Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

Volume 7 Chapter 15

Kyle and Urza returned to the inn around the time the sun had begun to set, finding out that everyone was doing fine. Seeing Urza, Lieze cried tears of joy as she jumped at her.

“I’m so glad…I don’t want you to go! You can’t leave!”

“Yeah…She won’t leave again. She’s going to stay with us,” Kyle answered in Urza’s stead.

Of course, Urza herself had no memory of ever agreeing to that, but she had no intention of disagreeing now.

“You did it?”

“Yeah.”

Seran and Kyle had this brief exchange, which was all they needed.

“But then the extremist faction’s gonna be a problem, no?”

“Pretty much. I guess this is it.”

“Yeah, we got no other choice left…”

The two nodded at each other.

“Let’s just push this on the old hag.”

“Let’s just push this on Master.”

Their words overlapped, albeit with different meanings.

“Clearly, she’s just more fit to clean up after us.”

“She did say it’d be bad if Cordi suddenly disappeared. We’re just gonna have her take responsibility.”

And with that, their next plan of action was decided.

“I actually went to check, but couldn’t find her. I guess she’s gone into hiding,” Seran was referring to Dalia.

Kyle had already felt that something was off about Dalia. She was taking good care of them, but it was obvious that Dalia leaked information to Cordi.

“…”

Listening to their conversation, Lieze showed a hurt expression.

“I see…Well, I guess this is the limit here.”

With Cordi gone, there was no reason for Dalia to hang around any longer. Following that conversation, Kyle learned about Minagi’s fight with Souga and her questioning about stopping as a shinobi or not.

“I’ve been thinking about it, but I guess I’ll…put it on hold for now.”

Hearing Minagi’s conclusion, Kyle agreed with full force.

“That’s good! That sounds great! When it comes to saving the world, everything else is trivial! You shouldn’t worry about your personal agenda!”

This scream packed a lot of conviction, which only made Urza sigh in disbelief, but Kyle tried to ignore that.

“Minagi…Prioritizing something that is more important isn’t a bad thing,” Kyle tried to convince Minagi further, but he also wasn’t wrong about it, either.

“…Okay. I’ll keep it in the back of my head for now.”

Kyle was relieved to receive that response as he pretended to not catch on to Urza’s gaze of contempt. Following that, Kyle approached Souga, who was lying on the ground. He had received first-aid treatment, but he still needed proper rest to recover.

“So…will you be okay?”

“Worried about me? Even after I attacked your elf woman?”

Souga was reminded of the sheer hostility Kyle had directed at him a few hours prior and winced.

“With the mastermind Cordi now out of the picture…and I want to repay my debt. You know about my situation, right? That’s why you played along back then.”

Back then referred to when they met during the Empire’s civil war. Minagi didn’t know about Kyle having been from the future and that he had met Souga before, so the old man played along.

“Oh, that…Just call it my thanks for looking after my unworthy disciple.”

“Plus, the reason you accepted Cordi’s request is for you to be struck down by Minagi, right?”

Realizing that trying to lie his way out was impossible, Souga simply sighed in resignation.

“Why do you think I sent Minagi to the Empire? I knew she had the talent to pull through, but something mentally held her back. That’s why I figured she’d eventually develop the necessary skills, but it didn’t work out in the end.

“…”

That’s because Kyle killed Minagi’s employer. If she had succeeded, she would have obtained the confidence that Souga wished her to have, so Kyle couldn’t help feeling guilty for his actions.

“When I next saw Minagi, she had honed her skill and talent…But her mental strength had yet to mature. In fact, she had looked much weaker than before.”

Understandably so, because Kyle hired Minagi more as a guard than a shinobi, so she had matured plenty, just in a different way.

“And with my age, I couldn’t exactly take my time. That’s why I accepted Cordi’s request. Because I knew that it would allow me to fight her.”

In the end, it was all for his disciple’s sake.

“I knew it was a bit harsh, but I hoped she’d cast away her hesitation by killing me. After all, I can’t live on forever…so I wanted to leave something behind in this world in the shape of a well-trained disciple…” Souga sighed. “And yet, she said she might quit as a shinobi…” He now looked like a worried old man. “I only know the path of the shinobi, and that’s all I taught her. But I guess…I was a fool for assuming that’s all she could ever be. I guess I’ve grown weaker over the years.”

The fact that he was saying all that to Kyle may very well be the proof of that. And now that they had this conversation, Kyle made an offer.

“Now that your employer’s gone, what’s your next course of action?”

“I don’t know. But having failed at my job will limit the path I can take in the shadows of this world.”

“Then why don’t you start a second life?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve got something of a job offer…But that will have to wait until later.” Kyle fixed his position and looked directly at Souga. “Will you let me look after Minagi?”

“Look after her? You?”

“Yeah. To you, it might look like she’s unstable. But I think she’s better this way.”

He himself may have no memory of it, but Souga was his partner in life and death in the previous world. He wanted only the best for his daughter.

“I’ll make sure to bring her happiness, so won’t you give her to me?”

Souga looked at Kyle in a daze.

“…You’re starting to sound like you’re asking for her hand in marriage.”

Souga’s comment made Kyle painfully aware that his way of phrasing things may have been off. He looked around to make sure nobody heard what he said, and luckily nobody had reacted.

“Um…”

“That said, I have no right to say aye or nay…But, I’m leaving her in your hands.”

“Right…”

Kyle wasn’t sure if this was the result he wished for but with Souga’s permission in hand, he was definitely better off than before. And with this problem resolved, Kyle gazed at the distant [Tower of Beginnings] as he made up his mind.

All right…Time to pick a fight with the gods.