CHAPTER 5

The Difference in Power

After climbing stairs for what seems like forever, I can finally see a wooden board up ahead. I push up the floorboard and crawl back onto the surface with Seiya. I survey the room. The walls are dirty, and the furniture is worn out… We find ourselves once again in an abandoned shack, but it’s different from the one we were in when we first met Father Luke.

I nervously approach the window and look outside, and the scenery is different from earlier as well. While we climbed up the same number of stairs, it looks like Eich’s earth magic connected us to another house. Beastkin gather in the distance, making a commotion. When I strain my eyes and look ahead, I see humans lined up with shackles around their necks and wrists. That must be the slave market Braht was talking about.

“Seiya, you don’t need to take what Braht said seriously. There is no way you can beat Bunogeos at your current level. The best thing you can do is find a way to save the slaves in the market. And the people of Little Light might change their minds about us if we can pull it off. Anyway—”

While looking out the window, I continue speaking to Seiya until I discover something unbelievable.

…He’s casually walking down the street with the rusty sword!

“Huhhhhhh?!”

I scream and immediately rush out of the shack.

“Heeeeey!! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

As I grab his shoulders and shake his brains into mush, he stares back at me with a puzzled look in his eyes.

“I need to defeat Bunogeos, right? How am I supposed to do that without going outside?”

“No, that’s why you need to listen. We’re going to free the…slaves…”

Around a dozen beastkin curiously stare at us as we argue in the middle of the main road.

“Hey… Those humans aren’t wearing collars.”

“Are they strays?”

Ahhhhhhhhh!! We’re dooooooooomed!!

My heart hammers against my chest, but Seiya doesn’t seem to be concerned in the least.

“I was going to fight them anyway, so this saves me some time.”

Seiya breezily approaches the beastkin with his rusty sword leaning against his shoulder.

“Huh?! What’s wrong with this human?!”

As if creeped out by Seiya’s daunting behavior, the beastkin don’t even draw their weapons. Instead, they part like the Red Sea, making way for Seiya. I hurriedly follow behind.

W-wait. What? Are we really just gonna be able to waltz right in and free the slaves?

But after walking a few more meters, a fox-faced beastkin screams as if he knows what we’re up to.

“Hey!! Pull yourselves together! Stop them!”

“R-right!”

The fox person’s orders prompt all the nearby beastkin to surround us.

Y-yeah, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised… It was too good to be true…

A rhino beastkin with rugged skin stands before us, licking his lips.

“If these humans don’t belong to anyone, that means…”

The fox beastkin replies:

“Exactly. Nobody’s gonna get mad at us if we eat them…”

I prepare for battle as I listen to their vile conversation.

I-it looks like we have to fight!

I use Scan to check the stats of the rhino beastkin, the fox beastkin, and their three companions. It’s just as I feared. Everyone’s attack is over 30,000! They’re all really strong! But it appears they’re waiting for us to make the first move. Capitalizing on the moment, I tightly grab on to a fistful of my own hair and yank it out. While the move is painful, this is no time to complain.

“Seiya, here! Take this! You know what to do with it, right?”

“Of course.”

Seiya nods, then takes the strip of blond hair and attaches it to his bangs. The blond hair glitters among his shiny black hair, giving it just the right accent.

“No!!” I scream. “Those aren’t extensions, Seiya! They’re for synthesizing!”

“Huh? What’s that?”

“Synthesis! It’s one of your abilities! That sword is rusty, but it’s still a steel sword! If you synthesize it with my hair, you can make a platinum sword!”

I take his hand, then force the hair and sword into it. Thereupon, a blinding light radiates, instantly transforming the rusty blade into a divine, glittering platinum sword. Seiya’s face lights up just like the platinum sword itself.

“What a wonderful sword! I bet I could defeat the Demon Lord with this!”

No, probably not. In fact, I’m worried if he’s even going to be able to get himself out of this pinch.

It isn’t long before the fox beastkin loses control and yells:

“I got first dibs!”

As the fox beastkin leaps in to attack…

“Eek!”

I double over in fright, but Seiya lunges before me. Almost instantly, I hear something cracking in the hand in which he’s holding his platinum sword, as if his joints are dislocating.

“Eternal Sword!”

