Chapter 2: Champion

After the incident, we resumed our journey and soon found ourselves at Toraj at last. Living up to its name as the Country of Water, the capital was flanked on one side by the ocean, with there being innumerable wooden boats moored in its harbor. If I had to venture a guess, the reason the architectural style in this city had a slight Japanese vibe was likely that its founder had been a transmigrator. Seeing the kimono-like clothing worn by passersby on the streets gave me a twinge of nostalgia. What if the founder’s real name happened to be Toraji?

“Whoa, water as far as my eyes can see! So this is an ocean!”

“It’s so pretty...”

Sera and Efil, who were seeing an ocean for the first time in their lives, were extremely thrilled. It was also my first time seeing an ocean so blue and clean. Back on Earth, a location of this quality would have definitely made it onto TV shows and magazines covering famous tourist spots. Sera was in total vacation mode now, having changed from her usual military uniform into casual clothing.

“Boss and madams, is this your first time visiting Toraj? I was also mighty surprised when I first came here.”

“This place is simply gorgeous...”

If our wagon had not been loaded up, the two girls would probably have headed straight off for a dip in the sea. However, we couldn’t very well do that as we had to hand over the two members of Black Wind to the local Adventurer’s Guild first. Thanks to Sera’s Hypnotism, we had managed to extract all of the information we could from the male bandit, then from the leader as well. At the moment, both of them were fast asleep in the back of the wagon.

The information that we had obtained was as follows: first, Black Wind had indeed been revived. Or to be exact, they had merely pretended to be wiped out in the first place. The Rank A adventurer party that had supposedly destroyed them had actually taken over the gang. Since the previous head of Black Wind really had been killed, and his head had been brought back to the guild as proof, the group was officially declared to be disbanded.

Aside from those who had died during the confrontation itself, however, the majority of Black Wind had in fact survived. Now a Rank A adventurer was controlling the gang from the shadows, and it was also he who had ordered the attack on us. He had kept his identity a secret from all but the highest echelons of Black Wind, and was known to be constantly moving around.

Even so, how many Rank A adventurers can there be? Guess we can leave this part to the guild. Honestly, though, I can’t imagine it taking all that long.

Secondly, we learned that Black Wind’s main activities at present were kidnapping and human trafficking. Obviously, Efil and Sera had been targeted for that reason. There were several squads, each led by an officer like Karna, that were based in different areas all doing the same thing.

Furthermore, they had managed to prevent news of their existence from reaching nearby city authorities and Adventurer’s Guild branches thanks to two facts: one, the average level of their members was so high that they could easily overwhelm the run-of-the-mill adventurers who were usually hired as guards for journeys between cities, and two, they were extremely thorough in cleaning up the locations of their attacks and obfuscating any remaining traces. They kidnapped adventurers and civilians alike, selling them all into slavery...and all of this had been ordered by the Rank A adventurer who had become their new chief.

“Heyyy, let’s hand these guys over quickly. I want to see the ocean up close! I also want to try that ‘fishing’ thing you mentioned before!” urged Sera, who seemed to be nearing the end of her patience. Although Efil wasn’t saying anything, she was fidgeting a lot too, which was extremely unusual for her. Chances were that she was feeling exactly the same as Sera.

“All right, all right. Let’s head straight to the guild, then.”

“Allow me to lead the way, boss. It’s this street here.”

Following close behind our faithful driver, the three of us headed for the Toraj branch of the Adventurer’s Guild.

“B-Black Wind?! Are you sure about that?!”

“It’s true, I can back up his story. When my wagon was attacked, these here adventurers were the ones who saved me.”

At one of the counters of the Toraj branch of the Adventurer’s Guild, I had turned over the two Black Wind members in our custody and reported on everything that had happened. Thanks to our driver also coming along and confirming my story, things proceeded without issue.

“Umm, so you are an adventurer from Parth? Pardon me, but may I have a look at your guild card, please?”

I obediently handed over my gold-colored card. Guild cards were colored based on the adventurer’s rank. Rank F was blue, Rank E was red, then subsequent ranks were green, bronze, silver, and gold. Therefore, as a Rank A adventurer, my card was now gold.

“Wait, you’re Rank A?! I apologize for my disrespect!”

“Boss, I knew you were strong, but to think you were Rank A this whole time...”

“That’s right! So treat him accordingly!”

Sera, why are you the one looking so proud?

“Oh, don’t worry about it. More importantly...”

I passed on the information about Black Wind that we had acquired from our interrogation. The Adventurer’s Guild had branches all over the continent, so our report would reach them all in no time. Hopefully, this will help reduce the number of kidnapping victims...

“Would you happen to have knowledge of the adventurer who supposedly subjugated the old Black Wind? They are likely the main culprit behind the gang’s revival,” added Efil.

“I’m very sorry. This is a matter above my own authority, so I will need to call my superior. In the meantime, please have a rest in the reception room.”

◇ ◇ ◇

The receptionist guided us to a separate room, where we waited for several minutes.

Ker-chak.

The woman who had opened the door was a charming-looking older lady. I got up from my chair and Sera scrambled to her feet as well. Efil did not need to move, as she had been standing behind me the whole time.

“It’s my pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am the guildmaster of the Toraj branch of the Adventurer’s Guild. My name is Mist.”

“The pleasure is all mine. I’m Kelvin, an adventurer.”

We exchanged a handshake, then settled into seats facing each other across the table.

“I’ve heard about you from Rio. In fact, you’re pretty much all he talks about these days. It’s quite rare for him to be this excited about someone, you know.”

So Rio and Mist-san keep in contact with each other?

“Guildmaster Rio has helped me out a lot. But...well, I’m rather surprised to hear this account of his opinion of me. He’s never shown any sign of it during my interactions with him.”

“He’s got an obstinate streak, that one. He won’t tell you directly, but I think he values you rather highly.”

“It would be quite an honor if that’s the case...”

But really, Rio highly evaluates me? I have so many memories of him twisting my arm to do things that I’m not sure how I feel about the idea.

“Let me guess, he keeps pressing you to do jobs, right? Don’t worry, it’s not just you. He’s always been that way.”

“May I ask how long the two of you have been acquainted?”

“It’s been more than twenty years now, but he and I were once in the same party. That guy, he even earned the nickname ‘Analyzer’ because of how often he went around using Analyze Eye on people without their permission.”

“Hahaha...yeah, I’m a victim as well.”

After continuing to make small talk for a while longer, we finally got down to business.

“So, about Black Wind...”

“Indeed, our receptionist already passed on the information that you provided. We’ve considered the following three factors: the rank of the person who brought in the information, the apprehension of the actual perpetrators, and the eyewitness testimony of Rudo-san over there. In case you are not aware, Rudo-san is highly reputable in the transportation industry, and we have also been in his care many times. In light of all this, we have deemed your information highly credible and have already passed it along to the other branches of the Adventurer’s Guild.”

Oh wow, so our driver — uh, Rudo-san? — is actually well-known?

I turned to look at him, just in time to catch him scratching his cheek embarrassedly, muttering, “Eh, it’s nothing much.”

Hm, Mist-san sure works fast.

“Now, about the party that took on the subjugation of Black Wind...” Mist-san paused briefly before continuing. “At the moment, they still reside here, in the capital of Toraj.”

◇ ◇ ◇

“If they’re in Toraj, then we can immediately g—”

Before Efil finished her sentence, Mist-san shook her head. “There are extenuating circumstances. Unfortunately, things are not that simple.”

“What do you mean?”

Mist-san stood up abruptly, then walked over to retrieve a book from one of the shelves that lined the room. After flipping through the pages a bit, she left it on the table, opened to a certain page.

“Roughly one year ago, after Black Wind was subjugated, a certain news publication printed this article.”

I picked up the book and the three of us gathered around it together. The page had what looked like a newspaper clipping glued to it. Ah, a scrapbook.

“Please take your time and read through the article.”

“Thank you. We’ll have a look.”

◆——Rank A Adventurer Christoph and Party Annihilate the Bandit Gang Black Wind!——◆

Today, our glorious king, Zel-sama, he who rules over our illustrious Kingdom of Trycen, has truly delightful news to announce to all. The notorious bandit gang, Black Wind, whose name has caused the world to tremble in fear of late, has been struck down by the Trycen-born Rank A adventurer Christoph-shi and his party. Although Black Wind is internationally wanted for countless charges of murder and kidnapping, no one had successfully determined the location of their headquarters before. In addition, the combat prowess of each and every one of the gang’s members was so high that even knightly orders could not carelessly engage. The bandits’ infamy was such that they had even earned the nickname The Formless Bandit Gang.

Surely the tragic recent attack on one of our own villages is still fresh in the minds of our people. It was Christoph-shi who, spurred to action by this terrible incident, stood up and took matters into his own hands. Through independent investigation, he managed to discover Black Wind’s hideout and even brought back the head of their abominable leader. In honor of this highly heroic feat, Zel-sama has decided to bestow a Trycen Medal of Honor upon Christoph-shi. With this, Christoph-shi has officially become a Champion of Trycen. Keep your eyes peeled for the future successes of our great new champion.

◆————————————————————◆

“I see...”

“The adventurer that you are looking for is most likely Christoph. As the article states, he is now being held up as a Champion of Trycen. If we mishandle this matter, we could end up causing an international dispute between Toraj and Trycen.”

So in other words, even the Adventurer’s Guild can’t easily touch him. What a troublesome country Trycen is. For me, I mean.

“But we have all this evidence. Just because some stupid country’s calling him a champion or whatever, we have to just give up?!” Sera cried.

“That’s...”

“Sera, calm down. What Mist-san is saying is that we need to prepare properly.”

Although I turned around to pacify Sera, whose anger had suddenly flared up, I had to admit that making preparations would require time. And considering how diplomatically sensitive this matter could become, the amount of time needed would be quite substantial indeed. If only we had something that could prove our legitimacy without any shadow of doubt —

“Hm?” Just now, did...

“Master, what’s the matter?”

“Oh, no, it’s nothing. Getting back on track...” There’s no way this is ‘nothing,’ though. What did I just pick up...?

I switched to the Follower Network, through which we could exchange thoughts instantaneously.

Sera.

::Huh? Are we having a secret conversation?::

Did any of your sensing or detection skills pick up on four large presences just now?

::Umm...yep, I feel them at the city gates. Their levels are all within the fifties, I think?::

As expected...

I guess coincidences really do happen, I thought to myself. And, if so, then I’m really in luck.

::Do those four have something to do with us?::

I’m still evaluating the situation, but for now... I pulled up several Status screens that were still in the Network. In all likelihood, they are this era’s Heroes.

::!::

::!::

::!::

Previously, Melfina had visited Deramis and received a recording orb — a Rank A item capable of storing any and all kinds of information — from the Oracle while granting her a prophecy. Although this particular orb had been returned to the Oracle, Melfina had uploaded the information to our Network and left it there. To my surprise, this had enabled me to track those four individuals by attaching markers to them through my Presence Sensing skill.

Yep, I can feel them more strongly now. Seems they’ve just entered the city.

I could not sense any knights nearby, which meant they had come to Toraj on their own.

::So these are the Heroes that my princess mentioned.::

::Heroes...::

Although these four were entirely unrelated to the matter, Sera’s father had been killed by a Hero. Her conflicted emotions leaked through the Network to the rest of us.

Sera, I’m sure you already know this, but these Heroes are completely different people.

::I understand it...in my head.::

Good to hear it. After all, I’m thinking of having these Heroes help out a bit with this issue of ours.

Clearly, she still needed time to sort out the feelings in her heart. I would have to keep an eye on her and give her guidance where needed.

::The Heroes are certainly far more popular and trusted than Christoph is. We have evidence against Christoph, so if we can secure the guild’s and Deramis’s backing, even Trycen would not be able to protest.::

::My king, you intend to pit the Heroes against Black Wind?::

Why would I do that? I wouldn’t get to do any fighting myself that way.

::......::

::......::

::......::

Don’t all of you go silent on me at the same time!

Of course, my love of battle wasn’t the only reason. The Heroes’ current capabilities were only in the middle-to-high percentile of Rank A at best. There was no guarantee that they could actually win against Black Wind or Christoph and his party. I don’t even want to imagine what Melfina will say if we let them die here.

Right...well, let’s get back on track. This is what we’re going to do...

◇ ◇ ◇

“Mist-san, I have a proposal.”

“Oh? What sort of proposal?”

After our internal strategy meeting was over, it was time to start making preparations. For this plan, Mist-san’s cooperation was absolutely necessary. If we succeeded, Toraj would be in our debt. And if Toraj was in our debt, it would make the possibility of getting our hands on rice that much greater.

I will secure my rice without fail!

::Master, leave the cooking to me! I will reproduce your recipes without fail!::

::The elusive food from my king’s homeplace. I will materialize myself to enjoy its taste without fail!::

::Are you guys aware that you sometimes randomly insert rather idiotic comments out of the blue?::

United under a common purpose, all of us set off to complete our own parts of the plan.

◇ ◇ ◇

Under the leadership of Kanzaki Touya, the Heroes had set out from the Holy Empire of Deramis and, after a long journey, finally reached Toraj, the Country of Water. To understand why, one must travel back to the moment after Melfina, the Goddess of Reincarnation, granted a prophecy to Colette, the Oracle of Deramis.

