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Using up most of my cards that I could use, I defeated the sword saint Kureha Claylet. A genuine monster… no, the term monster is still not enough. Although she"s troublesome as an enemy, she can be a reliable existence if she becomes my ally.
I look at Kureha who had lost her consciousness. She"s a slender and beautiful woman with silver hair. It"s quite hard to think that she is a monster like swordsman that overwhelmed me.
Carrying the completely exhausted Kureha Claylet, I wrap her in my robe. Thankfully, we are currently at a back alley that is out of public view, but it would be intolerable if I was seen carrying her into our inn. Kureha"s appearance stands out, so if it becomes a rumour, the kingdom"s soldiers would immediately come surging in.
Once I bring her into our inn, I will properly "persuade" her. After all, I specially showed her the『The inhumane kingdom special ~demi-human compilation~』. It would be a waste not to take advantage of her swaying heart. A human who blindly accepts something is the easiest to destroy their belief and take advantage of them.
The quickest method would be to make her head blank and brainwash her like Freya, but if I do that, she"ll lose her radiance. Heart, technique and body. Only when all of those are together, she can be complete as a swordswoman; it would be too regrettable to destroy that. If it"s a talented person to her extent, then she has the value to use time for. I"ll make sure to proceed with caution.
I am princess carrying Kureha who is wrapped in my robe.
"Kearuga-sama." (Setsuna)
Setsuna, the ice wolf girl called out to me. While covering her face, she grasps my s.h.i.+rttail.
"What"s wrong Setsuna?" (Kearuga)
"The battle between Kearuga-sama and that person was amazing. … It was too amazing. Setsuna is worried if she can ever reach that area." (Setsuna)
Setsuna has a warrior"s pride. Although she had the defect of having a low level limit, she has the confidence in not losing with her abilities. However, after seeing my fight with the sword saint Kureha, that self-confidence probably collapsed. The exchange of abilities that transcend human knowledge. For Setsuna, looking at it must be like looking at an area far beyond. Putting down Kureha, I rest my hand on Setsuna"s head and smile at her.
"If it"s Setsuna, I"m sure you will reach it. Setsuna has talent. Extraordinary talent that won"t lose against mine, or that person"s. That"s why I told you to look and learn before the battle started. The reason why I told you to teach Freya close combat is also because I can depend on you. Once you start teaching people, you begin to see things that you couldn"t before." (Kearuga)
Setsuna has a natural sense for fighting, and it"s a strength that unlike abilities or skills, it doesn"t show up in figures. I was properly evaluating that. If she continues studying fights against formidable enemies like today, she will one day reach our area.
"Yeah. I"ll work hard. I"ll work hard, and catch up. But Kearuga-sama, whenever you have time, I want you to teach Setsuna how to fight. The ice wolf race"s hand-to-hand combat isn"t enough." (Setsuna)
"Of course. I"ll find time to teach you my swordsmans.h.i.+p." (Kearuga)
In Setsuna"s case, her fighting style has her ice nails as the core, so there isn"t much meaning to learning fencing which is a different style. However, if it"s her, she will find out the logic behind the sword and personally make a new fighting style. (TL Note: Last sentence was hard to understand. だが、彼女ならその剣に働いている理を見抜いて自らの戦い方を改めていくだろう。)
I"m looking forward to Setsuna"s growth. While thinking about that, I start walking while carrying the robe wrapped Kureha in a princess carry.
We borrowed an additional room in the inn to nurse Kureha. Because her clothes were tight and suffocating, I changed her into a loose, linen sleepwear that was supplied by the inn.
Her body that had gone through h.e.l.lish training was full of scars and rugged… was what I was imagining, but in reality, it was smooth white skin. With a slim layer of fat covering her flexible and good quality muscles, it gave her a woman"s softness. Long story short, she"s beautiful and erotic.
I had quite a bit of trouble making her change. The effects of the aphrodisiac still remained, so Kureha"s body still reacted even while being unconscious. I was about to a.s.sault her, but I endured it. It would be bad to do that to someone I"m trying to gain mutual trust with.
