Chapter 12: Barbarian Queen’s Rampage

Chapter 12:
Barbarian Queen’s Rampage

LET’S START FROM the beginning. The shrine golems were probably super strong. However, Goltarou’s…uh, sister? She was too strong.

The six golems stood on the entrance side of the expansive stone hall. On the other side stood Goltarou’s sister and me. Besides me, everyone else was like unto a Greek statue. Visually speaking, I stuck out. Although if everyone were to line up, the whiteness of Goltarou’s sister was strikingly purer than that of the other Greek statues, so in a sense she also stuck out.

No, wait, I thought frantically. Calm down. Now’s not the time for such rabbit holes.

The blades of the Greek statues’ naginatas were directed straight toward us, a clear sign of hostility. Well, their anger was reasonable. After all, Goltarou’s sister had just destroyed the lower half of their comrade with a low kick. If our positions were reversed, I was sure I would’ve been pissed.

Twelve green eyes stabbed into us with their gaze. Opposite, Goltarou’s sister’s two ruby eyes weren’t the least bit fazed. The tension between the two parties swelled, growing increasingly volatile.

At that, Goltarou’s sister stepped in front of me. A protective move, and the spitting image of the reliable Goltarou. As expected of blood relatives.

In a single bound, his sister suddenly jumped more than ten meters forward. She landed quietly in the center of the shrine. In her slender right hand was one of the arms of the headless golem. She had ripped it off.

Eh? I blinked. Wait, ripped off?! That?! When?!

Goltarou’s sister raised the golem’s arm high above her head and threw it straight to the floor. There, she stomped on it with all her might. It shattered. Shards of golem arm flew through the air.

After kicking away the remains, Goltarou’s sister stood tall and imposing, her ruby eyes filled with provocation. The six shrine golems responded in unison—rushing her, and ignoring me.

No way, I gaped. Did she provoke them to divert enemy attention away from me? How considerate. Again, as expected of the blood relative of the attentive gentleman, Goltarou. Ah, but then again, I think she was the one who started this fight…

Of the six enemy golems, the two in front threw themselves at Goltarou’s sister. They were fast, and their pace was perfectly synced as they dashed in from either side and simultaneously swung their naginatas.

Those heavy-looking weapons moved so lightly in their hands. Their slices were swift and aimed directly at Goltarou’s sister’s neck. Two heavy blades crossed upon that slender, unprotected throat.

I thought for a horrible moment that her head had been cut clean off. But somehow, her narrow neck stopped both blades. They left not a single scratch on her lovely skin.

What demonic defense…

In a couple of sudden, precise movements, Goltarou’s sister seized the heads of the two golems, one in each hand. The golems struggled, but they couldn’t escape. The difference in power was too great.

Wow, this girl’s lifting her enemies in a clawhold.

Goltarou’s sister smashed her captured victims to the floor with all her strength. The sound of their destruction echoed throughout the shrine.

When the rumble faded, Goltarou’s sister silently stood up. The downed golems didn’t even twitch. Their heads had been pulverized. Even though Goltarou’s little sister looked like a pure elf goddess, she fought like a peerless gorilla god who reveled in flaunting her power.

The remaining four golems charged Goltarou’s sister like an avalanche. They whirled their naginatas in a hurricane of steel.

It was an absolutely crazed attack. If Goltarou’s sister hadn’t drawn the enemies away and I was caught in the middle of that raging blade storm, I would’ve been meat-grindered into oblivion.

As I gaped, I noticed the enemy golems often aimed at the area from her neck up. At times, Goltarou’s sister would brace for the attack, and at others she would dodge. I had been shocked to my bones when her neck stopped those initial blades, but was her defense truly impervious…?

I desperately wracked my brain, trying to come up with a way to free Goltarou’s sister from this storm.

Right! If I used NTR, maybe I could control the shrine golems like I did the monkeys’ flying rugby balls.

NTR had first destroyed the timer mechanism on the Grand Stone Gate. Next, it had dealt with the binding on the stone book, which had probably been some kind of barrier spell. And lastly, it let me control the monkeys’ stone bullets. In each of these three instances, the target was dyed a black color to indicate that NTR had been activated.

Logically speaking, any being created by spells—which I knew golems were, seeing as they were very much the domain of the Earth attribute—was vulnerable to my control. And if I could control these golems, we could escape.

I pointed my right hand toward one of the rabid shrine golems and shouted, “NTR!”

Nothing happened. The targeted golem continued to move as she had before. Her bloodthirst showed no sign of dulling.

I realized then that these golems also felt different than the previous targets of my NTR. It was a little like I’d tried to open a door without a doorknob; there was just nothing to latch onto. My command couldn’t stick to the golem, and had been carried away by the wind. I was truly “praying to deaf ears.”

Why was this happening? Weren’t golems created via Earth spells?

“Ah…” Then I remembered. If I recalled correctly, Introduction to Spellcrafting had said, “Golems deflect interference from outside mana.” That was why golems were advantageous in fights against spellcasters.

Are you kidding me…? Was it because of that? Was that why NTR didn’t work on these golems? How could this be? I finally thought I was useful, yet here I am, once again reduced to a useless moocher…

My shoulders dropped at this cruel epiphany, but of course, the fight continued without me.

Goltarou’s sister calmly continued to stave off her enemies’ enraged assault. Then, as if she had been waiting for the perfect moment, she leaned her body slightly to the side. Her beautiful leg lashed out like a whip, unleashing a roundhouse kick.

With that, she literally beat her enemy hands down.

It was a single roundhouse kick, yet its bewildering speed and devastating force obliterated the heads of three of the four remaining enemy golems. I couldn’t fathom the disproportionate power vested in the slenderness of that white leg. I could only stare in disbelief.