When Touya and Setsuna reached the doors of the Great Cathedral, they bumped into Mizuoka Nana and Kuromiya Miyabi.

“Kanzaki-kun! What’s happened?!” cried Nana in a slightly flustered state.

This previous classmate of Touya’s was short, baby-faced, and had a very prominent bosom, which was an amalgam of traits that had proven extremely popular among a portion of the boys in their high school back home. She herself had a complex about this appearance that had often caused her to be mistaken for an elementary or middle schooler, but the combination of her appearance and gentle personality gave her a pleasant aura that many people found quite comforting and healing.

“We saw light coming from the Great Cathedral. Fireworks?”

In sharp contrast to Nana, Miyabi always seemed cool and composed. She was a returnee who had transferred into Touya’s class the day before they were all summoned. Due to how fast her almost genius-level mind ran, she often did and said things that seemed cryptic and incomprehensible to others. A quarter Russian, she had beautiful silver hair, and her looks were such that a fan club was rumored to have been established for her the very day she transferred in.

These two had been summoned, together with Touya and Setsuna, from modern Japan into another world, called to become Heroes.

“Good timing, you two. Honestly, I haven’t the faintest idea, either. What I do know is that Colette is inside.”

“What?! Then we should check on her!”

“Yep, that’s what we’ll be doing! When I open the door, all of us will rush in together. Ready? Set...”

BANG!

“Colette, are you all right?!”

In the direction Touya had yelled stood a silver-haired girl before an altar. Nothing appeared broken, and there were no signs of any struggle having taken place. The inside of the Great Cathedral was enveloped in complete silence, almost as if the intense light from a short while ago had been a mere lie. As the four Heroes looked around warily, Colette turned towards them and proclaimed in a sonorous voice, “We have been granted a prophecy!”

Setsuna was the first to respond. “By ‘prophecy,’ you mean Goddess Melfina was here?! What did she say?!”

This would be the first time that the goddess had made contact after their original transmigration. A faint hope that they might one day return home sparked within Setsuna’s chest, causing her to stare intently at Colette, awaiting her next words with bated breath. After what seemed like forever, Colette finally answered.

“One year it has been since Melfina-sama lent her aid in ensuring the successful summoning of the Heroes who would be our saviors. I had thought that I would never again have the blessed honor of receiving a prophecy, but now! Now another prophecy has been given to us! Ahh, Melfina-sama’s appearance is so holy, so divine, so beautiful, so precious! Her smile of joy upon beholding the Heroes’ growth was worth more than a thousand — nay, a million pieces of gold! For her to visit this humble servant not only once, but twice! Oh, Melfina-sama’s love and benevolence is so deep that I feel I might drown in it!”

“......”

“......”

“......”

Colette was feeling such pleasure and delight that it looked like she was high on something. It was extremely rare to see the second highest authority of a country the size of Deramis in such an uncomposed state. If such a display were ever shown to the public, it would tarnish her reputation.

“Kanzaki-kun, Colette-san appears quite tired right now. We’ll help her to her room, so could you go back ahead of us?”

“O-Okay, sure. Want me to help carry her on my back?”

“Bzzt. Not an excuse for you to touch her. Touya’s a lucky lecher.”

“What! Miyabi, are you still holding a grudge against me for the other day?! I told you, I didn’t do it on purpo—”

“Miyabi-chan?! Did something happen between you and Kanzaki-kun?!”

“All right, all right, that’s enough of the manzai comedy act.”

Rubbing her temples to alleviate the headache she was getting, Setsuna did her best to bring things back under control. As a childhood friend of Touya the Walking Disaster, she had grown up facing such troublesome scenes more times than she could count. It was only natural that she would be constantly relegated to the role of mediator. If left alone, the other three would probably continue their banter ad infinitum, so it wasn’t as if she really had a choice. Rare was the day that Setsuna did not end up with a headache.

“The knights should be arriving soon, after hearing all that ruckus. Touya, you go deal with them. Nana and Miyabi, you two help me carry Colette! Come on, guys, get to it!”

“Understood!”

“Okay!”

“Aye, aye, siiiir.”

Touya dashed out of the Great Cathedral first. Setsuna and the others departed soon after, carrying Colette.

“Oh, so beautiful! You are far too beautiful, Melfina-samaaa!”

That night, an official order went out barring anyone from entering Colette’s quarters.

◇ ◇ ◇

Knock-knock.

“Come in.”

“Pardon my intrusion, Oracle.”

Putting down her pen, Colette looked up at the door. It was Cliff, the Knight Captain of the Holy Empire of Deramis’s acclaimed Holy Order of Knights. He was the most powerful warrior in all of Deramis and had therefore been entrusted with the training of the Heroes. Even after a year, his charges still could not beat him — even when fighting against him together in a four-versus-one match-up.

The four Heroes themselves stepped into the room just behind him.

“Knight Captain Cliff of the Holy Order of Knights, here at your service!”

“Be at ease. The reason I have called you and the Heroes here today is because I have an announcement to make: Melfina-sama has granted us another prophecy.”

The same words as yesterday, yet delivered in a completely different tone. This did not change the impact of the announcement, but Colette’s delirious state last night had been so impactful that Touya and the rest seemed at a loss as to how to respond. They exchanged looks, as if asking one another whether they should act surprised or not. Miyabi was quivering furiously, a tiny step away from bursting into outright laughter. Cliff, who did not know what had happened the day before, was the only one to look genuinely surprised.

“Is that true?! Oh, Oracle, what wonderful news! I shall inform the Pope immediately!”

“Wait a minute. Fath— I mean the Pope has already been informed.”

“I beg your pardon for my forwardness.”

“So, Colette, what did Goddess Melfina say?”

Trying her best not to think of the previous night, Setsuna pressed Colette for the details of the prophecy.

“I feel an evil presence from the Rizean Empire. Send the Heroes there. Ensure that they do not mistakenly go in the direction of Parth.”

“My Goddess!” exclaimed Cliff in even greater surprise.

“Knight Captain Cliff, the Rizean Empire is —”

“Indeed, the country on the Western Continent that we have had an armistice with for many years.”

Although Deramis and Rizea had signed the armistice, the wartime tensions between the two countries had yet to dissipate. The wedge that had been driven between them was not so easily overcome.

“If I remember correctly, we can cross over Crux Bridge to get there, right?”

“It’s not impossible, but the security there is extremely heavy and there are numerous checkpoints. Rizea is as much of a military country as Trycen is. If they find out that you are Deramis’s Heroes, there’s no telling what they’d do to you. Nowadays, the only people who use that bridge are pre-approved traveling merchants whose backgrounds have been thoroughly checked.”

“But according to Goddess Melfina’s prophecy, chances are high that the Demon Lord is in that empire, right? Are we really going to go there?”

Nana’s question caused everyone to fall silent. They might have spent the past year training and gaining experience, but at their cores, these four were simply high school students from a peaceful world. They could tell themselves again and again that they were ready to face the Demon Lord, but there was no telling if their resolve would hold when standing on an actual battlefield.

“Oracle, I believe this to be too early for them. Touya and the rest are not yet ready to face the Demon Lord, either in mind or body. In addition, we of the Holy Order of Knights will not be able to accompany them once they step beyond Deramis’s borders.”

“I understand your concern. However, this is a prophecy from Melfina-sama. Surely there is a deeper purpose to her words.”

Colette closed her eyes, thinking quietly. Silence enveloped the room, with the occasional gust of wind blowing in from the open windows. After a while, she opened her eyes again and said, “Let’s arrange for a ship to set off from Toraj.”

◇ ◇ ◇

In the company of several knights, Touya and the others reached the border separating Deramis and Toraj. Along the way, the sight of the famous Heroes riding upon four white horses had turned the heads of every passerby, male and female alike. It was enough that even Cliff had jokingly said, “You guys are so conspicuous that there’s just no helping it, is there?” As an emergency measure, the four of them had finally donned hoods to cover their faces.

“I’m very sorry, Touya, but this is as far as we can escort you. Beyond this point is Toraj’s domain. Although our countries are on friendly terms, knights cannot enter without express permission.”

As the captain of the Holy Order of Knights, Cliff’s face was known by the top brass in many neighboring countries, Toraj included. Normally, an official request for permission to enter would have to be filed with Toraj so that the Holy Knights could enter along with the Heroes. This time, however, as the journey was meant to be top-secret, there hadn’t been enough time to cut past the necessary red tape beforehand.

“No, no, no, it’s already more than enough that you’ve escorted us all the way to the border! From here on, we will be relying on our own strength!”

Touya thanked Cliff with his inherently refreshing smile. The boy himself was full of confidence, but the same could not be said of one of his companions, Nana.

“This will be our first time leaving Deramis on our own. Are you sure we can handle it?”

During the past year, the bulk of the Heroes’ activities had been within Deramis. They had visited other countries with the knights on several occasions, but this was the first time they would be going abroad as a mere party of four. Nana felt as nervous about this as she had felt when entering her very first dungeon.

“In spite of what I said to the Oracle, I am truly impressed with the growth that all of you have shown. If I’m to be honest, I did not expect you to improve so fast, even considering your status as Heroes. In terms of sheer levels, you four can already stand toe-to-toe with the top-tier fighters of many countries.”

“But we’ve yet to win a single round against you,” said Miyabi. Although her face was as expressionless as ever, her tone sounded slightly sulky. She was clearly displeased that in all their sparring matches thus far, she had yet to hit Cliff with her magic even once.

“Hahaha! Well, I am the strongest knight in all of Deramis, after all. You have all grown a lot, but I can’t let myself be surpassed just yet!”

“Hmph. We won’t lose next time.”

Setsuna accepted Cliff’s encouragement with grace, but she was fully aware of the marked difference in strength that remained between the Knight Captain and her group. Cliff was Level 84. According to Setsuna’s inquiries, the strongest fighters in the world, including the Beast King of Gaun, were all at a similar level. In contrast, Setsuna and her party members were barely past Level 60. They had managed their rapid growth over such a short period of time by clearing Deramis’s dungeons one after another at breakneck speeds, but they were still far from capable of seriously crossing swords with the real masters in each country.

We have to grasp something on this journey... Setsuna mused. If I had to venture a guess, that is probably the reason behind Melfina-sama’s recent prophecy.

The landscape of Toraj lay spread out before her eyes. Beyond this land, and beyond a big, wide ocean lay the Rizean Empire. Once again, she silently resolved to protect her friends no matter what.

After making small talk for a little longer and going over some final details for the coming leg of the journey, the Heroes finally parted with the knights and turned their horses in the direction of the capital of Toraj. Their first goal: find the Deramisian ship waiting for them in the port there.

◇ ◇ ◇

Upon entering the city, the Heroes left their horses at a stable, then took a good look at the scenery around them. The cityscape, which was markedly different from the one back in Deramis, turned out to be a rather nostalgic sight for these four youngsters who had grown up in Japan.

“Doesn’t Toraj look kind of Japanese? Hey, want to take a look around town, everyone?”

“Nana, we didn’t come here to sightsee. After we have an audience with the Queen of Toraj, we need to find the ship that Colette’s arranged for us, which’ll take us to the Western Continent,” Setsuna chided her, although as it turned out, Nana was not the only one barely containing her excitement.

“Come on, Setsuna. Just a bit won’t hurt, will it? Making small detours to gather information is one of the thrills of traveling.”

“To be carried out ASAP: gastro tour of the local cuisine until we drop.”

The highly curious Touya and the gluttonous Miyabi both raised their thumbs in a “good job!” pose. Just one look at them caused Setsuna to sigh heavily. She was already feeling exhausted by the trouble that she was convinced was coming.

“Setsuna-chan, taking a breather every once in a while is important too. Look, your brows are wrinkled in a frown again.”

Nana got on her tippy toes and reached up to smooth Setsuna’s brows while peering into her face.

That was the final blow. “O-Okay, I suppose...maybe I really have been pushing myself a bit too hard lately.” Considering Setsuna often gave way in the end, she was clearly quite a softie deep down.

Once their friend had folded under their powers of persuasion, the group decided to do a bit of sightseeing. They wandered all around town, spirits high. It was after about an hour of walking that they happened to pass by the Adventurer’s Guild. On a whim, Touya had looked up and spotted the guild’s sign.

“Hey, there are a large variety of quests that can be picked up at the Adventurer’s Guild, right?”

“Really? That means there might be people needing Kanzaki-kun’s help al— mmf!”

Setsuna reacted in a split second to the words that Nana had nonchalantly spoken. Pushing her high Agility stat to its maximum effect, she clapped a hand over Nana’s mouth in a fluster.

“Mmmm!” cried Nana, looking at Setsuna in bewildered indignation.

“You can’t say the word ‘help’ in front of Touya!” Setsuna hissed back. “If you do...” She shot a furtive look at their companion.

“People needing my help...people...who need my help!”

It was too late. Seeing stars practically shining in Touya’s eyes, Setsuna gave up.

“Guys! Surely there are people who need my — no, who need our help as Heroes! And can we cross the sea without having extended a hand to those people? Of course not! Even one person would be fine! Let us protect the peaceful lives of the people of this city!”

