by Aneko Yusagi
He looked like he was okay.
“Mr. Itsuki, as announcer for the underground coliseum, I’ve aided the Shield Hero in his plot to deceive you. Please forgive me!”
Huh? What was the announcer up to? Did he have a change of heart and decide to turn on me? Something wasn’t right.
“You are forgiven. Reflect on your sins and wash your hands of this shady business.”
“Yes sir, Mr. Itsuki!”
The announcer had a crazy look in his eyes. It was as if he had been brainwashed.
“Itsuki . . . That bow of yours . . .” Ren muttered.
He pointed at the bow and Itsuki grinned happily.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it? By unlocking the power of this bow and shooting an opponent, I can liberate them from brainwashing so that they can finally understand me!”
Did he really think he was liberating people from brainwashing so that they could understand him? There’s no way people would sympathize with others so easily. Case in point, Itsuki was making zero effort to understand my side of the story. On the contrary, he was the one brainwashing people. Justice Bow, my ass.
“This bow that Princess Malty entrusted me with possesses divine power! With this weapon, I can rescue even irredeemable trash!”
I decided to try thinking about things from Itsuki’s point of view.
He was defeated by the Spirit Tortoise and lost everything. That’s when Witch showed up and instigated him, which awakened new powers in the form of a curse series. If it were a mecha anime, it would be like the excitement of switching to a new robot suit. And then, before Itsuki came down from that high, Witch had sent him out to earn money by fighting in the coliseums. But he was being careful about how he used the power since it was his trump card. Something like that.
Either way, it was clear that Itsuki had unlocked a curse series weapon.
“Itsuki, let me tell you how it really is. That bow may seem like a tool of justice to you, but things aren’t that simple. The truth is, that’s a sinister bow with the power to brainwash others.”
“You’re wrong! This bow . . . is the embodiment of justice!”
I’d seen anime and manga where the hero went around spouting off nonsense. The hero would defeat an enemy and that enemy would be forced to sympathize with the hero. It seemed reasonable at first, but thinking about it from another perspective, the whole idea of trying to make someone understand something by fighting them was pretty warped. If a little violence is all it took to make someone abandon their beliefs, then those weren’t worthy of being called beliefs in the first place.
“Everyone, fight me! Open your eyes to that which is just!”
He was on a completely different level than Ren had been. Ren had still been aware that he was in the wrong. But that wasn’t the case for Itsuki. Itsuki was charging forward, blindly following his own sense of justice to the very end.
In terms of the seven deadly sins, this would probably fall under pride. But that wasn’t a perfect fit either. Another possibility would be vainglory, which was one of the eight cardinal sins. Or maybe it was one of the eight deadly sins that popped up in anime or manga every now and then as an alternative take on the concept. This was getting into real escapist, nerd territory.
I’d seen two instances of an eighth deadly sin. The first was justice. It was a justice that had been taken too far, becoming cold and merciless. Even the slightest of sins was deemed unforgivable and had to be paid for with one’s life. The second was fanaticism—sticking to one’s beliefs no matter what. Even if it meant one’s own ruin.
Then there was also the possibility that it was all four of those. Ren had unlocked multiple curse series too. It had been gluttony and greed in his case. We’d only seen two at once so far, but three or four at once might be possible too. I felt like I was starting to understand what this “justice” was that Itsuki was chasing.
“You’re wrong!”
Rishia lashed out at Itsuki in a surprisingly loud voice.
“You misunderstand Naofumi, Mr. Itsuki!”
“Is that you, Rishia? You, too, have been brainwashed by Naofumi.”
“Mr. Itsuki, you said that Naofumi was forcing slaves into hard labor and keeping the profits for himself, right?”
Itsuki nodded with a look of disgust on his face.
“Then tell me. Why is everyone living in Naofumi’s village in good health? Have you heard from any slaves that were overworked? Have you talked with anyone who was nearly worked to death?”
