Men's Pride on the Line (1)

"What the hell is going on? Huh? Why'd you draw your sword?"

"Hans? When did you get here? And next to you is... wait, is that a little kid?"

The village chief's screams carried to every corner of the settlement, and at the sound of them Friga, Rohan, and the Apostle unit members came gathering one by one.

Kenis stood with a solemn face, her holy sword drawn. Hans had twisted the chief's arm until it snapped. Daisy wore a vacant, stunned expression, while the villagers still wailed and clung to Kenis. Everyone who took in the scene wore the same look of total incomprehension.

"Princess Friga. Apostles."

"Yeah? What."

"Sir!"

Kenis's voice came out low and cold. At the murderous weight of her presence, the unit members snapped their replies with full military vigor.

"The people of this village are heretics who have taken the hand of a demon. I, as a Hero, have rendered that judgment, and the evidence is more than sufficient. Subdue them all."

"...A demon? They took a demon's hand? The bastards we bled ourselves dry protecting made a deal with a demon?"

Friga repeated Kenis's words a few times, then let out a short, incredulous laugh.

"Ha. You've got to be kidding me. Unbelievable. Ha! The little shits we busted our asses protecting are demon-worshipping scum? You're sure about this?"

"I am certain. Whether they did so deliberately remains to be confirmed... but the evidence of their connection to a demon is unmistakable."

Friga raked a rough hand through her hair as if her head were boiling, muttering curses under her breath, then hauled the enormous axe from her back. She turned on a villager who was still sprawled on the ground, trembling.

"Hey. Who's your boss? Who put you up to this? Huh?"

"Eek... Th-there! That man over there is the chief! The chief made us do everything!"

"That bastard? The one with his arm twisted the wrong way is the boss?"

Friga turned her head in the direction the villager pointed. The chief hung in Hans's grip, his arm bent at a grotesque angle. Friga's black eyes blazed with fury, and her axe carved through the air.

"You son of a bitch—!"

Like a great predator falling on its prey, the Dragon Hunter's Axe lunged for the chief's throat. But it never sank its teeth into that tempting neck.

— CLANG!

The axe that had been streaking toward the chief's neck was knocked aside by a sweep of Kenis's holy sword. The Dragon Hunter's Axe cut empty air, sunlight flashing brilliantly off its massive blade.

"Move. I need to take that bastard's head before I'll feel better."

"I cannot allow that. I understand how you feel, Princess, but simply killing this man would be far too merciful a sentence."

"Hey! Do you even know what we just went through? Did we fight ourselves half to death to protect a bunch of damn demon-worshippers? No! We held our guts in with our bare hands and stuck our own severed arms back on — and you're telling me we did all that for these sons of bitches?!"

"..."

Friga shouted straight into Kenis's face. And she was right — the Apostle unit had fought with truly desperate ferocity. The enemies had come in endless waves, like the sea itself, and the unit had held on with nothing but the walls and each other. If the Warriors of God had not descended, it would not have been strange for some of them to die.

"Move. I'm cutting that bastard's head off."

"...I cannot allow it, Princess."

Kenis's red eyes and Friga's black eyes collided fiercely in the air between them. Kenis understood Friga's feelings perfectly well — but as the village's leader, this man still had a great deal that the Inquisitors needed to extract from him. To kill him in a single flash of blind rage would be an act of far too much mercy.

A breathless standoff stretched on. Neither woman yielded an inch, and neither put her weapon away. The situation hung on a knife's edge.

Friga was the first to step back. She let out a long, heavy sigh and lowered her axe.

"Huuuh. Fine. Killing him in one go would be a waste, is that it."

She took a few steps back, spinning the axe idly through the air. If the blue-gleaming edge of the blade seemed to hunger for blood, that was probably just the imagination.

"Alright. We'll do it your way."

"Princess... thank you."

"In exchange, I'm taking one of that bastard's arms. I can't hold back any more than that."

Friga narrowed her eyes at the chief. There was Kenis's dignity as their commander to consider, and now that the blood had cooled a little in her head, she could see the sense in Kenis's argument. Even so, the rage of having fought with that filthy creature at her back refused to settle.

Kenis hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Very well. I understand ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠how you feel, so I will look the other way as far as the shoulder."

"Good."

The moment Kenis gave her leave, Friga's mouth curled into a wicked grin and she raised the axe. To the chief, she must have looked exactly like an executioner with the blade already in hand.

"Hiiiek!! Stay away! Stay away from me! Aaaahhh!! Don't come near me!! Don't you come near me!!"

"Heh. What, scared? Don't worry, you little shit. This won't be over quick. It's gonna take a nice, long time."

Hans seized the thrashing, retreating chief in a merciless grip. Friga raised her axe, aiming for the chief's remaining good arm. The keen edge caught the sunlight as it rose high —

— CRUNCH!

"Aaaagh!! Aaaaaaagh!! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hwaaaaargh—!!"

