8-21. The Battle in the Arena (3)
Satou's here. There's this thing called Tabletop RPG. It's a game where you're role-playing as someone in the game's world, but unlike Westerners, Japanese people are generally shy, so in most matches, they talk in business-like manners the whole time.
I'll say this again, there are a lot of shy people among Japanese.
◇
A birdkin scout comes flying from the opposite side of the arena.
Apparently, the duke forces have finally arrived. Confirming on the map, there are 10 iron golems, and 3000 knights encircling the arena. There are also several mobile forts.
"Tsk, coming here after all this."
I'm saying my farewell to the hero who's uttering cursing words. It'll be troublesome if I don't leave soon.
"Hero, I will have to go soon. I don't want to get too close to influential people."
I'm sorry, I'm actually already on the side of those influential people.
"I understand that feel. You can probably see it already, but I'm Hayato Masaki. It may be confusing, but Masaki is the family name. You're also a Japanese--no, with that hair, a reincarnated person huh. You're a former Japanese right?"
"Japanese or not, you already know from seeing me don't you? I'm the [Hero without Name], Nanashi. We might meet again in a battlefield someday."
Do I regard myself a hero--nope~ it's embarrassing enough that I feel like rolling on the floor. It's like installing chuuni language converter tool in a smartphone.
I'm really glad that I have the poker face skill.
"Wait! Won't you fight with me together? I want you for the battle with the demon lord."
Gross.
At least, please say, "I want your power" instead. Being a homo on top of lolicon is unreasonable.
"Is that a proposal? Thanks for the invitation, but no thanks. The sca~ry onee-sama bunch behind you are glaring after all. Bye then, ladykiller-san."
What the heck is with [Ladykiller-san]!Someone please stop me. I wonder if it's because I'm aware of my gender-neutral speech, I have become a strange character.
I've cleared the objective of becoming a character that won't be associated with me (Satou), but it's too gross, I'm dying.
◇
The scout unit that have raided the audience seating begin to call out [Yamato] when they see me.
What?
After I look at myself, I understand.
13 Claiomh Solais splits are floating around me like options from old shooting games, or bits.
They probably see it like the picture of Yamato in the museum.
However, wasn't Yamato a big man who wielded a two meters long great sword?
As expected, the current gender-neutral look of me can't possibly be likened with him I think. No, when I think again, the soldiers are pretty far away from me, so they probably can't measure my height.
Now then, let's heal the prince's and his cohort's wounds before leaving the stage. If I leave them alone to die here, it'll be like MPK, leaving me with a bad aftertaste.
Since it's troublesome to take the prince and his cohorts buried in the wreckages of the monsters, I put the wreckages into my storage, and then heal them who are left on the ground with water magic. I intended to only heal them for a bit, but they got completely recovered instead. I wasn't able to heal his white hair and aging, but I don't have any interest to help him that far. Have the temple look for it later yourself.
Looks like their destroyed equipments have been stored inside the storage along with the monsters remains, they're half-naked. I feel that it's pointless, so I put mantles I've got from thieves back then on top of their bodies.
"See you later, hero."
"Ah, let's meet again in the battlefield with the demon lord next time!"
Oops, I forgot to tell him that I've already defeated the demon lord. There's going to be an oracle from the god before long anyway, so I guess it's fine.
I climb several hundreds meters high with Sky Drive, and fly away beyond the sky with the Wind Magic: Air Cannon. When I tried it back then, the speed exceeded 100 Km/H. Let's try to see the maximum speed soon.
To disappear beyond the sky like this, I feel like a hero from Showa era.
◇
When I'm up in the sky on top of the duchy capital, I confirm that Arisa and the others have properly evacuated into the basement of the mansion. Sera seems to have been safely rescued too, she's in the same room with Arisa and the others. Looks like the previous earl couple and the employees are all safe too.
I'm glad that lady Karina, and little brother-kun are also safe in the scroll workshop.
I land in a suitable-looking forest.
It looks like I'm being watched by monitoring magic, though I don't know if it's from the hero's companion, or the duke's subordinate. Once I had landed in the dense forest, I used [Break Magic] on myself, and the monitoring goft canceled.
I thought that it'd be troublesome if the sky drive got canceled, so I made a landing, but it seems that break magic only affects the designated target magic.
I go back to the duchy capital while flying close to the top of the forest. When I get close enough to see the capital, I descend to the ground and continue moving.
I infiltrate the duke castle by using the route I've used to sneak into the duke's third son room before. According to the map, it seems that the duke and the king's body-double are in the same room.
Looks like the hero, followed by lady Ringrande, and the imperial princess Maryest, are coming to the castle to have an audience with them. Since I can't find the other hero's companions and his ship, they've probably gone back to the sub-space.
"Please forgive me for the sudden visit."
I've entered the room brazenly, but it seems none of the guards notice me until after I've opened my mouth. Are these guards alright?
The guards are coming from the roof by breaking through it, and from the hidden room.
