Yuusha-sama no Oshishou-sama

AN: I have made you wait

“d.a.m.n it…”

He didn’t win.
He had handled requests alone until he became an adventurer.
The requests included collecting herbs in a certain part of the forest, or chasing away animals from villages in the capital city’s hinterland at night. These requests were merely odd jobs for beginners, but he continued to work at it until he became trusted by the Guild.
He persuaded a senior adventurer to teach him to use weapons.

He was confident.
He had even been invited to a party.
He had planned to surpa.s.s Wynn, who had not yet become a knight.

However, he sawing that he couldn’t do a thing in that duel.
On the contrary, he lost in front of his crush after meeting her again after four years.
By the time he swung his sword, Wynn’s sword was already pointed at his face.
Unable to stand the sight of Leti, smiling brightly, so close to Wynn, without saying a word, Abel ran to his room, grabbed his stuff, and dashed out again.
He wanted to leave the place as fast as he could.
It was not yet the meeting time, but he ran straight for the Adventurer’s Guild.
It was his dream to be part of an adventurer party.
As he waited to meet his fellow party members at the Guild, he tried not to think about his match with Wynn.

He tried, but…

Though it was his dream, Abel sighed as he trudged towards the end of the line in the adventurer party.

“What’s wrong, Abel?”

“… Regus-san.”

Lost in thought, he hadn’t realized that he ended up beside a man with a gigantic stature.

It was Regus the axe-wielder.

He was the leader of the party who invited Abel.
He was a veteran adventurer acknowledged by the capital’s Adventurer Guild. This time, parties were being a.s.sembled to subjugate a bandit group.

“You have such a gloomy face, even before the mission. Were you ignored by a woman?”

“Ugh…”

Being right on the mark, the words. .h.i.t Abel like a brick.

“Wahaha! I was right on the mark. Who is the other girl?”

“It’s somebody Regus-san also knows.”

“Hou? If it’s a girl I know, Flowering Moon Inn’s Mira? Roadside Pebble Inn’s Merril? Or is it Connie?” [1]

“…It’s Leti.”

Among the smiling adventurers, Regus listed the popular shop girls one by one.

With a peeved expression, Abel interjected with a whisper.

“Leti? The Leti that always stuck to Wynn?”

“Oh? That Leti-san.”

Upon hearing Wynn’s name, Abel frowned.
Regus

“If it’s Leti, that’s impossible.”
“Ah, it really is impossible.”
“That’s why…”
“What are you guys saying!”

Overhearing his conversation with Regus, the other party members said that it was impossible, to Abel’s indignation.
Upon seeing their uniform faces of pity, Abel became incensed.

“It’s just that, that girl is…”

Leti— Leticia van Mavis.

The adventurers were able to find this out with their intelligence network.
The adventurers affiliated with the capital’s Adventurer Guild were in contact with their junior adventurers.
Mingling among the adults, they came in and out of the Adventurer’s Guild, completing odd jobs and errands as a pair.
At first, Thinking that it was a childish exploration, they were made light of, but upon seeing them cross swords with the Guild’s training facilities, they were slowly acknowledged.
Showing swordsmanship uncharacteristic of children, the novice adventurers who hadn’t learned the skills tried to leave the training center faster.
Eventually, upon not seeing Leticia anymore, and Wynn had saved up the money for the admission fee for the knight school and was admitted, so their visits decreased. But the pair left such a strong impression that they weren’t forgotten.
Later, when Leticia’s many achievements as the Brave reached them through rumors, those who knew her when her younger self realized the difference in their abilities.

“Well, we should stop talking about difficult matters. She’s out of reach.“

“I didn’t know that!”

“Either way, doesn’t Leti-chan like Wynn?”[2]

“Uuh….”

Abel frowned, unable to reply.
Leticia had always followed Wynn around since they were young.
Through observing the couple’s duels, they could see that Leticia held feelings for Wynn.

But Abel didn’t notice that.
Even if Regus hadn’t met Leticia since she returned victoriously as the Brave, from Abel’s behavior, it was easy tell that Leticia strongly yearned for Wynn.
In the first place, they were of different social statuses.
Apart from being the Brave, she was also a Duke’s daughter, giving her a position among n.o.bility second to only royalty.
Even if Wynn had her heart, it would be reckless for an unrelated person like him to obtain her hand.

“Even then, I won’t give up! I’ll raise my fame, and then, I’ll confess to her!”

Abel raised his fist as he proclaimed.
After the mission, Regus, wearing a wry smile beside Abel, planned to tell Abel about the value of information gathering.

‘Concentrate, focus on the opponent’s movements.’

To Locke, who was clad in light leather armour, most important goal was to be able to stop the agile Wynn’s movments.
With his strength magically enhanced, if he could stop Wynn’s movements, then he could win.
Holding his wooden shield in front of him, he observed Wynn’s movements.
It was an opponent he had faced countless times.
In order to tempt Wynn into attacking, he slowly closed in on him.
When the shield blocked the very first attack, he would thrust out just as Wynn stopped moving.
Wynn’s stance dropped slightly —

Dan![3]

With his step creating an intense sound, he instantly moved towards Locke.
Quickly and pointedly, he aimed below Locke’s shield, his abdomen.

