… Anyway, won"t you become my subordinate?"
The instant Shuhelia heard my question, her body started to tremble.
With her eyes wandering around restlessly, she mumbled, "…For me to be directly…by a being equal to His Majesty…a leader of kin…", under her breath before meeting my eyes again.
Her golden eyes glowed with pa.s.sion.
"…I"ve lost Mugh and was discarded by my lord. At this point, I have no choice but to join you. Even if I were to wander these lands, I can clearly tell what the future would have in store for me…"
In the middle of speaking, Shuhelia averted her eyes again while tearing up. The outer corners of her eyes were p.r.o.nounced.
Suddenly she turned back at me with a force that sent her tears flying.
"――But still! Even if I"m going to become your subordinate, I got a condition!"
"A condition? Quite cheeky for a prisoner."
"Indeed, she is rather conceited."
"Nn, Spirit World Knight codex?"
『Hehe』
Everyone other than the girl nesting in my left eye sounded rather displeased.
"What"s that condition of yours?"
Once I asked, Shuhelia let her eyes wander across Eva, Rebecca, Kisara, and even Ciel with her vacant expression. And then she also stared at Sana-san and Hina-san behind her.
Suddenly receiving Shuhelia"s stare, the two girls said…
"Eh?"
"Why?"
…and then…
"Would it be better for us to run away?"
"…She looks scary.
"Maybe I should have Matabei come out?" Sana-san touched her bracelet.
"I wonder about that…?"
They continued to talk in whispers.
I think Shuhelia is just curious about their j.a.panese.
Next she lifted her face, looking at the pillars, atrium, and beams of the first floor"s s.p.a.cious room. For Shuhelia the second floor"s construction, which was similar to that of a loft, must seem unusual.
After looking around, she s.h.i.+fted her eyes back to me.
"…It"s simple. Fight against me."
"It"s quite weird why you"d look at the interior design for that, but…a fight, is it? Sure. Let"s go outside."
Did she take a liking with the interior design? I don"t know, but her words were definitely befitting for a Spirit World Knight.
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Sana-san and Hina-san stayed back in the house. After letting Helme out of my eye, I arrived at the training place in front of my house.
Because my house and the training ground was situated in an elevated place of Cydale, the outview was nice. You could also hear the buzzing of bees.
"Shuhelia! You do have some nerves to challenge His Excellency. But, it"s certainly true that you"ll be a decent addition in personnel. So, Your Excellency, please watch out to not kill her!" Helme commented while sitting on the fence that surrounded the training ground.
As she had crossed her legs, it allowed a peek at her seductive, navy blue panties.Moreover, she was spraying water all around her like a sprinkler.
Rebecca and Eva, who had taken Shuhelia along, were present too. Eva was using her while placing a hand on the fence. She was blocking Helme"s water spray by shaping her violet mana into something akin to an umbrella. Muu and the orcs were with her.
"Just what is that…abnormally thick tree trunk? On top of having a handprint in it center, big, white flowers are blossoming…" Shuhelia remarked while being baffled by the Iglued tree.
"That"s Iglued. A former evil spirit spear. Having said that,,,I guess you won"t believe it anyway."
"This used to be a spear? So this place here is similar to the Spirit World…?" Shuhelia"s voice was filled with surprise, trembling.
In the meantime, I put Gol"s egg-shaped gem away into my pocket.
"Is it okay for me to smoke a cigarette?" I asked Shuhelia.
"Are you fussing over your health or something? Well, do as you like, "Shuhelia answered without looking at me.
Her eyes were pinned on Iglued. But, without minding that, I put a magic cigarette between my lips and lit it.
"A battle between Milord and a Spirit World Knight, huh?"
"That knight looks just like a human, but…"
Quema and Solobo commented while watching us from beyond the fence.
But, true. Shuhelia resembles an elf or human in her appearance. Maybe her human genes are prevalent.
I s.h.i.+fted my eyes away from Shuhelia to the others.
Thereupon, Kisara said, "It looks like Muu-chan"s training is advancing nicely," to the orcs.
However, the two didn"t understand. Thus they simply placed a hand on their chest and nodded. Muu moved instead. She used her threads, and tried to communicate with Quema, who had been her spear teacher recently.
Her hard efforts were adorable.
"Nn, her strings are connected to the mysterious magic book."
"Muu-chan is casually using the magic book made out of those strings, but maybe it"s an unbelievable treasure or something?" Rebecca answered Eva.
Then the orcs greeted my
. Of course, they couldn"t understand Orcish. But, at some point, Rebecca started to imitate the orcish language, getting absorbed in speaking broken Orcish by parroting their words.
