ch301-ch320 · 301-ch301
Chapter 301: The Receptionist Is a Losing Flag 【Watanabe Kasumi】 Part 10
SIDE: Watanabe Kasumi (Haruki's Girlfriend)
"I believe the answer needs no saying, but?"
My answer to her invitation is, of course, no.
Joining a party with this little brat is out of the question.
"Right. Then, from tomorrow, you're with us."
"......"
This little brat......
"Just kidding. I'd like to hear your conditions. What would it take for you to come to Floor 50 with me?"
"Floor... fifty?"
And here I thought—Floor 50?
Is she looking for someone to commit suicide with her?
"Right, let's start there. Lately I've been having dreams of Floor 50. You were there too. That's why I came to recruit you."
"A dream? Is that a joke too? You expect me to believe THAT? Surely it's some pretext about the weekly magazine's story of our falling-out, or filling the vacancy? Either way, I cannot form a party with you. Please look elsewhere."
I see—so that is the cause of the 'Blue Ocean' falling-out.
Given Kinoshita-san's personality, he would never challenge Floor 50 unless the odds of victory were all but certain.
Floor 50 is a place the world's militaries, let alone adventurers, can only stand by and watch.
In this state, the only ones who would think of going to Floor 50 are the rulers who care nothing for human lives, and screw-loose suicide volunteers like this little brat.
"I will grant your wishes as far as I am able. If there is anything I can do, I want you to tell me."
"Then please give up on Floor 50. Even someone like you dying would leave a bad taste in my mouth."
"Don't quibble. Do you have no wish? I have plenty of money, and you could get an upper sub-job on Floor 40, you know?"
"If I have a wish, it has already been granted. So long as you do not get in my way, I am happy."
That's right. So long as I can be with Haruki-san, that is enough.
I have already reached Floor 40, and so long as I can support my companions and keep them from overdoing it, that is enough.
"Well, I didn't expect a yes on the spot today anyway. Next time I'll bring Ao-senpai along."
"Does that person share your way of thinking?"
"I expect she simply can't bear to be beaten to the punch? If it came down to me leaving the party, she'd fire the other members instead. Senpai is that kind of person."
Self-aggrandizement.
Or should I say, a hunger for approval?
Even 'Japan's Number One Adventurer,' famed for her spotless conduct, clings to that number-one title......
Is that also the reason she holds this excessive war asset called 【Sword Saint】 and yet won't take Quadruple promotion requests?
"No matter how many times you come, or who you bring, the answer is the same. That concludes our discussion. Please leave."
"Fine—but before I go, I'd like to see your strength for myself. Let's cross blades a little."
And now she says......
"What benefit is that to me, exactly?"
"You're not curious? Just how strong a 【Sword Saint】 is, and how strong you are. I know I am."
︙
︙
"Just a mock battle. Win or lose, nothing comes of it. That works for you, right? You may use skills. Of course, I'll be using mine too."
I let her sweet-talk me into it.
The location is Floor 2.
The back of the warehouse is sacred ground—I would not let this little brat set so much as one foot there.
She left her escorts behind as well, so it is just the two of us.
The chairman had newly stationed guards too, and I would rather not be seen by those.
"There is a difference in our weapons, but will that bamboo sword really be all right?"
I hold my competitive naginata; the little brat grips a bamboo sword.
"That's a remark that comes back to bite you—best not say it. My level and my stats are overwhelmingly higher than yours, so I have no complaints. Take your stance. We need no signal, yes?"
I knew from the start that I could not win.
She is 'Japan's Strongest,' after all.
I would like to at least land a single strike, but even that will prove impossible.
Still, it is a fine opportunity to learn my enemy's strength.
(Even so—full power!)
The 【Sword Saint】 settles into the low guard.
No—rather than a low guard, it is more that her sword is simply lowered.
Held in one hand, nothing more.
A natural stance.
So that is this 【Sword Saint】's style, I suppose.
"！?"
The moment I take my stance, she steps forward ever so casually—truly, with the air of someone going to fetch a juice from the fridge—and closes into my range......
(I've already seen this one!)
A slashing attack rising from below toward my neck.
A perfectly natural motion, nothing more than lifting her arm.
It was a movement I had seen once before, so I managed to recognize it as an attack.
I can receive this one.
And then......
(How careless of you! 【Deflection】!)
The naginata user's skill, 【Deflection】.
A skill that unbalances the stance of anyone touching the naginata, no questions asked.
No matter how great a master, the slightest shift in the center of gravity creates an opening.
......?
It is not working?
No—I have just witnessed something unbelievable.
The bamboo sword in the 【Sword Saint】's hand is spinning.
The instant my skill activated—for that single instant—she had let go of the bamboo sword.
The skill acted on the bamboo sword alone, and spinning it in her hand let the force slip away...... shall we say?
(My 【Deflection】 was deflected?)
Impossible......
But still!
In this state the skill simply fizzled—the same as receiving it normally.
The situation favors me.
It is my turn to attack.
One step back, reclaiming the distance she had closed, and a low strike at her shin.
(【Counter】)
A counter skill.
A strike downward at twice the speed!
Which—is received, as a matter of course.
Impossible......
This too is impossible.
When did she move the bamboo sword down to her feet?
Not after the attack came—was it moving before I even initiated?
