by Fujino Omori
Huh? She was stopped by a shadow floating above the ground.
“—you were passing from the south to the east.”
The shadow leaped down on the girl’s head, silently and in a feline fashion. Without allowing her a chance to get a good look, the shadow woman held a blade to her slender neck.
“Gh?!”
Her left hand was twisted behind her back. She could feel the cold blade against her skin. She was rendered helpless in an instant.
The animal person’s eyes widened in shock, unable to process what had happened.
“Supporter? What’s wrong? Did something happen?” called out the crystal in her right hand, giving off a dim glow.
It was painfully quiet in the middle of the alley. A single crimson drop seeped from her neck under the pressure of the blade.
The cold steel commanded that she lie. The girl breathed in and responded with a quivering voice.
“There are…adventurers here…I’ll be caught…Please cut transmission for the time being…”
“Okay, got it,” replied the goddess on the other end, withdrawing without noticing anything and mistaking her hushed voice for nervousness about being near other adventurers.
The light dimmed, and the crystal went silent. At the same time, a sudden cold sweat drenched her entire body.
The distasteful insignia on the hilt of the shortsword was that of a certain familia: the emblem of a jester, its lips strung up into a crescent smile.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Her heart was beating wildly in her chest.
Wh-why…?
Why did I get caught?
Did they see through my disguise?
No way! Why? How?
This isn’t my real body—
As if to answer the questions running through the girl’s head, the woman standing behind her, Anakity, whispered in her ear.
“You, and only you, don’t smell like anything.”
The girl’s body temperature instantly dropped.
“A scent-erasing item, right? I noticed it when I was investigating with Bete…Were you the one who hid the monster in the west?”
“…?!”
“When you’re alone, it’s one thing…But when you’re in a group, it stands out.”
Is that it?
Is that all?
Did she find me hidden among all the adventurers from that alone?
As the emotions swirled on her face at a blinding pace, her small body started to quiver.
“And…you’re the same height as the fake Captain who fooled Raul.”
Anakity Autumn.
A Level 4, just like her uninteresting colleague Raul Nord.
But despite being a second-tier adventurer, she was a little too skilled.
With Finn’s prediction about the girl’s transformation, she managed to narrow down her target and find her among all the adventurers running around.
Several members of Loki Familia appeared around them.
This time, all the blood drained from the girl’s face.
“I’ll have you come with us.”
—Bell.
As if sensing her end, she whispered his name.
INTERLUDE
THEIR RESPECTIVE BATTLES
The sound of a blade parrying a wooden sword, an intense clash, rang out as Aiz landed in the alley.
“Guh!”
As she fell on the ground from the roof, Aiz faced off against her attacker, the masked adventurer.
The stranger’s long, hooded cape fluttered, and they wore boots that extended halfway up their thighs. The svelte adventurer held a wooden sword as their lower body shifted into a battle stance.
The location was a backstreet in the southeast of the Labyrinth District.
The street was unexpectedly wide at seven meders with wooden boxes and casks and mounds of scrap wood haphazardly scattered around. The skirmish between the boy and the adventurers chasing the monsters was in the distance. That one corner of the Labyrinth District became a battlefield all their own, as if the rest of the world had been closed off.
“Who are—?!”
“Unfortunately, I cannot identify myself. Please forgive what practically amounts to a surprise attack,” the anonymous adventurer interjected sincerely as Aiz started to question their identity.
It was a resolute, honorable response, and the face behind the mask could be that of an elf. Their polite tone had an apologetic tinge to it, but it also revealed their readiness for battle, a declaration that combat couldn’t be avoided.
“Against an opponent like you, I can’t take a wait-and-see approach—I’ll be going all out from the start.”
The next instant, the masked adventurer disappeared.
“!!”
In one high-speed action, they retreated out of Aiz’s field of vision.
Her golden eyes were a split second behind, tracking them moving diagonally to the right, and the anonymous adventurer leaned down enough to scrape along the ground before unleashing a strike with the wooden sword from a low angle.
Aiz responded precisely to the attack closing in from her periphery, deflecting it with Desperate.
““—Gh!””
The wooden sword and rapier cut through the air, their impact sending a stinging jolt through both their arms.
The moment they traded blows, Aiz’s golden eyes met sky-blue ones.
As if recognizing from the start that the attack would be blocked, the anonymous adventurer darted away, brushing past Aiz, accelerating further.
“?!”
As a gale, the challenger blew past Aiz and circled around her, using the wide alley to its fullest to boost their speed. The sound of feet pounding the stone pavement over and over echoed through the street as the occasional cobblestone shattered and kicked up into the air. The attacker didn’t stay still for a split second, moving in all directions.
“—Ha!”
“!”
They unleashed an attack in the blink of an eye. A flash of steel managed to block the wooden sword slashing up behind her.
Aiz furrowed her brow at the force transferred through her sword.
The masked adventurer didn’t allow her any time to think, taking their distance and attacking from a high speed.