"Would it be better to tie her feet… well it"s fine, I should be able to deal with it." (Kearuga)
Because I"m no match for suddenly being cut, I"ve tied up both hands and kept her sword custody in another room. Apart from the sword I broke and her spare one, she had been hiding two daggers. The reason why she has that many spares is because she goes on a lot of independent missions. For this reason, the circ.u.mstances were good. If she had come with several people, then it wouldn"t have gone so well.
"Freya, from now on, I"m going to call you Flare. Make sure not to forget the setting we made at the meeting." (Kearuga)
I"ve temporarily restored Freya"s face back to Flare so that we can "persuade" Kureha when she wakes up. To do that, it"s more convenient for us to behave like the hero of healing Keare, and princess Flare, the hero of magic.
The reason why my face is still Kearuga is for the play. If she wakes up and abruptly sees Keare"s face, Kureha will probably be surprised. I"ll return to Keare"s face at the right timing.
"Yes! Nevertheless, this is the first time I"ve seen magic that can change someone"s appearance. Kearuga-sama can even do these kinds of things." (Freya)
"If you master healing magic, then it"s possible to do this much. However, I want you to keep it a secret that I can use healing magic. Elite healing magicians are always aimed at since business that handles with lives turns into good money." (Kearuga)
"I understand. This Freya will definitely never reveal it!" (Freya)
Freya vigorously nods her head. In the duel against Kureha, I had no choice but to use【Recovery Heal】that I was hiding from Freya and Setsuna. Since they"ve seen me regenerate my right arm, I had to reveal to them that I was a healing magician.
Kureha"s eyelids move; it seems she"s about to wake up.
"Well Freya… no, princess Flare. Please stay on standby in the room next to this one until I call you. Once I call you, it"ll help if you can match your story with mine." (Kearuga)
"Certainly. Kearuga-sama… no, Keare-sama the hero of healing!" (Freya)
Freya… no, princess Flare leaves. Soon after, Kureha awakens and springs out of bed.
"Noooooooooo, stooooooop, that kind of thing, noooo." (Kureha)
She goes in a frenzy immediately after waking up, screams and disheveled her hair. Ah, she must be having a flashback of the memories I planted into her earlier. There were plenty of images that should have been shocking for a virgin. It wouldn"t be weird for it to be a trauma.
Compared to this, asking Freya whether she wants a pe〇s or a burnt iron rod looks like playing house. Although I thought of using it as reference, when it goes that far, I lose energy instead so it was rejected.
"Calm down. It"s okay, those aren"t your memories." (Kearuga)
Holding her shoulders tightly, I look straight into her eyes while repeatedly saying calm down. After a while, Kureha finally regained her composure.
"Eh, wait, where is this, you are the man from before!?" (Kureha)
Kureha has a blank face, but then her expression turns stiff aren"t noticing that both her hands are tied up. The next moment, she hits her shoulder and tears me off. That hurt quite a bit. As expected of her to hit me with a strong blow in this condition.
She does well in a weak condition with the effects of the aphrodisiac remaining. Kureha"s face is still red, and her breath is rough.
"… Don"t you remember, Kureha Claylet? You lost, and I carried the unconscious you to our inn." (Kearuga)
"!? I remember now. The moment you grabbed my head… yeah, I fainted because of that. Your a swordsman, a strengthening magic user, healing magician and can even illusions. Who exactly are you?" (Kureha)
Even while saying that, Kureha quickly confirms her surroundings and is thinking of a plan to escape. Pus.h.i.+ng back her anxiety and fear, she takes pertinent actions. As expected.
"I have two parts I want to correct. About the first one, I haven"t used any illusions. I simply showed you the memories of a kingdom soldier. The brutal deeds the kingdom did are all real." (Kearuga)
"That"s a lie. The Dioral Kingdom is a s.h.i.+eld and sword that protects humanity from the demons. There"s, there"s no way that they would do something so awful." (Kureha)
The Dioral Kingdom is on the very top of the borderline between the land the demons control and the humans control. It"s true that it is a s.h.i.+eld and sword that protects humanity from the demons, but that"s only if you close your eyes to the fact that the Dioral Kingdom was the one that picked a fight with the demons.
