Volume 4, Chapter 33 – The Battle Before the Iron Door

◆ Christina POV ◆

I follow Fiene-sama and the others deeper into the Itten Style dojo.

There is no risk of getting lost, as guards lie bleeding in Fiene-sama’s wake.

Using the fallen guards as landmarks, I continue forward toward where Fiene-sama is.

That was when it happened. Suddenly, the building shook violently with a massive tremor.

“W-what was that? Fiene-sama! Please be safe!”

I broke into a sprint, desperate to catch up with Fiene-sama.

◆ Lumia POV ◆

The moment Onee-sama vanished through the door with that mysterious power, a terrifying presence seeped through from the other side.

“Lu-Lumia-chan, what on earth is happening here?”

“I don’t know, but it looks bad. Hey, can’t you break this lock? You know, cut it with that sword or something.”

“I-Impossible. If I tried to cut a lump of metal like this, my sword would snap.”

“Hmph.”

This guy is useless! If it were Chris-san or Shizuku-san, they’d probably just slice right through it!

“Mashiro!”

At my signal, Mashiro fired a Wind Blade at the lock. The Wind Blade struck the padlock with pinpoint accuracy.

CLANG!

Mashiro’s Wind Blade exploded with a loud crash, but unfortunately, it was deflected; it didn’t leave a single scratch on the padlock.

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“Muuu…”

Just then, I heard loud voices and footsteps coming from the direction we had arrived.

“What was that! What was that sound!”

Then, people wearing the same clothes as the ones we’d taken down on the way here appeared.

“Ah, there they are! The intruders are over here! Get them, get them, get them!”

Hmph, looks like that noise gave us away.

“Wait, we’ve been spotted! What do we do?”

“What do you mean ‘what do we do’? We have to take them down! Mashiro!”

Mashiro fired Wind Blades again, cutting down the humans as they rushed toward us.

Since we were in a dead end, there was nowhere for us to run.

“Guh, these scoundrels use suspicious arts most dishonorably!”

After about five of them were cut down by the Wind Blades, the humans stopped recklessly rushing us.

As we entered a standoff, a powerful shockwave suddenly blasted out from the room where Onee-sama had gone.

“Wah!”

“W-what is the meaning of this!?”

Souji-san and I were so startled we fell flat on our backs.

I looked toward the humans, thinking we were being attacked, but they had been knocked onto their backs as well.

“Hmph, chance! Mashiro!”

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I sent Wind Blades into the humans while they were still down.

“T-to target those who have fallen… how cowardly!”

Hmph. I don’t care if they call me cowardly when they’re the ones attacking us.

I nocked an arrow and shot it straight into the head of the man who kept rambling on about nonsense.

“Gah!”

After that, the man didn’t move again.

“Now it’s quiet, isn’t it?”

I spoke to Souji-san, but he looked back at me with a somewhat strained expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, no… I just thought you were quite ruthless.”

“Eh? But if I didn’t do that, we’d be killed, right?”

“B-but you didn’t have to kill an opponent who couldn’t resist…”

“?”

I didn’t understand what Souji-san was talking about. His expression remained strained, and he was starting to look a little scary.

Right at that moment…

“Fiene-sama! Lumia! Souji-dono! Are you safe!?”

Chris-san came running toward us, covered in blood.

“…Um, Chris-san doesn’t look very safe?”

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“Ah, this is just blood splatter. I only took two punches, so it’s no problem. More importantly, where is Fiene-sama?”

“Onee-sama is behind this door.”

“Why did the three of you not enter together?”

“We couldn’t break the lock, so Onee-sama used a mysterious technique to help me and went inside alone through the gap in the door.”

The moment I explained this to Chris-san, a dazzling light leaked from the gap in the door.

“Hmph, this is the light of Fiene-sama’s magic. Alright, I shall break the door and charge in.”

Chris-san walked toward the door. Halfway there, she stopped as if remembering something and spoke to Souji-san.

“Souji-dono, why did you not cut this lock?”

“Eh? There’s no way a metal lock can be cut with a sword. If I did that, my sword would break.”

Chris-san gave him a look of slight disappointment, but her expression quickly returned to normal.

“I see. Then please step back. Souji-dono, watch closely.”

With that, Chris-san took her usual sword stance and lightly touched the tip of her blade against the padlock.

Then, she slowly raised her sword and delivered a single downward flash.

Snap.

The padlock, struck by Chris-san’s sword, split clean in two with a light sound and fell to the ground.

“Souji-dono, if you just go swish and then shink like this, locks are easy to cut.”

“A-ah. I see… is that how it is.”

Souji-san had a puzzled look on his face, as if saying he didn’t understand at all, but I bet Shizuku-san could do that too, right?

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I had no idea what she was talking about, but I guess great swordsmen can just do things if they just do something or other.

“Now, Lumia, let’s go. Souji-dono as well.”

“Okay!”

“A-ah, right.”

As Chris-san opened the door, the light from the hallway spilled into the dark room. There stood Onee-sama, holding Shizuku-san’s Kirinagi.

“Ah, you’ve finally arrived. I’ve retrieved the Kirinagi… Chris-san, you look terrible. Are you alright?”

Onee-sama spoke in her usual gentle voice and immediately cast Cleansing Magic and Healing Magic on Chris-san.

A warm light enveloped Chris-san; the grime clinging to her vanished in an instant, and her slightly swollen face returned to its usual beauty.

“There. You’re all better now, Chris-san. Now then, Souji-san, please lead us to the Dragon God Cave.”

“Thank you, Fiene-sama.”

“A-ah, leave it to me.”

Chris-san thanked her with her usual expression, while Souji-san answered with a somewhat hesitant air.

Author Note

Considering what humans have done to Lu-chan, it might be inevitable, but she seems to have zero resistance to killing humans.

Translator Note

Poor Souji~