Another attack. Followed by another.
Aiz blocked them as they came from all directions. Her eyes widened as the magnitude of the strikes incessantly resounding through her became clear.
Is the force…increasing?!
There was no mistaking it.
The second attack was stronger than the first. And the third with more impact than the second. The ambush had grown intense, and the impact started to shake Aiz’s body through her defenses.
Desperate was quivering from the blows, a testament to their increasing power.
Is it a kind of sprinting skill like Bete’s?
Solmani was the name of the werewolf’s skill, powerful and rare, that increased strength and agility as it accelerated. Aiz guessed it was extremely likely that her opponent had a skill of some kind that interacted with the action of sprinting.
In a fight between two adventurers, techniques and tactics were obviously fundamental, but sussing out magic and skills was equally important. Failing to see through the enemy’s abilities or trump cards could be the difference between victory and a complete reversal at the last possible moment.
Those trump cards would often be the line between victory and defeat, especially in a fight between two people with real skill.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!” A loud scream accompanied another attack.
Her opponent’s body gave off golden particles of light.
Aiz had seen that effect before.
Is it the same as Androctonus, the Man Slayer?!
That was the first-tier adventurer Phryne Jamil, who’d attacked her when they had fought Ishtar Familia in Meren.
Phryne should have been a Level-5 opponent, crossing swords evenly with Aiz at Level 6. At the time, she’d been giving off a
large number of light particles. The scene before Aiz’s eyes stirred memories from a month ago.
Had her opponent been given a boost equivalent to a level-up?
Was this masked adventurer a former member of Ishtar Familia?
No, that’s not it. This isn’t one of Ishtar’s followers.
Aiz discarded the speculation in her mind, because there was a memory that came back, far beyond a month ago.
I know. I know this person.
I—We’ve fought before!
If I remember correctly, they hid their identity that time, too.
A mask. A wooden sword. A cape. That sharp follow-through. The strong gaze in those blue-green eyes.
Past Aiz had been desperate to become strong and could remember only vague symbols.
Why had they been fighting? Why had they had such a serious fight?
Just who had won that fight—?
“—Hyah!”
“Gh!”
As she remained half-immersed in her past recollections, Aiz engaged in a fierce dance, darting with her sword. As the masked adventurer unleashed attack after attack, she accepted the challenge head-on.
The battle bloomed with intensity. The swift movements of her assailant knew no limits as they conducted a sonata with the sound of their mighty sprint, accelerating fast enough to break the stone pavement. Just when they were about to clash, the masked adventurer would drop their speed for a split second before accelerating to slice at Aiz. By manipulating their speed, the assailant added in tens, hundreds of feints—tactics interwoven into the high-speed battle. They were the smallest of movements, but their precision was unlike anything she’d seen before. The force of those tactics was enough to make the Sword Princess slow to judge for a second, to overcome the level handicap between them. It inspired awe.
Aiz lost the initiative and tried to use her own speed to chase the masked adventurer.
“Ngh…?!”
The enemy’s wooden sword smashed the wooden crates and barrels nearby, sending fragments of wood flying.
A blast of projectiles blocked her vision. Aiz was forced to intercept them. The rain of shattered wood didn’t allow her any opening for pursuit. The masked adventurer used the terrain to its utmost potential and kept the Sword Princess from closing in.
The hotly contested battlefield had been a storage area for scrap wood. The stacked wooden crates and rows of casks transformed into obstructions blocking Aiz’s line of sight.
The anonymous adventurer would escape to the left. But the moment they entered a blind spot, they would come from the right to take Aiz by surprise. From Aiz’s perspective, the movements were otherworldly, totally betraying her expectations.
Barrels burst, crates danced, and just when she thought countless splinters would be coming from the front, a blow from the wooden sword came in directly from the side.
“Khhh?!”
Aiz just managed to guard against it, but the masked adventurer had already retreated out of her range.
They weren’t greedy in their assault, cutting in with an attack in passing and then leaving Aiz’s field of view as they endured Aiz’s counterattacks with a range of techniques and a tireless sprint.
A super-precise, super-high-speed battle. A transcendental hit-and-run.
The masked adventurer’s tremendous speed and orbit increased as they passed through their surroundings, breaking casks and crates as if a gale. A hail of fragments assaulted Aiz from all directions, accompanied by a series of tremendous booms, to the point that she could imagine herself being trapped inside a windstorm.
They’re really going all out…using every last thing to face me.
Their skills, the boost from that light, the terrain. Aiz could feel the conviction in her opponent’s stance as they used every last card at their disposal: It was a desire to pin her down in this location.
As she deflected the enemy’s attacks, Aiz thought.
They can’t maintain this kind of attack for long. If I wait for their stamina to run down, I can break through, and given time, my eyes will adjust to their speed, and I can deal with it.
But that’s a bad plan.
If the masked adventurer was connected to Bell, their goal was to buy time. Since Aiz had lost sight of him, more time here was a loss for her.
