by Aneko Yusagi
I was treating everyone’s wounds while I spoke.
“I’d heard about the truth behind the phenomenon of the waves, but to think there were enemies like that, as well . . .” said Eclair.
“It’s hard to wrap your head around. On top of that, they can return from the dead, even if we do kill them.”
“They almost seemed to be fooling around, but they were incredibly strong. And now you’re telling me they’re immortal, too? Mr. Iwatani, we need to formulate a strategy quickly. We must figure out how they’re returning from the dead.”
“I know that. But we need to take care of the other heroes first.”
“He’s right. We need to get the other three holy heroes somewhere safe as soon as possible.”
I had to agree with Raphtalia.
“They were super-duper strong. But I don’t think they had leveled up much yet,” said Filo.
She might have been right. Judging from past experience, I had a feeling they had probably crossed over to this world and been in the middle of leveling up when they confronted us. So it was either smoke them out in a hurry, figure out how their resurrections worked, and finish them off. Or get the heroes to safety first . . . It was a hard decision. It certainly seemed like the longer we waited, the more we’d be at a disadvantage.
Raphtalia, Filo, and I had reduced stats at the moment because of the curse, and we were still a long way from complete recovery. S’yne wasn’t all that strong, and Eclair had learned the Hengen Muso style, but I really didn’t know how much potential she had. Rishia was still developing. It was hard to say before we got her to level 100, but I had big expectations for her.
Even if we figured out how the enemy’s resurrection abilities worked and came up with a plan to kill them for good, it was unclear if we’d actually be able to pull it off. Either way, securing the heroes had to be the priority. I wouldn’t have to worry so much if we got them as strong as I was. And if we could get the seven star heroes together, too, we’d be all set.
“Mr. Naofumi.”
“Oh hey, Atla.”
Atla and Fohl approached, having decided that it was now safe.
“I . . . I’ve become painfully aware of just how weak I am. I want to get stronger.”
“You don’t need to worry about that kind of thing, Atla! Leave the fighting to me!” Fohl interjected.
“Brother, you need to be more realistic.”
Atla furrowed her brow and gave Fohl a stern look, like she was about to lecture him.
“We are far too weak to fight at Mr. Naofumi’s side in our current condition. You say I don’t need to fight, but right now you’re nothing but a hindrance to Mr. Naofumi. You need to think about how you’re going to get stronger.”
“A . . . Atla?! Ugh . . . You’re saying I need to be even stronger?!”
Being told off by Atla seemed to have gotten Fohl fired up. The hakuko were considered to be superior, even among the demi-humans, and had the potential to become incredibly strong. Considering what was coming, I couldn’t deny that I wanted to see them develop quickly.
“Mr. Iwatani, I’ll do my best to be useful, as well. There is no way I’m going to let someone like that destroy our world!”
“Good, that’s the spirit. Anyway, our task for the time being is to get Ren to safety fast. S’yne, go see if you can lure Ren out, just like we originally—”
And then it happened, just as I was giving the order. I felt something rush by at incredible speed. Sheesh . . . It was just one problem after another and it was starting to piss me off.
Chapter Seventeen: Temptation
“What is it this time?!”
Had our enemies returned already? Or was it Ren?
“Ugh . . . What was that?”
Raphtalia was holding her head and shaking it while looking all around.
“Hmm? I have a weird feeling in my tummy!”
Filo must have sensed it, too.
“Ugh . . .”
It had felt like some kind of shock wave, but we hadn’t seemed to take any real damage. But a few of the others were reacting strangely.
“Atla!”
“Mr. Naofumi! Let go of me, Brother! Let go!”
“Atla! Atla! Atla!”
“Fehhhhhh?!”
“I . . . I don’t know what happened, but . . . Ugh, what is this feeling?”
I turned around to see everyone acting really odd. Umm . . . I was just going to ignore the hakuko siblings. Rescuing Fohl would be a hassle, and rescuing Atla would probably be a hassle, too. As for myself . . . I wasn’t really sure. Rishia and Eclair didn’t seem to be affected all that much. They were squirming around a bit, but that was about it. What had happened? There was too little to go off of to even begin to know how to respond.
