“But why me?”
“I don’t know the reason. I do know of the Cult of Vicius, though, and the followers who do her bidding. I suspect you were chosen to become one of their order,” Schweitz explained.
“But I’ve never heard so much as a whisper about that!”
“Ortola forbade anyone to speak of it ever again.”
“The emperor? Then he wishes to kill me for my sin of inciting the invasion?”
No, that can’t be right—it doesn’t make sense. There must be another reason that old man wants Seras dead, some reason why he wasn’t willing to hand her over in the first place. Would losing the captain of his Holy Knights be that heavy a blow?
No—Civit and his men up there have already told me everything I need to know. Calling him crazy, talking about his desires and how he wanted the corpse to be clean… He was too stubborn to hand her over, and now that she’s out of his hands, he wants wants to destroy her. He wants to own her, and if he can’t have that, he wants her dead. Sounds crazy to me. How’s it fair to blame Seras for starting the war, anyway? That foul Goddess and crazy old Emperor are to blame if anybody is.
Schweitz looked off into the distance for a long moment before answering.
“It’s said that all-out war on the continent has only been avoided because of the work the Goddess of Alion does behind the scenes. We haven’t attacked Ulza because of the peace treaty we have with them. The Goddess’s influence stretches far—her fingerprints are all over this world.”
A peace treaty between Ulza and Bakoss—I heard something about that back in Mils.
“So if we were to refuse her requests and ignore her invitations, well…I’m sure you can guess what would happen.”
The peace treaty only works because the Goddess put her influence behind it—if that changes, there’s no telling what could happen. She likely approved the Neah invasion personally, or it wouldn’t have happened either.
“N-no…” Seras murmured, clearly horrified.
“The Goddess must no longer have a use for you—that was your downfall. Now you’re disposable, no use to anyone.”
Orban laughed.
“The Holy Knights are real beauties, that’s for sure. Ain’t you interested in them, Civit, buddy?”
“Sure, they’re beautiful in an aesthetic sense, but only the strong are truly beautiful in my eyes. The sweetest nectar I’ve ever sipped is the strength of a deserving foe.”
“Hmph…I guess no matter what they’re into, the beautiful drive the powerful crazy. That Neah royal family’s got it bad.”
“What about the princess?” asked Seras. The question burst out of her like she couldn’t stop herself.
“Princess Cattlea, you mean?” Schweitz said.
“Is she…safe?” Seras seemed to struggle to get the words out.
“Commander Civit will probably take her as his wife soon enough.”
“What?!”
“The Emperor’s wishes. A political marriage to ensure peace between our countries. Though he wants to delay our union until after the threat of the Demon King has been dealt with.”
“The princess…”
“She’s rather strong-willed but physically weak. I have no desire for her as a woman. I would much rather take the Princess Knight as a wife—at least she can fight.”
Civit Gartland is really fixated on strength, huh?
“But Seras Ashrain will die today. Let us ensure your body makes it back to the princess’s arms in one piece.”
“How could you?”
“That’s enough from you, weakling,” Civit said sharply. “If you must be upset, be upset with your own failings. Your own weakness will cause your death.” He didn’t even bother to look at her.
“You never had a chance, so accept your death silently and you might earn a sliver of respect from me. Nothing bores me more than those who struggle and flail when confronted with death. And instead of fighting for your country, you ran. I’d rather fight a single weak warrior who’ll stand and fight over a thousand cowards.”
Civit laughed, his dragon’s form outlined by the soft sunset light.
“It should go without saying, but…I would love to someday find a warrior willing to stand against me.”
That’s all I needed to hear. I’ve found it—my path to survival.
He shook his head. “Stop buying time. What are you planning over there, young man?”
“Civit Gartland. You want an enemy who’ll stand up to you, right?”
“I do.”
Don’t panic. You can do this. Don’t back down.
“I’ll be that enemy.”
“You’re going to fight me? You and what army?” Civit looked him up and down. “You stand before the Elite Five, yet you seem unafraid. I can feel your fighting spirit. Where does that confidence come from? You don’t appear to be bluffing, so…what are you hiding?”
“As you suspect—I am hiding something.”
“Tell me now, or my spear will get it out of you.”
I let out a long sigh.
The blessed power of the heroes from another world? Explosive growth that could rival even your own, was it?
He raised an eyebrow.
“I’ll tell you my secret.”
Civit was smiling wide, showing his teeth.
“My real name is Too-ka Mimori.”
This is it. No turning back now.
“I’m a hero, summoned here from another world.”
Seras gasped softly.
“I see.” Civit looked shocked. “So that’s what I felt…”
“Sir Too-ka…you’re a hero?”
A chorus of surprised comments followed.
“Whoa! A hero from another world?!”
“I heard that the summoning was already complete, but I never expected to meet one here. What are you doing in this land?” asked Civit, voice booming.
He can see through lies—it must be a power similar to Seras’s. He knew immediately that the name I gave was a pseudonym. I can’t get away with a bald-faced lie…I need to tell the “truth.”
“I’m a little different from the other heroes I was summoned with—unique and acting alone. The Goddess sent me here.”