“Kanzaki-kun!”

Touya had burst into a passionate speech, and Nana stared at him with passionate eyes. Miyabi looked on in amusement while gobbling down the snacks that filled both her hands. Even Setsuna, with all her years of experience standing next to Touya, was powerless to stop him once he entered his People-Helping Mode.

Given how smitten Nana was with Touya, surely she would delightedly go along with whatever he wanted to do. Miyabi? Setsuna never knew what Miyabi was thinking. At this point, there was no choice but to let Touya play the dashing hero until he was satisfied.

So much for ‘just a little bit of sightseeing.’ How much time are we going to lose from this?

Setsuna sighed again for what felt like the thousandth time that day.

◇ ◇ ◇

At the same time, there were two pairs of eyes peeking at the Heroes from within the guild building. It was none other than Guildmaster Mist and a member of her staff.

“Guildmaster, it’s looking like the Heroes are going to enter the guild even without us having to do anything.”

“The original plan was for us to put on a bit of a show to get them to stop by, but...go inform the receptionists that we aren’t doing it anymore, and guide them straight to my room.”

Kelvin had come up with a brilliant script for the guild staff to use in an attempt to entice the Heroes to come inside, but with Mist’s words, it was forever buried without having seen the light of day.

Script aside, these clothes for the play really are amazing, Mist thought to herself. That maid whipped everything up on the spot in no time at all, but there are detailed motifs even in the smallest places, and the outfit comes with a buff to the Acting skill. It was all for naught in the end, but to be capable of creating equipment of this rank as if it’s nothing...

Knock-knock.

Oh, here they come.

Mist carefully put her costume away, then set about receiving her guests. Although the sequence of events had changed a bit, from here on out, she had a role to play.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Hah? Karna’s squad isn’t back yet?”

“No, sir! The time for their regular contact has long passed, but not a single person from her squad showed up. We lit the signal for an emergency summons and yet there was still no response. Chief, could this mean something’s happened to Karna?”

Just as Christoph was about to help himself to the newly captured slaves for a bit of fun, one of his subordinates had run in bearing some very inconvenient news. Heading a bandit gang was much more comfortable than being an adventurer, but it was incredibly annoying that he had to give orders for everything himself. Christoph knew for a fact that if he left the bandits to their own devices, they would be traced and apprehended in no time at all.

“Karna’s squad was one of the ones in charge of kidnapping. That means she should’ve had a support squad accompanying her, right? What happened to those guys?”

“A mage support squad was supposed to have gone out with her, but we’ve received no contact from them, either.”

“What the hell is going on?” Christoph hissed angrily.

Did the Adventurer’s Guild catch on to Black Wind’s existence? That can’t be; I don’t think we’ve let anything slip so far. All the officers aside from Karna made it back safe and sound. And I told her to concentrate her activities on the areas around Parth, and to avoid places with high-ranked adventurers. Her squad and the support mages would be more than ten people altogether, all of whom are high-level. There shouldn’t have been any adventurers capable of wiping them out in that vicinity. Did they get greedy and move in on another area?

“There’s no choice. We’ll need to search Karna’s assigned territory ourselves.”

Among the officers currently here at headquarters, there are three Rank A adventurers from my party — Prisla, Hopper, and Ado — and four officers from the original Black Wind. On the off chance that something’s truly happened to Karna, I can’t send someone of a similar level to her. Hmm...in that case, Hopper should be just right.

“Get me Hopper! Now!”

◇ ◇ ◇

“Ugh, why do I have to go and wipe someone else’s ass?”

A man with a small build and a baby face sluggishly plodded out of the room where he had just been ordered by his chief to lead the search party. There was no motivation whatsoever on his face.

“Christoph sure gets freaked out easily sometimes. Why is he getting so worked up over an easily replaceable officer? I’m busy with my hobby and all.”

“Hopper, were you torturing the women we captured again? You know the Chief will tear you a new one for doing that to the merchandise.”

His subordinate looked worried for him, but Hopper himself merely cackled loudly.

“You really don’t get it. There’s no music in this world more heavenly than the screams of women. It’s so valuable that you can’t just buy it with money, man.”

“I’m afraid...I don’t really get it. But putting your hobby aside for now, the search party is already waiting for you right outside the main entrance. All ten of them are over Level 30.”

“Huh! That’s a rather bold move for Christoph! Pretty much all of the top fighting strength we’ve currently got here at headquarters, isn’t it?”

“It just shows how serious the Chief is about all this. Considering you’re heading out there yourself, I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the other side.”

This underling of Hopper’s was actually a beast of a warrior himself at Level 34. Having served long and well as Hopper’s right-hand man, many were expecting him to be promoted to an officer sometime soon.

Hopper and his fellow bandit joked and laughed as they walked down the passageway. Just one last turn around a corner and they would be at the main entrance. Black Wind’s top elites would be gathered outside, ready to sortie at a moment’s notice.

“How awesome would it be if it turns out to be a cute girl?”

“We’re talking about an opponent that might have defeated Karna, right? Chances of that are probably very sli— hmm?”

The underling, who was walking ahead and therefore had gotten a look at the entrance first, suddenly stopped in his tracks. Hopper, whose thoughts were churning with erotic fantasies, failed to notice in time, and he ended up bumping into the other man’s back.

“Ow! What’s the matter? Why’d you stop like that?!”

“Um, I’m sorry, boss. I was just surprised ’cus I don’t see anyone outside. That’s really strange. I’m pretty sure the summons went out...”

“Come on, get your shit together, all right? What would you do if the delicate gray cells of my brain got injured fr—”

Hopper, who possessed the Magic Detection skill, noticed that something was off the moment he pushed past his subordinate and stepped through the entranceway, which was wide enough for ten adults to walk through abreast. There was a thin veil of magic covering the entrance. A spell had been cast over it.

“Watch out! Someone’s here!” Hopper immediately shouted in warning. However, there was no reply. “Dude, you listening?!”

Irritated at not hearing a response, Hopper quickly turned around. To his shock, instead of seeing the other man standing behind him, what he saw was a knight in pitch black armor, holding a sword dripping red. At the knight’s foot was the bandit’s corpse, lying in a spreading pool of blood, having been brutally cut down.

Wh...when did he get behind me?!

Hopper’s beloved sword was in his hand before he knew it. As a specialist with sensing and detection skills, he was extremely sensitive to changes in his surroundings and danger heading his way. It was in acknowledgment of this that Christoph had selected Hopper to lead the search party. But in spite of those skills, Hopper had failed to notice his own subordinate being killed right behind him. In his mind, this was an absolute impossibility.

“Sorry about that. We’re in a bit of a hurry on some personal business. But you guys use these types of tactics all the time, right? You don’t get to call it cowardly or unfair.”

Hopper heard a male voice coming from behind. However, he could not bring himself to turn around once again. Regardless of how much danger he knew that voice posed to him, he could not tear his eyes away from the black knight that his Danger Detection skill was reacting so violently towards.

Shit, shit, shit, shit! There are two more people of similar strength to the black knight standing right behind me!

Hopper used his Presence Sensing skill to take stock of the situation as best he could. A man, presumably the one who had just spoken, was standing directly in front of the entrance and blocking it. Behind him and slightly off to the side was the presence of another person who was emitting a frightening amount of fighting spirit. Lastly, off to the other side, just out of sight in the connected passageway, was a pile of bodies, very likely those of the elite force that Hopper was supposed to be leading.

“Well, that should be enough time for you to understand the situation you’re in, right? Judging from your level, you’re a Black Wind officer? And the fact that you’re hiding your face behind a mask probably means that you’re one of the so-called ‘Champions of Trycen,’ I’d wager. You know, we staked out the entrance hoping that the big bad would come out eventually, but we only ever got the lackeys. They didn’t even have any useful information! We’ve just been oh so bored.”

Hopper listened carefully as the man continued to talk in the excited tone of a child who had gotten his hands on a new toy. Or rather, he felt frozen in place, unable to do anything but stay put and listen.

He said ‘judging from your level,’ so does that mean he possesses Analyze Eye? And to sound so composed even after seeing my stats at Level 62...is he a Rank S adventurer?! How does he know my identity?! That’s not something that can be deduced from my title!

Hopper’s thoughts whirled at maximum speed as he desperately grasped for a means of escape. However, no good ideas came to mind, and he only grew increasingly more bewildered with time.

“So, what are you going to do? If you want to fight, I’d love to keep you company. If you’re willing to hand over all the information you kno—”

“CHIEF, INTRUDERS! LIKELY RANK S, AND THEY KNOW WHO WE ARE!”

“Smart choice. You may be rotten, but I guess you have the decision-making skills of a Rank A after all. Not that it’ll help you, of course.”

The course of action that Hopper had finally decided on was to pass on the information at risk to his own life. Naturally, the black knight moved in response to this. The rapier that Hopper held was met by the knight’s greatsword. The exchange took but a split second, with the bandit’s sword never even reaching the knight. The greatsword sliced through both Hopper’s rapier and his body with unbelievable speed. The last sound that Hopper ever heard was not the scream of a woman, but his own death rattle.

“Too bad for you, but I’ve cast Silent Whisper on the entrance to your little hideout. If you’re not familiar with that one, it basically cuts off sound. In other words, your voice reached...nobody.”

The man’s merciless declaration no longer registered in Hopper’s ears.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Guess things don’t always go as well as we hope,” murmured Gerard as he brandished his greatsword. The motion caused all the blood clinging to his weapon to fly off and splatter onto the ground, reverting the Dainsleif to its original pristine shine.

“Summoning you behind the enemy as a surprise attack...seems like the bottleneck is the amount of time needed for the Summoning itself. This is true of the light of the magic circle too, but those possessing Magic Detection could easily sense the spell and move away in time. It’s hard to gauge the right timing.”

“How about using it together with Concealment somehow, my king?”

What we had just tried was a surprise attack strategy utilizing the Summoning skill. The moment the masked man had stepped through the entrance, I had Summoned Gerard behind the underling who had been trying to follow him out. By attacking immediately after being Summoned, Gerard had managed to catch the guy entirely off guard and end him with a single slash.

Additionally, by cloaking the entrance in the Rank B Green Magic spell Silent Whisper, I had effectively put up a barrier that prevented sound from passing through. No noises made inside the hideout would be heard outside, with the same being true vice versa. That was why the thug hadn’t been able to sense his fellow bandit being killed.

“So, how much longer are we going to be staking out this silly hole? I’m bored already,” grumbled Sera, standing with her legs spread, arms on her hips, and lips in a pout.

“Didn’t you already enjoy yourself plenty during the fight just now?! I’m very glad I cast Silent Whisper. In any case, it seems these two were the last people heading for the entrance. It’s about time we take the initiative.”

Thanks to Presence Sensing, I had a pretty good handle on the positions of everyone inside the hideout. Those who hadn’t taken a single step since we arrived were, in all likelihood, kidnapping victims being held there.

“What should we do with the Black Wind members that we killed, Master? I’m afraid letting the Heroes see them would complicate matters.”

Dispelling her Covert Action state, Efil stepped out from the shadow of the entrance. While the rest of us had been sealing the passage and waiting to pounce on Black Wind members coming out, she had been keeping an eye on our surroundings. For all we knew, there could have been an assault squad that just happened to be returning at the same time. Thanks to the Farsight skill she possessed, she would have been able to spot such a force coming from miles away.

“We’ll just let Clotho Absorb them. Please and thank you, Clotho.”

The tiny figure of Clotho permanently perched on Efil’s shoulder jiggled once and spawned a clone. As we had already gathered the bodies together in one place, the slime simply bounced over, expanded in size, and swallowed the entire pile in one gulp.

Just like us, Clotho had leveled up significantly thanks to the fight with Viktor. It had then used its newly-earned SP to acquire two new skills: Dismantle and Metallicize. The Dismantle skill was for stripping usable materials from monster corpses while Absorbing them. Ranking up this skill would yield even more materials than could be normally obtained and increase the possibility of acquiring particularly rare materials. In Clotho’s case, the slime could swallow up targets with Gluttony, then send all the resulting materials through Dismantle and straight into Storage.

To our surprise, the Dismantle skill could also be used on human corpses. We had no intention of doing anything as grotesque as using human materials, but the skill was capable of transferring the equipment the corpses were wearing straight to Storage. You go, Clotho-san!

“Hey, you found a key ring?”

After Absorbing the masked man, Clotho telepathically informed me of a key ring that had entered its Storage.

“If I may, Master, might these not be the keys for the headquarters interior? The masked man appeared to be an officer, after all.”

“Which means our search will go real fast with this in hand!” cried Sera. “Clotho, well done! Let’s move it!”

“Sera, is rampaging the only thing on your mind? Remember, this is supposed to be a covert mission. If the other side is alerted to our intrusion and takes the captives as hostages, it’ll become a lot more annoying to sort things out.”

“You spoilsport.”

“Come on, don’t sulk.”

It was, however, quite disappointing how weak the Rank A adventurer had been. I had confirmed his Status with Analyze Eye, and it had turned out to be inferior to the Heroes’ Statuses that Melfina had shared with us. Level-wise, this Hopper fellow was above the Heroes, but the growth of his skills was fairly stunted. Or is he normal, with the Heroes being the anomalies?