Kisara laughed at Rebecca repeating the orcs" words with a weird p.r.o.nunciation.
Eva said, "Nn, Orcish difficult," and imitated Rebecca. Muu rolled on the floor laughing while rasping as if to speak.
All of them were smiling, looking like they were having fun.
While Quema said, "They"re trying to learn Orcish for us," Solobo got all motivated, and repeated the same words for the girls. I puffed out the smoke of my magic cigarette while laughing at Solobo pointlessly showing off his muscles.
…The mana from the cig felt really nice.
At that point, I looked at Shuhelia. She was still staring at the Iglued tree.
The flowers growing out of Iglued were pretty. The contrast in colors between dark green and jade green was extremely beautiful. The white flowers stood out, too. Lash-san was flying around the tree while surrounded by bees.
As a transparent ghost, the blue sky was visible through her. I felt like she shone dazzlingly when hit by the sun, but it had to be my imagination.
The clouds up in the sky looked like a temple, making for an artistic canvas. It seemed as if the G.o.ds of the divine domain were flying around as clouds.
After enjoying the wonderful sky scenery, I focused my eyes back on Iglued.
"Puyu?"
Puyuyu was sitting on a branch, which extended diagonally upwards, letting its feet dangle. It seemed to watch the bees buzzing around the tree.
No, it looks like it"s following Lash-san with its eyes?
"Puyuyu, you won"t meddle with the battle, okay?"
"Puyuyu!"
It apparently understood as it moved its head up and down several times, nodding.
Though, did it truly get it? I"m kinda worried, but well, I doubt it"ll get in the way.
I looked at Shuhelia.
"For me to have to use this to do something like that…" Shuhelia muttered and tore a long string that had been buried in her gauntlet.
And then she used it to bind her shoulder-long blond hair with practiced hand movements, tying it into a ponytail. She was all smiles, but I could sense a dignity befitting a female knight from her.
"What are we going to do about weapons?" I asked her.
"Humph, feel free to use what suits you best."
Shuhelia placed her hands on the hilts of her two swords, and quickly drew them as if crossing both hands. The points of her yellow magic swords shone suspiciously.
And then she brandished her sword with a terrifying speed. It was so fast that I suspected her to have small engines embedded in her wrists. She continued to move her swords to the left and right in a zig-zag as if drawing various figures in the air. At the end, she lowered her waist a bit, readying herself.
While causing a faint, metallic ping, she pointed the tips of her swords at me.
Movements without any openings…and magic swords, huh?
Ink-black mana characters surfaced on the yellow blades.
"…You intended to fight me from the very beginning, didn"t you?" Shuhelia observed cheerfully.
"You could say so."
I summoned Baldok. I whirled Baldok"s handle around on my palm as if turning a pen. At the same time, I took a step forward with my left foot, s.h.i.+fting my body sideways while keeping Shuhelia in sight.
She moved her eyes up and down as if to check my and Baldok"s movements.
I stopped rotating Baldok, arresting its handle under my right arm, pointing the new spear and ax blade in Shuhelia"s direction. With a slight delay, I also lifted my left hand in a relaxed manner. I opened its palm towards Shuhelia.
This was one of the Wind Spear Style"s basic stances – 『Wind Read』, a slow walking style with one foot in front.
…Now then, it"s going to be a one-on.one against a Spirit World Knight. I guess I"ll fire myself up and give her a nice greeting.
I rotated Baldok, and while holding the handle in both hands, I cupped one fist in the other hand.
"Shuhelia. I"m the spearmaster Shuuya. Let"s have a good fight," I said with a bow.
After responding with a bow of her own, Shuhelia energetically lifted her head, "――Heh, I"m liking you more and more!", and then yelled with a smirk that had her lift one of her mouth"s corners, "Spearmaster, let us have a fight! Demonic Twin Blade Shuhelia, here I come!"
Shuhelia advanced with her swords crossed in front of her. A mana vortex manifested in the air right where the blades intersected. A cloud of dust was rising in her wake, too.
The mana vortex was different from the storm Baldok could create. But, it might be a similar technique, nonetheless.
Her -based mana manipulation showed a high skill, and her Magic Combat Step technique was fairly outstanding too. So she"s using her magic swords for some sort of Iai technique?
While watching her blades drawing fan-shaped sword lines in the air as she moved them from the right to the left, I was reminded of Yui"s handling of her magic katana.
I activated my and , retreating and thus dodging her magic swords. But, as soon as the mana vortex popped, countless magic blades were created from it.
Those blades pierced through Hal"Konk"s protective clothing, heavily injuring my upper body. With a great number of blades stabbing into my body, blood spurts scattered through the air.
