Chapter 69 – The Lord’s Daughter Longs for the Wide World 32

There are several basic structures to a story.
The stories people come up with are the same throughout the ages and places.

People’s brains, although they have some differences, were basically similar in structure. It follows, then, that the stories they make are similar to an extent.

One of the basic structures of stories is called the [leaving and returning]
Heroic sagas are mostly structured in this way.

This is the general gist of it:

1. There was a peaceful world and a child born in that world, the world was destroyed and the child was forced to set off on a journey.

2. They met with the “Mentor” and trained with them.

3. At the end of training, they would receive a weapon or a killing move, and would be reborn as the strongest existence.

4. They would continue on their travels, gathering “Helpers”, defeating all kinds of enemies, and grow.

5. Finally, they would obtain the “McGuffin” — the objective of their journey.

6. After many twists and turns, they would return to their original world.

They differ in the details, but most follow along those lines.

Even reincarnation stories popular on the web in Japan also follow this form.
It was not necessarily done consciously, but before they knew it, it became like that.
A human’s thoughts are free and yet they are not.

— However, webnovels possess a certain characteristic.

The protagonists, tempted by the goddess to go to another world, never return to Earth.

They never return to Earth. They never even thought about returning to Earth.
I once thought, why?
Then I came to a conclusion.

— It’s because they never grew up.

In stories, the greatest goal of the journey was growth.

The reason why reincarnators never returned was because they never achieved the goal of growing up.

… Because they had been given cheat skills by the goddess from the start, the webnovel protagonists’ growth was stunted.

They were always wrapped in their overwhelming power — like a baby in its mother’s womb, or a chick inside an egg.
They were isolated from the world.
Thus no matter what events they experienced, they would never accumulate experience.

Always, always a child.

Rather, their attitudes became worse and worse.
They were praised, “amazing, amazing”, even though they had no substance, and they no longer considered that a problem anymore.
Finally, they became a token “Character”.

 

“So in order to save such an idiot … has to be that way,” I muttered, looking down onto the ring.

Montavo chased after the fleeing Yuutarou.

“Blood … wai … time out, I’m bleeding …”

Even though he wasn’t greatly wounded, Yuutarou was shocked by the exsanguination.

He was all flustered, holding down his arm.

“It’s only blood!! Deal with it!!”

Cutting Yuutarou off, Montavo closed his distance.

If he rushed in now he could do a great deal of damage, and yet Montavo only unleashed the minimal degree of attack.
… he’s in teacher mode, is he.
Sheesh, what a softie.

“It’s hot …!? IT HURTS…!!”

Having his left arm cut off, Yuutarou cried miserably.

Because it hurt.

“That’s right, it hurts when you’re wounded. Remember that stupid brat” I muttered

He felt pain, he felt the fear of death.
Montavo taught him that.

— Montavo is trying to bring Yuutarou back to humanity.

In order to bring a reincarnator protected by the goddess back to humanity, they had to first know that the shell is not perfect.

They won’t gain anything if they stayed in a perfectly safe place.
To grow, one needs to understand pain — and thus they would have to understand a human’s pain.

“……….”

Reincarnators are terribly cruel things.
Even though they were born in peace on Earth, the moment they came to another world they committed mass murders.
They forgot their own pain because of the powers given by the goddess, and thus forgot other people’s pain.
They lacked the power to emphatize.

People who stand in an inviolable space would be the most cruel.

“It hurts, right? It’s painful, right? This is what you’ve been doing to Demihumans”

Be aware of your sins.
You slaughterer, murderer.

 

I looked over around the audience seats.
It was wrapped in a strange atmosphere.

The once boisterous arena had now gone rather quiet.

Only Yuutarou’s companions were shouting loudly.
The main heroine Lugindall and the supporting cast were shouting for Yuutarou to somehow stay calm.

“Yuutarou, take some distance! Calm down! Ready your sword!”

But the voices didn’t reach him.

A child, once brought to such confusion, won’t regain their calm so easily.

Finally, discouraged voices started streaming down from the audience.

‘What the hell’s that … so shameful’

‘What’s he fussing about, it’s just blood …’

‘He looks like he’s going to cry’

The discouraged voices soon turned into jeering.

“Fight properly!” the mean voices said.

They splendidly changed their stance.

“Well, humans are things like this”

There’s no one more untrustworthy than those who are attracted to power.

They were simply beaten down to submission.

Such a worthless bunch.

Their voices surely reached Yuutarou.
I wonder if he heard the true nature of humans.

I’m sure Yuutarou had been pampered ever since he came to this world.
Since he had power, people were gentle towards him.
Because they treated him kindly, Yuutarou decided to treat them kindly as well.
He used his power and protected them.

— However.

Now that he’s being jeered at, what will become of his mind.
He’s seen the ugly side of humans with his own eyes, but will he still think of saving people.

“If he doesn’t”

— Then you’re a fake, Yuutarou.

⇐ Previous | TOC | Next ⇒