Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (LN) - Volume 17 - Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: Quick Adaptation 

“I’ve hated his stuck-up attitude ever since I met him,” one of the other women said. 
“Please! Let us join you!” another said. Man. There were witches in every world—displaying whiplash-like quick adaptation to a situation mere moments after their man had been killed. It was almost worthy of respect. It was all so sordid, but almost exhilarating too. Scary stuff. 
“Not a bad idea, maybe,” moron woman pondered. “There’s been interest in you too. An opportunity to make myself look good.” I had already understood that they were in an alliance with Miyaji, but this seemed like needless exposition at this point in time. “Anyway. It looks like it’s finally time for me to clean up this mess,” the moron said. After trussing up S’yne, she proceeded to ignore her and turned to face the rest of us. S’yne was struggling to get away but couldn’t move at all. 
“Raphtalia, Shildina, Ethnobalt, target that woman now,” I told them. 
“Okay!” The others also nodded at Raphtalia’s shout. But then— 
“Huh?” The moron woman shifted her attention from us and put her hand to her ear. “Well, well, well, so they’ve taken back the hunting tool. That ends our fun! Oh, and the hourglass has been captured too? So much for the former musical instrument hero and his pathetic country,” the woman said. Who was she communicating with? It sounded like she was talking about the activities of Glass and L’Arc—and it sounded like things had worked out with them. “This feels like a good time to get out of here. The musical instrument has been stolen, and the mirror and book have shown up too. Things are no longer in our favor. I thought this might all work out, but look where we’re at now. I’m leaving!” 
 
“You think we’ll allow that?” I said. But before she even heard my reply, the moron woman had already turned to face Itsuki, Rishia, and Armor. 
“All false heroes will face the hammer of justice!” Armor roared. “Any who flee are evil!” He was busy attacking Itsuki and Rishia and hadn’t heard anything anyone else had said. 
“Mald. I’ll give you what little respect you deserve,” Itsuki said. “I’ll fight you myself.” 
“You arrogant fake!” Armor shouted but then gasped as he noticed notes that Itsuki launched all around him. I’d thought Itsuki and Filo had just continued to play Hero’s Melody, but at some point, they had switched to this instead. “The attacks of one as evil as you cannot harm me!” Armor used his axe to smash the notes out of the air, but Itsuki didn’t miss that opening. 
“Music Strike!” Itsuki muttered. Something—basically an arrow—was fired from his violin and struck the accessory with deadly aim. His Accuracy ability was at work again. 
Armor grunted at the notes, then started to strike him, sending him staggering. He’d woven in some life force, meaning Armor’s high stats were now working against him. He spat up some blood. 
“I’m not finished yet!” Armor raged. “The attacks of evil cannot defeat true justice!” He was doing better than I expected—but Itsuki continued to play. 
 
“Imposter! I know your weakness! You can’t handle close combat!” Armor dashed in close to Itsuki and swung his axe, but in that same moment, Itsuki turned the musical instrument into a large bell and swung it to the side. It made a pleasant ringing sound. Itsuki proceeded to fall back, the bell ringing out each time he did so, and he played more music simply by moving around. Armor shouted in rage and frustration. 
“Unfortunately for you, having trained with Rishia, I’m no longer vulnerable to close-distance attacks,” Itsuki informed him. 
“Owww! Curse you!” Armor exclaimed. I was pretty impressed. Itsuki was developing too, being able to cover close range as well now. “Stop moving around!” What did Armor expect, honestly? For Itsuki to just stand still? 
“I’m ending this,” Itsuki said and jumped quickly backward. He placed a foot on the wall and hopped to the side and then unleashed a skill that fired a lot of those same arrows at the accessory on Armor’s axe. They flew so swiftly that all of the arrows hit him. 
“Music Stream,” he intoned. I was impressed again. He was moving pretty much exactly like Rishia did. 
“Gah! More of your cowardly long-range tricks! Fight me fair and square!” Armor raged. Of course he wanted to fight at close range; he had a massive axe! 

“Impossible,” said one of the women who had betrayed Miyaji. They were all looking at Itsuki with shock on their faces. “The arrows should all just fly out randomly from that attack. There’s no way to focus them all like that!” 