In the blink of an eye, countless afterimages of the platinum sword soar through the air, heading right for the fox beastkin. By the time the blur is gone, the enemy’s body is already sliced to ribbons. Blood spews into the air as numerous chunks of meat fall to the ground.

“Y-you’ll pay for that…!”

The other four beastkin lunge at Seiya to avenge their comrade! There’s no way he can use Eternal Sword to stop this many enemies at once!

However…

“Maximum Inferno!”

Seiya’s free hand is already engulfed in flames! Before the beastkin can even reach him, the crimson flames shoot off his arm like chains and swallow the enemies.

“Arghhh!”

Their agonizing cries ring out as they catch fire, burning as Maximum Inferno’s intense heat instantly turns them into charred corpses that fall lifelessly to the ground. Seiya raises his still-burning hand into the air.

“…Get out of the way or be reduced to ash.”

Seiya briskly walks ahead after the nearby beastkin, who were watching, timidly back away.

H-he killed four beastkin in the blink of an eye?! He only used Maximum Inferno in Gaeabrande to dispose of corpses and distract the enemy…so I never knew it was such a high-level spell!

While struck with admiration, I notice something… The rhino beastkin, covered in soot, was able to withstand the fire thanks to his tough skin, and he’s about to charge Seiya from behind!

“Seiya, behind you! He’s still alive!”

I shout out to him, but he doesn’t even look back! Even then, his fiery platinum sword is already under his arm, stabbing the rhinoceros monster between the eyes!

“Phoenix Thrust…!”

After witnessing their fellow beastkin fall to the ground…

“Wh-what kind of human is this?!”

“He’s too strong!”

The surrounding enemies seem to have lost all will to fight. I swallow hard.

He’s very reckless now…but he still has extraordinary fighting skills! I guess regardless of what his personality is like, Seiya Ryuuguuin’s talents are still one in a million!

Elated, I look ahead and see a few dozen slaves chained up.

“Seiya! We have to free the slaves over there! After that, we can head back to Little Light!”

Seiya and I rush over to the slaves.

“You’re all safe now!”

While Seiya keeps watch, I remove the frightened slaves’ wrist and ankle shackles. But by the time I free the last of them, the silence is suddenly broken.

“Heeeeeey! What’s going on over here?”

A chill creeps up my spine when I hear the familiar, drawling tone. A massive monster pushes through the crowd of beastkin.

“Th-this can’t be happening. Why now?!”

The orc—the ruler of this town—Bunogeos is headed right for us! After taking us in, he scratches the back of his neck, then casually says:

“Ohhh, are you the Hero and Goddess? It’s just like what that tawny-haired demon saaaid: ‘A messenger of the gods will soon arrive to free the slaves.’”

A demon with tawny hair? One who’s aware of what we’re doing? Was the werewolf who invaded the spirit world guided by this demon, too?

Beastkin begin circling around Seiya and me, seemingly relieved now that Bunogeos is here. It’s only a few seconds until there are dozens of them. However, Bunogeos shakes his hand at them.

“You guys can fall baaack. I’ll handle thiiis.”

This could be our only chance! I subtly whisper to Seiya:

“Seiya! Now’s our chance! Use Maximum Inferno to create a smoke screen, then grab the slaves and run!”

“Run? When the boss is already here?”

“You can’t beat him, Seiya! Besides, the slaves’ lives are our priority, right?!”

“Well…I guess.”

I somehow manage to talk Seiya out of engaging, but Bunogeos lets out a vile chuckle as if he knows exactly what we’re going to do.

“You’re not gettin’ away from meee. Well, you could run if you wanted, but I’d just chop this slave’s head right offfff.”

Before I even realize, the orc is holding a woman in tattered clothes in one hand. She struggles in agony as he tightens his grip around her neck. That’s when the Hero’s piercing gaze locks onto Bunogeos.

“Goddess, I can’t just abandon that hostage and run. I’m going to defeat Bunogeos here and save all the slaves.”

Mn…! What he’s saying is very heroic, b-but there’s no way he can beat that orc!

Once he realizes that Seiya is willing to fight, Bunogeos tosses the woman behind him and reaches for the ax on his back.

“Chain Destruction…was it? Once I hit ya with this, neither yooou nor the goddess will be able to come back to liiife.”

“Wh-why do you have that?! Did that demon give you that, too?!”