“All right then, let’s dive into their hideout, just as you said. But Sera, remember: it’s fine to fight, but always be on the lookout for traps with your detection skills. Got it?”

“Of course! I’m all over it!”

“Ooookay. Sure.”

Although she was extremely capable, Sera had a very straightforward personality that made me worry for her sometimes. Goodness, what am I going to do with this battle junkie?

◇ ◇ ◇

“Kelvin, that patch of stone pavement is slightly discolored, see? Stepping on it will trigger a trap, so watch out.”

“Oh, right.”

“Mm, the lass has a discerning eye.”

“Thanks to Sera-san, we are able to proceed without worry.”

“All thanks to her indeed.”

Sorry, Sera, please forgive stupid old me for doubting you again!

Once we actually headed into Black Wind’s hideout, Sera fully utilized all of her sensing and detection skills to expose every single trap, both mechanical and magical, that had been set up on the path we were taking. Gerard and Efil were also quite impressed. Guess I should do a bit of self-reflection.

“What’s the matter, Kelvin? You’ve been looking deep in thought for a while now.”

“Hm? I was just thinking how great it is that you’ve become our comrade, Sera.”

The high-spirited demon girl poked her head in front of mine inquisitively, so I reflexively reached out to pat it. Her silky fire-red hair felt wonderful, but in a way that was totally different from Efil’s.

“Where in the world did that come from? Sheesh...”

Sera looked away, her face bright red. But the fact that she silently let me continue probably meant that she didn’t dislike the head pats.

That said, we were deep in enemy territory, and Efil was starting to look at me like she wanted to be patted too. Being able to change gears quickly was certainly an important skill.

We continued to explore the hideout while freeing the captured women we found along on the way. I would first scan a room with Presence Sensing, then erect Silent Whisper, then we would clear said room. The ring of keys that we’d taken from Hopper did indeed offer access to the various rooms throughout the bandits’ headquarters, and we were able to steadily conquer the place without any trouble as a result.

Most of the kidnapping victims were simply locked up in cells, but there were some who had suffered excessive sexual violence or who had been tortured and were in a state that I couldn’t allow Efil or Sera to see. Gerard and I focused on handling those rooms alone, with me casting Clean on the victims and Recovery Circle on the floor of the room before moving on.

We couldn’t very well bring the civilians along while we fought, so we instructed them to hide in one of the rooms and left a Clotho clone behind as a bodyguard.

“Thank you, big brother!” managed one of the little girls we had rescued. Despite being incredibly weak and barely conscious, she did her best to give us a smile.

The girl was one of those whose body bore marks of torture. Her physical injuries had been healed by my magic, but her mental recovery would likely take time. Such atrocities were unforgivable, especially when perpetrated by those being lionized as “champions.”

“Looks like this is the last room.”

I could sense three people within. While making our way through the hideout, we had not encountered anyone besides Hopper who had seemed like they might be an adventurer, so chances were good that these three were the “champions” in question.

Now then. I feel it’s just about time for a well-deserved punishment.

◇ ◇ ◇

“So, what the hell’s going on? I finally had some time to myself!”

“I’ll get straight to the point. It seems one of our kidnapping squads might have been wiped out.”

When Priscilla and Ado arrived, Christoph immediately explained the situation. By the time he told them about Karna’s squad never returning to the hideout, and how he had sent Hopper out to search the area, Priscilla had become extremely agitated.

“Wh-What are you doing?! Have you forgotten that we’re here on a top-secret mission from our home country?!”

“Keep your voice down! What’re you going to do if the guys outside hear you?!”

As always, the three of them were wearing black masks to hide their faces from their fellow Black Wind members. Hopper had done the same as well. Someone who could see their Statuses directly with Analyze Eye was one thing, but in general, the four ringleaders were not particularly famous so far from Trycen.

Thanks to a court mage who was dispatched from their home country to alter the memories of all Black Wind members, as long as the four adventurers kept their masks on, the bandits would continue to think of Christoph as their rightful boss without giving it a second thought. Unfortunately, the officers were a bit tougher than the rest, and memory alteration didn’t work as well on them, so they were in the know about the Chief being switched out. However, their minds had been scrambled in such a way that they were unable to question the change or even recall the name of their new leader.

Even so, if one of those officers were to be caught and interrogated, they knew enough to land Christoph and his party in very hot water.

“But what if — just what if Karna spills the beans about us? Then Gaun — no, all three other countries — and the Adventurer’s Guild too! — all of them would be after us, wouldn’t they?! If that happens, we won’t remain champions. Even worse, we could be branded as traitors! Why is this happening after we’ve only just gotten started?!”

In sharp contrast to Priscilla’s hysterics, Ado merely sat in silence, eyes closed, muscular arms crossed.

“Ado! Can you say something too? Our fates are on the line here!”

“All I want is to fight against strong opponents. I make my own fate.”

“Ugh, this musclebrain!”

“Calm down, Priscilla! This is why I’ve dispatched Hopper to prevent any of those things from happening. Right now, we need to confirm the situa—”

Bam! Bam!

As Christoph was trying to calm Priscilla down, there was a loud pounding on the door. They both started at the sound, then turned their heads towards the noise.

“What is it?!”

“Chief, it’s me. I’ve got an urgent report from Hopper.”

“Huh, that was fast! That bastard sure does the job well when he puts his mind to it.”

“But what could be so urgent? Is it something bad?”

“Bad news is still information, right? Come on in and make your report.”

“Y-Yes, sir.”

Click. Slowly, oh so slowly, the door swung open. In the corridor stood Christoph’s direct subordinate...with a sword through his abdomen. The handle of the sword was held by a young man clad entirely in black. It looked like there were a few others with him too.

“Why...? I did as you asked...you said...you would spare me...”

“Ahh, yeah, sorry, but that was a lie. We have absolutely no intention of letting a single one of you live.”

With those words, the stranger swung his sword, bisecting the bandit’s torso as easily as cutting through paper. The top half of the body flew towards Christoph and landed with empty eyes staring vacantly up at him.

“What the hell?”

Christoph examined the intruder. Black hair, black robe, with matching shirt and pants underneath. A closer look at the sword revealed it to be a staff wreathed in magic. He had mistaken what it was at first since the magic was so condensed that it was visible to the naked eye.

“Hey there, ‘champions.’ Looks like you guys have been up to quite a bit of mischief, haven’t you?”

The man was smiling, but his eyes were cold. Thanks to their wealth of experience as adventurers, Christoph and his party could tell at first sight that this fellow was very bad news.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Hey there, ‘champions.’ Looks like you guys have been up to quite a bit of mischief, haven’t you?”

After taking care of the last Black Wind bandit, we faced off against the adventurers who had taken over the gang. I wasted no time in using Analyze Eye on all of them and uploading the data to the Follower Network. I also stepped aside to let Gerard and Sera enter the room.

“You bastards forced my man to disable the trap on the door?”

According to his Status, this was Christoph, the mastermind behind the operation. The woman with jewelry jangling over every part of her body was Priscilla, and the guy with a shaved head and monk-like attire was Ado. Based on their Statuses, it seemed like Ado was going to be more troublesome as an opponent than Christoph himself.

“Oh, you mean the really powerful explosive magic circle? Nah, disabling it seemed like too much work, so we just had the dude sleeping over there open the door for us instead. Not like we had much choice, since the key is a fake, right?”

I chucked the ring of keys we’d taken from Hopper onto the floor. Although they did, in fact, open the vast majority of doors throughout the hideout, a remark about the boss’s room key being a fake had come up when I used Analyze Eye on it. If we had tried to open the door with the dummy key, it would have triggered a lethal trap. Of course, Sera’s detection skills would have picked up on the trap’s existence without the tip-off, anyway.

“This is Hopper’s...?”

“Good guess. No need to worry about him now, though. So then, Christoph, Priscilla, and Ado...what are you ‘Champions of Trycen’ doing here with a bunch of bandits? Is kidnapping part of a champion’s duty?”

“All right, so you already know our real identities,” sighed Christoph, removing his mask.

My first impression of his face was...well, he kind of looked like a bear. Is it just me, or does he look much more like a bandit than a champion?

“As you have pointed out, yes, I am Christoph. Seeing as you already know so much about us, I take it you’re also the one who did in Karna’s group?”

“Who knows?”

“Heh, playing dumb. Okay.”

Seeing that Christoph had already revealed his face, Priscilla and Ado followed suit and took off their own masks.

“Hmph! Now that you’ve learned our true identities, you won’t be leaving here alive. I don’t know who you are, but we’ll grant you the honor of witnessing the strength of Rank A adventurers firsthand!” cried Priscilla as she powered her jewels up with magic.

Ado also brought his spear to bear. “Opponents of your caliber are hard to come by. Let us exult in the fight.”

“And there you have it. Looks like you guys have gotten a bit full of yourselves after defeating Hopper and my other subordinates, but we conquer tough opponents every day. You’ll regret having come here down to the very marrow of your bones as we dispatch you from this world!”

Christoph reached for a greataxe hanging on the wall, which fell to the floor with a heavy thud.

Look at that, they’ve already recovered from the shock. These people sure do change gears quickly. Hopper was the same way. Seems they’ve got the mental fortitude worthy of their rank, at least.

“By some stroke of fate, there are three of us, and there are three of you. So let us decide victory and defe— PRISCILLA, DODGE!”

“Huh?”

Thunk.

Things had already taken their course by the time Ado finished shouting.

“Wait, what?! You’re kidding, right?”

“Ugh...”

Sera and Gerard had attacked Priscilla and Ado, respectively, at the same time. With a single smooth motion, all of Priscilla’s jewels were shattered and Ado’s spear crumbled to pieces.

“To be honest, I had been looking forward to some exciting combat, myself. But the revolting things that I saw on the way here made me change my mind. This is not going to be a ‘fight,’ it’s going to be a punishment,” I spat while studying the remains of the items on the floor. “Rank A Magical Jewels and a Rank A Cataract Lance, a spear capable of taking whatever form its user wishes? Hmm, those are pretty nice equips. Sorry for destroying them.”

The objects that had been floating in the air while Priscilla was pouring magic into them were called Magical Jewels, and were support items used by mages to amplify their own magical power. The type of jewel determined the effects and ranking of the item, with diamond being the most powerful at Rank A, ruby at Rank B, and sapphire and emerald at Rank C. There were others, too, but those can be left for another time.

Priscilla had been using diamonds. One could only imagine how stunned she was to see them destroyed in the blink of an eye.

“M-My jewels!!”

“We’re in the middle of a fight, Priscilla! Eyes forward!”

“Too late.”

Christoph’s warning proved meaningless as Sera’s hand slammed onto the back of Priscilla’s neck. The woman’s eyes rolled up into her head, and she instantly lost consciousness.

Aahh, the neck chop that I’ve only ever seen in manga and anime before! It’s my first time witnessing it in real life. I guess possessing Combat Technique at Rank S makes Sera capable of anything she wants. Maybe I should ask her to teach me a few moves when we have time.

::Hey, Kelvin. This is a really boring way to end things. Can I play with her for a bit instead?::

As long as you don’t kill her. See if you can extract some information while you’re at it.

::Sure thing!:: Sera replied in a singsong tone. With the unconscious Priscilla under her arm, she merrily exited the room. Given the speed she was moving at, Christoph and Ado didn’t even have time to react.

Efil, could you accompany Sera and keep an eye on her?

::Understood, Master.::

Efil left her post in the corridor, where she had been keeping a lookout until then.

“All right, that’s one down. Ah, don’t worry, we won’t go so far as to kill you. We need you alive so that we can put you where you ought to be.”

Christoph laughed scornfully. “Talking like you’ve already won? If you guys are adventurers, you should know never to let down your guard. Ado!”

“Pierce, Cataract Lance!”

The scattered pieces of Ado’s weapon suddenly melted as if they were liquid, reforming into spears of water that shot towards Gerard. On top of having Spear Mastery at a high rank, their enemy also possessed Blue Magic, the skill related to the manipulation of water and ice. The combination gave him great physical compatibility with his weapon and even greater magical compatibility with it, since the spear was created from highly condensed water. His signature attack was also great at catching opponents off guard. But unfortunately for Ado, I had already conveyed all available information about his spear to Gerard.

“Your control is good, but regrettably, you are far too slow.” Gerard accurately cut down each and every spear of water that flew his way. There wasn’t a shred of hesitation in his movements.

“Hey, hey, hey, you sure about throwing your magic all over the place like that?” I asked, somewhat amused.

“What are you...?! Cataract Lance, return!” In a fluster, Ado quickly called back the water, which reformed in his hand as a solid spear.

He’s pretty quick on the uptake.

“Ado, what are you doing?!” shouted Christoph. “Don’t stop your attack!!”

“There was no point in continuing that move. The bastard completely saw through it, and maintaining the assault would only have been a waste of MP. On top of which...look.”

“Look at wh— that’s?!”

The spear in Ado’s hand was only two-thirds of its original length.

“Hey, asshole, you did something to the magic of Cataract Lance with that sword of yours, didn’t you?”

“Hm, you have a good eye.”