“Master . . . huuu . . . huuu . . .”
Filo was, uhh . . . She was staring at me with bloodshot eyes. I wasn’t sure if I should run. Judging from the way Fohl and Filo were reacting, it must have been some kind of status effect.
“Rafu!”
Raph-chan smacked Filo on the cheek. Filo blinked a few times and then returned to her normal self.
“Huh? What happened?” she asked.
“Rafu!”
Raph-chan jumped up onto Filo’s head and started doing something. I’m sure she was creating some kind of protective barrier or something. Raph-chan sure had some convenient abilities.
“———over there.”
S’yne was pointing her finger.
“What is it?”
“You should probably go look for yourself.”
Just then, a cloud of dust shot up from in that direction.
“Mr. Iwatani!”
“Mr. Naofumi!”
“Yeah, I guess we better go see what’s going on.”
I had no idea what was happening, but we dashed out of the hideout to go find out.
“Brother! Let go of me!”
“Atla!”
Umm . . . yeah, I’d just leave them to their own thing. Considering their levels, it was probably too dangerous for them, whatever it was. If it was those men, they were after the lives of the heroes, so the siblings would be safer if they weren’t near me.
“Aiyaaaah! Yah, I say! You’re weak! Too weak!”
“D . . . damn it!”
We arrived and there before our eyes was—
“Motoyasu?!”
“Oh! Father! I shan’t let you down!”
I had a feeling Motoyasu was sounding even stranger than before. He was pushing Ren’s sword back with his spear while waving at me with a big toothy smile. Damn, he was annoying. Who the hell was he calling “father”? And who waves in the middle of a fight?!
“Uhh . . . what are you doing?”
“You said you wanted to capture Ren, Father! So I lured him out and made it so that he can’t run!”
“Mr. Naofumi! I think perhaps it was the Spear Hero that was hiding outside of the bandit hideout earlier . . .” Raphtalia suggested.
“You’re probably right.”
So he heard us talking about capturing Ren and went out ahead of us to try to give us a hand without even asking! And just as we missed him, our new enemies showed up at the hideout. But anyway, did Motoyasu not realize we were trying to capture him, too?! This was all starting to make my head hurt.
“Transport Sword!”
Shit! Ren had noticed us and was trying to run!
“. . .”
Ren and I stood there staring at each other silently. But his skill must have failed to activate, because nothing happened. Could it be that the strange shock wave from earlier was interfering with his skill?
“Ha! Ha! Ha! You won’t be able to escape from the power of my Temptation!”
It must have been Motoyasu’s doing, after all. But . . . Motoyasu’s spear seemed to have some kind of black mosaic-like design on it now. Was I seeing things? Judging from the skill name—and the way Fohl was responding earlier—it must have generated a field that
triggered some kind of allurement type of effect. That fit Motoyasu perfectly.
Huh? What was that? Motoyasu was suddenly looking really handsome. He was surrounded by brightly glittering strands of gold on a background of pink. Oh lordy . . . what a hunk . . . I’d be happy to bend over for a man that handsome . . .
“On a cold day in hell!”
I shook my head vigorously and pulled myself back together. That was close. I’d been on the verge of passing a point of no return. This field produced a truly formidable status effect.
“Is everyone okay?!” I asked.
“Y . . . yeah . . .”
Raphtalia didn’t seem to be affected. Her resistances to illusion-type magic and skills were high, so she had probably been able to block the allurement effect, too. That would have been really depressing if Raphtalia had been attracted to Motoyasu, even if it was because of a status effect. Thank goodness for her illusion resistance. I guess being a racoon-type made her as tricky as a tanuki. Hooray for racoons!
“Uh . . . huh . . .”
I couldn’t help but wonder about Eclair’s response. I wanted to believe she was fine, though.
