Campione 15

by Son of the Goddess

  This provided cover resulting in poor visibility. The area illuminated by the fire should probably be out of view.

  "Huhyaaaaaah!?"

  Madame Aisha's scream was heard. Did someone do something? Godou frantically ran back to the fire. At the same time, the Madame also ran towards him.

  "What happened!?"

  "I-I-I-I feel something strange on my back!?"

  When Godou reached her, Madame Aisha threw herself into his chest.

  Back? Puzzled, Godou looked at her—And was rendered speechless. Taking another good look,

  First of all, Madame Aisha was essentially nude, in a completely undressed state.

  The rosy tips of her sensational and bulging breasts were exposed. Of course, her lower body was covered by nothing but a piece of thin cloth with only sandals worn on her feet.

  Also, presumably intending to put it on immediately...

  She had Godou's shirt on her shoulder, the one that he had hung on a branch to dry.

  In this beautifully salacious manner, with her rushing and throwing herself at him, Godou not only felt the sensation of her soft but very supple bosom but also her smooth, pristine and olive skin pressing tightly against his upper body (that was nude as well).

  Godou felt himself taking a massive gulp, trying to mobilize the entirety of his rational thought.

  Grabbing the Madame's smooth shoulders, he pushed the olive-skinned and naked body away from him and tried to ask in as calm a voice as possible.

  "Is something sticking on your back?"

  "Please, h-h-h-hurry and get it off me!"

  Aisha pleaded tearfully, so Godou peered at her back in head-tilted puzzlement. Due to Godou's shirt on hanging on her shoulder, he could not see what was under the white fabric.

  "A-A-A-A weird squirming sensation, s-s-s-so terrifying, please hurry and get rid of it!"

  "E-Easy for you to say..."

  Face red, Godou wanted to refuse but Madame Aisha looked up tearfully at him in a pleading manner, making it truly impossible to refuse.

  Godou had no choice but to brush aside the shirt on the Madame's shoulder and discovered a gecko on her shoulder blade.

  Picking it up casually and throwing it away, the ridiculous affair finally concluded.

  "Umm... It's fine now."

  "Th-Thank you very much."

  Thinking about it after the fact, this gecko incident really was a tempest in a teapot.

  Before Godou's eyes was Madame Aisha's naked body, wearing nothing except sandals, meaning he was staring straight ahead at her.

  Furthermore, there was not a single cloud in the night sky with a clear moon shining brightly above.

  Bathed beneath the moonlight, the Madame's body was in no way inferior to a goddess'.

  A sight of fantasy. In addition, the perfectly unblemished olive skin was gradually turning red, as though finally feeling a sense of embarrassment...

  "Kyaaaaaaaah!"

  She screamed at last. Then the Madame began to yell in awkward embarrassment.

  "Honestly, Kusanagi-san, you're discarding your usual serious-minded front to ogle me with this male gaze...! I-I knew it, you're so captivated by me that you can't help yourself, right!?"

  "Please stop talking incomprehensibly. Hurry up and put on some clothes!"

  Part 4

  After taking turns to watch over the fire throughout the night, Godou and Madame Aisha were greeted by the arrival of morning.

  Without extra clothing to use as blankets, they lasted through the night, relying on nothing but the fire. Not catching a cold was probably thanks to luck or the resilience of Campiones.

  As soon as it grew light, the two of them went along the Rhine and returned to the road.

  After walking several hours downstream, they reached a small village. There, they bought things like food and travel equipment. Inquiring from the villagers, they learned that Colonia Agrippina was two and half days' journey away.

  "The city where we caught up to you, Aisha-san... That was Mogontiacum, wasn't it? I remember that it takes a week to get to Colonia Aggripina from there, right?"

  "Well, because we drifted here, it ended up being a shortcut!"

  Indeed, a blessing in disguise.

  The protection of fortune conferred by Madame Aisha's authority was definitely quite useful in terms of possible benefits. However, getting swept up in the disasters caused by misfortune was a bit much...

