Chapter 139: The Rampaging ‘That Thing’ Arrives 3
*
Blinded by the Golden Magicka, I landed square on my ass and immediately rolled backward to regain my footing.
By the time I looked up, it was already over. My master had somehow freed the foot Erica-san had stomped on and was standing about five steps away, casually swinging his arms.
“Are you alright? Shin.”
Erica asked as she drew her Sword.
Her gaze never once wavered from my master.
“First, I apologize for my tardiness. However, Shin, if you knew such an enemy existed, I wish you had told me beforehand. Thanks to that, I was a step behind in steeling my resolve to risk my life.”
Erica let out a breath resembling a sigh, flexing her left hand as if checking the sensation after blocking the blow from my master’s counterattack.
“I have never seen a monster in human form before.”
Erica declared, her voice utterly resolved, as if wanting to say that the world was indeed a wide place.
Her voice made me panic slightly.
“Ah, no, wait, Erica! I’m incredibly happy about that resolve, and part of me wants us to challenge him together, but just wait a moment!”
I shook off the sweet temptation of challenging my master together with her.
Whether we won or lost, the surrounding area would end up in a disastrous state.
Margrave Makikomarkrow had, after all, taken Erica in; he was a benefactor, at least in my eyes.
I couldn’t turn the area around the City of Hecate, where the Margrave lived, into a wasteland uninhabitable by people.
“That thing is,”
I pointed at my master, calling him ‘that thing’.
“He’s my master. You might not believe it, no, it’s probably crazy to believe it, but he’s my master.”
Erica looked at me.
So this is the face a person makes when they’re surprised while resolved to throw their life away.
Erica wiped the expression—one that would require literary talent to describe—off her face and returned her gaze to my master.
“Understood. If he is Shin’s master, then we shall leave everything above the neck.”
That’s the resolve she settled on?
It seemed the resolve Erica-san had dead set herself on was the resolve to kill my master, even at the cost of her own life.
As expected of a Solntsalri.
Once she made up her mind, there were no half-measures.
Not fighting with the resolve to die, but the resolve to kill even if she died?
I wanted to emulate that resolve, reached without any hesitation.
No, this wasn’t the time to be impressed.
I had to stop this somehow.
Pushing myself off my rear, I ignored the part of me that was already giving up, thinking I couldn’t possibly stop either of them, and stood up.
“Well now, that’s good! My disciple! You did well, you really did! Isn’t this excellent!”
As if waiting for me to stand, my master called out in a voice so cheerful it felt out of place.
What was he going to start saying now?
My master spoke, clapping with hands that showed not a single scratch after deflecting the Solntsaari Secret Technique.
“I was wondering which idiot noble had tricked my cute disciple, but!”
My master laughed, his black eyes, the same as mine, narrowing as if saying this was a cause for celebration.
“Isn’t she the real deal! This one’s genuine! Well done, disciple! You deserve praise! You got yourself a good wife!”
As expected of my master.
His eyes weren’t deceiving him.
However, the ‘good wife’ he was praising was fully intent on obliterating everything below his neck.
I almost collapsed to my knees at my master’s complete inability to read the room.
The sound of tearing air echoed.
Erica pointed the tip of the Sword in her hand toward my master.
As if taking aim.
“Ev-Even if you praise me like that! No! If that is the case! There is no wife who would stand by silently after seeing her own husband struck down!”
My gaze instinctively turned toward Erica’s strained voice.
Her face flushed red, Erica added more words.
“Incidentally, around what points was the ‘good wife’ judgment made!?”
Erica-san!?
This is bad, really bad.
From Erica’s unusually flustered words, I immediately understood.
Erica was the daughter of a major noble house.
Consequently, she was accustomed to a world of excessively roundabout compliments, the kind requiring a certain level of education to comprehend.
Therefore, Erica wasn’t quite used to being praised so directly.
Incidentally, nobles are annoying because their insults are also indirect and roundabout.
I was given up on because I couldn’t understand them, which hurts more than insults, you know?
“Let’s see,”
He’s answering?
I couldn’t help but be dumbfounded by my master’s voice.
“Yes!”
And she’s listening…?
“First off, it has to be that magic. That was good, really good. For the first time in a while, I thought I might actually die.”
Is it okay to include someone who merely thinks they might die after being exposed to that Solntsaari Secret Technique within the definition of humanity?
A serious question arose in my mind.
“But the best part was when you stepped on my foot to stop my movement. That was good, really good. Your intent to kill me at all costs was also good, but…”
My master’s face suddenly softened.
For some reason, his gaze turned to me.
“She was able to step on my foot. That means My Bride is, at the very least, living in the same world as my disciple.”
My master smiled.
“Isn’t that great, disciple? She’s the bride who will stand beside you.”
How was Erica about to respond to my master’s words?
Words like “Hoa,” or “Hoe,” seemed about to escape her lips, so I suppose she was just dumbfounded.
For now, I wanted to tell my master that forget standing beside me, I was desperate just to stand beside her.
I wanted to say it, but more importantly than that…
“Hey, Master.”
Unable to hold back, I interjected.
“There’s more! Like how her voice is lovely!”
Hoaaah!
Perhaps because my protest cut her off, Erica’s dumbfounded voice, now containing a strange pause, sounded almost like a scream.
“And the beautiful line of her neck supporting her elegant chin!”
Beside me, I sensed Erica crouching down.
Though concerned, my attention was drawn to my master snorting at my words.
“Disciple~ Is it just looks? Are your bride’s good points only her looks~?”