“I . . . I’m in love with Mr. Itsuki! I can’t!”
Rishia was acting a bit strange. It seemed like the allurement skill was forcing her to decide between Itsuki and Motoyasu.
“I’m fiiiine!”
“Rafu!”
Filo was only fine because Raph-chan had been sitting on her shoulder. She must have already forgotten that she was about to come at me with bloodshot eyes just a few moments earlier. As for S’yne . . .
“———fine.”
She seemed fine. I wasn’t really sure how to feel about this field that triggered a status effect, but Motoyasu had created an opportunity for us and passing that up would be a waste.
“Ahem . . . So anyway, Ren. It looks like your game of hide and seek is over.”
I wasn’t really sure how to respond, but Ren not being able to escape was a good thing. I’d just have to let the whole freaky skill thing slide, since it seemed like Motoyasu was genuinely trying to help.
“Filo-tan!”
“Nooo!”
Filo looked at Motoyasu and began inching backward away from him before turning and fleeing.
“Filo! Stop! Where are you going?!” Raphtalia called out.
“Rafuuuu!”
“Hey! Leave Raph-chan behind!” I shouted.
Raph-chan was still sitting on Filo’s shoulder . . . What the hell? Our numbers were dwindling fast. Right now, I had Raphtalia, Eclair, Rishia, and S’yne with me. Capturing both Ren and Motoyasu at the same time with this lineup was . . . still possible, maybe?
“Your time has come to pay the piper, Ren!”
“Pay the piper? That’s my line!”
They’d already started arguing without me, damn it. Well, it looked like Motoyasu was cooperating, anyway, so that should make capturing Ren a lot easier. Ren was still refusing to face reality, like always.
“Looks like I’m surrounded by a bunch of weaklings who have to gang up on someone to do anything.”
“Say whatever you want, you friendless loser. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about before.”
Ren pissed me off, so I insulted him back.
“I’m not going to lose to a bunch of cowards that have to gang up to fight one person!”
“Concealing yourself and using a finishing move on someone who doesn’t even have attack capabilities isn’t being a coward?”
“It’s your fault for not being able to detect me.”
“Like hell. I did detect you, thanks to my companion. Yeah, I have companions, unlike you, loser.”
Ren had gone off the deep end. Everything he did was right and everything anyone else did was wrong. He was talking and behaving strangely, almost as if his unconscious mind had risen to the surface or something. He was acting kind of like . . . No, he was acting exactly like one of those people in online games that was completely obsessed with being the absolute strongest player. Honestly, I wanted to rub it in his face that having no friends was the whole reason he was a failure, but it wasn’t like he’d actually listen.
“Prepare yourself!”
“Listen to—”
Before I could finish my sentence, Ren thrust Motoyasu away and came charging at me.
“Ah! You wait, I say!”
I’d just block his attack for now. Then I could give Raphtalia and Eclair the order to attack. The two of them seemed to understand, because they backed down. S’yne was using me as a shield, too. Rishia was . . . still shaken up, damn it. Prepare to fight already! Jeez. I couldn’t help but be a bit worried, but it looked like we would be able to coordinate well enough.
Ren raised his sword and rushed at me . . . No, wait. He suddenly switched his target to Rishia and rushed at her. Oh, come on! Just like I thought, Ren wasn’t right in the head. He lacked coherence. Or maybe direction was more accurate.
“Feh?!”
Rishia squealed when Ren suddenly changed the direction of his attack. If I had to guess, the bastard was going after the person here that looked the weakest. Taking out the weak ones first was a basic rule of warfare, but what the hell happened to “fair and square”? The thing is, Ren had made a big mistake. This wasn’t the same Rishia he knew.
“Hi-yaaahhhhhh!”
Ren howled as he swung his sword down at Rishia.
“Fehhhhh!”
But Rishia instantly shifted into a crouching position, and before I knew it she had launched her throwing knife at a nearby tree and then used the attached rope to swiftly pull herself out of Ren’s reach. When pulling herself away, she had simultaneously launched four or five iron spike things in Ren’s direction.