(Not yet!)
This is still my range.
One step back means that, with the difference in our weapons, I can strike once more.
The butt spike on the other end, to her jaw......
(Ah......)
The 【Sword Saint】's bamboo sword is pressed to my neck, and a beat behind it, my naginata stops before her jaw.
One instant—just one instant, she was faster......
"I con......cede......"
My conditions should have been the better ones.
That she closed the distance without my noticing was startling enough, but more than that, her sword speed was abnormal.
After receiving the low strike, the point of her sword came back around faster than my own attack.
This too is impossible......
(I have...... lost, it seems......)
It was a matter of one instant.
If only I had swung my naginata a little sooner......
(I fought better than I expected?)
The gap between me and the 【Sword Saint】 was smaller than I thought......
I was thrown off by her strange swordwork and her responses to my skills, but if I grew used to her movements, I should have a few more tricks to try.
I had expected an overwhelming difference.
The difference between her and me was one single instant......
(And yet......)
I understand.
That instant will never be closed......
That instant alone is what competitors spend their entire lives swinging the sword to close.
And still it remains unclosed—this one instant.
Some, like the 'Sword Saint of the North,' pile effort upon effort and do grasp that instant within their lifetimes—but those who reach it are, even searching the whole world over, a handful.
Yet this girl is different even from those people.
Hoshino Chiharu.
I'm told that until she entered university and the dungeon, this girl was in no martial art—not even an athletic club.
The day she first took up a sword, she cut a goblin clean in two and stunned everyone around her.
Talent terrifying to behold......
A woman born holding that instant from the very beginning.
This is a 【Sword Saint】.
This is 'Japan's Strongest.'
This is Hoshino Chiharu......
"Do you think it's the difference in status? Shall we go another round?"
"No. No matter how many times we try, the result will be the same."
I cannot win......
"Really? Receiving my first attack was good, but you weren't quite what I expected. Maybe it's because I knew which skills you'd use? Well, either way, you seem stronger than Iwata-san or the Bear Ossan. As expected of the 【Spear King】—perhaps?"
Kgh.
I have my own thoughts on the matter.
If I had known she would close the distance, I need not have kept my right hand drawn back.
If only for that one instant......
No—in the first place, when my 【Deflection】 was deflected, I was startled and lost a beat.
Without that instant, in the end......
Lately I've had few chances to simply swing the naginata for its own sake.
If I had trained more, if I had kept working......
"If you're finished with your business, please go home."
There are no what-ifs in a contest.
Best to be grateful it was not a serious match with something at stake.
"......I'll be back. In the meantime, you'd best practice. Ah—one question, may I?"
"......"
I want to shout at her to go home already, but I am the one who lost.
Whether I answer is another matter, but I can at least listen.
"Do you know of any adventurer who uses powerful fire magic?"
"In Japan? Overseas, the second princess of a certain country is famous, but in Japan...... the strongest would be Yabuki-san, holder of the upper job 【Blast Flame Mage】?"
As an Association employee I hesitate to name individuals, but Yabuki-san is a famous magician said to rival the 'Queen of the Sky,' so it should be fine.
"A spellcaster far, far stronger than that. You don't know anyone?"
"I could not say."
"I see. No clues on my end either. Then I'll be going too."
What meaning that question held, I do not know—the 【Sword Saint】 went home......
︙
︙
Though I lost the mock battle, I believe it had meaning.
Is this also some scheme of the 【Sword Saint】's?
I find myself wanting to practice the naginata.
After seeing the 【Sword Saint】 off, I confirmed that Formations A, D, and Z had all been lifted, and I return to my holiday.
Today was set aside for planning the surprise, but instead I shall have Haruki-san cross blades with me a little.
(He is in the warehouse. Before the mock battle, I shall have him comfort me.)
I will tattle to Haruki-san about how the 【Sword Saint】 bullied me.
Afterward, of course, he will knock the 【Sword Saint】 flying for me, and he is certain to be ever so gentle with me besides.
Mufufu.
If he learns that I was being courted, perhaps he will even grow jealous.
That 【Sword Saint】 proves surprisingly useful......
"I'm baaack—I'm sorry to have kept you wai......"
He's asleep.
And here I was, suffering at the 【Sword Saint】's hands, and he wears such a happy face.
(Mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm. Is he dreaming of the goddess?)
He's smiling away.
A sharp pain shoots through my chest.
The mere thought of that smile being directed at anyone but me makes my blood—......
"Ouch-ouch! Ah—a dream, no wait! That hurts! It hurts!"
I had pinched his cheek without realizing it......
"Haruki-san! Let us cross blades!"
Dreaming of another woman—Endo-san would rule that infidelity.
He needs punishing!
"Huh? Now? Well, all right, I guess. I was thinking I wanted a mock battle with Kasumi-san anyway...... Oh, but before that, may I ask one thing?"
It is I who wants to ask something.
Whose dream were you watching, exactly?
"......Go ahead."
But I'm afraid to hear the answer......
I shall save it for after his punishment.
That way he is certain to tell me honestly.
"Do you know any adventurers who use fire magic? Someone who uses incredibly powerful magic!"
"Hmm-mmm-mmm?"
Haven't I just been asked the same thing?
Don't tell me he was dreaming of that woman?
It seems I shall have to go looking after all......