated, making the fact of the `king's` gender known to the hero. This was nothing unexpected, since the word `Me-Ua` didn't indicate the sex of the demonic monarch. And now…
"I'm sorry, but this could be our last chance to see each other. Next time we meet, we'll be enemies." Keyaru warned, making his lover quickly rise to her feet, making her fizzy for a moment. Now, though, she was confused.
"Why? Because you're going to stand up to my father? Against all the Jioral for all it's done to you? If so, be my guest! My army will stand at your side!" Simultaneously grabbing Keyaru's cold face with her small palms, she promised him her military aid. "All that time, I aimed to finish this campaign just to start another one! A fucking civil war! Can you imagine how much help you would be if you became a god?"
"Forgive me, Norn. I can't." Regardless of how much the warlady has promised him, the Hero of Healing intends to remain that insane martyr with nothing to his name. To have nothing meant having nothing to lose; it meant being able to simply erase everything with no worries.
"Why? Why?! WHY?! I love you, you stupid prick! I even…" The princess didn't finish. She suddenly got pale and lost her balance. She'd fall to the floor if not for Keyaru catching her. That wasn't a sickness, disease, or anything of the sort. Norn Clatalissa Jioral…
"That's it, then? What's your gestation period?" The lad asked as seriously as he could.
"Doctor said… five weeks… I… wanted to tell you, after you get back… with your victory." The girl responded plaintively, leaning on her man. "But you wouldn't, right? You said we would be enemies, but this is impossible. You can't make me hate you unless you hurt me and our child. You won't… Will you go back in time?" She knew the princess had her guesses ever since she heard `…and I want my life back`. Norn thought of herself as being ready. She was not.
"So this is why you wouldn't let me heal you?" Keyaru mused, holding his lover tighter. Gentle, yet firm. There was no answer, only depressing silence. He had to do something about it. "For a long time, that was my only task. The only salvation. You know why? I had nothing to lose anymore. Now, though… Fuck that redo, I'd rather stay here, fight your father, help you take that damned crown. I won't let you go."
"You silly man…" Norn chuckled, relaxing a little bit. "Why would you sacrifice your ambitions for me? Go, Keyaru! But promise me one thing — if you succeed with your redo, please save my sister." That was... unexpected from Norn. So much so that the healer stumbled.
"There's nothing to save, and you know it. Flare is working for Margurth. He has that spell, which aims to enslave the whole planet. Try guessing what's missing that they want to get." The red-eyed youngster spoke, patting the princess' head.
"Demon king's heart? Obviously!" That was a military genius for you, after all. "Still, I want you to try. Maybe you can make a difference."
"Also, you're mistaken; rewinding the time is not my end goal. It's just the means to an end. Specifically, a happy life. Norn, if I can get it here, I'll just use that heart for our sake instead." Keyaru swore, ready to finally leave that mask of a mindless addict. Hawkeye and Windbreak swore loyalty to the second princess, and they could play the role of heroes in the last battle with the demon king.
"Silly, silly man…" At this point, the girl didn't even have the power to argue. "Let's presume you have to do it anyway. If so, I'd forget anything, right?" Norn asked, and instead of saying something like `that would never happen anymore`, the lad resolved to amuse his lady.
"Yes. I will revert not only the bodies but also the souls. Most will forget all that happened entirely; some with strong wills will remember echoes of their future selves. And me — I had to use pain and hatred as conduits to transfer my memories through effectively duplicating my soul. Now that you've ruined it, though…"
"Listen…" And so, it was Norn's turn to be serious. "If you do that, and I won't remember anything, I want you to know — your village would be the first thing on my list. Or of any other officer, at that point."
"Let's stop here." Keyaru smirked, knowing that wouldn't be the case anymore. It's not like having to take care of a pregnant princess while waging war would be easy, but at least they would have each other. "What would you like to be? In that new world?"
"Tough question." The warlady shrugged, thinking of her options. It took but a moment. "I always wanted to have a brother like you, someone strong enough to make my… and Flare's lives as they should have been."
"Brother? So, no sex?" The healer grinned upon getting one more reason to stay in that half-ruined world.
"Why? Incest is such a noble deed that I always wanted to try. It's just that my brothers were all stupid jerks who got thrown out by Flare. Good riddance." Norn spoke, remembering their dumbfounded faces when the `whore's daughter` got more power than they could ever imagine in a single birthday.
"And here you called me a `motherfucker`." The man mused.
"Never said I was any better." The girl chuckled, with her petite hand lowering toward the hero's crotch. "Either way, you'd have to defeat me first. Can you do it?"
"Most certainly. Provided, I use Flare as a leverage against you." Keyaru deadpanned, making his lips into a narrow line. Even now, Norn loved Flare, or, at least, what she used to be.
"Heh, good luck, then. But if you fail to protect your parents, it'd be your faul-…" The princess was not destined to finish her line. Blue light filled the room, and the Hero of Healing found himself in the center of a massive magic circle. He felt the grave danger, but was unable to respond. The room exploded in the azure burst, before the man got slammed against the stone wall.
It took less than half a minute for the youngster to recover. The damage was done; the room was ruined. His right arm and leg were torn apart. The raging flame singed the lad's torso. Culprits appeared quickly: a dozen boar-headed demons, led by a golden-haired woman with a leopard's tail and a large horned ironclad, carrying a massive orichalcum dussack. But Keyaru wasn't worried about them right now.
"N… Norn!.. NORN!!!" His lover was gone; nothing remained aside from a few burned lumps of flesh slipping off the walls. Her head… at least her scalp with pink hair, lying near the man, was all that remained relatively distinctive.