“I don’t know about any of that. But there’s no way that Princess Malty or Mald would lie to me!”
“I’m asking if you verified any of this yourself!”
Uh oh. Rishia had switched into her justice mode. That hadn’t happened for a while now. Not since we fought Kyo. If they started fighting while she was like this, we’d get to see the awakened Rishia.
“I’ve been watching Naofumi rebuild the village from the very start, when he brought the slaves in. Do you have any idea how many people Naofumi has saved after they fell into a life of slavery? And you call that forcing them into hard labor and hoarding the profits? Hogwash!”
“She’s right! Not a single child in that village is being forced to do work they don’t want to do!” Ren shouted.
He jumped on the bandwagon and tried to help talk some sense into Itsuki.
“That’s right! We’re all living life to the fullest, thanks to bubba saving us!”
“We’re working hard to rebuild our village!”
The slaves all started to speak up in opposition to Itsuki.
“Despite what you all might say, Naofumi has openly confessed to his crimes. There is no denying it!”
“Confessed? Are you talking about when I said I work my slaves like horses? Sure, I confess to doing that.”
“Mr. Naofumi, that’s not helping your case at all. Besides, you went through all of that trouble to buy up the Lurolona slaves when the prices were skyrocketing, so there are no profits to speak of. You’re still in the red,” said Raphtalia.
She let out a deep sigh. But I did work the slaves like horses! There was nothing wrong with that.
“The children in Naofumi’s village aren’t normal slaves. They’re always having so much fun while they work. It doesn’t even make sense to call them slaves,” added Ren.
Umm, I was pretty sure they would be categorized as slaves, from a social status perspective, and considering that they all had slave curses.
“On the contrary, you would think that Naofumi was the villagers’ slave if you saw how hard he works for them!” Rishia shouted.
“Wha . . . ?!”
“Yeah! He stays up late every night and spends every last minute doing all that he can for the village and the neighboring town! And he still trains to better himself on top of that! He doesn’t even have time to level! Which of those sounds like a slave to you?!” Ren added.
“What the hell?! What are you trying to say, you bastards?!” I shouted.
I was on the verge of activating Rishia’s slave curse to punish her.
“Naofumi is the village foster parent,” Ren went on.
“Oh my . . . I guess he is. Little Naofumi is the village mommy,” Sadeena interjected.
“Not even close! I am not a mommy!”
These bastards had it all wrong! Especially Sadeena! Neither Ren nor Rishia were making any sense anymore!
“You’re absolutely wrong!” I shouted.
“Mr. Naofumi, I believe in you,” Atla said.
What the hell did that mean?! Bastards, all of them! I was going to chew the whole village out later.
“Despite what you may say, the truth speaks for itself! Naofumi is evil, and that’s that!”
Itsuki wasn’t budging. But Rishia continued on.
“Mr. Itsuki, what about yourself? Are you free of sin? I find that very hard to believe.”
“Enough of the theatrics. It’s repulsive. You make me want to puke!”
&nbs
p; Itsuki glared at Rishia with a scowl on his face. Talk about verbal abuse. Did he really think it was okay to talk to her like that? He’d already forced her to try to kill herself by jumping into the ocean, and yet here he was still pretending like he was the good guy.
“There is only one thing for me to do, and that is to destroy all traces of evil in this world!”
“Yeah, that’s not happening,” I said.
All traces of evil in this world? As long as there were people, there would be conflict. According to Itsuki’s standards, Ren and I counted as evil. Actually, I was sure anyone that didn’t bow to him would be considered evil in his book.
“I may possess very little power. But even so, I . . . I will not condone such injustice!” Itsuki shouted.
He was trying to sound like some kind of hero. He pointed his bow at me and drew the string. When he did, an arrow appeared.
“Naofumi! I will shoot clean through that injustice!”
I could hear the whistling sound of Itsuki’s arrow slicing through the air as it came hurtling toward me. I moved my Float Shield and blocked the arrow.
