Chapter 6: Venting Anger
My actions had good intentions, but they completely backfired. I was on the deck of Partner. The wind was cold, but I went outside in order to stop pondering about these various thoughts I had. However, the one who was really in an uncomfortable position was Livia. Luxon floated beside me.
[A pet, was it? Indeed, she would seem like a pet considering the affection you’ve given to her, Master. Having doted on her like she’s your favorite character in a game, it seems you couldn’t say anything to her.
“──I know.” The annoying AI didn’t comfort me. The words coming from this thing pierced into my heart as well. [It seems that she’s dejected over genuine malice towards her at the academy. Her state of mind has become unstable. I wonder if it’s okay not to worry about it.] “Aren’t you going to ask about me as well? I’m hurt too. My heart is fragile like glass.” [Your heart is a special-made bulletproof glass. You won’t get a single scratch from something of this degree, so you’ll be fine.] “Oh really?” I had experience from my previous life. I held worldly wisdom.
However, Livia’s words strangely pierced into my heart.
I shook my head.
“This is fine. A mob oversteps his boundaries and gets carried away when he reaches out to the protagonist and villainess. This was a good lesson.”
[Don’t you think it’s improper to withdraw at this point?]
“You mean I should look after them until the very end? Quit joking. The protagonist refused being treated like a pet. I expect that she will be more active from now on.”
[How sulky you are.]
“How annoying you are.”
I got irritated at it calling me sulky. By that, I meant irritated from becoming aware of myself.
I got angry after realizing it.
A little while later, I spoke to Luxon.
“Where did I go wrong?”
[In this case, it might be that you’ve hindered Olivia’s growth, Master.]
“Hindering her growth? Hey, don’t joke around. I was helping her. I was lending a hand in the academy’s dungeon, or in many other──”
Luxon did not yield to my answer.
[She was originally supposed to solve those matters alone. In the short run, your help was beneficial, Master. However, in the long run, you’ve obstructed Olivia’s spiritual growth. It’s as she said. Master, weren’t you thinking of Olivia like you would a pet? No doubt, you treated her like some cute, favorite pet. For you, she’s a valuable and convenient girl in this world after all, Master.]
I instantly lost my tempter.
“You little!”
When I struck Luxon, it flung onto the deck and bounced before slowly coming back to me.
[Have you calmed down?]
“I’d like to hit you again, but my fist hurts.”
My face was burning with anger. I waited for the cold air outside to cool it down.
[I’m going to continue speaking. This is important for you, Master. While you have experience from a previous life, you’re like a child that needs spiritual growth, Master.]
“Spiritual growth? I don’t need that. Don’t you know the difference between adults and children?”
[If not in a physical sense, then what about in self-restraint or things of that sort?]
I had ample patience already. I didn’t need it.
“Nope. The difference between adults and children is whether or not they can adapt to society. I’m enough of an adult. I live in this world without trying to destroy its common sense despite having your power.”
For better or for worse, adults adapted to society.
There were many words to describe what it meant to be an adult, right? Those words related to an ability to adapt with society.
Children were the ones that created new values and changed society.
There were many that never became adults.
I was an adult. Right, a useless adult! [The words themselves were touching, but they sound like a joke hearing them from you.] “Is that so?” When I sat down in irritation, Brad come out onto the deck. He held a sword in his hand and had a very disgusted expression when seeing my face. Luxon hid behind my back. “Practicing your sword?” “That’s right.” Brad briefly said “I’ll be borrowing this deck,” and began swinging within the cold weather. His abilities weren’t exactly that skillful. Mine were still better. “What about practicing magic? You’re specialty is supposed to be magic.” Brad stopped moving when he heard what I said. Sweat trickled down onto his forehead. I wondered if I brought up a serious topic. “I know that!” He pointed his sword towards me. “What are you so worked up about?” Brad began swinging his sword again, but couldn’t concentrate, perhaps from what I did. “Have you been swinging everyday?”
“That’s a matter of course. This is necessary in order to become a knight.” “It’s not really necessary.” “M, martial arts is necessary!” Even if one could use a sword, they didn’t become a knight just from that.
It was a different matter if one was above the rest to the point of being called a master swordsman, but many others never became knights no matter what they did.
When nobles reached a certain age, they almost automatically became knights, though.
“I’m pretty sure you can become a knight without doing such things.”
Brad brushed aside his bangs in a pompous manner and then spoke to me.
“I’m doing this to win against you one day! We decided that we would keep trying our hardest until then!”
Trying their hardest. How laughable.
