Plan
Plan
Was there a saying about autumn leaves swept by the wind?
Personally, I couldn't shake the feeling they were more like bugs smacked with a flyswatter, but that seemed too harsh an assessment, so autumn leaves it was.
The sight of them sent flying by that massive iron club and rolling across the floor was utterly pitiful. They gritted their teeth and tried to get back up somehow, but instead of springing to their feet, they just struggled and whimpered, only to get hit by Zeke's next swing and go rolling the other way.
Of course, their misery was my entertainment. It was fun.
Still, just in case, I decided to toss one piece of advice Zeke's way.
"Hero. You haven't forgotten that an audience is watching through the crystal orb, right?"
"The hell do I care!"
Well, whether he took it or not was up to him. The dialogue wasn't being broadcast anyway, so it didn't matter either way. Just when I started wishing desperately for some popcorn, a low groan came from one side.
"Ugh... w-why is this..."
It was the woman who had suddenly burst into song and thrust her spear, only to go flying. Of course, I now knew it was magic with a buff effect, but at first I honestly thought she was batshit crazy.
"Anyone listening would think you suffered some terribly unjust and unfair outcome."
The fierce-looking woman, who had at least been sent flying first and spared the sustained beating the others got, was now shedding tears and pounding the ground in frustration. I could only marvel at the absurdity.
"That was... sorcery... absolutely impossible..."
"Good heavens. The Hero isn't even fully developed yet, and even a Silver-rank adventurer could move around several times faster than that. What kind of life have you been living?"
Anyone watching would think she'd reincarnated too. Sure, the Hero's base abilities were absurd, but there were high-rank adventurers—and even knights in the Ogatorf family—who were stronger than Zeke.
But bafflingly, the woman's response was completely shameless.
"Do you think it makes any sense that someone that age is capable of that?!"
"No, are you seriously crying and whining because a kid younger than you is stronger?"
Her mindset was impressively vintage, completely at odds with her looks.
I asked back out of genuine, sincere curiosity, but she seemed to take it as an insult and ground her teeth.
"I...! Siren Sebella of Bolta Bay! The knight commander of the Sea Dragon Knights! You dare say I'm whining over a petty reason like that?!"
Ah, so those were your name and title. You started without introducing yourself, so I had no idea.
And what happened to the courtesy from our first meeting? Now she was openly talking down to me. Maybe she'd planned to act like this after beating Zeke and me. Then again, someone who couldn't even show the Hero proper respect was hardly going to respect a foreigner.
Huh? Now that I thought about it, that was pissing me off.
"Whoa there, I really don't like that reaction. Some son of a bitch from Rudra acted like that recently and ended up dead."
"...What?"
"Rudra's dog. Gwilb, was it? Your reaction right now reminds me of that fellow, so here's some advice: just stay down. Or pull out a return scroll and come at me."
I could feel it. This woman, Sebella, wasn't exactly weak. Though whether that made her strong was a bit ambiguous, what was certain was that she'd been utterly, completely careless.
She'd assumed her opponent was hopelessly inferior and held back while aiming for something as harmless as his thigh. Against Zeke, who was far stronger than she'd expected, it was inevitable that he'd steal the initiative.
That stolen initiative just happened to involve that lump of iron, so the impact was severe. The knights rolling around over there had taken a beating because they didn't know how to deal with a weapon like that. The two Zeke hadn't gotten around to hitting as much were already back on their feet, looking for an opening.
I was only refraining from targeting the ones who'd fallen because I still had to play the fairy-tale knight for now. If this were real combat, I'd have rushed Sebella immediately and sent her unconscious with a soccer kick, at minimum.
"Judging by that arrogance and skill level, you must have believed the only way we could beat you was by forcibly tearing your scrolls to trigger the return. So, contrary to the professor's instructions, you hid the scrolls. That's my assessment. If you want to get up and fight, take them out first. Unlike the Hero, I don't go easy on people who come at me."
"You... go easy on me...?"
"I beat the Hero. What makes you think I can't beat you?"
No matter how unexpected or sudden it was, you still failed to react and got hit, didn't you?
"You think... I'll back down swayed by such delusional drivel?!"
"Did you hit your head and lose your memory? You just came at the Hero believing his power was false glory, and you went flying."
Even now, just tearing the scroll kept in their possession and throwing it would be enough to trigger a forced return. Then we could wrap this up comfortably.
But why should I do that?
Setting aside my belligerence, the more combat experience I had, the better. Not that I intended to pick fights on purpose, but I had absolutely zero reason to avoid a fight that came to me.
