The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War (LN) - Volume 2 - Chapter 7

Chapter VII: Inglis, Age 15—The Chiral Knights’ Academy (7)

“All finished.” Inglis gave a nod of approval as Muenthe disappeared in the light of the Aether Strike. Even after firing one at full strength, she still had a bit of power left. Her endurance was growing slowly but steadily.

Her friends and the chancellor rushed to her side.

“I knew you could do it, Chris! That was amazing!” Rafinha cheered.

“I knew you were great, but not that great!” Leone said.

“Yeah, but honestly,” Inglis said, “I wish I could have taken my time fighting it. A tough opponent like that is good for training.”

No matter what onlookers saw of the fight, Inglis knew that Rune-Eater had definitely been strong. She’d had to settle things quickly due to the circumstances, but she’d wanted to take her time.

“Whaaat? How could you possibly spend that much time looking at it without throwing up?” Rafinha asked, still grossed out.

“Ugh...” Leone groaned. “That thing was creepy before and after becoming a magicite beast.”

“True, but who cares so long as it’s strong?” Inglis wondered whether she should’ve fought with her eyes closed. At least then she wouldn’t have had to stare at such a repulsive magicite beast for so long.

“Just what are you...?” Arcia asked in awe. “Not even a holy knight or a hieral menace has such power.”

“I’m simply a squire. See?” Inglis flashed the Runeless backs of her hands.

“Well, I see that now...but there’s something more to you...”

“Anyway, let’s focus on how to get out of this dimension. We don’t know what’s going on outside, so...”

“Ah, yes... But how—”

Before the chancellor could finish his sentence, their surroundings immediately transformed, twisting in front of their eyes. Before they knew it, they were aboard Highland’s ship once again.

Rafinha gasped. “We’re back?! Chris, what did you do?”

“Uh, I didn’t do anything.”

“Ahh! Look!” Leone shouted, her eyes glued to Fars. A sword had pierced his abdomen, and blood was dripping from the blade.

Gripping the handle was a man wearing a coat and a mask, dressed in black.

“It’s the man in the black mask from the Steelbloods!” Rafinha cried, tensing as soon as she saw him.

“What?! Then he’s—” Leone started, just for Inglis to cut her off and answer.

“Yes, he’s the Steelbloods’ leader.”

They all understood now why the other dimension had disappeared; Fars’s wounds were too great. There was no mistaking that fatal blow. Otherwise, it would not have collapsed.

“Gah... Ughhh...” Fars slumped to the floor.

The masked man turned to the group. “Inglis Eucus, what a coincidence meeting you here.”

“How in the world did you get here?” she asked.

Did he disguise himself as someone and infil—

“That’s how.” He pointed behind himself. His back was to the hull of the ship, which had mostly been smashed in. Inglis took a good look at it.

The hull was completely broken apart. It hadn’t looked like that when Fars had trapped Inglis and the others. But there was something else—staring at the sky beyond, the view clearer from the destroyed hull, they all saw a gigantic flying ship.

The three girls were shocked.

“Wha...?!”

“Huuuh?!”

“That thing’s—”

It was as huge as the one they were standing on, with additional cannon ports all around the sides. Inglis inferred those cannons were responsible for the destruction of Highland’s ship.

“Preposterous! Not even our country has something of that magnitude! How?!” Chancellor Arcia cried.

If the Steelblood Front had something like that, then they were more than a small guerrilla organization. What kind of reach did they possess? It was unnerving. If they wanted to, they could take out an entire country.

“Never mind the details. We just have to beat them here!” Leone unslung her dark greatsword Artifact.

The masked man wasn’t close, but in an instant Leone extended her blade and attacked him.

Clang!

However, with a single hand, he easily deflected Leone’s full-force attack. “Stop that. You have no hope of defeating me as you are now.”

“Silence! What happened to my brother, Leon?! You deceived him!”