“Hmph. You don’t appear to be lying.”
Sweat poured down my face.
I’m unique among the summoned heroes. I’m acting alone. I was sent here by the Goddess.
No lies there. How Civit interprets them is his problem, not mine.
“Why are you acting alone? Did the Goddess give you some special mission out here?”
I should avoid answering yes or no questions…
“I’m on a different level from the others, you see,” I answered confidently.
“Oh?”
Civit’s eyes narrowed, expectant.
I’m an E-class hero, so yeah, that’s a different level.
“That’s why I’m here by myself.”
“So, the Goddess recognized you were special.”
“She knows I’m in a different class.”
“Interesting. So, what do you want from me, hero?”
I left a long pause to emphasize what I was about to say.
“Time.”
He laughed. “In other words, you wish me to let you go free?”
“Yes.”
“Why would I do such a thing? What’s in it for me?”
“I’m going to become stronger than you—then I’m going to kill you.”
He looked shaken, but his mouth twitched, then twisted into an irrepressible smile.
“You’re going to kill me?”
“I’m a hero, aren’t I? I might become just as strong as you once I’ve leveled up a bit.”
I’m trying to seem rough and challenging…but logical. I might eventually be just as strong as Civit—that’s what Mimori Too-ka believes right now.
I tried to imagine what Civit saw when he looked at me.
“This young man…he truly believes he might one
day be capable of challenging me. Interesting indeed.”
“I’m going to be stronger than anybody else. Powerful enough to annihilate anything and anyone, even that Goddess.”
“Hmph. How do you intend to do that? I believe heroes have to kill golden-eyed monsters to—”
“We’re headed to the Land of the Golden-Eyed Monsters,” I interrupted.
Civit was growing more and more excited—he had obviously expected that answer.
“That is where you intend to level up, I take it?”
I laughed evasively.
“Maybe.”
“Surely the Goddess could have provided you with suitable monsters to train with?”
“I was asked to walk a different path than the others—that’s why she gave me my freedom.”
The Goddess did say she’d leave me alone if I ever made it out.
“She isn’t going to interfere with my journey—she just wants the job done.”
“She has no stipulations as to how you defeat the Demon King, so long as you ultimately do so?”
I shrugged. “Something like that.”
“Hmm… She must’ve found you difficult to deal with.”
Civit’s eyes flashed with delight.
“My stats—my power level right now—they aren’t that high. I probably look like a weakling to you. But someday I’m going to come back and beat the hell out of you, Strongest Man in the World. You know what that means, right?”
“It means I should let you go?”
“It does.”
“How do I know you’ll come back to face me?”
“Don’t worry. I’m coming back to see the Goddess once I’m done.”
“Hmph. I don’t suppose the Goddess would let such a capable hero go if she was worried you might disappear.”
“I need to get back to her anyway, in the end. I can’t leave this world without seeing her again.”
For revenge.
“Very well.” Civit’s voice was clear. “I want to see what kind of hero you become—what the Goddess saw in you that was so different. And then, I want to fight you to the death.”
“As do I,” I answered.
I took a step forward.
“Someday we’ll settle this, Civit Gartland, just you and me!”
He looked thrilled.
“You’re so weak, and yet you stir such emotion within me. That fighting spirit! That murderous intent! It’s magnificent!” Civit declared. “I will let you live, Too-ka Mimori.”
“Hah, of course you will.”
“Leave this place at once. After Seras Ashrain has been snuffed out, we will be on our way as well.”
I could practically feel Seras holding her breath.
“I can’t let that happen.”
“What?”
“I need her for my journey.”
“She’s taking you into the Land of the Golden-Eyed Monsters, you mean?”
“At my level, I still need help. You understand, don’t you?”
“Ah. She weakens the monsters and you deal the final blow, I take it.”
“She might not be worthy of facing you, but you have to admit she’s strong.”
“Don’t you need to report her to the Goddess? Seras Ashrain’s presence has been requested by the very one who summoned you into this world. She may have lost interest already, but maybe not. Don’t you risk her wrath by keeping her location secret? I need not remind you what happened to Neah when they provoked the Goddess’s fury.”
“Who cares?!” I said, taking another step forward.
Civit looked confused.
“I don’t need to report a thing to that Goddess!” I laughed loudly. “I’ll use whoever I need to. Who cares what some Goddess thinks of me?! I’m only using Seras Ashrain to grow strong. That’s all I care about!”
“Hah!” Civit threw his head back and laughed. “Hah… Ha ha ha ha ha hah! Marvelous, Too-ka Mimori! That’s it! Perfect! Throw off the yoke of tedious reason and pursue true strength! Oh, it’s been so long since I met someone like you—one brave enough to speak to me like that!”
As I expected—he appreciates it when people stand up to him. He’s practically overjoyed at my defiance.
“Very well—I will grant you clemency. Seras Ashrain may go free as well.”
Orban was stunned.
“Eh?! Wh—?! Civit ?! W-wait, buddy! You’re seriously gonna let the little holy knight go too?”