As our opponent had guessed, Gerard’s sword, Dainsleif, was capable of absorbing magic through its blade. It was a very powerful ability that could gouge away a significant amount of MP with a mere brush. I had experienced the effect firsthand while I was forging the damn thing, so there was no doubt about it. The MP that was absorbed could be either directed towards the sword’s own attack power or released as a wave of energy.

Gerard’s previous fighting style was one that rarely used magic, so this feature of his sword had actually increased his repertoire of attacks significantly. The general function of the sword’s ability was similar to Clotho’s skill, but whereas Absorption was more like a “damage over time” attack, with a wide area of effect thanks to the large volume of Clotho’s body, Dainsleif’s power was more of a single target burst-damage attack. The reason Ado’s Cataract Lance had become shorter was because Gerard had parried it with Dainsleif several times, stealing MP from it with every single blow.

“It’s truly a pity that one as skilled as yourself has fallen into a life of depravity,” sighed Gerard.

“This body of mine is solely dedicated to combat,” Ado replied with a rasping laugh. “I don’t care where I am as long as I get to fight, and me being here is a result of that. Thanks to my choices, I have now met my greatest opponents ever: you and your party. I am convinced yet again that the path I chose was not a mistake at all.”

“Is that so? Then I suppose there is no need for any more words. This is the end.”

Gerard swung his sword once again, with true force this time. Although Ado had been able to react easily enough to the other attacks, he fell unconscious at once, without having time to register what had happened.

“I used the flat of my sword,” Gerard said to the fallen man. “Your MP has been completely drained, but be glad that you kept your life.”

Ado’s armor, which had Rank A specs, had entirely caved in. Even though Gerard had gone easy on him, his opponent had still suffered significant damage.

“Th-That’s impossible! Ado was the strongest fighter in our party!! To beat him like, like, like...”

“I told you, didn’t I? This is not a fight, but a punishment. You guys never had a chance of winning.”

I cast Radiance Lance at Christoph’s legs.

“ARRRHHHHHHHH!”

As intended, the holy spears of light pierced both of his feet, nailing them to the ground.

“You bastard!! Don’t think for a second you’re going to get away with doing this to a Champion of Trycen!!”

“I don’t expect to. This is likely going to cause diplomatic conflicts between Trycen and Toraj. Without solid evidence, me being a mere adventurer isn’t going to do much to alleviate the situation.”

“If you understand that, then why...”

“What do you mean ‘why’? Champion or not, when you commit a crime, you become a criminal. Even children know this. Don’t tell me this is news to you?”

“That’s not what I’m asking! I meant —”

“Hey, man, who cares about the details, right? We still have time. Until then, let’s continue this little punishment of ours, shall we?”

The pale-faced Christoph watched in horror as I pierced his body with a third Radiance Lance.

◇ ◇ ◇

About two hours after I began Christoph’s punishment, Sera returned with Priscilla once again under her arm. Judging from how the latter wasn’t moving a muscle, Sera’s ‘playtime’ must have been quite intense indeed. Of course, the same could be said for Christoph and Ado, who were lying on the floor in a similar state. There wasn’t a single wound on their bodies thanks to my White Magic, so at least there were no worries on that front. There was zero risk of them dying. I had made sure to hold back while I was meting out their punishments.

As a safety precaution, I had told all of my party members to speak through the Network while we were there, just in case any of our enemies were only pretending to be unconscious and heard something we didn’t want them to hear. They might think us strange, seemingly sitting around in total silence, but we couldn’t care less about what they thought.

It shouldn’t be much longer now...

::Kelvin, I’m tired of just waiting around.::

::Would you like to take over as lookout, Sera-san?::

::Lookout’s too troublesome! I’ll leave that to you, Efil.::

::I feel like your skill set is more suitable for lookout than mine, though, Sera-san.::

::Shall I take over? It seems like Efil might be getting tired —:: Just as Gerard was about to stand up, four signals triggered the Presence Sensing that I had set up around the hideout. Presumably, it was the four Heroes.

::They’re here.::

::They’re here!::

Sera and I nodded at each other, then passed the information on to Gerard, Efil, and Clotho, who still had a clone in place to protect the kidnapping victims.

We had already explained to the women that Clotho was a monster under my control, so hopefully they would convey that to the Heroes if the two groups happened to meet. Even if the Heroes decided to attack it, Clotho had diverted a large portion of its strength to the clone, which would enable it to slip away if necessary.

We had also cleared all obstacles from the entrance of the hideout to the room that we were currently in, so the Heroes finding us wasn’t likely to take much time at all.

All right, guys, let’s get ready to greet the Heroes of Deramis.

◇ ◇ ◇

After readily accepting Mist’s request for aid, Touya and the others discovered Black Wind’s hideout based on the information they’d been given, and successfully infiltrated the place posthaste. Of course, Black Wind had already been completely eradicated, so calling their mission a “success” would be giving them a bit too much credit.

As the party continued deeper into the hideout, doubt started to creep onto Nana’s face. “Um, guys, isn’t it kind of weird how we haven’t seen anyone at all so far? Mist-san said that a party of Rank A adventurers had gone ahead of us, didn’t she? Could it be that we’ve gone to the wrong place?”

“I don’t think so. We’ve already checked the entire vicinity and concluded that this is the only suspicious-looking hideout around, right? Setsuna, are you getting anything from the Presence Sensing skill you recently picked up?”

“My skill rank is still pretty low, so I can’t be sure, but...it feels like there’s a big group gathered farther ahead. I can’t feel anything beyond that, though, so we might have to go a bit deeper first.”

“Let’s head to where that group is. Maybe they’re the ones who got captured.”

“Agreed,” piped up Miyabi in support of Touya’s suggestion.

“Something really doesn’t seem right here. There’s no sign of battle, and there are no bodies anywhere. We need more information; therefore, we need to prioritize finding the others.”

“All right, then. I’ll take the lead. Everyone keep your guard up.”

With Setsuna in front, the Heroes headed for what seemed like the only place in the hideout where anyone might still be alive. They kept a sharp eye out for traps, but strangely, all of the traps they came across had been disabled. With nothing in their way, their progression was quite fast, and soon enough, they reached the room they had been heading for.

“Everyone, we’ve arrived.”

“We didn’t see anyone or anything on the way here. That actually seems more suspicious to me. My Danger Detection never went off along the way, either,” commented Nana.

“We have no choice, though. We have to check this out, right? I’ll go in first. Girls, back me up.”

“Girls are courageous. Handle on the fly.”

After a quick retort — “Uh, I’m a guy though...” — Touya vigorously threw the door open and rushed in. He was first greeted by the sight of a group of females who had presumably been kidnapped by Black Wind. Thankfully, all of them looked unharmed. Several of them seemed startled by Touya’s sudden entrance.

“Sorry for surprising you! We’ve come to save y—”

In the middle of his apology, Touya’s eyes fell on something else. Its small size — it only reached the height of his knee — was probably why he hadn’t noticed it at once.

On the floor right beside him was a jiggling blue slime.

“A monster! Shit, everyone get down!”

Touya immediately identified the slime as an enemy and brought his sword to bear. This blade, which he had received from the Pope who reigned over Deramis, was a weapon that had been used by generations of Heroes, the Holy Sword Will. With the ability to power up by resonating with its wielder’s personal will, this was a legendary weapon that had saved many Heroes from nigh impossible situations. Each swing was powerful enough to kill. However, Touya never managed to bring the sword down.

“DON’T DO THAT!”

“Huh?!”

A little girl leaped out from the ring of victims to stand between Touya and the slime. Her sudden movement caused him to stop his sword mid-swing.

“This pet belongs to the big brother who saved us! Don’t bully it!”

“B-Big brother?!”

With no consideration for Touya’s confusion, the girl continued to make cute little angry noises. A woman who seemed to be her mother came over to her in a fluster.

“I’m very sorry about that. She’s become such a fan of the adventurers who saved us. You see, that slime is a companion of those same adventurers; that’s why my daughter jumped out without thinking.”

“Is that so? Sorry, then I was in the wrong.”

Touya crouched down and apologized to the girl, but she continued to glare at him angrily. At this point, Setsuna and the others had also filed into the room, drawn by the commotion.

“Ruka, the young man has already apologized, hasn’t he? Um...are all of you here with the group that saved us earlier?”

“Ahh, yes, of course. We are —”

“Touya, we should probably keep our identities a secr—”

“— the Heroes of Deramis.”

“OH MY GOD, THE ESTEEMED HEROES?!”

As always, Setsuna’s warning came a beat too late, and shrill squeals from the women around them drowned her voice out entirely. She had to retreat to a corner of the room, sighing and rubbing her temples as Touya was instantly mobbed. It took a while for the situation to calm back down.

By then, Nana had used her Animal Communication skill to converse with the creature directly. “Kanzaki-kun, I had a talk with the slime. It says it’s been ordered to protect these women as its master went on ahead to the deepest part of this hideout to defeat the leader of Black Wind. It assured me that we can leave these women in its care, and asked us to go help with the fight against the bandits’ boss.”

“They have a Tamer in their party too? What a weird choice, to Tame a slime.”

“Touya, that’s hardly the point here! We should be thinking about what we’ll be doing next.”

“Escort the captives out? Back up the adventurers? Which is best?”

“If I may, esteemed Heroes, I implore you to follow the adventurers. Although they are Rank A, their victory is far from guaranteed. Please lend them your strength!”

“Ehh, big brother doesn’t need help! And I want to go back with him!” cried the little girl.

The girl’s mother lowered her head deeply in supplication. Naturally, there was no way that Mr. I-love-helping-people Touya could say no.

“All right! Leave it to us, ladies!”

There wasn’t an iota of hesitation in his response.

◇ ◇ ◇

“There’s been no danger at all this whole time...”

“Is it just me, or is this starting to feel like a trap? If the adventurers who went ahead of us defeated all of the Black Wind members, why haven’t we seen any bodies lying around?”

The Heroes had finally reached the door of what was clearly the boss’s room, still without any encounters or mishaps along the way.

“Sensing anyone in there?”

“There are seven people inside. The question is, are they the officers or adventurers? Or both? Mist-san mentioned that there are only three adventurers, so that would mean they’re fighting with a disadvantage in numb—”

“Then we have to save them now!” shouted Touya, charging in.

“You idiot! How many times do I have to tell you to think before you act!” Setsuna followed close on his heels, and so did Nana and Miyabi a moment later.

As Setsuna ran into the room, she heard Touya shout, “LOWER THAT SWORD!” Looking over, she saw three people in adventurer attire lying on the floor. Looming above them was a huge suit of black armor that was about to swing down a massive greatsword and finish them all off.

Farther into the room was a man in a black robe, sitting on a sofa, flanked by a maid and a woman in military uniform. All three of their outfits were primarily black in color.

Touya’s shout immediately drew the gazes of everyone in the room.

As if speaking for the group, the black-robed man asked, “What? Who’re you guys supposed to be?”

In response, Touya took a step forward, drawing in a deep breath. Once again, Setsuna tried to stop him, but —

“We are the Heroes of Deramis!”

In spite of her high Agility stat, her rate of success at stopping trouble before it occurred was actually rather pitiful.

“Again and again, you spill such important information like it’s nothing!”

“Calm down, Setsuna-chan, calm down!”

Touya hadn’t thought twice before revealing their identities to those who were likely their enemies. Feeling the veins on her forehead pop out a bit, Setsuna looked around the room to take stock of the situation.

The ones on the ground are likely the Rank A adventurers who went on ahead of us. That would make these four the Black Wind officers. It looks like we arrived just as they were about to finish off the adventurers. Things would have gone sideways if we had arrived even a moment later. That would have broken the little girl’s heart.

“Heroes of Deramis? The ones supposedly summoned by the Oracle?”

“That’s right!” Touya pointed his sword at the man. “Bandit gang Black Wind, we have come to defeat you!”

“Hm? Ahh, reinforcements? I’m afraid you’re too late, though. Gerard?” The black-robed man threw his hand up in a signal, prompting his armored companion to turn back to the three victims lying on the ground.

“Esteemed Heroes! Please save us! They’re going to kill us!”

“Th-These people...they did whatever they wanted with my body! Please avenge me!”

Without warning, two of the adventurers — the woman and one of the men — had pulled themselves up and were loudly pleading for help.

“So you guys were just playing dead, huh? Well, glad to see you’re still nice and energetic. But to stoop to this? You sure you’re really Rank A?” Black Robe shook his head, looking slightly amused. “You’re asking the wrong people for help, though. There’s no one here who’ll —”

“YAAAAAAHHHH!”

Touya charged forward, letting out a determined battle cry that cut off Black Robe’s words. Although his speed was inferior to Setsuna’s, he still managed to close the distance in a split second.

He was only a few steps away from Black Robe when a shadow suddenly loomed before him.

Clang!

“Dammit!”

Standing in his way was the black knight, who had crossed the room just as quickly. Holy sword clashed against demonic blade, and sparks flew where the two swords crossed as both sides pressed each other in a contest of strength. But whereas Touya was using both hands to wield his sword, the knight needed only one to match him in strength.

“Whoa, hold on a second. What do you think you’re doing, attacking someone out of the blue like that?”

“Shut up! Let those people go!”