Gak!

The sword collided with the face of the shield.

“URAAAAAAH!!!”

Locke stopped Wynn’s blade with his shield, and thrust at Wynn’s throat with a shout.
Wynn took a hanmi pose and then leapt to the side.[4]
Then Locke once again held his shield up, as Wynn raised his sword, gauging the distance between them.

“Ooh, Locke-san, that was pretty strong.”

Leticia, who was observing their spar in a place slightly removed, commented.

“Ah, that’s because Locke was the runner-up in last year’s knight selection tournament.”

“Oh? I didn’t see that.”

At Cornelia’s words, Leticia inspected the frivolous-looking red-haired youth who was sparring Wynn.
It was about a month after Leticia returned to Wander Bird’s Pavilion after four years, the day Wynn dueled Abel.
Since the Knight School was still closed, Wynn and Locke occasionally trained together.
Since Locke also had responsibilities as an apprentice knight, it wasn’t every day.
Due to the coup d’état, there was a shortage of full-fledged knights
Consequently, the duties of the apprentice knights increased.
It was the same for Cornelia.
After the incident, she also started joining in the training.
Since she was a princess, she couldn’t just exit the castle as she pleased.
She also had official duties.
She came here with an escort, which was now on standby off to the side.
On the other hand, Leticia visited Wynn every day like before.
She was a n.o.ble of the highest position in the country, but as the Brave, she could avoid being involved in the country’s matters.[5]
Because of that, Leticia, who had not much else to do, borrowed books from the library to read with Wynn, and the sight of the pair studying became common.
That’s why, even if Leticia was almost always with Wynn, it was rare for the four of them to be together.
In the past month, though Wynn and Locke were timid upon learning that she was the princess at first, they eventually opened up to Cornelia, to the point that her Imperial Knight escorts wore sullen expressions, but since they were also in the presence of Leticia, they didn’t voice their opinions.
On this rare occasion, Leticia and Cornelia sat under
Unable to keep up with Wynn’s almost superhuman speed, Locke always faced Wynn, observing his movements, creeping forward, defending himself shield and counterattacking.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it? Since I’m observing from the sidelines, I can see Wynn’s blade, but when I’m up close, I can’t see it at all.”

Cornelia was praised the fact that though their magic was sealed, Wynn, and Locke, who fought with Wynn, overwhelmed many knights and soldiers.
His strategy should have been a bad choice against the agile Wynn.
Thus, Locke’s abilities were excellent for an apprentice knight.
If he weren’t from a wealthy family, but rather a aristocratic family, he may have claimed the top spot from Regin, who lost his life during the coup.

However—

“But Onii-chan still isn’t giving it his all.”

“Eh?”

Just as Cornelia heard Leticia’s remark—

“ooOOOOOOH!!!”[6]

Wynn raised his voice.
He closed the distance between them, and attacked with a horizontal slash to the neck.
As with the first thrusting attack, Locke used his shield to receive the blow.
The sound of the sword and shield colliding was heard once again.

“Wha-!?”

Locke, who tried to counterattack with a thrust like the first time, raised his voice.
At the moment Locke was confused by the fact that Wynn was no longer at the place he was aiming at, Wynn’s blade was held to Locke’s throat.

“You used the recoil from the collision to attack from the other side, huh…”

It was fast.

Even Cornelia, who was watching off to the side, was unable to perceive Wynn’s movements, but Locke was able to keep Wynn in his field of vision.

“Of course, you’re really strong. To be able to move like that even without magic.”

Wynn retracted his sword as Locke took a deep breath, and smiled bitterly at his friend.

“But Locke, weren’t you able to follow my movements? The knights from before weren’t even at the point of struggling to do it.”

“That was a one on one fight. If I fought you on a battlefield, I would be slaughtered alongside all my allies.”

“What do you wanna do? One more round?”

“Nah, it’s fine.”

“Wait a minute!”

Leticia also obtained a practice sword and shield like Locke and Wynn.

“Onii-chan, may I join? Seeing the two of you, I also can’t resist joining in!”

“Ah, then I’m dropping out okay?”[7]

Locke set his shield down.

“No. It’s two versus one. It’s fine if you go all out, since I’m going to be using magic.”

“”Eh!?””

Leticia stretched her body.

“Hey, didn’t Leticia just see my fighting style?”

Leticia, who treated Wynn as her Master, had the same speed-based fighting style.
However, she had a G.o.d-like magic power to strengthen her body.

“The shield would be torn to shreds— no, even the blade would be smashed, and my body would be blown away, wouldn’t it?”

“That’s right… Well, you get to spar with Mavis the Brave. What an honour!”

“Well, let’s let it all out!”

Leticia looked over her shoulder with a smile.
She gradually became wrapped in magic power, and a golden glow was visible, even in the sunlight.
Wynn and Locke exchanged glances.

“It seems like she really is going to fight seriously.”

“Wha- what is that light?”

“Well, try not to die!”

In the end: two people were left full of holes, only hanging on with Cornelia’s healing magic.

AN: I plan get things moving next time.
h.e.l.lo world

Translator notes