Yari no Yuusha no Yarinaoshi (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Bad Status 

Both Father and Itsuki let out their battle cries as Father, raising his shield, charged at Itsuki. Itsuki responded by leaping back, activating a skill, and firing his bow. The arrow bolted toward Father, but Father held out his hands and snatched the bow out of midair. 

“Impossible!” Itsuki cried in astonishment. 

But it only delayed him for a moment before he shot several more arrows at Father. There were so many of them that for a second, I doubted that even Father could handle them. 

“Airstrike Shield!” Father cried. The volley of arrows bounced helplessly off of Airstrike Shield. 

Itsuki’s main role in battle was to attack from a distance, while Father’s was to prevent harm to his comrades. Their roles couldn’t have been more different. It seemed like Father couldn’t hurt Itsuki any more than a mosquito. 

But just like the time that I had dueled Father, he had tricks up his sleeve. Father had defeated me by using balloon monsters he had hidden under his cloak. In the gaming world Father might be what you call a monster-player killer—someone seemingly powerless who is still capable of taking down powerful foes. Father had really gotten me good. His strategy had been nothing short of first-rate. 

Still, this time around, as far as I knew, Father didn’t have anything hidden under his cloak. I simply could not wait to see what Father would do, I say! 

“All you can do is shoot arrows at me while scurrying around?” Father called. “You camper! Maybe it would work in a mainstream console game, but you’ll see just how far it takes you, Itsuki!” 

The taunt spurred a vague memory I had. Something about enjoying an online shooting game. In games like that, I had heard players were called campers when they just hid and shot at other players. 

“Now you’ve done it!” seethed Itsuki. “Suck on this! Bunker Shot!” Itsuki ran closer to Father, aimed at his chest, and launched the attack. 

Perhaps it was an attack that grew stronger the closer you were to the target. Just based on Itsuki’s play style, I knew Itsuki was unlikely to use an attack like that very often. It was probably an early-game type of skill—something to use in case of emergencies when the enemy gets too close. Based on what I knew, a skill like that might be pretty strong with a special status condition, but if you wanted to attack from close up, why bother with the bow class in the first place? If you were a solo player, the skill certainly wouldn’t hurt. You may as well have it at the ready. But still, it was a skill so useless that I had never heard it used even once in the first go-around. 

The attack thudded against Father where Itsuki had aimed. 

Father bore the brunt of the attack without flinching. “Hm,” he said. “It didn’t even hurt.” 

Itsuki’s smile quickly fell apart. “Not . . . not even a scratch?” 

The difference between their levels of strength was like night and day. Father had applied all of the power-up techniques I had taught him to his advantage. But even if Itsuki had also acquired the four holy power-ups, he would still be no match for Father. 

“I think it’s my turn, isn’t it?” Father said. 

“And just what in the world could you possibly do to me?” Itsuki sneered. 

In a flash, Father grabbed Itsuki by the collar and raised his shield. Armed with the sharpened spikes on the front of his shield, he plowed his shield into Itsuki. 

Itsuki grunted in pain, but they didn’t seem to pierce too deeply. I guessed it was light damage at most. 

“What . . . what was . . .” Itsuki raised his hand to his head as if he was dizzy. 

Father then shoved Itsuki over and grabbed him by the arms and legs so he couldn’t move. It wasn’t a particular martial arts locking technique or anything. It looked more like Father just climbed onto him. But Itsuki was completely unable to move. 

Now I remembered. Father had used the same move against me. His strategy was to aim for the face and the groin. It almost looked like Father was starting to get excited, but maybe it was just my imagination. 

I, Motoyasu Kitamura, burst into tears upon witnessing Father’s peerless courage. 

“If you surrender now, I’ll stop,” Father warned. 

“S-surrender? No chance!” Itsuki cried. 

“All right then, that’s your choice.” Father looked down at Itsuki. “From here it’s simple. I’m going to hold you down until you surrender.” 

“As if! I’m not going to surrender to the likes of you!” 

“Let’s see just how long you keep saying that.” 

