Maid Meets Girl — 3
Clash—!
A greatsword the size of a man slammed into a long katana.
How does this old man have this much strength...!
Feints and true strikes tangled together as their blades met again and again, until the count of exchanges had already reached five. Dante held the advantage in speed, yet Lucius was hardly lagging behind. And the gap in pure power between them was glaringly clear.
“Even an aging lion is still a lion, is that it?”
Wreathed in blue flames and pouring out murderous intent, Lucius was the very image of the king of beasts. Every clash of steel brought the crushing force of that massive greatsword and the searing heat of the blue fire. The balance of substance and deception born from countless experience made him the strongest foe Dante had ever met.
The old lion stood proudly at the center of the arena, greatsword in hand. The evacuation of the spectators was finished, and the knight order was steadily tightening the encirclement. It was a truly desperate crisis—yet the smile never left Dante’s lips.
The greater the crisis, the greater the dramatic effect. It was time to show the power he had obtained not long ago.
“Ahh, I didn’t want to use this here...”
That was a lie. In truth, Dante had spent the entire week before the operation fretting over how best to display this power in the coolest possible way.
“Watch closely.”
This was sincere. Right now, Dante truly wanted Lucius and the knights gathered here to witness his cool form.
“And don’t tell anyone!”
That was a lie. He was hoping the people present would spread this sight across the entire world.
“Here I go!”
Dandelion.
The sacred heirloom of the Leonhart family, a holy relic steeped in long history. In the original work it was mentioned only in passing, said to be the symbol of the Leonhart head.
Dandelion was revealed to the public once a year, at the closing ceremony of the Golden Festival. The winners of each event placed a hand over their heart and envisioned their futures, and the head of Leonhart kindled Dandelion’s light to bless the futures they painted. It was a long tradition of the Golden Festival, handed down through generations.
And on the day of the closing ceremony itself, before the rites began, Dandelion was transported to the underground of the arena. I had wondered why something so important wasn’t kept in the mansion or by the head himself, but when you considered that the arena received the greatest concentration of manpower during the Golden Festival, it made sense. Moreover, the head spent the entire day of the ceremony at the arena, so under normal circumstances no one would even dream of stealing Dandelion.
But Yeoro was no ordinary organization. There was a reason they claimed the role of main villains and the black curtain behind the story. The executive Dante was naturally exceptional, yet even ordinary members like me were far from ordinary people. The fact that we had pierced the arena’s security and drawn near to Dandelion was simply because our opponents had been unlucky—it absolutely did not mean the Leonhart family was incompetent.
“So far, everything’s going according to plan.”
It was V who had first proposed this operation. Having personally witnessed my match against U the previous year, V had immediately conceived a plan centered on me and Dante. I never expected such a simple diversionary tactic would actually succeed, but what could you do? Dante’s aggro-pulling had been far more excellent than expected, and our Bokja was unnecessarily competent.
Jjwiiing....
No—scratch the “unnecessarily.” Since Bokja could share my thoughts, I had to watch every little word. There had been a time I spent three whole days earnestly coaxing a severely sulking Bokja.
Yes, our Bokja. Bokja is always competent.
Jjwiiing!
While soothing Bokja and searching for Dandelion, we arrived at a massive iron door. It wasn’t quite on the scale of the iron door to Won’s audience chamber, but this one was still considerable in size.
“Step aside. I’ll open it.”
When I stopped before the iron door, B, who had been walking behind me, flexed his muscles and strode up. By ordinary standards the musculature was impressive, yet after seeing U’s muscles last year I couldn’t help wondering if it was really something worth showing off about. B flung open the heavy-looking iron door and struck a pose flaunting his strength, but since U would simply have smashed a door like that, it only looked like empty bravado to me.
“There are no magical traps. Physical ones, I can’t say.”
Ignoring B’s blustering pose, V stepped into the room and scanned the surroundings with mana. Every member of Yeoro wore a mask, so exact appearance or gender remained unknown—yet from the midriff that advertised its presence with every step, at least the fact that V was a woman was certain. B, whose head kept turning toward that midriff, was almost certainly a man based on his build. Of course there remained the possibility of a woman as fanatically devoted to muscle-macho as U, but if another maniac like that existed in this world, it would simply be a sign the world was ending. Unlike U, his voice reeked of macho from the first word, so he was definitely a man.
If this world had been a game made by a Western developer, there might have been a twist that he was actually transgender or some third gender—but fortunately the world I had fallen into was a Korean-made otaku game, not a Western one. Anyway: a macho man and a glamorous woman. It was like having U’s before and after gathered in one place. U had looked a bit more macho, but the vibe was similar enough that the comparison wasn’t wrong.
“Hm? Why are you both staring at me like that? Is there something you need?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Yes, really nothing at all.”
Did I stare too obviously? But I couldn’t help it... Every time I saw a woman with a figure that good, I ended up imagining what she would look like as a maid...
Destiny was an SRPG. Everything outside of combat progressed only through illustrations and text. The story advanced through text, and when exploring a labyrinth like this, of course only background CGs were shown. Even with knowledge of the original, a few background images weren’t going to help with exploration. Still, since it was a place where people’s footsteps hadn’t stopped until recently, we reached the room holding Dandelion sooner than expected.
A vast chamber so empty it truly deserved to be called a cavern. And at its center, carefully enshrined, a sacred golden greatsword. It looked exactly like a boss room from a game. It probably was a boss room.
