Singing Princess (4)
Singing Princess (4)
Facing a massive enemy alone and taking it down is the realm of legends.
Like Siegfried, who slew a dragon with Balmung.
Or David, who smashed Goliath to death with a slingshot.
Dojin's figure, wielding a single sword against a mountain-sized monster, was equally a legendary scene.
─Grooooaaarrr!
The moment the Terror Bear inhaled, its lung capacity matching its enormous bulk turned the surroundings into a vacuum in an instant.
The sudden oxygen deprivation and pressure change made the onlookers nearby start groaning in agony.
Seeing that, Dojin thought he needed to end this as quickly as possible.
'Faster—.'
Dojin lacked the power to kill a beast this huge in one shot.
His specialty was one-on-one swordsmanship. He could handle humans or human-sized monsters brilliantly, but anything larger was tough to beat.
Size itself becomes a powerful weapon, and monsters beyond a certain scale could tank Dojin's sword strikes just with their toughness.
Thus, against giant monsters, all Dojin could do was something close to desperate, brutal resistance.
Slash—!
─Guooooooo!!
He sliced through the hide, severing the muscles and blood vessels inside. The monster's blood sprayed out like a waterfall in all directions, soaking his body as he pressed the attack.
From the Terror Bear's perspective, it must've felt like dealing with a fast cockroach despite being ant-sized.
But at the same time, the damage Dojin could inflict was about on par with a bug bite.
'I need one big hit.'
He needed a single strike that could wound a colossal monster.
And right on cue, Dojin had the ingredients to make it happen.
'I've done it once before.'
An attack that had one-shot a Wolf King even bigger and stronger than this.
He'd once channeled the power of a god.
'Just copy it.'
He couldn't replicate a god's power exactly, but he could mimic it close enough.
"Huu—."
─Grooooaaarrr!
As the surrounding air returned, allowing Dojin to breathe easily again, the Terror Bear—which had sucked in tens of thousands of liters of air—used that oxygen as fuel to propel its body.
Its front paw, glowing red-hot like it was on fire, swung toward Dojin.
A simple, fast, and heavy strike. Dodging or blocking it wasn't easy.
So Dojin neither dodged nor blocked.
'Put everything into one strike.'
Dojin's full power poured into the magic sword. All his magic power, muscle, and energy focused into one slash. The resulting Sword Energy could even cleave a god.
Pseudo-God Decapitation
Slashhh—!
─Kurrrr......!!
Without even time to scream in pain, Dojin's sword bisected the monster's upper body.
The Terror Bear's torso slid diagonally off and slumped to the ground. Confirming the monster was dead, Dojin collapsed after it.
Feeling a surge of exhaustion, Dojin looked at the people rushing toward him.
'Why didn't you help sooner?'
With that thought, he closed his eyes.
Unlike dungeon monsters that turn into magic stones and vanish upon death, real-world monsters or spirits grown by gathering magic power left their corpses behind.
Naturally, the value of those corpses was beyond imagination. Unless it was a monster domesticated through long, painstaking effort, getting your hands on one was extremely difficult.
Unsurprisingly, there were people who coveted those corpses.
"The corpse goes to our Knights Order."
The first to claim it was the territorial Knights Order that had come along to guard the Saintess.
Their eyes gleamed with greed.
The Knights Order representative shoved forward a "reasonable" justification for why they should take it.
"By contract, all spoils from this escort mission go to our Knights Order first."
Naturally, no one was about to let the Knights Order just take the corpse without protest. One of the merchants who'd come with them immediately shot it down.
"What kind of nonsense is that? The Knights Order didn't do jack—they were just sleeping sprawled out. By that logic, the mercenaries we hired could make the same claim."
"......Mercenaries who did nothing have the right to claim ownership?"
"Doesn't that apply to the Knights Order too?"
"We were at the front, clearing the path."
"─If we're splitting hairs, you could only clear that path thanks to us mages, right?"
Then even the mages, who'd been quiet, jumped in.
Charlotte inwardly sighed heavily as she watched the scene. Everyone was lusting after something that wasn't theirs.