“You confuse me more and more,” Black Robe said. “What, are we not allowed to engage in self-defense?” Neither he nor the women beside him looked bothered in the least as Touya fought the knight.

Shit! The strength of this guy is off the charts! He’s even wearing a full suit of armor and yet he’s still faster than me!

Touya’s blade was gradually losing the sword lock. It wouldn’t be long before his position crumbled entirely.

“That’s why you shouldn’t dive in by yourself! Idiot!”

Touya heard the voice of his childhood friend behind him. A moment later, Setsuna had drawn her sword and unleashed a slash of her own with god-like speed. The black knight simply threw off Touya’s blade as if it were nothing, then dodged Setsuna’s attack by a paper-thin margin.

“Fall back for now!”

“What are you saying?! How can I back off in the face of the enemy?!”

“Read the situation a little, you justice-obsessed simpleton!”

Setsuna grabbed the back of Touya’s collar and retreated to the entrance of the room with the speed of a gust of wind. Their enemy did not give chase, and the two of them were able to successfully regroup with the others.

While congratulating them on remaining in one piece, Miyabi, in a rare show of effort, gave them some serious and detailed advice. “Welcome back. I feel strange magic from Black Knight’s sword. Can’t tell how much magic Black Robe has. Probably more than me. Be careful.”

“Are you all right, Kanzaki-kun? You shouldn’t run ahead like that! We have to work together to reach our true potential, remember?” said Nana as she cast healing magic on him. The tears in her eyes spoke volumes about how worried she had been.

Last of all came a little pep talk from Setsuna. “You hear that, Touya? If you really want to help those people, calm down first!”

“Aaahh...I’m sorry, the blood rushed to my head. Please lend me your strength, everyone. Let’s defeat these bandits and save the adventurers together!”

Seeing the girls’ reassuring nods, Touya found himself feeling much calmer than before. Their opponents were clearly stronger, but they were also unforgivable criminals who had been kidnapping innocent people. He and his friends, called to this world to be Heroes, simply could not overlook such an injustice.

“Are you guys finally done?” Black Robe called out from where he was still calmly seated across the room.

“That was awfully kind of you, to sit there and wait for us,” growled Touya.

“Well, it’s not like we’re looking to antagonize the oh-so-esteemed Heroes of Deramis. In fact, we’d rather prefer it if you just turned around and walked back out.”

It was clear that Black Robe was making light of their status as Heroes, but Touya didn’t mind. If their enemies weren’t on guard, that meant they were underestimating Touya and his friends, which increased their chances of winning. He vigilantly kept an eye out for an opening that they could exploit.

“I’m afraid we can’t do that. Although we might consider letting you go if you hand over those prisoners first.”

“Ah, I’m afraid we can’t do that, either. These three are our spoils. Such hyena-like opportunism is hardly befitting of Heroes, don’t you think?”

“I guess negotiations have broken down, then.”

Setsuna returned her sword to its sheath and adopted a stance so refined that even someone who knew nothing about swords would be impressed by its beauty. This was clear proof of how diligently she had kept up her daily training. Touya, Nana, and Miyabi also readied themselves for battle.

“Not too bad,” murmured Black Robe as he looked at the Heroes with a sense of satisfaction. “Before we start...whatever this is...can I ask a question? Exactly who do you guys think we are?”

“There is no doubt. You must be the officers of the bandit gang, Black Wind,” replied Touya. “You tried to make it look like the gang was dissolved a year ago, but the jig’s up. The courage of those adventurers there has proven your crimes. You should stand down and turn yourselves in!”

“We heard that Black Wind members have a preference for black-colored clothing,” Setsuna added. “Along with everything else, that detail fits you and those with you.”

“Above all, your smile looks very evil. You look like an evil person. From every angle,” commented Miyabi, as if declaring the QED of a mathematical proof.

For the briefest moment, Setsuna thought she saw a trace of shock flash across Black Robe’s face in reaction to Miyabi’s words. Or did I just imagine it?

Black Robe raised a hand to his mouth, as if attempting to cover a smile. The suspicious gesture prompted Setsuna to keep an especially watchful eye on him.

“Is that so? Well, I guess I can see why you’d think that. Since you guys went to the trouble of coming all the way here, how about we play a game?”

“Uh...a game?”

The Heroes grew even more wary at the unexpected suggestion.

“After we finish talking, I’ll have a practice match with all four of you. None of my companions will intervene. If even one of your attacks damages me, then you win. On the other hand, if I render all of you unconscious, you lose. No killing is allowed. If anyone dies, the other team loses by default. What do you say?”

As he finished speaking, the maid next to Black Robe narrowed her eyes slightly, while the woman in military uniform reacted exaggeratedly. It looked like she was vehemently protesting, but much to their bewilderment, the Heroes could hear no words being spoken aloud.

“This game of yours sounds advantageous for us. What’s your real intention?”

“I have no hidden intentions, nor am I covering anything up. It’s just a game, plain and simple. After all, things would get pretty messy if a Hero were to die. So this works out better for all involved. My offer from earlier still stands, though. You’re always free to turn around and walk right back out if you want to.”

“Hmm...what will we be betting?”

“Betting? Let me see. How about the winning side gets to give one order to the losing side. Rather simple and straightforward, don’t you think? You can order us to let these idiots go. If you use your order just right, you could even take us prisoner.”

“What proof is there that either side will uphold their promise if they lose?”

“Well, you guys are ‘the Heroes,’ right? You’ll keep your word, I’m sure. You wouldn’t be Heroes otherwise.”

“Well...that’s true,” Touya nodded.

“As for me...let me see. How about I write up a contract? Regardless of what you think of us, we’re still adventurers. If we don’t abide by our contract, you can take it straight to the guild. I’ll include a line agreeing to be expelled if I break my word. Give me a moment.”

Black Robe took a pen and paper offered by the maid, then swiftly wrote up his offer. “Right, this should do the trick. Here you go. Feel free to look it over first.”

The paper that was meant to serve as a contract fluttered over to the Heroes on a soft wind that sprang up out of nowhere, landing gently in Touya’s outstretched hand.

“Would this contract actually be binding?” he asked Miyabi.

“This paper is a valuable magical item. It’s imbued with his magic. Likely the real thing.”

“If you say so, then it must be true. All right, we’ll accept this ‘game’ of yours!”

Hearing that declaration, the captives on the floor raised their voices in a cheer. Setsuna, however, thought she saw Black Robe grinning yet again behind his hand.

◇ ◇ ◇

Even I had not expected things to go this well. With our appetite only whetted by the “fight” against the so-called Champions of Trycen, we proceeded to set up a little contrivance in the time that it took the Heroes to arrive. Well, I say “contrivance,” but it wasn’t anything all that fancy; we simply arranged the scene in a way that would make it easy for them to mistake us for the Black Wind officers.

Christoph and his buddies’ cries for help were entirely unexpected but certainly worked to give our setup even more credibility. I would be able to satiate my thirst for battle for a while, and I could use the winner’s order to have the Heroes act as witnesses in the matter of Black Wind’s arrest, which should be enough to strip them of their champion statuses and condemn them to prison.

It was the perfect “two birds with one stone” strategy. While waiting for the Heroes to arrive, I had even used the extra time to move our tableau from the boss’s room to a much bigger chamber that looked like a training facility.

::Hold on, Kelvin! Why do you get to fight all of them by yourself?! I wanted to join in too!::

Clearly, Sera had misgivings about the rule that named me the sole participant on our side. Thankfully, she had the presence of mind to keep her complaints restricted to the Network, although she was outwardly staring daggers at me.

You’ve had several occasions to let loose over the past few days already, haven’t you? I want to let loose a little myself. And if we do this four-versus-four, it wouldn’t be much of a fight.

::But I was looking forward to this so much!::

::Master, I also have qualms about you fighting by yourself. Although you are very powerful, your build is meant to work as a support role. As all four of your opponents have the class of ‘Hero,’ is it not unnecessarily risky for you to handle them all at once?::

::She’s right! Let me do it!::

Efil was uncharacteristically opposed to my decision, but I knew that her words were said out of consideration for me. Sera’s stance, on the other hand, was fueled entirely by her own appetites.

This “game” is also meant to help me test myself in the area where I am weakest: a one-against-many close-quarters fight. I’ve made all the necessary preparations. Please let me do this, Efil, Sera. I’ll make it up to both of you at a later date.

My biggest reason, however, was that I specifically wanted an all-out fight against the Heroes, with them coming at me in full force. This will be a great chance to see what that Unique Skill does...

::If you say so, Master, then I shall abide by your will. Um, about the ‘making it up’ that you mentioned...w-would you like to come with me to another café?::

::A café?! What’s that? It sounds fun!!::

All right, I guess Sera’s attention has been diverted for now. Oh, hey, let’s ask Efil to wear a dress again when we go out. Yes, let’s do that. Wow, I feel strangely motivated by all this! I thought to myself before returning my attention to the Network.

By the way, Gerard, am I smiling right now?

::Yes, you are, my king. You have been ever since the Heroes first attacked.::

Seriously? I don’t even realize I’m doing it. Does my smile look that evil? It actually hurt my fragile heart a bit to hear you say that, you little Hero punks.

::It is a truly wonderful smile, Master.::

::I think it’s demonic and super cool!::

::Well...different people might see the same thing in a number of ways...::

‘Wonderful’ and ‘super cool,’ is it? That’s not too bad. So that silver-haired Hero was employing psychological tactics on me? She’s good; it nearly got to me. Guess I should respond in kind. All right, then, it’s about time to get this party started. I’ve already given them a few minutes to make their preparations and cast their healing and buff spells, so they should be coming at me soon.

“Spirit of Light, please lend me your strength!”

“Spirit of Wind, please help us.”

“Spirit of Water, please and thank you.”

“Spirit of Darkness, do your moderate best.”

Looking across the room, I saw four tiny balls of light, each one a different color, whirling around the Heroes.

“Interesting. Those are the blessings of the spirits, I guess.”

“You know about our blessings?”

“It’s my first time seeing them in person. People with blessings are quite rare. As someone without one, I’m admittedly envious of you all.” That said, I’ve been promised one as soon as I succeed in Summoning a certain goddess. Please return in your artificial body soon, Melfina-sensei!

“Our preparations are done. We can start any time.”

“All right. The battle zone will be this entire room. My comrades will protect the adventurers, so don’t hesitate to throw everything you’ve got at me. As for the starting signal...let’s say as soon as this coin hits the ground.”

I grabbed a coin from my pocket — or rather from the super compact Clotho clone inside my pocket — and showed it to the Heroes.

“Gotcha.”

“To keep things fair, we’ll have the adventurers toss the coin. Not that it makes a real difference who throws it, but whatever. All right, you guys, this coin is about to decide your fates. Toss it carefully, okay?”

For what it was worth, I mouthed, “Don’t. You. Run. Away. Okay?” as an extra precaution. Christoph and Priscilla nodded furiously. Ado was still lying motionless on the floor...he had yet to recover.

“So, shall we begin?”

“Guys, we’ll do it like we planned, all right?”

“You got it.”

“Sure!”

“Roger.”

Christoph threw the coin with a quivering hand. It landed right in between me and the Heroes, clinking with a high-pitched sound that reverberated throughout the room.

“Setsuna, let’s go!”

“Behind you!”

As expected, the two who looked like front-liners — the guy and the girl with the katana — immediately rushed towards me. When fighting a mage, closing the distance and forcing a close-quarters engagement was key. This was especially true in my case, when I had no tank to protect me. For their part, it was the right call to make.

“Come out, Mun-chan!”

Something flew out of the rucksack that Nana, standing all the way in the back, was carrying.

“Is that — it’s a dragon!” I cried, surprised.

“Rawr!”

The creature attempted a roar, but it was sorely lacking in impact. There was no doubt about it being a dragon, but it was still very young. Judging from its red scales, it was likely a flame dragon.

“Flame Blaze!”

The little reptile sucked in enough air to make its tiny chest puff up, then spat out a stream of fire at me. However, I was already long gone from my previous position.

The silver-haired girl, also standing in the back, thrust her hands forward. “My turn...”

Just as she was about to chant a spell, I placed a hand on her head. “Hey, sorry. It looks like this is gonna be a bit more taxing than I expected, so I’ll be borrowing this from you first.”

“Huh?” The girl’s eyes widened in surprise.

While the Heroes had been making their preparations, I’d used the time to cast Sonic Acceleration on myself. This Rank A Green Magic spell doubled my Agility, bringing it close to 1,000. It was a value that easily surpassed that of the samurai girl, who was the quickest member of their party. I had broken through their formation faster than their eyes could follow.

“How is he behind us?!”

“Miyabi, run away!”

With this move, I’d achieved my first goal and could finally reveal the special ability of my new equipment. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to hurt you.

“Skill Eater: Devour.”

A black aura emanated from the gauntlet resting on the girl’s head. Just like Sera’s Arondight, my new gloves, collectively named Skill Eater, were Rank S items made from Viktor’s carapace. In exchange for being a bit weaker than Arondight, Skill Eater had a special ability: it could copy any skill from a person simply by touching them.

There was a limit of one active skill per gauntlet, and registering a new skill would overwrite the previous one. What made the ability so powerful was that even Unique Skills were susceptible to it.

