HOT NOVEL UPDATES

Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 11 - Chapter 17




Hint: To Play after pausing the player, use this button

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. 
It made all the more sense having experienced something similar myself. Back when I was spending a lot of time peddling wares, I’d originally set out to make money so that we could get better equipment. But before I knew it, my goal had become the act of making money itself. 
 
So I guess even something as petty as that could unlock a curse series. But that was also why he wouldn’t be able to win against my wrath. No matter how much stronger his curse grew, that pathetic greed of his could never overcome my wrath. It was transient, two-bit greed. 
His weapon was part of a curse series. I was confident of that much. Which meant there had to be a reason for the curse to trigger. For me, Witch interfering with my duel against Motoyasu is what sparked it. The curse series hadn’t actually triggered then, but later on when I thought Filo had died during our fight with the dragon zombie, the Shield of Rage first appeared. 
The weapon that Motoyasu was using looked like part of a curse series, too. Hmm . . . Maybe the curse series were something that triggered when a legendary weapon user experienced extreme psychological stress or something. Motoyasu and I had both been in really bad situations. Our psychological states had been bad enough that suicide wouldn’t have been unthinkable. But the heroes couldn’t be allowed to die in this world. If the heroes died, it could mean the destruction of the world itself. Suicide was unacceptable. 
I think I’d hit the nail on the head. Put simply, the curse series was a defense mechanism that manifested when a hero was suffering from some psychological issue. Still . . . Even if that were true, what was it that had driven Ren this far? At the very least, he had still been calm enough to have a civilized conversation when we’d met before at the tavern. Even if he had been making excuses like blaming his companions’ deaths on their own weakness. 
 
“I am the strongest hero! I am the one who will save the world!” 
Ren’s words pissed me off, interrupting my thoughts. All the bastard cared about was something so insignificant! He needed to get a grip! I didn’t care about what had caused the curse anymore. I just wanted to shut him up. 
“Save the world? Then go save it, you goddamned fool! Do you really think you’re going to save the world by running around playing bandit chief here?!” 
The strongest? Save the world? By running around here playing bandit chief and ambushing anyone he didn’t like, going on and on about who won or lost? If he could save this rotten world by doing that, then he was welcome to keep it up! But that wasn’t going to save the world, and it wasn’t going to stop the waves. 
“I’m tired of listening to you drivel on about being the strongest! I don’t have time to be dealing with an insignificant brat trying to be king of the mountain out in the middle of nowhere!” 
“Wait! This isn’t over! Let’s see if you can withstand my maximum power!” 
Ren’s sword transformed again. Had it evolved to the next stage? My Shield of Rage had transformed into the Shield of Wrath. It was safe to say that Ren’s current situation was similar to the one I had been in when that happened. In that case, it was highly possible that Ren’s sword had just transformed into a superior version of itself. 
“Yes! A new skill just came to me! Maneater! Shooting Star Sword!” 
 
He’d used that on me last time we fought! He was acting like he’d just come up with a skill that he’d been using all along. Using the same skill repeatedly wasn’t going to work even in the most cliché of manga. Seriously, what the hell? 
“Let this foolish sinner pay for his transgressions with his being crushed in the name of a god! Take my riches and unleash a godly assault upon him!” 
“Gold Rebellion!” 
Ren raised his sword up to the heavens and golden treasures began amassing from out of nowhere to form a human image in the sky. It was a sinister and unbelievably gaudy sculpture made out of gold. Taking the attack head-on would probably leave a scratch, but I had my companions with me, and I was guessing that not all of them would be able to avoid it. Goddammit. I guess that meant I had to eat this lame-ass attack. That would make anyone want to sigh. 
What happened to Maneater Shooting Star Sword, anyway? This was obviously a completely different skill. His tricks were becoming more and more cowardly. Could this still be called greed for victory? That skill . . . I’m guessing it was the equivalent of my Blood Sacrifice. There would most likely be consequences for using it. Ah, so that must have been why Ren’s equipment was so shabby. 
“Eat this!” he shouted. 
“Back up, everyone!” I yelled. 
“O . . . okay!” 
“Will you be okay, Mr. Naofumi? Right now your stats are . . .” 
 
