The Man with the Greatsword

Aozaki could only discern a chilling smile on the man’s face, a smile that seemed to exude an aura of countless bloodshed. Moments later, the man uttered a phrase.

“Demon house… I, a feast, must… punish.”

As if speaking to specters, the man’s right wrist suddenly tore open, blood gushing forth. Then, as if conjured from thin air, a greatsword nearly two meters long materialized in his hand.

“No sustenance… dared to come… here… to feed… ah… I today… shall… demon house… here… leave…”

The man hoisted the sinister greatsword, his posture suggesting he was grappling with immense pain.

****

“Oh, I’m so excited! Did the man then devour Aozaki?”

Little Guang, the grey-haired girl, wore an expression of clear disdain at the thought.

“Oh, Little Guang, you really are… your imagination is so morbid, isn’t it? Aozaki-kun is currently alive and well, recuperating in the hospital.”

The girl seated at the front desk picked up a pen and paper, beginning to sketch in Little Guang’s notebook.

“In fact, the truth is quite the opposite… The man suddenly raised his sword, intending to take his own life.”

“Oh, and then what happened?”

****

While Aozaki might have been a delinquent, he was not so callous as to stand by and watch someone die.

Despite the man’s bizarre actions, Aozaki felt an undeniable urge to prevent his death. What if some unknown entity was controlling him? Moreover, Aozaki desperately wanted to understand where he truly was.

Thus, risking a grievous injury, Aozaki swiftly dashed to the man’s side and embraced him tightly. Embracing the adage that saving a life outweighs building a thousand pagodas, Aozaki shielded the man, using his own body to intercept the sword’s blade.

Aozaki, in that moment, truly earned our profound respect.

“Ohh~~~ So brave! So heroic! Aozaki is truly incredible!”

Little Guang, the grey-haired girl, clapped her hands with a steady rhythm, her tone conveying that she ‘completely believed’ the narrator’s account.

“…Little Guang, be quiet.”

Finally, for reasons unknown, the man let out a deep sigh, then bellowed a single word at Aozaki.

“Friend, oh friend… I am… Satche Purvit!”

This, presumably, was the man’s name.

Ultimately, the man, having regained some semblance of consciousness thanks to Aozaki’s efforts, seemed to offer a sound of gratitude. Yet, to Aozaki’s dismay, these would be the man’s final words.

“Thank heavens!”

Alas, life’s capriciousness is ever present. Even though Aozaki had fought with all his might, rescuing the man from an unknown will, he could not avert the man’s inevitable demise.

The “hat house” was instantly ripped asunder. Appearing in the sky above was a small girl with golden hair.

“Tsk, tsk…? Are you telling me the story I just recounted to you? Why has a blonde girl suddenly appeared?”

“Little Guang, be quiet and let me finish.”

****

The exquisitely beautiful blonde girl captivated Aozaki’s entire attention. Even Aozaki, a man of extensive social circles, found himself instantly falling into a forbidden abyss of love.

However, in the very next moment, a monster appeared suddenly beneath the feet of the girl suspended in the air.

Monster!

From a distance, only the monster’s colossal head was visible. Aozaki described it as a creature resembling a “teddy bear.”

Aozaki was utterly terrified in that moment. After all, compared to objects that merely resembled buildings, the monster before him was a veritable mountain. Struck with fear, Aozaki immediately retreated. Along his path, he stumbled upon enormous mushrooms. Forcibly tearing through the mushroom’s mycelia, Aozaki fashioned a small, concealed chamber, just large enough to accommodate a single person.

****

“Tearing through mycelia? That sounds incredibly realistic…”

Little Guang, the grey-haired girl, clapped her hands once more. She wore an expression that clearly said, ‘Ah, you’re so clever!’

“According to my uncle at the police department, the police actually recovered a single ‘mycelial strand.’ What’s more, it doesn’t belong to any currently known mushroom species.”

“An uncle at the police station… that’s amazing!”

“Now, let me continue.”

****

In an instant, the man was hurled into the sky by the “bear’s claw,” and then…

With only a faint rustle, followed by an endless, deafening roar, the man’s robust body was torn to shreds by the mountain-like monster. A fragment of the grotesque carnage, splattered with blood, even sprayed onto Aozaki’s face, where he lay concealed within the mycelia.

“After that, Aozaki completely lost consciousness.”

****

“Is that it?”

The grey-haired girl wore an unenthusiastic expression.

“No, it’s not over yet. If this were merely Aozaki’s solitary account, it would, at best, be dismissed as the ravings of a madman, and certainly wouldn’t evolve into a local legend…”