Wait a minute. Were these guys thinking of fighting against me again?
“Aren’t you an idiot. I’m not going to fight you guys anymore. You’ll just have to be losers for life.”
Upon which, Brad made a frustrated expression, but resumed his practice-swinging.
“Not gonna talk back?”
“If I had the spare time to, I would be using it to swing. I’m the weakest amongst the five, after all.”
I scratched my hair.
Brad was a character who specialized in magic.
On the contrary, he had no talent in anything other than magic. Due to him being such a character, he was hard to work with in the game. He was weak, but would charge in first and subsequently go down quickly. I couldn’t recall how many times I begged him not to charge ahead.
“You should work the hardest on your area of expertise.”
“I’m doing my best there too! However, I don’t want to lose.”
Brad opened the torso area of his clothing to reveal his chest.
“I want Marie to look my way. I worry if I’m not as good as the others among the five of us. I have the best looks among them. However, the difference in everything else is so big that I can make no excuses.”
This guy just claimed that he was the most attractive one without any hesitation.
Was he actually in low spirits?
“What good qualities do you see in her? She’s a flat-chested shorty.”
“It’s not her outward appearance! It’s what’s on the inside that counts!”
She was rotten on the inside! She was the one that snatched away Livia’s position, wasn’t she? She was full of personality problems, and her inner-self became apparent the moment she tried to obtain a reverse harem.
No matter what these people said about her true nature, I didn’t believe them.
“Even if you did say that it was because of her outward appearance, I wouldn’t believe you. She has no chest.”
“What did you just say?! Chests are simply for decoration!”
“They are not for decoration! Take that back! A woman’s large chest is the dream, hope, and desire of men. I definitely cannot allow you to say such──huh?”
Thereupon, a floating robot came towards us. It held two wooden swords in its hands, handed them to both of us, and then left.
Brad had an eerie expression.
“T, those lumps of iron loitering around are a little creepy.”
He backed away and was quivering. Brad was also a coward. A narcissistic coward…how bothersome.
He was scared of the robots onboard, but they looked pretty cute to me.
At any rate, there were two wooden swords.
Brad pointed the tip of the wooden sword at me.
“Let’s have a match, Baltfault!”
“Don’t wanna. It’s cold.”
Brad seemed annoyed and stamped his feet.
However, he resumed his practice-swinging while glancing at me from time to time, which was getting annoying so I decided to accept his proposition.
Brad was pleased.
“Well then, come on!”
Why are you so pleased with fighting in areas you’re not good at? Are you stupid?”
“I have better classroom grades than you, so I’m not stupid! Leaving that aside, I’m happy that I can challenge you. I’ll definitely win!”
Brad prepared himself while saying so, but he only had a decent stance when practicing.
When I approached and swung, he quickly fell back and ruined his posture. I couldn’t sense any talent from him. “Hey, what’s the matter?” I kept swinging, and Brad kept shifting around.
However, just once──Brad took a big step forward raised his left hand in order to swing. He swung the sword diagonally from bottom to top, and it was surprisingly powerful, causing my posture to falter.
“──Woah!” I think it was just simple carelessness. Brad got caught up in the moment and stepped closer. “If I just keep the pressure──ah!” Since he carelessly stepped in, I shortened the distance and struck Brad on the head with the handle, causing him to fall to his knees. “It seems you really are stupid.” “D, darn, I thought I could do it.” I believed that he still had talent with a spear. During the duel, he had been thrusting a sharp object. Brad got up and returned to inside the ship, perhaps done with his practice- swinging. “N, next time for sure.” I watched Brad, holding his hand against his head as he returned, while glancing at my wooden sword. It had been a long time since I did some practice swings.
I realized that I haven’t been swinging by myself lately.
“I haven’t done much outside of class work. It’s simply a matter of lacking practice.”
I had practiced quite a bit before leaving my parents’ home. I had practiced swinging almost daily, but I had been skipping out on it after coming to the academy.
The reason being that I had been busy with a lot of things.
The miserable part was that reason having to do with searching for marriage.
Luxon once again appeared.
[You seem to be having fun.]
“You went through all the trouble to do something bothersome. That robot with the wooden swords was you, wasn’t it?”
[Indeed.]
When I pointed the tip of the wooden sword at the night sky, I saw the stars shining quite beautifully.
“──It seems those guys have a lot to think about as well.”
Brad was an unexpectedly hard worker, but for some reason that made me just a little bit happy.
◇
There was a dungeon in the royal capital.
Inside were Marie and Kyle, fully equipped.
