“Captain,” the knight asked with a look of bafflement. “What in the world...?”
“Curiosity can kill more than just the cat,” Walt told him, pushing aside his own questions. There were some things he didn’t need to think about. He just had to do his duty.
“Captain Dickson,” Justin said. “I hear we have an urgent message.” He completely ignored the child’s question, as if to say that the girl calling him “father” didn’t exist.
“Yes, Your Holiness,” Walt said, falling to one knee. “I’ve come with the report.” The knight accompanying him imitated his gesture. “As a matter of fact, two of the civilizing expedition units stationed in Aldreil, the Ninth Brigade and the Seventh Brigade, have sent a message that’s difficult to believe. Shockingly, they report that we’ve lost two of our guardian saint statues.”
“The statues...?” Justin narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. Perhaps he was surprised, and it was no wonder. To lose two statues at a single stroke should not have been possible. They were the Church’s ultimate weapons, capable of felling an erdgod. A successful attack on even one of them would require a hundred soldiers, and half of them would die in the attempt.
“What was the cause?” Justin asked.
“It was—Go on, tell His Holiness.” Walt gestured to the missionary beside him. The man bowed his head once more, then began to explain about the place where the problem had occurred—a frontier village called Friedland.
He told how this town had been reported as successfully converted by the Sixth Missionary Brigade, but how it now appeared that the Sixth Brigade’s guardian saint statue had also been destroyed. He spoke of how Friedland seemed to be turning into a center of anti-Church sentiment, and he told how there was someone there who was venerated as a god. Most importantly, he said...
“Eyewitnesses to the battle claim that the ‘Blasphemer of Blue Steel’ was there...!”
The words sent a shock of anxiety through Walt. The Church considered that name taboo, and although a handful of people above a certain station did know about it, simply mentioning the Blasphemer could get you into serious trouble.
Walt thought this might provoke displeasure, or anger, from Justin. The current Dominus could not be happy to suddenly hear the name of the Bluesteel Blasphemer. But...
“Is that so? Is that so indeed?”
Justin didn’t shout or snarl, but a thin smile twisted his lips.
“Your Holiness—”
“So that’s where he’s been hiding...” Justin nodded eagerly, then looked at the girl beside him.
“Father...?” The unidentified child cocked her head. It almost seemed she didn’t understand the meaning of the conversation she’d just heard.
“Be joyful,” Justin said in a gentle tone. “It seems the day has come for you to fulfill the reason for your existence.”
Afterword
Heyo, light novel author Sakaki here.
Today, I present you with Bluesteel Blasphemer Volume 3.
On this occasion, I want to give my profound thanks first to my readers, as well as my editing team and my illustrator, Tera Akai.
As I’ve been saying since the Afterword of the first book, the concept for Bluesteel Blasphemer was an “other world cheat-harem” story with guns. When I actually wrote it, though, the “harem” part turned out a little thin, or rather, there was a noticeable difference in how real Dasa felt versus how real the other girls felt. Especially Berta. Once Ulrike showed up, I found that as an author the familiar was easier to handle, and Berta kind of got left by the wayside, the poor girl.
In a comedy, there are a number of different ways to add realism to your characters, but there aren’t too many funny scenes in this story. So the upshot is, I decided to focus on Berta this time around.
Rest assured, this doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about the harem proper. Not at all. Last time, I added a “loli”-type sub-heroine, so this time I added a couple of sub-heroines from the “older sister” archetype. And one of them is an enemy! So after the battle they can ABC and XYZ and finally EFG...!! ...Or maybe not. Anyway, it can only be good to have more girls in the cast, right?
Veronika kind of got shoved into the background on the cover, but anyway, I was shooting to write her like a character out of Record of Lodoss War. You know, she’s a mercenary, but secretly of noble heritage... eh. That’s why she has red hair.
As for Angela, she was actually planned to show up in Volume 1, but I ended up having more material than I expected in that book, so she was omitted. She ended up not seeing the light of day until here in Volume 3. Originally she was just going to be a sisterly character, but by the time we were laying out Volume 3, we had turned her into a vice-captain of the Missionary Order, so she’s not quite the character I initially imagined.
And then, although I don’t think she’s pictured anywhere in the book, that person finally shows up. Ah, to fight one’s own kin! (*eyes sparkle*)
Anyway, this volume also focuses on Berta, so you get a lot of these older-sister types. It had been my plan all along to include characters like that, so from an authorial perspective I kind of feel like, Ah, I finally managed it. The story being what it is, though, they can’t all be flirtatious.
From the standpoint of series structure, we’ve hit a major turning point. What is it? Well, stay tuned. Truth be told, we’re coming to something I actually haven’t written too much about, so I’m a little bit nervous.
But don’t worry about me. All I want is for my readers to enjoy themselves.
Okay, then! See you next volume.
Ichiro Sakaki
2015/12/8
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Copyright
Bluesteel Blasphemer Volume 3
by Ichirou Sakaki
Translated by Kevin Steinbach
Edited by Sasha McGlynn
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 Ichirou Sakaki
Illustrations Copyright © 2015 Tera Akai
Cover illustration by Tera Akai
All rights reserved.
Original Japanese edition published in 2015 by Hobby Japan
This English edition is published by arrangement with Hobby Japan, Tokyo
English translation © 2017 J-Novel Club LLC
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property.
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The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.
Ebook edition 1.0: September 2017
Bluesteel Blasphemer Volume 3 Page 20