At present, it was my right gauntlet that I was using on Miyabi.

“I’ll just be grabbing Parallel Thought for a bit, thank you very much.”

“Get away from Miyabi-chan!”

The other Heroes were charging at me again. Even the dragon whelp was heading my way, so it was time for me to retreat. Might as well go back the way I came. I wove smoothly past the two teenagers and resumed my original position.

“Damn! He did it again!”

“Looks like you were at least able to see me this time.”

“Miyabi, what did he do to you?!” the samurai girl called over her shoulder, keeping her katana up and her eyes trained on me.

“Mmm, I think I feel fine.”

Of course she does. All I did was copy one of her skills. But let’s get back at her for the psychological tactic she used on me before...

I brought back the smile that had been on my face earlier and said, “Don’t worry, I didn’t do anything.”

“Touya...I might not make it.”

Oops. I had not expected her to make a face filled with that much despair.

“Miyabi?! Shit! Nana, focus on healing her! You bastard, what did you do?!”

“Ughh...” The silver-haired girl crumpled to her knees, looking thoroughly heart-stricken.

Um, but I didn’t actually do anything to her. We seem to have moved well past the point of reason here.

I took the opportunity to test out Parallel Thought. While keeping my attention on the Heroes, I prepared a spell in the back of my mind. I felt myself smoothly processing both tasks at the same time, as if I had two brains working in tandem. And this can probably handle even more synchronous tasks if I wanted it to...

“Miyabi-chan, are you all right?! Bright Heal!”

Upon receiving Nana’s dose of White Magic, she attempted to get back up. “No problem. No external injury. But maybe it’s a slow-acting effect. Staying wary.”

“In case you guys have forgotten, we’re in the middle of a battle right now. Please take your theatrics elsewhere,” I said, throwing a Radiance Lance at each of their backs. The spears of light, which had appeared without warning, closed in on the girls at high velocity.

“I won’t let you hurt them!” yelled Touya.

“Yah!” Setsuna cried, leaping forward.

The two each intercepted a Radiance Lance with their weapons and continued moving forward to close in on me. Guess they can handle that much. But now we’re just repeating what happened a moment ago.

As I was about to utilize my speed to overwhelm the Heroes once again, a white ball of light suddenly floated in front of my face.

“Now!” shouted Touya.

With that one word, the glowing ball emitted an incredibly bright light directly into my eyes, temporarily blinding me. Is this a Spirit? I guess Spirits aren’t detected by Presence Sensing, then. The Heroes had sent the spirit over in order to rob me of my sight, and I hadn’t even noticed it was there. I had to admit it was a pretty good plan. Still, Presence Sensing was detecting the Heroes just fine, informing me of their continuing approach. In response, I raised a crude black wall that split the room in half, cutting them off from my party’s side.

“Adamantite Rampart!”

The Rank A Green Magic spell was a direct upgrade of Earth Rampart and was tough enough to withstand several serious punches from Sera, which was saying something.

“Setsuna!”

“I know! Using Iron Cutting Authority...NOW!”

CRASH!

There I was, thinking about just how tough this wall was, when the sound of said wall collapsing filled the chamber.

Seriously? You sliced through that wall like it was nothing? The Unique Skill possessed by the samurai girl was the one that I had been most wary of, and now it was clear that my concerns were well founded. As the name implied, the skill seemed to give her the ability to cut through anything she wanted, regardless of the target’s level or toughness.

That being the case, parrying her attacks with my staff or gauntlets was out of the question, and I was left with little choice but to simply dodge her blows.

“Blind Cure.” I quickly healed my eyes with White Magic and took stock of the situation once I had recovered my sight.

Touya and Setsuna had passed the wall and were seconds away from reaching me. Miyabi was in the middle of chanting a spell, and Nana was giving her little dragon new instructions. The Spirits were all hovering around their respective Heroes. Thanks to Parallel Thought, I was able to analyze all of this within a fraction of a second.

“One hit on you and it’s our victory! Here we come!”

“You might want to say that after you get the hit on me. For now, I welcome your efforts to keep this fight entertaining.”

When the two Heroes were almost close enough to engage me in close quarters, both of them suddenly veered off in opposite directions, flanking me. Immediately afterwards, the dragon, who had been waiting on standby in mid-air, streaked through the gap they’d made and unleashed another stream of fire at me.

Okay, so their plan is to hold me in place with a pincer attack while showering me with dragon fire and whatever magic Miyabi’s cooking up back there.

I promptly unleashed Impact to smack away the dragon’s flames, angling it so that the shockwave also blew the little creature all the way back to the entrance.

The next task was to deal with the fast-approaching hand-to-hand combat. Come on, Parallel Thought, I’m counting on you here! I stood ready, Staff of the Evil Sage Tree in my left hand and a dagger in my right.

KLANG!

I stopped Touya’s first attack with the dagger and swept his blade out of the way. Although he was using a Rank S holy sword, I had forged this particular dagger myself and was further buffing it with Vortex Edge, so it could not be easily broken.

I had also picked up the Sword Mastery skill all the way up to Rank C. Of course, Touya and Setsuna had the same skill at Rank S and Rank A, respectively, so my comparative lack of experience with a blade put me at a definite disadvantage. But that is what makes it all worthwhile!

“Yah!”

The next attack came from Setsuna, and this I paid special attention to. In a way, she was more of a threat than Touya, even with his Rank S Sword Mastery. A skill as powerful as Iron Cutting Authority probably had its limitations, but I wasn’t going to let her test it out on my own body. So I focused solely on evading her sword for the moment. Taking full advantage of my superior speed and using Parallel Thought to pay constant attention to Danger Detection, I managed to stave off the furious assaults of both Heroes. The odds were so stacked against me that a normal mage would have despaired.

I, however, was enjoying every moment of it from the bottom of my heart.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Kelvin sure looks like he’s having fun...”

“Indeed he is. Master shines the brightest at times like these.”

Efil, Sera, and Gerard — the last of whom was still keeping an eye on Christoph and company — were in full spectator mode at this point.

“Looks like my king is handling them just fine. As he should, after all the training Sera and I have given him,” Gerard observed with a chuckle.

“Kelvin claims he wants to overcome his weaknesses in combat, but I’m pretty sure he just enjoys fighting on the front lines too much. To be fair, he has the talent for it, and I had fun too, so...all’s well, I suppose.”

“Looks like all the training Master did throughout our journey to Toraj is paying off. I’ve been happy to see him eating more of my cooking than usual as well.”

“Speaking of food, Efil, did you prepare any yet? I’m hungry now; is there anything I can eat?”

“Of course! I put all my heart into preparing it, and Master said to go ahead and eat whenever we want.”

The sight of these three adventurers not showing a speck of concern for their leader as they enjoyed their little side conversation left Christoph thoroughly bewildered.

What the hell is up with these guys?! Normal people would run away the instant they heard that the Heroes were after them! And to let a single member of their party face all the Heroes alone...these guys must be insane! Wait, are they taking sandwiches out? Do they think they’re on a picnic?!

Completely indifferent to Christoph’s confusion, Sera and Gerard dug into Efil’s sandwiches with gusto.

Sera glanced up briefly. “Looks like those two in the back are finally starting to make their move. With how busy he is, you think Kelvin’s noticed yet? Oh, the meat filling is delicious!”

“There’s no cause for concern. I’m sure Master is well aware. I tried using the Armored Tiger that we’ve been keeping in Clo-chan’s Storage. The meat beneath the armor turned out to be quite soft and flavorful.”

“Indeed, you’ve outdone yourself yet again, lass!”

They genuinely don’t care about what’s going on here at all, do they?

◇ ◇ ◇

In sharp contrast to the peaceful atmosphere on the spectators’ side, Kelvin and the Heroes were embroiled in a tempestuous sword dance. Thanks to his unbelievable speed, Kelvin was dodging every one of Setsuna’s attacks and parrying Touya’s superhuman sword strikes. He was even getting to the point where he could throw out counterattacks with his dagger any time his opponents showed an opening. A mage gradually gaining the upper hand in close-quarters combat was extremely unusual. But just as Sera had predicted, the tide of battle was about to turn.

“Frost Bind!”

“Felony Crush!”

What?! The ground’s frozen over and caught my legs! And this heavy sensation — it almost feels like Air Pressure!

After treating Miyabi, Nana cast Frost Bind, a Rank C Blue Magic spell, to rob Kelvin of his maneuverability. Miyabi herself cast the Rank C Black Magic spell Felony Crush to increase the pull of gravity on him. As Felony Crush was a single target spell, Touya and Setsuna remained unaffected. The little dragon, who had been blown away earlier, now looked fully recovered as well.

“This is the end!”

“You won’t be able to dodge anymore!”

With perfect timing, Touya and Setsuna dove forward in a coordinated attack —

“Cleft Detonation!”

— right into an enormous explosion.

◇ ◇ ◇

The attacks that should have ended the match were interrupted by a sudden and violent blast.

“Damn, to think he’d just blow himself up...”

The split second before Touya was caught by Cleft Detonation, which might have taken him out of the fight entirely, the Spirit of Light had erected a barrier with White Magic, which protected him and spared him from the worst of the explosion.

“The barrier didn’t even block all of the damage? Spirit of Light, no rush, but please heal me. Setsuna, are you all right?!”

“Yes, somehow...”

Setsuna possessed Sky Walk, an advanced skill that enabled her to walk in the air. With the speed buff from the Spirit of Wind, she had used the skill to instantly reverse her momentum and change directions. In this way, Setsuna, too, had escaped the attack.

“Are you two all right?!”

“Nana, don’t let your guard down. Wait until we’ve confirmed this guy’s state before doing any serious healing.”

“Even he couldn’t have evaded that blast unscathed, right? If he took even a little damage, it’s our vic—”

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Setsuna’s words were cut short by a slow clapping that rang out from the spreading cloud of dust.

“That was a pretty good combination. Even I got a bit flustered back there. The two front-liners drew my attention while you with the dragon slowed my movements and bought time for the silver-haired girl to use her Black Magic, which tends to have a longer cast time. All in all, it was a good plan.”

A gust rose up out of nowhere, clearing away the dust and revealing the speaker. What immediately caught the Heroes’ attention was the beautiful, untouched circle within the larger patch of gouged-out floor. Black Robe was casually standing within it, as if his complete lack of injury were totally natural.

“He took no damage at all?!”

“I couldn’t very well end the game with my own magic, could I? What kind of mage would I be if I didn’t have this much control over my spells?” He tapped the floor with his staff twice, then looked at each of the Heroes in turn. “If you don’t mind a bit of advice, you two in the back should have followed up your debuff spells with a few more offensive ones. If you had time to heal, you had time to cast more spells.”

“Emotional scar. Another one.”

The guy gave Miyabi a look, as if thinking, This brat, is she still going on about that? “You, with the ponytail. Couldn’t you have utilized Sky Walk a bit more? You might have been holding back with the ‘no killing’ rule, but the skill can still give you plenty of extra options for your attacks. As for you, Mr. Hero...just when were you planning on breaking out your Dual Wield?”

“What?! So, you do have Analyze Eye after all! Well, this was supposed to be my trump card, but...” Touya used his sword to push himself up. “Holy Sword Will, reveal your true form.”

In response, the sword began to emit a bright light. Within moments, the light had split into two, leaving Touya holding a copy of the exact same sword in his other hand. What made Holy Sword Will so valuable was its ability to take on the form desired by each of the Heroes who had wielded it throughout the ages.

“So that’s your holy sword’s ability?”

Touya adopted his preferred battle stance. Although this would be his first time using it in an actual battle, he felt entirely at ease. “Honestly, I never imagined that a bandit like you would be this strong. Dragging this on any longer only works to our disadvantage. We’re going to have to pull out all the stops this time.”

◇ ◇ ◇

“Ugh, deciding things on your own again! All right, I’ll keep you company. As for you...” She glared at me. “We’ll make you regret trying to give us advice.”

Setsuna sheathed her sword and adopted a stance that even I recognized. Iai quick-draw and dual wielding? These guys sure know how to tickle a man’s fancy.

“I’m done healing Mun-chan!” called the girl in the back.

“Rawr, rawr!”

The whelp flapped its wings with determination, brazenly flying in circles over my head. Gone was any trace of innocence from its eyes, replaced with the glint of a predator stalking its prey.

“My preparation is done too! Frozen Temple!”

The entire area was suddenly coated with ice, and pillars of it shot up from the ground. The pillars, which numbered ten in total, emitted a blue fog that quickly took on the shape of a majestic temple.

“Prepare yourself, Mister Black Robe. This is Frozen Temple, a Rank A Blue Magic spell and one of the most powerful ones that I know. As long as you’re within its range, your entire body will be unable to move, as if you’ve been frozen solid. On top of that, you won’t be able to activate any of your own buff spells to counter it. I recommend that you surrender now while you still can.”

“Well, thank you for the thoughtful explanation.”

I tried to move my body but, sure enough, found that I couldn’t. I didn’t actually feel cold, and it seemed like I should have been able to move given enough time, but this was no state to do battle in. The prevention of buffs was also troublesome. For the moment, Sonic Acceleration was still in effect, but even that was bound to run out soon.