Kyle was carrying a heavy baggage on his back while complaining to
Marie.
“Let’s just go home. I mean, this place is definitely dangerous.” Marie and Kyle traversed beyond a sign labeled “Keep Out”, and went down a pit. Marie, carrying a heavier baggage than Kyle, had lowered a rope into the pit while scolding Kyle with a bloodcurdling expression. “Don’t give up! Our future lies ahead of here──a promising glory awaits.” Kyle grumbled. “I wish that we could have brought along everyone, though. The monsters here are strong too.” As he was saying that, something creeped out from the bottom of the pit. A large, lizard-like monster opened its large mouth and climbed a wall. It clutched onto the wall using suckers attached to its hands and approached closer to Marie. “Something came ouuut!” As Kyle screamed, Marie took out a grenade from her luggage. “Don’t underestimate meeee!” She threw the grenade into its large mouth, and the monster’s cranium exploded when swallowing it, causing dark smoke to appear. That explosion caused the wind to roar, violently shaking the rope. Marie grasped the rope tightly, calling out to Kyle. “Kyle, hold on tight!” “I want to go home already!”
Marie and Kyle descended down the rope until reaching the bottom of the hole.
Kyle sat down when finally reaching the floor and seemed like he was about to cry.
While cautious of her surroundings, Marie lowered her heavy luggage and took out some tools.
(Alright. I can do this. I have the proper knowledge for everything up to here.)
In the game, she was able to make do with her own strength up until the mid-way.
She knew that there was a hidden item inside the area labeled “Keep Out.”
(If I can retrieve that──I can break free of this current situation.)
Livia’s face popped up in her mind.
(Right. She’ll be my stepping stone to happiness.)
Tackling the depths of a dungeon with only two people was a reckless action.
She kept silent about it from Julian and the others since they seemed to be busy.
There was one other reason as well.
(I thought that Olivia wouldn’t be able to do anything, but I can’t be careless when that mob is by her side. If I don’t retrieve what I need as soon as possible, I might go mad from my life plan getting beaten to the punch.)
After a certain matter at the school festival, Marie was wary of Leon. Perhaps it was foolish, but her intuition told her that mob wasn’t the type to be careless.
That boy was always by Olivia’s side whenever she entered the dungeon. It was possible that he was trying to retrieve that. Such a possibility frightened Marie.
Due to that, she couldn’t wait for everyone to gather and went to retrieve it during the holiday.
Even though it was irrational, Marie wanted to obtain it at any cost.
As she was preparing a shotgun, she spoke to Kyle, who was still sitting down.
“Let’s go, Kyle.”
As Kyle got up reluctantly, he carried his heavy baggage onto his back and held a lantern in one hand. It lit up the pathway for Marie.
“What is there ahead?”
“Follow along and you’ll see. When we get there, be relieved. We can say goodbye to our life’s troubles.”
Even though Kyle’s face brightened when he heard that he was going to be free of his troubles, he soon shook his head and made a complaint towards Marie.
“Wait, can we get back home safely before that?”
Marie walked forward with her shotgun ready.
She had a serious expression and was full of determination.
“Anyways, I’m going to grab the treasure that’s just ahead. Our life is at stake here.”
All of this was in order to reach her ideal life.
Marie advanced towards the dungeon’s depths with Kyle.
◇
The royal palace. Julian and Jilk were having a strategy meeting. Julian was no longer the crown prince, so he didn’t expect many people to be around to hear.
Julian was glad that people no longer came to visit him almost everyday.
“I’ve been thinking about something, Jilk.”
“As expected of his Highness!”
Jilk praised Julian for simply thinking.
“How about secretly slipping out from the royal palace to help Greg and the others?”
“A good idea.”
“Ah, I thought so. However, how would we even sneak out?”
Jilk pondered.
“You do stand out in the royal palace after all, Julian. Milaine instructed some watchmen to keep an eye on you. Slipping out wouldn’t be a simple matter.”
“Is that so?”
When asked about how to sneak out, Jilk replied that it wouldn’t be easy.
“I’ve got it, Jilk!”
“As expected of his Highness!”
Julian spoke his thoughts to Jilk.
“A mask. Prepare a mask. I’ll hide my face──actually, it would do well to hide my body as well, so prepare a cloak too.”
“I see, you’ll escape by hiding your figure.”
“Right!”
“However your Highness, how do we plan on preparing a mask and cloak?”
Julian was troubled by Jilk’s question.
“That would be a problem.”
“It would.”
The two pondered for a brief moment.
