“Muscle-brained freaks are nice and simple, meow.”
As Lyu and Runoa violently battled, Black Cat—Chloe—looked down from the top of the building she had climbed. She left the hot-blooded fools to themselves. Aiming to profit from their struggle, Chloe laughed derisively, waiting for Gale Wind and Black Fist to wear themselves out.
“They probably both expect me to intervene…but it’s hopeless, meow. I’ll just keep attacking from the outside and sweep when the going gets good, meow.”
A nasty smile on her face, she took out three throwing knives and held them between her fingers.
Other than the three combatants, no one would intervene. The people in neighboring buildings could surely hear the struggle and sounds of fighting, but they would prioritize avoiding trouble, accustomed as they were to brawls between ruffians. By the time the Guild and other adventurers hurried out, Gale Wind would already be dead.
It was the same for Gale Wind’s coworkers. They were surely still deep in dreamland at this point thanks to the Sleeping Scent Chloe used.
There was no one to intervene. Chloe smiled from her unrivaled perch. Or so she thought.
“Fuwaa~ahh!”
“?!”
She spun around in shock at hearing a stupid-sounding yawn from behind her back.
“Mmmmeow…Something was kind of annoying and it woke me up, meow.”
A girl with brown fur emerged on the rooftop, a catgirl like her. She was one of the staff at The Benevolent Mistress.
That stupid-looking catgirl. The one that spent so much time with Gale Wind, like that platinum-haired girl.
If I recall, her name is Ahnya.
Chloe was dumbfounded.
“That’s…! The scent’s effect should have kept you from waking up for several hours—do I smell alcohol?!”
“Uuuuh~! I drank a little too much, mmmeow…”
The stench of alcohol wafted over as Chloe covered her nose instinctively. She recognized what had happened.
It’s not that this catgirl was unaffected by the scent like the other staff. She was already asleep before the scent, and the sound of the hallway exploding and the fight finally woke her up. In other words—she’s just an idiot!
“So you guys…are having some kind of showdown. Are you enemies of Lyu, meow?”
Though she was still half-asleep, Ahnya’s eyes sharply narrowed in an instant. Chloe stared dumbly as a wave of tension built inside her.
Putting aside her stupidity and whatever else, she must have a Resistance on par with Gale Wind’s to have overcome the sleeping scent. She’s pretty capable for a restaurant worker.
Chloe found it suspicious that she had come to the roof instead of going over to Lyu. She could not tell whether she was insightful or just an idiot.
She had come holding something in her hand: a long, pole-shaped club wrapped in white cloth.
“…And if I am?”
Putting on a bold smile again, Chloe grabbed the assassin’s blade Violator in one hand.
“I’ll blow you away, meow!”
Ahnya launched herself forward. Chloe threw all the knives she had pulled out before as her opponent came at her head-on. Without waiting to see whether they had been deflected by the thing Ahnya was wielding, she threw a smoke bomb to her feet like before.
“—Frolic!”
Without a moment’s delay, she chanted. As smoke shrouded Chloe, light particles swirled to her left and right.
“Felis Kurus!”
In an instant, two illusions appeared soundlessly.
Felis Kurus. An illusionary short-trigger magic that gave birth to mirages that were mirror images of the caster. The upper limit was two bodies. Without a real body, the mirages could not attack or defend, they just moved under Chloe’s command. Chloe used this magic for confusion, disturbance, and surprise—all sorts of tricks useful for assassinations.
Hem her in, meow! Before she figures out they’re mirages, stab her back!
For Chloe, who was bad at head-on fights, this was her method for a guaranteed victory. Distract Ahnya with the smoke curtain and surround her with mirages dancing all around her.
“I can’t see anything, meow!”
Chloe licked her lips as Ahnya froze. However.
“This is annoying—meow!”
She was dumbfounded again as the girl used her weapon to kick up a whirlwind.
“Haaa!”
