“Haaaaah!”
Shizura made the first move. She rushes in, swinging her axe high.
I lightly parry the axe swung down with all her might with my sword, and kick her in the stomach to push her back.
I could have easily finished her off with that one blow, but since I’ve been setting the stage so well, I want to build it up even more before she’s defeated by the Harem Bastard, the protagonist.
Shizura seems to have decided that she can’t win in a one-on-one fight after that first exchange. She’s making eye contact with the Harem Bastard, trying to coordinate an attack.
Melissa, on the other hand, is sneaking around to the left from the rear. I thought she was trying to help Millie in a roundabout way, but it seems she just shifted her line of fire to avoid accidentally hitting Millie behind her, as she’s holding her staff.
“Uoooooooh!”
“Hah!”
The two vanguards attack simultaneously. I approach Shizura first and drive her back in the same way as before.
Then, as the Harem Bastard swings his sword down, I raise mine to meet it, leading to a tense deadlock. If the protagonist and the villainous boss are fighting, we have to do this at least once as a matter of form.
“Guh!”
“Kukukukuk… is that all you’ve got? You came at me so fiercely, I thought you were a master swordsman, but to think you’d try to beat me with so little… it’s laughable!”
At the “laughable!” timing, I put my strength into pushing the Harem Bastard back. And I avoid the Fire Magic that Melissa fired, which I saw in the corner of my eye… well, I can’t really avoid it, so I slash it away with my sword. Extinguishing magic with a sword requires considerable precision, so I panicked quite a bit in the spur of the moment. Seriously, what is she thinking? I know I’m one to talk, but isn’t she crazy?
“M-Melissa-chan! Fire is no good…!”
Millie, who is restrained, shouts almost involuntarily. Of course she would. If I dodged, the fire would hit the bookshelf directly behind me. If that happened in this airless basement, it would be extremely dangerous. Is she trying to take us all down with her?
“B-but Millie! I have to use Fire Magic… I mean, I have to use Fire Magic!”
Ah… so there seems to be some background to that. It’s a character’s particular quirk, or rather, their backstory.
“Behind you! There’s a bookshelf, so it’s no good! It’s dangerous!”
“Eh? Oh, r-right…”
Naturally, Millie doesn’t care about any of that. She’s vaguely aware that I’m putting on a show, so she’s staying quiet, but she can’t possibly overlook such an outrage that would burn the whole place down.
I was thinking of pretending to fight for a while and then staging a beautiful defeat at a well-timed, exciting moment, but with such a dimwit on the enemy side, there’s no telling what might happen if I dawdle. I need to end this quickly, even if it’s a bit forceful.
I take a breath, feeling a tension I’ve never felt before, and watch the enemy’s… or rather, Melissa’s every move, waiting for an opportunity.
“Daaaaaah!”
“Hah! Hah!”
“…………”
I parry the two vanguards’ attacks casually while waiting, but there’s just no good opening. Their attack pattern is too simple. I’ve been deflecting and dodging the same attacks over and over, so wouldn’t it be strange if I suddenly failed to deal with one?
“You two, fall back!”
“Ah!”
The two vanguards retreat at Melissa’s signal. You shouldn’t signal, and you shouldn’t retreat. I was expecting to be hit by a surprise magic attack while distracted by the fight with the two vanguards, which would lead to my collapse and defeat.
The magic is… ‘Ray’, huh. Hmm, will that work? …Okay, let’s go with that. I don’t know what’s coming next, so I want to end this with something safe.
“Haaaaaaah… ‘Ray’!”
She said it. Couldn’t she at least try to hide it…? Oh, whatever, I’ll pretend not to notice this semi-transparent ball of wind…
“What…? Mu, guwaaah!”
“We did it! This is our chance!”
“Aaah, let’s press the attack!”
“Kuh, damn you…!”
Seeing it as an opportunity, the two vanguards, breathing heavily, attack. I parry their attacks with my sword, twist my body to dodge, and then lose my balance and take a hit. Yes, this is it.
“Guh… this is ridiculous…”
“Uoooooh!”
“Haaaaaah!”
They wind up for a full swing to finish me off… but that’s all they do. Why are these guys so simple, like wild boars…? Oh, whatever, I don’t care, I’ll lose my balance next time, and then I’ll lose the time after that. I’ll prepare the key too… come on.
“Hah!”
“Guh. Crap, I messed up.”
“This is… the end for you!”
