Chapter 281: A fight to wrap up the fight
TL: I want to give a piece of advice here for future’s sake.
There have been people hurrying me to release Tsuki ga Michi chapters because the author has already posted 2 chapters and I haven’t translated any of those yet.
Not only were they hurrying me, some were even posted in the World Reformation comment section.
Let me be perfectly clear here, that only has the complete opposite effect.
The more you do that, the less motivated you will get the person. I am pretty sure this advice applies to all translators, so keep it in mind.
I appreciate the people that post comments notifying me about new chapters being posted, but stop it with the ‘281 WHEN’ and ‘There’s already chapter 282 out. When are you going to translate them?!’ comments.
I am just saying this to make one thing clear.
The next scheduled chapter will also be a Tsuki ga Michi chapter, BUT it will not be because I am accommodating to those people. I personally want to know what happens next.
Sorry for souring the mood there, but it had to be said.
Please enjoy the chapter! ?
Why did this happen?
By interfering with the cognition of the body and mind of everyone, the fight was being directed little by little to an advantageous one, and we removed the one that’s the main reason for this battle.
The [Fifth Hamlet Mist] of Tomoe that can realize the desires the person wants to see, and the black thread of Mio that can connect the magic power and senses of others.
We casted such large scale magic with us three, applied a stealth effect on it, and continued maintaining its activation.
The impression I have after trying it is that…it is surprisingly tiring.
I distributed magic power to Tomoe and Mio and strengthened them, and in exchange for them controlling the magic, I am the one that’s fueling most of the magic power it requires.
How do I explain it so it is easier to understand.
For example; it is like bringing things to another person’s house and trying to stealthily set those things inside it. Moreover, that house has quite the amount of security cameras, and has a mechanism that reacts when moving bodies are perceived.
…Was it that difficult to accomplish?
Yeah, it was as difficult as the example given.
In the end, all three of us partic.i.p.ated in battle.
I fought against Hitsuna-san and the Marikosans.
The Marikosans are seriously dangerous. An attack that puts you inside a wall? That’s way too deadly.
Being caught in a spell that the usual me would have been able to deflect if it were outside this dungeon, I had fallen into panic.
Hitsuna-san was using strong spells that clearly surpa.s.sed her own magic power and was smashing them against me. Moreover, not only was it powerful, her sense and ability was top notch.
That talisman magic felt like, in exchange of a short aria, it costs quite a lot of magic power.
The fighting style of utilizing talisman magic in important points or utilize it simultaneously was clearly superior to that of the other mage that utilizes talisman magic as well, Mokuren.
The talisman magic at the demon territory was the ma.s.s produced type.
The ones. .h.i.tsuna-san utilized were not activated with talismans but pages, and the power, cost, magic power, and effects were different in a lot of different ways.
In other words, an original.
I see, I gotta say, I really did portray their monstrousness properly.
There’s no way the magic of hers and her skills were inherited just as they are, on the contrary, the talisman magic that remains in Lorel has been made to be more practical.
I glance to the side and I see Tomoe looking at me.
Her opponents were Haku Mokuren-san and Ginebia-san.
These two were probably thinking about stalling Tomoe by themselves, but in the end, they received a weakened version of the [Fifth Hamlet Mist] and are now inside their dreams.
They fought a long battle with Tomoe, moreover, managed to damage Tomoe a number of times.
There’s no one in Asora who can achieve that…with only two people.
Aside from Mio, Shiki, Tamaki, and I, the only ones who have been able to achieve a proper hit on Tomoe have been the transcendent team combination of three counting Serwhale; the four Arkes fighting together; or a team that has five people or more.
Tomoe also learns in those instances, so, lately, she has been starting to manage the group of three people where Serwhale-san is part of.
In that sense, the team of Arkes is the one who shows the highest evaluation average.
Within my followers, Tomoe and Tamaki are the ones who the closer you manage to get them serious, the more they stress in evasion. Tomoe with magic, and Tamaki with super-fast physical evasion.
In Mio’s case, her attacks get steadily vicious; she begins to add traps into her attacks. The irregular attack type.