As Leone continued with a fierce string of slashes, the black-masked man parried each of them with a hand.

“That’s not true. My comrade Leon would have stood up with or without me. I’m not the sort of man who could deceive him—he’s unshakable to the core. We’ve only joined forces because we look at the world in the same way.”

“Shut up! Don’t talk like you know him!”

“Well, well...”

Clannnngggg!

The masked man drew his own sword, striking Leone’s.

“Ah—?!” The shock of the blow made Leone’s greatsword fall from her hands and roll on the floor.

“I’ll warn you. If you continue to attack me, I’ll respond in kind. I have my own objectives here.”

“Ugh...! Your threats won’t scare me off!” Without hesitating, Leone reached for her Artifact, but Inglis softly took her hand and stopped her from picking it up.

“Wait, Leone. Leave the rest to me. I’m worried about you, and—”

“And you want to fight him?”

“You could tell?”

“Of course. You’ve got a huge grin on your face. Didn’t you realize?”

“Oh, whoops.”

“It’s fine. I think I need your help on this one. Please—I leave it to you.”

“Okay. I’ve got it.” Inglis advanced toward the masked man. “It seems this day has arrived earlier than I expected.”

“Let me ask you one thing: where is Highland’s ambassador, Muenthe? I have no time to idly spar without vanquishing him first.”

“He’s gone. I defeated him.”

“Oh my! That saves me some effort. Farewell, then—though, I suppose you have no intention of letting me go.”

“Correct. If you escape, I’ll even board your ship, and I don’t know that it’ll survive in the process.”

“That would be inconvenient.”

Boooom!

A loud explosion rang through the ship, rocking it unsteadily.

“Eeek?!” Rafinha shrieked.

“What happened?” Leone asked, looking around.

Inglis felt the floor tilt heavily under her feet. “We’re swaying quite a bit.”

The blast was followed by a second, then a third, accompanied by sudden swings of the ship from side to side.

The man in the black mask looked outside. “There appears to have been an accident.”

The Steelbloods’ ship was gaining altitude—or that’s how it seemed at first. The truth was the opposite.

“We’re falling?!” Rafinha yelled.

“This is bad! The capital’s below us!” Leone warned.

They were right. Such irony—the offering had taken place over the capital as a countermeasure against the Steelbloods, yet here the group was with its own flying ship, easily interfering in matters. Leaders in the capital couldn’t have known this would happen. If the ship fell on the capital directly below, it would be a catastrophe. The capital’s plan had completely backfired.

Leone focused her attention on the mysterious Steelblood leader. “Did you—?!”

“I gave no such orders.” The masked man shook his head.

But at the same time, Fars, collapsed and bleeding, leaped to his feet forcefully. The wound piercing his chest was clearly fatal, but he’d used the last of his power to fight back. He thrust the sword clenched in his bloodstained hands at Leone, who was standing just beside him.

“Dieeeee!”

“Wh—?!”

Just before his sword pierced Leone, who was caught off-guard, a beast with a body of crackling lightning leaped at him from the side. The lightning beast slammed Fars away from Leone with its body before wrapping around him.

And the beast exploded.

Boooom!

Fars, already fatally injured, was scorched and torn up. “Dammit... But the engines...are already blown... Go down with the ship for all I care!” This time for real, Fars fell unconscious for the last time, dying with a glare fixed on Inglis and the others to the end.

“Leone!” Inglis yelled.

“Are you okay?!” Rafinha called.

“Yeah... That was Leon’s—!” She whirled her head around to the masked man. “D-Did you do that?!”

His response was blunt. “Beats me.”

Next, Leone turned to Inglis, who shook her head. “It wasn’t me.”

“Then you really are—!”

A Flygear suddenly swooped toward the ship, as if to blot out her voice. At its controls was the Steelbloods’ hieral menace, Sistia. “We’ve taken out the Highlanders aboard the ship, but someone destroyed its engines and it’s out of control! It’s going to crash! Hurry and get out of there!”