With a splitting sound, a crack appeared in the accessory. 
“Never! Hah!” Armor swung his axe and started to chop down the arrows Itsuki launched. 
“It’s not easy to pin you down when you move around like that. Please stay still. Stun Beat!” Itsuki turned the weapon into a guitar and started playing it. Multiple notes flew out and surrounded Armor. 
“What?! That attack means nothing before my justice! Great Quake III!” It sounded like he was planning to use that earthquake skill to wipe all the notes away! 
“Very naive of you, Mald,” Itsuki chided in his monotone voice. The very notes Armor had been trying to wipe away now exploded in his face. I narrowed my eyes and saw light and what looked like lightning flickering around Armor. He moaned, holding his face. It looked like maybe he was under a status effect. 
“Hey!” Witch yelled and dodged through Itsuki’s attacks, dashing directly at the stunned Armor. “You give me that weapon!” She snatched the axe and then turned an unpleasant smile toward me. I was at a loss for words. These guys had no idea of the concept of allies, or working together, or anything. 
“Eat this! Drifa Hellfire IV!” she yelled. Interesting. She’d finished the incantation ahead of time, stolen the weapon with it charged, and then unleashed upgraded magic. That was pretty smart—for Witch, anyway. 
 
Shildina and Itsuki looked ready to prepare anti-magic, but I raised one hand and cut them off. The main event here was the moron woman—Witch was just an annoyance. I was willing to give her a few points for choosing to stick around, even though she had to see how the situation turned against her. It would have been easy to stop the activation of her magic too. There was a reason why I had decided not to. I’d had more than enough of this bitch and finally wanted to make her hurt by my own hand! 
“Die!” she screeched, balls of fire flying directly toward me at high speed. I proceeded to catch them on my mirrors. “Are you simple? My magic is boosted by the protection of a seven star weapon! You won’t stop it like that—what?!” she whined. Her tirade was cut off by my roar as I reflected the magic right back at her like a baseball pitcher throwing a burning curveball. Even if this hadn’t worked out as planned, I still could have applied some life force and bent the magic’s trajectory to return it. 
It went exactly as planned, however. I was really getting a feel for handling the mirror. If the shield was based in physical defense, the mirror was more magic related. The way reflection worked actually seemed easier to use than the shield. I applied some life force to the mirror . . . and also added some magic to the reflected magic as well, just for good measure. The flames proceeded to increase in size, become wreathed in life force, and then crash right into Witch. Adding some magic when reflecting gave the attack a nice power boost. 
“Back, stay back!” Witch shouted, her cries quickly degenerating into a scream. She rolled around on the floor, burning from the magic she herself had unleashed. 
 
“She burns like dry twigs!” I laughed. It felt great. Witch, burning in her own hellfire. This was one of the first times I had ever been able to really strike a blow against her. That only sweetened the experience. Finally, I had brought down some punishment on her myself. 
Then I heard Armor screaming as well. It seemed some of the sparks had leapt over to him. 
“Now! Let’s finish this! Take back the axe! And get that armband off Witch too. Then I’ll finally be able to use Liberation Aura again!” I directed, instructing Raphtalia and the others to destroy the annoying accessories. Time to get everything back! 
The moron woman gave a sigh. “Chain Defense!” She swung her chain and bound Witch and Armor. “Please stop causing trouble for me,” she told them. The pair could only gurgle in pain. “I told you that we’re leaving.” The moron woman wrapped the two of them up more tightly, and Witch and Armor’s voices could not be heard any longer. The axe had been wrapped up with them too, I realized. We still needed to destroy that accessory! 
In any case, taking care of the moron woman had just become our top priority. 
“Well then, you rabble,” she said and looked us over. “You fought a good fight, I’ll give you that. Worthy of some praise.” She really was looking down on us. “The tides of this battle have turned against us, so it really is time for me to leave.” 

“Like I already said,” I reminded her. “You think we’re just letting you walk out of here?” The moron was surrounded and yet still looked at ease.
 
“I’m pretty sure I can. From what I’ve seen so far, anyway,” she replied, still smiling. 
“You really think you can get away from this many people?” I retorted. 
“You are making the mistake of underestimating me,” she replied. Her chain started to give off a suspicious light, which proceeded to envelop her entirely. A mysterious aura proceeded to fill the chamber. S’yne grabbed the chain, her eyes intent, and glared at the moron woman. We still needed to save S’yne, but I wasn’t sure how. 
Then the moron woman threw her at us. 
I reacted on instinct, grabbing her, and then a horizontal shock wave hit and sent us all flying. Even as I hurtled away, I looked around the room to see chains erupting out of everywhere and knocking away my entire party. Everyone reacted in their own way, including cries of pain and one “fehhh.” Then we were all smashed into the wall and stunned. 
It was such a powerful, such a fast attack, I almost wanted to ask why she hadn’t done that to start with. 
“Your defenses are insufficient for any real purpose. Look how easily I made a mockery of you. Now do you understand that I’ve been playing with you the entire time?” the moron woman said. I’d just been selected by the vassal weapon, so the lack of enhancements really hurt. Her attitude didn’t really impress me either, considering this had all started with a carefully laid trap. 