It's troublesome to deal with them, so I use [Magic Hand] to make them unable to come closer.
"Who are you."
"I'm called Nanashi."
I answer the duke-san question. Duke-san instructs the guards with gesture, and they go back to their hiding places. The head miko-san might have told him about me, but to be in the same room as a suspicious person without guards like this, quite a daring person.
Only the duke's butler remains. If this was a manga, he'd be a dexterous type, but this butler seems to be of domestic affair type.
"I'll listen to your business."
"It's nothing much. I've come here to return this."
I unwrap the cloth while saying so, and hand over the holy sword Claiomh Solais.
Since they asked me how I got it, I told them the course of events honestly. For some reason, they were surprised when I talked about how the holy sword split into 13 when I recited the holy verse.
"This is too abrupt, I cannot believe you."
"There have been several people who can make the sword 『Dance』 by reciting the holy verse, but there were none who could release the true form of the holy sword."
They asked me to demonstrate if I really could do it, but isn't it bad to draw a sword before the king, regardless if he's a body-double?
"You don't need to worry. I've heard the story from the head miko. If the story about you defeating the demon lord is true, then you can kill us even without drawing a sword."
You're awful, duke-san. It is a fact, but you're going to shatter the guards' prides.
Since I've already transfered all the mana that I put into Claiomh Solais to other holy swords, I charge mana into it once again. It's fine with 500MP right.
Not only the duke, and the king, even the hiding guards are also surprised to see the holy sword growing.
"<>"
Just like before, Claiomh Solais splits into 13 swords and floats around my body.
"Ooh, the legend is true after all!"
"Beautiful, that painting truly wasn't an imaginary work."
They're too surprised.
The body-double-san even looks like he's going to go into spasm anytime, scary. Even getting excited should be done in moderation, okay.
Since it looks like they've admired enough, I release the excited state of the sword, and transition it back into one sword. I retrieve the MP that I've put into the sword, wrap it with a cloth and pass it to the body-double-san.
"You can keep holding it."
"Is it fine to do so without getting permission from the royal capital?"
Hey now, body-double-san, you shouldn't say thing like that without getting permission from the real king alright. I vaguely ask if it's alright to do it without the permission from the real king. The duke also nods when I glance at him.
"It is the spirit of the ancestor king Yamato-sama."
I don't really understand, but maybe there's some kind of will left behind?
It's a convenient sword, but it's not like I'm in trouble even without it. Let's make up something suitable as a reason to give it back.
"Don't you need it for the defense of the royal capital?"
"I don't mind, there is another holy sword in the royal capital."
Ah, that casted holy sword huh.
I've made swords with the same technique myself so I know, that sword is weak even compared to Gjallarhorn. It could cope with lower demons, but it probably wouldn't be able to match upper demons.
I have swords already, so I want to refuse, but it seems that once the sword has decided on its master, it will go back to its master if anyone draws it out. Normally, the master is decided with a dedicated ceremony, but it seems the case this time is extremely unusual.
Looks like they really want personnels who can subjugate the demon lord, when I receive the holy sword and the mood becomes hard for me to refuse, the talks about service, peerage, and such comes out. Of course since I don't have any such intention, I gently refuse it. It's already quite enough. I got interested when there was a talk of marrying the princess, but when I heard that she was a nine years old princess who hadn't got a fiance, that interest disappeared. Tell that to Hayato instead.
Since I feel bad for taking the holy sword for free, I decide to trade it with the famous holy sword in Shiga kingdom.
"T, this is, the holy sword Gjallarhorn that was stolen by the demonic man 17 years ago!"
"Ooh! God! The holy sword tempered by the ancestor king Yamato-sama has returned once again to the Shiga kingdom!"
I didn't think that they would be this delighted. It might have been better if I returned it earlier. By demonic man it must be Zen huh.
Since the hero and his party have arrived in the castle, I decide to bid my farewell.
The arena is ruined, so the final is postponed for one month, but a banquet ceremony is going to be held under the pretext of 'Upper Demon Subjugation'. It seems they've decided that the great monstrous fish were just illusions that the demon used.
Late night at that day, I make a casted holy sword the size of one-handed sword modeled after Claiomh Solais in one section of the underground labyrinth. The Claiomh Solais' sheath is among the garbages that I've put into the storage, so I reproduce it with the exact same look.
>[Counterfeit Skill Acquired]
>Title [Holy Swords Blacksmith] Acquired
>Title [Counterfeit Specialist] Acquired
At dawn, I sneak to body-double-san's bedroom and leave the replica on the bedside.
I put a note that says, "I've prepared the replica, please use it as you see fit.", together with the replica. With this, even the nitpicking nobles of pedigree can probably be effectively deceived. If the kingdom protector holy sword went missing, they would find someone to blame even if the duke and the king had given their permissions.
However, I'd have preferred a beautiful woman's bedroom if I had to sneak in anyway.