“Very well. If we can’t seize it, sticking around for long is pointless. Our losses could be great.” The masked man looked toward the Steelbloods’ ship, which was surrounded by royal Flygear Ports and Flygears. The assigned forces on guard had already noticed something was wrong and gone into action. Among them, presumably, were cadets from the knights’ academy, pressed into service due to low manpower. Maybe even Liselotte and the others were there.

“Perhaps, in a way, this was fortunate,” the masked man said to Inglis. “In this situation, there’s no way you can chase me, right? If this ship was sound, I’d have been unable to avoid battle. And I don’t wish to fight you.”

Inglis did not spring into Sistia’s Flygear to pursue him; he was right. She was still disappointed, though. She pouted. “I consider it a pity.”

“Hmph... Normally I would stay and help, but I’m sure you’ll manage something. I leave the rest to you. Let’s go, Sistia.”

“Understood!”

The Flygear soared off—and with it, the man in black and his group.

“Brother!” Leone called. “Leon, was that you?”

“Well, he did help you, Leone,” Inglis said after a careful pause. “But I’m not really sure that was Leon. Perhaps his power can replicate Leon’s.”

Inglis could tell he was more skilled than she was in the precise control of aether, but there was no way he had recreated the ability of Leon’s Artifact through converting aether to mana. “More importantly, we need to escape quickly!”

“Yeah. If the ship can’t be controlled, we need to get outside and stop it,” Rafinha said.

At the very least, they couldn’t let it fall in the capital. If they did, there would be major losses.

Leone, too, changing her mood, nodded. “Yeah, let’s hurry!”

As they steeled themselves, two more Flygears arrived after the one that had just escaped.

“Heeey! Inglis!”

“Father! Are you all right?!”

Lahti manned the controls of one with Pullum as a passenger, and the other carried Liselotte, piloted by the twins, Ban and Ray.

“Lahti! Good timing,” Inglis said.

“Ooh, isn’t that Liselotte!” Leone said.

Lahti raised his voice over the Flygear. “Get in! We’ll get you out of there!”

“Father, please hurry and board!” Liselotte urged.

Inglis, Rafinha, and Leone boarded Lahti’s Flygear, leaving Chancellor Arcia to Liselotte’s.

“Hurry and get His Excellency somewhere safe,” Inglis instructed. “We’ll stop the ship.”

“Okay, understood!” Liselotte said.

“I’m counting on you! Don’t let it fall on the city!”

Inglis and the others nodded to Chancellor Arcia. “Of course!”

“But how do we deal with this huge thing?” Lahti was already struggling with the controls, as his Flygear was over capacity at five passengers.

Inglis had a plan. “Lahti, bring us below the ship.”

“Okay!”

The flying ship was spewing smoke from its engine compartment as it fell toward the capital directly below. Fortunately, it hadn’t completely lost buoyancy, so they were able to get the Flygear underneath it, but— 

Boooom!

There was another explosion. The ship shook, and something large tumbled from its deck.

Rafinha watched it descend. “Ah...! The Flygear Port loaded with cargo!”

“Oh no! It’s falling too!”

“Leave it to me!”

Even if they managed to stop the ship, the Flygear Port crashing into the city would be no small matter. Inglis, unhesitating, leaped into the sky.

Rafinha, Leone, and Lahti all yelled at her stunt in shocked dismay.

“Chris?!”

“Inglis! That’s unreasonable!”

“Hey! What are you doing?!”

Despite their cries, Inglis soared downward toward the Flygear Port.

“There!” She let loose an Aether Strike.

Blammmm!

Enveloped in pale blue light, the Flygear Port disappeared. Meanwhile, the recoil from the Aether Strike sent Inglis flying back to Lahti’s Flygear.

“I’m back!”

“Aha ha ha... Welcome back, Chris.”