  After the Madame bought a new overcoat at the village, the two of them resumed their journey.

  Whether in ancient or modern times, horses for riding were expensive livestock. Furthermore, this village did not have horses for sale. In the end, the two Campiones decided to move on foot.

  Godou prided in his athleticism and did not find walking hard at all.

  Despite her delicate and graceful appearance, Madame Aisha turned out to be surprisingly adept at walking long distances. Although the two of them got along well enough as they advanced along their journey, there were minor disputes on occasion.

  At sunset, Madame Aisha spoke up uncomfortably:

  "E-Excuse me, boys and girls should not share beds after the age of seven. Let's sleep in separate rooms when we find shelter for tonight!"

  "You're very right. I understand."

  Naturally, Godou agreed readily to this perfectly reasonable request.

  For some reason, Madame Aisha was shocked by his response, staring into Godou's face.

  "K-Kusanagi-san is fine with that!?"

  "Of course. No problem."

  "U-Umm. Like when traveling together as a pair, finding an opportunity to make a suitable excuse to sleep in the same room... Are you sure you're not harboring those kinds of indecent intentions, Kusanagi-san!?"

  "Of course not. Please rest without worry."

  Godou replied indifferently in response to Madame Aisha's strange worries. Did having her naked body seen last night put these redundant fears into her mind?

  "Umm, I think that last night's incident was the result of carelessness on our part. Proportionately speaking, I think you're 60% responsible, Aisha-san..."

  "Ooh... Well, even though I can't deny that I was screaming quite loudly..."

  However, they only realized after walking further. This area did not seem to have any homes for them to seek shelter. Hence, the pair camped outdoors again.

  Still, things went a lot smoother than the previous night.

  Not only did they have newly bought travel equipment to replace what they had lost, but also delicious and portable food. Of course, the risk of bandits still existed but given Madame Aisha's authorities, human traps could be easily escaped, by and large. Hence, that night...

  In a clearing far away from the road, the two of them started to camp. Facing Godou who was sitting beside the fire, Madame Aisha murmured uneasily:

  "U-Umm, Kusanagi-san, since there's no wall to separate us, you're not going to do anything indecent, are you?"

  "Of course not."

  "Because I'm a girl after all. If you were to embrace me passionately, Kusanagi-san, whispering sweet nothings into my ear in your habitual manner, intending to steal my lips, although I might end up a little excited, that's completely unacceptable, got that!?"

  "I never had a habit of doing any of that in the first place."

  "Really, despite spending your honeymoon-like days with Erica-san and Ena-san?"

  "That's not what our relationships are like!"

  Finding the odds quite stacked against him in this conversation, Godou changed the subject.

  "Besides, aren't you over a hundred and fifty years older than me, Aisha-san? Normally, whispering sweet nothings to someone like that isn't possible, right?"

  "Y-You're supposed to say 'love knows no boundaries in age' in a situation like this, Kusanagi-san!"

  "No... I think there'll be a generation gap."

  "Seriously! Making me out to be an old hag or something... Allow me to make myself clear. Let alone a century
and a half, I haven't even reached half that age yet!"

  Madame Aisha indignantly raised unexpected objections.

  "When returning to the present age, there were many occasions when I skipped over decades."

  "...Skipped over?"

  "One time, after spending three months in the past, I returned to the present using the corridor to find that roughly thirty years had elapsed already."

  "!?"

  "Conversely, there was one time when not even two days went by in the present despite spending two years in the past."

  Urashima Tarou, Rip Van Winkle, that Chinese parable of a transient dream...[1]

  Madame Aisha's journeys through time were as unbelievable as the places visited in those stories. Then Godou was shocked. What if a century had passed when he returned to the modern world, then he would be having a surreal experience like Urashima Tarou's...

  Concluded lifespans of everyone he knew, all passed away...