The question of killing or sparing was a separate matter to be dealt with later. And there was no reason to be considerate toward people who couldn't even properly grasp the severity of the war against the Demonfolk, made complacent judgments, and looked down on their opponents before attacking.
"---------!"
With a song, Sebella—who just moments ago had been trembling—sprang up as if restored and swung her spear.
The more I watched, the more fascinating it became. Was this something like a bard's power? The principle seemed different from magic: instead of drawing in ambient Magic Power, the Magic Power around her mouth seemed to break down and be converted into Mana as the strengthening took effect. If any Demonfolk could use magic like that, it would be troublesome. My ability couldn't block it.
Of course, that was assuming a member of the Demonfolk with vastly superior base specs. She wasn't fast enough to touch me when I was already on full alert.
Tracking the spear tip with my eyes posed no difficulty whatsoever, so just deflecting it to the side with the right timing was enough to completely nullify it.
"What?!"
Being suspicious was understandable, but suspicion without any basis was a sickness.
Still, this was an official occasion, and cutting her head off would obviously gain me nothing. I lowered my sword and drove a fist and elbow into Sebella's off-balance face.
-Crunch!
I discovered that beating someone felt more psychologically uncomfortable than cutting them at the same moment my elbow smashed her nose. I grabbed her by the neck, drove my knee into her solar plexus, and threw her backward as tears and blood burst from her eyes and nose.
Once someone picked up a weapon, sex no longer mattered.
"Kureugh...!"
I tossed the return scroll I'd just picked up onto Sebella, who collapsed to the floor unable to properly react to the sudden impact, but she showed no sign of getting up. The hit to her solar plexus had clearly landed true; she wouldn't be moving for a while. Still, I'd gotten a chance to confirm that song-based buff one more time, so it wasn't without profit.
"Don't turn your eyes away from reality. Keep training. Itisel can't hold back the Demonfolk forever, can it? With skills like yours, you'll simply die."
She wouldn't actually just die, but she needed at least this much of a wake-up call to snap out of it.
It was too painful to watch any longer, so I picked up the fallen sword, cut the scroll lying on Sebella's body, and sent her back.
"Still, a knight holds onto her weapon to the end, huh."
I picked up Sebella's original scroll and looked back. Zeke had knocked two of them unconscious and was facing the remaining two.
Oh? With four of them gathered, they could hold out to that extent after all. Though, of course, it was also because Zeke had been fighting with only his sword...
"Bring out the scrolls, you bastards. Unless you want to get beaten more."
Surprisingly, whether out of pride or something else, instead of taking out their scrolls, the two charged at Zeke.
Since the sight of them putting on solemn faces and trying to protect their pride even after taking that kind of beating was so ridiculous, I joined in, slipping in from the flank while they focused on Zeke.
And that alone painted their faces with despair.
That ended the fight. Zeke and I still had to take one opponent each and beat them unconscious, but that couldn't be helped.
"Stubborn bastards. They wouldn't say where they hid them to the very end. Can't exactly strip them all naked either, dammit."
We couldn't risk a broadcast accident during a live show, but they still insisted they wouldn't take them out. What could we do?
After the situation was resolved, Zeke kept growling in dissatisfaction, and I decided to tidy things up by using the remaining scrolls to return the envoys.
Now that I knew scrolls always remained, there was no point wasting energy on it. If they wouldn't even accept the mercy of voluntarily admitting defeat, then forced execution it was. We sent all four back—using my spare scroll to return one, then using the scroll left behind to return the next—and then we strolled through the dungeon like it was a walk in the park, with nothing left but monsters as enemies.
"Honestly, when Mabakki said there were suspicious movements, I was kind of looking forward to seeing what kind of bastards would show up. Finding out it was just that level of opposition really takes the wind out of my sails."
Zeke looked genuinely disappointed as he said it, but in the end it was probably fortunate that they'd openly shown just how complacent they were. If Zeke hadn't seen red, I might have mistaken their attitude for admirable and held back, and then those bastards coming at us with intent to kill might actually have managed to wound me.
Since the dialogue wasn't being broadcast, we couldn't avoid condemnation for beating the kingdom's envoys like dogs after clearing the dungeon, but at least the Hero's majesty had been clearly demonstrated, so I decided to look on the bright side.
After that, it didn't take long to find the marker bearing the academy's emblem. Once we secured it, a gate serving as the exit appeared, and the dungeon expedition came to a close.