by Aneko Yusagi
“What a disappointment. I was hoping to enjoy this a little bit more. Eeehehe!”
“Are you saying . . . we’re weak?”
Raphtalia pointed her katana at the man as she replied.
“Honestly, you’re weaker than I expected. This is easysauce.”
“We’ll see about that!”
Raphtalia moved at an incredible speed as she slipped into the enemy’s guard and prepared to strike with her katana.
“Oh my! What’s this? You sure sped up all of a sudden!”
The man’s eyes were wide with surprise. I was surprised, too. Why was Raphtalia able to move that fast?
“You made a big mistake when you used that spell to nullify Mr. Naofumi’s support magic.”
Mistake? I hadn’t noticed any miscalculations in the man’s attacks so far, but . . . Wait. If he had nullified my support magic, that meant he had erased a beneficial buff. In other words, it was highly possible that his spell could have similarly removed any lingering detrimental effects.
“Your spell seems to have removed a curse that I was stuck with.”
“Bah!”
Raphtalia unleashed attack after attack, and the enemy could no longer do anything but defend.
“Eeehe! Impressive! But now it’s my turn!”
Raphtalia swung her katana at the enemy as he brought his hands forward to prepare to cast a spell. He launched his magical attack with an incantation that bordered on nonexistent, but it failed to hit Raphtalia. She continued to swing and dodge, driving him further and further into a corner. I guess he hadn’t actually been that strong, after all. But something about the fact that he wasn’t even a vassal weapon holder didn’t seem right.
“Damn . . . It looks like I should probably retreat for now. Eeehehe.”
“You think we’re going to let you do that?” I asked.
“Indeed, you’re not going anywhere!”
Raphtalia snapped at him as she continued to attack. Clearly not wanting to pass up a good chance, Murder Pierrot set her sights on the man, too.
“Nah, escaping is a breeze! I’ll be back, so prepare yourselves!”
The man brushed his hand against his pendant before forming a ball of magic and thrusting it into the ground. A bright flash of light filled the air and blinded us for a brief moment. With abilities like this, despite not being a hero . . . I guess he was kind of like a powered-up version of Therese or something. Damn it! They always managed to escape like this! Just as I was about to get pissed off—
“Gah!”
Huh? I blinked a few times and looked over at where the man had been standing to see Murder Pierrot holding her scissors buried into his chest.
“I thought you might———so . . .”
“Ee . . . eehe. You got me! That won’t work next time!”
Murder Pierrot jerked the scissors from his chest. Blood spattered out and the man crumbled to the ground. He was dead . . . or was he? Murder Pierrot snipped her scissors shut loudly, turned to face me, and stepped off to the side, implying that I should inspect the man.
I took a close look at the man that Murder Pierrot had killed. It was just a hunch, but I figured I might learn something by inspecting the corpse, since he had been from a different world. Just then, I noticed that there was a faint light seeping out of the man’s body. What was that? Don’t tell me it still hadn’t ended! And then, all of a sudden, the man’s corpse faded away as if it had been a mirage.
“Huh? What the hell?”
“Those guys———”
Murder Pierrot tried to explain, but the static was terrible and I had no idea what she was saying. After a brief moment, Murder Pierrot seemed to give up on explaining and asked a simpler question.
“You ok——?”
“Yeah, but . . . wasn’t your timing just a little bit too good? Are you sure you’re not in cahoots with that guy?”
“Oh, come on, Mr. Naofumi. Aren’t you being a bit overly suspicious?”
“She’s right, bubba!”
Raphtalia and Keel spoke up in defense of Murder Pierrot. I understood what they were trying to say, and I wanted to trust her myself, too. But her timing had been just too good. I couldn’t ignore the possibility that they had planned the encounter in order to win my trust. I realized I was being overly skeptical, but there was just too much at stake that I needed to protect. Allowing myself to trust others easily just wasn’t an option.
“That’s not——”
Murder Pierrot reached her hand out to my shoulder and plucked something from my armor. It looked like one of those marking pins used when sewing.
“I used this to keep an eye———use it———come to you at any time.”
“Is it like a portal skill, then?” I asked.
My skill could only teleport to bound locations, but I guess Murder Pierrot’s skill could teleport her to wherever she had placed the pin.
“When did you even . . .”
“——the coliseum.”
“Aha, so you put it on me during our fight? Wait, that means you’ve been observing me!”
Murder Pierrot looked away, but I could see beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
“I don’t want to see———of the holy weapons get killed. I want to help———”
It seemed like Murder Pierrot was trying to say she wanted to help me out, but . . .
“I see———curse had lowered your stats.”
“Yes. Although, that’s been taken care of now.”
Raphtalia sheathed her katana as she responded.
“It sure was lucky that the spell the enemy used to nullify my support magic removed the adverse effects of the curse, too,” I said.
I doubted we’d get that lucky the next time. If there had been one enemy like this, there were bound to be others, too. I couldn’t afford to be running around with my stats lowered by a curse when there were people out there looking to kill the holy heroes. Also, I needed to find Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki fast or they were likely to get killed by these creeps. I wouldn’t have had to worry quite so much if those jerks would’ve just used the power-up methods I’d told them about.
