Ishura - Volume 4 - Chapter 11

Chapter 11:Kujashi Nature Park

A park at dusk. Rique the Misfortune was repeating the same explanation he had already gone over many, many times.

“Your enemy’s not always going to stand pretty in front of you. You gotta pay attention to the edges of your field of view, too.”

“Okay!”

Tu the Magic listened to his explanations. In her case, her replies were the only thing she got right.

“Until you get used to it, it’s not the arms or their sights you have to really grasp but the whole silhouette entirely. Whenever someone moves, the shape of their outline is guaranteed to change, so with experience, you’ll be able to pick up on what sort of movements they’re looking to make next.”

“Okay!”

“…You really getting this? Don’t look at me, but look over toward that tree.”

“Okaaay!”

A crack split through the air. Rique’s arrow was faster than a bullet propelled with gunpowder.

Tu bent herself backward at the waist and dodged.

“I did it!”

“No, no, no! That’s not it! I knew it; you didn’t get it at all! You dodged that by looking first before you moved, didn’t you?! That’s not good enough!”

“What d’you mean they’re different?! I’m dodging, aren’t I?!”

“I’m telling you: Dodging by predicting the attack and dodging after seeing the attack are totally different. You gotta be able to evade attacks that can’t be evaded. If you don’t have extra time during your dodge, it’ll be harder to shift to the next move. That’s why it’s important to dodge predictively for both offense and defense.”

“But even if I get hit, I’ll be totally fine.”

Rique the Misfortune brought his hand down on his forehead and looked at the sky.

“Tu. I’m training you on how to dodge here, okay…?”

It was safe to say that the half day spent training had produced almost no results whatsoever.

Of course, Rique perfectly understood the source of her confidence. Tu the Magic was invincible. He doubted that there existed any method that was capable of bringing her down.

Nevertheless—Rosclay the Absolute. Alus the Star Runner. Lucnoca the Winter. Considering the numerous champions of the land, he couldn’t say with absolute certainty that there was no way to defeat her.

…In which case, he thought, he needed to at least instill within her the skills of the average warrior.

If Tu was able to evade Rique’s arrows with her physical abilities alone, the simple addition of some commonplace techniques would make her more than worthy enough to truly call herself invincible.

“…Tu. Do you want to win?”

“Yeah.”

“Then, you gotta think. All the others are thinking with everything they’ve got. They’re watching, moving, and fighting with all their strength. Because their lives are on the line. You’re the only one not thinking things through.”

“…I know. But do you think I can do that…? Does being born dumb mean you can’t become a hero? I really don’t think…I can ever become like you or Krafnir…”

“It’s nothing but practice. Save the self-reflection for tomorrow. Day’s already getting dark.”

“…I can still keep going.”

“Well, I can’t.”

Rique smiled dryly. Coaching someone with Tu’s endless stamina was serving to coach Rique himself more than anything.

Tu the Magic was a perfectly flawless being, while simultaneously being an unpolished gem full of potential. In which case, just how much further was Tu’s strength going to grow?

…Might not change at all.

Those had been his thoughts as of late. A keen emotion, in ways resigned, yet different, in some senses.

Her unchanging mental and physical state may have been a strength that only Tu possessed.

“Okay, then, see you tomorrow, Rique.”

“Yeah. Tell Miss Flinsuda I said hi.”

Night. An ebony carriage slipped through an enormous metal gate. Amid the Aureatia hillside, where all the luxury residences were gathered, this estate stood out as particularly large.

The lady stepping down from the carriage, too, had the frame of a stage performer.

Her dress, neatly calculated down to each ring on her finger, if anything made her obese body seem even more graceful. Her name was Flinsuda the Portent, Aureatia’s Seventh Minister.

She served as the head of Aureatia’s medical welfare division, while also being one of Aureatia’s prominent wealthy individuals, sparing no expense for herself or her surroundings.

“Oh my, oh my!”

Looking around the garden, Flinsuda let out a voice of surprise.

The flower bed that wrapped around the estate, filled with rows of every color of flowers, had been mercilessly destroyed. A hedge was cut down halfway, and there were the vestiges of a slash tearing through the hedge next to it as well.

Lying lonely on the ground below was a twisted and broken hatchet, clearly the deadly weapon responsible for the sight.

“Tu, dear!”

Flinsuda then discovered the young girl sitting in front of the entryway, hanging her head, her arms wrapped around her knees. She looked terribly depressed; her chestnut hair braid withered.

“Flinsuda… Sorry… I—I just…wanted to help…and when I heard that the gardener took the day off…”

“Well, now! You took care of the garden for me?”

