by Fujino Omori
“If we’re going all out, how about a visit to my home village? Before long, the Great Tree will have its crown of light. Apparently, it’s unique to Wishe Forest, and you won’t be able to see it in any other village. It’s so beautiful! It’s like it has a crown of flowers with glittering specks of light scattered all around it…”
“…Like the cherry blossoms? In the Far East?”
“Yes! And there’s even a flower garden that only I know about! It’s unbelievably pretty! Let’s go there together.”
She was talking about her home, Wishe Forest.
It would be no less than wonderful to see Lefiya’s treasured sights together. Even if someone had found her secret garden, it wouldn’t be any less lovely. And the memories they were to make there would be theirs—and theirs alone.
Let’s make it through this battle and go see it. That was what Lefiya was offering.
“Yes…”
As Lefiya beamed, Filvis wore a pure smile.
“Once this is all done, we’ll go. I promise.”
In Freya Familia ’s home, Folkvangr, familia members battled intensely day and night.
It wouldn’t be right to call it a mock battle—but rather training by way of death matches. In order to win their patron goddess’s favor, they crossed swords with intense force, desperate to become stronger than the next person.
—But on that day, the members of Freya Familia stopped moving. Inside the walled-in field, armed and standing still, they all faced one direction, united.
It was dusk. The sky was turning red in the west. They had their attention stolen by the battle unfolding before them.
“Argh!”
“Wha—?!”
A thunderous roar resounded, kicking up chunks of dirt. As clods of earth and plants rained down, the body of the blond-haired, golden-eyed girl soared through the air, blown away by the impact. Aiz had managed to dodge the slash the boaz man had unleashed from high above his head by a razor-thin margin, but there was no time to shudder at the strike that shattered the ground because she was forced to deal with an instantaneous follow-up attack closing in from the side.
“Hah!”
Her trusted Desperate knocked away the large sword approaching her. As Ottar narrowed his eyes, Aiz accelerated with a bravery that left the onlooking Freya Familia members breathless. They crossed swords again, and again, and again.
It was yet another day of training with Ottar—another day of practice with the city’s strongest, the Level 7, that she had requested and that unleashed a cacophony of sounds.
Ottar gave her no advice. He simply exchanged blows with her, and that was all.
It was a harsh, real combat style of training. As if he was telling her with their crossed blades to learn through the course of fighting with him. She’d given Bell the same treatment, since she was not very good at expressing herself with words, but it made what she did to Bell seem cute in comparison—because Ottar had no intention of guiding her.
As if considering it obvious that Aiz would have to forge her own route, the boaz warrior hit her with his overwhelming strength. He was not using a sword with a dulled blade or anything. If she was not careful, she could easily die. And if Aiz made a stupid mistake, Ottar would probably mercilessly cut her in half.
Aiz was battered, day after day. The special training began before the sun rose, and they kept fighting until after the sun set. The only time she could lay on the ground and look up at the sky was right around when the day was about to bleed into tomorrow. Once all was done, she collapsed on the ground and passed out for a brief moment before beginning the training again early in the morning. She was not even given a bed. The girl named Helen, who was attending to Freya, had refused to let it pass and given her a change of clothes and a damp cloth to wash herself with, but if not for her, Aiz would not even have bathed.
It was the seventh day of her special training. Aiz realized she was in the same position as the white-haired boy had been before. In any normal circumstance, she might have chuckled, been tickled, found it funny, but she did not have any capacity left for that. The sword in her right hand constantly flickered, parrying the never-ending storm of blows raining down on her.
“Slow.”
“—Gh?!”
She was struck by a powerful blow. Unable to fully block it, Aiz was sent rolling across the ground before she finally stopped herself, kneeling on one knee.
While Aiz breathed heavily, Ottar looked totally unruffled, not sweating at all.
Aiz’s wind had already run out from casting Airiel at the start of the training session, but before noon, she was out of Mind, and the combat turned into a pure hand-to-hand fight. She continued to cover the massive physical burden of strong magic with the elixirs that Ottar forced her to take.
What was most amazing was Ottar’s bottomless tenacity. Regardless of whether she used her wind or not, he had the overwhelming strength to totally shut her down. With frustration showing on her face, she roughly wiped away the mud covering her scratched cheeks.
“…Sword Princess.”
“…?”
Ottar abandoned his stance and, for the first time during their training, asked her a question: “How strong is the opponent you have to fight for you to go this far?”
Ottar was acknowledging Aiz’s resolve and intensity to endure the days of training as she came at him as though a desperate, cornered animal. For the first time, the city’s strongest showed an interest in the goal that had driven her to seek out special training with him.
“…I don’t know. I can’t see a cap to my enemy,” Aiz responded with her honest impression.
The creature with bloodred hair flashed through her mind. When Aiz thought she had surpassed her by leveling up to Level 6, Levis had become an enhanced species that leapfrogged past Aiz again at an inhuman speed. If Levis was increasing her strength by gathering magic stones, there was no longer any way to do a simple calculation of her strength. After struggling to put it into words, Aiz finally shared her perspective.