That friggin" hurts. Kinda like getting hit by a shotgun loaded with blades from close proximity, huh?
Shuhelia didn"t ease up on her attack, slas.h.i.+ng at my flank from the left side with the sword in her right hand. I reacted by tilting Baldok"s handle downwards.
Stabbing the Magic Dragon Gem into the ground, I adopted a stance as if to block the sword sweep, but in reality, I bent down, and unleashed a Water Wheel Kick, trying to trip Shuhelia.
However, she dealt with that kick by jumping lightly. She easily dodged my ground based kick…no, she didn"t dodge, she performed a cartwheel kick aimed at my head.
I quickly lifted Baldok which I had swapped into my left hand, blocking the kick with the ax blade.
At once, I heard a dull thud. Her kick was heavy. It was so intense that it reminded me of Master Achilles"s kicking technique. A flurry of kicks rained down like a machine gun. I could hear the dull impacts while feeling the vibrations through Baldok. My forebangs swayed due to the pressure of her kicks.
I guess Shuhelia"s boots are special.
Focusing on my shoulder dragon, I had the dark green short-sleeved protective clothing transform into the usual, long-sleeved greatcoat that exposed my right arm.
"――Demonoid Martial Arts -based?"
Even as her kicks ended, Shuhelia"s stance showed no opening as she confronted me with the name of a martial art or skill I never heard before.
"No, it"s an elementary technique of the Wind Spear Style," I answered while entering the motion of the 『Flame Style』 spear thrust which I inherited from Master. A beautiful stab with through Zans.h.i.+n ― a basic blow capitalizing on my speed which I could brag about to have increased.
The spiraling red spear and ax blade were headed for Shuhelia"s chest. Yet, she reacted with superb movements as you"d expect of a Spirit World Knight, tilting head and body to the side. Her golden eyes gleamed as she apparently checked out the spearhead of Baldok while it was pa.s.sing right in front of her face.
With her body slanted, Shuhelia pushed herself with one leg, s.h.i.+fting into a cartwheel to get some distance from me.
"――――――Demonic Eyes , release――I"ll show you a part of a Spirit World Knight"s power…that dyed the solemn, white flowers blooming on Alpha"s battlefield crimson with blood."
Shuhelia smoothly extended her limbs, rotating her magic swords while activating her Demonic Eyes. Then she charged at me in a forward-bent posture. At the same time, she created ellipses through sword lines, which transformed from yellow to white.
She was fast――grazing the tip of my nose.
In the middle of her slashes, the sword flashes turned scarlet, and countless sword blades approached me.
While evading, I scattered water from on the ground. At the same time I activated and performed a rotational evasion centered on my toes as axis.
I continued to dodge her attacks, and although the sword blades grazed my body, Hal"Konk blocked them all. I s.h.i.+fted to defense through Baldok, my armor and , focusing on warding off her attacks.
Shuhelia"s onslaught was fierce, her strength clearly justifying her alias as Magic Twin Blade.
Her technique of intersecting the right and left hand would probably be impossible for normal humans. She was displaying an intense dance that seemed to be skill-based. And her chain slashes were so fast that I saw no chance to step in, vividly reminding me of Crazy-Eye Togma. It was a sword play that was several moves ahead of Yui"s . I felt as if she had four arms.
Her slashes came diagonally, from above, from below, and the middle at me, but all of them were precisely aimed at my vital spots. But, I was in the middle of my acceleration through with my body clad in . I gradually managed to inflict counterattacks.
After a mid and low kick, I went with a at Shuhelia"s torso. It got blocked, but that was within expectation. Next I unleashed a at Shuhelia who was now focusing on defense. A chain attack, going with a low strike after a mid-tier strike.
"Fast――for you to go with a lower chain attack after a fake――"
With her body"s acceleration raised, Shuhelia still had plenty of leeway to cope with my attacks. While fending off my kicks, she had repelled my Water Drill with superb defense sword play. And in the middle of her sword dance, the motions of her yellow blades also transformed into stabs.
But, I had already seen through the range and habits in her sword attacks. I took charge of her sword"s tip, that came at me from the diagonal right in front with a 卍 motion of Baldok. The storm-clad-shaped spearhead seized Shuhelia"s magic sword, and entangled it. Due to the rotational force, Shuhelia"s arm got twisted alongside her sword.
"――Gyaa!"
Shuhelia discarded her sword which had its blade stuck in between Baldok"s spearhead, and then she used her other sword to try to stab my chest, but she was too slow.
