Chapter 115: Your Eyes in Your Hands 3
*
“I request an encore from the Senior Disciple whose nose bleeds gushingly.”
Ignoring Elza’s weird request, I lowered my gaze.
I regretted feeling even a little bit sad that the fight with that shitty Dragon was over.
He really is a shitty Dragon, a shitty Dragon.
I dropped to my knees on the ground and looked at it, sitting enshrined atop the Magic Stone Fragments.
Is it because I’m poor that I pick it up despite being disappointed, thinking, “All this trouble for this?”
I sighed, looking at the small, black jewel resting on my palm.
No matter how you look at it, it’s not the “Priestess’ Eye”. Setting aside its rarity, it’s plain and small.
If I gave it to a craftsman to be cut beautifully, wouldn’t it end up being only about the size of a fingernail?
No matter how I think about it, it’s far too plain to adorn Erica’s finger.
There isn’t a shred of luxury to it.
I feel like even if I had a ring made using this, I couldn’t complain if she threw it away, saying it was just a nuisance.
If only it were the same jade green as Erica’s eyes, just like the ‘Priestess’ Eye’, perhaps things would have been different.
Still, it should be rare enough, so maybe it’ll fetch some money if I sell it, I thought, putting it into my now quite empty Tool Shed.
No, can rarity alone make up for how plain this is?
If I rephrased “plain” as “elegant,” maybe… no, that’s impossible.
I sighed.
“Elza wonders why you are so depressed…”
Drawn by Elza cutting off her words unnaturally, I raised my head.
“Huh?”
My still sluggish brain blared the maximum danger signals.
Because Elza’s expression had changed to her combat one.
Incidentally, it’s hard to tell because her emotional expressions are subtle, but that’s when the angle of her eyebrows becomes slightly sharper.
–No, no, wait, wait!
I panicked with my non-functioning brain.
Is there still someone else? Someone who could make that Elza make such a face?
Before the intensity of my Physical Enhancement could reach its peak, Elza moved.
In an instant, Elza generated forty-eight Iron Stakes in mid-air.
As far as I know, that’s the maximum number Elza can generate simultaneously.
At the very least, I don’t recall her using it against anyone other than Master.
Does that mean the enemy is Master-level!?
With my Physical Enhancement still not at full strength, I could only see it as a blur.
The moment half of those forty-eight Iron Stakes were launched, they exploded, intercepted.
My Physical Enhancement, finally at full strength, captured the sight of Elza’s eyes widening.
But I was even more surprised than Elza.
I didn’t understand the situation at all, but I leaped forward.
My brain wasn’t even working at half capacity anyway, so I’d think later, later.
*
The remaining twenty-four Iron Stakes, launched with a delay, were all struck down by her Sword.
But all forty-eight of those Iron Stakes were decoys.
Just to let a single, true Iron Stake reach the opponent.
That single thrust, honed by Elza in her attempts to strike back even once against Iniquity (Master).
I blocked it with the flat of my Sword, and terrifyingly, I blocked her—Erica’s—Sword, swung in a perfect trajectory to intercept Elza’s thrust, with my Dagger.
Believing that Erica could stop, that she would stop, blocking with my Dagger was the right choice.
Beyond the Dagger, which had been cut halfway through, Erica wore a surprised expression.
Incidentally, the one who wants to make that face the most is me, okay?
“Senior Disciple, move! That one is bad, really bad! The Hostility (Hate) is directed at me, so run, Senior Disciple!”
What the heck are you saying!?
I yelled towards Elza.
“Wait! Elza, wait! Really, just wait a second! Wife! She’s my wife!”
Elza made a face I’d never seen before.
“To be able to make this your wife, Senior Disciple is amazing.”
That’s right, she’s an amazing wife, isn’t she? Also, don’t call her ‘this’.
“Elza… -san? Does that mean you are Shin’s female disciple-san?”
I nodded repeatedly at Erica, who still looked surprised.
I didn’t know what misunderstanding had led to this, but for now, I just kept nodding.
“It’s unexpected that she’s such a cute person.”
To say that while both were poised to deliver a lethal blow to each other… I really wanted to scream, but I held back.
“A beautiful person called me cute.”
Elza snorted with a funsu.
Damn it, I want to punch her.
“For now, let’s both lower our hands, okay? Shall we back off?”
The belated realization that I had jumped into the deadliest spot of the day made sweat pour out of me.
I’m really lucky to be alive.
What’s scary is that while exchanging words like casual chat, their Magicka (gazes) never left each other’s vital points.
What is it? What switch flips that lets you both get so full of killing intent towards each other upon first meeting?
Is it just that I don’t know about some grudge, destiny, or fated rivalry between them?
If that’s the case, sorry Elza. I’m on Erica’s side.
“Anyway, look, I’ll let go first.”
I let go of the Sword in my right hand and the Dagger in my left.
As my Sword fell to the ground with a botori, Elza returned the Iron Stakes to nothingness, and Erica neatly sliced the Dagger—already cut halfway—completely in two before returning her Sword to its sheath. What kind of Supreme Skill is that?
Confirming that their gazes had left each other’s vital points, I let out a huge sigh.
I don’t know what’s what, but at least I managed to avoid the entire area turning into a burnt field littered with Iron Stakes.
Also, I’m alive. I’m alive.
No, really, how am I still alive?
It was the moment I felt relieved by the miracle of somehow being alive.
The Physical Enhancement Magic Circle shattered, and I collapsed, blood gushing from my nose.
The Magic Circle that didn’t break even against the Dragon shattered…? Well, yeah, I guess it would break if I jumped between those two.
While paying the price for pushing myself unreasonably, then unreasonably again, and then unreasonably one last time.
As my consciousness faded, I thought I heard the blonde Sister’s scream: “A bloodbath!”