"Certainly, it"s "more or less" the s.h.i.+eld and sword that protects humanity. However, demi-humans aren"t included in humanity. The Dioral Kingdom is using demi-humans for human"s sake, and even you see demi-human slaves in a day-to-day basis at the kingdom. Where do you think they came from? The humans a.s.sault their villages, kidnap them and sell them." (Kearuga)
Kureha"s words get stuck in her throat. Although it"s obvious when I mention it, she hadn"t realized it because she didn"t think about it.
"So, even if soldiers from the Dioral Kingdom are in the group of people that attack them, it"s not weird. If you can"t trust my words, then go back to the Dioral Kingdom and confirm it. If you just search for it, you can easily find that the memories you think are illusions is true." (Kearuga)
"You, are you planning on letting me free?" (Kureha)
"Of course. If I was planning to kill you, I would have done it already. I won"t do something like killing you. I just want to talk with you about the truth of the kingdom. I respect you as a sword saint, so I can"t stand it if that Kureha get"s deceived by the kingdom!" (Kearuga)
I make a serious expression. Ah, it"s no good, I"m having trouble keeping in my laughter.
"… I"ll listen to what you have to say. After all, you probably don"t plan on letting me go until I listen anyways." (Kureha)
"I"m sorry. If possible, I didn"t want to do this kind of violent thing, but if I didn"t you wouldn"t have listened to me. I want to talk about the second thing that I wanted to point out earlier, which is that I"m only using one ability. The only thing I can use is【Recovery Heal】. I"m just a healing magician." (Kearuga)
"That"s a lie. After all, you have that much power." (Kureha)
It"s understandable that she doesn"t believe me. Therefore, I"m going to show one more of my cards.
"【Transformation Heal】" (Kearuga)
I regain the face I had thrown away together with my name. Looking at my face, Kureha"s eyes widen. What, so you had remembered me.
"So you still can"t remember after seeing this face huh. I"m Keare, the hero of healing. The hero cla.s.s further increases your existing cla.s.s, so in my case, I earn the target"s abilities, experiences and memories. The reason why I can use Claylet sword techniques is also because I used【Recovery Heal】on you." (Kearuga)
"… So improving your physical ability, showing me an illusion and being able to change your is because of a hero"s【Recovery Heal】." (Kureha)
"Exactly. And as I said before, what I showed you aren"t illusion. They are memories that I got from the soldiers of the kingdom when I used【Recovery Heal】on them. The kingdom has another face." (Kearuga)
Kureha swallows her breath. Although I hoped for her to believe the words of the hero of healing, but…
"If you"re the hero of healing, it"s even harder to believe you! You"re the lunatic who killed princess Flare that was loved by everyone and escaped! I definitely won"t forgive you!" (Kureha)
It seems that the fact that I killed the princess and escaped was properly told to everyone. That was also within my expectations. I should advance the story that I had prepared.
"As expected, you were thinking that huh. I didn"t kill Flare, and it"s actually the reverse. I helped Flare. After gaining the memories of a soldier from the kingdom after using【Recovery Heal】, I found out the abnormality of that country. And so, I consulted it with princess Flare. That caused Flare to probe the kingdom"s darkness and almost got killed. Therefore, to protect her, I escaped together with her while making her look dead. Please come Flare." (Kearuga)
Well, it"s the entry of the other actor. Princess Flare came out from the nextdoor room, and Kureha became abnormally surprised like before. The said person who was supposed to have died appeared.
"It"s been a long time, sword saint Kureha Claylet. It seems like you"ve heard the story from Keare. In that case, I"ll talk from here on out. I"ll talk about the kingdom"s darkness, Keare saving me from the castle and also about what happened afterwards." (Freya)
The fabricated story that I made has entered the next phase. The story of how the hero of magic and the hero of healing escaped and went on a trip to save the world. In around ten minutes later, Kureha should blame the Dioral Kingdom as evil and recognize me as a true hero.
While talking, I realized. Kureha Claylet is really easy to deceive. I"ll enter through the gaps of her broken heart that believed she wanted to protect the kingdom. I"ll make her into a handy piece and have her help out in my revenge. (TL Note: Piece = chess piece.)
Author"s note: 500 points until my total income!! I"ve finally come this far! (TL Note: Not sure if the author meant income, but that seemed to be the most natural meaning out of the possibilities.)