“Too-ka needs her for his journey. I can kill her after he and I have battled. We’ll finish her sooner or later—all this changes is the time and place.”
“B-but c’mon! We already went through all this trouble finding her, y’know?! What if she gets eaten by monsters and we can’t even get her corpse? Or she disappears somewhere and we—”
“Silence! I’ll kill you, Orban.” Civit roared the words at him, voice sharp as a knife.
“Wh—?!” Orban shrank back, his face pale.
The murderous intent Civit was giving off sent shivers down my spine. Even the other members of the Elite Five looked scared for a moment.
Now is not the time. Get off my stage, Civit’s roar seemed to say.
The only member of the Black Dragon Knights with real authority was Civit Gartland—convince him, and the others will fall in line.
“It seems you’ve been granted a reprieve, Seras Ashrain,” he said. “You are a tool of Too-ka’s now, to be used until you’re worn out and used up. Bring me a finished Too-ka, a strong Too-ka, or, let’s see…I’ll hurt that little princess of yours.”
“Oh!”
“Bring him to me as a worthy opponent, and I’ll kill you so fast you won’t even feel it. You have my word.”
“—Sir Too-ka.”
“Sorry, Seras, that’s just the way it is,” I said.
It’s fine—she knows what’s happening here. I’m fighting him. This is just what I have to do.
None of the other Elite Five questioned Civit’s decision.
“Schweitz.”
“Yes?”
“Inform Grim Ritter before the day is out that these two are not to be touched—he’s probably off wasting his time in some nearby village.”
“Understood.”
“Ever since they started calling him the Heroic Blood Slayer, he hasn’t listened to a word you say, has he?”
“I’m afraid not,” Schweitz replied. “My son is rather eccentric, even by the standards of the Black Dragon Knights. I believe he’ll be much more useful if we allow him more freedom.”
“So it would seem.”
Civit’s white dragon spread its great wings wide.
“Hah! And so the curtain closes on the conclusion of the first act. What a cliffhanger for the second! I cannot wait.”
“Until we meet again, Too-ka Mimori. I look forward to it.”
The Elite Five spurred the dragons to flight, preparing to leave.
I did it.
I was still sweating profusely.
Seras is still alive. I’m still alive.
We convinced the Strongest Man in the World to let us go.
My gamble paid off.
“Para—”
“Too-ka—”
“—lyze!”
“—Curse y—!”
Civit didn’t withdraw from an approaching threat. I’d walked slowly toward him during our conversation, but he never backed down. He also hadn’t stopped me. That’s why…
I’m in range.
“I’d expect nothing less, Strongest Man in the World.”
I struck at the moment he turned his dragon around to leave, the moment when his guard would be the weakest. Even then, Civit reacted to my aggression with terrifying speed. But it was too late. I was faster—just a moment ahead of him.
He and the Soul Eater are complete opposites—that monster was deceived by fear, and it let me hide my true intentions behind it. With Civit, I hid behind bravery, a willingness to engage him head on and go along with his theatrics. There won�
�t be a second act for you, Civit Gartland.
Show’s over.
“‘Until we meet again…’ Sorry, but I don’t plan on dragging this out that long.”
Everything hinged on that one moment…that instant when they were sure they were closing the curtain on me, when their guards were down for just a second. It’s the only time I could’ve struck. I had to do something—it’d be too risky to let them go.
“Sorry, Civit Gartland. This is no fairy tale.”
Not even close. I don’t have time for fated battles between promised foes. All I want is revenge. You and your Black Dragon Knights are a complication that need to be removed.
No second act for you.
The paralyzed Black Dragon Knights dropped before my outstretched right hand, crashing into the dirt one by one.
“I’ll be bringing our destined battle to a close sooner than you expected. This ends here, Black Dragon Knights.”
Chapter 5:
Inheritance
THE ELITE FIVE CRASHED into the ground, their dragons screaming and spitting blood and gore as they fell, clearly still trying to move their outstretched, paralyzed wings.
“Figures the strongest dragons in the world would put up a fight.”
The dragons had been glaring at me the whole time I talked to Civit, murder in their eyes, drool dripping from their mouths.
“You must’ve really wanted to kill me, huh? Sorry about your luck.” I turned my attention to more important things. “Piggymaru, get ready,” I ordered.
“Squee!”
Seras looked dumbfounded. I turned to get her attention but was interrupted.
“Wh… What d-did yo—?! Too…kaa?!” Civit called out to me from where he lay, struggling against invisible bonds.
Still not in range for Sleep —no point in risking walking any closer.
“I already told you—I’m on a different level.”
I held out my arm toward him.
“Poison.”
I can’t take any chances with the Elite Five—lethal mode on. Certain death.
“Nh?! Gah! Aagh!” Schweitz and Orban began to moan in agony.
“Ahh?! Th-this can’t be… A p-paralysis s-status effect?! Imposs…ible! T-to hit all of us…at once?! Ghhaaa?!”
Blood seeped through the bandaged knight’s coverings, dyeing him a deep red.
Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells (Light Novel) Vol. 2 Page 14