Oh? You said it? Is that a challenge? That’s a challenge, right? Prepare yourself to listen to me talk for at least three hours, okay?
“Erica puts sugar in her tea! And she has a preferred amount of sugar, so she’s careful when adding it! Cute!”
“—Hohoh.”
My master nodded as if impressed.
“So, beautiful and cute?”
“And kind, too!”
“That’s high marks!”
“But she’s a little self-conscious that because her gaze is too intense, her kindness doesn’t come across easily when meeting someone for the first time!”
“Even that part?”
“Is cute!”
“So, My Bride is?”
“Cute!”
“And that bride of yours is?”
“—Someone I love!”
My excitement skyrocketing, the moment I tried to follow my heart and shout that I loved Erica, an impact ran through the back of my head, lodging the words in my throat.
“What do you think you’re doing!?”
Shara, who had just whacked the back of my head, screamed.
*
Even though I’d been caught up in a strange state of excitement, I froze in surprise at having allowed Shara to land a surprise attack on me.
Shara, looking fierce yet teary-eyed, grabbed my collar and yelled.
“Are you trying to start a war!?”
Following Shara’s pointing finger as she yelled, my gaze landed on the Barrier of Hecate, parts of which had turned red from the overload of deflecting the Solntsaari Secret Technique.
“Ah—it’s not broken, so it’s okay?”
Like hell it is!
Shara let out a textbook full-throated scream.
“Normally, that’s an instant death penalty!”
Shara screamed, clutching her head with both hands.
“Besides, there’s no way this couple would accept either of them getting the death penalty, so wouldn’t that mean war!? It definitively means war, doesn’t it!?”
“Wait, wait, calm down, Shara.”
Even I understood that attacking the city’s Barrier was a serious crime.
But still, I had felt relieved when the Solntsaari Secret Technique was deflected upwards.
That was because I was confident that the Barrier of Hecate, which used a Divine Relic as its core, could probably withstand one or two hits.
More importantly, if it hit the Barrier, there would be effectively no damage. That’s why I was relieved.
If there was no harm to people or property, then the leverage we had created was sufficiently large.
It might be a little difficult for Shara, a commoner and member of the church, to understand, but I was still a noble.
I could probably manage that much through threats— I mean, negotiation.
Though I’ve never actually done it.
“So it’s fine.”
Shara looked at me, after my rapid explanation, as if I were a con artist.
“If Erica said it, maybe… wait, where is Erica?”
At Shara’s words, I subtly pointed toward Erica.
Erica was crouching down, erasing her presence like a rock, her head lowered as she pressed both hands against the nape of her neck.
“What on earth happened?”
Shara asked, her voice implicitly suggesting she thought it was my fault, even without saying it.
“Maybe it’s because of the sad nature of nobility?”
“That’s definitely not it.”
“Surely–” Just as Shara opened her mouth to continue speaking, Iniquity (Master), who had literally vanished without even a trace of her presence, suddenly appeared.
“Hiee.”
Shara let out a small gasp.
She must have disappeared because she was wary of Shara, who had managed to land a blow on me, albeit a surprise attack while I was acting weird.
An aura suggesting she would undoubtedly attack Shara, taking me down with her if necessary, had filled the area, so I hadn’t felt truly alive for a while now.
The fact that she showed herself meant that wouldn’t happen immediately. I let out a breath.
“The thing that sent Shin-san flying!”
She saw that? I was impressed by Shara’s cry, and simultaneously shuddered at the reckless courage she showed by shifting into a fighting stance.
Her face was pale, yet she swallowed her fear and clenched her fists. That expression looked less like a Sister and more like one of us adventurers.
Yeah, this girl’s definitely nuts.
A smile inadvertently escaped me.
“What are you smiling about!”
Shara yelled.
“Erica! Please, Erica, wake up! This person is bad news! They’re a monster or something pretending to be human! I bet under their skin, they have a face like an ogre!”
Master’s cheek twitched for a moment.
Being able to diss someone while staring Iniquity (Death) right in the face was the product of madness, but that tenacious desire within her to land at least one blow, no matter what, was synonymous with nobility to me.
I’ve been pretty lucky since leaving Faltar.
I feel like I’ve only been meeting good people.
I couldn’t help but shoot a proud smile at Master.
That aside–
“Wait, Shara, wait, anymore is not okay.”
I covered Shara’s mouth with my hand from behind.
Shara glared at me while shouting muffled protests, but I ignored her.
Even if you don’t know who she is, saying things like her breath smells like horse manure or that she makes burping sounds with every step would be going too far.
After saying all that, what else were you planning to add?
Look, that “Kind Barbara” is actually shocked. That’s a feat, a real feat.
“Um…”
Whoa, it really is a feat. Master is searching for words.
“It seems this one from the church is quite the find.”
“No, she’s just exceptionally nuts?”
My true thoughts slipped out in response to Master’s words.
Shara, shouting “Fugaa,” was probably trying to say something like, “What do you mean by that?!”
Was the smile Master showed in response a wry one, or one born from satisfaction?
“I got to see My Bride, and I see my disciple has an interesting companion, so Master is going back to work.”
“Besides…”
Master said with a smile whose true meaning I couldn’t grasp.
“I can hear my disciple’s explanation next time.”
–Huh?
Master departed at a speed that looked like she almost vanished, using a lower-intensity Physical Enhancement.
As the stirred-up wind brushed against my cheek.
“Huh?”
I muttered again.
＊＊＊＊＊Afterword＊＊＊＊＊
If Shara-san hadn’t been there, this novel might have ended.