Lahti couldn’t believe his eyes. “You surprised me, suddenly jumping out.”

“Absurd, as usual,” Leone said.

“I-Inglis, that was amazing!” Pullum added.

However, they had addressed the problem of the falling cargo only; they still needed to do something about the ship itself.

“What are you gonna do, Inglis?! Can you use that ball of light to blow away the ship too?” Lahti asked.

Inglis shook her head. “Well, that would be a bit tough...”

She knew that shooting Aether Strike at a cargo-laden Flygear Port was one thing, but she didn’t have enough power to destroy a huge ship. If she tried the same technique, it would probably just pierce the ship, splitting the ship into lots of debris. If that rained down on the capital, it would make the situation even worse. Moreover, having already shot two Aether Strikes today, she was unsure if she could shoot a third. Even if she could, it would probably be less powerful than her previous.

“Th-Then what do we do?!” Lahti panicked.

“Bring us close to the ground so that I can see where it’s likely to crash.”

If it was going to crash into an empty lot or open space, they could leave it be. On the other hand, if it was going to crash into a shopping or residential district, they would need to stop it or change its course.

Rafinha understood. “So we can just leave it alone if it’s going to fall somewhere safe?”

“Exactly, Rani. It might crash into the lake instead.”

“Inglis, if it really will hit the city, what do we do?” Leone asked.

“We either stop it from crashing or we redirect it. Neither will work from the air, so we’ll need to land regardless.”

“Okay, got it,” Lahti said.

Even Pullum, who was normally calm, had an expression of intense focus. “If we call for evacuations now, we may be able to get people to safety in time!”

“All right! Taking her down at full speed!” Lahti descended toward the surface at a tremendous velocity. With his innate sense of aeronautics, he predicted the point of impact—and it wasn’t good. “Looks like it’s going to crash here!”

“This is a bad place.” Rafinha grimaced.

“The worst place,” Leone agreed.

Inglis remained resolute. “We absolutely need to do something about it!”

In front of them was the center of the center of the capital—the royal palace. The falling ship would strike it dead center, and its smoking form was getting closer and closer.

“Hey, hurry, run away! Something big’s gonna crash!” Lahti shouted to the gatekeepers. The panicking soldiers began to rush off, each in their own direction. Soon, chaos spread through the palace.

“Keep calling out to them,” Inglis instructed. “We’ll get off. Let’s go, Rani, Leone.” She jumped down in front of the palace gates.

Rafinha and Leone followed.

“Okay, Chris!”

“Yeah! Let’s go!”

“Me too!” another girl’s voice said. Pullum moved to hop out.

Lahti immediately yanked her back. “Not you!”

“Why’d you stop me? I want to help too!”

“You can do that without getting off! Just stay aboard!”

“But they all know it’s dangerous, and that didn’t stop them...”

“It’s fine!” Inglis said from below. “Lahti’s probably worried about you, so stay there with him for his sake.”

“Wow! Really, Lahti?”

“Ugh, be quiet! This is no time to chat!”

As Inglis and the others decided what to do, many other Flygears gathered around as well. Lahti and Pullum departed, and Inglis called out to the new pilots and passengers. “Everyone, help the people evacuate!”

“Okay, got it!” one person replied. The assembled Flygears all dispersed.

With that underway, now Inglis just needed to do something about the falling ship.

“Lahti and Pullum are so cute together. Ahhh, having a boyfriend sounds nice...” Rafinha said.

“Absolutely not,” Inglis retorted. “You’re too young for that.”

“Why are you two talking about boyfriends?! What are we going to do about that thing?!” Leone yelled, exasperated.

“Well, Chris said there’s a way to save everyone, so we’ll probably manage something. Right, Chris?”

“Yeah.” Inglis turned to Leone. “Plus, we’ve got you here with us.”

“Me? What for?”