“Mr. Naofumi, it’s a fact that Murder Pierrot saved Keel and the others. Don’t you think we should at least let her tag along?”
“Hmm . . .”
I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about the fact that Murder Pierrot had been observing us, but it might not be a bad idea to keep her close, even if she was planning on setting a trap.
“Hey bubba. Is this girl strong?”
“Well, her speech is always cutting out. But yeah, she seems to be on the strong side.”
Something the enemy said had me curious: vassal weapon from a destroyed world?
“What was the enemy talking about when he mentioned a vassal weapon from a destroyed world?”
Murder Pierrot cast her gaze downward. Then she glanced at her scissors.
“In my world———were killed, and the world———”
An expression of deep regret came across her face as she mumbled quietly. I suddenly remembered the legends we’d learned about in Kizuna’s world. Glass and the others had been trying to kill the holy heroes of other worlds to protect their own world. That meant . . . Murder Pierrot must have been the survivor of a world that had been destroyed by that kind of fighting.
Maybe the reason Murder Pierrot’s speech cut out is because her vassal weapon was beginning to malfunction, since her world had been destroyed. Perhaps she had snuck into another world and her own world had been destroyed while she was away. And then in order to stay alive, she had been traveling to different worlds using the waves ever since. It made sense. When she showed up at the village, she’d asked me to let her stay there until the next wave.
I sighed.
“Fine. But this doesn’t mean that I trust you. I’m going to keep a close eye on you.”
“Okay . . .”
“Even so, you really saved us there. Thanks.”
Murder Pierrot nodded. I shifted my gaze from her to Keel and the others.
“Alright then. I wanted to see how strong you all have become after your class-up, but it looks like that will have to wait until another time.”
“That really sucks, but I totally understand, bubba.”
“Alright. Murder Pierrot, what’s your real name?”
I couldn’t imagine her ring name being her real name. Murder Pierrot was a mouthful, so I figured it would be best to find out her real name.
“S’yne Lokk.”
Hmm . . . Her first name was only one letter off from Witch’s adventurer alias. It was getting harder and harder to trust her. Witch’s adventurer alias was originally Myne Suphia, by the way. It had been changed to Whore now.
“Alright then. Nice to meet you.”
“You too . . .”
And so it turned out that S’yne would end up staying at the village after all.
Chapter Fourteen: Official Request
After we got back to the village, S’yne wandered off to a little nook and started sewing. It was probably best to just think of her vassal weapon as a sewing set. From the looks of it, she seemed to be making a stuffed doll. What was she up to?
It had become apparent that it was about time to really focus on finding Motoyasu, Ren, and Itsuki. I couldn’t imagine those three winning a fight against an enemy like the one we’d faced earlier. Motoyasu had been ambushing Filo repeatedly, but even he hadn’t shown up for close to a week now. I’d been on high alert watching out for new attackers from other worlds ever since our encounter with that man. S’yne always seemed to be keeping an eye out at the village, too. The whole . . . not knowing when they might show up thing was just creepy. I didn’t like it.
Other than that . . . bandits running wild within my territory had become an issue, too. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been doing anything for the past week. I’d been busy with everything from training Keel and the other slaves to traveling around selling our wares to make some money. I couldn’t just sit around on the lookout all the time.
“Hmm?”
I was walking around mulling over how to deal with all of these problems when I came across two familiar characters. One was a nervous girl that gave off an aura of misfortune, and the other was a stubborn woman in a plain set of armor. In other words, it was Rishia and Eclair.
“We’re back,” said Rishia.
“Greetings, Mr. Iwatani.”
I’d heard that they had gone off somewhere recently to do some more serious training with the old lady.
“Hey. Did you two finish your training?”
“Not yet. I was told to come back and give you a hand for now,” Rishia replied.
“Me too.”
Give me a hand? What was that all about?
“Have you noticed any results from your training?”
“I think Rishia and I are supposed to be back to get some experience in actual battle. Our training is probably going to continue after that.”
So the old lady sent them to me to have them experience real combat before continuing. That made sense, but that old lady sure wasn’t making things any easier on me. The real problem was Eclair, though. What did she think her job was, anyway? She was supposed to be deputy governor, but whenever she had a spare moment, she’d run off to train with the old lady. It was so bad that even Melty had been complaining. I guess she just intended to let me and Melty take care of all of her duties.
“But I’ve only really learned the Hengen Muso style on a superficial level,” said Eclair.
“I’m in the middle of learning the style in its entirety.”
“Superficial level?” I asked.
“Anyone can learn the style on a superficial level, but only those with a special aptitude for the art can master it at a deeper level.”
“Hmm . . .”
I stared at Eclair.
“What is it, Mr. Iwatani?”
“Is that really okay? I’m afraid if you only learn the style halfway, you’re just going to end up being the underdog that gets bitten.”
“Ha! Who do you think I am? I was the one who continued sparring with the teacher when Rishia here ran out of energy and collapsed!”