In the original, Dandelion had never been stolen—yet there was no way Won would have ordered us to bring Dandelion for no reason. There was clearly a purpose for which Dandelion was needed, and even in the original they would have attempted to seize it at some point. Perhaps this room had been meant for the desperate battle between Yeoro, under orders to steal Dandelion, and those who would stop them. But now the timeline had diverged greatly from the original, and there was no one left to play the role of the boss.
So from this moment on, I would have to become the boss.
While B charged toward Dandelion, I casually glanced back and checked the entrance we had come through. Black hair peeked out from behind the wide-open door. It was Noir. So there really had been a shortcut all the way here. Unlike us, who had wandered this way and that without knowing the path, if she had run here via a shortcut she could easily have caught up. Noir was hiding behind the door, quietly observing our condition. I had Bokja cover her with shadows so the other two wouldn’t notice, but the moment Noir moved, they would notice at once.
That could not be allowed. The only one who got to be the boss defeated by the heroine Noir had to be me. Only one of the three of us could become Number Nine. Even if I attacked the other two here and monopolized Dandelion, from the strongly individualistic perspective of Yeoro it wouldn’t be that strange. I take down the two of them, obtain Dandelion, and as the boss monster confront Noir. But my abilities were specialized for assassination. They were not very efficient in a straight fight. Having already expended a great deal of strength dodging the knights’ eyes and taking out the other two Yeoro members, I would eventually fall to Noir’s attack.
Oh—I just made that up on the spot, but it’s a pretty natural scenario. Let’s execute it right away. I’m going to be the boss...!
Having finished my thoughts, I recalled Bokja and stepped toward the two of them. In a two-on-one fight I would be at a disadvantage. With the fastest movement, I would finish one of them for certain first!
“Guhk! V, you...! Why....!”
“Oh my, B. Did you actually think we were comrades? Your brain is packed full of muscle too, I see.”
“You bas...tard...! From the very beginning....!”
“Fufufu, hahahaha! The one who becomes Number Nine is only me!”
Huh? Why is that bitch saying my lines?
“Now then, M. It’s your turn next!”
Huh?
The sword aura Alexandros unleashed skimmed past the spectator seats of the arena. Part of a pillar collapsed, and people still evacuating screamed.
“Hup!”
—Boom!
But the pillar did not crush the people. Thanks to Noir moving with lightning speed, a greatsword as massive as her own body already raised. The white flames imbued in the blade safely shielded the spectators from the falling chunks of stone.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“Lady Noir. Truly, truly thank you!”
Without even a moment to feel proud at their gratitude, Noir raced toward other spectators. The slashing of the terrorist who had given his name as Alexandros was growing more intense. At first Lucius had responded calmly so that no damage would reach the stands, but now even he had no leeway to mind the spectator seats. Prioritizing the people’s protection, Noir watched the increasingly fierce duel between the two.
Every time Alexandros swung his sword, three dragons burst forth and swept the area along with the tip of his blade. It was neither mysterious magic, nor a famous sword imbued with special power, nor a sacred relic borrowing a miracle of the gods. It was the supreme realm that manifested only through the harmony of the three aspects of mind, body, and spirit, and through intense longing.
It was Peerless.
Why would a master of that caliber...!
Following that man’s swordplay, three dragons ran wild. The arena was already half-destroyed, and the knights surrounding him did not even dare think of inserting themselves between those dragons. Lucius responded by donning armor of blue flames reminiscent of a lion, yet it was insufficient to stop the dragons.
A madman who delighted in destruction and chaos? Or an enemy seeking to diminish the prestige of the Leonhart family? Noir could not begin to grasp that man’s purpose.
“Lady Noir! All the spectators have evacuated safely! You must head to safety as well now!”
“Wait a moment—just a moment....”
There was clearly something she had missed. There had to be a reason that man was staging this.
“Just a moment—who’s down in the underground right now?”
“The underground, you say? Most of the knights who were on standby underground have come out, but...”
“Ah...”
Hearing the knight’s words, Noir climbed onto the spectator seats and surveyed the full view of the arena. As he had said, most of the knights had come outside to protect the people. At the same time the evacuation finished, many were also leaping into the arena to aid Lucius. No matter how strong a swordsman Alexandros was, Lucius was no pushover either. Even if he held the upper hand, he could not maintain that state forever. His swordplay and the dragons’ movements were gradually slowing. At this rate, the situation in the arena would probably be resolved just by the knights joining in.
But if most of the knight order really had come outside—then who was guarding the underground right now?
“It can’t be...!”
Having taken in the overall situation of the arena, the worst-case scenario floated up in Noir’s mind. It wasn’t that the act of terrorism itself held some purpose. The terrorism was merely the process!
It was only a conjecture that had risen in her mind. But Noir’s intuition screamed that this was no mere conjecture.
“Grandfa—!”
She could not let time drag on like this. Noir hurriedly tried to call out to Lucius, but seeing him driven back after taking a hit from the katana, she had no choice but to shut her mouth. As time passed, Lucius too was growing exhausted and losing focus. If she spoke to him carelessly now, it might put him in even more danger.
“Barot.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Having finished her thoughts, Noir called the knight who had been watching over her. In Barot’s eyes as he approached at her summons, Noir’s pupils held a light different from usual.
“From this moment I am going underground. Barot, gather some of the knights who have finished evacuating the spectators and come to the Dandelion chamber.”
“Understood.”
Ordinarily he should have stopped Noir for her own safety, but before the unusual light in her eyes, Barot dared not restrain her. The eyes of a noble aristocrat that he had watched for over twenty years at Lucius’s side. Faint though it was, Noir’s eyes clearly held the same light as Lucius’s.