The SSR Traitor
SSR traitors. They were the ones who formed the largest organization in history. No matter the world, no matter the era, they always betrayed people. Judas Iscariot, Brutus, Mordred, Hilde, Lee Wan-yong—those bastards. Yet I didn't want to believe that Ricardo was one of them. But something was clearly off. Why Ricardo, of all people? There was no one who loved his comrades and justice more than he did. On top of that, he treated loyalty to the imperial family as his sacred duty; if the emperor ordered him to die, he'd slit his own throat without hesitation. Still, traitors were always the last people you'd suspect. That said, I couldn't just kill him without proof. I'd have to subdue him first and hear what he had to say. Using magic would risk seriously injuring him, so that was out. Which left only hand-to-hand combat. Subduing someone without killing them wasn't my strong suit, but I had no choice.
I crept toward Ricardo, muffling my footsteps. Step by step, I closed the distance and lunged from behind. If I could just get an arm around his neck and press a knife to his throat, then ask why he was here…
I was still refining the exact wording of my question when the world flipped upside down. If my instincts hadn't kicked in with a proper breakfall, my neck would've snapped and that would've been the end of me.
"Huh? Werner?"
Ricardo looked more surprised to see me than anything else. If he'd been a traitor, he would've clicked his tongue at the sight of me and tried to finish the job. Did that mean he wasn't a traitor after all? Then how the hell was I supposed to explain attacking him from behind?
Come to think of it, the old sages had a saying: when it's obviously your fault, just play dumb and deny everything.
"Oh, it was you, big brother? I thought for sure it was one of those Black Round Table bastards…"
"I figured anyone sneaking up on me from behind had to be one of their lackeys, so I countered. Your hand-to-hand skills have really improved, though. Back in the day, that throw might've killed you."
Back then, Werner had only learned the absolute basics of punching and tried to imitate the Heavenly Demon's techniques. Proper fundamentals like breakfalls or joint locks had been beyond him. Even if he'd picked up a little, that throw just now would've finished him instantly. A throw so fast it didn't even give him time to breakfall… I'd killed a few judo practitioners before, and I'd never seen anything like it.
"Suspicious. It's like you're a completely different person."
"Hahaha… Suspicious? What do you mean?"
"The Werner I knew hated physical labor. The moment I tried to teach him any hand-to-hand, he'd run off using magic. A real schemer."
That goddamn lazy bastard… Because of him, Ricardo was now doubting my identity. Sloth—one of the Seven Deadly Sins, supposedly the heaviest of them all—and Werner had committed it. When your big brother offers to teach you how to fight, you should bow your head and accept it gratefully. Why run away and make everything complicated? Why only learn the bare minimum and cause this mess…?
"Werner, you…"
No helping it. If he'd figured out who I really was, I had to kill him. If you wipe out every witness, it's just an assassination. If you kill everyone who knows, it stays a secret. If you eliminate everyone who's caught on, the secret remains safe. I raised my thumb, aiming to drive it through Ricardo's throat—
"You must've trained incredibly hard. Hahaha."
"…What?"
Was Ricardo actually an idiot? Well, even Melkior called him a tin can, so… I'd never paid much attention to that moron's opinions. But apparently even that idiot Melkior thought Ricardo was stupid enough to call him a tin can.
"That movement… No one could pull that off without steady, dedicated training. You must've worked incredibly hard to reach that level."
"Uh… yeah. I guess I practiced pretty hard on my own."
More accurately, it wasn't "on my own." I was simply the only one among those who'd learned it who was still alive. And it wasn't so much that I'd "worked hard" as that I'd had no choice but to learn it desperately.
"You're a genius at both magic and hand-to-hand, Werner. The gods really gave you two gifts. As expected of my little brother."
"Gifts, my ass. Anyway, how did you get all the way down here, big brother?"
"I've been investigating the Black Round Table in my own way. I received a report that someone with a distinctive tattoo was seen heading into the sewers."
"Ah, really? I came because I saw a kid who'd stolen my wallet being dragged down here…"
"Hahaha! That kid's got some nerve. Reminds me of you when you were little. Just like when you dropped lightning on the Heavenly Demon."