“Even if we try to stop it, it’ll hit the palace before we can reach it, right? So if we can hit it a little above and make it fall there...” Inglis pointed toward a pier at the far end of the palace grounds. A canal stretched from the lake so that it could be accessed directly from the palace. Compared to letting the ship crash into the castle and the houses nearby, dropping it into a waterway would be far less disastrous.

“You want me to hit it? Oh, if I extend my sword...!”

“Exactly. Can you make your sword as big as possible? That way it’ll be easier to blow the ship off course.”

“If we use our combined strength...” Rafinha said.

Leone was hesitant. “My power won’t be enough, though...”

“But the three of us together might be enough. After all, Chris has superhuman strength!”

“The two of you have Artifacts, so you’re plenty extraordinary,” Inglis said.

“Anyway, let’s go!” Leone tightly gripped her sword Artifact, and the blade widened and extended rapidly. “This is as far as it goes! I wish I could do more, but...!” It was as wide as several adults with their arms outstretched, and it was long enough to reach the roof of the castle.

However...to smash away a ship of that size, I’d want to commandeer something larger, Inglis thought.

“Leave it to me!” Pullum called.

Still in Lahti’s Flygear, Pullum’s Artifact did not take the shape of a weapon; it was a glimmering silver harp. When she plucked the strings, there was a beautiful flowing melody, and Leone and Rafinha’s Artifacts were wrapped in a thin sheen of light. The tones of Pullum’s Artifact seemed to enhance the capabilities of other nearby Artifacts, making it useful for support. Rafinha, who was also in the knights’ course with Pullum, had mentioned it before, but this was the first time Inglis had seen it directly.

“Thanks! Now I can do more!” Leone said, energized.

The length and breadth of her sword swelled again, to nearly double what it had been. And she herself, swinging the sword, must have become stronger as well. The same went for Rafinha. While it didn’t have the same effect on Inglis, who didn’t have an Artifact, she was still grateful that Rafinha and Leone had been strengthened.

“It’s almost here. Rani, Leone, are you ready?”

The ship was already closing in.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Yes. Let’s go!”

Inglis and Rafinha each gripped the hilt of Leone’s now-gigantic sword. Perhaps as another effect of Leone’s Gift, they could barely feel the weight of the massive dark Artifact. They could put all their force into deflecting the falling ship.

The three, breathing in unison, lifted the sword high in the air. Then, aiming not the blade’s edge but its central ridge toward their target, they waited a brief moment. The shadow of the gigantic ship, spewing smoke and emitting a screeching noise, soon washed over them.

Inglis took the lead. “Here it is! Now!”

Rafinha and Leone followed. “Here we go!”

“Yeah! One, two!”

“Haaaaaaaaah!” they screamed in unison.

Screeeeee!

Sparks flew as the blade of the dark sword impacted the prow of the falling ship. Their arms fiercely strained against the blow. They gritted their teeth and planted their feet, but their entire bodies were pushed backward, leaving trails on the ground.

“Grrr...! Maybe it is a little too heavy!” Rafinha grunted.

“We’re getting dragged along! At this rate...!” Leone frowned at the weight.

Even if the two of them were strengthened by Pullum’s Artifact, deflecting the huge ship may have been too much.

Unless something else was done.

“I suppose I don’t have much of a choice.” Glittering aether sparkled along Inglis’s body thanks to her activated Aether Shell.

Up until now, she had been gripping the sword bare-handed. Wielding a weapon while swathed in aether would destroy it with the aether’s force; Artifacts were no exception—at least lower- and middle-class ones. Leone’s was an upper-class Artifact, and could maybe endure it. Inglis would rather not take that risk if she could help it, but the priority needed to be on people’s safety. This was no time to hold back.

“I’ll give it all I have left!”

She only had a little aether remaining, but she forced everything she could out in one go. Her feet, which had been sliding backward from the momentum of the ship pushing on the blade, came to a stop. The dark sword, encased in aether, resisted the falling ship. Its prow began to twist, and the shrieking sound became even more intense.

