Chapter 181
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 181
Chapter Title: The First of Two Chances -4-
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Frog in the well.
A well is exactly that kind of space.
It narrows the frog's vision endlessly and blinds it to the snake lurking outside.
"Surround them!"
They flung their sheaths aside, blades dripping with fresh blood bared to the open air, and exchanged glances.
Their formation was sloppy, far from perfect, but they still managed a rough semicircle, blocking the corridor entrance where Roman and Chloe stood.
There were rumors that even reached their hideouts in remote outskirts and backwaters.
Tales so unbelievable you had to see them to accept them as true.
Stories of someone blowing away an entire mansion with a single strike, or overpowering an ogre with raw muscle alone.
Heroic exploits of a man who transcended human limits.
Even the empire's famed knights and adventurers were said to be one-man armies; riffraff like them couldn't scratch one even with dozens charging in.
Wasn't it ridiculous?
They figured such stories were just exaggerations from the elite, puffed up to glorify themselves.
A few in their group could even draw out that impressive aura they called "aura."
Lucky bastards born with good bloodlines—how much difference could talent really make among humans?
Massacring armed peasants or common imperial soldiers? They could handle that with ease.
In lands where law held no sway.
In places where defeat meant death, they'd banded together and survived to this age.
They believed without doubt it was heaven-given talent.
If they'd been born high nobles in the capital, they could've been renowned knights too.
They had the confidence to handle even those haughty knights without issue—that's why they'd taken the job.
In that vein.
Drunk on the courage of numbers, they tried to ignore it, but deep down they sensed it.
That beneath the guise of fellow humans lurked beings of a utterly different caliber.
Survival trumped pride, so they just waited for someone else to charge first.
The first fool to leap in had absurdly high odds of eating dirt.
"How many heads we got? Move already! Rush 'em!"
"Bullshit. Big mouth goes first. You piss yourself scared or what?"
The client’s lackeys had scouted it—no one impressive besides the target.
But the one man stuck to the target was the problem.
"Fuck..."
A hulking corpse on the floor, face smashed beyond recognition.
Even as they geared up to charge, eyes naturally drifted there.
The murder that unfolded in a blink evoked their own potential futures, freezing the group in place.
They had no noble destiny of sacrificing themselves to complete the mission.
'Makes sense they're hesitating, but some keep glancing at the door...'
Reinforcements maybe?
Honestly, most didn't seem eager to fight properly.
The only ones looking murderous were the guys who'd raged over that corpse earlier.
Roman watched the muttering idiots holding their semicircle as best they could.
He placed a hand on Chloe's gray hair.
She flinched at the large hand for a moment, but soon felt an astonishing calm settle in, steadying her breath.
"This'll be a review of one of those lessons from before, but what do you do in a situation like this with no weapons?"
His tone was utterly serene, devoid of any crisis.
Asking while looking at Chloe, she replied softly without shifting her eyes from the enemies.
"T-take their weapons... or throw nearby objects to scatter and ambush them..."
She remembered every offhand remark he'd made in class.
"Good. But that's only when necessary."
Screeech-!
A thin blade sang through the air as it was drawn.
A sword of perfect proportions, impeccably functional at a glance.
"...Huh?"
Despite lacking a sheath, the flawlessly maintained blade reflected Chloe's wide eyes perfectly.
Ignoring the murmurs from the baffled foes, he placed the sword in her hand.
"Chloe. Once you've gripped the sword and made up your mind, never hesitate. Remember—the only answer to a tangled heart is honesty."
"Brother..."
Only possible because he knew her feelings.
Stroking her hair gently.
Vitality flared in Chloe's eyes like oil poured on flames.
Clank!
Black armor unfurled from her brooch, enveloping her; a blue glow pierced the helmet's slit.
A masterwork artifact that hid her ample chest and waist-length ash-gray hair flawlessly.
"Wh-what the hell is that?!"
"Some noble toy, dumbass!"
Overhearing their subtle reactions and intel, he watched her.
Who'd guess a shy beauty hid inside that dark, ominous armor?
The moment she gripped the sword, she assumed the defensive stance from class and fell silent. He resumed his advice.
"No enemies behind us—perfect situation, perfect battlefield. No need for us to charge first."
"Y-yes...!"
Her voice firmer than usual, though still trembling.
'Hm?'
He knew her skills, so doubt flickered.
Curiosity bubbled, but he focused ahead.
"Shall we invite these reluctant foes to come closer?"
Forks and knives littered everywhere.
Plenty to lure foes dragging their feet.
Reaching for the table, he snapped a metal utensil from his wrist and flung it forward.
Thwack!
"Gahk...!"
"Crazy!"
Ever seen a spoon embed between someone's eyes?
First time for him too.
As one reeled back, spoon buried in his skull.
That sparked it—the semicircle tightened, foes charging one by one.
"Don't worry. I'll take responsibility."
Thump! Thump!
Patting her armored back reassuringly, Chloe nodded, steeling herself.
The ragged thugs lumbered in with heavy thuds.
Whoosh-!
"Raaagh!!"
A brute channeled aura into his long sword, bellowing as he charged.
