Chapter 18
Chapter 18 – The last piece

Translator: Mana

—Fearsome. If this is not Binbogami WordPress then it is stolen!

That was the only word that could describe the scene before me.

The crumbled remains of a building. Bodies of the defeated women. The sight of her pure figure. The single swing of a sword.

I was captivated. By the ‘Crusher’, Roslia Minkgott. By the sword in her hand.

Holy Sword, Fractus. The one and only blade of light that appeared when she called its name.

The air trembled as it was summoned, scattering holy light and streams of magic in a whirl around Roslia. Then the earth shook, and I noticed one beat late that it was in time with every step that Roslia took.

The door that blocked our way was blown away with the wall, and she shot off like a bullet, taking out the two people outside the door in a single hit.

Of course, taking such loud and brazen actions will only alert the others in the building and draw them running—

All of whom became supporting actors in the spotlight of her beautiful sword dance.

The curtain came down on the battle, leaving only two people standing on the stage. Just me and Roslia.

I noticed my legs were trembling where I stood. It was a wonder that I was still upright.

There was no way I wouldn’t be shaking, you know?

Seeing how excited I was. My body felt feverish. This elation was exactly like the first time I dungeon dived and witnessed the ‘Arrivers’ fighting.

It was the kind of pure admiration that anyone would have for the strong. I believed that was what I felt towards Roslia before me.

After clearing out the area of enemies and checking for any other presences that could continue fighting, Roslia dropped the sword in her hand and turned towards me. The Holy Sword shattered into shards of light just before it hit the ground. As if that sword had never been a part of this world.

“…How was my fighting? Did it meet your expectations?”

For some reason, the smile on Roslia’s as she asked the question was somewhat sad, as if she was about to cry—

That’s why I voiced the words deep in my heart. The honest, pure, and plain-spoken words.

“It was great. You were wonderful. It was the most beautiful Roslia I’ve seen so far.”

“Is that so…”

After asking for my honest thoughts, Roslia suddenly turned her back to me—I wondered for a moment if I had said accidentally something wrong—but when I saw the slight spring in her step, I realised I was just thinking too much.

“I’m sorry! Please let me back into the party!”

The current members of the ‘Arrivers’ were present: Jin, Erin, Neme, and me. The man prostrated on the floor before me was Force.

“What do you want now… Weren’t you going to leave the party to dedicate yourself to that Roslia woman?”

Erin interrogated Force. The corner of her mouth seemed to be fighting back a smile.

Erin can be quite mean. Especially since we could all guess the answer to that question already.

“Uhh, it’s embarra.s.sing to admit this… but I was rejected. By Roslia…”

Force averted his gaze and blushed. Unable to hold back any longer at that sight, we all burst into laughter.

“R-Rejected…”

“Force…”

“You really are…”

“Absolutely hilarious…!”

“S-Shut up! I’m seriously down about being rejected over here! Don’t laugh at my admirable broken heart!”

“In your dreams!” we all yelled at once.

This situation was just too funny. It was Force’s own fault

that his heart was broken. Force had returned to give his earnest apology, exactly around the time we predicted.

But no matter the reason, our precious party member had returned.

I must be grateful to Roslia for keeping her end of the promise I brought up.

After throwing away all the affection I had garnered with her by trying to sell her out to the thieves when we were caught, my plans were ruined and I had no choice but to tell her the whole story while we were in the thieves’ hideout.

The condition was that she would back away from Force if I helped break us out of jail.

I never thought the lecture I received from Erin about breaking out of jail with my arts during the previous kidnapping incident would be of use.

Although in the end, Roslia took everything into her own hands and made me think, “Huh? Was I even needed?”, so I really am grateful she kept her promise.

If it wasn’t for Roslia’s compa.s.sion, Force wouldn’t have returned to us and dungeon diving would have been over for men.

Now we were ready to go to the dungeon—well, after we first find a tank member…

As the ‘Arrivers’ recalculated the mountain of tasks we still had to go through, feeling more and more disheartened—

Ding dong.

The intercom rang loudly. Figuring it was probably the usual newspaper delivery or something, Neme ran to open the door without fear for her shyness.

However, after Neme didn’t return at all, the other members started to worry about what might have happened. And just as we were discussing if someone should go to the door to check—

“Save me!”

Neme rushed into the living room.

As we were glancing at each other worriedly wondering if something serious had happened, she appeared in the living room doorway.

Long and wavy, glamorous dark blue hair. Big, clear eyes. Style that could nail a man down.

“Roslia! Did you come to see me?!”

Force flew at Roslia with the intention of going for a hug.

Roslia evaded him as if it was nothing, then said—

“Note! I came to see you!” and hugged me for some reason.

To be honest, I was completely lost… What did she mean by she ‘came to see me’?!

Don’t look at me so coldly, Erin. I really had no idea what was going on… I haven’t done anything wrong, right? Or rather, please let go. c.r.a.p. The softness of her chest and the sweet scent drifting from her neck was making my head melt…

I grabbed Roslia’s shoulders in a panic and pushed her away.

Calm down… me…

“What?! Why did you come see him?!”

“There’s only one reason why a maiden would want to see a man, right? Because she’s in love.”

Please don’t say the word ‘love’ with such innocent eyes… No matter how frivolous of a girl Roslia was, it would cause misunderstandings…

Don’t get fooled, me. It was obvious that this woman, Roslia, had to be planning something behind those words.

“U-Umm. Roslia, didn’t you promise? That you wouldn’t bother us anymore…”

“Did I promise such a thing? I promised I’d back away from Force, but—”

She tilted her head and poked a finger to her cheek ponderingly, then said, “But I never said I’d back away from Note.”

She turned her devilish smile my way.

My head had short-circuited, on the verge of pa.s.sing out from Roslia’s incomprehensible train of thought.

Came to meet me? Really? If so, I was really happy, but…

No no, I couldn’t just accept her words like that. I’d end up like Force.

Disregarding my internal turmoil trying to convincingly force down the feelings of happiness bubbling up, Roslia launched into the main point.

“I don’t have any intention of bothering you anyway. If anything, I came to offer my hand. You were searching, weren’t you? For a party member?”

Everyone was stunned. Unable to understand Roslia’s intentions, we were all confused. Erin somehow managed to find her voice and tried to salvage the situation from Roslia’s hands.

“Are you saying you want to join our party…?”

“That’s right!” Don’t rehost chapters!

“T-That’s a problem… Neme is the priestess of this party…”

Even the usually shy Neme was bravely standing up to Roslia out of fear of her position being overtaken. Regardless of that, Roslia didn’t back down at all—if anything, she responded even more confidently.

“I know that already! That’s why I don’t want to join as the priestess job I picked up on a whim when I arrived at the town of Puriff, but as the strongest paladin!”

The scene from that time replayed at the back of my head.

The woman who swung the Holy Sword, Fractus. Paladin, Roslia Minkgott—

“You wouldn’t have a problem with that, right Note?”

—After you showed me such a fight, there was no way I could refuse…

Seeing Roslia’s mischievous smile and unclear intentions, a violent chill went down my spine at the thought of playing right into Roslia’s hand.

I had nothing but worries about the dungeon clearing to come…

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