Taking a stance, she spun once with her weapon. The club mowed down both mirages and dispersed them in one blow before she returned to face Chloe, who instinctively began an emergency retreat. She was unable to dodge a strong hit to her shoulder that knocked her away.
“Meoww!”
With that, she was sent flying toward the courtyard where Lyu and Black Fist were fighting.
“What?! You’re a catgirl, too, meow?”
Having blown away the smoke screen, Ahnya jumped down, too, landing right in front of Chloe.
Now that her hood was gone, Chloe stared in annoyance at her opponent.
The hallway had been narrow, but the rooftop was wide open; plus, the reach of Ahnya’s weapon made her a very different opponent from Lyu. As did her wholehearted stupidity.
“Dammit, you just keep…!”
“Isn’t it hard talking like that, even with another catgirl, meow? Don’t try to act, just be yourself, meow!”
Crick! Something snapped in Chloe.
“NuuuaaYou’re talking pretty high and mighty, meow! Aren’t you getting in the way of my greatness?”
“Oh, she talked, meow! And you even smell a little like me, meow!”
“Don’t confuse me with an idiot, meow!”
“Who’s an idiot, meow?”
Lyu and Runoa glanced over in annoyance at the yowling cat pair.
“I know, meow! This is like that doppelganger thing, meow!”
“Who’s a doppelganger, meow? Look closer, meow, my body and tail are more slender. I’m a cool beauty, meow!”
“But my breasts are bigger, meow!”
“Y-you…!”
Ahnya put her hands on her waist and thrust out her chest in pride as Chloe’s voltage skyrocketed.
“Oh…it tore. Guess I’ll take it off, meow.”
Ahnya removed the white cloth wrapped around her club weapon. What emerged was a masterfully crafted spear. Chloe’s eyes opened wide.
“An engraved golden long spear…It couldn’t be.”
She had heard of it before. In a certain Goddess of Beauty’s large faction, there was a silver spear–wielding cat-person adventurer who was called “the fastest.” That adventurer had a younger sister. She had disappeared from the main stage at some point: a golden spear wielder. Her other name was…
“You…Vana Alfi?!”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that name, meow…”
Ahnya’s ears seemed to droop sadly at Chloe’s words. But that was just for a split second. Pulling herself together, Ahnya put on a cheerful smile.
“Right now, I’m just the stray cat Ahnya. I don’t know anything about Vana Alfi, meow.”
She spun her spear and prepared herself.
“Time to blow you away real quick and go help Lyu, meow.”
“Tch…Just you try, meow!”
Glaring at each other, they sprinted. The knife and spear flashed as the two catgirls collided.
“…!”
As Lyu dodged the barrage of punches by the skin of her teeth, another bead of sweat splashed from her skin.
“Orrrah! How about this?”
Runoa resolutely attacked, her scarf dancing as she moved.
She’s strong…
Runoa’s—Black Fist’s—true strength was greater than Lyu had imagined. Her self-taught style of attack was ferocious, and the force behind each punch was tremendous. When she hit the ground, the paving stones shattered, leaving craters. She had that much force without
using enchantment—her stats in that area were superior.
Just as her alias indicated, despite using only her fists, her storm of wild hits did not give Lyu the time to counterattack.
It’s the poison…No, even if I were at full strength…!
Lyu was fighting a defensive struggle, racked by the pain emanating from her right arm where the assassin’s blade had nicked her. Even accounting for that, Black Fist’s attacks would have been difficult to manage.
She restricted her enemy’s paths to escape using her natural genius for brawling and raw instincts. The gloves she wore had plates installed across the back of the hand to aid in dealing with swords, so even when Lyu thrust her swords in desperation, they were parried.
Finally, Runoa’s fist landed cleanly on Lyu’s chest.
“Guh?!”
She reflexively jumped back as she was pummeled by an unthinkable blow. Her internal organs were wounded, and she coughed up some blood as she hit the ground hard.
She rolled to the side as a tightly clenched fist landed for an immediate follow-up attack; the stone flooring shattered behind her.