“I got it!”
Thinking that Julian had an idea, Jilk praised him.
“As expected of his Highness!”
The two were so excited about sneaking out from the royal palace, they didn’t realize that they lost sight of their original goal.
Julian pondered.
(Right, if I’m going outside, then how about I see Marie? What a splendid idea I came up with.)
He began to think about going outside and meeting Marie.
Now that the two had been released from the pressure of their peers, they had a strangely high amount of energy.
In a sense, it was possible that the two were happy now.
“Let’s do it, Jilk!”
“Yes, your Highness!”
◇
Milaine was reading a report from a subordinate.
“I wonder what in the world those children are doing.”
Milaine was feeling dizzy from reading a report about how Julian and Jilk made a request for using the royal palace’s budget to prepare masks and cloaks.
The reason they gave seemed false, so she could only assume that they were scheming something.
Milaine seemed like she was about to weep.
“I wonder if those children are genuinely idiots. I thought they were superb prior to being disinherited, though. Were they seriously thinking about sneaking away from the royal palace using a method like this? If they were, then I’m really worried. Worried in so many ways.”
Milaine wanted to question the two about them trying to escape by buying masks and cloaks through the royal palace’s budget.
It was fine if they bought them, but she wondered if they had realized that she would know about their request.
“Leaving that aside, what did they plan on doing by leaving the royal palace? D, don’t tell me that they didn’t think about what to do after they would leave? T, there’s no way. Their stupidity can’t be that big. Though, I feel like they didn’t think about what to do after leaving the castle.”
Milaine thought about what the best course of action would be.
After all, Julian was her cute son.
She also had affection for Jilk as well, since she knew him when he was young.
“No, that can’t be it. Those two are honest and superb children. They must be confused, as they’ve never done anything like sneaking out before. Actually, perhaps they wanted me to notice? Or maybe this is something to throw me off guard? I’m not too sure about the possibility of it, though. However, since those two are excellent children, I’m sure that it’s something I don’t realize yet. What would a mother be if she didn’t have faith in her own son! This is definitely the groundwork for some grand plan they have.”
However──
“Even so, it’s a matter of fact that the two were indeed trying to escape from the royal palace, so perhaps I should summon them and give them a scolding.”
──Milaine soon summoned them.
◇
It was the next day.
It was the worst having the morning approach while not knowing what kind of response I should make.
There were two people at a table, Greg, who was greedily consuming the cuisine laid out, and Brad, who was eating elegantly.
“It’s only the morning, and you’re reeking of body odor.”
Since Livia was confining herself in her room, Luxon was delivering meals to her.
Greg wiped his mouth.
“I don’t want to see your face in the morning. Anyways, what do you plan on doing now? The main troops of the sky pirates are still out there, right?”
There were still sky pirates remaining, and now I was asked whether to subjugate them or leave them be.
Thinking in terms of the game, it was fine to leave the matter alone until the middle of the second school year.
However, the matter would become quite difficult by that point.
Besides, I wanted to destroy the sky pirates early.
The sky pirates belonging to Winged Shark were classified as very heinous ones.
I wanted to deal with them before the damage would spread.
I tended to strike while the iron was hot.
In addition, leaving it aside for later was troublesome. It seemed like it would be easy taking this opportunity to resolve everything.
“We’re pinpointing the location where they’re hiding. Just wait a little bit longer and we’ll embark, so──”
Thereupon, I got a report from Luxon.
[Master, it seems that the sky pirates are launching an attack.]
When I got up and looked outside the window, the other two watched me with nervous expressions.
“They mobilized surprisingly fast.”
As I was about to greet them, the other two got up.
Greg spoke to me.
“Baltfault, I can work with the broken armor. Please lend it to me.”
Brad also had a serious expression.
“I also found some armor that I could use yesterday. I want to borrow it.”
What did they plan on doing with broken armor? “There’s no point. Could you guys really operate defective products? Both of you need to think more about──”
Greg bowed his head.
“I beg you! I know that I’m a burden to you. But, I can’t just sit still and watch.”
Brad also bowed his head.
“This is selfish of me. I know that. The broken armor belongs to you──and you alone. However, please lend it to us. We want to fight as well.”
I thought about refusing them, but I turned my face away when seeing the straightforward attitude and gaze they had.
“─I’ll give you one chance. Do as you please.”
“I’m indebted to you!”
“I’ll show you that I can be useful this time!”
Their voices cheered up.
They were about to go into battle, but seemed optimistic.
Luxon didn’t wait for my commands.