  Nevertheless, Madame Aisha simply said to Godou:

  "Well, so long as a large amount of magic power is injected into the corridor during the return, it's possible to control the passage of time to 'several decades' or 'a few days' later, to a certain extent."

  Hearing that, Godou breathed a sigh of relief.

  "...If it's possible to adjust, why did you return to thirty years later?"

  "B-Because if I didn't do that, I'd end up with the actual age of an old lady despite being thirty years old in official records!"

  "Deliberately becoming Urashima Tarou by your own free will..."

  That would be like a time traveler setting off in the year 1999 then intentionally "returning" ten years later in 2009 to prevent other people from calling him prematurely aged. What kind of epic science fiction story was this...?

  Furthermore, Madame Aisha was a Campione.

  Given that superhuman constitution, her body was most likely very youthful indeed. Apparently, the bodies of female magi aged much slower than that of male magi.

  Even more so for Campiones. The sworn elder sister, Luo Cuilian, was a prime example.

  "If that's the case, I'm curious about something."

  "What is it?"

  "If you had to say it, Aisha-san, how old are you? Not your age according to official records, but the actual time you've lived."

  This was a slightly impolite question, so Godou tried asking without much expectation.

  "Umm, I've never tried calculating it properly..."

  "An estimate is fine. Are you roughly forty or fifty?"

  "......"

  "Oh, of course, I won't force you to answer."

  "...Seventeen."

  "Eh?"

  "My physical and mental age is seventeen years old."

  "Hold on a sec, that's an impossible number no matter what."

  "Knowing nothing of my life, Kusanagi-san, you are in no position to reject it. If I say I'm seventeen years old, then that's final!"

  "Then that would make you my contemporary..."

  "A-Any objections to that!?"

  In any case, there was no other pastime during their journey apart from chatting. Before they knew it, the two of them were deeply engaged in conversation. But then they suddenly stopped talking at the same time. A distinctive and unusual stench was drifting over, carried by the night breeze. Compared to the foul odors of animals in zoos, this was even more intense.

  "Is there a ranch nearby? Raising pigs or cattle."

  "Maybe, I guess..."

  Madame Aisha's response was very simple.

  But in fact, even Godou did not believe his own speculation. Although there was no evidence, if anything, all he had was a feeling that this unusual stench was a ominous sign of something inauspicious to come. For some reason, that was what he thought.

  Godou stood up silently and went upwind.

  Madame Aisha followed quietly as well.

  They had been sitting in a grassy plain. Climbing a small hill in front of them, Godou and Madame Aisha were rendered speechless. On the other side of the hill, sixty bears were moving.

  All the bears were moving in one direction.

  Like sheep following a shepherd, the bears were coming to Godou and Aisha's campsite as though riding upon the wind.

  There was also something else surprising. Without exception, every bear was massive, roughly two meters in body length.

  Occasionally, there were even larger bears, four to five meters long and as big as small hills.

  "Aisha-san, umm, these aren't normal bears in this era, right?"

  "I doubt it, no matter how you look at it..."

  All the bears seem quite excited and displaying vicious eyes. Nevertheless, not a single bear got into a fight with any of their surrounding kin.

  They were like gangsters heading off to a group fight.

  A human contingent appeared in front of the bears' advance, roughly numbering eighty. All members were armed with swords, spears, axes and shields or the like, all fired up and ready to kill.

  "Oh dear, who could these people be?"

  "The way I see it, they look like gangsters before starting a fight."

  After muttering that, Godou realized that his impression was correct.

  The armed men suddenly drew their weapons, started charging at the bear army with a great battle cry.

  "Ehhh!?"

  Too reckless. Godou was shocked.

  The human side consisted of Caucasians with big and tall physiques. Their equipment rattled. They all had light-colored hair and almost everyone had strange hairstyles. On the top of their heads, their hair was tied into "topknots."

  "They're probably the Franks."

  "Really!?"

  "Yes, that hairstyle should be part of Frankish customs."