She could guess why the Saintess had sent her here. To make sure no one schemed to touch Dojin's stuff.
To sort out the mess, she cleared her throat to draw eyes to her.
"Ahem, everyone...."
"Cut the crap?"
But someone dropped an even bigger bomb. Everyone in the group turned to Raize.
Even the mage who'd been touting the Magic Tower's merits stared at her in shock.
"El, Elder?"
"You too. Our merits? You really think that?"
"......At least, didn't Elder wake everyone up?"
"Then that's 'my' merit. How's that the Magic Tower's?"
The mage gawked at Raize like she was spouting nonsense—as if the Magic Tower elder's achievements weren't the Tower's by default.
Raize delivered her verdict flatly, face unchanging.
"The corpse is Dojin's. No arguments."
"W-Wait, that's tyranny—!"
"I said no arguments."
Pajijik-.
The knight who dared open his mouth clamped it shut at the sparks flying in front of his eyes. His opponent was the youngest-ever elder, a genius mage.
Someone you didn't mess with, rank or skill-wise.
While the knights and merchants racked their brains like they were scavenging scraps, Charlotte realized it was time and backed Raize up.
"I think handing the corpse to him is right."
"......Charlotte-nim?"
"The Saintess said those who covet others' belongings will face divine punishment."
"Th-The Saintess said that!?"
At news that the Saintess—closest to God, God's mouthpiece—had said such a thing, everyone took a step back.
Of course, the Saintess had never actually said it. But who here would dare ask her?
No one would question the Saintess, who'd blind you for peeking at her body or deafen you for hearing her voice.
Even if some brave soul existed—they wouldn't get past her. Relaying the Saintess's "words" was Charlotte's job. Coordinating with her behind the scenes wasn't hard.
"That settles the corpse issue. Next up... let's talk compensation."
"......Compensation?"
"Yes. Compensation."
Charlotte said with a beaming smile. A calculated one.
It held the divine beauty she'd inherited from the Saintess, but no man here was dazed by it.
"You all need to decide...... how to compensate the man who saved our lives."
That smile was nothing—when the situation right in front of them was so dire.
Something soft and fluffy pressed against the back of his head. A sweet scent too. Strawberry-like, kinda.
Drawn by the sweet-tangy smell, he turned his head, and a faint squeak came from above.
"Eek—!?"
To superhuman hearing that could pick up an ant walking hundreds of meters away, it was a fatally piercing cry.
Dojin snapped his eyes open at the shock ripping through his skull like claws. He blinked at the clothes in front of him.
The rough fabric brushing his ears and the colorful patterns suggested he was pillowed on someone's lap.
Cautiously turning to look up, Ga-hee glared down at him, cheeks flushed beet red, trembling.
"...Hey?"
"Y-You're, y-you're awake, so get off quick...!"
Ga-hee pressed her palm to his forehead, shoving his head away. But how strong could a normal person like her be?
After stretching lazily on her lap, Dojin sat up and looked around.
He remembered passing out outside, but now he was in a tent. Probably set up camp there after the monster attack.
"Where're the others?"
"......In their own tents."
"Then why're you here?"
"I'm on watch duty! Don't get the wrong idea!?"
Ga-hee yelled that at Dojin's words. Wrong idea about what? Dojin, who'd spoken innocently, just felt wronged.
But soon he figured out what she meant.
[Oh crap, what if he finds out......?]
Her thoughts floated above her head.
Dojin froze and stared at her intently.
Like a thief caught red-handed, Ga-hee started yelling at him.
"W-What? Why?"
"...You didn't do anything weird while I was out, right?"
"Wh-What're you talking about—? What would I have done?"
Dojin's ability, Ruler of Women's Hearts, only activated with direct contact to the woman's vagina.
It worked through underwear or clothes, but he had to press right on her privates.
And Dojin had never once touched Ga-hee's vagina.
'The ability triggered while I was asleep?'
That meant someone had maneuvered him to touch Ga-hee's vagina—and besides her, no one else was here.
The culprit went without saying.