A Long Vacation - Hard Mode (1)
"You missed him?"
At my question, the man—one of Dorf's subordinates—bowed his head, fidgeting uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry. We had several teams tracking him along different routes, but every single one got tangled up in bizarre incidents..."
His explanation painted a picture of trackers being shaken off one by one: mistaken for pickpockets and interrogated, suddenly picked on by street thugs, or detained by overly aggressive solicitors. The result was that Simark's trail had gone completely cold. A couple of coincidences might be believable, but every single one of them? That was far too suspicious.
Fiore seemed to share my thoughts. She asked, "Did you investigate the people who interfered with our personnel?"
"Of course. But they all had completely different origins and social statuses, so we couldn't find any connections between them."
What the man was implying came down to two possibilities. Either it really was pure coincidence, or there was a connection but it lay beyond the Midas Trading Company's ability to uncover. The first case would simply mean we had the worst luck imaginable... but the second one wasn't nearly as amusing.
"All right, forget about that guy for now. What about Joy's side?"
"Before reaching the Mars Duchy, she apparently showed herself in two cities to the north—'Skol' and 'Hati.'"
"Anything else?"
"That's... we're still lacking sufficient information..."
The man trailed off, looking ashamed, and I could only scratch my head. The Midas Trading Company wasn't some specialized intelligence agency or elite operative unit. I couldn't blame them for not delivering exactly the information I wanted on demand. If anything, gathering this much in such a short time was already a testament to their effort.
Still, even though I tried to tell myself it couldn't be helped, something about the situation kept nagging at me. It felt like having a pebble stuck inside your shoe, tickling the sole with every step—only to find nothing when you finally take it off and shake it out. That same lingering discomfort.
Ligret, hands laced behind her head in a casual pose, asked bluntly, "Do you really need to worry about it? No matter how you look at it, you already took him out yourself. Even if he was plotting something, he failed the moment he couldn't beat you, right?"
"Even giving him a hundred steps—or maybe ten—for Simark, fine. But what about Joy?"
"It's fine. I'll have her join our ranks soon enough."
"You're stacking death flags like it's going out of style..."
If anyone else had said that, I would have clicked my tongue and thought, Tsk tsk, she's going to get wrecked and taught a harsh lesson. The problem was that this particular person would actually follow through. And if she didn't deliver on her boast, that would be its own kind of problem. Five hundred gold coins wasn't exactly an irrecoverable fortune, but it wasn't pocket change I could just laugh off either.
In the end, with no clear solution in sight, the meeting wrapped up on the simple, brutish conclusion of 'Anyway, as long as the ridiculously strong Ligret smashes everything, it's all good.' We disbanded right after.
Late that night, I was lying in bed in my private room, groaning in frustration and about to drift off when a knock sounded at the door. Wondering who it could be at this hour, I opened it to find Fiore standing there.
"Did I wake you?"
"No, I hadn't fallen asleep yet, so it's fine. What's up?"
Unlike her usual self, Fiore hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"I have a favor to ask, Brother."
"A favor?"
"The truth is..."
After listening to what followed, I could only tilt my head in confusion. It was definitely suspicious, sure, but did we really need to go that far? That was the feeling I couldn't shake.
"Will it be difficult?"
"I'll give it a try for now. Whether it'll work or not, I can't say."
"Thank you, Brother."
Thank you for waiting, everyone! In every sense of the word, this match is the greatest highlight of the entire tournament! A beautiful girl's fight that's a feast for the eyes just to watch! Ah, though of course I have no desire to approach them outside of spectating!
Laughter rippled through various spots in the spectator seats at the announcer's comment. Paying my respects to his courage in the face of death, I turned my gaze toward the center of the arena.
Two human weapons whose appearance and actual danger level had zero correlation were facing each other, burning with fighting spirit.
Joy let her long sleeves—which completely covered her hands—hang loose as she flashed a bright, cheerful smile.
"Thanks for buying me food! But I won't go easy on you in the fight!"
Ligret rested the Ancient Guardian's Greatsword on her shoulder, wearing a crooked stance and expression.