Right. Because of that, the Heavenly Demon had put Werner through hellish training under the guise of "education."
"I'd like to meet such a bold kid. A child with the makings of a knight."
"You won't. The dead don't come back, no matter what you do."
That cold, obvious truth from childhood had always filled me with resentment. I'd prayed desperately that someone would tell me it was wrong. But the truth remained, proven by long history: the dead do not return.
"…I see."
"There's a room here where the children are being held. I put up a rough magical barrier and had the spirits guard it, but…"
The image flashed through my mind again, and my mood soured. I could handle the deaths of children—people died all the time. But every time I saw children dying, that one child's death came rushing back. There might not be degrees of importance to life in general, but for me, there were. The sight of children dying itself was unsettling, but more than anything, it reminded me of how that child had died, and I hated it.
"Right. We should take down the leaders hiding here today and rescue the children while we're at it. That'd be the most heroic thing possible."
"Yeah. Let's do it your way, big brother."
With two great heroes stepping up, what was there to fear? In mobile game terms, it was like fielding an SSR Shielder and an SSR Caster together. Sure, mobile games usually ran on three-person parties, so we'd be one short, but one missing member was just a handicap run. Manageable.
"By the way, where's your weapon, big brother?"
Unlike the usual Ricardo—who always went into battle with spear, shield, and full armor—he was wearing comfortable training clothes and was completely unarmed. I wondered if he'd changed classes or something.
"Ah, that?"
Ricardo smirked and clapped his hands. Light burst from his body, and in the next instant he was clad in silver armor, a ornate shield in one hand and a sturdy spear in the other.
"This good enough? Let's go."
What the hell, was he some kind of magical girl? "Bibbidi-bobbidi-boo, transform!" Magical Knight Ricardo, who bashes heads with his shield and severs necks with his spear, has arrived! Something like that. Anyway, Magical Knight… no, Knight Commander Ricardo, and SSR-tier Human Rights Caster Werner were on the move. Who would be the first mob to greet us on this stage? A wyvern? A horse-headed, horse-bodied bird that wasn't actually a horse? Or maybe a blonde mage carrying four guts? Who the hell would it be?
We opened the door in front of us and stepped inside. What greeted us was a massive slash. For a welcoming gesture, that was way too excessive, wasn't it? This was why swordsmen were such a pain… If it hadn't been for Ricardo's shield, I would've died for real. As expected of an SSR Shielder—performance guaranteed. Even so, Ricardo seemed to have struggled with that slash; the hand holding his shield was trembling slightly. Just who the hell had thrown a slash strong enough to make Ricardo shake like that? I needed to find out. But trying to identify them was pointless. The one who'd thrown it was wearing a robe. The only notable features were a lean build for a swordsman and the black sword in his hand. That alone wasn't enough to figure out who he was.
"…Hmm. Seems you have some minor tricks up your sleeve."
The moment we heard that voice, both Ricardo and I knew instinctively: that bastard was insanely dangerous. He had to be a member of the Black Round Table, and a high-ranking one at that. He wasn't an opponent we could face while half-prepared.
"Leave. I'll return the kidnapped children. I've already taken all the promising ones separately for retrieval anyway."
"You son of a bitch, how dare you say that!"
Ricardo charged in fury, but the man vanished without a trace. What the hell? It hadn't been an illusion… He'd definitely had a physical body, yet he'd melted into the air and disappeared. It hadn't looked like magic either. Ricardo gritted his teeth.
"Werner. We're going to have to steel ourselves."
"Yeah, big brother. I was thinking the same thing."
This wasn't some easy enemy you could auto-farm for three stars. Even focusing every nerve, I wasn't sure we could clear him. We'd just braced ourselves when we heard footsteps approaching. I thought it might be reinforcements, but there was only one person. Still, they were very strong—maybe not quite at the level of the previous guy, but close. Ricardo raised his shield and leveled his spear. I prepared to chant a spell. And the person who appeared was…
"Werner and Ricardo? What are you two doing here?"
It was SSR Saber Camellia.