Chapter 88 – Use what you can, even if it belongs to the princess
The servant whom Juan had expected would be the princess’s caretaker.
He stood there defenselessly, no doubt because he could not keep up with Juan’s skills that had taken him through so many deadly encounters.
Confidence backed by his own experience whispered to him that this man who showed no hostility was not a threat.
But…
From the princess’s waist, a deafening sound rang out.
“-GGHHH!”
The pain welling up from inside him stopped him from moving.
Juan had moved diagonally to Erika’s left before she knew it.
The blade protruding from his long sleeve came close to… Glass, who stood right in front of him, and then stopped.
“You’re brilliant, both in terms of your talent and your hard work. That’s why – for now – go to sleep.”
Unable to understand the cause of his suffering, Juan’s eyes turned inexorably to the center of his upper abdomen, the source of his pain.
“–?“
And then, a sight that he couldn’t believe and was beyond his comprehension met his eyes.
The hilt of a— sword poked Juan’s sternum (1) hard.
But Erika, the only one with a sword, was unable to react.
That is why Glass, who was holding the sheath of the sword at Erika’s waist made him shudder.
It is as if… he had flicked his sword with his thumb, which sent the sword flying, and shot it’s hilt into Juan’s sternum.
But in fact, the sword revealed most of its blade from its scabbard, showing clear evidence of the godly feat Glass had performed.
A moment later, Erika and Hakuto, whose gazes had been drawn to the familiar sound, also take notice of the incomprehensible technique.
The blade was not fully unsheathed, the hilt was poking Juan, and Glass was holding the scabbard.
Juan stopped moving due to the pain in his sternum, and the three of them stared at the technique in disbelief… for a split moment.
The hilt flew off and Glass quickly removed the sheath from around Erica’s waist.
“See you again. –pps.“
Stepping lightly with his right foot, he thrust the blade with immense momentum and delivered a powerful follow-up blow to Juan’s sternum.
The powerful sound of the blade being used to deliver a powerful blow echoed.
“–BUH! Hah, ha…”
The second blow lifted his body completely off the ground.
He choked on his breath as the hilt dug into him, which made him look pitiful.
Then, the unbearable attack’s pressure finally exceeded his limits, and he fell forward, losing consciousness…
“””…”””
The sword was slashed, and immediately afterwards, the sound of a series of slashes echoed out, and the fight was over.
After the impact of the two sounds, a unique silence descended.
It was neither a transcendent power like that the Black Demon King had, nor that the Black Knight had.
Instead, he displayed a simple power.
He did not twist down with his magic or exhibit power that no one could reach, he simply drove his sword into the enemy’s stomach.
However, it was because of the fact that his great skill (・・・・・・・) was not (・・・・・) out of the realm of human beings, that he forgot (……) to speak or think about the strange skill he had just shown.
“…are you all right?“
Marie, who came to her senses first, asked Glass as everyone else were frozen in place due to the battle that started unexpectedly and ended in the blink of an eye.
He looked down at Juan, who was lying on the ground, and replied to Marie, who was having cold sweat.
“You see, I had no idea that there would be this level of ‘danger’. I’m glad I followed you.“
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t do enough research. I didn’t think of the possibility that a teacher of the academy would be involved in the case….”
“…No, this is just my guess, but I don’t think he had anything to do with it. I think he was trying to take hostages instead of committing murder…. Well, I don’t know much about the case to begin with, so I’ll leave the rest to you, Marie.“
“Leave it to me.”
He gave his opinion to Marie and returned the sword to Erika.
“I apologize for borrowing it without permission.“
“Uh, yeah, I’ll let you off the hook…. awesome, ze…!”
“No offense, but your words are becoming slurred again.”
She took her beloved sword from Glass and held it at her heart with admiration and longing.
Erica looked up at him with an inappropriately charming expression, to which Glass, whose glasses were not in a good alignment, blinked briefly.
“Is this guy, this guy, this strong…? All of us couldn’t do anything but look at him like idiots!“
“No, even those of us who have seen…. glimpses of his power are surprised every time. Even now we barely understand the true extent of his strength…”
Oswald, marveling with a twinkle in his eyes, walked up to Hakuto.
“I think it would be better if this person were to fight the Black Demon King along with Princess Celestia-”
“Please stop with the naughty jokes. I can already see the future overwork and heartache consuming me.“
“I’m sorry…”
Oswald apologized immediately, intimidated by Glass’s desperation.
“I don’t understand why a teacher from…. the academy would…”
Erika muttered sadly as she looked at Juan, whom Marie was excessively restraining in advance.
Hakuto, who was supposed to be guided by Juan, also looked indescribable.