[Well then, I will begin the supplying and maintenance of the armor in good condition.]
──It said as such to me.
What a detestable thing this was. I was angry at how capable it was, yet how many complaints I had towards it.
I couldn’t scold it now. “Count on me to prepare them.”
◇
It became boisterous outside. Livia, who was sitting on the floor, got up and looked outside the window. Her eyes were swollen from crying. She had a bad complexion and her feet were shaky. “Why is Partner moving?” Livia’s consciousness returned to her absentminded self as she felt the swaying of the ship. Outside the window, Leon could be seen in the sky fighting while using
Arroganz. “Leon?” Airships similar to the ones from yesterday’s sky pirates were approaching. There were five of them. They were especially large airships that looked to span three hundred meters. As they floated side by side and their cannons opened fire, cannonballs successively swooped down onto Partner. “Eek!” Though she crouched down and covered her head, Partner was protected by a bright light, and it didn’t receive a single scratch.
“H, how amazing.”
As Livia watched the scene outside, Leon faced the enemy flagship and charged towards it.
The mast on the opponent’s airship was destroyed.
Livia was relieved when seeing that, and then fell down.
(I said something terrible to Leon. I need to apologize. I wonder why I even said such things.)
She regretted her actions.
She didn’t know why she said such things to Leon, who had helped her up until now.
Livia was hesitant and worried, but she then saw Leon blown off by an opponent’s armor.
“──Huh?”
Unlike other armor, the armor of this sky pirate was as large as Arroganz.
It was sharp, seemed strong, and was actually able to knock off Arroganz.
Seeing that, Livia’s chest tightened.
Perhaps from being tired and having her judgement dulled, Livia decided to go outside, despite not being able to do anything by herself.
She hurriedly jumped out of the room and ran across a passage to reach the deck.
The inside of the large Partner was spacious, so it also took quite the distance to reach outside.
On the way, there were floating robots that tried to prevent Livia from going.
“I’m sorry, let me through!”
──When Livia said so with a strong voice, the robots stopped moving for a moment.
After rebooting, they chased after her in a hurry, but in the end, they couldn’t catch up to Livia.
Even though she wasn’t standing on the deck, violent sounds of fighting, ones that she couldn’t hear inside the ship, pierced her ears.
There were the sounds of gunpowder explosions.
The sounds of magic colliding against each other.
At any rate, the battlefield was dominated by intense shaking, sounds of explosions, and gunpowder smoke.
Livia opened the airship’s door to search for Leon. It wasn’t a matter of being useful or not, she wanted to confirm Leon’s safety.
“Leon. ──Leon!”
Upon which, large armor fell down in front if her.
When she looked at it, it wasn’t the gray Arroganz, but a thorny armor with skulls and crossbones drawn onto it.
“──Huh?”
It was the armor that blew away Arroganz, the one she saw just before.
While shouldering a large hatchet-like weapon in its right hand, the armor reached towards Livia with its left hand.
It’s hand, large enough to engulf Livia’s head, approached. Robotic cylinders with arms intervened in order to protect Livia, who couldn’t move due to fear.
A muffled voice could be heard from inside the armor. “Tsk, what kind of rubbish is this?” It was the throaty voice of a man. The armor shoved away the robots with its fists and once again reached out towards Livia with its hand.
Livia closed her eyes and hung her head.
(No──Leon, help.)
“You think I’ll let youuu?!”
The one who helped Livia──wasn’t Leon.
Brad, using armor taken from the sky pirates, had rammed into the enemy.
However, the opponent braced himself and was only pushed back slightly on the deck.
With Brad’s armor, it looked like a child trying to push away an adult. There was just that big of a difference in size.
While Livia, so surprised by the series of events that happened before her, forgot to breathe, the sky pirate grabbed Brad and flung him away.
“Don’t get cocky, brat!”
Brad’s armor rolled on the deck.
As soon as he got up and tried to face his opponent, this time Greg and his armor crashed in. Wielding a spear, he had charged and destroyed other sky pirates’ armor.
“Aah, out of the waaay!”
Though Greg’s spear attempted to pierce into the sky pirate, it couldn’t get through the bulky armor.
“How tough.”
The sky pirate pulled out the spear lodged into the armor and then thrust it into the deck. He then thrust it at Greg’s armor as well. Brad stood up to protect Livia, who was unable to move from the terror portrayed in the battle before her.
“What are you doing?! Get down!”
“M, my legs won’t move.”
Livia was immobilized from the fear brought by armor fighting against each other.
