111. Preparations to Vanquish Queen Siren
111. Preparations to Vanquish Queen Siren
Preparations for the Queen Siren Subjugation
Part One
[The long-awaited 1st place goes to──Team 'Hell Taker'!]
"...Chrono, this isn't a dream, is it?"
"Would you prefer it if it were a dream?"
I asked Minerva.
"......I"
Minerva gazed steadily into my eyes.
"Really, really hope it's reality."
A single sentence followed.
I answered her sincerity.
"Then that's a relief. Because it is reality."
"....What's that supposed to mean."
That's that thing Chrono always does, right?
The thing where it was all according to plan.
"I'm not surprised anymore!"
"Just what kind of guy have I been imprinted as in your mind...."
"Umm─"
─The grandson of a great demon who crawled up from hell?
"....Hey?"
"It's a joke. A joke♬"
".....Tch"
It didn't really seem like a joke though.
Minerva and I went up onto the platform and received the trophy and the [electric guitar] imbued with the [Muse's Blessing].
"Everyone, a round of applause for [Hell Taker]!"
""""Waaaaaah!!!""""
"....Ahem....hrrm....hmm...."
Minerva, not knowing what to do with herself beyond her mask.
I took her hand instead of her and raised it up toward the sky.
"Ch...Chrono?!"
"Well,"
You wanted to do this, didn't you.
I made a peace sign with my other hand and showed it.
"...Really...!"
Minerva made the same hand gesture as if she had no other choice.
Seeing her absolutely kill it with her headbanging at the encore performance that followed, it didn't really look like she was against it at all.
...
..
.
Preparations for the Queen Siren Subjugation
Part Two
"You there, Mister Chrono. I don't know how many times I have to say it, but didn't I tell you that harmony is crucial in this part!"
"It seemed harmonious to me?"
"If you wish to do as you please, then leave this place immediately!"
"Hrm...."
Enduring this fucking orchestra practice.
I understood that they were working us hard because the performance day was approaching, but why was I the only one held to such strict standards?
"This is why the young generation only trusts and relies on their tools... tsk tsk!"
"............"
Ah,
I really wanted to just tear that mustache off.
While I consulted the Joan of Arc inside me on the best way to crush that human, Minerva, who was on stage, turned her head toward me.
"Conductor. Let us proceed with practice."
"My apologies, Lady Minerva. I inadvertently──my teeth simply clench at the sight of a performer with no foundational roots."
".........."
She didn't say anything, but her eyes were cursing him out.
Minerva had stepped in a few times before when situations like this kept occurring, unable to just watch anymore, but
[My lady, noble though you may be, I am the conductor of this orchestra. Put another way, I am responsible for this ensemble.]
[That is....even so, this is too much──]
[If a mistake is made, dozens, no, hundreds or thousands of lives could be put at risk.]
[..........]
She was pushed back in justification and outmatched in skill.
Especially debating and sophistry were her weaknesses.
The conclusion that was reached was that once I swallowed my pride and groveled, things would wrap up somehow.
"Really....really, if only I had my way....!"
"I'm the one getting insulted, why are you getting so angry?"
"Grrr....grrrr....!!"
She was visibly angry from the outside.
'Seems like her expressions are getting richer.'
No, her emotions actually had grown richer.
The feelings she had always kept hidden inside were now coming out one by one, as if unlocking locks.
"Chrono is bad too!"
"Hrm...."
Minerva had become able to laugh, cry, get angry, and shout only in front of Chrono.
So she was frustrated. Frustrated and resentful.
'If it were Chrono... he could easily brush off guys like them...!'
It was baseless faith.
But because the one who gave her that faith was also Chrono,
Minerva could not understand Chrono, who kept acting so frustratingly passive.
"Even so, what could we do? Just walk out saying we won't do it?"
"We could just beat them with skill again like last time. Besides... the reason Chrono won wasn't because of the instrum──mmph?!"
"Shh."
She was throwing a wrench in the works.
Chrono covered Minerva's mouth and glanced around.
Fortunately, no one seemed to be taking notice.
Therefore, Put another way,
'Someone is continuing to watch.'
The fact that no one was watching,
that paradoxically provided strong confirmation that someone was watching.
The reason was simple.
'I'm right here talking with the kid, and they're not bothered by that?'
One was a troll + trash-tier degenerate, an impurity that should be removed from this place.
The other was the daughter of the highest-ranking figure of the very guild they belonged to.
Wouldn't it be stranger if they didn't pay any attention to these two huddled together talking?
Chrono recognized exactly that point and deliberately lowered his voice, speaking to Minerva as if truly aiming 'to hide it.'
"How many times do I have to say it's a secret. Even if it wasn't because of the instrument, in the end I won thanks to the compatibility of the blessings, so it's all the same."
"Chrono....?"
Her eyes looked as if she were asking what he was suddenly talking about.
Chrono stared quietly at Minerva.
"....Ah...!"
An expression of realization.
To put it kindly, this place was where only those related to the Athena Guild were.
To put it bluntly,
"I'm sorry....."
A place packed full of those watching Chrono.
Only then, as if she had just caught on to the atmosphere of political maneuvering, Minerva bowed her head deeply.
"It's fine. It's not just a day or two."
Chrono brushed it off as if it were nothing.
Actually, it was nothing, and rather, because he came out like this, he could give even more 'certainty' to the people around him.