With Shiki, it depends on his rings, but instead of his mobility getting higher, he is more the fortress type that smashes the opponent with consistent barriers and attacks. He can be called an all-rounder type that can deal against close combatants and mages, but he is currently more of a jack of all trades and master of none.
At any rate, to be able to deal damage to this Tomoe, who ‘attacks don’t hit’ while coping with her illusion magic, for several tens of minutes is something worthy of admiration.
Let’s have Tomoe show me her fight later for future reference.
At the side of Tomoe there’s Mio who has the eyes of someone that had crawl from the depths of h.e.l.l and, with those eyes, she was looking at the still paralyzed Rokuya-san.
It was a scary truth, but Rokuya-san seriously managed to shut out Mio.
He couldn’t provide a.s.sistance on the other battlefields as he first planned, but…he accomplished that against that Mio…alone.
No seriously, that’s unbelievable.
No matter what tricks he pulled, if he was able to accurately pinpoint the weakness of Mio and the compatibility in this short amount of time we met, that in itself is impressive.
If we were to compare purely on attack and defense, he shouldn’t be able to pin down Mio.
This is not about being a Wise or whatever, I think that Rokuya-san himself is impressive. Yeah.
That gear restraining barrier is something I have never seen before and it is certainly strong, but Mio should be able to break something of that level.
It was a gamble huh… against that Mio.
Well, that’s how it is. Our own plan wasn’t proceeding as smoothly either.
Even so, when their trump card, Aznoval-san, arrived to the battlefield, our number one most important plan had succeeded.
“…That’s why I said. There won’t always be a convenient method to calm things down perfectly. I would say creating one is the hardest part.” (Aznoval)
Aznoval-san, who is standing at my front with great sword in hand, says this with a wry smile as if admonishing me.
At our surroundings, there’s us the Kuzunoha Company, Picnic Rosegarden, and the Adventurers of Origin; all a.s.sembled in one place.
Aznoval-san and I are the only ones right in the middle.
But even if that sword looks exactly like Masamune, that size makes me question if it can even be categorized as a weapon.
In terms of weapon, this one looks like the joke kind.
Can you really fight with that?
“Wouldn’t you normally think that once something is done about the hatred of Pione-san, things would go better?” (Makoto)
Because this is the biggest wall between us.
The hatred this girl, that is a part of the mercenary group, is directing at me, Raidou.
It is certainly a difficult matter.
But if we manage to remove this part, we would be able to somehow talk it out and proceed with the negotiations.
I myself had the resolve to accept the t.i.tle of Wise if necessary.
And yet…
“The way you did it was bad. Not being able to extend your hand in the times when your comrades are suffering is painful. Also the fact that, even in this overwhelmingly advantageous scenario, we couldn’t defeat a single one on your side and one-sidedly suffered.” (Aznoval)
“…No matter the case, I don’t want to lose any of my comrades either. Please don’t ask for the impossible.” (Makoto)
“…And you don’t want them to get hurt either.” (Aznoval)
“Yeah.” (Makoto)
“That’s respectable. If you think that way, it might not be too late yet.” (Aznoval)
For a moment, I saw pity in the eyes directed at me by the knight.
“…”
“What did you do…to Pione? In the battlefield where her comrades were fighting, she suddenly collapsed, and declared the end of the battle. She also apologized to you guys. Yeah, really suddenly.” (Aznoval)
“…”
“Tears from her eyes and mucus from her nose; from her mouth, there were remains of vomit. Her clothes were lightly wiped, but it was still quite dirtied. It was definitely not the state of someone fighting.” (Aznoval)
Speaking all of this plainly, there was silent anger added into every word he said.
“I did explain it though.” (Makoto)
“You showed her an illusion via magic, was it?” (Aznoval)
“Yeah, I showed her the death of her comrades and of herself in the scenario where the battle continues because of her hatred. We transcribed our fighting force and battle techniques into the head of Pione-san, and with that information as the basis, it will compare that with the information she has of her own comrades and show her an illusion of the foreseeable annihilation.” (Makoto)
“…And repeats it…infinitely.” (Aznoval)
“Until the moment she wishes the end of this battle from the bottom of her heart. It is not infinitely.” (Makoto)
It seems like Pione-san truly hates me for killing her friends in that unfortunate twist of fate.
