Stop It! It’s Not Me That’s Strong… It’s the Sword…!

“All right, everything seems normal for now~!”

The carriage, pulled by a unicorn, raced through the fields.
It’s been half a day since two people left the town.
Tiana, from the coachman's seat, kept a vigilant eye on her surroundings.

They didn't know where the monsters were lurking in this inland area.
Her duty was to spot them early and change the route, so as not to burden Kurou, the man resting inside the carriage's canopy.

Rubbing her dry eyes due to the headwind, Tiana continued her reconnaissance.

“Tiana, maybe it's time for me to take over…”

“No way, Kurou! I'm the one taking care of you, remember?”

Tiana silenced her kind-hearted junior.
She felt a surge of anger deep inside her.

‘You should conserve your energy obediently.
After all, you're going to fight against the strongest monster, the 'Dragon,' right?’

Dragons had appeared in legends from ancient times across various countries.
Although their physical appearances might differ, there was no such thing as a weak depiction of a dragon.

Therefore, even in the modern age where mythical creatures materialized, dragons reigned as a catastrophic threat to the world.

‘We don't know what kind of dragon it is, but just the fact that it's a dragon means it's gigantic, can fly, has tough scales, and can breathe fire.
And we have to face that thing…’

She sensed an uneasy atmosphere.
Kurou seemed to feel awkward about the situation where only he was resting.
Tiana couldn't help but sigh at his restlessness.

‘Kurou…
You should value yourself more…!’

She recalled a conversation between her mother, Fiana, and Kurou before their departure.

“Ah, if only the Alitraly family had more power, I could have offered you protection…!' Fiana had been apologizing relentlessly, unable to bestow him with the cursed armament.

'As the Legendary Overcomer', she thought, cursed armaments should have been a valuable asset in his fight.
However, Kurou didn't seem bothered by it at all.

“Whether it's the cursed equipment or a rare combat force, it's definitely problematic to gather too much power in my hands,'”he said, even finding the composure to console Fiana.
And then…

“――If it can be passed on to someone other than me, and if it can protect someone, then it's for the best.
Rather, that would be preferable.”

Upon hearing those words, both Fiana and Tiana were on the verge of tears.
Ah…
that essentially meant, 'If I can protect a stranger, even if it means sacrificing myself, it's worth it.'

Kurou, a man who had sworn to prevent others from experiencing the same tragedy of having their homeland burned by evil.
His desire to protect someone was painfully intense.

“Kurou…
How can you learn to love yourself more…” Just as she was about to ask that question…The unicorns pulling the carriage let out a startled neigh.

Startled, Tiana looked ahead and saw several pig-like giants, Trolls, leaping out from the bushes.

‘Damn it, I lost my composure!’

Tiana scolded herself internally.
She had just vowed to regain her composure, yet here she was in such a mess.
She despised her own incompetence.

“Unicorns, quickly change course!”

She gave the command, but the Trolls were already charging towards them.
The sound of their thunderous footsteps reverberated.
Their bodies

 

were more than twice the size of a human, approaching with great force.

 

“Gaaah!”

“Kuh!?”

Evading was no longer possible.
Determined, Tiana was about to activate her own armament, thinking, “I have no choice but to fight.” But in that instant, a dark shadow darted out from the carriage.

Kurou, with his hand on the sheath, closed in on the approaching horde of enemies.
And then…

“Haaaah!”

A flash of annihilation.

In the blink of an eye, several Trolls were cleaved in half by Kurou's lightning-fast draw.
With his momentum, Kurou initiated the battle.

He swiftly threw his vampiric knives, restrained the Trolls with his demonic chains, and relentlessly cut them down with his black blade of extermination.

“Gaaah!?”

The Trolls let out cries of agony.
The sight of the Trolls fleeing in disarray, splattering blood as they desperately tried to escape, evoked a sense of pity.

“I'll kill you.”

Chasing after their backs, Kurou mercilessly obliterated them.
His figure, drenched in blood as he fought, was truly that of a demon.
Witnessing his bloodlust, Tiana couldn't help but feel a profound sadness.

‘What kind of man are you, Kurou…!’

He possessed both the saintly willingness to sacrifice his life for others and the demonic nature to become a demon in order to vanquish evil.
With both qualities combined, he could be considered a paragon of knights.

However, if he continued to live that way, there was no doubt that Kurou would meet his own destruction.

‘Both of those natures…
they're like self-destructive forces…!’

His way of life was too sorrowful to bear.
Tiana was overwhelmed with the desire to embrace him immediately.
However, she couldn't.

She was too weak compared to him to stand by his side.
She knew that by doing so, she would only hinder him and expose him to danger.

“Kurou…!”

Holding onto her frustrating feelings, Tiana continued to watch over him.
Meanwhile…

‘Huh? Whaaat!? Even though I'm fighting my hardest, why does Tiana-san have such a sad look in her eyes?!’

It was all Tiana's misunderstanding! This man named Kurou possessed none of the qualities she thought he did, neither the saintly willingness to sacrifice himself for others nor the demonic nature to become a demon to defeat evil.

The statement of ‘It would be better if the armaments were passed on to others’ was simply said because Kurou didn't want to possess the cursed equipment.

And now, he was putting in effort and hunting with determination because of the control exerted by the demonic sword Muramasa plus a strange misunderstanding of…

‘She was told to take care of everything! I must seem like such an unreliable guy, right?! As a man, I have to do my best!’

That's all there was to it.
In this way, the misunderstandings between the two continued to intertwine.

‘Ohhhh, look, Tiana-san! I'm slashing like crazy! Kurou-kun is doing his best!!!’

‘Kurou, what a passionate aura you're emitting!? Ah, if you keep moving like that, you'll break your body!’

…

Kurou struggled in vain, and Tiana clouded her mind in vain.

‘I have to try harder! If I don't support him…!’

And so, they fell into a quagmire of their relationship…!