—I have no choice…
This was not the time to be holding back. Standing up and wiping the blood away, she resolved herself. She opened her mouth as she continued trading blows with the girl rushing in:
“—Distant forest sky. Infinite stars inlaid in the eternal night sky.”
“Concurrent Casting?!”
Runoa’s eyes went wide as the chant began before her.
She’s trying to use magic? I’ll wait and see…
The high-speed casting was unleashing enough magic to make her opponent tense up. Not only did they not know the nature of the spell, but they also had to be wary of the chance it was a sure-kill trump card. The prudent choice for Runoa would be to switch to a hit-and-run strategy—
—As if!!
But she did not.
“Orraaaaa!!”
“?!”
Far from it, she increased her attacks on Lyu by another level. Her opponent’s sky-blue eyes clouded in distress.
It’s a bluff, I’m not falling for it!
She read Lyu’s aim.
She was pretending to bring in the big guns in order to get her opponent to fall back and find a chance for attack or else try snatching an opening to disappear. With that much magic in front of them, even an upper-class adventurer would get impatient and mess up their strength and rhythm. It was a tactic commonly used by magic swordsfighters.
However, Runoa was unperturbed.
Runoa’s strongest trait was not the force behind her fists but strategy. Just by herself, living only on her own strength, even in Orario her nerves were a cut above the rest.
Corner yourself with Ignis Fatuus—!
Concurrent Casting is amazing, but it’s a bad choice for fighting me.
With that much magical energy, once she lost control of it, Lyu would destroy herself from the inside from the blowback.
Runoa had finished off countless magic swordsmen in dramatic close-range fights like this.
Runoa howled, showing what she was worth without any fear.
“Blow yourself up and drop dead!”
She wound up even higher, unleashing more and more punches.
“—Heed this foolish one’s voice, and once more grant the starfire’s divine protection.”
However, Lyu kept chanting.
“”
“Grant the light of compassion to the one who forsook you.”
As Runoa went wide-eyed, Lyu continued to weave her spell without faltering or slowing down. She kept chanting without stopping, sweat flying as fists grazed her, like a singing, dancing fairy. Far from stopping, she sped up.
This elf…did she really—
Runoa realized she had misread her. Lyu had recognized she would move in to try to stop her and intended to ride out her Concurrent Casting.
Attack, defense, movement, evasion, and chanting—she did all five at once. She had an unabated, overwhelming battle speed that far exceeded what Runoa had imagined. She continued to chant at the front lines of the battle, putting out everything she had.
It was not a bluff or anything of the sort.
This elf believed in herself. Her Technique, her experience overcoming countless scenes of carnage.
The strength of magic had saved herself and her comrades in the abyss of the Dungeon, which Runoa had never seen.
“Come, wandering wind, fellow traveler.”
A single misstep would be self-destruction. If she took a hit from Runoa, she would be pulverized. As if unconcerned by any of that, Lyu’s chanting voice did not waver at all.
A will of steel, or rather “the spirit of the great tree.”
Lyu had nerves to rival the great holy tree said to be raised in the elven forest—Runoa’s heart trembled at a foolhardiness that exceeded than her own. She did not have any way to get out of range of the magic anymore.
This is bad—!
Sweat poured out of her body.
“Cross the skies and sprint through the wilderness, swifter than anything. Imbue the light of stardust and strike down my enemy!”
Lyu did not overlook her hesitation. She completed the chant in one swoop.
She activated it instantly.
“Luminous Wind!!”
A giant ball of light shrouded in a green wind burst forth with a flash.
“““~~~~~~~”””
Lyu and Runoa were both blown back.
“Funyaa!”
“Hey, wa—Meowwwwww!”
It also devoured Ahnya and Chloe nearby.
Lyu’s tremendous attack sent all four girls flying. Several magical bullets flew around where Runoa and Lyu were fighting in the courtyard. All of the buildings nearby were covered in cracks, billows of smoke rising from the scene of destruction.