“Our ancient foe, soon to be dispatched.”

“What the hell do you mean by ‘ancient’? It’s my first time meeting all of you.”

The strange girl in the back seemed to be thinking it over for a moment. “Lines make the atmosphere. More importantly, here goes my real specialty. Grave Death Ogre!”

Miyabi’s shadow writhed and expanded to take on the form of an ogre that kneeled down before her. She patted it once, then lightly mounted its shoulder.

“This is the corpse of a Rank A monster named Red-Eyed Ogre, which I revived with Black Magic. Of course, it still retains its Rank A strength. With its power and my magic, we are unstoppable.”

Miyabi really seemed to want to show off to someone. I could almost make out the smugness on her face.

“Oh, Hero, please use this!”

An object was thrown towards Miyabi from the sidelines. The person who had tossed it was Priscilla, who had been watching quietly up until then. Miyabi’s ogre caught the item the bandit had thrown.

“This is a magical jewel. And a diamond, the highest rank. You want me to use it?”

“Yes! I’ve kept it hidden this whole time; it’s my last one! Please use it!” Her tone seemed to be saying, If you guys don’t win, we’re dead meat!

Miyabi shot a quick glance at me.

“I don’t mind if you use it,” I shrugged. “I forbade my party members from interfering, but I didn’t say anything about those adventurers.”

“Adventurer, your feelings have touched me. I will finish him off. Never fear.”

“Um...in case you forgot, you’ll still lose if you kill me, all right?” I reminded her.

Good grief, they finally revealed their aces. These guys sure take their time kicking into gear.

“Are you perhaps in trouble?” asked Sera casually from the sidelines after finishing off another sandwich.

“Mhm, all because you didn’t find the magical jewel on her.”

“I let it slide on purpose, okay? On purpose. But, judging from your tone, it looks like I don’t have to worry anyway.”

“You know, I would appreciate you being a bit wor—”

“Gloom Lance.”

The black spear generated by Miyabi, powered up even more thanks to her newly acquired jewel, shot forward with a speed uncharacteristic of Black Magic. I quickly drove Sonic Acceleration to its limit in an effort to force my body to evade the attack.

“That wasn’t a very Hero-like thing to do, throwing such a dangerous weapon at someone who can’t move.”

“Please take your theatrics elsewhere. Or wait until you lose.”

Miyabi’s brief period of verbosity appeared to be over. Yep, looks like they’ve gotten a bit more comfortable fighting now.

The fact that Touya and Setsuna had been creeping up on me throughout my exchange with Miyabi had not slipped my attention, either.

“Good one, using my own words against me. Well, let’s bring this game to an end, then, shall we?”

It was Touya and Setsuna who moved first. Within the space of a breath, they closed the distance between us as I slammed the palms of my hands against the ground.

“Arise, Adamantite Guardian!”

In response to my Summoning, two black golems rose up from the ground. They were wearing full body armor and looked like larger versions of Gerard. Both of them carried greatswords as long as they were tall, and their massive builds were awe-inspiring.

These guardians made from Green Magic — the only element that had golem creation spells — were each as powerful as a Rank A monster.

“Keep them at bay for thirty seconds,” I instructed.

The two black golems nodded, each turning to face a Hero.

I have to address this mobility problem before anything else. This is off the cuff, but let’s give it a go. I focused my thoughts on the Frozen Temple spell that Nana had cast to obstruct my movements. Concentrate on each and every fingertip...distinguish each and every target...

While I was occupied with this task, the Heroes and golems clashed. Touya blocked the greatsword of the golem in front with his own two swords and redirected the attack. With a heavy thud, the golem’s greatsword sank deep into the ground, causing the creature to lose its balance. But the second attack came right on the heels of the first. Touya crossed his own swords together, barely managing to hold his ground in a dangerous sword lock.

“Nnng! Setsuna!”

After climbing into the air with Sky Walk, his comrade had been leaping around overhead in a wild dance. Her trajectory was unpredictable and the Spirit of Wind was helping her to move even faster. The golems had no way of stopping her.

“Using Iron Cutting Authority...now!”

Setsuna’s scabbard shone blue and her blade flashed for only the briefest of moments. By the time she had passed by, the top halves of both golems were already falling to the ground. But she didn’t stop there. Without any delay, she continued dashing towards the only target that mattered...me.

Spell construction complete!

Pushing Parallel Thought to squeeze out every last drop of processing power in my mind, I had been using the time to create a completely new spell from scratch. This was a process that normally required months, involving numerous steps, like coming up with a clear mental image and devising the formula necessary for activation. Thanks to the fearsome power of Parallel Thought, however, I had managed it in record time. A moment later...

Ping!

A sound effect went off in my head, and a Status window popped into view.

---

◇ You have learned a new spell!

- Rank A White Magic: Radiance Crossfire

---

Phew, I’m glad it worked. Calling up four or five Radiance Lances at the same time was my limit, but thanks to this new spell, I won’t have to worry about that anymore. On another note, isn’t this sound effect from that game? Was Melfina the one who set it up for me? Never mind, now is hardly the time to get distracted. Setsuna’s close enough that I won’t be able to dodge her in my current state, so let’s take this baby out for a spin.

“Radiance Crossfire!”

Spears of light shot out from all ten of my outstretched fingertips. They all located their respective targets as if they had minds of their own, then flew off at high speeds, swerving left and right as needed. In comparison to the previous Rank B spell, each spear was now markedly superior in power, penetration, and homing capabilities.

Go and destroy the pillars of Frozen Temple!

The streaks of light criss-crossed each other, matching their timing to pierce the pillars of ice at exactly the same moment. In an instant, the fog that made up the blue temple dissipated. I quickly closed and opened a fist to test out my body’s current state.

Great, the binding’s completely undone. I can move freely again!

“H-How do you know Frozen Temple’s weakness even though it’s my own original magic?!” cried Nana, unable to hide her surprise.

Ten pillars made up the temple itself. If any of the pillars were broken, they would simply revert to their original forms, as if the damage suffered had been a mere illusion. There was only one way to break the spell: to destroy all ten pillars at exactly the same time. Without the support of the pillars, the temple would be unable to maintain its form, leading to the breakdown of the spell, as had just been demonstrated.

Be it magic or anything else, as long as it’s within sight, I can Analyze it. While you were casually explaining the spell to me, I had already grasped all of its characteristics. Anyway, enough of that...

With the binding spell gone, I backed up a few steps with Sonic Acceleration still in effect. A wind blew through the spot where I had been standing a moment before. “Oof, that was a close one, huh?”

“Damn, missed him by a second!” cried Setsuna.

The wind I had felt passing by was none other than the samurai girl. With the support of the Spirit of Wind, she had unleashed the most powerful iai that she was capable of and had just barely missed me. If she’d been quicker by a few seconds, the game would have been over then and there.

“Well, I’m not done yet!” The moment Setsuna realized that her iai wouldn’t make it, she created a foothold in mid-air using Sky Walk, then changed direction to pursue my retreating figure. Readjusting her grip on the sword, which had returned to its scabbard, she shifted into the next iai in a natural, flowing movement.

Once again, she was suddenly right in front of me, ready to strike me down.

“Out of the whole party, you really do have the best sense for battle,” I noted.

Setsuna felt a heaviness from her beloved sword. She couldn’t pull it out. No matter how hard she yanked, it just wouldn’t unsheathe.

“What’s going on?!”

And of course it wouldn’t, not with me pushing down on the hilt. Setsuna had not misjudged the distance of her iai. However, I had completely predicted her movements and timing, and she had been overwhelmed by pure speed.

“First one down.”

I landed a fist squarely on Setsuna’s abdomen. The punch was not an amateur’s attack but that of someone well-versed in — no, someone who had truly mastered a martial art.

“Oof! W-Weren’t...you...a magic...swordsman...?”

“Hm? Who said anything about that? Don’t worry, my Strength is only about a fourth of what Sera’s is. Your life is in no danger.”

I glanced at the samurai girl as she fell to the ground head-first. Skill Eater had done its work well by copying Miyabi’s Parallel Processing. But that was just the right gauntlet in action...what about the left one?

“Hah, look at my Combat Technique getting all the spotlight!” Sera called out in her happy singsong voice.

My left gauntlet held none other than my dear demon companion’s Rank S Combat Technique. The great thing about my new gear was that borrowing skills from party members was basically a non-issue, since I only had to ask in order to rotate different abilities in and out as needed.

From the start of my little “game,” I had been relying on Combat Technique to help me move better and handle Touya and Setsuna’s fierce onslaught.

“Being unprepared is man’s greatest enemy!”

“So I guess you’re next, young lady?”

Having already received the order to attack, the giant black ogre brandished an arm as thick as a log while Miyabi remained perched on its shoulder. Now that Frozen Temple had been dispelled, however, I once again had an overwhelming advantage in speed. Evading the ogre’s attack was child’s play.

KA-BOOM!

The creature’s assault shook the floor, causing bits of the flooring to break loose and flip over.

That’s the power of a Rank A monster for you. And Miyabi’s even wreathed its fists in a Black Magic spell that debuffs her enemies. Talk about a troublesome opponent. However...

Miyabi threw several consecutive Gloom Lances at me as I continued to dodge. Every one of her ogre’s attacks was running on enhanced strength and speed thanks to the magical jewel in her possession. Dodging blow after blow was going to be difficult.

“You know, all of this is a fraction of what Sera can do. Get a bit more training in before facing me again.”

I wreathed my own fists in magic and easily parried away the barrage of Gloom Lances. This was the White Magic version of the pugilist technique that I had learned from Sera, made possible only due to the Rank S Combat Technique that I currently possessed via Skill Eater. My fists, enveloped in purifying magic, jabbed into the ogre’s face and chest, summarily reducing it to white dust.

“Ack!”

Miyabi fell as her mount suddenly crumbled beneath her, providing me with the perfect window of opportunity.

This girl has rather low defense stats, so let’s take her out with a neck chop.

Circling around behind her, I silently and swiftly unleashed a single chop to her neck. Thump.

Shit, that wasn’t the sound I was expecting. I might have misjudged the level of strength needed. I guess this isn’t a technique for an amateur to try pulling off. She’s twitching, but...well, my Strength is lower than hers anyway, so she should be fine, right?

“How dare you do that to Setsuna and Miyabi!!”

“Kanzaki-kun! I’ll shield you — find an opening!”

“Ah...thanks.” The boy seemed to be struggling with something internally, but quickly came to terms with it. “I’ll make it count!”

I had no time to reflect on my blunder as Touya and the whelp rushed me. To my surprise, I saw that Nana was riding atop the dragon. Belying its size, the creature appeared to be quite gutsy. The last two Heroes closed in, with Nana and the dragon in front and Touya close on their heels.

This girl...her Endurance is on par with Sera’s? That probably means I won’t be able to hurt her with my attack power.

“Please let this work! Icicle Shield!”

A thick shield of ice appeared before her as she charged forward. The ultimate shield also made for a splendid spearhead when all caution was thrown to the wind.

“Glory Sanctuary!” I returned.

Abruptly, the whelp stopped in mid-air, three rings now encircling it and its determined rider.

“Nana?!” cried Touya.

“Wh-What’s wrong, Mun-chan? What are these rings?!”

“It’s a barrier capable of binding even a Rank S demon for a while. You can’t break it at your current strength level. Hyper Impact!”

Intense gusts of wind began to buffet Nana and the whelp from four different directions. Although the attack power of the spell was low and not likely to cause any real harm, the wind roughly shook them about. Before long, the Hero and her tiny companion began to look rather green with motion sickness.

“Ughhh...I can’t...gonna throw up...”

“Rrr...rrrawr...”

Within the holy barrier, both girl and dragon suddenly vomited and collapsed, making for a very surreal scene.

“That makes three. You guys aren’t as bright as I’d hoped.”

“HOW DARE YOU!!”

Leaping over the barrier, Touya lunged at me in a blind rage. He called on the deadly dual-wielding technique that had probably been taught to him by Knight Captain Cliff, the strongest man in all of Deramis. The two holy swords in his hands shone brightly in concert with their wielder’s cry.

“As for you...” I muttered, thoroughly unimpressed. “You were the biggest disappointment of all.”

When Touya finally returned to himself, he found that he was kneeling on the ground. He had failed to avenge his comrades, probably didn’t even know how he had been defeated, and had been unable to use the techniques that he had placed so much faith in. I doubted that he had ever before experienced such a feeling of complete and utter disgrace.

“You possess such strength...” he mumbled. “Why...why do you not use it to better the world?”

“What, you believe that everyone is a good person at heart?”

“There is no one who is born evil! It is only due to their surroundings and unforeseen circumstances that people turn bad! If you allow yourself to change, then you, too, will be deserving of forgiveness someday! Humans are capable of understanding each other! It’s not too late! Even now, you could use that power of yours for the sake of others —”

Touya’s words were cut short as he found the tip of a dagger at his neck.

“What you are speaking of is an idealistic fantasy. As a Hero, it’s certainly a noble and just way of thinking. But understand this: you can’t apply it to everyone. So I have two things to say to you: mind your own damn business, and leave your idealism at home!”

Those were the last words the Hero heard before his consciousness left him.