“That’s none o’ yer busineeeeess.”

…While I distract Bunogeos, Seiya infuses his sword with flames. Before Bunogeos can even draw his ax…

“Die…! Phoenix Drive!”

Seiya unleashes an attack with a powerful roar, but Bunogeos deeply inhales with an air of confidence. Immediately, my hair and dress start fluttering as everything around me is sucked in. Bunogeos expels the air he inhaled directly at the charging Hero.

“Mn…!”

The powerful gale stops Seiya in his tracks and extinguishes the flames on his sword as if blowing out a birthday candle.

“Weeee-hee-hee. Wouldn’t want to start a fire, now, would weee?”

Bunogeos neutralizes the magic sword through sheer force alone, but Seiya still leaps at him.

“Then how about this? Eternal Sword!”

Since he can’t use Phoenix Drive anymore, Seiya switches to Adenela’s special attack without missing a beat. I inwardly applaud Seiya for his quick judgment, but…

“Hmm? That ticklesss.”

The orc takes each one of Seiya’s consecutive hits yet shows no sign of injury. But Seiya doesn’t give up. He continues attacking with Eternal Sword until his arm suddenly stops. That’s when I notice…that Bunogeos is holding the platinum sword’s blade!

“It doesn’t really hurt, buuut…you’re starting to annoy meeeeee!”

With his other thick arm, he buries a punch right into Seiya’s stomach. Seiya’s feet lift off the ground with a thud.

“Urgh…!”

“Seiya!!”

The Hero crumbles with just a single punch, and Bunogeos’s expression can only be described as disgust.

“Whaaat? That’s it? I didn’t even need my ax. Didn’t think the Hero would be this weeeak. Wait. Am I just too strooong?”

I-it was like fighting a baby! Seiya didn’t stand a chance! It’s exactly how I imagined it would go down, though. Seiya’s attack power isn’t even high enough to leave a scratch on Bunogeos. There’s just too big a gap between their stats.

We’re no longer in any position to save the slaves! We need to find a way to escape!

I instinctively sprint toward Seiya, but the dog beastkin stops in front of me before chopping my neck with his hand.

“Hng…!”

And just like that, I collapse at Seiya’s side. As I slowly fade out of consciousness, I see the ax on Bunogeos’s back out of the corner of my eye.

Oh… He’s going to use that ax and destroy our souls… Our journey ends here…

“M-mn…”

How much time has passed? I place a hand on my bruised neck while sitting up. The area is dark, but I see thick iron bars before me. It looks like I’m in a cell of some sort. There’s another cell next to mine…

“Seiya?!”

Seiya is curled up on the floor, disarmed and lying on his side.

“Are you okay?! Seiya, wake up!”

“Y-yeah…”

Seiya sits up as if he heard my cries. He clutches his stomach like he’s in pain, but it doesn’t seem to be life-threatening.

“Thank goodness you’re okay!”

But without missing a beat…

“I wouldn’t get so excited if I were you…”

I hear a voice coming from right behind me. I turn around to find the girl Bunogeos took hostage sitting in the corner of the cell. I’m relieved.

“Thank goodness you’re okay, too! What about the other slaves?”

“No clue. Seeing as they’re not here, I’m guessing Bunogeos temporarily removed the curse of the spell stone and sold them somewhere outside of town.”

“Wh-what?!”

“Oh, don’t worry about them. They’re the lucky ones. They’re still alive. We should be more worried about ourselves…”

She continues to speak as if she was talking about something mundane like the weather.

“Because you and me—we’re about to be Bunogeos’s food.”

“H-huh?! You mean he’s gonna eat us?! I thought this town produced slaves?! Bunogeos said—”

“That’s what he says when others are listening. But he secretly likes to eat young women. Oh…speak of the devil. Here he comes.”

The massive orc heavily drags his feet this way. First, he looks at Seiya in his cell and smirks.

“Lord Grandleon’s gonna be thrilled when I hand ya over to himmm. Weeee-hee-hee.”

Cheerfully rubbing his stomach, he walks over to our cell next and carefully stares at me through the iron bars like he’s examining me.

“I caught the Hero. I deserve a special rewarrrd.”

Drool drips down his vile chin.

“Hmm… I think I’ll start with the Goddessssss.”