I laid the unconscious S’yne down on the floor, stood up, and readied my mirrors, directing them toward the moron woman. I couldn’t attack on my own, but I also couldn’t just stand by and watch more of this unfold. This was the moment to use skills like the Glass Shield or weapons with a countereffect to fight back.
 
Perhaps sensing what I was thinking, the moron woman smiled unsettlingly. As soon as things appeared to have turned in her favor, Miyaji’s gaggle of women started clamoring again too. 
“Amazing! Now, quickly! Finish these infidels off!” one of them said. 
“Master Hidemasa died because you showed up!” said another. 
“Avenge him!” shouted a third. The moron woman raised her hands, seemingly having no time for these women herself. 
“No. This is all such a pain. I already told you, I’m leaving,” she said. The women were stunned, faces in shock at being rejected so plainly. “They didn’t kill former musical instrument hero, either. It was one of our own. You are assigning blame in the wrong place.” That was true. Armor had done the killing, not us. 
She might be a moron, but sometimes she did make sense. 
“If we provide any further stimulation, who knows what kind of miracle they will pull out next? I don’t need the additional hassle right now,” the moron went on. 
“But . . .” started the women. 
“The hunting tool has been lost, which means that fan woman will be coming back, and their allies on the surface will bring in reinforcements too. If we don’t run away now, we will be overwhelmed and killed,” she reasoned, looking over Miyaji’s women with nothing but contempt in her eyes. “We might win the battle, but I want to win the war. I’m leaving.” The moron woman waved at me, blew me a kiss, and then turned away. “Oh, one thing. You seem to be getting pretty full of yourself, having learned some powerful new support magic, but there’s plenty of ways to deal with that other than what you’ve seen here today. For example, magic that removes it, or our own buffing magic or skills,” she revealed. I gritted my teeth at the pinpoint accuracy of her assessment. The mention of removal magic reminded me of the enemy we had faced when S’yne saved us. 
 
If All Liberation Aura X was removed, I could just apply it again. But I could imagine a tug-of-war with the enemy removing it ensuing. If they started using the same kind of buffs . . . then we’d be on the back foot, having to remove them. 
All stuff to be very careful of. 
“I’ve heard you fought some of our low-level thugs. Maybe that’s given you the impression that we are easy to handle, but I promise you one thing: think too little of us and you’ll get burned,” the moron warned. So they had been “low-level thugs”? 
It did sound like Motoyasu had fought them off pretty capably. “Honestly, there are so many races concerned about their souls. There was already a whole bunch of them who didn’t want to go and get attacked and die before they could come back. What a pain! The way you wiped out those who’ve been sent to your world has caused quite a scare,” the moron woman explained. That made sense—they were attacking so aggressively due to the presumption that they couldn’t die. But with the techniques we possessed, we could kill them completely without any chance for revival, which made it far more difficult for them to invade. 
 
I did understand how they were feeling. I’d want to attack them right down to the last one—even as a zombie myself, if it came to it. Still, this woman loved to run her mouth. 
“Ah, what a pain this all is. I have to take back the holy weapons, as well as the hunting weapon too. Anyway, S’yne, the next time we meet, I won’t take it so easy on you,” she said. The moron woman looked at S’yne with taunting contempt in her eyes, and then she pointed at me and spoke. 
“Well then! Time to finally leave. See you again, Iwatani!” Throwing out these final words, the moron woman suddenly vanished into thin air, taking the still trussed-up Witch and Armor with her. Just when I thought we had a chance to turn the tide . . . 
She’d known my surname too. She probably heard it from Witch or something. But still, it didn’t line up with what S’yne had said when we first met. She hardly talked about herself, after all. This seemed like a good time to have a serious discussion about that. 
Raphtalia staggered shakily to her feet. I offered her some support. 
“We lost,” she said. 
“Not really. We achieved what we came here to do. But it’s true they let us go,” I conceded. Immediately after that, Glass and Sadeena appeared. 
“Are you all okay?!” Glass asked. 
“Oh my! What’s going on here? Did I miss all the fun?” Sadeena exclaimed and tilted her head to the side. The next moment L’Arc and Therese also arrived—and from the look of it, it was by getting caught in the teleportation trap. 
 
