Previous Chapter | Project Page | Next Chapter
Chapter 16 – The Glard Wasteland Battle [1]
In the Luxeria castle courtyard, a gauntlet wearing young lady was swinging her fist with violent movements that did not match her lovely appearance. As if chasing after her movements, the two waving tufts of red hair, similarly to those movements, violently fluttered about in the air.
「…Haa…!」
Together with her yell, her fist that she thrust out made a light explosive sound in the empty space.
「Yaah!」
Continuing on, spinning her whole body and adding the maximum centrifugal force to it, her spinning kick cut the air.
「Taryaah!」
From the palm of the hand that just drew a 〆 shape, a blue light leaked out, and simultaneous with it projecting out, the light exploded.
「Haa………haa…」
The young lady that had separated her red hair into two tufts sprawled out on the ground while letting the clothes that she was wearing become transparent from being soaked with sweat.
Every time she inhaled, the hot air that entered her lungs made her body hot and made it feel like even more sweat was coming out.
「You’re being pretty rough, aren’t you, Akane.」
In the sight of the girl who was looking at the sky, a young lady that was about the same age as her and wearing a kimono and hakama that looked like miko clothing had appeared.
The young lady, whose black hair extended down to her waist and whose bangs were uniformly cut, handed a wet towel to the young lady that was sprawled out.
「……Hn.」
The young lady called Akane wiped her face and base of her head with the wet towel she was handed, and finally felt refreshed.
「Is it about Kaito?」
「S, shut up!」
「Haha, it’s fine to hide it. I’m doing the same after all.」
「Eh……Sakuya…Could it be, you…」
「Though I don’t mean it like Akane’s “fallen in love”.」
「Shut up!」
As Akane snapped at her with her eyes, the young lady called Sakuya giggled, and then immediately dimmed her expression.
「As I thought, it was probably because of that time………That’s when Kaito began to become strange.」
「…………」
Akane didn’t deny Sakuya’s words.
「He was shown a person’s death in such a cruel form……That’s the reason why he can’t become the way he was before.
It’s already the fifth day since Kaito secluded himself in the “labyrinth”, but,
right now, the reason that Kaito is training himself with that is in order to defeat the Mazoku from that time.」
That’s right. Ever since the matter of Agniera’s raid, Amagi Kaito was training himself as if he were punishing himself.
Saying “As I am now, I can’t defeat the Mazoku”, he solicited the Imperial Court Sorcerer Head and entered the “Labyrinth of Time”, where the flow of time was different.
That place, starting with the Ancient Dragon, was a magic cavern that was infested with various ancient types.
And then, it would seem that you could take the teachings of a special magic from the strongest dragon type, Elder Dragon, that was enshrined in the innermost area of the labyrinth.
「Kaito is suffering, at a time like that, you can’t be Kaito’s strength. ………That’s why you’re doing unreasonable training like you were doing just now, right? No, rather than training, rampaging…would it be correct to call it that? 」
「……」
Sakuya’s words, it was exactly that.
Kaito changed ever since that time.
The smile that suited his age that he had shown up until now showed gloom, and if he held a sword, his eyes would carry hatred.
Akane sensed that the kind Kaito was disappearing and was becoming filled with only hatred for the Mazoku.
For the current him that was lamenting that if only he were stronger at that time, even the girls’ voices couldn’t reach him. That was what she felt.
Feeling that was vexing and sorrowful, she rushed through wild, childish, self-injuring actions that couldn’t be called training.
「If it’s alright with you, but……I would also like to rampage. ……Could you assist me with it? 」
Sakuya had, as if producing it out of nowhere, drew a katana out of its scabbard.
The katana’s summary was introduced at the Magic Sword Workshop. It was something forged by that old blacksmith master.
「! …That’s fine with me. I’ve wanted to seriously go against Sakuya at least once after all! 」
Seeing that katana, Akane, from the shape of 大, raised her legs and skillfully stood up with a kick, then struck her own fists against each other.
The gloomy atmosphere that was just there up until then disappeared.
It wasn’t just her. She wasn’t the only one to be bewildered by that change and feel impatient.
「Let’s go!」
「Bring it!」
The young lady that held a katana and the young lady that took a stance with her fists ran towards each other.
「「O body of mine, rage, “Divine Arms.”」」
When the young ladies shouted, their bodies were wrapped in a faint light.
Body Strengthening Magic “Divine Arms.”
It’s a complex technique that raises the body’s abilities starting with its arm and leg strength and simultaneously develops a protective film-like barrier.
The two whose bodies’ abilities were strengthened clashed at a speed that was like the wind and a silver flash ran.
The sword attack and fist attack whose speed could not be perceived by a normal person collided with each other and repelled each other.
「Fufu, Akira aside, the Akane that had no martial arts or anything whatsoever has done well to become this strong!」
The young lady that swung the katana at god speed Sakuya saw through the fist that would have caught her if her reaction had been even a slightly bit duller, turned away using the base of the katana, and, while dodging with her movements, spoke her strong emotions that had been growing lately.
