The Iron Flail Saint
I arrived at Ackenhof Village holding the map I'd received from Baron Heinrich. The baron had stayed behind in his territory, so it was just us. The villagers eyed us warily. Understandable. To my eyes, their movements were clumsy, but to serfs, Elisabeth looked every bit the noble lady overflowing with grace, Elena the haughty archmage, and Anastasia—collar and all—still beautiful. And then there was me, Goshugir. Of course they'd be on guard.
“Hmm.”
Because of that, everyone kept sneaking away, and I couldn't even ask where Johann Klein's house was. Scratching my head, I turned to Elena.
“Guess we'll have to find it ourselves.”
“I already located Greta Klein's house. No need to worry.”
“Ah.”
Right. She must've used that long-range clairvoyance magic or whatever. Makes sense—Elena was the type who'd even know what someone ate for every meal. I tugged on Anastasia's leash attached to her collar. Elisabeth came charging at me like she was about to demand an explanation.
“Why must you do that even outside?!”
“This is the only way she won't cause trouble.”
I whispered into her ear.
“She's just a damn dog, after all.”
“Well… if that's the case, I suppose there's no helping it!”
Elisabeth huffed and turned away. She was pretty cute.
“Cute.”
Shit. My inner thoughts slipped out. Elisabeth's face flushed red, but she struck a bold pose completely at odds with her embarrassment.
“W-Well, I am rather cute and pretty!”
“I said cute. Didn't say pretty.”
“But I am pretty! I can't forget the way the count looked at me when we first met!”
“…How was it?”
“You fell for me, didn't you?”
…Damn. She wasn't wrong. I had no comeback. Elena suddenly linked arms with me from the side. Soft. That soft something pressed against my right arm again.
“Enough idle talk. Let's head to the Klein residence.”
Her tone was calm, the complete opposite of her proactive action. Elisabeth abruptly linked arms with me from the other side. Soft-soft. Something even softer than Elena's pressed against my left arm. A bit bigger than Elena's, too. Then Anastasia joined in. She pressed herself against my front, wearing a chilly expression.
“Get away from Master!!”
…Well. It was nice. This was definitely a nice situation. Exactly the kind of thing I'd always dreamed of back at the Northern Wall. But at this rate, my masculinity was going to lose all control…!!
Smack—
“Oh my.”
“Eek.”
I manifested a fan and had it slap my own cheek. Elisabeth and Elena both yelped and pulled away.
“Good girl, doggy. Get off me, please.”
“Woof.”
At my words, Anastasia obediently detached herself like a well-trained dog. Still leashed, of course.
“Hoo.”
Finally, my masculinity returned to its normal state. We weren't here to play around. We came to see Greta Klein.
“Let's go! Lead the way, Elena.”
“…Yes.”
Elena looked somewhat reluctant as she took the lead again.
“Tch, what the hell are you doing, sis…”
“I can hear you, Elise.”
“Hic!”
…And so it went. Elena's steps stopped in front of a house. A shabby little place you'd find anywhere in the countryside. But ordinary. Peaceful. Whoosh— The door burst open and a girl came flying out, flail in hand.
“A flail?”
Anastasia's eyes went wide. A fifteen-year-old girl in rough linen clothes, short hair whipping around her. One look was enough. That was Greta Klein. She ignored us completely and glared toward the forest attached to her house.
“It's a boar monster! Nobody come out!!”
Just as she said, a boar-shaped monster came charging out of the woods.
“Hic!”
Elisabeth gasped and drew her bastard sword. She no longer used a gladius—she wielded a bastard sword now. Much heavier and harder to handle, but after grueling effort, she'd become decent with it. Mana flowed into her blade as she prepared to leap.
“Stop, Elisabeth.”
While Elisabeth held her stance, Greta Klein casually charged the boar with her flail, holy power surging around her. Elena sensed it.
“Holy power……”
The flail blazed with light, radiating a brilliance that nearly blinded, and slammed into the boar. Greta screamed.
“Die!! You pig bastard!!!”
And then—
BOOOOOOM——!!
With an explosion that didn't seem possible from a mere flail, the boar collapsed in a single strike. The demonic energy it carried was snuffed out by the overwhelming holy power. The boar monster was now just a regular boar—pork instead of monster meat. Looked delicious.