“I-It’s working! I knew you could do it, Chris!” Rafinha said.

“Let’s keep pushing!” Leone cheered.

“Yeah! One more!”

But that push was just barely out of reach. Inglis had fought a long series of battles and used Aether Strike twice. She was ready to drop from exhaustion, and she definitely wasn’t at her usual full power. She came to the painful realization that her lack of endurance meant she had to train that much harder.

“I’ll assist you as well!” Someone with bright white wings descended from the heavens, a halberd Artifact in her hands. She was a beautiful young woman with voluminous bright blonde hair.

Liselotte had activated her Gift.

“Liselotte?!” Inglis was surprised. If they were overwhelmed, the ship would crush them. This was life-threatening. Liselotte was clearly brave if she chose to get herself involved now.

“I’ve already escorted my father to a safe place, so—!” Liselotte was the next to grip the hilt of Leone’s dark sword. She, too, was strengthened by the effect of Pullum’s artifact. And that strength was the last bit of help they needed.

They gave a resounding cry. “Heave-ho!”

Crrrraaack!

Winning the test of strength, the dark sword Artifact completed its swing. The huge ship was repelled, and—as they’d aimed—fell into the canal, producing a huge waterspout. The water fell in a drizzle on their heads.

A wave of cheers arose from the onlookers. “Whoaaa!”

“Is this a dream?! I’ve seen something absurd!”

“A-Amazing! You’re amazing!”

“It’s a miracle! Wonderful work!”

“Inglis! Everyone! That was amazing! Well done!” Lahti cheered, his eyes gleaming.

“Lahti’s right! That really was amazing!” Pullum was in awe too.

“Phew... We pulled it off somehow. I’m a bit tired.” Inglis took a deep breath. She’d used her aether to the limit. She was exhausted.

“For real! My arms are at their limit! They’re gonna fall off!” Rafinha held up her quivering arms.

Leone laughed, doing the same. “Mine too. But this was truly good.”

“I’m glad I made it in time.” Liselotte nodded, satisfied.

Rafinha squeezed her hand tightly and smiled at her. “Thanks, you saved us! I was wrong about you!”

“No, you weren’t mistaken. I was certainly shortsighted—” Liselotte turned to Leone and bowed her head deeply. “Father told me about what happened. I apologize for being suspicious of you. Please forgive my earlier rudeness.”

“Oh...? Ah... Mm, it’s okay. Don’t worry about me.” Leone looked quite startled—even flustered.

“Liar. She cried at night, didn’t she, Chris?”

“I saw. I hugged her for so long. I used to do that for Rani too. Those were good times.”

Rafinha and Leone both blushed intensely. “S-Stop that!” they yelled at Inglis.

“Anyway, I really am sorry,” Liselotte said. “Also, perhaps we can go back to our original dorm assignments? If you’re fine with it, that is.”

“Oh! Yes, I’d be glad to!” Leone gave a broad smile.

“Wow! Isn’t that nice, Leone?” Rafinha clapped her hands happily.

“Yes! Rafinha’s snoring made it a bit hard to sleep...”

Rafinha gasped in surprise.

“Yeah, if you’re not used to it...” Inglis nodded in agreement.

“Aha ha ha... That’s kind of rude. But you certainly do seem to be interesting people,” Liselotte said.

Crrraaack!

Something snapped, interrupting their casual conversation.

“What?! My Artifact—” Cracks opened across Leone’s dark sword artifact, and it shattered into several pieces.

“Ahh, what’s—?!” Leone gasped.

“I-It must have been too much for it?” Rafinha guessed. “It was really heavy...”

“Sorry, Leone. This was my fault—since I gave it my full power,” Inglis said.

“Huuuh?! Really?”

“I’m really sorry, I know how important it was to you.”

“Inglis... It’s fine. Don’t worry about it. You did what you had to do,” Leone said, her smile radiating warmth.