Chloe bent her knees slightly for balance, drawing blue aura.
Clang!
No matter how battle-hardened, you couldn't underestimate professionally trained foes.
Skreee-!
She smoothly deflected the straight downward slash diagonally, then executed a textbook waist cut.
Schlick-
A wet sound, then a snap as something severed.
Her aura-laced blade bisected the man's waist.
The gruesome feel of cleaving bone and flesh made Chloe grimace inside her helmet, but she clenched her teeth and yanked the blade free.
'No hesitation!'
She'd volunteered—didn't want to look like some naive girl needing protection.
Even if she was inexperienced, mentally fragile, indecisive.
She wanted to prove to him she could be a proper woman and warrior when it counted.
......
Watching her cleanly decapitate after the waist strike, he marveled.
'She's good.'
His head and preconceptions from the "setting" had blinded him like a fool.
Even Robert was that way without player control—who couldn't change with effort and circumstance?
Chloe's crisp swordplay dispelled his worries and evoked Rike's impressions of her afresh: clean, decisive cuts.
She was blooming through her own efforts and resolve.
Parries turning foes' force against them, handling impacts without strain.
Executing finicky techniques like clockwork precision.
Proof of the grueling, lonely hours swinging at walls.
Her unseen toil was finally paying off.
"Gaaahk!"
Both arms flew clean off from Chloe's sword; the man tumbled back.
Splat!
She stomped his jaw hard, then thrust precisely into the exposed throat for the finish.
'She'll be amazing in the future.'
Like Rike, Chloe was no ordinary talent once resolved.
To let first-time combat Chloe focus.
He booted heads and guts of the rushing mob, controlling numbers with broken-nose blows.
Feeding her one at a time, he monitored.
'Hm.'
Meanwhile, two visible through the window.
One trembling as eyes met his.
And Isaac, Robert's friend, hunkered in the corner, irrelevant.
Things brushing his mind.
The original story's reason Robert couldn't raise Chloe's affection.
And overt hostility toward him.
'Not brazen enough.'
The gap between these high-ups and greats from his past life? Most sucked at masking expressions.
Grinding teeth, bulging eyes at him—it stoked his suspicions.
The empire had near-zero revolt risk internally, no elections either.
Clear class markers meant emotions showed transparently.
"Hey... behind! That guy's back there... should we bail now?"
A mutter caught his ear amid the chaos.
As things escalated, rear-liners eyed the pair outside and shifted tactics.
He and Chloe unscathed, corpses piling ahead—the picture screamed off.
'Indeed...'
Piling bodies spread fear, birthing murmurs.
Their hushed talks.
Even one going slack-eyed mid-sentence from mana contract penalty.
Common when breaching contract terms, willful or not.
Intel pouring in was plenty anyway.
'Why are these key shareholders so messed up without a controller? Innate flaw?'
He didn't know why he'd picked this face-burning scenario, but.
His life and death had been in his hands since rescuing him from Deganello.
Time to punish the scene-ruiner.
As Isaac berated the frozen man beside him, face red with fury, eyes off Roman.
Crack!
"Gasp!"
Hand-chopping the sword from the noseless man.
He reflexively yanked a belt dagger.
Rusty mess, untended blade a lump of corrosion.
Meant to use the just-broken one, but this seemed surer.
Seeing it, an intentional kick flew.
Leg power that mocked monster skulls offered no resistance; the shattered blade whirled through air.
Crash!
Rust-laden orange shards pierced the shop window, smashing Isaac's glasses and gouging his eyes mercilessly.
A pure, unavoidable misfortune. An act of sheer force majeure.
"Aaaagh-!!! Ph-Philip! Philip!! Call the ch-church, now!!"
Scream through shattered glass.
'Academy Blind Mage!'
Somehow, a name that screamed power just from hearing it.
Pointing at the now-named Philip.
"Philip."
Mouthing his name precisely.
He froze like a frog before a flicking snake, terror plain, not even glancing at collapsed Isaac.
Wasted brainpower, but he'd memorized one man's face and name perfectly.
Isaac... specks of rust deep in both eyes.
Even rushing to church now, recovery was hopeless.
No time to carry him, yet Philip still stared, immobile.
'Plenty of skilled mages; extract data then kill?'
Ways to off Isaac abounded without his hands.
True key to other dimensions was Robert, not Isaac.
Isaac majored there, story-tied, but reality overflowed substitutes.
His prior work twice over; organized data could save time.
'Wrap it up.'
All thoughts in a flash.
Ignore outside screams now.
Kicked the dazed hiltless dagger-wielder into a corner.
Continued supporting her combat focus.
By the time Chloe's sword felled three more cleanly.
Guards burst into the shop.
"What racket in the heart of the imperial capital?!"
Hardly much time passed, so their swift response pleased him.
"Fuck! He was supposed to block!"
"We're screwed!"
If those were Isaac's private soldiers.
Or—hard to credit—their dim bulbs handled clan cleanup.
Might they survive capture? Fleeting thought.
He snatched a filthy ownerless sword from the floor, drew crimson aura.
Crackle-
Before the aura-overloaded blade shattered, he swung, cleanly beheading the remnants.