“Guh~~~~~! You were prepared to blow yourself up…You really did it…!”
“If you were farther away, I wouldn’t have hit you…”
Runoa dragged herself out of the broken storage shed, a hateful smile on her face. Peeling herself off the wall of the side building, Lyu wiped her sweat- and burn-covered face. Lyu had not given Runoa the chance to dodge, unleashing her magical cannon at short range.
“You idiot, Lyu~~~~~~~~!! I came to help you! What are you doing, meow?!”
“Are you trying to kill us, meow?!”
“Ahnya aside, didn’t you come here to assassinate me?”
As Ahnya and Chloe stood up from the wreckage, whining, Lyu looked at Chloe with half-closed eyes. She was about to apologize to Ahnya, but she stopped when Runoa approached.
“Ahhhh! Nice, I’m burning up! Idiots like you are why I could never quit this job.”
Runoa laughed savagely as she punched her right fist into her left palm, true to her nature.
She knew it was imprudent, but in front of such a straightforward personality, Lyu broke into a smile as well.
She immediately fixed her expression and readied her twin blades.
“—Ha-ha-ha! This is perfect; you beat yourselves up!”
All of a sudden, a new voice rang out through the courtyard.
“…Huh?”
“This is…”
Runoa raised an eyebrow and Lyu looked around as a crowd of thugs emerged. They were holding swords and clubs in their hands.
“The Bruno Corporation…? What’s all this? I told you to leave Gale Wind to me!”
Runoa fixed the human leading the thugs with a piercing glare. Next to him was a dwarf with a vile smile.
“That dwarf…he’s the one who brought me this contract, meow!”
Chloe’s eyes narrowed, as they all started to recognize what was happening.
“I see how it is…It wasn’t just Gale Wind, it was us, from the beginning…”
“Correct! Black Fist and Black Cat—you two are also thorns in our side!�
��
The human merchant—one of the top brass of the Bruno Corporation—grinned.
“We had you two fight Gale Wind, so that we could take you out once you had been weakened…That was the real meaning of the contract! It was convenient that only our Bruno Corporation had Leon’s information!”
In other words, the double bounty on Gale Wind was also part of their plan.
The two people who were secretly part of the same group used the same information in order to lure in Runoa and Chloe, working to get them both to eliminate Lyu on the same day.
“The Evils were defeated thanks to none other than you, Leon! After that, this town, Orario, was reborn!”
The merchant put to words the same future that several people had felt and then continued.
“And the one who will establish the order of the newly reborn Orario is our corporation!
“So now, we can’t afford to leave disruptive elements like you two has-been, unaffiliated mercenaries!”
The mastermind ecstatically announced his plans.
Their eyes narrowed as they caught a glimpse of the merchant’s greed as he gratified his own selfish desires.
“And most importantly, we can’t allow people who know about our connection to the Evils to live! Do it, you guys!”
He thrust his hand out, ordering the throngs of men forward. Licking their lips at the wounded beauties in front of them, the net of thugs started closing in.
However.
“Hmph…pointless.”
“Such a third-rate villain, meow…”
Runoa and Chloe sighed deeply after this disheartening revelation, losing their drive.
“I’m most mad about being used for such a pointless plan…”
“It was unavoidable, meow. I was already worrying about retiring after this, meow…”
As they looked into the distance, Ahnya talked to Lyu.
“Hey, Lyu? Is it okay to blow them away, meow?”
“I don’t mind. There’s no reason to hesitate.”
The next instant, the thugs dove in to attack. Heaving a weary sigh, Runoa raised her head and spoke for everyone.
“—If you want to bring us down, then you better come with at least ten times this many.”
Immediately after, there was a chain reaction of screams. In an instant, the agonizing cries rising into the starry sky were cut off, and the mob of thugs were viciously beaten and splayed across the courtyard.
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Chronicle: Episode Lyu Page 19