“You’re comparing yourself to Rishia, though . . .”
“Fehhh . . .”
Rishia had probably gotten stronger to a certain degree, but I was sure she still had no stamina—from a rudimentary stats perspective, anyway.
“The style emphasizes fundamental movement patterns and the flow of magic and life force over skills or techniques. Getting the hang of it has been difficult,” Eclair explained.
The old lady was crazy strong, so I trusted her skill, but I didn’t really understand the style very well. You could apparently cheat by using life force water to help you get the hang of it more easily, though.
“I’ve gotten the hang of it for the most part,” said Rishia.
“Oh? Does that mean you’ve unlocked that mode that you could only use against Kyo before?”
“P . . . probably. I’m starting to be able to recreate something that feels similar.”
“Now that’s something to get excited about, right?”
Rishia had a puzzled look on her face. Was her awakened mode already her new normal or something? Was she one of those characters that keeps powering up to ridiculous levels of strength? Maybe she could take me out in one hit now. I knew a manga where something like that happened. That would suck if that actually happened, though.
“What about you, Raphtalia? You haven’t been able to train properly since you’re always running around with me, right?”
Raphtalia looked at me with a troubled expression on her face.
“Umm . . . I told you this when we were training with Glass, but I can already use the style to a certain degree. I just can’t use the same kind of techniques that Eclair and Rishia can because of the vassal weapon.”
“Oh? The old lady did mention being able to enhance skills or something, though.”
“That’s true. Focusing your power can make them more effective.”
So I guess Raphtalia could already do something similar. I remember being just on the verge of managing something similar, too. I think they had mentioned Filo could already do it. That’s just what Raphtalia and Glass had told me, anyway.
“I probably should spend some time training seriously, though,” she said.
“Right now, we can’t be sure when there will be another attack. Of course, we’ll never get anything done if we’re too busy watching our backs,” I replied.
Sending Raphtalia to train might be an option, but it wasn’t one I could choose in our current situation. I really needed to spend some time training myself, too, but . . . I just didn’t have the time.
“What does the old lady say?” I asked.
“She said that Raphtalia still has a lot to learn since she’s your most trusted companion,” Rishia replied.
“I see . . .”
Having Raphtalia around was a big help. We’d been together forever, too, which made coordinating with each other easy. Still, spending some time training wasn’t a bad idea. For her, and for me, too. We had to be wary of attacks, so I’d have to give the timing some thought.
“What do you plan to do now, Mr. Iwatani?”
“We can’t just stay cooped up here watching our backs forever. We have an overgrowth of dangerous monsters and they’ve started showing up near the villages, so I’m thinking about going to take care of that. Melty asked me to do something about the bandits that have been active in the area, so we can do some bandit hunting, too, while we’re at it.”
“Ah.”
“What’s that response? You realize both of those are things you’re supposed to be taking care of, right?”
“Ugh . . .”
I’d hit the nail on the head and Eclair fell silent. Oh well . . . I’d been thinking I should do some leveling of my own bef
ore long, and a periodic monster cleanup could provide me with a regular source of experience. My stats may have been decreased, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t raise my level.
“I . . . I’ll go with you, then. Rishia will, too, of course.”
“Perfect. You can show me how much you’ve improved.”
So . . . me, Raphtalia, Rishia, Eclair, and . . . Filo for transportation. We should be able to face pretty much any enemy with that lineup. If we did end up getting defeated somehow, it’d be safe to assume we had no chance of winning to start out with. Anyway, S’yne would probably come running if anything did happen. She still had one of her marking pins stuck to my armor, after all.
“Also . . . Atla.”
“Yes, what is it?”
Atla showed up as soon as I called her name. She’d been so quick that it made me wonder if she had just been hiding somewhere waiting for me to call. To think she’d started out as the token sickly girl . . .
“What?!”
Fohl glared at me with a vexed look on his face. These two were actually pretty active around here. They were still far from being able to class up, but I wanted to see what they could do. But what was up with Fohl’s reply, anyway? All I’d done is call Atla’s name and that’s the response I get.
“We’re going to level and I want you two to come help out.”
“Understood. I’ve been looking forward to accompanying you, Mr. Naofumi.”
“Atla! You don’t have to—”
“Save it, Brother.”
Fohl was about to make a fuss, but Atla gave him a sharp jab to the chest with her finger.
“Guh . . .”
That was all it took for Fohl to hug his stomach and fall to the ground. Huh? It seemed like Atla was the stronger of the two.
What was that move, anyway? She must have hit a pressure point or something.
“Mr. Iwatani, according to the master, there is no need to teach Miss Atla here the Hengen Muso style. Apparently, being blind has greatly increased her aptitude for the art,” Eclair explained.
I guess that meant the old lady had already taken a look at the new slaves of the village. She was kind of like my combat adviser, so she did stay in the village, after all. Judging whether someone had an aptitude for the style was supposed to be a specialty of hers. This was before I’d bought Atla, but I remembered her mentioning that Filo and Sadeena were particularly adept.