The assassination was unsurprising, given that Norn was a general in charge of a genocide rather than a war. But she knew about the secret passages, she… Oh, that's Organ's head he's carrying…
"…Tafias, tanout znachira ni…" The woman spoke something about him, something about how they should kill the `poor healer` out of mercy. Mercy? MERCY?!
"I'll show you mercy!" The pure, undiluted hatred now fueled the man. He grabbed his barely functional arm with teeth and put it on his burned abdomen. One second later, and he rushed to battle. Fast as a cannonball, Keyaru dashed to him, tanking the slash to his shoulder. In an instant, the demon's head exploded. Though strong enough to defeat Hawkeye himself, he failed to deal with the healer.
"A-A-A-A-A-A!!!" Then, the avenger pulled out the massive sword from his own split chest and beheaded two boars. Their resolve shivered, but the soldiers still poked the raging beast with their spears. One to the belly, one to the leg, one even pierced his chest, but Keyaru was just too angry to die. Even if his left arm got effectively dysfunctional. There was no technique, no mastery or fencing. Just pure wrath, powering an already mighty dussack. With each missed blow, Keyaru took at least two more lives.
"KILL YA-A-A!!! DI-I-I-I-IE!!!" Even while bleeding, even with one limb severed, even with four broken spear handles sticking from his torso, Keyaru persevered. Heads, arms, legs, hands, guts flew across the room. It was their small sanctuary, and now it was desecrated in the worst way imaginable. Mindless screams, howls of terror, and bloody madness overtook the boy, as he literally minced his enemies into grotesque piles of crimson meat.
Happiness was finally within his grasp, and they took it! Those monsters, those heartless, ruthless gunks! Stupid merciless fuckers, that…
When the adrenaline rush finally wore off, the man found himself facing the leopard woman. She was lying on the charred floor, still holding the half-burned spell scroll, the very same one she used to murder his love. A scared, trembling demi-human was not nearly as strong as the rest of her little cohort.
"Niratha! Niratha emab!" The language was different, but Keyaru grasped it well during his `experiments` with demons. And now…
"Fetha niratha…" The wronged man offered her no mercy, as the massive metallic dussack pierced her chest. Again and again, again and again, again and again, until the nude maimed lad got covered by yet another layer of sticky crimson blood. From head to toes. Bleeding profusely from his wounds, Keyaru faced the choice — either to let himself die, or…
NO!
"Don't worry, Norn! This… This is not the end! I'll save you next time, right after I have my vengeance." With his body healed, the boy received yet another reason to see the end of that world.
…
Keyaruga reflected on his memories. That world denied him happiness. It did so twice, so the Hero of Healing had nothing to lose and nothing to miss in the end. He had lost his mind, humanity, his lover, and their unborn child. Yet, even then, he had hope — a hope to start anew.
That day, only Gard the Windbreak came to help — Norn's privacy played favorably for Keyaru, as he brainwashed that man into believing it was him who slayed the demon perpetrators, and not the seemingly defenseless boy. The following days were the hardest in the martyr's life. Flare had been gloating upon Norn's death, and only titanic focus wouldn't let the healer murder the bitch before engaging the demon queen. But now…
Is this what you expected from me? The man wondered, watching over his sleeping companions, especially Freia. Maybe there is something to save in her, after all?
…
Norn Clatalissa Jioral spent yet another night filling paper scrolls with her plans. The princess reflected upon her sudden change, Keziaz's revelations, and Keyaru's escape. Normally, it wouldn't make sense; the girl lacked a vital detail to solve that mystery.
"Appear weak when strong and strong when weak. Keziaz's position is not as sturdy as he tried to make you think." The warlady concluded, addressing John, who at the moment served as her living chair. "And the Hero of Healing — he's too competent for a village brat. As if… he came from the future. Fuck! Exactly! What if all of this has already happened? What if Margurth and Keziaz are the only ones who remember it, and they have bad blood from that time?"
"Not only them. Keyaru must be among them." The bodyguard muttered while receiving a kick to his leg.
"I know! And I believe we were close. Haa… Why? Just why would I do that?" The girl wasn't just jumping to conclusions. But... Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly she heard someone knocking on the door. The princess picked up a ring that was lying on the table, and the enchanted piece of steel silently opened the door. "Come on in!"
"Your Highness!" It was Kureha Cryleth, undoubtedly the agent for Keyaru. While Norn found the fugitive's methods lacking, they proved more than effective against everyone below her level. "I came here with a report. Apparently, the Hero of Healing is heading to Buranikka." The girl spoke, trying to not look disgusted by the princess sitting on her own retainer.
"Great, that would correlate well with my further plans." Norn gently smiled, looking at the fabled fencer. The door magically closed behind Silver Death. "Now, I would very well like to hear your impressions of Keyaru."
"My quest was unsuccessful, so I'm afraid I was unable to contact him directly, let alone form my impressions. I only know his destination, nothing less." The warrior firmly replied, but as much as she tried to uphold her loyalty to the Hero of Healing, her very intonation betrayed her feelings to the strategist.
"Hm, I see. That's it. You may go now." And so, the second princess dismissed the silver-haired girl. Just like that. And barely did she leave… "She's Keyaru's spy, I'm sure of it."
"Would you reveal her treachery, then?" John wondered, helping decide the best course of action.
"No. That would only benefit Margurth, and I don't believe in his reason. He may play his insidious part, but that old fucker is but a single player in this game." Norn explained.
"And what place does the Hero of Healing have in this campaign?" The attendant asked, as the princess joyfully shook her legs.
"That remains to be seen. Either way, I'll have to defeat him first."