Elisabeth stared, jaw dropped in shock.
“That power… isn't that holy power? How does a girl from this backwater have this much?”
“Yeah. It's holy power.”
“I've never seen holy power of this level even at the Grand Cathedral in the capital……!!”
So this was the protagonist. Her entrance alone carried insane presence. Greta Klein retrieved her flail, but not a drop of blood or a single hair clung to the part that struck the boar. She turned to us.
“…Who are you?”
Her eyes were suspicious.
“And who's the old man who brought a bunch of aunties?”
This little shit. Calling a twenty-year-old an old man. I decided to calm down after seeing Greta's innocent expression. Hoo. Well. To a fifteen-year-old, twenty might count as an old man. But the other three clearly couldn't let it slide.
“Aunties, my ass!!”
Elisabeth charged with her sword drawn. Elena blocked her with a thin wall of ice magic. Then, in a voice cold enough to freeze, she spoke to Greta Klein.
“Listen here, kid. Aunties? I'm twenty-one.”
“Sounds like an auntie to me.”
“Hoo……”
The thin wall blocking Elisabeth began transforming into icicles. Thwack— I gave Elena a smack on the head.
“That's enough.”
“…Yes. I lost my composure for a moment.”
Thwack—
“You too.”
“Yes……”
One for Elisabeth as well. Anastasia pulled out a round flask from her pocket that looked like it might explode at any second and tried to throw it. I yanked her leash short to stop her.
“Hey, dog.”
“Yes! Master!”
“Stop.”
I spoke coldly, and she seemed to understand, wilting immediately.
“But I'm not an auntie…”
Anastasia was twenty-two. The oldest among us. She had every right to be the most offended. After calming the three of them down, I approached Greta Klein. She didn't hide her wariness, pouring holy power back into her flail. I smiled as brightly as I could.
“I'm the Count of Breitenfeld.”
“Eeeh?!”
The girl's face, once full of suspicion, transformed into one of pure admiration. She rushed over, practically bouncing.
“You're the Count of Breitenfeld?! The one who single-handedly slaughtered three knight orders?!”
“Haha, news travels fast. That's right. I'm Goshugir von Breitenfeld.”
Greta looked at me like I was some kind of god. Her personality was exactly like the original novel. No wonder she became a mercenary at twenty and made it all the way to the front lines near the capital, even healing Lucas with holy power. If she'd been the prim-and-proper type, none of that would've happened. With an utterly pure expression, she asked,
“But why are you here?!”
“Hmm… I heard there was a girl with exceptional martial talent in this village, so I came to see. Looks like that's you.”
“What?! Oh my goodness!!”
Her face looked ready to take flight. I patted her head.
“You're going to get much stronger. So, um… Universal Weapon Inventory.”
Universal Weapon Inventory
What weapon would you like to retrieve?
Greta Klein used a flail in the original story too. That was why her nickname was the “Iron Flail Saint.” The woman who smashed monster skulls best.
“Flail. The one that accepts holy power the best.”
Executing command.
A massive flail appeared in my hand. I held it out to Greta Klein.
“Train hard. The empire might face a major incident soon, and more than anything, if you get stronger, you can protect anyone you want, right?”
“Yes!! Thank you!! Thank you so much!!”
Greta Klein bowed repeatedly, overwhelmed with gratitude. Then she hugged the flail like a treasure and looked at me.
“Your family will become prosperous now. So focus only on training. You trust me, don't you?”
“Yes!!!”
Smiling brightly, Greta Klein went inside. I could hear her family's surprised voices from within.
“Time to go.”
“Was that why we came?”
“Well, yeah.”
I'd have to stop by Heinrich Barony and instruct them to provide the Klein family with ten gold coins a month. The Demon King wasn't dead yet. This was five years before the original story's timeline. The Demon King's army in the novel was far stronger and crueler than the one I'd faced. So to prevent the empire from losing half its territory… to keep from losing tens of millions of lives… we had to get stronger. Me, Greta Klein, Elena, Lucas, Elisabeth. As I climbed onto Nureongi's back and headed toward the barony, I pictured the members of the original hero's party in my mind.