'In fact, a few have been confirmed.'
Silently moving gazes.
The event that would follow was obvious without even seeing it.
"Mister Chrono, we are planning to entrust you with the grand tuning ahead of the boss battle, so we must take your instrument and transfer it to our side as well."
"Excuse me?"
"An orchestra is like a giant instrument. It is not strange to perform a communal tuning suitable to everyone's condition."
Besides, isn't it a good thing anyway? You can get a tuning for free.
The conductor demanded that I hand over my instrument.
"...Chrono."
"It's fine, Minerva."
I picked up the keyboard in my hands.
"Would a large guild like the Athena Guild really play tricks just to screw over someone like me?"
Purely, as if harboring no suspicion whatsoever,
Just as I moved to hand the keyboard over to the conductor──
"──Just a moment."
""Huh?""
Minerva blocked it.
"...Conductor. Did you say... tuning of the instrument?"
"That is correct, but is there a problem?"
With slightly hardened eyes,
she clenched her fist tightly, as if she had resolved something.
"There is no problem. However, I simply wish to suggest an alternative, as I know of an instrument craftsman far superior to a mere tuner dispatched at the guild level."
"Even if you say it's a suggestion... I doubt there exists a tuner better than the one provided by the Athena Guild──"
"──A member of the Muses, Ur."
".............."
A tuner sponsored by the Athena Guild?
Forget that, here comes Ur, a member of the Muses.
"Ur is a distinguished member of the Muses. Naturally, she knows instruments in detail, and since she also has personal connections, she will be able to provide a much better tuning."
"That is....."
Could he really deny it?
Being merely a human,
could he dare claim he could tune better than a god, than the god of music?
No,
impossible.
"....Certainly, Lady Minerva's words are correct."
"Then...!"
However, regretfully,
"But due to the nature of the schedule, it seems difficult to accommodate your suggestion. I'm sorry, Lady Minerva."
"What...?"
What defeats a sound argument is precisely sophistry, circumstance, and those beings called humans.
No matter how perfect the truth, as long as it is 'humans' who handle it,
"If we had been told in advance, that would be different, but time is too short now to meet Ur, request her tuning, and proceed with the work."
"That... is... well..."
By a mere slight change in circumstances,
by a single word,
her logic shattered, distorted, and was chewed up and ignored on the spot.
"Then I shall take my leave. I look forward to your performance in the subjugation battle."
"Ah......"
The keyboard ultimately left her embrace.
Minerva just watched that sight and finally bowed her head deeply.
"What are you doing?"
"...I'm, sorry."
"What do you have to be sorry for? They said they're just going to tune it and bring it back."
"..........."
Do you... believe that?
...She wanted to ask, but Minerva could not bring herself to say it.
Because the moment she asked that, it would be the same as admitting it herself.
Admitting that the guild she was a part of, her home base, was hopelessly corrupt.
She just couldn't do that.
For she was Minerva, the Athena Guild heiress.
"....I'm sorry, Chrono."
She just bowed her head and apologized.
She resented her powerless self, a self that could do nothing but watch.
And,
"A date, it's been so long.... I was surprised since you called so suddenly!"
"Sowwy..."
Preparations for the Queen Siren Subjugation
Part Three
"Well, okay. Anyway, how is it? The feeling of having your arm stuck between my breasts."
"I feel like I could die of happiness."
Equipment shopping.
"Hmm... You asked me for things like that, and you feel like you could die of happiness?"
"Ur. If you put it that way, I sound like total trash."
A date with Ur while I was at it.
Furthermore,
"'Get an instrument that's okay to break'... No matter what, isn't that asking too harsh a thing from a goddess who's a member of the Muses?"
"....Tch."
Prepare an instrument that's okay to destroy, asked to the goddess of music.
Certainly, even I thought it was a somewhat shady request.
'Although I had my reasons for it....'
That instrument I was to entrust to the orchestra—
There was no way in hell I'd send Agape off in that.
So I needed to get a dummy instrument, but...
"I prepared and put a highest-grade one in there. Well, even if it's called highest-grade, it's just an instrument I held in my embrace for about a week."
"Thank you...!"
I was actually flustered because she gave me one that good.
Still, no matter how good, it couldn't be better than Agape.
"You said we're buying a weapon next, right? After buying the weapon, it's time to go play with me?"
"...By any chance, do you have somewhere in mind to go play...?"
"What do you mean, somewhere. Isn't that obviously decided?"
Ur grinned as she spoke.
"A love♡hotel."
".....Oh."
That's not going to play, that's going to do it...
...Since I didn't particularly dislike it, I happily followed along.
As a side note,
Taang!
"......Hmm. It feels a bit ambiguous."
I entered a weapon shop to buy equipment.
As for daggers, roughly the most expensive and sturdy one... no, it felt like a waste, so I grabbed two.
And now, there was only one gun left, but
"Customer... that one there is the strongest one we have, y'know?"
"Really? I wish it were a bit stronger...."
"No, I mean, just how strong a thing are you looking for!"
"How strong, you ask...."
...Well, for example,
"Something where your wrist is on the verge of shattering after firing just one shot...?"
"...If I sold somethin' like that, I'd go outta business, y'know?"
"Is that so?"
"Right?"
"..........."
"............"
What,
am I the weird one?