“But in pure Status terms…she’s definitely stronger than you as you’re facing me right now.”
“…”
While Aiz thought back to Levis’s strength when they had clashed in Knossos, Ottar’s eyes narrowed. As if she had fanned the flames of his fighting spirit.
One of the most frightening things about the boaz was that he wasn’t fighting at full strength—no use of magic or even any skills. Ottar was simply facing her with only his pure ability. And he was overpowering her with just his physical prowess despite her wind and other deadly techniques. He made free use of his unimaginable battle experience and an overwhelming depth of tactics. More than anything, considering Ottar’s race, she was sure that he still had an ace up his sleeve.
“A creature, huh? I heard about it from Tammuz, but…”
Aiz was shocked to hear him say the word creature out of nowhere, but Ottar paid her no heed as he continued.
“Sword Princess. After exchanging blows with you, I’ve understood something.”
“?”
“You are not as skilled as you think in combat against other people.”
“?!”
Aiz was so startled at his sudden declaration that her shock was almost audible. She was not full of herself by any means, but she did have some pride in having worked hard to get where she was—plus some shred of self-confidence in her nickname as the Sword Princess. To have that negated by someone who stood above her, by the undisputed strongest man in the city, was a blow to her self-esteem.
“Compared to those in your generation, you’re certainly excellent, plenty strong…But compared to Finn or me, you’re missing something.”
“…!”
“Our generation had Zeus and Hera, monsters that acted as if our counterattacks were nothing…During that time, the young people in Orario had no choice but to steep themselves in battle against other people.”
The words of the warrior who slid into memories of days
past struck home with Aiz. It was the turbulent era that Finn and the others had managed to survive, the city’s Dark Ages—the cruel era that had continued until the end of the struggle with the Evils.
Was there no way to overcome the difference in experience? Was there no way for her to win against Levis as an adventurer? Aiz chewed on her lip.
“But don’t get it twisted. That’s not where your real ability lies.”
Right then, Ottar’s tone changed.
“Your sword’s true nature does not lie in fighting people—it’s a weapon for slaughtering monsters.”
“!!” Aiz was blown away.
When she snapped her head up, she saw that the green eyes looking down at her were the same as always.
“I’ve seen you fight in the Dungeon many times. And after this training, I’m sure of it. Your sword’s sole purpose is killing monsters…It takes it to the logical extreme, removing all extraneous concerns, without concern for wounds. An obsession. In that regard, you’ve surpassed me—and the rest as well, including Finn.”
Sword techniques wielded for the sole purpose of killing monsters. A murderous blade for slaughtering countless monsters, creating a mountain of their corpses. Ottar was saying that in that regard alone, she had left them in the dust. Aiz gazed in wonder and agitation as she foresaw what he was about to say.
“When you fought this creature, were you perceiving it as a person?”
“—…!”
That was correct. Aiz had crossed blades with Levis as if she were an adventurer or a warrior, just like Aiz was. That was entirely because she had a human form, because a mutual understanding had been possible. After she knew that Levis was a creature, she had stood against her as a warrior.
“Once you perceive an enemy as a person, even if it’s a monster, you have no chance of winning.”
The sword in her hands trembled at his assertion. There was no way he could know Aiz’s ability. And yet, it was as if he knew the full story of the skill engraved on her back.
It was true, if she wielded that power while fighting against Levis, the fight would go differently than it had in the past. But the source of her strength—her obsession—was wavering. Because of the resolve of the boy who she had fought under the moonlight and the tears of the dragon girl, it had lost its home. Faced with Aiz, who showed an even deeper anguish than before, Ottar’s eyes sharpened.
“…You lost your way after confronting the armed monsters, huh?”
“!”
Just how much does this man—?
It was as if he could clearly see into her mind. Sweat rolling down her face, her throat dry, Aiz started to move her mouth before she realized it.
“Why do you know…?”
“I don’t know anything about you. I don’t know, but I get it. None other than your own sword shows just how half-hearted your resolve is.”
The warrior was saying that the flying sparks and clashing blades had shown him everything. Aiz looked down at her hands. The silver blade reflected the face that was concealing her doubt.
“I can’t share an answer or any method to resolve your conflict. And I’ve no interest in making that happen. However, if I was to say something, then—” The city’s strongest adventurer halted. “Why do you think you can beat an enemy more powerful than you without pouring everything you have into it?”
Aiz was shaken even harder by this comment than everything leading up to it. She was unsure. In truth, she was trying to put off a resolution to her doubts. Given the existence of the Xenos, should she regard monsters as absolute evil that must be destroyed—or not? But the warrior standing before her shrugged off that concern. He was telling her that if there was a wall that she needed to overcome, then she should overcome it with all her might.
In the next moment, Ottar gave off a completely different vibe as he stepped sharply toward her. With her eyes wide open, Aiz managed to raise Desperate and catch his forceful blow.
“There is a flame in you. A black determination that will destroy you if you make a single misstep.”
“…!”
“Do not let it swallow you up. Control it. And remember.”