“Kiddo! Are you okay?!” L’Arc asked. That moron woman really had picked her moment to escape. Had she just been lucky, or had she sensed the best moment to retreat? The second one, clearly. 
So she’d had a full understanding of the entire situation . . . and yet chose to just play with S’yne instead of really using it. She’d had a lot to say, but she had analytical abilities that clearly outstripped the likes of Witch. She surely could have easily taken care of S’yne too . . . but maybe she had wanted to cause trouble for Miyaji and the others. Something she said had also suggested that Witch and Armor were newcomers to the organization. If she was one of those types who enjoyed reporting the failure of rookies to her superiors, that might explain it. So we had been saved by internal backbiting, at least in part. 
“Glass, did you recover Kizuna?” I asked. 
“Yes. I encountered Sadeena fighting along the way, so we joined up and managed to save Kizuna soon after that,” Glass reported. 
“I don’t see her though,” I said, looking around. 
“This situation came as quite a surprise to me as well,” Sadeena said. 
“Chris is currently protecting Kizuna. I’ll explain about all that in a moment. Having recovered her, I rushed back to support you,” Glass said. Then I looked over at L’Arc. His use of “kiddo” had not gone unnoticed. 
“We captured the dragon hourglass. The reinforcements we called in are still fighting up top,” he said. 
 
“I was able to make excellent use of the strength you provided, Master Craftsman,” Therese added. 
“Okay, glad to hear it . . .” I said. They’d proceeded down here because they had enough people helping out up there. Dammit! A few moments more and we could have had her. 
Then S’yne staggered back to her feet. Her stuffed familiar was battered as well, with stuffing bleeding out of her tummy. 
“Are you okay?” I asked. “I still can’t use magic, but Therese should be able to do it. Do you need healing?” I asked. 
“I’m fine,” S’yne responded. 
“Good to hear. Your sister sure had a mouth on her though, doesn’t she!” I said. 
“Yeah. She’s always been a talker,” S’yne replied. For some reason, she wasn’t skipping as much. “A chatty traitor who’ll just prattle on about anything. Heroes mean nothing to her, nothing—” S’yne was quite literally shaking with anger. I rapped her on the shoulder and gave her a thumbs-up. 
“If you’re after revenge, I’ll lend a hand. I hate liars and traitors,” I told her. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and death to all traitors! Just being allied with Witch meant she was worthy of death! 
“I’m not sure I’d really recommend that, considering who we are talking about, but thank you . . . I never expected to meet her here in this world,” S’yne said. 

“I’m sure. Finding out they are connected behind the scenes is a useful piece of information though,” I said. 

“I’m going to kill her! The villain who joined with those who destroyed the place I loved . . . my sister!” S’yne’s intent was firm. We were starting to learn some of S’yne’s backstory as well, which had been clouded to us until now. We’d known she was the holder of a vassal weapon from a destroyed world, but if someone else had survived and was now working with these enemies, that was information we couldn’t overlook. 
She had enjoyed beating on S’yne too. She seemed to have a sadistic taste for combat. 
“Sounds like a lot has happened here, but tell me, Naofumi, Ethnobalt, and bow dude . . . what’s that you are holding?” L’Arc asked. Of course, we needed to explain that too. I proceeded to give L’Arc and the others a breakdown of everything that had happened with Miyaji and the interference from S’yne’s enemies. 
“Um . . . I’m Naofumi Iwatani, the Mirror Hero, at your service,” I announced. 
“And I’m Itsuki Kawasumi. I just obtained the musical instrument vassal weapon,” Itsuki added. 
“Fehhh . . .” Rishia gave one of her usual pathetic sounds, switching out of combat mode. Maybe she wasn’t able to keep up with what was happening. 
“This has apparently been traditionally handed down by a library rabbit,” Ethnobalt said, a wry smile on his face and the book in one hand. “I didn’t expect to get it back in my generation though. I was originally the holder of the ship vassal weapon, of course.” With his intellect, this suited him more than a ship. 
 
“Fine,” L’Arc said. “Itsuki having the musical instrument vassal weapon suits our purposes, anyway. If we announce the death of the hero of this nation, the others still fighting should settle down. We’ve got a little more work to do, so let’s get moving.” 
“Okay,” Itsuki said, nodding at L’Arc’s request. 
As a result, the battle with Miyaji, Witch, and the enemies of S’yne resulted in just the defeat of Miyaji.