“You surprised me!” she said.
“No, you surprised me,” I replied.
Talk about a speedy escape. What the hell was that ninja evasion? Her reaction had basically been instantaneous. It’s like she was fighting on a completely different level than the rest of us. But no, I could see her moves, so it wasn’t like I wouldn’t be able to defend against them.
“Rishia, you really are something.”
Right? With moves that flashy, of course even Raphtalia would be impressed. And where had she been hiding those iron spikes in the first place? That was probably some kind of Hengen Muso concealed weapon or something.
“Grr . . .”
The spikes hadn’t hit him, but Ren groaned with irritation when things didn’t go his way.
“You had best not forget about me!” shouted Motoyasu.
“I’d really rather I did, though,” I retorted.
I couldn’t let Motoyasu set the pace. I really wished he would just stand down, actually. I had several things I wanted to ask Ren about right now while he couldn’t run. Like who was behind . . . behind Ren . . . No! I wasn’t talking about Motoyasu!
“Hey! Is Witch not going to come help you?”
“. . .”
Ren grimaced when I asked about Witch, and the sinister power emanating from his sword intensified.
“It looks like you said the wrong thing, Mr. Iwatani,” Eclair observed.
Hmm . . . I guess asking the wrong questions would end up working against us. That would make getting any information out of him tough. I wanted to find out where that skank was off hiding, if nothing else.
“Anyway, Ren, I’m not your enemy. Nothing good can come from taking orders from that bitch and playing bandit chief—”
“Rahhhhh!”
Before I could finish, Ren went into a rage and swung his sword high into the air as he came rushing at me.
“You’re nothing but a demon pretending to be a hero! I shall bring you to justice!”
This guy was completely off in his own world. He obviously didn’t realize it was him that was backed into a corner.
“Power within me! Awaken! It is in battle that I become stronger!”
Stop it! It hurts! I felt a chill run down my spine.
He was taking the fantasy world geek performance to the next level.
“Perish!” shouted Motoyasu.
“Don’t kill him!”
Motoyasu raised his spear in preparation to finish Ren off, but I stopped him. Ren’s sword smashed into my shield with a loud clang. Hmm . . . Just like I expected, his attack wasn’t very powerful. I probably could have grabbed his sword with my bare hands. Should I try it? Maybe he would surrender if he saw just how big the gap between us was.
“I will become strongest of them all! Yes! There is no limit to my desire! I shall awaken new strength in this very moment and defeat you! There is no limit to my desire! My desire feeds my rise to the top! I will awaken new power! I will triumph! I will get the best equipment, all of the money, and all of the power! I will become the strongest across all worlds! I shall be the envy of all worlds!”
Umm . . . going a bit bananas, aren’t we, Ren? He kept repeating the same thing. Desire this and desire that. It was annoying. Awaken power? He’d already awakened as the Sword Hero . . . I guess being consumed by a curse would make someone that bonkers. He’d completely gone off the deep end.
Thanks to those other two we fought earlier, the whole thing about becoming the strongest across all worlds really hit a nerve. But . . . I had a feeling I knew which curse Ren had been consumed by.
Greed .
But something seemed off. It felt so miserably trivial for greed. I didn’t know if I could actually call that greed. Greed was supposed to be insatiable desire, right? Limitless desire that made someone want anything and everything. But Ren was just focused on becoming stronger. Of course, I wasn’t trying to say that wasn’t desire. But people that were truly driven by greed were far more despicable, and they wanted to have everything.
But in the end, all Ren wanted was strength . . . Ah, so that was it. I finally understood why. If I had to spell it out, I’d say it was the process that he was chasing. With greed, you desire something, and so you obtain it. Once you have it, you want something else, and so you obtain that, too. That’s the basic premise. But with Ren, his objective was the act of getting stronger. It wasn’t that he wanted to get stronger because he wanted some thing. The process and the result had swapped places.