A handful of blood spilled free and quietly soaked into the ground.

Satisfied, Friga left. The Apostle unit bound the villagers and herded them into one place. With the sole exceptions of Daisy and her mother — the only two who had not possessed a bloodstone — every person in the village was tightly trussed with rope and locked away in a warehouse.

Having brought the situation under control, Kenis could have chosen to return to the Holy City at once, but she decided to remain in the village a little longer so the unit could rest and tend their wounds. The fact that the Empire's reinforcements had not yet arrived was another reason. If their paths crossed by accident, coordinating later would be a headache.

And so several days passed in the mountain village, waiting for the Imperial army and nursing the injuries of battle.

"Hey, look — it's Hans."

"Oi— Hans! Even so, you know you can't go after an eleven-year-old!"

"At least let the little priestess have her coming-of-age ceremony first! Hahahaha!"

"Haa..."

In the few days they had spent in the mountain village, Hans had become a widely infamous thief. Daisy refused to leave his side for even a moment, so it would have been stranger if no one had noticed. Hans had long since given up arguing with the unit members who teased him mercilessly. Reacting would only encourage them to pile on harder.

He walked past the laughing lot of them as if they did not exist. Daisy, trailing at his side, tilted her head.

"Lord Hans. Why do you put up with their teasing?"

"Daisy, it's always the weak dogs that bark the loudest. A truly strong man is quiet and composed — he only steps forward when it truly matters."

"Ah. So it's because Lord Hans is so much stronger than they are?"

"That's right. Exactly."

Hans grinned and nodded. The unit members who overheard him bristled at once.

"Hey! What did you just say? Who's calling who a weak dog?"

"This ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠won't do. Huh? Hans, who was nowhere to be seen during the actual fighting, is talking like that?"

"Haa, give me a break."

Hans had deliberately kept the fact that he had slain a demon from the unit. There was no particular reason. It was simply more fun that way. Was this how a tiger felt, watching a pack of day-old puppies yapping?

Hans pulled his mouth into the most insufferable smirk he could manage.

"You guys are just ridiculously weak."

"What?"

"Alright, that's it. Set it up. We're settling the unit rankings today."

Hans had just put his finger squarely on every man's pride. The unit's reaction was explosive. They erupted into noisy shouting, demanding a sparring match right then and there. Watching them, Daisy smiled quietly to herself.

"Huuuah~"

I wiped away the tears that came with an unstoppable yawn. Maybe it was because I had gotten up in the middle of the night to play games before going back to sleep, but even well past lunchtime the drowsiness refused to lift. I washed down a dose of caffeine — the lifeblood of every office worker — rubbed my eyes, and forced myself back onto the work at hand.

This week in particular felt like the tasks were piling up without mercy. The moment lunch ended, I threw myself into clearing the backlog. No matter how much I cut through, the mountain of work never seemed to shrink, and for some reason the volume kept growing in direct proportion to the number of phone calls coming in.

"...I feel like I'm going to die."

The sense that I would actually die if I stayed put any longer drove me out of the office with coffee in hand. A little fresh air for the brain ought to be fine. I stepped into the quiet rear garden, found a secluded bench out of anyone's line of sight, and dropped heavily onto it.

"Hoo..."

A cool breeze brushed past. Breathing the clean air, I felt the tightness in my chest ease just a little. I idly fiddled with my phone, and out of pure habit launched the game.

The moment the temple appeared on screen, message windows began popping up one after another.

— Babam!

"Oh. What? There's stuff like this?"

I remembered that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in World Exploration mode, the city called Civitas had already had a pretty high Faith level — ninety or ninety-five, something like that. Looks like it had finally hit the maximum. At the words "special building," I hurriedly opened the building list.

There it was, flashing with a dazzling light and flaunting its presence: the Coliseum. Its exterior looked quite a bit like the Roman Colosseum. The main difference was that the spectator seating inside the arena was enormously wide and plentiful.

A special building I'd never seen before, and one that could only be placed in World Exploration mode — it was bound to have an effect worthy of the designation. There was no way I could hold back.

"Gotta build it right now."

I quickly switched the screen to World Exploration mode. Unlike before, a Coliseum-shaped icon was sparkling at the top of the display. That was probably how you placed it. First priority: figuring out where to put the thing. A special building couldn't just be dropped anywhere on a whim. I spun the camera this way and that, hunting for a plot of land suitable for the Coliseum.

"Eh, just build it."

After a bit of searching I got bored and simply constructed the Coliseum in a convenient spot in the Holy City. There had been residential buildings on the site, but they obligingly slid aside to make room. The houses shifted out of the way, and a hammer-and-nail construction effect appeared. Estimated wait time: six days and fifteen hours.

I finished it instantly with the power of a Building Completion Package I'd bought a while back.

— Babam!

"Oh shit, what's this?"

An event just kicked off out of nowhere?