“Guhaaaah.”
I take the final blow and jump sideways, dropping the key to the restraints from my pocket with a clatter, and I crash into the kitchen area and pretend to be unconscious. No matter what happens after this, I shouldn’t be involved.
“Alright! …That’s right, Millie! Are you okay!?”
“Wasn’t that kind of weird…?”
“Ah, the key! There was a key!”
“A key… is this the key for these!? Alright, I can get you out.”
“Millie, are you okay!? Did he do anything weird to you!?”
“U-um… I’m okay. Th-thank you.”
Millie seems to have decided to follow the script. I was really glad that my great acting wasn’t ruined by her revealing the truth here.
“But… your eyes are swollen. So much…”
“It should have taken about two hours, but I guess there’s no disarray in her clothes.”
“E-etto, that’s… well, there was some preparation or something.”
Damn, what’s with those two women? To be so insensitive in this situation is outrageous. They should calm down and talk about it again in a place without men… there should be some consideration like that. And Millie is trying to gloss over it somehow, but the situation is too unnatural, and her excuses don’t make any sense. Preparation for what?
“Anyway, what is this room…? Uwa! What is that!?”
“Halt!? What’s wrong!?”
“Wh-what is this light…?”
Something seems to have happened, and they suddenly became noisy. I secretly open my eyes a little to check, and a part of the wall at the back of the room is glowing. It’s just the size of a door. The Harem Bastard is nearby, but did he do something?
“This is… a Hidden Door.”
“Halt, did you do something?”
“No, it just suddenly happened when I got close. …What should we do? Should we go check it out?”
“That’s a good idea, I’m a little curious. But what about leaving him like that?”
“Ah, then I’ll stay.”
“Millie? Are you sure?”
“Then I’ll stay too. You two should go take a look.”
“Really? Then we’ll be right back.”
Hmm. Millie and Shizura are staying behind to watch me, and the other two are going to investigate the mysterious door. If that’s the case, then once the two of them are gone, it should be fine for me to leave this place. I’ll continue the villain role for now, but my role is probably over.
“Now, I wonder if there’s anything to tie him up with… I guess that’ll do. This white rope… what is this rope? The texture is unbelievably good.”
Mmm, is she going to tie me up with the super-high-quality rope that I specially ordered for Millie? The question is, which one of them is going to tie me up…? If Millie ties me up, I’ll keep pretending to be asleep, but if Shizura ties me up, I’m going back to the dorm. The footsteps approaching are from two people, but… when I open my eyes a little to check, it’s Shizura who’s holding the rope. Too bad.
I grab Shizura’s hand as she reaches out to tie me up and twist it, throwing her to the floor. At the same time, I stand up and crack my neck. It’s an appeal of composure.
“You’re too careless. Kukukuk…”
“Wh-!? Damn it, he’s regained consciousness…!?”
“I knew it.”
Don’t say “I knew it,” I glare at Millie with the intention of conveying that. I might need to talk to her about this a little more.
And I look at the door-sized hole that appeared in the wall behind them, where there was nothing before. There was nothing there when I checked. But it glows and opens when the protagonist approaches. In other words, it’s an event to show off his specialness. It’s probably a mechanism that opens in response to something like bloodline or ability.
“I see… bringing him here was my role…”
“W-what? What are you saying!?”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. I don’t intend to get involved with you anymore. But well… Shizura, was it? You should use your head a little more when you fight.”
“Wh-what?”
“Your intelligence is not much different from that of a boar in the southern forest. You won’t be able to survive like that.”
“Don’t underestimate m―――gah…”
These guys have an important role to play: defeating the last boss and saving the world. They need to get stronger.
But as usual, she swung her axe high, so I sigh and give her another blow to the stomach. She’s… unconscious.
“Now, Millie.”
“Wh-what?”
“Seriously, don’t say anything unnecessary, okay? No ‘I changed my mind’ or anything like that. And definitely don’t mention that I spent two hours spacing out doing nothing, got it?”
“Y-yes.”
“Promise? If you say anything… well, I’ll put pressure on her family and ruin them. And I’m not just threatening, I’ll really do it, okay?”
“Ah, so that’s the kind of awful thing you meant…”
I probably didn’t need to pull a Villain Move, but now that I’ve gone this far, I want to be the villain to the very end. Besides, being a villain is fun.
As I was hammering that into Millie, I heard footsteps and voices coming from the mysterious hole. It seems the two of them are back.