“…” Aiz was troubled.
If the situation were different, she would have enjoyed continuing the swordplay. If neither of them had their own obligations, they could have clashed head-on to their hearts’ content.
If they’d been the same level as Aiz—they could have had more close-range combat.
Aiz drew Desperate’s sheath from the sword belt.
“!!”
Sword in her right hand, sheath in her left. As the masked adventurer continued to move at high speed, they gazed in wonder at the Sword Princess’s form.
Sword and sheath in both hands…Can the Sword Princess dual wield? Impossible. I’ve never heard of her doing that before.
The challenger was perplexed and suspicious but never stopped their feet. The masked adventurer continued their sprint to take full advantage of their skill while observing the movements of the girl with golden hair and golden eyes.
In the center of the alley, enclosed in a gale prison, Aiz closed her eyes.
She lowered both arms, holding them loosely by her side, as if to say, Strike however you like. It was formless.
Is this a waiting stance…?
Aiming for a counter. A passive tactic.
Did she give up on following my movements? Is she intending to bet it all on a single attack?
For the masked adventurer, it was exactly the sort of development they should have wanted to buy time. If the assailant kept running and continuing to divert without attacking, they could maintain the stalemate.
But the Sword Princess should realize that I’m aiming to buy time…Is she trying to lower my guard? Is it a trap?
The storied warrior behind the mask tried to read into the intentions of the swordswoman. The assailant had been attacking nonstop. And in that smallest of gaps, they adopted a defensive mind-set.
That slight gap in the force of their gale could hardly be called a defensive posture—but it was enough for the girl.
The next instant, Aiz dashed.
“Urg?!”
Discarding the camouflage of a counter, she came in with an instantaneous approach. The masked adventurer was visibly shocked as the golden-eyed swordswoman appeared before their eyes, charging into their projected path.
It had all been a feint—a strategy that Aiz devised to create a single instant of doubt in the masked adventurer. The anonymous challenger realized that the time needed to think had in itself been the trap, and they gathered all the strength in their body to intercept the oncoming blow.
“Hy—?!”
Even as the assailant had been caught off guard, they still maintained the sprint, unleashing a sweeping horizontal slash with the wooden sword.
It carried the force of their skill and the boost brought about by the light particles.
It was a single attack with all their might, combining every blessing they’d been granted.
Crack.
“”
The Sword Princess readily repelled the attack with her sword without difficulty and with the precision of threading a needle.
Not enough strength.
Not enough speed.
Not a high enough level.
Even with the masked adventurer’s ability and strength, it was meaningless before Aiz, even as a Level 6.
There was an insurmountable difference in combat experience.
The masked adventurer was strong without a doubt. Their movements were more refined than the ones of the person in Aiz’s memories.
But Aiz had grown far more than they had.
She’d gone into the Dungeon again and again without rest. She’d continued defeating monsters without end.
She’d gotten mixed up in th
e incident with the vividly colored monsters, the demi-spirit, and the mortal combat with the creature. She’d accumulated all that experience.
On one side was a person of true strength who’d retired from the front lines; on the other was the Sword Princess, who was fighting out at the very forefront even now.
The number of difficulties they’d overcome on their path to this rematch was the clear deciding factor between them.
They had been equal only in the realm of techniques. Aiz reluctantly lowered her eyebrows, slashing with her remaining weapon.
“Fortunately, it was the sheath side—”
“It was a good thing you attacked from the right,” Aiz whispered as she parried the wooden sword, the masked adventurer swinging their sword diagonally down with all their might using a single hand.
“If I used the sword, I couldn’t have held back.”
Aiz was relieved that it ended without her cutting her opponent in half, dispassionately unleashing an attack with the sheath in her hand.
“—Gggggh?!”
A single flash smashed into her opponent’s side at extreme speed—a scathing and decisive blow. When the air was forced out of their lungs, they spat up blood as they were blasted away with the force of a river bursting through a dam.
Fragments of wood flew into the sky as they were thrown back into the boxes and barrels behind them.
That slender body smashed into a wall.
The masked adventurer left cracks in the brick wall, exchanging a final glance with Aiz right before losing consciousness.
Their searching sky-colored eyes filled with regret as they slumped over.
The sonata of the gale died down. And in its place, long golden locks fluttered in the alley.
“…I’m sorry.”
Three minutes.
That was the amount of time spent to reach a conclusion to this battle that no one would know of.
The slight time that the anonymous adventurer had managed to buy.
Aiz didn’t look back at the unconscious woman as she left that place.
“What was that wind just now?!” Tione was in a fit of rage.
She’d been ordered by Finn to scout and raid, following his instructions when the armed monsters appeared in the Labyrinth District’s southwest area. She approached the throng of monsters from behind as they marched directly east toward Loki Familia’s main base in the central part of Daedalus Street. In hot pursuit, she saw the parade of monsters and commenced attacking them from behind with throwing knives and other projectiles.