His mysterious statement triggered a shock. And he accompanied it with an unapologetic slash of his sword. The girl was visibly surprised as the boaz man beat that truth into her.
“The enemy you’re going to face—is nothing more than a brief stop in the grand scheme of things.”
“!!”
A scene flashed before Aiz’s eyes. A wild winter background. A bawling little girl who had lost everything. And a single wish that she had to achieve.
“—Ghhhhh!”
Aiz howled. As she deflected Ottar’s blade, the clash let out an explosive boom, and she lunged forward, beginning a raging counterattack. Her back ached with the sacred letters engraved in her skin.
But it was not the flames of destruction that consumed Aiz. Her eyes were fixed on the goal standing before her—fighting spirit focused on a single enemy.
Control it without being consumed. Don’t mistake what it’s for. Don’t destroy because of hatred. It’s all for the sake of winning—to protect my friends, my familia, and this city.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!”
It sparked a fire in Aiz’s resolve. With a strength that she had not wielded before, she kicked up a storm of steel.
“That’s good—”
It was a breakthrough that could not have happened were it not for Ottar. The words he spoke would not have been able to reach her if they had come from Riveria or Gareth, Finn or Loki, or those who knew her past. It was something she could learn only from him, someone who had no connection to her, the man known as the Warlord. A means of resolution.
Aiz’s sword accelerated as she focused on the enemy she had to defeat. The warrior standing before her overlapped with the image of that woman.
Narrowing his eyes, Ottar responded to those flames using only his strength.
CHAPTER 4
AVENGERS ~KNOSSOS WAR~
Aiz Wallenstein
LEVEL 6
Strength: H100 -> 154 Defense: H117 ->153
Dexterity: H131 ->19 Agility: H112 ->174 Magic: H154 -> G202
Hunter: G Immunity: G Knight: I Spirit Healing: I
“A total growth over two fifty…I dunno where you went, but that must have been one hell of a training session.”
She could hear Loki stifling a laugh behind her. Without anything to cover her upper half, Aiz looked at the Status update sheet that the goddess handed her and quietly clenched her fist.
She held the sheet to a torch and burned it. Watching the red flame peter out, she donned her combat outfit and looked out the window.
“All right, with that, the arrangements are all set. Today will be the start of the war.”
The day of the assault on Knossos. The sunrise was just starting to peek over the horizon in the east.
In the city’s southeast corner, an oppressive air was settling in around Daedalus Street. Battle-ready adventurers and a heavily armed force of military police were milling around. The former were from Ganesha Familia , who worked to maintain the city’s order. The latter were members of the Guild.
There were currently no residents of the slums anywhere to be seen. On the surface, that was because of rebuilding the neighborhood. Under the pretext of restoring Daedalus Street after the armed monsters had turned it into a battlefield, the residents had been moved to temporary housing to the city’s northwest at the instruction of the Guild.
The truth was that they’d been displaced to keep them from getting dragged into the operation that was about to begin. That was the reason Loki Familia had worked together with the other factions to help the reconstruction effort after the Xenos had returned belowground: to set up camp in the Labyrinth District without raising questions or causing a panic, to have a natural excuse for why the residents were being evacuated, and to establish a tight net around Knossos. Those outlaws who refused t
o follow the orders to leave were all caught and forced out.
The more perceptive people had probably taken notice. While the daily hustle and bustle was beginning in the surrounding areas, Daedalus Street was unnaturally silent. There were no sounds emanating from it.
“Sister! How is this operation getting reported to the Guild members?!”
“You’re yapping too loud, Ilta. They were told there might be a second entrance to the Dungeon, which is what they’re investigating. Apparently, Royman pulled some strings to avoid any unnecessary confusion with the Guild’s people.”
In the central part of Daedalus Street, where Ganesha Familia had set up their base, a red-haired Amazon named Ilta was kicking up a fuss.
“Sorry…but it’s super annoying! Why aren’t we going to be part of the first strike or whatever they’re calling it?! Gah! That tiny little prum, always bossing us around however he pleases!”
“Our mission is to ensure the defense of Daedalus Street. Obviously, we can’t let normal people enter, but we’ve also gotta keep an eye out for people who might try to escape from inside. That’s the point of roping them in,” responded a tall woman with indigo hair. She was the leader of Ganesha Familia , Shakti Varma.
“And besides, it’s not just us. Hephaistos Familia isn’t going to be part of the first assault, either. Finn isn’t underestimating us. Quite the opposite. He made the judgment to reserve forces for the battle to come.”
“…Huh, now that you mention it, I haven’t seen Cyclops around. The other smiths are one thing, but there’s no way he wouldn’t use her. You know anything about that, sister?”
“During the battle here, she apparently attacked Loki Familia . It’s not like they don’t trust her anymore, but for the sake of appearances, she was removed from this operation. She was worked up about it.”
“What the hell was she thinking…?”
Ilta was exasperated by the predicament that Tsubaki Collbrande, the master smith and Level 5, had gotten herself into.
“…In the end, I really can’t accept it. We lost Hashana in this mess, too, after all.”