「Hey, don’t talk to me!」
On the other hand, putting her bodies abilities aside, against Sakuya, who was an opponent with higher skill, Akane had absolutely no room to chat with her and swung her fists.
「As I thought, it’s for Kaito’s sake, is it?」
「Wha!?」
「Unpreparedness is one’s greatest enemy.」
Knowing about how Akane was bearing a loving heart for Kaito, Sakuya invited Akane’s unease with lip service, and splendidly thrust at Akane’s unguarded moment from falling for it.
「You little!」
「Hou…!」
However, avoiding the thrust at her upper body by bending back, Akane stayed bent back and fired a Somersault Kick and repelled the katana upward.
The arm that still held the katana, faced up.
「I’ve got you!」
Landing on all fours, Akane took a huge step while pulling back her right hand.
Light gathered in her right hand and, looking like it was going to scatter, Akane grasped it.
「Impac――ッ」
「Since that looks like it would hurt, I won’t take it.」
The thrust out fist was repelled up.
Looking closely, the black scabbard that was carried at Sakuya’s waist was now grasped.
「Th…that’s not fair, Sakuya! I didn’t hear anything about the scabbard being used! 」
「It’s Akane’s fault for not deciding that a warrior could not use clever schemes. ……Fufu, at present, I guess I’m still above you? 」
The edge was thrust before Akane’s throat. Akane gulped at the glimmer of the drawn sword.
「Akane-sa~n! Sakuya-sa~n! 」
As the outcome for the two people was decided, from somewhere, they heard a girl’s voice calling to them.
「Really, I can only hear him as a girl.」
「Rather, isn’t he already a woman?」
A girl’s voice………However, the one that emitted this voice, concerning these girl’s, was a male of the opposite sex.
*Tattatta* (Step step step). Footsteps ringing, the one that ran in front of the two was a baggy black robe wearing and wooden staff that exceeded her height holding with both arms beautiful girl………that was all that you could see him as boy.
「What’s wrong, Akira. You know that you can’t do exercise.」
Akane worried about the short boy, Akira, who, the moment he arrived, had a rough respiration as if he were out of breath.
「He’s come back…! Kaito-san has come back from the labyrinth! 」
Without waiting for his words that he somehow managed to declare while out of breath, Akane started running.
「Eh, ehh!? P, please wait for me, Akane-sa~n! 」
「Now, wait, Akira. There’s you to worry about as well. Let’s go slowly.」
About to chase after Akane who started running, Akira also tried to run, but Sakuya grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
「Kaito!」
At the place that Akane arrived at, there was a giant gate and, standing behind that gate, a black-haired young boy. His clothes were tattered and his body was covered in wounds and dirt, but, his eyes and the magic sword that he held in his hand were the only things that didn’t lose their radiance.
In front of the Luxeria princess and the Imperial Court Sorcerer Head that seemed to have come to welcome back Kaito, Akane ran up to Kaito and embraced him.
「Wah! A, Akane!?」
Kaito was bewildered by the childhood friend that had suddenly embraced him.
「S, shut up! B, be quiet for a bit! 」
It was five days for the girls. It was only five days, but for Kaito who was in the Labyrinth of Time, he was in a den of monsters for a time that was equivalent to a month.
With him left in a place to fight every day for a month, there was no way that Akane wouldn’t worry about him.
Although she believed that he wouldn’t die, Akane constantly worried about things like “Did he get a large injury?” or “Is he suffering?”
They were separated for only five days, but at the fact that he returned in perfectly good health, Akane was delighted from the bottom of her heart.
「…………」
Having his childhood friend near him after a month, he expressed a smile that he hadn’t made in a long while after coming to this world.
◇
Glard Wasteland.
In a place far to the west of Luxeria, this large prairie that spread out was a wasteland of crags and sand.
「Uwah………Amazing…What is up with this, these numbers.」
Having descended from the carriage, Akane surveyed the vicinity.
What Akane saw was, the enormous army whose numbers surpassed 100,000.
「Uwahh……Everyone sure does look strong.」
Continuing to come down from the carriage was Akira. He was surprised by the figures of the soldiers that were spread out near the start of his vision.
「A wasteland, huh. I guess I should be thinking that it is good that it is not a desert where the footing is bad. But, the field of vision is bad.」
The young lady that carried a naginata that surpassed her height, Sakuya, sighed at the condition of the ground that she got down and stood on.
Just as she had said, with sun being hidden by clouds, it was dark and, with the wind being strong, the sand was dancing.
The field of vision was bad enough that they could only faintly see the vicinity of the army corps.
「Those guys……will come, here.」
The young boy who was the last to come down hurled his eyes towards the direction that the enemies he needed to defeat would probably be coming from and muttered.
These were the present day heroes that were summoned to this world of Reynbrook.
They all wore costumes that had white as the basic theme.
Uniquely, only Amagi Kaito had a red mantle coiled around his neck.