“We don’t have time to get away.” 
Maybe we could have run if one of us could fly or something. It would have been nice if Filo could still fly like when we were in Kizuna’s world. She was big enough by the time we’d left that I probably could have ridden her. I was imagining it as the idol came crashing into me. It sent a heavy shock wave reverberating through my body that felt like it might dislodge an organ. Damn . . . Being weakened by the curse made me feel that one a bit, after all. 
“Raphtalia!” 
“Understood!” 
Raphtalia sheathed her katana and took a quick-draw stance before springing toward the statue that I was holding off. 
“Instant Blade! Mist!” 
An exquisitely clean whishing sound filled the air as Raphtalia drew her katana. She then landed firmly on the ground and returned her katana to its sheath. A loud crash rang out and a fissure tracing the path her blade had traveled began to open on the surface of the statue before it crumbled away and disappeared. 
Sheesh . . . I really wished this guy would come to his senses. 
“Mr. Iwatani . . .” 
“Yeah, I know. I may be tough, but even I have my limits.” 
If Eclair and the others had been able to get away, then it would have made sense to just dodge an attack like that. Even so, this was just part of the job. As the number of people involved grew, our ability to respond swiftly would continue to decrease. I wanted us to be able to respond just a bit more quickly. Looking at it from a different perspective, though, you could take it as a sign that our military power was increasing, like in Kizuna’s case. 
 
I guess I should be focusing on Ren right now. 
“Grr . . . It’s not over . . . I can still become stronger . . . I have to give more . . . I have to win, even if it means sacrificing everything!” 
“Get a hold of yourself!” 
Intent on cutting me down, Ren raised his sword and struck from overhead, and thrust at my chest, and made a diagonal downward cut . . . and just kept slashing away using all sorts of attacks. I evaded, blocked, and parried, and not a single one connected. 
I didn’t have time for this. He would trust some bitch that told him what he wanted to hear, but he wouldn’t trust me. And now he was in a place like this, swinging around a cursed weapon and going on about getting stronger. It had been the same with the Spirit Tortoise. It was the same with everything. It was all a game to him! He gave up on the Hengen Muso training because it was boring. He didn’t even try to believe what I told him about sharing power-up methods. 
I was all out of patience. Maybe it would be best to just cut off his limbs and keep him locked up somewhere, so that he didn’t end up getting killed. It would only cause problems if he died, after all. 
“Shall I off him, then?” 
“Didn’t I say not to kill him?!” 
Motoyasu was really itching to kill Ren. Or at least that’s the way he was making it sound. Why was he pretending to be on our side, anyway? 
 
“S’yne, you keep Ren from being able to use any skills. The rest of us will incapacitate him and then we can take him with us. And if he still won’t cooperate after all of that . . .” 
I stopped in the middle of my sentence, but everyone seemed to understand what I wanted to say. 
“I guess it might be unavoidable, after all.” 
Raphtalia nodded regretfully. 
“No, please. Wait a moment.” 
A single person seemed to take exception to my suggestion. 
“Mr. Iwatani . . . Please allow me to duel the Sword Hero,” Eclair pleaded. 
“Why?” 
“It’s something that occurred to me when we fought before. I have a feeling that we may be able to use swordsmanship as a means to get through to the Sword Hero.” 
“You realize only some musclebrain who lives and breathes training would say something like that, right?” 
“I do. Regardless, my patience is running thin, too. I’d like to give the selfish Sword Hero a good shaking. Let me fight him one on one.” 
“At least that excuse is a little better. I’m going to intervene if things start to look dangerous, though. You good with that?” 
That might not agree with Eclair’s knightly ideals, but she was a valuable military asset . . . It didn’t sound right coming out of my mouth, but she was a valuable companion that I couldn’t afford to lose. I wasn’t going to be naïve and say I wasn’t prepared to accept any sacrifices in the fight for this world’s peace. But at the very least, her life was not one I could afford to sacrifice for something as stupid as this. Plus, even if she did have some skill, I didn’t really feel comfortable pitting Eclair against a hero. 
 
“I’m going to cast my support magic on you to make up for the fact that he has a legendary weapon. I’m not going to approve of the duel unless you’re okay with that. It would be unfair, otherwise.” 
“That’s fine. I thank you for your consideration in making things as fair as possible.” 
I cast Zweite Aura on Eclair. If Sadeena were here, we could cast Descent of the Thunder God on her, but whatever. This was as good as I could do in these circumstances. After all . . . casting Sacrifice Aura on her would surely be going too far. 
Once my support magic took effect, Eclair turned to Ren and readied her short sword! Ren was already preparing to chase after Rishia, but Eclair stepped in front of him and blocked his path. 
“Mr. Amaki the Sword Hero! This will be the second time that we cross blades.” 
She swiftly pointed the tip of her short sword at Ren. 
“If you wish to fight Mr. Iwatani or Mr. Kitamura the Spear Hero, then you must defeat me first!” 
“Hmph! It doesn’t matter who you are—you’re no match for me!” 
“Our fight was interrupted last time, so let’s finish it here! Sword Hero! 
 
My name is Eclair Seaetto, and with this sword presented to me by the queen, I shall cure you of your selfish ways!” 
Eclair finished her declaration and the duel began. 
 





COMMENTS

No Comments Yet

Post a new comment

Register or Login