◇
I was above the sky.
I got blown off and struck a nearby sky pirate in anger.
“You’re in the way!”
I grabbed the sky pirate’s armor and threw it towards the sky pirates’ airships.
Surrounding me were the floating armor of sky pirates.
My breathing was shaky.
Inside the narrow armor, I shouted an order to Luxon.
“Don’t kill them. Seize everyone!”
Luxon complained about my order.
[I’d say that’s unreasonable. Something like that is difficult to say the least.]
When I deployed drones successively from a container on Arroganz’s back, they surrounded me as if to protect me.
The sky pirates, who had rifles, were shouting. “Monster!”, “Wh, wh, who is this guy?!”, “He repelled all of our bullets──no waaay!”. While ignoring their conversations, I recalled what happened a short while ago.
The sky pirates’ leader.
A man who used large armor and had a bounty on his head.
Generally, armor was slim. The sky pirates had similarly slim armor as well, and rushed towards me at a high speeds. However, the leader of these ruffians used massive armor that was as large as Arroganz.
“I want to capture that guy as soon as possible.”
Luxon warned me as I was getting impatient.
[Master, your reaction time is slower compared to before. Your maneuvering skills and other abilities have gotten worse.]
──That would be the case. I’ve lacked in practice.
“My bad. I was busy.”
[No, this is a problem relating to your mental state.]
The grey, heavy armor Arroganz soared through the sky.
The armor repelled the bullets being shot by the sky pirates. My armor was certainly the strongest, being able to overwhelm the sky pirates in both speed and power.
I was using such strong armor, and yet I was struggling.
I had underestimated my opponents.
The leader of the ruffians left me to his subordinates and avoided fighting me.
The sky pirates were also only surrounding me and attacking with just their rifles.
It was very troublesome when the enemies were running around.
I approached, grabbed an opponent, and crushed the head of its armor.
From the crevices of the armor, I could see the frightened face of the piloting sky pirate.
“How long do you plan on keeping this up? Let’s end this at once!”
[Master, the leader of the sky pirates has landed on Partner’s deck. Furthermore, Olivia is on that deck.]
“Wha?!”
As I was surprised, a sky pirate airship turned towards me and fired cannonballs one after the other.
They collided against Arroganz and caused explosions.
I criticized Luxon from within the armor.
“Why did you let her out?!”
[My apologies. The worker robots were temporarily down. It seems something had caused──”
“Enough! We need to help right now!”
On a projection in front of me was the image of Brad and Greg challenging the sky pirates’ leader.
They were resolutely going against him with their armor that once belonged to the sky pirates, which had been repaired for the both of them.
[It seems it was the right call to have them participate. Right now, they’re fighting to defend Olivia.]
That image──Livia being protected by both of them──looked as if it were natural, and left a strong impression on me.
It was an image I saw many times in the game, a scene where the capture target boys were defending the protagonist.
I hung my head and laughed.
“──Right. Isn’t this how it’s supposed to be? The capture targets and the protagonist go hand-in-hand! A mob like me being by her side is a mismatch!”
[Master?]
“──Right. Didn’t I already know this all along? I shouldn’t get surprised about it at this point.”
I took a deep breath, tightly grasped the control sticks in front of me, and turned off the projection in front of me.
I didn’t need to harbor any pointless thoughts. All I needed to do was to end the matter that was right in front of me.
Right, I have my own place.
──After all, aren’t I just a mob?
Wasn’t it presumptuous of me to think that I could stand beside the protagonist──Livia?
That wasn’t my role.
“Increase output. Once you’ve done that, let’s use those from the third container.”
[──Understood.] Perhaps sensing that my aura had changed, Luxon didn’t say much. What was the matter? Say something. It got quite lonely not hearing it bicker. Arroganz grasped two hatchets from the container, one for each hand. As each hand tightly grasped the large hatchets, I slowly raised my head back up.
“──Let’s crush them.”
◇
Livia sat down where she was.
Before her, both Brad and Greg had collapsed in face of the sky pirate leader’s armor.
“D, damn it.”
“Why is it so big, yet so effective?”
Both were still alive. However, they could hardly get up.
The leader of the sky pirates shouldered a large hatchet while reaching towards Livia with his left hand.
“That took a while. Lady, you’re our hostage.”
Livia realized that she would be used as hostage against Leon, and attempted to run away. Thereupon, the sky pirates’ leader thrust his large hatchet into Brad’s armor.
“──Gah!”
Brad raised his voice in pain.
“Brad!”
A muffled voice came out from within the leader’s armor.