That’s why, I wanted her to learn that if she continued holding that killing intent and hatred, this will only end up spreading even more and lead to the death of those precious people of hers.
The other precious people she has.
Our power level compared to their power level.
With the premise of us actually killing each other, everyone aside from the immortal Adventurers of Origin would die.
Of course, we wouldn’t do that for real. We wouldn’t be able to gain their cooperation if we did that.
That’s why we only did it inside that illusion, only in the head of Pione-san, and showed it in a way that’s no different from reality and repeated it.
For the sake of her choosing to have a talk instead of fighting.
“It is not only that. You made it so not only Picnic Rosegarden, even Takane-kun wouldn’t be able to notice that abnormality in her.” (Aznoval)
“Of course. If you had noticed it, you would have dispelled it before she understands after all.” (Makoto)
“That was also illusion magic huh. Also, shared senses and perception, was it?” (Aznoval)
“That’s right. The instant we entered this floor, we changed a part of the senses of sight, touch, and perception from all the people here. Putting it in detail, it was to have them see it as if Pione-san continued providing support from the backlines and was fighting alongside them even if she were to suddenly faint in place. Also, this would be a fight where we are outnumbered, so we had their body perceive the healing magic and support magic they receive as if it was only showing ⅓ of its efficiency. Well, there were some other small things we did as well, but the big ones are those.” (Makoto)
“There was also one that obstructed the people that tried to enter this floor.” (Aznoval)
“Ah, yeah. That was mostly to avoid having other people accidentally coming here and end up dragged in it.” (Makoto)
That’s right.
In the end, it seems this proved useful as well, delaying the arrival of Aznoval-san by a lot.
Pione-san persisted quite a lot. Even when she was continuously shown the death of her comrades, she didn’t throw away her hatred, and the fight was prolonged more than expected.
Thanks to that, Shii was forced to use her Forest Oni drug in order to endure, and Hokuto had to use the yarn that he only uses when he is serious.
Beren told me that he also used a number of Blast Spears that had my rings embedded in them.
That’s way too far.
Even with that, Shii was inflicted with a status ailment from an a.s.sa.s.sin team called Ryuma or Ryoma and was feeling lightheaded.
The healing made it in time and she has already calmed down though.
“…And so, this leads to the ceasefire of Pione and her apology. Raidou-kun, it is true that with this, the hatred Pione-san has towards you guys is gone. But in exchange, it looks like not only will this affect her activity in the mercenary group, it will even affect her daily life.” (Aznoval)
“Of course, if you wish for it, we can provide her nursing.” (Makoto)
“What’s clear right now is that Picnic Rosegarden had the heart of one of their comrades turn into pieces right in front of their eyes.” (Aznoval)
“…”
But we didn’t kill anyone, and even if it won’t show effects immediately, we can properly nurse her back.
That’s what I have been telling them.
“On top of that, even with the help of the Adventurers of Origin, they were unable to defeat a single one of the enemies that did this. It is true that there were no lives taken, but you guys achieved your objective and broke Pione. In other words, our 0 to your 100. We totally couldn’t vent anything out.” (Aznoval)
Well, even if you tell me you couldn’t vent anything out…
If this were a contest, there’s the option of a rematch, but this was a serious fight, so even if it was a regrettable defeat or a total defeat, shouldn’t you accept it?
…No, it is exactly because it was a serious fight that it leaves grudges which is troublesome.
That means…even when we have entered negotiations, they won’t be having a proper negotiation with me even if I accept the t.i.tle of Wise?
T-That would trouble me.
We went through the pain of coming to Lorel, went all the way to this underground labyrinth, tired ourselves, and used our heads; but even with that, it wasn’t enough, you say?
…Give me a break already.
In terms of fighting force, they are perfectly fit for Tsige.
Even for people on the level of Toa-san’s group, there’s plenty enough things they can learn from this mercenary group.
They are truly the perfect fit without doubt, in other words, it is a jackpot!
I would really like to dispatch them.
With this Pione-san girl as the centre, the other members of the mercenary group had their spears pointed at us and they are currently directed at me, creating emotions that are incredibly unwelcomed for us.
“And so, Aznoval-san, why are you pointing your sword at me?” (Makoto)
“If I had to put it bluntly, to vent.” (Aznoval)
“Vent…” (Makoto)
How great.