"It's not like I bought it anyway, so no need to go easy. Not sure if you'll even have the luxury, though."
3! 2! 1! Start!
The signal to begin had barely faded before both of them moved at almost the exact same instant.
With a crunch, the ground beneath Ligret's feet shattered in the shape of her footprint as her body sliced through the air. A straight-line charge with zero hesitation. Knowing Joy's specialty was a form of throwing technique, she intended to end things before her opponent could even begin, taking the shortest route possible.
Even from the distant spectator seats, Ligret's movements—wrapped in Red Light mana—looked like a lightning bolt. To her opponent standing right in front of her, it must have felt like teleportation.
But Joy was no ordinary opponent either. The moment she flicked her sleeves, five iron balls shot out from within them. As if they possessed their own will, they streaked through the air in every direction, blocking Ligret's path.
Ligret dodged two with a quick change of footwork, evaded another two by shifting her center of gravity left and right, but couldn't avoid the final one. She swung her sword. The sharp slash carried a clear intent: if she couldn't ignore it and push forward, she might as well destroy one of the enemy's hands right now.
Watching this, I couldn't help but be shocked.
"It didn't get cut...?"
The Ancient Guardian's Greatsword had no special functions, but in terms of pure cutting power and durability, it was the pinnacle among the weapons Ligret possessed. Yet the iron ball that clashed head-on with such a blade showed no sign of being sliced. Instead, it spun with ferocious momentum and pushed forward as if trying to shove the blade aside.
The instant Ligret frowned at the bizarre sight, the four balls she had clearly already dodged came flying at her from behind.
Some spectators held their breath as if anticipating the coming tragedy, but that was underestimating Ligret far too much. After a brief contest of strength with the ball, she twisted the trajectory of her sword by the tiniest margin. The ball that had lost its opponent followed the path guided by the blade and collided with several others approaching from her rear.
Without even properly checking the balls crashing behind her back, Ligret closed in on Joy once again. Joy wore an expression of genuine fascination, as if she hadn't expected her attack to be blocked that way. Right before Ligret's blade could reach her, her body moved with incredible speed.
With almost no foot movement at all, Joy glided across the arena like a ghost. Having seen this several times now, I finally understood the principle behind it. Inside those baggy clothes with their wide sleeves were iron balls of the same type that had just blocked Ligret's path.
It made sense that she didn't need to move her feet. The balls moved using her clothes as a medium, carrying her body along with them. Why would she need to work her legs at all? She used five balls to achieve mobility like low-altitude flight and the other five for pure offense.
What followed was a repetition of the same process. Ligret would use her weapon to block the attack, close the distance, and slash. Joy would then use her mobility to dodge, create distance, and fire more iron balls.
If I had been standing there instead of Ligret, I would have been completely toyed with by that overwhelming mobility, precise control, and speed until the very end.
And that was when I realized why Ligret had taken 'a certain weapon' from my backpack. I'd wondered why she was suddenly looking for something she barely used these days. So this was why.
The Vibros Wooden Club.
It had too many flaws to be used for killing, but it was perfectly optimized for subduing or batting things far away. The moment Ligret pulled out the magic tool, even Joy couldn't hide her bewilderment.
"Huh?"
Clang!
These weren't even bouncy rubber balls—they were iron spheres with zero elasticity. Yet Ligret's physical ability combined with the enhancement of Red Light was more than enough to turn even such pathetic projectiles into stars in the sky.
Hopefully no one was standing where they landed.
Joy could instantly regain control of any iron balls inside the arena no matter how many times they were knocked away or slammed into the ground. But even she apparently lacked the ability to instantly retrieve ones that had been sent flying outside the arena—far beyond the range of sight.
The iron balls that had been weaving around and pressuring Ligret gradually decreased in number. Soon, not a single one remained for offensive use. She grit her teeth and even pulled out the ones she'd been using for movement to use as weapons, but the tide had already turned decisively.
Still, just in case, I kept my eyes fixed on the arena in preparation for any unexpected developments. That was the exact moment it happened.