“I don’t think he is an enemy of Erika-sama.“
Glass, who had put his glasses back to it’s proper alignment, began to speak to Erika in a manner that seemed to indicate that he had a favorable impression of Juan.
“From the beginning, I didn’t sense any kind of killing intent from him, and he didn’t seem to have any intention to target Erika, the princess. Moreover, from his position, the easiest target would be Oswald-sama.“
If you think about it, Juan’s target was Glass, who was right next to Erika.
From that position, he could have targeted Erika.
Considering the fact that Marie, who was easily recognizable to be a formidable enemy, would be protecting Erika, Oswald, who was obviously the furthest away from Erika, would have been the best prey for him.
As they had just seen for themselves, it was obvious that he would be helpless if targeted by Juan.
“I think he wanted to have some kind of a conversation with Erika, using me as a hostage. The reason he didn’t go after Oswald-sama is… perhaps because he is a teacher and didn’t want to point a knife at a child.”
He finished expressing his opinion and adjusted his slightly disheveled appearance.
“Really? He might be a nice guy then, right?”
“No, I’m sure he’s a good guy! I’ve never heard of a bad guy who likes children!“
Erika and Hakuto judged good guys and bad guys in extreme manners, classifying everything into either black or white.
“…No, no. For him to be called a good guy, you’d have to at least pretend that the whole thing about me being attacked didn’t happen, won’t you?”
“Anyone who pulls a knife and conducts shady experiments in the basement is a villain no matter the reason”… Glass explained, realizing how hard it is for teachers to educate their students…
♢♢♢♢
In the training hall of the royal castle, Alto and Hakuto, who was wielding a greatsword with a simple and honest attitude, talked about Juan, who had been taken away.
“Well done. Hmph! Huh, as a prisoner! On condition of a reduced sentence, we’ll let him cooperate with the investigation. Huh, to cooperate with the authorities! For a quick solution. One step closer! A step forward!”
They were training from the ground up, repeating the fundamentals.
“…Sorry. There’s too many “huh’s“ in what you just said, so I don’t understand the whole story of what your trying to say. Besides, I was with Erika’s mentor, who protected her.”
“Whew… Yes, we must reward him.“
At Hakuto’s words, Alto, who had sweat plastered all over his body, swung his greatsword at the blade propped up in front of him.
“Suu…oooo!!!!”
He inhaled deeply, and the same orange mana as Erika’s gushed out.
“–nua!“
Alto’s great sword, unleashed with his full strength, shattered the blade in front of him with a cracking sound.
“Whoa!“
Alto’s muscles bulged, and Hakuto fell onto his buttocks from the force of the hard swing.
“…far from it.”
Sweat dripped from his naked upper body, which looked like a well-trained and crafted armor of muscles with no trace of fat.
But Alto was still a long way ahead.
Once again, he thrust the great sword in his hand into the ground, and picked up a new sword.
“……”
Hakuto was growing impatient with the fact that Alto’s abilities were still far ahead of his.
Erika, who was learning one technique after another, was now one or two steps ahead of him.
Oswald’s bow never misses. The fact that his long-range and medium-range attacks did not ever miss was a powerful and unparalleled advantage. Moreover, he could also fight in close quarters, perhaps because of his experience in martial arts.
Needless to say, his companions were all excellent.
He, on the other hand, had not been able to master the magic manipulation techniques that Glass had taught him, and his skills were at a standstill.
Despite the increase in his mana, for unknown reasons, he felt that he was becoming stagnant.
He never knew that the lack of immediate results could be so frustrating.
“…I talked to two of the three suspects. But I didn’t get many leads. In the meantime, your newfound expertise in witchcraft will surely be an asset. You were the catalyst. You should be very proud of yourself for leading your team so well.”
“……”
“Just a reminder, don’t come into contact with anyone you suspect. If it’s the killer… or not, it’s extremely dangerous either way. You were in danger today even if the perpetrator had nothing to do with the case, weren’t you?“
“…I know.”
Hakuto, who stood up while dusting off his buttocks, didn’t even want to meet any of the three of the suspects, even if they were not the culprits.
“So, what did you talk to them about?”
“……mm. They have their quirks, and to tell you the truth, they were a pain in the ass.“
Alto, who had been wielding his greatsword for more than an hour, which Hakuto could not use properly, recalled his contact with the suspects and… showed signs of fatigue.
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Author’s Note:
The will be updated relatively soon because of its content.
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(1) – The sternum is a partially T-shaped vertical bone that forms the anterior portion of the chest wall centrally. Basically, he poked the center of Juan’s chest with the hilt of Erika’s sword.
This chapter was oddly short! I’ll be back with the next one~