Having lost their heads, the Greek statues crumpled to the ground with a resounding crash, one after another. Goltarou’s sister stood serene amid her collapsing enemies as if nothing had happened, still in her kicking pose.

Only one enemy remained: the fiend who had jumped out of the way of the roundhouse kick. It was the captain golem with the different-colored armor and weapon, who had stood right in the middle of the entrance. It was also the golem whose busty chest I’d peered at earlier.

At that moment, for some reason, Goltarou’s sister turned to me. She jerked her shoulders slightly and fidgeted around.

Ah, this was the same gesture Goltarou performed whenever he wanted me to pay attention. It was equivalent to that light tugging on my sleeve. Because Goltarou was reserved with his selfishness, I made sure to never overlook these signs.

What do you want to show me, little sister? You know, there’s still an enemy behind you.

What a laid-back gal. Ah, I had spoken too soon! The enemy golem brandished her naginata and aimed a surprise attack at Goltarou’s sister’s exposed back.

Yet she didn’t seem to notice; she was still fidgeting and looking at me. This was bad. She’d be killed!

“Hey, idiot! Goltarou, behind you!”

Instantly, her ruby eyes glinted. In the next second, she released a flash of a back kick, eyes still trained on me, and easily shattered both of the enemy’s legs.

She didn’t even turn around… I thought hazily.

Legs destroyed, the busty golem lost her balance and fell backwards. Goltarou’s sister gave me a tender look before slowly walking toward the enemy behind her.

The following onslaught was one-sided and relentless. Goltarou’s sister straddled the enemy, ripped both her arms off, and drove brutal punch after punch into her head until it was no more. It was such an excessive beatdown that I had to wonder if she had some personal vendetta. There was nothing left of the captain golem except for that armored torso.

So, in the end, what had all that fidgeting been about? Did Goltarou’s sister want to show off her ruthless fighting?

“But, damn. This is pretty bad…” As I took in the miserable state of the shrine, those words slipped out unconsciously.

Being the fight’s referee, I confirmed the deaths of the shrine golems. I got the weird feeling that I had seen this happen before. The heads of each of the golems I checked were completely destroyed, and as you might expect, the golems were completely silent. It was an absolute victory for Goltarou’s little sister.

Still, how strong… Compared to when he was a mannequin, Goltarou’s flexibility and fighting capability had clearly increased.

Ah, no. What was I saying? This was Goltarou’s little sister. She wasn’t my partner.

Afterward, we ran away from the shrine. If I was discovered by the people in charge, I was sure I would be fined for all the damage. Or, more likely, I would be arrested for destruction of property.

I dragged my feet as we continued on the road. Goltarou’s little sister carried the basket on her back, following just behind me.

Stop. Please stop… Even though he was missing now, that was my precious and adorable Goltarou’s favorite spot to walk…

After a bit, Goltarou’s sister and I decided to eat on top of a nearby hill. The desolate auburn land was the same as always, still barren of any flora, but settling down on the overlook gave us a surprisingly nice view.

At any rate, this world’s vast sky was clear and beautiful. I watched the thin white clouds in the blue sky drift ever eastward.

Staring at that striking clarity far above my head, I absentmindedly said, “Come to think of it, all this time, the west wind’s been blowing…”

When I returned my eyes to the ground, I saw Goltarou’s sister lighting a fire. She was pretty good at it. She must have inherited the skill from her older brother. Then she sat next to me and warmed the cheese and bread as if she’d practiced it before. Finally, she gracefully presented me with my favorite dish: melted cheese on top of perfectly toasted bread.

I’m sorry, I thought absently. Since I’ve been leaving everything up to your brother, my ability to cook for myself has atrophied. I am a man who cannot live by himself.

I ate my meal in silence. After I finished the bread, Goltarou’s sister took out a glorious cranberry-apple and the green knife from the bag. She cut the glorious cranberry-apple into elegant and refined slices. Her hands moved like this slicing was part of her everyday routine. Her delicate fingers handled the knife with incredible deftness and grace. At last she lined the slices on top of a small wooden plate and kindly presented them to me.

I put one slice of the glorious cranberry-apple into my mouth.

Aah, this is…

Goltarou cut a glorious cranberry-apple for me every day after meals as a dessert. In the beginning, his cuts were so exquisite that I felt bad eating them. However, as he observed my reactions and behavior during meals, he adjusted his cuts accordingly, and after a mere four days, he found the perfect cut for my sensibilities. By which I mean to say, the only one in this whole world who could pull off this exact cut was my partner.

At the same time, I remembered another fact. Right before we stopped by the shrine, I had Goltarou promise me: “If there are people or golems in the shrine, you cannot punch them.”

I knew Goltarou was a good guy who would keep any promise I asked of him. And, thinking back, the white golem sitting beside me didn’t punch the headless golem when she destroyed it. She kicked it.

Additionally, in the fight against the six golems that resulted from this initial desecration, she never hit them first, despite clearly possessing the ability to do so. She made sure to take a hit from each before she came at them. Which is to say, she waited until they attacked.

At this point, I wanted to cry. As long as I didn’t speak the words, I could run away from the truth. At the same time, I couldn’t bring myself to do that. I had to properly express my gratitude to the one who tried to do everything for me.

The moment I throw away my respect, I will no longer be a cultured gentleman.

“This is delicious. Thanks again…Goltarou.”

The snow-white Greek statue regarded me as sweetly as usual. Her body trembled in delight, but the tremor was so faint that only I could catch it. There could be no doubt now. She was Goltarou.

I wept. I had negligently turned my precious partner into a bishoujo figurine…