「Thank you for waiting.」
The one that greeted them was a lovely beauty that possessed hair of gold thread and wore an extra lightweight armor made of a steel called white iron on top of a red battle dress.
It was Luxeria’s princess, Iris Claude Row A. Luxeria.
If you were wondering why she was waiting for Kaito’s group, commanding the army corps of tens of thousands took precedence.
「This sure is an amazing amount of soldier-sans. ……I didn’t think that Luxeria had this many soldier-sans.」
The young girl-like young boy, Akira, muttered, and at that doubt, the beautiful princess laughed.
「Eh?……D, did I say something odd? 」
「Take a look. ……That soldier over there, their armor is different. And more importantly, the hoisted flag is different. They’re a foreign country’s soldiers.」
Kaito answered Akira’s question.
As he looked at several of the armor wearing army corps, there were differences on the armor and the hoisted flags were those of various countries.
「Just as Kaito-sama says, it isn’t just our country’s soldiers. Of the major powers, starting with the Valanshel Empire and the Leezelion Empire’s army corps, there’s also others such as the Free City Galarie’s competition group that have come running –no desu.」
「Valanshel? I’ve heard that Leezelion is the country that called the previous hero, but what kind of country is Valanshel? 」
「Valanshel is―――」
「What was that about my country?」
Interrupting the beautiful princess’s words, the man that suddenly appeared answered.
The darkish skinned, large built man with red hair that looked like it was burning had a strange appearance that couldn’t even be called lightweight equipment by wearing only black armor on his lower half, not wearing any clothes on his upper half, and only having something like gauntlets as equipment. His well-trained muscles were the armor itself, is what he seemed to want to say.
「Ha? ……What the hell is up with you――」
「Stop it, Akane. ……Probably, this person is a person of Valanshel’s royalty.」
Akane revealed her irritation at the man that had suddenly forced his way into the conversation, but Kaito had interrupted her again.
「It’s a bit incorrect, but that’s fine. My name is Iibsal Dora Gregoria Valanshel. I’m still the crown prince but…well, in the end, I’ll become emperor.」
The arrogant man that called himself crown prince folded his arms.
Although the man had a good, well-featured face, maybe because those eyes seemed to lick people all over vulgarly, it gave people discomfort.
「……Fumu, this is a pretty nice set of beauties. ……Alright, I’ve decided. You guys, come to my side. I’ll give you everything.」
Iibsal’s hand got close to Akane’s face. Akane repelled that hand.
「Don’t freakin’ mess with me, you pervert!」
「Me, a pervert!? ………Uhahahaha! Good, you’re really good, I like you. I don’t mind letting you women into the harem. ……How about it? 」
Maybe from hitting the bull’s-eye at being called a pervert, Iibsal laughed.
Not only Akane, he also turned to Sakuya and Akira.
「? Akira is a guy, you know? 」
As Kaito said that, Iibsal rolled up the white robe that Akira was wearing and pulled down his trousers along with his underwear.
「Fueh!?」
Not knowing what was happening for a moment, Akira raise his voice.
「Oh, you really do have one. Oh but don’t worry. After all, I’m the type that can also do it with men if they are beautiful. ……Why don’t you let me be affectionate with you.」
「Fueeehh!?」
And then a yell was raised directed at the pervert that whispered close to his ear.
「What the hell are you doing, pervert――!!?」
Akane fired a kick with all her might at Iibsal who peeked at Akira’s lower half and Iibsal displayed a light block with his gauntlet wearing left arm.
「Oh? ……You’re pretty good. Makes me want to get serious―――」
Although he defended, having taken that powerful kick and catching a glimpse of Akane’s true strength, Iibsal, while boldly laughing, extended his hand, and
「Would you stop that, Iibsal!」
From the cold, beautiful voice, he stopped.
「You sure are a beauty as always, aren’t you. How about it? Won’t you become my woman? If it’s you, I could make you empress, you know? 」
Making an even sharper “I want to make it mine” smile on Iibsal’s face, what was before his eyes was a peerless beauty with silver hair that glistened from the sun shining on it.
「I wouldn’t marry a man like you. I wouldn’t even want you as an in-law.」
「You sure do know how to say it, don’t you, Sylvia.」
Though Iibsal said that, the silver haired woman called Sylvia ignored him and stood in front of Elis and Kaito’s group.
「O Luxeria princess, it has been a long time.」
As Sylvia said that, the beautiful princess of Luxeria nodded,
「Yes, your Majesty. It has been two years, -degozaimasu.」
and replied. Addressing her with a smile, the two replied but, for both of them, only their eyes were not smiling.
「You guys are the “present day” Heroes?」
Sylvia averted her eyes and asked Kaito and the others.
「Eh……ah, yes. …And you are? 」
Kaito noticed that she had put emphasis on the present day part.
「I see. ……I am Sylvia. Sylvia Loto Sheriotto Leezelion. I am the former Second Imperial Princess that had once run across the battlefield together with the Preceding Hero.」
She, Sylvia said as such, and she faintly smiled.