“Injustice, you say?”
That was my line. I got summoned here as the hero they didn’t like, so they created an elaborate conspiracy to persecute me. It didn’t get any more unjust than that. What the hell gave him the right to go on about injustice? Itsuki’s words themselves were a big, stinking pile of injustice.
“Mr. Itsuki, it seems you are not willing to listen.”
Rishia held her sword out and took a fighting stance.
“Mr. Itsuki, I cannot accept this justice of yours. My justice deems your actions to be unacceptable!”
“Itsuki! This isn’t who you are! If you give yourself up to that cursed power, it will only lead to your destruction!” Ren shouted.
“Do not interfere!”
Itsuki aimed his bow up into the air and drew the string. Another arrow went flying. It was headed toward me, of course.
“Mr. Naofumi!”
Raphtalia called out to me, but I held my hand up to signal her not to worry. I snatched the arrow out of the air this time.
“Shining Arrow!”
Itsuki pulled the bowstring back even harder and a bright, shining arrow appeared. It would probably take some time to shoot that one.
“Mr. Itsuki, your intentions have become clear. I am your opponent now. I will fight you with everything I have!”
Rishia readied herself to face Itsuki. She held a hand to her blade.
“Muso Activation!”
The air around Rishia began swirling and created a vortex. Is that what Muso Activation was? This was on a completely different level than what Eclair had done. I knew it was the same skill thanks to Ren’s commentary, but this time I could clearly see something visibly jetting outward.
“She’s absorbing life force from her surroundings. I’ve seen the master do it too. Rishia’s doing it the same way,” Atla explained.
She was sensing the life force and trying to figure out how the technique worked. Atla could get stronger just by watching others fight. I was jealous. It made me feel bad for Fohl though. His little sister was a prodigy and yet he still had to prove himself stronger than her.
“Haaah!”
Rishia charged at Itsuki. Her speed was incredible.
“Hengen Muso Small Sword Technique! Spiral Slash!”
A flow of life force began spiraling out of Rishia’s sword.
“Argh!”
Itsuki must have realized that getting hit by that would have caused some damage, because he dodged by a hair’s breadth and then fired off his arrow. Why the hell did it curve around and come flying at me?!
“Shooting Star Shield!”
I cast Shooting Star Shield to generate a defensive barrier that would guard against Itsuki’s arrows. The shining arrow split into multiple arrows that rained down over me. Just to be safe, I held my shield up toward the arrows. I didn’t take any damage. I’d disabled any counterattack effects too.
Rishia was right in front of him! He was supposed to be fighting her! Why the hell was he still aiming at me?
“I won’t let you get away!” Rishia shouted.
Itsuki had managed to launch his skill while dodging Rishia’s first attack, but she immediately followed up with more. They all seemed to be that same Spiral Slash attack. It was pretty incredible that she could use it so many times in a row. But the base stats of Itsuki’s curse series weapon must have been pretty high. He didn’t seem to take much damage even when Rishia’s attacks hit him. Even worse, his wounds were slowly regenerating.
“If that’s all you’ve got you better not expect to be able to stop me!”
Cursed, toxic fumes erupted from Itsuki, sending Rishia flying into the air.
“Mr. Itsuki, you must not let that power consume you! I guarantee you will regret it!” Rishia yelled.
“You are the one who will regret it! Now open your eyes to justice! Arrow Squall!”
Itsuki’s arrow came flying in my direction. What a hassle. Judging by the name of the skill, it would probably turn into a rain of arrows.
“Air Strike Shield!”
I stopped the arrow before it multiplied.
“I may be outnumbered, but as long as I defeat you, Naofumi, the victory is mine!” he shouted.
Umm . . . He did know he was fighting Rishia one-on-one, right? On the contrary, he was the one choosing to attack the audience without provocation. Did he even feel like he was being driven back, in the first place? It wasn’t uncommon for the hero of a story to face countless enemies at once. Itsuki was probably imagining himself in a similar situation.