“If you run away, I’ll kill them. Now then, come here at once.”
With quivering feet, Livia walked towards the leader’s armor, whose hand was reaching towards her. She couldn’t bear to see Brad.
She felt ashamed of herself for having that happen.
(I’m…a burden. I’ve only been causing trouble for everyone.)
When she shed tears in frustration, the sky pirates’ leader, who was there just a moment ago, was blown away.
A gust of wind blew through Livia’s hair and clothes. The cause of that gust was a grey armor.
“Leon!”
Livia made a delightful cheer, but her expression soon muddied.
“──Huh?”
Leon’s Arroganz, holding large hatchets in each hand, severed the arms of the opponent.
Arroganz had its own silly charm when it used a shovel during the duel with Julian and the others, but the armor in front of her now looked sinister.
Arroganz was built for fighting, and when seeing the armor fulfilling that purpose, Livia’s smile changed into shock.
“Don’t. Leon, don’t!”
Leon swung both of his arms alternately, toying with the sky pirates’ leader. His armor gradually being shaved away, the leader made a scream of horror.
“H, help! I surrender. I said I surrender!”
Leon smiled.
“Surrender? Hey hey, don’t you think that’s boring for an infamous sky pirate? You should show more resistance until the very end. C’mon, show me some spirit!”
He trampled down on the armor. He trampled down on it numerous times, causing the leader to cry and beg for his life.
“Help me, please! I beg you. Help!”
“Don’t you think you’re asking for too much after going on an utter rampage? You’re supposed to tell your subordinates to surrender first, right? C’mon, do it quick or else you just might up and die!”
Leon treated the leader of the sky pirates, who had just before fought Brad and Greg with ease, like a small fry.
At the command of the leader, the sky pirates proclaimed their surrender. However, Leon destroyed the leader’s armor. Arroganz tore away the opponent’s armor and ripped away its important skeletal frame.
Seeing that, Livia thought of it as frightening.
Arroganz then stuffed its hand into the abdomen of its opponent’s armor, and pulled something out.
Leon grinned when seeing what he took out.
“I~found~it.”
The leader of the sky pirates spoke in a sorrowful tone.
“G, give that back! That’s the precious──”
“Don’t you get it? It’s not yours. It’s mine starting today! If you’ve got a complaint, then come at me!” Arroganz kicked the armor as if no longer interested in it, and sent it rolling across the deck.
The leader made a groan, but seemed to be alive.
There was black smoke coming from the airships of the sky pirates, perhaps from Leon’s doing. They were somehow keeping afloat, and some of the sky pirates attempted to escape by hopping onto small boats.
Most of the armor had fallen and were floating on the sea. In case of a fall, armor had lifebuoy-like objects attached to them. They decompressed and floated on top of the sea.
Sky pirates got out of their armor, and looked up into the sky with looks of despair.
Livia, remembering that Brad had been hurt, rushed over towards his armor in order to check his injuries.
“I, I’ll get you medically treated right away.”
Brad, appearing from within the armor, had a cold sweat and seemed to be in pain.
However, he made a forced smile in front of Livia.
“Th, thank you.”
“No, it’s my fault that you got inj──”
“That’s not it.”
“Huh?”
“Greg and I both knew what we were getting into. We fought to protect you. After all, we’re aiming to become knights. If a knight isn’t kind towards woman──ah, that hurts!”
While healing Brad’s injured arm, Livia felt relieved to hear that he didn’t bear a grudge against her. At the same time, she also felt terribly pathetic.
When she put her hand over Brad’s wounds, a magical light came out and healed them. Brad was impressed when he saw the injuries neatly disappearing.
“It seems that you’re good at healing magic, like Marie. You’ve been a great help.”
Livia asked a question in response to that.
“Marie also works with healing magic?”
Since there were few people who could use healing magic, Marie seemed to be a valuable person.
Brad smiled while boasting.
“Yep, she’s our goddess. Any wound is a cinch as long as Marie──」
As he was speaking, Brad lost consciousness from being in relief.
Leon came out from Arroganz while looking at Livia applying a handkerchief over Brad’s wounds.
“Leon. U, um!”
Before Livia could say anything, Leon smiled.
However, it seemed sad to Livia.
“This suits you well. After all, anything is supposed return to how it should be.”
She wondered what he was talking about.
When Livia tried to get up, Leon turned towards Greg. Once he got out of his armor, he didn’t have any injuries.
Leon spoke to Greg with a smile.
“I appreciate your efforts. Say, aren’t you pretty strong?”