“I personally want Picnic Rosegarden to have a good relationship with your Kuzunoha Company. I have a personal debt with you guys after all.” (Aznoval)
“Eh?”
“Ah, forget about that. Anyways, Rokuya and the others already know the strength of Tomoe-san, Mio-san, and you. But the mercenary group hasn’t seen the true strength of the main cast here, right?” (Aznoval)
“…Well, yeah.” (Makoto)
“In that case, if we were to show a fight between me, who has been acknowledged here as a person with decent individual ability, and you, the representative of the company, they would be able to digest a variety of things.” (Aznoval)
“Have them accept it by showing them our fight huh.” (Makoto)
I don’t understand it well.
In the first place, even if Beren’s group was weakened, they were still able to fight on even grounds against them, so they should be able to somewhat gauge my strength.
Can’t they acknowledge it unless they see it with their own eyes?
Or is there any other reason why?
Is something like this really going to accomplish anything?
“The fight will end when either side admits defeat. With this kind of fight, we will show our full-power and let it be water-under-the-bridge no matter who wins.” (Aznoval)
“Okay?” (Makoto)
Is this really going to be resolved with such a haphazard method?
Then what was the point of the plan I struggled my best to make…
“The Adventurers of Origin, Makado Takane, and also Picnic Rosegarden, have accepted this. What’s left is…whether the Kuzunoha Company -no, Raidou-kun accepts or not.” (Aznoval)
‘Or more like, they wouldn’t accept it if this were to end without me fighting. I would be blamed by everyone if that were to happen’, is what I heard from Aznoval-san as he muttered this with his eyes turned away.
…He does look as if he is playing dumb, but it is also true that he has shown me an easy to understand method to resolve this.
I don’t know what circ.u.mstances Aznoval-san has at all, but I don’t feel any hostility from him.
Maybe he doesn’t have that much deep of a relation with Pione; he looks like the most composed one here.
And yet, I can feel no hesitation from the sword that’s pointed at me.
Rokuya-san told us before that as long as we manage to wrap this battle in a safe manner, he would be our ally in the negotiation.
In that case, it is fine to just fight this person and show the mercenary group my power.
Hitsuna-san already understands it, and the other three Adventurers of Origin seem to have acknowledged it as well.
There’s no problem in having one more fight.
Okay.
“…Got it. Then, let’s go at it with our full-power.” (Makoto)
“Sorry about that. It is slightly painful that I have to clash blades against you who protected the descendants of the Hiiragi household. Let’s make it flashy and show our best. On a level that would blow away all the troublesome grudges and make us all laugh.” (Aznoval)
Hiiragi household?
It looks like we have some sort of connection that is completely unrelated to the labyrinth or the mercenary group.
A mysterious knight that acts cordially, and yet, also hit me with the most bloodthirst and pressure I have felt today.
His peculiar greatsword and his silver full-body armor.
With his large frame coupled with this equipment, he looks even bigger.
But the incredibly problematic large scale spell that was weakening us is already gone, and my strength has already returned.
I can also utilize my magic power as I please now.
Once I call for Azusa, it was soon in my hand.
It can also be said that I am in perfect condition.
Because I switched [Sakai] to strengthening, the Magic Armor that was covering my body is now visible.
My preparations here are done as well.
“Then, Rokuya…still can’t talk properly huh. Takane-kun, please give the begin signal.” (Aznoval)
Being called, a man wearing a long white robe stood to the front.
Ah, this person is Makado Takane.
The labyrinth’s designer.
“…Raidou-shi, are you ready?” (Takane)
“Ah, yes. Go ahead.” (Makoto)
His peculiar atmosphere reminds me of my high-school friends.
In regards to PCs, those two helped me out a lot.
I remembered the faces of my truly nostalgic friends, but time won’t wait for nostalgia.
“Then…begin!” (Takane)
Takane-kun, who was a.s.signed to signal the beginning of the battle, confirmed if I was prepared, and gave his signal to begin.
As this occurred, I prayed that the th.o.r.n.y gaze being poured at me from the surroundings will lessen by the time this battle ends… and so, I focus straight on Aznoval-san.