I performed a cartwheel to the left, propping up my body with my left hand. That allowed me to avoid the stab of her sword. In the middle of the wheeling, I pushed myself off the ground, lifting my body. While s.h.i.+fting to a forward-pitching posture, I switched to a forward somersault with enough force to ram my body against hers and hit the side of Shuhelia"s neck with a left kick that capitalized on my body"s rotational force.
The modified dropkick landed a clean hit as I could sense a proper feedback from my foot"s instep.
"――Aaahh."
Shuhelia was blown away. I chased after her with my Magic Combat Step.
She placed a foot on the ground, fixed her posture, and concentrated ink-black mana in her remaining sword.
The shotgun-based magic blades, huh?
But, it didn"t activate. It looked like consecutive use wasn"t possible.
Of course it"s also possible for this to be a feint, but it doesn"t matter.
Having stepped into the range of my spear, I unleashed a . The thrust was parried, just as I had a.s.sumed it would be. Shuhelia had s.h.i.+fted her attention to defense.
I erased Baldok from my right hand and re-summoned it. And after stabbing Baldok out with a , I focused on .
I instantly comprehended that I was engulfed by Water G.o.ddess Akreshys-sama"s illusion, boosting my speed.
Shuhelia blocked my with her sword"s blade. But, her stance still fell apart.
Slipping into her bosom, I unleashed a while crouching, before driving a vertical kick into her lower abdomen. My toes struck Shuhelia"s magic armor and belly. Being lifted up through the force of the kick, Shuhelia"s armor actually got depressed in the shape of my boot"s tip.
"Guuooo――"
She floated while vomiting blood. Her expression went way beyond anguish, but without minding that, I raised Baldok overhead, and then cut Shuhelia"s belly and chest vertically by having Baldok"s ax blade draw a arc.
Unable to even scream, Shuhelia"s body was bent backwards as she flew through the air. Blood gushed out of the wound I had cleaved open. She also let go of her remaining sword.
I focused mana into my feet as I used , heading for Shuhelia who was defenseless as she fell towards the ground due to gravity. I performed a backward somersault kick, but she reacted to it.
She blocked the kick by crossing both arms. But, I could sense Shuhelia"s weight through the heels of Arzen"s Boots. Thanks to the kick"s impact, Shuhelia was lifted up into the air once more.
Up there――――I wouldn"t use Baldok as a finisher.
『Give me blood…』, a voice groaned from Baldok.
At the same time, I heard a bell tolling inside my head. But, I ignored both as I landed on the training ground. A moment later, Shuhelia limply crashed on the ground, rolling for a few meters.
I erased Baldok which I had swapped into my right hand.
Shuhelia rose with a startled expression due to the impact of having crashed. At once, she pushed a knee against the ground, trying to stand up, but her body only quivered, before she collapsed once more.
"……"
As if telling a tale of the ax blade"s might, the wound on her torso is anything but shallow. Even though she might be a Spirit World Knight, it"ll probably take time for her injuries to heal.
Shuhelia was lying on the ground sprawled, blood still escaping her body.
"――That has decided it, I guess."
Helme came close while saying so.
"…It"s my loss. I lost consciousness when I was floating in the air," Shuhelia muttered.
"…Are you satisfied now, Shuhelia?"
"Of course…but, I can"t move anymore."
I immediately cast the advanced spell 《Water Cure》. A s.h.i.+ning, transparent water ma.s.s sphere came into existence in front of me, before breaking apart in the next instant, raining down on Shuhelia.
After getting healed, Shuhelia stood up, and then picked up her swords from the ground. A sharp glint was visible in her golden eyes that still had 卍 surface.
At that point, everyone ran up to us. Shuhelia drew also close.
"Wait, you"re still up for a fight?"
"Nn, give it a rest."
"As I thought, finis.h.i.+ng her off with my witch spear…"
"Puyuyu?"
Everyone said so, but it proved to be unfounded anxiety. At the same time as she genuflected, Shuhelia adopted a respectful att.i.tude. She placed her two swords on the ground in front of me.
"Your Majesty Shuuya…please allow me to offer an oath…
What oath? Offer?
"Sure."
"Great! Then I shall pledge to the Spirit World G.o.ds of all ages, now and here, that I shall offer my life to you from this moment henceforth as your s.h.i.+eld and sword."
Standing next to me, Helme nodded complacently like a strategist while her water attire shone brightly. Everyone else listened silently.
"Very well. I"ll also pledge that I"ll provide you with a place to call home at any time. And that I"ll never ask you to do something that would stain your honor. I"ll cherish your freedom. I promise this on this Baldok and Water G.o.ddess Akreshys-sama."
"Yes, Your Majesty――"
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Translation Notes:
- Bobby from bobbing
- It"s a word game since Angry and Loincloth can sound similar