“Was that supposed to be sarcastic? Leaving that aside──sorry, I broke the armor I borrowed from you.”
“It’s fine. I have more. Anyways, can you help carry Brad?”
“Is he okay?”
Leon spoke towards Greg, who was worried about Brad. “Don’t worry. His injuries were healed by ‘Olivia.'” Livia tightly grasped her chest with her hand. ──Her heart felt like it was in terrible pain. It hurt to the point that she felt like clutching her heart. She got up and tried to shout something, but her voice couldn’t come out.
As Leon passed by Livia in such a state, he didn’t even make eye contact with her. Once he and Greg got Brad fully out of his armor, robots came carrying a stretcher which they put Brad onto. When the three returned to the airship’s interior, Livia began crying. “Why? ──Call me Livia.” She collapsed down and continued crying.
◇
The sky pirates’ treasure was in front of me, but I had no interest in it. I tossed the treasure I took from the sky pirates into one of the warehouses in Partner. Even though I found some nostalgic items from the game in addition to gold and silver treasure, I soon parted with them. “I’ve stashed a lot.” Luxon responded while floating beside me. [I don’t foresee getting that remuneration from the Wein household, but you can get rewards from the destruction of a sky pirate group and the capturing of their leader. Going by the standards for the kingdom, it will be quite the fortune.]
I wasn’t interested at this point.
What could I even do with such a large amount of money?
It was all pointless.
“I suppose I could buy a new tea set. I’ve got no clue on what to do with the rest.”
What was on my mind was that image of Greg and Brad protecting Livia──Olivia. That was how it ideally should be, but there was a strange discord in my heart.
I turned towards Luxon.
“Hey, did you find evidence that links the earl household with the sky pirates?”
[Indeed. I’ve found several documents with interactions between them.]
“Should we tell the royal palace? There’s also the matter of the Redgrave duke family. It would make a good scandal for their opposing faction.” [A scandal, or perhaps a blatant weak point. It’s possible that the earl household may come to get back the sky pirates.]
“──Was it fine to only rough them up?”
I wondered what in the world I had been doing up until now.
Wasn’t I an idiot for having this kind of power, yet not use it?
Right. An idiot.
I was an idiot.
“If make trash like them disappear, perhaps the kingdom would become a bit more decent. No, that wouldn’t work. The kingdom itself is trash, or better yet, the otome game itself is trash, right?”
Luxon, watching me as I thoughtlessly smiled, didn’t speak with its usual abusive language.
[Are you sure about this? I would have no hesitation in destroying the kingdom, nor this world. If you give me the orders, I can carry them out soon. After that, it would also be possible for you to create a world as you see fit, Master.]
A world as I see fit?
That would be the best!
“How nice. What about making a harem with women? Maybe gather some elves or cat-eared beastkin. How about this time, make the kind of world where women are the ones treated like garbage?!”
That’s when I realized what I was saying.
This was just the same situation, but with the positions of men and women reversed.
“──What the, am I the same as those girls in the academy?”
[You likely know the answer to that inside yourself. Have you cleared up your thoughts after venting your anger on the sky pirates?]
Not at all.
Pent-up feelings were squirming around within my core.
I wanted to expel them immediately, but I didn’t know how to do so.
Luxon comforted me.
[This about her, isn’t it? I don’t think that Olivia hates you, Master.
However, emotional instability──] “I know. Did you think I was angry at her? Did you think that I viewed her as some kind of ungrateful freeloader?”
[Indeed.]
“Just who do you think I am?”
When she went outside, I did think “What was that fool doing?!” to myself. However, on the flip side, I was able to see Brad’s and Greg’s chivalrous spirit thanks to that.
What happened there was what the relationship between the protagonist and capture targets should have been. The ideal situation.
I should think of it as a major development. Right, this was good. No more acting on behalf of their role. It was time for me to return to being a mob.
I took out the “Holy Necklace” from my pocket.
“In that case, how should I pass this onto her?”
Rather than giving it to her as a present, I wondered who would be easier to knock sense into and have them get along with Olivia. Brad or Greg?
It would be most optimal if it was one of them.
I wanted the two to keep at it by all means.
So, I decided to have them return to the position they should have been in.
“I’ve decided what to do with the treasure.”
I made my own conclusion and stuffed the necklace into my pocket.
Luxon informed me of something.
[Master, it seems that a fleet from the earl household is getting closer. At the same time──it seems that an airship of the Redgrave duke household is heading here as well.]
Today really turned out to be a turbulent day.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login