  Madame Aisha pointed to the armed group that was beginning a battle on the hill.

  First of all, they threw hand axes at nearby bears. Then when the beasts dodged, they used weapons like spears and swords to attack. Many of the Frankish warriors first threw axes then switched to close quarters combat. Their customs were probably just as strange as their hairstyles.

  Overall, rather than reckless, the Frankish warriors were better described as courageous.

  Confronted with an army of bears that surpassed them in strength and size, they still fought valiantly.

  Some of the bears stood on their hind legs and used their front limbs to pummel the Frankish warriors. Using sharp claws to tear enemies apart, other bears swatted nearby Franks away and easily bit them.

  Suffering from the savage beasts' attacks, the battlefield was soon filled with blood and screams.

  However, there were quite a few Franks who managed to dodge attacks and use their shields to defend fellow warriors who were going on offense. Using battle axes and swords to cut through the bear army, the survivors started to counterattack. Also, there were others who pierced bears with spears and shot arrows from a distance.

  When the battle first started, Godou had expected the Franks to lose miserably.

  But unexpectedly, the tide had shifted to a battle on equal footing. Although the Franks did not have martial arts experts like Erica or Ena, these ancient warriors wielded ancient weapons superbly to engage the vicious beasts in battle.

  "Speaking of which, Roman amphitheaters did have gladiators defeating ferocious beasts..."

  Godou recalled what he had heard from Erica.

  Martial artists fighting bears unarmed would probably be suicidal, but given spears, shields, throwing nets and other equipment, humans had pretty good odds even against lions as opponents. Ancient gladiators stood as evidence for that.

  But in this case, the bear army included massive giants beyond normal parameters.

  These were the four to five-meter-long bears that were as big as small hills, a total of six. As expected, the Franks were unable to hold their ground against these beasts. As the battle grew desperate, more and more casualties resulted. Godou frowned. Whether saving human lives or protecting
animals, he could not actively commit to either.

  "Kusanagi-san, I will go stop this battle!"

  "Then I'll come as well—"

  Just as he nodded in response to Aisha, Godou saw it.

  Among the Franks, there were several men who were guarding horse-drawn carts in the back instead of taking part in battle. One of the men was walking leisurely towards the most intense spot in the battle.

  Along the way, he was attacked by a number of giant bears.

  Every time, he sliced off the giant bears' attacking claws and teeth then continued advancing. Like the gentle descent of flower petals, his agile body made simple movements to evade the ferocious beasts. Just by looking, these were clearly motions that were not possible without advanced mastery of martial arts.

  There was an especially enormous bear at the place he was heading towards.

  The vigorously fighting Franks retreated as soon as they noticed his arrival.

  They probably intended to stay out of the [King]'s battle.

  Casually drawing the longsword at his waist, the man approached one of the bigger bears.

  It was a giant bear with a body length of four to five meters. If it stood on its hind legs, the bear would be one story high. Taking leisurely footsteps, the man walked up to this ferocious beast.

  Indeed, he was walking as naturally as if he were visiting a friend's house.

  Then came a flash of the sword.

  Even Godou's dynamic vision combined with a godslayer's focus could not capture the swing of his sword clearly. On the other hand, that one swing of the sword ended up chopping the bear's giant body into two.

  Sliced from head to rump in a vertical line, the bear was definitely split in half by a single strike.

  As a side note, the massive bear did not shed a single drop of blood. Presumably not a creature of this world, it was a being more akin to a divine beast. Next, the young man used the same technique to make five swings of his sword.

  The remaining giant bears were all split into halves, instantly annihilated.

  "—!?"

  By Godou's side, Madame Aisha gasped.

  She must have felt shocked by the scene and realized the man's true identity.

  "That guy Doni's over there. Let me go over to have a look first."

  Saying that, Godou went down the hill. Although he knew that Madame Aisha was following behind him, he did not take his gaze off the man at all.