“I watch the gardener every day…and I did the exact same thing…but…”

“Tu, dear… I don’t know how many more times I can say it, but honestly…”

Her large body swept up Tu in her arms, and she roughly patted her head.

“I swear! You are such a wonderful child, dear! Hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh! There, there, now! Trying to help on your own like this, why, that’s a fantastic attitude to have, dear! That alone is plenty! You don’t need to worry yourself with cleaning all this; hurry up and hop into the bath, now. I’ll have them prepare dinner, too. My sweet, sweet Tu!”

“O-okay…! Yeah!”

For the Sixways Exhibition, Flinsuda had planned to sponsor the greatest living Word Arts user, Krafnir the Hatch of Truth, as her hero candidate. Tu was an unconcerned party who happened to be given Krafnir’s spot in the tournament—and nothing more.

However, the Seventh Minister loved her profitable hero candidate just as much as she loved her own riches.

Therefore, Tu was receiving the lavish support originally meant for Krafnir.

For instance, ever since Tu arrived at the estate, her exclusive apothecary stood in the kitchen. Her bath was also separate from the one the rest of the residents of the house used, the extension built onto the estate following her arrival. It was fair to say the young girl, her race still a mystery, was being treated just like anyone of minian race or better.

Flinsuda really is a nice person.

Following Flinsuda’s directions, Tu was headed toward the bath.

Maybe it’s because she has so much money.

Untying the knot on her clothes in the dressing room, she then took off her skirt and underwear, exposing her developed naked body. In the first few days, she had forgotten to even close the door behind her, but now she managed to take a bath by following the exact order she was taught to use.

Shutting the three-layered door like usual, Tu looked at the first bathtub.

“Today’s tub is light blue…”

A temperature slightly colder than the outside night air caressed Tu’s well-proportioned form. However, the feelings of hot and cold never tormented her and, in truth, would never injure her, either.

Her bare white feet descended the steps, and her legs left ripples behind as they sank into the water. Flinsuda was always telling her to make sure she soaked up to her shoulders.

After a short while, a voice came from outside the bathroom.

“Tu dear, have you already gotten in?”

“Yeah. What’s in today’s bath?”

“Hydrogen cyanide!”

The slightly blue-tinted liquid was a cyanide extracted from sinstralwort roots.

Soaked amid the deadly poison, the vapor compound alone was capable of easily killing beasts and insects, but Tu the Magic’s skin was completely unharmed and maintained its youthful beauty, the liquid dripping right off her.

“Even hydrogen cyanide doesn’t do a thing, why, Tu dear, you are incredible! Absolutely wonderful! Don’t worry now, I’ll be sure the whole assembly knows that you really are such a nice, strong girl!”

“Hee-hee-hee… You think…? I didn’t really do anything; I was just born being fine with this stuff…”

Tu grew bashful and sank into the bath. She blew bubbles on the surface of the lethal liquid.

…The bath she had added to the estate was, to Flinsuda, nothing more than an experiment room to measure the limits of her new hero candidate’s abilities. The chef and apothecary she hired for Tu both similarly experimented with the limits of Tu the Magic’s durability day in and day out.

Boiling water. Liquid mercury. Various types of toxic substances. Flinsuda recorded her resistance to every possible type of attack, taking note of the mysterious hero candidate’s objective strength and continuously updating the information.

Her goal was singular. She loved her profitable hero candidate just as much as she loved her own riches.

“Once you’re finished, I have a new soup for you! I ordered it all the way from Caidehe!”

“Sure! But I’m gonna spend a bit more time here in the bath.”

Tu the Magic nonchalantly got up from the deadly bathwater and headed to the second bathtub, separated by a door. This was a normal bath, for rinsing away all the toxic substances.

Even if she could feel the presence of extreme temperatures or stimuli, Tu wouldn’t feel the intense pain that should accompany it. That sensation was blocked.

Nevertheless, she always liked the second bathtub over the first.

“Hee-hee-hee… It’s so warm.”

She sank her body into the pure bathwater. Resting her cheek on the edge of the tub, she closed her eyes in bliss.

Aureatia was a wonderful city. There wasn’t any of the darkness or terror that ran rampant in the Land of the End. It was brimming with fun, warm, and delicious things. More than that, though, it was filled with lots of people. Flinsuda was here, along with Rique and Krafnir. She even made friends with the almshouse children.

…And finally, eventually, the girl she had met on that day, Queen Sephite.

“I love baths.”

The mysterious and unknown Demon King’s Bastard. She had the ability to receive good fortune.

Whatever circumstances she may have found herself in, she believed in a good world.