Held down by Father, Itsuki kept trying to use his skills, but Father seemed to have him locked completely in place. I remembered being in Itsuki’s exact position. As much as I tried to overcome him, Father’s strength had held me locked in place, and there was nothing I could do. At this point it just seemed like Father was holding Itsuki in place and drawing out the match. But that couldn’t be all. 

Every time Itsuki tried to resist, his movements just got weaker and more sluggish. Itsuki opened his mouth and started to groan out a spell, but Father grasped him by the mouth and at the same time hit him again with his shield to stop any further counterattack. 

“So you can use magic, huh?” Father asked. “Not like it would have much effect anyway.” 

Most likely Father had applied some sort of paralysis toxin to his shield. It looked like Itsuki was losing his ability to speak as well. The poison was sapping away Itsuki’s strength, and he gradually stopped resisting. 

I was blown away. If Father had used the same poisoned shield against me in the first go-around, he would’ve won even before the Crimson Swine was able to interfere. I did have a memory of getting bit by a shield with two dog heads, but this was far more formidable. 

The strength of the Shield Hero was on full display. Upon witnessing Father’s heroic deeds, I could no longer stop tears from uncontrollably pouring out of my eyes. I wept. The same ingenious nature he possessed in the first go-around was on full display! 

“Spear Bro, quit crying, won’t ya?” Keel barked. 

“He’s expressing the profound depth of his feeling,” Yuki said. “Naofumi’s heroic deeds have simply moved Motoyasu to tears.” 

“I get that! Big Bro’s incredible!” 

Then, the very moment that Itsuki could barely move and Father stood on the cusp of victory, I heard a strange sound and saw something move underneath Father’s cloak. 

No, it was before Father’s cloak started moving—everyone could see that something had happened along with the strange sound. I had no doubt it was the Crimson Swine, hidden somewhere amid the spectators, who had used a spell against Father—Wing Blow. 

But unlike in the first go-around, where Father’s level was barely enough to get by, he was plenty strong. Even though the attack hit him square on, Father didn’t even move. Father was invincible! 

I looked around the crowd to find the Crimson Swine. Everyone could tell that the spell came from her direction, but the judge was acting like he didn’t even notice. Or rather, he was so flustered that the attack did nothing that he didn’t know how to react. 

“Hey! Unfair!” Keel started barking, pointing at the Crimson Swine. 

Suddenly, the king stood up. “Everyone! We must save the Bow Hero from the Shield Hero!” And not just Trash, but all of the nearby spectators that could use magic started to chant incantations. 

“Stop it! That’s not fair!” 

They aimed their various spells at Father and attacked. A variety of attacks went hurtling toward Father: fire, wind, earth, water, thunderbolts, beams of light. But the moment they launched the attacks, Father raised his shield. 

“Shooting Star Shield!” 

The shield crushed Itsuki beneath it and rendered him completely unable to move, and the volley of spells dissolved into smoke as they collided with the barrier that Father had raised. 

Then I heard Ren’s voice. 

“What the hell?!” 

Ren had been watching from a distance. He then started to race toward Trash and the Crimson Swine. I was glad that I didn’t have to speak up on behalf of Father and Ren did so voluntarily instead. 

Soon enough I would give them their just desserts, I say. Soon enough. 

“What the hell are you doing?! Why are the royalty and magicians interfering in what was supposed to be a fair, evenly matched duel?” 

“The Shield Hero used a cowardly, poisoned shield,” Trash responded. “Which means that Itsuki is in fact the victor!” 

“Poison is a perfectly good battle strategy!” shouted Ren. “Naofumi doesn’t have much choice, does he? Otherwise, it’s just not a fair fight!” Ren drew his sword. “Stop your attacks against Naofumi at once. Because of your overt interference, anyone with eyes can see that Naofumi has won the duel!” 

“The Shield Hero unfairly stopped the Bow Hero from being able to move or attack!” Trash said. “This cannot be called a fair fight!” 

“So why didn’t you set any rules for the fight in the goddamn first place? What the hell kind of joke of a duel is this, anyway?” 