Maybe he thought of Rishia as a soldier that I had sent after him or something. I would have guessed he thought of her as some frightened, little animal that screamed a lot. Either way, she was the obstacle directly in front of him. It only made sense to defeat her before coming after me. Even so, I would be fine just grabbing his arrows out of the air or using Float Shield, along with Ren and Raphtalia intercepting his attacks.
“I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what justice means since meeting you, Mr. Itsuki.”
“Evil has no place talking about justice!”
“Evil? What is evil? What is justice?”
Rishia continued trying to get through to Itsuki. I thought she was wasting her time, but it seemed important to her to try. I guess I’d just have to accept that and endure Itsuki’s vicious onslaught.
“The only thing you consider justice is that which satisfies you personally! Am I wrong, Mr. Itsuki?! Do you really think that using force to suppress others is true justice?!”
Rishia spoke from the heart. Her words moved Ren to join the conversation.
“I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, ‘Justice without power is empty, but power without justice is merely violence.’ Itsuki, you’ve always aspired to fight for justice, right? You never really talked about yourself much, and I never really cared to ask before. But I want to get to know you better now. I want to know what it is that you’re after and what it is that makes you suffer. So please tell me!”
Itsuki continued to focus his attacks on me. It would be nice if Ren thought about my situation a little bit before giving a speech. Still, he did have a point. I had no idea what kind of person Itsuki was either. I understood his personality, but I had no idea what kind of life he had led before. What was it that made him go on and on about justice like this?
“Justice is power. It’s proof of what is right. Rescue the weak! Crush the strong!” Itsuki shouted.
Huh? Something suddenly hit me. I tried thinking about Itsuki’s behavior from the other way around. What if Itsuki had been filled with gloom and feelings of depression in his own world?
It was clear that Itsuki wanted to be a hero. A lot of fictional superheroes had ordinary alter egos, or maybe they were someone that got bullied a lot. But then they would transform or put on a disguise and go out to defeat bad guys. Anyway
, that’s how it was for most of the famous superheroes, like Superman or that spider guy.
The more tyrannical types of players in online games were basically doing the same thing too. Itsuki was always trying dish out his justice in secret. So that was it. Fighting for justice did indeed mean using one’s power to save others. Put all of that together and you get the idea of rewarding the good and punishing the evil. Justice wins, and evil gets stomped out.
“I don’t care if you or anyone else tries to call me evil! I fight for justice!” Itsuki went on.
His thirst for recognition and his lofty ideals all added up to one conclusion.
“Itsuki, the way you treated Rishia is no different than the way you were treated. That’s why you can’t bring yourself to face her, right?” I told him.
“What?!”
“This is a coliseum tournament. You’re a fighter in this tournament. If you want to fight me, then you have to defeat Rishia first. Otherwise, you have no right to challenge me.”
I had to make the conditions clear now or Itsuki would just keep this up forever. If I was the evil that Itsuki wanted to defeat, then he could do that in our match. I’d seen this kind of thing happen in those battle-type anime and manga. Motoyasu had done something similar to me countless times since coming to this world too. He would challenge me to a fight after specifying conditions that made it completely one-sided. I didn’t have any reason to set conditions like that here, but I had promised to let Rishia handle this.
“Damn it!” he grumbled.
I knew it. This was just a guess, but Itsuki had most likely been bullied back in his own world. Rishia had the lowest status of his party members, and they had basically bullied her before running her off. In other words, Rishia’s very existence brought back unpleasant memories from the past for Itsuki. He thought he’d cut himself off from his past, but now the embodiment of who he was before was standing right there in his way. It created incontrovertible dissonance with his justice.
“I see. Rishia is clearly brainwashed by your evil, but if I must defeat her, then I will.”
Rishia turned to me and bowed her head deeply.
“Thank you, Naofumi. Leave the rest to me. I will get through to Mr. Itsuki. You’ll see.”