At this point Ren had completely lost his cool. 

Then the Crimson Swine started crying and moved toward Ren, but he held up his sword as a warning. 

“You really don’t know where to stop, do you?” Ren hissed. “There’s nothing more cowardly than getting the spectators to attack one of the participants! That was your last resort, wasn’t it? I’ve seen enough!” 

“Oink oink oink oink.” 

“Now she’s saying that you couldn’t bear to see Itsuki, who had rescued her before, about to lose,” Yuki interpreted for me. 

“Then why resort to sending a whole damn volley of spells at him! As a princess, you have the power to stop it and let it be a fair fight! But because of you, we all know that Itsuki lost!” 

Now that Ren was blaming the Crimson Swine, Trash reluctantly raised his hand and stopped the barrage of magic attacks. 

When the dust cleared, Itsuki was still completely held down under Father’s Shooting Star Shield. And Father remained unharmed. 

“That was a surprise,” he said. “So? Did I win yet?” 

“I . . . I won’t . . . surrender . . .” Itsuki croaked. 

“Impressive, given your position,” Father said. “I guess that’s what it takes to be a hero.” 

“Unfortunately, thanks to the princess and king here, you’ve lost this duel, Itsuki,” Ren called. “And even if they didn’t try to cheat your way to victory, the poison will eventually take you out.” 

“No . . .” Itsuki groaned and fell unconscious. 

After checking to make sure Itsuki was knocked out, Father stood up and let go of him. Immediately, the Melromarc court magicians hurried over to Itsuki and started using magic to heal him. 

“Satisfied yet?” Father called up to Trash and the Crimson Swine. 

Trash clenched his fist and the Crimson Swine grumbled out an oink. 

I saw that Ren was still staring at them suspiciously. It made sense—he saw the blunt favoritism right in front of us. He was a little slow on the uptake, but still . . . 

Pretty much everyone looked angry and uncomfortable. 

“When Itsuki wakes back up, I’m going to force him to admit that Naofumi won,” Ren said. “And since Naofumi’s slaves really seem perfectly content with where they are, he’ll have no choice but to let it go.” 

This is the most overt Ren has been so far, taking Father’s side this way. He must’ve seen how wholeheartedly Keel was supporting Father during the duel. I didn’t need to say anything at all. 

“You did it, Big Bro!” cried Keel. 

“I’m so glad you’re safe,” Sakura said. “I wanted to help you so bad.” 

“Thanks so much, Keel and Sakura,” Father said before waving to me and starting to walk over. 

I didn’t see any need for us to stay in Melromarc any longer. 

Father turned back to Trash and the Crimson Swine and gave them an evil grin. That’s right, you fiends—your plan backfired! 

“My god, even after seeing all that, they still wanted to attack me,” Father said. “Itsuki’s sense of justice is a bit off. He really has some huge blind spots, doesn’t he?” 

“I could not agree more,” I said. 

“Hey, Motoyasu,” called a voice. It was Ren. He seemed to have something he wanted to say to me. 

“Naofumi,” Ren said. 

“What’s up?” 

“You had nothing but your shield, but you came up with a great strategy. I didn’t realize you’d be able to pull off something like that. Nice job.” 

“Oh, uh . . . thanks?” 

“Itsuki just didn’t have it in him. I never thought he would lose to a shield, of all weapons.” Ren shook his head. 

I saw a flash of anger cross Father’s eyes. 

“Big Bro is strong!” Keel shouted, hurrying over. 

“Yeah! Naofumi could beat you up,” Sakura said. 

Father held up a hand, as if to apologize for the interruption. 

“Well, we’re all finished up here, so we should get back to the carriage,” Father said. 

“Agreed,” I said. “Let’s come back to the castle tomorrow though.” 

Because of the change in events here, I wanted to find out what Melromarc’s next move might be. 

We hurried our way out. All the spectators were quiet and gloomy, as if Father had spoiled the mood. 

I heard later that Trash and the Crimson Swine were so angry they completely lost it, but who even cares?